The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-31

said PlerpOnt. Inc cops put
the bullet holes in their own
car to show how tough the
pursuit had been. They're not
only crooked, but yellow"
Pierpont refused to say exactly
how many times the gang visited
Indianapolis while they were at
large, but admitted that their visits
numbered more than score. De-
nying that they had lived in a
swamp near indianapolis, Makley
said that the gang had not missed
meal or bed" since their eS-
cape from the state prison. Pier
Poat7 told the following stocg'; --.--.
"One night I went to an Indian
apolis newspaper Office and stayed
in it for nearly half an hour. 1t
was the day the afternoon papers
printed the story of Captain Leach
receiving the book from a we'll
wisher entitled How to Be a De-
tective."
II looked through the back files
of the paper, reading the stories
about our exploits of them
not quite exact" On the way out
ran into a man 1 had known all
my life. I ducked my head and he
failed to recognize me-"
"Pierpont said he knew hundreds
of people in Indianapolis, having
gone to school there.
Hamilton Reported Dead
The bullet-riddled body of John
Hamilton, one of the Dillinger ter
ror mob leaders, was tossed into a
river in the Calumet following hold
up of the National bank of East
Chicago, it was reported today.
Officers en- route to Chicago and
Michigan City Qnd0 state prison
with Harry Pierpont, Russell Clark
and Charles Makley voiced the be-
lief that Hamilton is dead of bullet
wounds he received in the East Chi
cago holdup in which patrolman
Patrick O'Malley was slain.
Hamilton, like the trio on the
train, an escaped convict, is alleged
to have been one of the four or five
mobSters who, armed with bullet
proof vests, fought gun battle with
O'Malley and other officers defend
ing the bank.
His bulletproof vest is believed tc
have been shattered by a slug
which split in two parts and pene-
trated his body.
Vest of Cheap Make
The vest he wore, it is reported
was of cheap variety and did not
protect his groin and upper part OF
his chest. Other bullets are be-
heved to have penetrated these
parts of his body.
Supporters of the latest theory as
to Hamilton's whereabouts believe
he was loaded into an automobile
by his fellow mobsters and died
while in the car. His body was
heaved into river when the gang
crossed a bridge, it is reported.
Police found blood spIotches in the
later abandoned automobile which
Indicated one OF the fleeing mob
sters had been wounded critically.
Further questioning of Pierpont,
alleged trigger man of the Dillinger
mob, indicated that John Dillinger
merely was the titular head of the
gang and served as custodian of the
treasury.
1t long has been the contention of
Captain Matt Leach of the Indiana
state police that Pierpont was the
real leader Of the gang and that
his was the mind that planned de-
tails of holdups which Melted APP
prosimately quarter of a million
dollars.
Pierpont practically admitted, in
conversations with Captain Leach,
to being the brains" of the mob.
Where formerly the mobsters and
their women had been blithe and
sometimes defiant. they now were
subdued, so subdued that for many
hours on the train police were
alarmed fearing the calm before
the storm.
Captain Leach and his men,
armed with shotguns, stood nerv-
ouSly at each end of the prison car.
They recalled reports which have
persisted for several days that
henchmen of the gangsters were
coming westward to free the prison.
ers.