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Little Bohemia Lodge

The members of the John Dillinger Gang didn't travel together. They arrived at Little Bohemia in separate vehicles. Likewise, they didn't all stay together

in the central area of the Lodge. Lester Gillis, otherwise known as Baby Face Nelson, was known to the staff at Little Bohemia as "Jimmie." The bartender there, said he liked "Jimmie" because he left a nice tip, $5.00, "a fortune in those days," he said. Jimmie and his wife, Helen Gillis, stayed in the cottage

which was a few yards away from the central Lodge. The other members of the gang, Tommy Carroll with his moll, Jean Delaney Crompton, shared one room upstairs.

Homer Van Meter, with his moll Marie "Mickey" Comforti, John Hamilton and Dillinger could look out the back windows of the Lodge. Their rooms were very small. When they slipped out the windows when the firing started, they were confronted with an embankment that slid down into the Little Star Lake.

The lay of the land confused the FBI agents, as they were unfamiliar with the landscape, and it was pitch black darkness when they advanced upon Little Bohemia Lodge.

After the firing started, Baby Face Nelson took an escape route, on foot, along the Little Star Lake. His destination was Lang's Lodge.

It was not much of a vacation for the Dillinger molls. Pat Cherrington, who was there only briefly before she left with gang accomplice Pat Reilly, was feeling sick. Marie Comforti, dressed in a riding outfit, was bored in the country. Jean Delaney Crompton had brought a book to read. She may have become accustomed to the boredom of life on the lam, and found reading to provide an escape. Helen Gillis was, by that time, in a state of deep anxiety. It would get worse after the arrests at Little Bohemia that would occur in the pre-dawn.

Tucson, Arizona

As we stated earlier, the members of the Dillinger Gang didn't travel together. Another example of the different factions, going about in separate cars, is the sensational story of the arrest in Tucson, Arizona. The members of the Dillinger gang, who were commonly called the "Terror Gang," arrived in Tucson, Arizona, according to each one's schedule during January, 1934. The dates that each arrived are approximated by the records shown on old hotel registry records.

From the registry at the Arizona Motel, it is known that John and Evelyn Frechette occupied one room, while Harry "Pete" Pierpont and Mary Kinder occupied another. Mary Kinder dreaded the thought of going to Tucson, by the way. She claimed that a voice inside her head had

warned her, "Don't go to Tucson."

Later on, days after the gang escaped from their third floor rooms in the Congress Hotel, Opal Long and Russell Clark had rented a small house at 927 East Second Street.

That is the location where Clark, Opal Long, and later, John Dillinger and Evelyn Frechette, all met members of the Tucson Police Department, who greated them with handcuffs.

Mary Kinder and Harry Pierpont were driving through Tucson. They were stopped by a traffic light on 19th Street and 6th Avenue by Frank Eyman, Jay Smith, and Mickey Nolan, all members of the Tucson Police Department.

After their arrest, the members of the Dillinger Gang were arraigned in the Pima County Courthouse. They were taken from the stationhouse to the court, and were imprisoned there while their fate was decided. The decisions made while the gang remained imprisoned in Tucson, would directly affect their fate. Clark,

Makley and Pierpont were extradicted to Ohio to stand trial for the murder of Sheriff Jess Sarber, killed in Lima, Ohio. Dillinger was slated to go to Indiana, to stand trial for the murder of Patrolman William O'Malley. While the male members of the Dillinger gang were ascribed to the states promising the death penalty for the murders of its police officers, the women remained behind bars in the same location.

The Gun Molls of the 1930s lost their vacation time to prison, on more than one occasion.


Continued on the next page:
They left their Hearts in San Francisco

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