John Dillinger's Shoot Out in St. Paul Apartments!

well you know you're in Charles Schultz's territory when you see this outside of a Veterinary Center how cool is that so what brings me to this part of St Paul is the Lincoln Court departments it was early in 1934 the Ramsey County grand jury had been commissioned to look into allegations that the St Paul police department here in Minnesota was actually creating a Haven for Hardon Criminal like John Dillinger the report said that there was no basis for that allegation whatsoever but on March 31st 1934 when they were releasing that report saying there was no such corruption going on John Dillinger was here shooting it out with FBI agents join us as we talk about that incident on this episode of History HS [Music] now allegedly John Dillinger's apartment was that corner window right there third floor room 303 he was staying here with his girlfriend now how is it that John Dillinger was here well he had escaped from a jail in Indiana on March 3rd 1934 and he reunited with members of his gang here in the Twin Cities and from a number of hideouts Dylan J yangang committed a number of bankr craies across the Midwest on March 19th Dillinger and his longtime girlfriend Evelyn frette used fake names to rent apartment number 303 at the Lincoln Court Apartments here just a block south of the Grand Avenue on Lexington the two were suspicious because they always came and went through the back door and refused to let the maintenance worker into their apartment to fix the bathroom fixture so the landlord called the FBI to look into their tenants strange Behavior allegedly she would come out on the front lawn and hang Dillinger laundry wearing a halter top and short shorts to federal agents and a St Paul police detective staked out the building on the evening of March 30th unaware that they were surveilling the most wanted criminal in the country what is up with you say no I'm from California and she's from Florida this one yeah come on WOW no you can just see that go straight up okay you're going have to go on the other side all right that was how do you get through yeah okay do just thanks so much kind of gentlemen let me in we're going to go to the third floor and see the place where the shootout was this place is very old all right it was room 303 where John Dillinger was staying the bullets hit down here there's 304 oh here it is 303 John Dinger room FBI agents came to this door knocked on it Miss FR frette I believe it was her name she came out picked her head out said just a minute I need to get dressed John Dillinger pops out the door and starts shooting down this way FBI agents were down this way but that's the John Dinger room a local newspaper ran this photo showing how the apartment looked after Dillinger and frette left in a hurry the shootout in this hallway involved Dillinger and accomplice Homer Van Meter exchanging gunfire with three law enforcement agents it's believed the Van Meter charged down this hallway with guns blazing to force federal agent RC couter down the stairs I just came up Diller then fired his machine gun towards City detective Henry Cummings who ducked into the stairwell the door at the end of the hallway was hit 14 times the doors of of 303 and 304 were sprayed with bullets as well none of the officers were hit but Dillinger was struck in the lake by a bullet so after the shooting John Dinger and his accompass two accompass come down running down this way I don't think there's any evidence of the bullets today I'm sure they've changed things since then but John Dinger and his two accomplishes come running down this way out the back down this flight of stairs [Music] come running out these doors right [Music] here the shootout continues there was a boy up there in that house he sees John Dillinger and uh he recognizes him and then he actually has a shotgun or something under his bed and he's ready to take aim at John Dillinger out here who's shooting it out with FBI agents and at that point his mother walks in the room says what are you doing takes the gun away from him and prevents him from shooting John Dillinger right here on the spot now the trio made their way up to Wisconsin and that was a great getaway and then from that point on later in the year John Zer was actually executed out in front of a theater now his escape and The Manhunt that followed led to front pages of the city's newspapers for about a week John Herbert Diller was a notorious gangster during the Great Depression and was accused of robbing 12 Banks and four police stations Diller was imprisoned several times and escaped twice he was charged but not convicted of murdering an East Chicago Indiana police officer who shot Dillinger in his bulletproof vest during a shootout it was the only time that Dillinger was charged with homicide Dillinger was raised by a strick father after his mother died when he was four he became rebellious as a teenager quick to fight and Bully smaller children and willing to steal for what he wanted he quit school to go to work but quickly believed that stealing would be better his first arrest came in 1922 for stealing a car after a short time in the Navy he deserted ship and fell into a life of crime in 1924 Diller and a friend attempted to rob a store owner in his hometown of moresville Indiana during the robbery Dillinger struck the victim in the head with a machine bolt wrapped in cloth and carried a gun which although it discharged hit no one a local Pastor identified the two and both were arrested Dillinger was convicted of assault in battery with intent to Rob and conspiracy to commit a felony John Dillinger senior was certainly not the first parent who was in denial about his child's propensity for violence and criminal ways in a letter I got from John from L Ohio he said that don't believe half that's in the newspapers for 10 and so and says I haven't hurt anybody and even if he has robbed a bank or two about John's escape from Crown Point I think he just watched for a chain he want to get away because they're trying to make a mountain out of mole here it is so cold to think of the history that happened right here Johan Dillinger almost met his fate from a young boy who recognized him as American's number one wanted criminal could have ended right here but it didn't now I have no way of knowing which way Dillinger escaped if he escaped out this way out the back alley that way towards that street or if he came out this street here but anyway they made their getaway Bo today something like that never would have happened they would have got there man Diller could have gone back here or I could gone back here Diller fad and Van Meter escaped to the Little Bohemia Lodge in Wisconsin authorities would engage in a bot raid and gun battle on April 23rd 1934 One agent and a Tavern customer were killed but all the gangsters Got Away in an attempt to change their looks in May Dillinger and Van Meter underwent painful plastic surgery in Chicago and spent the next month recuperating at the home of a bar owner after that it was right back to robbing banks on June 30th the Diller gang robbed a bank in South Bend Indiana where officer Harold Wagner was killed and $30,000 was stolen Diller July 4th move to the apartment of a brothel owner named Anna Sage would prove to be his undoing the Romanian native was facing deportation and came up with the idea to turn in Dillinger to the FBI in exchange for not being deported FBI agent Melvin peris agreed to do all the he could but made no promises Diller himself was not taken alive Sage tipped off authorities that he would be watching Manhattan melodrama a movie starring Clark Gable at the Biograph Theater in Chicago on the night of July 22nd 1934 [Music] one last bet you know my out the Lady Luck I've heard about it I'll play it against the 40,000 it's worth a lot more spinning I'm on the OD when he and his party left the theater Dillinger was shot in a nearby [Music] Alleyway I have no idea how old these apartments are but they must be at least 100 years old considering that Dillinger was staying here in 1934 so at least 90 so let me know of I was so fortunate that I caught a resident he was out here going to take his dogs out to let them relieve themselves and when I told him what I was doing he was a little apprehensive about letting me in the building but he didn't let me in the building and uh I'm very grateful for him so if you're watching this sir thank you so much and there he goes there is no historical plaque at this site which means you have to know the local history to have a clue as to the 1934 shootout that happened on the third floor I think that's s really cool I mean if you're into crime history animals of crime of the United States John Dillinger is about tops and uh the fact that he lived here and was living undercover uh under the radar of the FBI it's kind of amazing when you think about it you just when you're in this neighborhood it looks very peaceful very upscale but uh to think all this happened right here incredible at the Cook County morg Dillinger's body was placed on display like a trophy behind glass for public gawking it's estimated that 15,000 curiosity Seekers braved triple digigit heat to view the corpse during a 2-day maab spectacle John Dillinger Senor had traveled from moresville Indiana to Chicago to accompany the body of his son in a hearse it was a saring hot day as the hearse and funeral party made a stop at a roadside rest in br Indiana on July 24th 1934 to permit the father of the slain Desperado to get some relief from the intense heat once in morisville the body was prepared at the Harvey Funeral Home Diller was laid to rest in the Crown Hill cemeter in Indianapolis next to his mother Molly his father later joined him his grave is well visited as evidence by how his marker has been shipped Away by souvenir Seekers I drove to the Wabasha Street Caves along the Mississippi River where Dillinger and other gangsters reportedly frequented and were boot LED alcohol was stored unfortunately it was on the day when the caves weren't open the Wabasha Street Caves were carved out of sandstone and date back to the 1840s in the 1920s the caves were used as a restaurant and Nightclub venue known as the Wabasha Street speaky the Speak Easy was said to have been frequented by gangsters such as John Dillinger and M Barker throughout history the caves have been used for a number of different activities including growing mushrooms storage of food and belongings music and dancing on October 26th 1933 the caves became the castle Royale which were closed in the late 1930s due to the start of World War II and went back to primarily being a place to grow mushrooms sometime in the 1930s Castle Royale 2 was opened as a venue for disco music this is dillingers Hudson Essex terplan I'm assuming this is that [Music] car you may be asking what became a billy fette she was arrested by the f bi on April 9th 1934 as Dillinger watched helplessly he drove around the block several times before Pat shington the girlfriend of Dillinger gang member John Hamilton convinced him that he would be killed if he tried to rescue fette Dillinger cried like a baby when his woman was captured frett are 2 years in federal prison for harboring a criminal she remarried and became the wife of AR tick she died on an Indian reservation in January 1969 not in 1970 as her marker States and is buried in the woodon cemetery of Shiana Wisconsin she never regretted being Diller [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] girl thank you again for watching this episode of History Hunters if it's not too much trouble could you please leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of this episode if you could also subscribe to history hunters and hit the notification Bell that would help the reach of this channel tell your friends about history Hunters [Music]

Channel: History Hunters

Views: 14,342

Keywords: History Hunters, John Dillinger, Famous Criminals, St. Paul Minnesota history, Melvin Purvis, Evelyn Frechette, Wabasha Caves

Id: 126nT7V64No

Length: 16min 10sec (970 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024