The Washington times., 1934-11-29
NELSON DEATH
SPURS HUNT
FOR PALS
Police Combining Underworld
Hideouts for Woman,
Man AccompIiceS
CONTINUED from Page H.

Lester M. Gillis, died early yes
terday in some hideout in or near
Chicago's Northwest Side, investi'
gators decided today in piecing
together fragmentary evidence Of
his last ride. This was some IL
hours after the gun battle with
officers Cowley and Hollis at Bar
rington.
Body at Cemetery
The pair then drove to Niles
Center with the body. Stripped
bare and covered with q tattered
automobile blanket, the remains
of the quick-triggered, ruthless
machine gunner was placed near
the entrance to st. Paul'S Luth-
eran Cemetery. Not far away
Federal agents found Nelson's
blood-stained and torn clothing.
Ten bullets and Slugs from the
emptied machine gun and auto
matte shotgun welded by Off.
GERS Cowley and Hollis had
punctured the body Of Nelson.
Crude efforts had been made to
administer first aid. Two hand
kerchiers formed a rude bandage
that held wad of mattress stuff
fling to an abdominal wound. Six
more shots had hit the right leg
and three more in the left leg.
Department of Justice inspector
who was rushed here from Wash.
ington after the shooting, were
convinced that Nelson's compan-
ions had hurried him from the
scene of the shooting to a hide.
away and there tried inexpertly
to save his life. No doctor had
touched the wounds, physicians
at the county morgue said after
examining the crude first-aid ef.
forts.
The automobile taken from the
Federal agents after they were
wounded was found on the west
ern outskirts of Winnetka with
its gasoline supply exhausted and
the steering column wrecked.
When last seen the three were
driving westward in Northwest
Highway in the government car
Immediately after the shooting.
Back to Chicago
Under cover of darkness, the
car, investigators believe, circled
back toward Chicago to the rem
devious where Nelson died in the
early morning hours while the
pair tried to Staunch the flow Of
blood. They then decided to dis
pose of the body, first wrapping
it in a blanket and bundling his
clothing in pillow case.
The body and clothing disposed
OF, the gang car headed north
east on Gross Point Road and
then northward on Skokie Road
to Winnetka, approximately six
miles from where the gruesome
bundles were left near the
cemetery entrance.
DR.. j. G. Frost, coroner's
physician, estimated that death
occurred at about 6:25 a. M,
explaining:
:"'NelSon was q slight man,
but muscular. In a muscular
man, rigor mortis begins set
ting in Immediately after
death"
It had rained until $50 a. M,
but Nelson's clothing was not
wet. indicating the body had been
placed after that time.
Nelson's man companion tele-
phoned a Chicago undertaken,
Philip Sadowski, at 7::35 a. M,
telling him where to find the
body. This call, made locally,
further convinced authorities that
the gang had been using a
Chicago hideaway and in all
probability the pair were still
there:
Fingers MutiIated
Like his predecessor, John
Dillinger, Nelson had made a
vain attempt to obliterate his
fingerprints both by filing the
skin surfaces away and by treat
ment with acid. He had grown
a scraggly muStache in a further
effort at disguise.
Nelson's crime career began at
the age of is when he was SEN
fenced to the st. Charles School
for Boys after stealing an auto
mobile tire. From petty thievery
he graduated to bootlegging and
prominence in an automobile
theft ring.
From the time of his escape in
1891 at the doors Of the Illinois
Penitentiary at Joliet, to which
he was sentenced for a string Of
bank robberies, Nelson's crime
career became that Of a quick.
shooting desperate. ruthless and
always ready with a gun. It was
then that he assumed the name
of George Nelson"
Soon he joined forces with John
Dillinger and his band Of deS.
peradoes and became a marked
man for government forces when
he shot and killed Federal Agent
w. Carter Baum in fleeing a
government trap set for Dillinger
4