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Tourism body shopping around collection of Dillinger artifacts
HAMMOND — A northwest Indiana tourism body is reportedly shopping around its collection of John Dillinger memorabilia.
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority is considering unloading the artifacts, including a photo of the 1930s gangster’s lifeless face, one of his submachine guns and his original tombstone from Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
The items have been sitting in storage since the John Dillinger Museum closed in 2017 at the Crown Point Courthouse.
Board member Tom Dabertin said he has reached out to Chicago museums to gauge interest and assess the potential value of the artifacts.
The Old Sheriff’s House Foundation, which operates the Old Sheriff’s House and Jail in downtown Crown Point where Public Enemy No. 1 Dillinger once escaped, has inquired about acquiring the entire collection, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
Authority board President Andy Qunell said his preference would be to keep the collection in northwest Indiana. Crown Point would be an ideal spot given its connection with Dillinger, he said.
It was on Oct. 23, 1933 that Dillinger left his mark on Greencastle.
That was the chilly fall Monday afternoon when Dillinger and accomplices Charles Makley, Harry Copeland and Harry Pierpont robbed Central National Bank on the square in Greencastle of $75,000 in cash and negotiable bonds. It was the largest single bank haul of Dillinger’s career.
Dillinger was fatally shot on July 22, 1934 by FBI agents outside at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago.