Historical & Genealogy Research

In March, Michael Mann took Hollywood to small town Columbus, WI to began filming the story of John Dillinger.

The movie is based on Bryan Burrough's book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933 – 34. The cast includes:

• Johnny Depp as John Dillinger
• Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd
• Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson
• Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette
• Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent determined to get Dillinger
  

The book was published in 2004 and made the New York Times bestseller list.

Bryan Burrough’s Book Is Unique

Never before has a book based on the 1930s crime spree in the United States ever been documented where it combined the likes of

• Bonnie and Clyde
• Ma Barker
• Baby Face Nelson
• Pretty Boy Floyd
• John Dillinger
• J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The FBI

In 1932, the Bureau of Investigation at the Justice Department (later became the FBI) did not have the power of arrest, nor permitted to carry firearms. Their main responsibilities included:

• Crimes on Indian reservations
• Crimes in Alaska
• Returning escaped prisoners to prison

On June 17, 1933, in Kansas City, Missouri, a half dozen-law enforcement officers including four investigators were returning Frank Nash to Leavenworth State Penitentiary when a group of men led by Pretty Boy Floyd ambushed them. Killed in the ambush were several of the enforcement officers including one investigator. The event, referred to as the Kansas City Massacre, set off the making of the FBI.

J. Edger Hoover Proclaims War on Crime

A year and a half after the Kansas City Massacre, as part of the Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the United States Congress gave authority to federal agents to make arrests and to carry firearms. Prior to the event in Missouri, Hoover was on the verge of losing his job as head of the Bureau of Investigation, but with the occurrence of the massacre, he saw a chance to let his light shine and aggressively began to go after the villains of the 1930s crime wave.

John Dillinger

Of the five mentioned gangsters in Burrough’s book and according to the FBI Official website Hoover wanted John Dillinger the most. Dillinger had charisma and public appeal.

The Great Depression caused many people to lose their homes to greedy bankers, which influenced the public to see Dillinger as a Twentieth Century Robin Hood. In 1934, a photo taken with Dillinger and Robert Estill, Distirict Attorney, standing in front of the Crown Point Jail in Indiana shows Dillinger nonchalantly resting his arm on the DA's shoulder. According to Burrough, this photo enraged Hoover.

Not only did Dillinger and his gang rob banks they also took machine guns, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, and several bulletproof vests from police arsenals in Auburn and Peru, Indiana.

The FBI refers to Dillinger as notorious and a vicious thief. During his crime spree, he only killed one person and that was during a bank robbery in Chicago, Illinois. The person happened to be a police officer.

Ana Sage, a Romanian immigrant, eventually set up Dillinger. Melvin Purvis approached Ms. Sage and threatened her with deportation if she would not agree to help catch Dillinger. Sage agreed to wear an orange dress the night she, Polly Hamilton, and Dillinger went to see the movie Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The orange dress helped Purvis determine which person was Dillinger when walking out of the theatre. At 10:30 p.m. on July 22, 1934, John Dillinger was shot and killed.

J. Edgar Hoover

Public Enemies shows a young Hoover before he let his arrogance control him. By the time of his death in 1972, many people feared J. Edgar Hoover and the things he knew. According to the May 15, 1972 Time magazine article Hoover’s pride and prejudices were strong, especially where the autonomy of his bureau was concerned. With Attorney General Robert Kennedy “he fought a battle of wills over FBI operations and their animosity was obvious.”

If you would like to read more about the filming of Public Enemies, Bryan Burrough's thoughts on his book becoming a movie or if you are a Johnny Depp fan here are three very informative sites:

Public Enemies - Columbus, WI Blog

Bryan Burrough"s Blog at Vanity Fair Magazine

Johnny Depp Reads

Sources:

Burrough, Bryan. Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-1934. New York: Penguin Books, 2004

Times. The Long Reign of J. Edgar Hoover. May 15, 1972

The Official FBI Website

It is not unusual to google Evelyn Billie Frechette and come up with references to Michael Mann’s movie, Public Enemies. Since Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard (playing Frechette), Christian Bale hit the streets of Wisconsin the story of Dillinger and “his” girl have become a hot topic. But who was Evelyn “Billie” Frechette?

 

The Early Years

 

Frechette was born in September 15, 1907. Her mother was from the Menominee tribe and her father was French. They lived on the Menominee Indian Reservation. When she was thirteen, she moved to Flandreau, South Dakota to attend a Native American Boarding School.

 

At the age of eighteen, Ms. Frechette moved to Chicago, Illinois where she worked as a nursemaid and as a waitress. She later married Welton Spark who in 1933 went to prison for stealing mail.

 

Meeting Dillinger

 

In August of 1934, Evelyn wrote an article for The Chicago Herald and Examiner about her relationship with John Dillinger. She begins her story by saying, “The one big thing that happened to me was that I fell in love with John Dillinger.”

 

She met Dillinger in 1933 at the Steuben Club, a safe haven for Al Capone cronies and other gangsters hiding away from the law. His eyes caught her attention. She said, “There was something in those eyes that I will never forget. They were piercing and electric, yet there was an amused carefree twinkle in them too.” Frechette went on to say Dillinger was good to her. He bought her gifts such as jewelry, cars, and pets. He treated her like a lady.

 

According to a PBS documentary, Ms. Frechette only once drove the getaway car for Dillinger because of a wounded leg and that was after the FBI learned where their apartment was.

 

Evelyn Billie Frechette is Arrested

 

Dillinger was placed in the Crown Point Jail after being arrested for shooting Officer William O’Malley; a few days later, Dillinger escaped by using a wooden gun. He met up with his girl and together they traveled, spent money, and rested at the Dillinger family farm. On Sunday, April 8, 1934, Billie and John Dillinger left the farm and headed to Chicago.

 

On April 9, Billie and Dillinger stopped in front of the *Tumble Inn. Billie got out of the car and went inside to talk with Larry Strong, a friend of hers, about where to stay in Chicago. Little did she know that Melvin Purvis would be in the bar waiting for her. Outside the detectives waited for Purvis to motion them to come inside the bar. They did not recognize Dillinger as he sat in the car and watched his girl come out of the Tumble Inn in handcuffs. As he slowly drove away from the scene, he cried. No other woman affected him the way Frechette did.

 

Frechette mocked Purvis and his men by telling them they missed capturing Dillinger. She told Purvis that Dillinger was with her in the bar and they did not even know it. Purvis shook the comment off, but realized Dillinger was the man sitting in the car outside the Tumble Inn.

 

Purvis interrogated Frechette from the time of her arrest into the next morning. Finally, Mrs. Rogers, Purvis’ secretary, took pity on Frechette and persuaded Purvis to allow her to take Frechette to the ladies’ room and to get some sleep. Hesitantly Purvis agrees.  

 

Dillinger Wants to Rescue His Girl

 

Louis Piquett, Dillinger’s attorney, represented Billie, but to no avail, he lost the case.  Apparently, representing someone who is on trial for harboring a criminal did not interest him. Billie was sentenced to two years in a Michigan federal prison.

 

Dillinger became enraged with the way “the system” treated Frechette. He learned the detectives refused her food, water, and beat her during the interrogation. He vowed to kill Harold H. Reinecke, the man in charge of her interrogation. Piquett threatened to resign as his attorney if Dillinger killed anyone, so Dillinger relinquished his idea.

 

John Dillinger wanted to free Billie from prison. In a letter Frechette wrote to Dillinger she begged him to not try and free her out of fear of his being killed. Still, Dillinger traveled to Milan, Michigan to where the prison was located. After realizing the prison was a fortress he gave up the idea of rescuing her. Agents from the United States federal government later killed Dillinger outside the Biograph Theatre.

 

After Prison

 

Evelyn Billie Frechette was released from prison in 1936. She joined Dillinger family members and traveled the United States promoting “Crime Doesn’t Pay”. She went on to marry Wally Wilson. The marriage ended in divorce. She later married Arthur Tic. She died of cancer on January 13, 1969 and buried at the Neopit Cemetery in Neopit, Wisconsin.

 

I want to thank Mikki at the Shawano Public Library in Shawano, WI for getting Ms. Frechette’s obituary notice to me on such short notice. I also want to thank Ellen Poulsen who graciously returned my phone call and answered my questions.E

Edited June 20, 2008 ~ As I continued doing research on Evelyn Frechette I learned that the Tumble Inn was located on the corner of Austin-State Tavern. This explains Ms. Poulsen's reference and Mr. Helmers reference to the Austin-State Tavern.

Edited June 12, 2008 ~ In further research I learned that Evelyn was actually arrested at the Austin-State Tavern, was located at the time 416 N. State Street. You can see a picture of the Tavern's location check out Ellen Poulsen's website. I want to thank Olivia at the Chicago Historical Society for helping with clarifying the name of the tavern. The tavern's name is also referred to in Dillinger: the Untold Story, by G. Russell Girardin & William J. Helmer.

Click here to see Evelyn's Obituary

If you would like to comment on either the Dillinger or Frechette article click here.

 

Sources:

Burrough, Bryan. Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-1934. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.

 

Poulsen, Ellen. Don’t Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang. New York, Clinton Cook Publishing Corp., 2002

 

Purvis, Alston. FBI Hero Melvin Purvis's War Against Crime, And J. Edgar Hoover's War Against Him. New York, 2005

 

The FBI History Files

 

PBS American Experience: Public Enemy #1: John Dillinger’s Girl

 

Ancestry.com