The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-10-27

Back in Dayton, o., John
Dillinger, awaiting trial for
a robbery, plotted feverishly.
Through the very bars of the Jail
came his plans. His secret agent
was a woman, said now by police to
be Mary Kinder. Another woman,
sister OF a Michigan City convict, is
suspected of helping chart the bru-
tai and fiendish course.
Through the criminaly crazed
mind of John Dillinger came plan,
so devastating and so ambitious
that Indiana was to be clutched in
the grip of a reign of terror" for
weeks.
In the Indiana state prison the
shirt factory hummed with indus
try on the fateful day of Sept.
rs. Gray-cIad cOnvicts worked
over looms. Guards glanced about
indifferentIy. 1t was all in the
days work.
Suddenly, quietly, menacingly,
ten cOnvicts faced guards with
drawn guns-guns Smuggled into
the factory. A prison officer was
forced to lead the mob at the
point of a gun as it marched to-
ward the gates.
Reign of Terror Starts
Once outside the prison gates the
convicts Communicated the automo-
bile of Sheriff William Neal and,
holding him as hostage, drove into
swampland in the vicinity of the
prison. The automobile became
mired.
Plans awry, the convictS ranged
through the woods and farm lands
for three days scheming to get in
contact with Dillinger. In those
days swung the delicate pendulum
of escape or capture.
State police under Captain Matt
Leach, surrounded the scene and
at times were as close as fifteen
yarQS TO CIle CTlIulIldIS.
One member of the gang, James
Clark, could not stand the rigors
of sleepleSs and foodleSs days and
nights. He became i'll. The mob
left him with Sheriff Neal.
Terrified by Threats
Clark was captured soon after he
and Neal limped YEARLY into Ham,
mond. Later, arriving at state
police headquarters for questioning,
the veteran sheriff said that con-
victs had treated him roughly and
had conf1ded nothing to him. Ter
rified by threats against his wife
and children, Neal said he had been
afraid to cry out when he actually
had seen state policemen on the
trail.
Meanwhile, continuing their
desperate race for freedom, the
convicts stole one automobile
after another. They contacted
their agent, the mysterious wOm-
an, now said to be Mary
Kinder. sometime before or on
Sept. 2S.
The mysterious woman fur
nished them money as they lay in
anxious SeclusiOn somewhere near
Indianapolis. Clothing was pur-
chased for them.
Escape From Tight Spot"
Making their getaway, the fee
ing criminals almost were appre-
hended on the National highway
near the city. One convict, James
Jenkins. was thrown out of the car
as it Swerved to escape pursuing
state police. He fled into field.
A half-hour later he kidnapped
Victor Lyle, an indianapolis man,
stuck gun in his ribs, and grimly
commanded him to get going
south" At Nashville, in Brown
county. Lyle fed home as they
stopped at filling station.
Farmers in Bean Blossom, a few
miles east of Nashville, attempted
to halt jenkins as he prowled
through the backways of the town.
He fired. wounding a farmer, but
was killed in the ensuing Skirmish.
That was Sept. 80.
On Oct. 4, Charles Makley.
escaped convict. was branded as one
of a bandit mob which held up a
bank in st. Marys, o., escaping with
$4,000 loot.
Sheriff Is Murdered
Two days later, Joseph Fox,
escaped convict, was named as one
of the holdup men involved in the
raid on a Gas City QndO bank.
DiIIinger had been placed in a
small Jail at Lima. There, wait
ing, he watched his plans develop.
On the night of Oct. IL, the
mobSters raided the Jail. Murder
ing in cold blood Sheriff Jesse
Sarber, who resisted them, they
liberated Dillinger and vanished.
Burdened with a terrific hate of
society, the mob went into action
swiftly. It was a group gathered
curiously from all walks of life
laborers. Q plumber. carpenter
the disciples of crime.
Dillinger drifted into crime after
a drinking spree in Moores-
vile. He and a companion robbed
an aged grocer and when his &C
complete fed, Diilinger completed
the holdup. He was given the
maximum sentence. He served both
in the state reformatcry and at