Dillinger's Escape Worked. That Was His Mistake.

In January 1934, John Dillinger was delivered to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, to await trial for the murder of East Chicago police officer William Patrick O'Malley. The building held more than fifty officers. Local authorities told reporters it was escape-proof, and the sheriff and prosecutor posed for photographs with their famous prisoner to prove how thoroughly he'd been contained. On the morning of March 3rd, Dillinger walked out with two Thompson submachine guns, the sheriff's Ford V-8, and roughly fifteen dollars collected from the men he'd just locked in their own cells. The weapon that started it was carved from wood. This is the story of how the escape happened, why the collection mattered more than the money, and how driving a stolen car across the Indiana state line turned a state fugitive into a federal target and gave J. Edgar Hoover the case he'd been waiting for. Support the Eclectic Historical Society on Patreon, and visit EclecticHistoricalSociety.com for merch.