13 Letter, N.Y. office to Oklahoma City office, July 31, 1933, KCM #413.

  14 The Mathias investigation is described in an August 5, 1933, New York office report, KCM #418.

  15 This version of Charles Urschel’s debriefing I found in a thin volume not cited in bibliographies of Depression-era criminal literature. The book, a biography of Jones, is A Man Named Jones, by George Ellis.

  16 Ellis, p. 113.

  17 Colvin to Hoover, Aug. 11, 1933, UKF #201.

  18 Jones and Bailey told consistent versions of their confrontation. Ellis, p. 136. Haley, p. 134. Fitzpatrick, p. 130.

  19 Serb World USA, May/June 1992, p. 48.

  20 Both Toland and Cromie assert Dillinger vaulted the railing at Montpelier, as he had at Dalesville. Contemporary newspaper accounts do not mention such a leap. Bluffton Evening News-Banner, Aug. 4, 1933; Fort Wayne News-Sentinal, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Hartford City Times-Gazette, Aug. 5, 1933.

  5: THE KID JIMMY

  1 I am deeply indebted to a Chicago amateur historian, Tom Smysyn, who discovered these articles during the early 1990s, for bringing them to my attention.

  2 Chicago Tribune, January 7, 1930.

  3 Chicago Tribune, January 23, 1930.

  4 Chicago Tribune, April 1, 1930; Chicago Herald & Examiner, April 1, 1930.

  5 Chicago Herald, October 8, 1930.

  6 Chicago Tribune, February 15, 1931. The article contains a lengthy list of the gang’s confirmed crimes.

  7 Chicago Tribune, Joliet Evening Herald, February 18, 1932.

  8 The story of Bentz’s tutelage of Nelson is told in an article Bentz, then in prison, wrote in 1951 for Argosy magazine. The salient facts are confirmed in FBI reports.

  9 The South St. Paul robbery is one of the Barker-Karpis Gang’s more confusing to unravel. Fitzgerald would later claim that Bryan Bolton and George Ziegler took part; according to Karpis, they didn’t. Karpis says the gang’s fifth man that day was Bill Weaver, and says it was Weaver who first shot Officer Yeaman, who was then further wounded by fire from Fred Barker’s Thompson gun. All the witnesses but one indicate Fred Barker emerged from the car along with Fitzgerald and Dock Barker. The owner of the bar where Weaver waited would later claim Barker waited with him.

  10 Dallas report, UKF #508.

  11 The Arnolds’ story is told in detail in an Oklahoma City report, UKF #732.

  12 Chicago report, Nov. 13, 1933, UKF #994.

  13 Gus Jones, Oklahoma City report, Oct. 3, 1933, UKF #732.

  14 Colvin report, UKF #1110.

  15 Durham’s story told in Dallas report, Sept. 25, 1933, UKF #598.

  16 Details of the Kellys’ Chicago trip are told by Geralene Arnold in a Chicago report, Nov. 13, 1933, UKF #994.

  17 Letter, Purvis to Hoover, Dec. 18, 1933, UKF, #1039.

  18 Memo to D. O. Smith, Oct. 24, 1933, UKF, #956.

  19 Dayton Daily News, Sept. 22, 1933, Dayton Herald, Sept. 23, 1933. Toland, p. 108.

  20 Karpis transcripts, tape 15.

  21 Chicago Daily Times, Sept. 25, 1933.

  22 Statements from Cass Coleman and Geralene Arnold, UKF #918.

  23 The story of Rorer’s morning is told in detail in a Birmingham report, Oct. 6, 1933, UKF #778.

  24 Chicago American, Sept. 26, 1933.

  6: THE STREETS OF CHICAGO

  1 Toland, pp. 6 -8.

  2 Chicago Reader, July 20, 1984.

  3 Toland, p. 127.

  4 Auburn (Ind.) Evening Star, Oct. 16, 1934.

  5 Indianapolis Times, Oct. 21, 1933.

  6 Greencastle Banner, Oct. 24, 1933; Indianapolis News, Oct. 22, 1983.

  7 Karpis transcripts, tape #15.

  8 Letter, Purvis to Kansas City office, Aug. 29, 1933.

  9 FBI statements on Miller’s escape in Kansas City Massacre files.

  10 Jodil #4, Oct. 23, 1933.

  11 Hoover, memo to file, Oct. 24, 1933, Jodil #19.

  12 Indianapolis News, June 15, 1955.

  13 Chicago Herald and Examiner, Aug. 27, 1934.

  14 Mary Kinder, “Four Months with the Dillinger Gang,” Chicago Herald and Examiner, July 30, 1934.

  15 “My Adventures with The Dillinger Gang,” Chicago Herald and Examiner, September 1934.

  16 Toland, p. 147.

  17 Ibid.

  18 Cromie, p. 89.

  19 Chicago Tribune, Nov. 16, 1933.

  7: AMBUSHES

  1 Racine Journal, Nov. 21, 1933.

  2 Cromie, pp. 111-12.

  3 Toland, p. 149.

  4 Memo, Hughes to Hoover, Nov. 9, 1933, Hamm kidnap file, #214.

  5 Memo to file, Hoover, Oct. 21, 1933, Hamm kidnap file, #182.

  6 F. X. Fay to Kansas City SAC, Nov. 29, 1933, KCM #926.

  7 KCM #904.

  8 Conroy to Hoover, December 1, 1933, KCM #906.

  9 Maccabee, p. 229.

  10 “Daring Machine Gun Mob Robs First National Here,” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, Oct. 23, 1933; “It was no gangster movie,” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, December 4, 1988.

  11 San Antonio report, June 5, 1934, Jodil #1829. San Antonio Light articles, Dec. 11-15, 1933. A Man Named Jones, p. 157.

  8: “AN ATTACK ON ALL WE HOLD DEAR”

  1 Cherrington statement, Jodil #2617.

  2 Toland, p. 175.

  3 Gary Post-Tribune, January 16, 1934.

  4 The Times, Hammond, Indiana, July 22, 1984. (Interview with Hobart Wilgus’s widow.)

  5 Gary Post-Tribune, January 16, 1934.

  6 BKF #66.

  7 Chicago Tribune, January 26-29, 1934.

  9: A STAR IS BORN

  1 Toland, p. 195.

  2 BKF #667.

  3 Girardin, pp. 72-73.

  4 Chicago American, Feb. 9, 1934.

  5 Girardin, p. 74.

  6 BKF #295.

  7 Girardin, pp. 77-78.

  8 Simmons, pp. 166-67.

  9 Springfield Leader, Feb. 13, 1934.

  10 Hamilton, Public Enemy Number 1, p. 33.

  11 Phillips, pp. 175-76.

  12 Fugitives, pp. 158-59.

  13 Simmons, p. 127.

  14 Winstead, unpublished manuscript, p. 24.

  10: DILLINGER AND NELSON

  1 This section, including dialogue, was taken from statements given to the FBI by all the participants, including Cahoon, Blunk, and Warden Baker. The statements are located in a series of Chicago reports from March to May 1935, Jodil #5583, #5692, #5711.

  2 This version of events that Saturday is taken from FBI files and the Girardin manuscript. The dialogue is from Girardin.

  3 Undated St. Paul and Minneapolis newspaper articles. Memo, Rosen to Tamm, March 14, 1936, Jodil #6648. Undated letter from Kidder relative to Helen Gandy, Jodil #6789.

  4 Sioux Falls Daily Argus-Leader, March 6-7, 1934; South Dakota Hall of Fame magazine, vol. XXI, no. 2, Summer, 1995; Toland, pp. 220-24.

  5 Clegg to Hoover, March 3, 1934, Jodil #83.

  6 Hoover to Purvis, March 6, 1934, Jodil #93.

  7 Cowley to Hoover, March 7, 1934, Jodil #128.

  8 Purvis to Hoover, March 31, 1934, Jodil #226.

  9 Mason City Globe Gazette, March 14, 1934.

  10 Mason City Globe Gazette, August 21, 1973.

  11 Mason City Globe Gazette, Feb. 5, 1982.

  12 Mason City Globe Gazette, Dec. 24, 1942.

  13 Toland, p. 237.

  14 New Republic, June 6, 1934.

  15 Mason City Globe Gazette, June 26, 1964.

  16 Toland, p. 235.

  17 Ibid, p. 237.

  18 Mortensen statement, April 20, 1934, Jodil #754.

  19 Cherrington statement, Jodil #2617.

  20 Girardin, p. 121.

  21 Ibid.

  22 Letter quoted in Alanna Nash article, Satellite Orbit magazine, November 1984.

  23 Hoover to Purvis, March 27, 1934, Jodil #204.

  11: CRESCENDO

  1 Testimony of Det. Henry Cummings, U.S. v. Frechette.

  2 Frechette told her story in Startling Detective Adventures, September 1934.

  3 Maccabee, p. 221.

  4 Phillips, p. 182.

  5 Hoover, memo to file, April 1, 1934, Jodil #269.

  6 Notesteen’s statement, which quotes Inspector Rorer, is included in Hugh Clegg’s April 9, 1934, report to Hoover, Jodil #467.

  7 Cowley, memo summarizing conversation with Clegg, April 19, 1934, Jodil #1574.

  8 Hinton, p. 139.

  9 Methvin vs. Oklahoma, p. 73.

  10 Hubert Dillinger statement, April 11, 1934, Jodil #1090.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Cowley to Hoover, April 7, 1934, Jodil #367.

  13 Girardin, p. 139.

  14 Chicago summary report, April 18, 1934, Jodil #630. Purvis knew he had botched the arrest. It is the one major arrest he made that is not described in American Agent.

  15 Girardin, p. 141.

  12: DEATH IN THE NORTH WOODS

  1 Associated and United Press dispatches, April 15, 1934.

  2 Girardin, p. 143.

  3 Ibid., p. 143.

  4 Pat Cherrington statement, Chicago report, July 16, 1934, Jodil #2617x.

  5 Ibid.

  6 St. Paul report, July 16, 1934, Jodil #2655.

  7 St. Paul report, May 14, 1934, Jodil #1460.

  8 The LaPorte family’s history is told in loving detail in a book written by one of their descendants, Ruth Dickerson Gardner, Lunch at Boney’s Mound.

  9 Wanatka statement, Jodil #935.

  10 Ibid.

  11 Cromie and Pinkston, p. 211.

  12 Wanatka told this story often in later years. The details never varied. This version is taken from an interview with the Wisconsin historian Robert Gard.

  13 Cromie and Pinkston, p. 208.

  14 Ibid., p. 210.

  15 Cherrington statement, Jodil #2617.

  16 Nan Wanatka’s original note is included in FBI files.

  17 Toland, p. 270.

  18 Ibid., pp. 270-71.

  19 Hoover, memo to file, April 24, 1934, Jodil #1561.

  20 One of the great pleasures of perusing the FBI files is reading the statements and reports of those at Little Bohemia. Clegg, Purvis, and Rorer each made multiple reports on the evening’s events. Every other agent on the ground that night also made a report; some are long and detailed, others are a single paragraph.

  21 Statement of Agent Virgil Peterson, May 9, 1934, Jodil #1409.

  22 Pat Cherrington statement included in Chicago report, July 16, 1934, Jodil #2617.

  23 Toland, p. 278. Mitchell statements, Jodil #934.

  24 Lange statements in Chicago report, Jodil #934.

  13: “AND IT’S DEATH FOR BONNIE AND CLYDE”

  1 Washington Times, April 24, 1934.

  2 Chicago American, April 27, 1934.

  3 Hoover memo to file, April 25, 1934, Jodil #1044.

  4 Hoover to Stanley, April 25, 1934, Jodil #882.

  5 Statement of James Wilson, including in Chicago report, Sept. 29, 1934, Brekid #2918.

  6 Memo summarizing Volney Davis FBI interview, August 26, 1935, Jodil #6344.

  7 Chicago report, Sept. 9, 1935, Jodil #6381.

  8 Edna Murray, “I Was a Karpis-Barker Gang Moll,” Startling Detective Adventures, October 1936.

  9 Ibid.

  10 Murray, Startling Detective Adventures.

  11 Chicago report, May 17, 1934, Jodil #1478.

  12 The aborted raid is described in a Cincinnati report, May 2, 1934, Jodil #1118, and in a May 3, 1934, letter to Hoover from Connelley, Jodil #1787.

  13 “Local woman recalls Dillinger hold-up,” Fostoria Review Times, April 10, 1990.

  14 “When the Dillinger gang visited Fostoria,” Fostoria Review Times, January 15, 1981.

  15 Hoover to Nathan, May 10, 1934, Jodil 1-8x.

  16 Nathan to Hoover, June 1, 1934, Jodil #2505.

  17 Purvis, pp. 285-86.

  18 Time, April 23, 1934.

  19 Indianapolis News, April 4, 1934.

  20 Each of the agents at the Russ home was obliged to file memos on the stakeout in 1936 after Mrs. Russ complained of damage to her home.

  21 Girardin, pp. 159-60.

  22 “The Day They Shot Bonnie and Clyde,” by Carroll Rich, p. 37, included in Hunters and Healers, University of North Texas Press, Denton, Texas, 1971.

  23 Ibid., p. 37.

  24 Winstead, p. 27.

  25 Methvin v. Oklahoma, p. 135.

  26 Much of the confusion surrounding the chronology of events lies in the timing of Methvin’s “escape.” Various accounts have placed it anywhere from Saturday evening, May 19 (Milner, Treherne, Hinton) to Monday evening, May 21 (Phillips). In his 1936 testimony in an Oklahoma court, where he stood trial for the murder of Constable Cal Campbell, Methvin makes clear it happened on Tuesday morning, May 22.

  27 Hinton, p. 159.

  28 Phillips, p. 197. Ringgold Record, April 26, 1968.

  29 Hinton, pp. 169-70.

  14: NEW FACES

  1 Girardin, pp. 162-63.

  2 Memo, Cowley to Hoover, May 25, 1934, Jodil #1635.

  3 Girardin, p. 170.

  4 Ibid.

  5 Clegg report, March 11, 1932, included in Hollis personnel file.

  6 Ron Owens, Oklahoma Justice, Turner Publishing, 1995, p. 121.

  7 Purvis to Hoover, June 1, 1934, Jodil #1810. Hoover to Cowley, May 28, 1934, Jodil #1685.

  8 Hoover to Purvis, May 29, 1934, Jodil #1832.

  9 Cowley to Hoover, May 29, 1934, Jodil #1707.

  10 Purvis to Hoover, June 2, 1934, Jodil #1762.

  11 Purvis to Hoover, June 1, 1934, Jodil #1810.

  12 Hoover, memo to file, June 4, 1934, Jodil #1877.

  13 Today Samuel Cowley, Jr., is a retiree living in Salt Lake City. Mr. Cowley was very helpful in sharing his mother’s memories of his father.

  14 Hoover memo, Jodil #1877.

  15 Hoover, memo to file, June 4, 1934, Jodil #1819.

  16 Memo, Hoover to Tamm, June 8, 1934, Jodil #1875.

  17 Hoover, memo to file, June 5, 1934, Jodil #1806.

  18 Girardin, p. 176.

  19 Ibid., p. 182.

  20 New York Times, June 29, 1834.

  21 Girardin, p. 183.

  22 Tamm to Hoover, June 9, 1934, Jodil #1899.

  23 Omaha report, June 15, 1934, Jodil #2043; “How Iowa Rubbed Out Dillinger’s Ace Gunman,” Startling Detective Adventures, undated.

  24 Girardin, p. 184.

  25 Girardin, p. 195.

  26 Girardin, pp. 202-3.

  27 Girardin, pp. 197-98.

  28 Girardin, pp. 189-90.

  29 Memo for Hoover, June 29, 1934, Jodil #2454.

  30 Fatso Negri debriefing in Portland, Oregon, report, Dec. 31, 1934, Jodil #5067.

  31 Michiana magazine, June 17, 1984; South Bend Tribune, June 30-July 1, 1934, January 18, 1970.

  15: THE WOMAN IN ORANGE

  1 Girardin, pp. 203-4.

  2 Hammond Times, Jan. 22, 1995.

  3 Chicago Tribune, July 16-17, 1934, Chicago Daily Times, July 16, 1934.

  4 Chicago report, Aug. 4, 1934, Jodil #3218.

  5 Chicago report, July 31, 1934, Jodil #3241.

  6 Girardin, pp. 210-11.

  7 Ibid., pp. 211-12.

  8 Ana Sage statement, Aug. 1, 1934, Jodil #3233.

  9 The Harris letter was discovered in Sage’s apartment during a search by Chicago police. It is described in detail in the Chicago Daily Times, July 25, 1934.

  10 Negri debrief, Dec. 31, 1934.

  11 Tamm to Cowley, July 23, 1934, Jodil #3182.

  12 Every FBI agent involved that night subsequently filed memos detailing their activities. Most are brief, giving few details. Only a handful describe the scene on the nineteenth floor. The time of the assembly, 7:15, is given in Agent Bob Gillespie’s memo.

  13 Purvis vividly describes his feelings that night in American Agent.

  14 Unpublished manuscript, John E. Welles, 1959.

  15 Chicago Tribune, July 23, 1934.

  16 Ibid.

  17 Chicago Tribune, July 26, 1934.

  18 Chicago Daily Times, July 23, 1934.

  19 Hoover to Purvis, July 23, 1934. Purvis personnel file, #270.

  20 Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1934.

  21 Sage gave a detailed version of her days after Dillinger’s death in a 1935 immigration hearing.

  22 Hoover to Tamm, July 25, 1934, Jodil #1-17.

  23 Hoover, memo to file, July 26, 1934, Jodil #3233.

  24 Hoover to Tamm, July 27, 1934, Jodil #2966.

  25 Agents Connor and Murphy to Cowley, Aug. 2, 1934, Jodil #3233.

  26 Connelley to Cowley, Aug. 15, 1934.

  27 Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1934.

  16: THE SCRAMBLE

  1 San Francisco report, Feb. 20, 1935, Jodil #5492.

  2 Chicago report, Feb. 1, 1935, Jodil #5333.

  3 Salt Lake City report, March 7, 1935, Jodil #5607.

  4 San Francisco report, Aug. 18, 1934, Jodil #3596.

  5 Benedict statement, San Francisco report, Jodil #4331, p. 45.

  6 Negri statement, Chicago report, Jodil #5070, p. 32.

  7 Negri article, July 1941. Negri used the pseudonym “Flo” for Backman.

  8 Brantley to Floyd, May 18, 1934, KCM #1659.

  9 Hoover to Cowley, May 18, 1934, KCM #1662.

  10 Hoover to Cowley, May 31, 1934, KCM #1701.

  11 Brantley to Hoover, June 15, 1934, KCM #1781.

  12 Hoover to Tamm, June 23, 1934, KCM #1838.

  13 Hoover to Nathan and Tamm, June 28, 1934, KCM #1868.

  14 Kansas City report, Sept. 5, 1934.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Hoover to Cowley, Sept. 5, 1934, BKF #2791.

  17 Cleveland report, August 25, 1936, BKF #12720.

  18 Cleveland Press, Sept. 6, 1934.

  19 BKF #2978.

  20 BKF #2978, #2918.

  17: A FIELD IN OHIO AND A HIGHWAY IN ILLINOIS

  1 Newby to Tamm, Sept. 17, 1934, KCM #2517.

  2 Hoover to Tamm, Sept. 23, 1934, KCM #2584.

  3 Hoover to Tamm, Sept. 24, 1934, KCM #2585.

  4 New Orleans report, Sept. 27, 1934, KCM #2574.

  5 Galatas statement included in New Orleans report, KCM #2574.

  6 Tamm to Hoover, Sept. 24, 1934, KCM, #2596.