The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-07-31

rror mob leader.
I Hundreds Of inquiries have
been made of this newspaper
and others to ask the same
question.
Stopping briefly in East Chicago
and Gary on a swing through the
Windy City and the northern
section of the state to gather facts
for this series the writer many
times was asked:
Was it really Dillinger they killed
or was it his double?"
The irrefutable answer to the
question lies in the fingerprints
taken by federal agents and Chi
cago policemen Immediately after
the body of the late killer and bank
robber was brought to the Cook
county morgue for identification.
Body Placed in Room
When the body of the desperate
had been stripped of the gray
trousers, the cheap white shirt, Isle
socks and other inexpensive raiment
which he wore to the melodramatiC
movie that he witnessed as fitting
prelude to his death, the detectives
got busy.
Dillinger's body, swathed in a
white sheet, was removed from the
wicker basket in which it had been
brought to the morgue, from the
dark alley where he at last came
face to face with death, and placed
in a glass-partitioned room in the
basement of the building.
While Captain John Siege. head
of the special Chicago "Dillinger
squad" and other police officers
who knew Dillinger intimately from
frequent lineup" interviews gazed
at the body of the man who had
led them such a merry chase for
so many months, the f1ngerprint
men appeared with their equipment
Carefully they lifted the right
hand of the desperado-the "trig
ger hand'-Which is reputed to have
brought death to Detective William
P. OMalley of East Chicago and
fOurished a menacing machine gun
in more than two-score hOldups.
He Looks Different
Fingerprint experts found that
I Dillinger had attempted 10 obliter-
ate the marks on his fingers with
acid. But the Identification men
went ahead with their jobs-care-
fully linking the bandits index fin
gers and thumbs and placing them
on prepared sheets of paper.
AS thousands of Chicagoans
stormed the doors of the morgue
4 hoping to catch glimpse of the
dead gangster the writer stood with
| detectives who we're making the eX-
animation of Dillingers body.
He sure looks different from the
time we brought him to Grown
Point prison." Captain Siege re-
marked.
And all the detectives and report
erS. including the writer who had
talked to Dillinger in Tucson, Ariz.
after the desperate was captured by
4 the "hick-town police of the west
ern city. agreed that Dillinger's APP
+ pearance had been altered.
Finds TeIl-Tale Incisions
Then it was that a detective
/ examining the bandits features
minutelv. discovered the tell-tale
/ missions on each side of his face
near the ears. which showed that
/ Dnlinger's face had been lifted by a
plastic surgeon.
We'll III be hanged federal
agent exclaimed. III bet that job
cost him $4,000"
Wearing a hat Dillinger easily
might have been mistaken for some
one else. detectives and reporters
who had known the bandit in life
agreed
Dillinger'S face, wax-like in death
was fuller. The prominent cleft in
his chin had almost vanished, the
I tell-tale mole between his eyes had
/ been removed. He was heavier by
about twelve pounds. But the top
Of the bandits head was un-
I changed. Unruly hair covered the
back of Dillinger's skull in its
( customary way and the contours OF
/ the back of his head were I'M
miStakable.
Doubt Still Persisted
ANY one who ever had seen Dill
linger could not mistake that head
with its abrupt line from the dome
of the head to the back of the neck
It's him, all right, said a de-
tective.
But stiI some doubt persisted in
the minds of the men who had
hunted Dillinger for more than a
year throughout the middle west.
What. they asked each other. was
Dillinger doing with only $40 IN
his pockets? Where was the loot
reported to have been between $780,
900 and 100000. stolen from score
of banks?
Dillinger. the detectives argued
I always carried large sums OF money
on his person. Didn't he have
nearly $4,000 on him when he was
arrested in Tucson?
But now the fingerprint men were
ready. Under strong magnifying