The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-07-31
JOHN DILLINCER
is PROVED DEAD
BYFEDERAL MEN
FingerprintS Never Lie, They
Point Out; Father,
Too, Agrees.
CONTINUED From Page One

WIZ WV NAkttki
Too, Agrees.
Continued From Page One)
prints they had made from the I'M
protesting hands of the dead gang |
ster. They compared these prints |
with fingerprints taken at Crown /
Point, Michigan City, Tucson and |
Indianapolis
The Prints Never Lie
Here the acid had made a Slight |
smudge on a line in the thumb. |
there a whorl or loop was partly OBJ
liberated by the bandits desperate |
efforts to prevent himself from be-
ing identified. But after a study, |
which consumed more than an hour,
the fngerprint men were ready to
pronounce unqualifiedly that the |
dead man was John Dillinger.
Captain Timothy A. O'Neil of the |
East Chicago police confirmed the |
identity for The Times yesterday.
"Fingerprints are the only infal- !
lible method of identifying GRIM
inals which we have, said Cap |
tain ONeil Every living person. |
whether they happen to twins or
even quintuplets, have different |
whOrls and loops on their finger
tips.
In Dillinger's case some of the
WhOrls and loops were married |
slightly in the prints due to the acid |
which he had used, but the general |
conformation of the flngerprint |
marks was unmistakable. There is
just no question that the man we
got was Johnny"
my Boy" Sobs Father
And if there were any doubt of
the Identification, John Wilson Dill
linger, 70-year-old father of the
bandit, disproved it when he viewed |
his son in the McCready- Coombs fu-
neral home, North Sheridan drive,
Chicago.
Under a strong light in the black
draped front room of the undertake
ing establishment Dillinger's body
lay waiting to be transported to
Nooresville for burial
Badly shaken by an all-night
grilling by federal agents and I'M
nerved by the shock of his sons
death, the aged farmer was led to
the room where the body reposed |
in a wicker basket.
For a moment the elder Dillinger
gazed carefully at the face which
had sent a quaking fear into the
hearts of bank employees in a dozen
state.
MY boy" he cried, and tears of
genuine sorrow fell slowly down the
scanned cheeks of the old country
man.
Proven Beyond Doubt
Since then the bandits body has
been viewed by scores of detectives.
relatives and northumberland
the corpus deficit" as the lawyers
say, has been proven beyond the
shadow of a doubt. During this
series The Times will print two sets
of Dillinger ngerprints-before and
after death-to show the police
proof.
Announcing that he will devote
the rest of his life to preventing
Indianapolis boys from going the
way of Dillinger," the Rev. Charles
Fillmore, who baptized and gave last
rites to the bandit, commended The
Times series.
Anything which tends to reveal
the futility of a life of crime is
good" said Mr. Fillmore. The big
thing now is not so much appre-
hending the rest of the Dillinger
gang as finding the cause of crime
throughout the country"
Mr.. Fillmore added his word to the
proof that the man he buried was in
reality Dillinger.
He had changed considerably
since I saw him a year ago." said
Mr. Fillmore, but there is no doubt
that the man I read prayers over
was John Dilhnger,"
Case Not Yet Over
But with the end of the gangster
leader-an end which proves the
foolhardiness and the utter futility
of the life of criminal-the
mystery of Dillinger's death has in
creased.
In the dimly lit office of the
state police, in the basement of the
statehouse, where most of the ac-
tivity in the hunt for Dillinger CEN
tered, a strange new activity in the
case grips the entire force of man
hunters.
The Dillinger case is not over
yet" says Captain Matt Leach of
the state police, who is conceded to
know more about the activities of
the terror mob than any one else.
Pressed for details, Captain Leach
shakes his head systematically and
refuses to answer questions. Today
it was learned he is in Chicago and
the northern part of the state in
vestigating purported evidence which
points to a scandal in high places in
connection with the death of Dill
linger.
In the course Of this series it will
be shown how an attempt to hush
all details regarding what actually
happened at the killing of the noto-
rious gangster has been made; it
will be shown how friends" and !