The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-11-28

Mrs. Frances Kramer, oper-
ator of a filling station on the
outskirts of harrington, ILL.,,
where the gun battle took
place late yesterday, testified
Nelson and his companion
fired volley of machine gun bull
lets into the body of Herman E.
Hollis as he lay dying in a ditch.
The gangsters then turned their
weapon upon Samuel P. Cowley, ace
agent of the governments famed
death squad" wounding him ia
tally.
The department of justice auto
mobile in which Nelson, his wife and
the other man fled after the killings
was found in Winnetka, north shore
suburb, today.
Seat Caked With Blood
The front seat was caked with
blood and the tonneau riddled with
bullets, indicating that one of the
occupants may have been badly
wounded.
The route of the fleeing killers
was believed to lead along the
shores of Lake Michigan.
The car found today bore nearly
a hundred bullet marks.
Inspector Cowley died clinging to
the hand of his youthful wife. His s.
months-old son cried in the hospital
room beneath his. He left a Agar
old son in Chicago. Agent Hollis,
Just %, was married and. also the
father of another 4-year-old boy.
Nelson, Americas public enemy
NO. l, and also charged with MUIR
dering Federal Agent w. Carter
Baum last spring, was positively
Identified as leader of last nights
murderers.
Whispering a few sobbing words
before an emergency operation for
two bullet wounds in his abdomen,
Mr.. Cowley said he was certain that
one had been Nelson.
Entire Force Modified
Mr.. Cowley regained consciousness
only for moment after the opera
ton in the Sherman hospital in Ell
gin. Melvin Purvis, chief federal
agent in the Chicago district, was
able to say only that BABY Face
Nelson was the man who killed
Hollis. We think woman with him
was his wife. We don't know who
the second man was"
Under direction of j. Edgar
Hoover, chief Of the federal division
OF investigation, the entire federal
force in the middle west was mob
lllzed TO run the killers to earth.
From Washington, Mr.. Hoover sent
Inspector H. H. Clegg, chief among
those who trapped Richard Bruno
Hauptmann in the Lindbergh kid
MAPPING case, to take charge of the
Nelson search.
Every agent available was sent out
on to the roads of northern Illinois
or assigned to search through un-
derworld hideouts.
Learned License Number
Only "a. Nelson is classified as the
most desperate criminal at large in
the United States. He is the only
desperate for whom a federal re-
ward is outstanding.
Both Mr.. Cowley and Mr.. Hollis
were among federal agents who
trapped and killed Nelson's chief.
Dillinger. The federal agent who
fired the shots that ended Dillinger's
life is not known, but it could have
been either Cowley or Hollis.
Mr.. Cowley had been in charge
of the search for Nelson for months.
For the last six weeks Mr.. CoWley
worked on tip that the last i'm
portant member of Dillingers gang
had hideout about forty miles
west Of Chicago. With eight men
circulating quietly through the re-
gion, he had learned the license
number of Baby Faces" car.
Yesterday he and Mr. Hollis, one
OF the youngest of federal agents,
we're returning through harrington
to Chicago after a day of routine
investigation.
Purvis believed they recognized
Nelson in a passing car. Possibly
they noted first that license num-
bers on the automobile were the
ones for which they had been
searching. At any rate. witnesses
saw Mr.. Cowley driving a depart
mental Hudson sedan and gave
chase in a Ford sedan When the
chase approached the harrington
city park, on the edge of the sub
urb. the two cars were travelling APP
proximately seventy miles an hour.
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