Historical Research & Writing History

I just finished an article on Evelyn Billie Franchete. She was John Dillinger's girlfriend who found herself in prison for protecting him. The piece is after the John Dillinger article, so, if you already read the Dillinger piece, you will need to scroll down. If you haven't read the Dillinger piece, I encourage you to do so - then scroll down.

While researching Evelyn Frechette I found myself feeling sorry for her. There isn't a whole lot on the web about her and ancestry.com has less. The fact that she is of American Indian decent has helped to perserve some of her history.

There is no doubt that I'm a romantic and therefore believe that she and Dillinger had a very special love, but their time together was short.

picture from Ellen Poulsen's website

When she was arrested, Dillinger cried and wanted to break her out of prison. Although he found other women to fulfill his needs, somehow, his heart still belonged to Billie. This is obvious when he traveled to Milan, MI to check out the prison Billie was in. He wanted to figure out how he could get her out. But the prison was a fortress, so he gave up the idea and moved on.

I asked Ellen Poulsen, the author of Don?t Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang, where id Evelyn get her nickname "Billie?" Ms.Poulsen wasn't sure, but believes it had something to do with Evelyn's father. His name was William. There is also suspicion that Evelyn had a baby who was stillborn. The baby's name was Billy. Whether it is true she had a baby or not is unknow.

The other interesting thing about Evelyn is her obituary. When I was trying to locate the original obit that was in the newspaper I learned that her name on the obituary is Evelyn Wilson, the last name of her second husband. Why that is, I don't know and Ms. Poulsen wasn't sure either. At the time of her death she was married to Arthur Tic. She never had any children to either husband.

Although, I wrote this article on Ms. Frechette, I don't believe I'm done researching her. Like I said earlier, I have become very fond of her.

One more history tidbit - during this crime wave the dust bowl was occurring in the midwest. To get an idea of what the weather was like in the 1930s click here.

Here is Evelyn's Obituary.