Free The Mammoth Book of Prison Breaks by Paul Simpson Page A

O’Malley, while making his getaway. Dillinger denied that he was responsible for the death, but the policeman who he was holding hostage at the time, Hobart Wilgus, was adamant that Dillinger fired the sub-machine-gun burst.
    Dillinger and the gang were apprehended on 23 January, after a fire broke out in the hotel where Russell Clark and Charles Makley were living. The firemen recognized them from the many Wanted posters of Dillinger’s men that were circulating; the local police found three Thompson sub-machine guns, two Winchester rifles mounted as machine guns, five bulletproof vests, and more than $25,000 in cash. Arraigned in a Tucson, Arizona court on 25 January, they were dispersed around the country, with Dillinger sent by plane back to Crown Point, Indiana, on 30 January to stand trial for the murder of O’Malley. (Such air travel was a novelty, and apparently Dillinger complained the whole time.) The others were transferred to Ohio to answer charges of murder for Sheriff Sarber; within weeks, they were tried and convicted.
    Once he had arrived at Lake County jail, Dillinger turned on the charm to the gathered reporters, agreeing to pose for photos with the local sheriff, Lillian Holley, and prosecuting attorney Robert Estill – both would lose their jobs as a direct result of their apparent chumminess with the alleged murderer after his escape. He claimed he was “not a bad fellow, ladies and gentlemen. I was just an unfortunate boy who started wrong,” and answered Sheriff Holley’s boast that she could keep him with a simple statement that she couldn’t.
    Dillinger appeared before the court on 5 February, and was charged four days later. Although the authorities wanted to move him away from Crown Point, his lawyer, Lou Piquett argued against it. Security measures were kept tight initially – footage can be watched online of hordes of policemen, toting shotguns, keeping guard outside Lake County – but it was gradually relaxed as Dillinger appeared resigned to his fate.
    He was nothing of the sort. Using razor blades, the gangster carved himself a fake Colt .38 revolver out of washboard, with a quarter-inch copper tube inserted to simulate a barrel. (Or possibly, he arranged for a real one to be smuggled in – there is no definitive evidence either way, and three separate “Dillinger guns” can be found on display in museums, each claiming to be the fake that he created!) At 9.15 a.m. on 3 March, nine days before his trial was scheduled to start, Dillinger used the gun to take one of the guards, officer Baker, hostage. He then seized two .45 automatic pistols from a couple of National Guardsmen who had been watching over another prisoner, Herbert Youngblood, as well as a couple of machine guns. He tried to persuade other prisoners to come along, but they refused – only Youngblood was willing to accompany him. Taking deputy sheriff Ernest Blunk with them as a hostage, they exited through a kitchen and a side entrance to the jail. After Youngblood checked for any watchers, Dillinger walked Blunk through to the police garage, and then out into the street. They then went to the Main Street garage, where they took mechanic Edwin Saagar hostage, and proceeded to steal the sheriff’s car! (Dillinger asked Saagar which was the fastest car in the garage, and the mechanic indicated the V8 – it wasn’t a deliberate choice to cock a snook at law enforcement, contrary to the legend.) Blunk was forced to drive the car at gunpoint across country. When Dillinger let his hostages go, he handed Saagar four dollars as recompense. A postal worker who saw Dillinger’s escape called the police, but was told that he must be mad. Only after he insisted did they take him seriously – and discovered the truth.
    Dillinger survived on the run for four more months, but since he had crossed the state line in the stolen car, the Bureau of Investigation were hot on his trail, with Special Agent in Charge Melvin Purvis