The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 127 - Bank Robber Harry Pierpont

Episode Date: October 28, 2015

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine 1930's bank robber Harry Pierpont SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Hey! Hi my name is David. I am a host of a podcast. It is an American History

podcast. Sure. And each week I, Dave, slow down. Dave, read a story to my friend. Yeah. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic's gonna be about. Does not know the pace of the show. No I do. Well you're talking like Christopher Walken. We are working at a pace. You sound like Christopher Walken trying to sound like a regular person. Hello! That was my Christopher Walken. It's not good. Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one buck. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Dave, okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna become a tickly podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All

hell queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do what? Hey. Hi Gary. No. Is he done my friend? No. No. October 13th, 1902. Ooh. Dyslexic Halloween. Harry Perpont. Harry Perpont. Perpont? Sure. Was born in Muncie, Indiana. Perpont from Muncie. He had a younger brother and an older sister. His sister died of tuberculosis when Harry was a teenager. What dollop does not start with someone dying when the main subject is a child? I think it's an important thing that happens to a lot of these people. Harry's dad, Joe, was a woodworker in a carriage factory. Okay. Yeah, it's just like a standard job back then. Yeah. Putting together wood. Carriages.

I'm putting wood on carriages. Yeah. Carriage time. Harry graduated from school in the eighth grade and was considered to have an above average intelligence. Sorry. What do you mean he graduated? He was done with school? I think that was when he was done with school. At eighth grade? I couldn't find any indication of him continuing on with school, but I feel like he was like, okay, I got enough. See, that's how we should be graduating them. We aren't basically anyway. Yeah. So. By 1920, Harry was working in an automobile plant. Okay. So automobiles are fucking happening. Sure. That's right around when he started his new care path. Oh, good. Crime. Yeah, interesting. August 1921, Harry was arrested for carrying

a concealed weapon. All right. During his arrest, he picked up a severe head injury. Oh, from, okay. Yeah, that I think that you think maybe the pretty right. I mean, you've heard of cops. Sure. So I think they were like, Oh, I don't like what did they have the show cops back then? Yes. This 1920 was the first year of cops. He's accused of stealing a buggy. Yeah. This whippa snapper. Yeah. He spent 10 days in jail and was then sent to the state hospital. He had problems with his eyes, experienced dizziness and complained of headaches. At an inquest in September, his mother said he was different than before. So he really got his fucking head hit. He got rocked. So they I mean, the cops were like, Watch your head

when you get into the buggy. Or did they just start to notice that he was different after the here he was sullen and suspicious of things and was now prone to outbursts. He also went through periods of insomnia and became obsessed with guns. Been there. Done that can't sleep gonna polish my rifle. Just got to clean the side off. Count counting shotguns. Shotguns before I go to bed. She sleep last night. No, I was too busy sniffing my weapons. Yeah. How are you scared? Yeah. During his stay in the mental hospital, he was diagnosed with what would later be called disorganized schizophrenia. Disorganized schizophrenia. It's not organized. I guess sounds very hodgepodgey, because they put disorganized in front. So I think they're

I think what they're doing was taking a bunch of different shit and classifying it as one thing. Because now today, disorganized schizophrenia is not right thing. It's not in the DSM. It's not like I was gonna say yeah. So it was like a blows one of those bullshit. Yeah, no, all the other stuff. This guy named Tom inside of my head said to make my desk messy. Okay, that's very disorganized. The most prominent feature of Harry's form of schizophrenia is paranoia and strange or inappropriate emotional responses like inappropriate laughter. Sometimes they just have they just have a complete lack of emotion. Either way, Harry had it. The symptoms usually developed very rapidly. And as an added bonus, he was obsessed with guns, as we said.

Yes. Did I mention that he was obsessed with guns? Yeah. And now we're just adding maniacal laughter to that maniacal laughter. So he's the Joker and then he is the Joker. Okay. At some point, Harry was released from the mental hospital. I couldn't find any reason why bad bad. Yeah, bad idea. Back then, it seemed like if you went in, you're fucking in, baby, you're too disorganized to get out of here. By January 1922, he was roaming around Indiana. He was handsome. He was nicknamed was handsome, Harry, Pair Paul. That was his crime name. Well, like there's baby face Nelson and all those guys was he was handsome, Harry. Now it should be laughing, Harry, laughing, handsome, handsome, Harry. He was soft smoking, bright and a natural

born leader. Did I mention that he liked guns? You mentioned he liked guns. I feel like that's going to be important. But why is he like he's not a he couldn't be a how is a schizophrenic person is solid? I think that he had the like lack of emotion, you know, kind of, it didn't mean that's why that's why it's not that's why it's not schizophrenia. It was back then dies. No, it wasn't even necessarily schizophrenia. It's not this way we think of it. It was a different thing that is now gone. So right, he was like cool and collected. And he probably had no emotions, which made him a leader like when all the shooting is going on, he's like, all right, let's go do that. Okay. I said he liked guns, right? You mentioned that a

bunch of times. Like a ton of time. Really? Yeah, a lot. On January 2nd, he stole a car, drove to Green Castle and robbed a Cook hardware store stealing nine handguns. Okay. I like that the hardware store used to have that many handguns. That's where they always went for guns. Jesus. Tons of guns. Yeah. Not that we're far off that now. Make it sound like we're like, they're in cabinets or something. You could go to a grocery store, get guns in America right now. I would like a Big Mac fries and a couple of handguns. Just the sunblock, the fishing lore and Uzi. And then this gum impulse impulse by oh bullets. Oh look, Scott from the Kardashians is going into rehab. Yeah, no, the big one, the giant

one, the big one would have put a hole in a store. Yeah. Five days later in Indianapolis, a Mr. and Mrs. Divine saw Harry trying to steal their car as it was parked in front of the Indianapolis water company. Was this the time when I mean, I'm dream I'm hoping that this was the time when you still had to like crank a car to get it going. Damn it. No, no, we were because that would be the funniest robbery. Those robberies would be so fun to watch. You know what you'd have to do? It's so easy. I would be the greatest carjacker of all time back then when you went to when you wait until the guy's done cranking it and then you hop in it and back it up or you go forward, just run it over. It's the

easiest crime ever. Yeah, that's very true. That's the move. I'm picturing a dude is like my arm hurts and they're like, Oh, well, come on, hurry, we've only got 20 minutes to get him. You're instead, the guy's just like, All right, well, she's humming. Good Lord. All right. So Mr. and Mrs. Devine were in a butcher shop and they ran out to stop Harry. Mr. Devine rushed over to the driver's side to pull Harry out. And at that time, Harry told Devine to let him go since quote, I'm out of work. It's interesting, interesting, interesting. I know I'm trying to steal your car, but I don't have a job. Sorry, I thought you had work. I don't. Well, now please take my car. The two men struggled. Okay. Harry

then pulled out a gun and aimed it at Mr. Devine's stomach. Oh, boy. Mr. Devine pushed the gun down and Harry shot him in the leg. Mrs. Devine then moved in and smashed Harry over the head with a roast with a roast, like just bought from the butcher. Jesus. They were in a butcher shop. Still there. She bought a roast, grab a cleaver and she came out with it in her hand because they stopped seeing the car. So she used the only weapon she had available, which was a giant piece of meat. You roast it when he falls. You just got roasted. She wasn't a giant Austrian. You're roasted. Honey, stop that. He's roasted. Okay. I don't it's not sexy to me when you do the. How do you like it? Dead guy. I don't roast it.

And I'm not attracted to you. Roasted. Okay. Come fuck me. I can't. Okay. Get in me. Roasted. Wow. That's the worst thing we've ever done on this podcast. At that point, so after she hit him with the roast, other men came over and helped hold them until the cops came. Okay. They just like beat him with like cold cuts and cheeses and stuff. Yeah. They put them in. Yeah. And someone helped me. This is right when Slim Jim's came out here. I'll put this brat worse than his mouth. Put the cheese in his ass. All right. That's the weird guy, sir. But seriously, put this cheese in his ass. Did you even know he did anything? What? Put this cheese in your ass, too. I saw him suggesting that to people down the

street. I'm putting it in my ass. He doesn't know there's been a robbery. Welcome to Food Street. Jesus Christ. Harry was taken to a jail in a terra hot or hout. But I looked it up and they said hot was also a problem. Yeah. He was charged with attempted auto theft. Think about being done. You're not going to get any guff from me. No, someone from someone from Indiana will not give me shit online at all. Yeah. He was charged with attempted auto theft and battery with intent to kill. Okay. While he was there, he tried to escape by sawing through the bars of his cell. Okay. But he failed. Like failed school. Old school saw through the because it takes a long time to saw through your bars. That's the only

way to fail. Okay. Yeah. That's the only. It's going to take a while to do it. How does he saw through it? You get a you get a file from where? Well, a buddy will bring a buddy will bring in a cake or whatever. Yeah. I mean, that really there's no way they're going to realize no guys bring other guys cake in jail. People are still doing it. Yeah. But I think I think the cake in a in a the file on a cake thing, even though it's like a cartoon thing, I bet it was real at some point. That's why. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh, for sure. It had to work a couple times on March 12 1922. He was sentenced to two to 14 years in prison. That's quite an estimate. Yeah, they were there. Hey, you could get out in a couple. Like,

uh, you know, six of your life. In May 1923, the governor rejected his request for clemency. Part of this was probably due to the fact that the superintendent of the prison wrote that Harry was quote as wild as a March hair, not a hair on a head like a rabbit hair. No, in a mart in March, a wild as a March hair. To me, that sounds like he's fucking a lot. But I guess there might have been a different meaning for hair back then. Like maybe they ran a lot or the March part. Well, I think that in March and March, they're really like getting they got to be Randy and March, right? They're looking to fuck spring spring. So I didn't want Harry out there fucking. Wow. Okay. Yeah. All right. At the same time though,

his mother was doing everything she could to get him released, telling everyone about Harry's mental illness. And on March 6 1924, it worked. Harry was granted parole. Okay. He moved in with his parents and worked at his father's sand and gravel business in Brazil, Indiana. Let's let's find a name of place Brazil in Indiana. Right. But that where are you going Brazil Brazil? Oh, that's gonna be so far. Yeah, I'm going there for the carnival. It's 50 miles from Notre Dame. It's the real carnival supposed to be a nightmare. Yeah, there's a lot of carnies. There's a lot of carnies. You throw stuff, try to pop a balloon. Anyway, okay. By so that didn't last long the working with the living with

the parents and working thing. He really enjoyed crime. You know, when you got when you got a gift. Yeah. By November 1924, he was living in a boarding house run by a well known madam in Kokomo, Indiana. He ran with other ex cons and was suspected by police of running a gang that was robbing banks. Okay, which is exactly what he was doing. Cool. In November, the gang hit a bank in Marion. The gang was very well organized, knew the situation this roundings and worked with clockwork precision. Have you ever seen a point break to talk about the ex presidents, bro? That's what you taught. But give me two. Yeah, that's exactly it. The next robbery was in Lebanon and let's see another city in what's going on in Indiana

that know they're like, we're also I'm gonna go to the Bahamas down the street. The next robbery was in Lebanon. This time it was a hardware store and a shitload of guns were taken as well as 50 boxes of ammunition. Jesus Christ. They're ready to go. I mean, they took a shitload of guns. The next day, a bank in upland was robbed. Again, very precise. But this time the cops had their descriptions because right before the robbery, the gang stopped to ask directions from two sheriffs. What? That is brash. It's not. That's really that's just straight up. I will say as a guy who's been on drugs in public before. Yeah. If there's a cop. Yeah, you talk to him. Well, you don't move away. You don't do the thing

where you're like, turn left hard. Right. You go, keep walking. Yeah. You know, maybe bring it up. Keep it cool. Even though maybe the trees are moving and smoking in your head. Maybe this wasn't the best idea though. Probably not the best idea. Because now the cops knew what they look like. Sure. And so members of the gang started getting arrested. First was James Robbins, who was arrested because he was flashing around a large amount of cash. That's a tell. Look at all this money I have. Where did you get it? I didn't have money yesterday. Now I have a lot. Where did you get it? I have a lot of money. Where did you get the money? Lots of money, everybody. I think he robbed a fucking bank. He confessed

to one robbery, then rolled on his fellow gang members. Robbins said they had all met in the Indiana State Reformatory, so they all met in fucking jail. Right. But the robberies weren't done yet. In March 1925, four men robbed a bank in New Harmony. One employee was hit over the head with a gun when he couldn't open the safe. I like that he like, because he couldn't. He wasn't like, he was probably it was the guy shaking with the keys. Yeah, I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Now cops all over the Midwest were on the lookout and they had orders to shoot to kill. Five days later, a bank in Kokomo was hit. Four days after that, another one in LinkedIn. On

April 2nd, 1925, Harry and two other accomplices were arrested in Detroit in an apartment. Once again, it was because one of the other guys had been flashing around a lot of cash. Good God. I have so much money, you guys. That is so much money says a lot about where we are. I have money. Yeah. They were sent back to Indiana. We do the same thing now. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's what you do. Yeah. They were sent back to Indiana and were told they were facing charges of being habitual criminals, which meant that they could get life sentences in Cuba, which was down the street. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Oh, because, uh, because everything's named foreign countries there. Gotcha. Remember

from two minutes ago, I stopped listening. God damn it. During their stay in the Howard County Jail, Harry and fellow gang member Ted skier attempted to escape. While they were in a court hearing, a Pinkerton detective went to their cells and found that one of the bars and skier cell had been cut through. And Harry's cell, a bar was almost cut through. The cells couldn't finish bars. You know, he's tired. The cells were then searched and 10 saw blades were found. And they all they were getting done was like one bar. 10. But what is your, what is your plan? How would you plan on doing that? Getting out? Yeah. Like you have to saw, you open a window. It is the wind. It is the window bar thing.

I want, I don't know if it's the window bar, but you just open it up and then I, and then you go, it just doesn't seem, it seems like someone will notice your project. Harry's parents hide an attorney to represent their boy. When put on the stand, Harry confessed to robbing a bank and said that all the evidence found was his not skiers. Okay. He was convinced convicted and sentenced to 10 to 21 years. He wasn't big on cooperating with the prison authorities though. He gave them the wrong name when he got there. He wouldn't recognize the warden. He wouldn't make a statement. He refused to have his picture taken and he's spit on a guard. So he's not recognizing the warden. It's my favorite. Can I help you?

Oh yeah. Hey, sir, do I know you? Have we met for one of those faces? Maybe that's the thing. Prisoner 4106. Look at me. I am warden Jefferson. Nice to meet you. Never mentioned before. You look familiar. We've met 20 times. I see you every day. It's great to meet you finally. Okay. I would like, I would like to know what was the name? Jefferson. Can you beat this guy? Can you beat, can we beat this guy? Wait a minute. Get the one bar I took down. John Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Oh shit. His dad was a grocer and quite the disciplinarian. Okay. He lived by the phrase spare the rod and spoil the child. You know what I mean? Give it up. What does that mean? Beat the

kids senseless. Okay. John's mom died when he was three years old. Good. Every fucking one. Yeah. His dad remarried and at first John hated his stepmother, but then they grew close over the years. Oh, God. Oh, he fucks her. Found love and had a three year relationship. Knew it. Knew it. Might as well fuck your stepmom. Yep. I mean, if you're mad at your dad, fuck your stepmom. Seriously. Word for me. He was always in troubles of teen. He was getting in fights and being arrested for petty theft. He quit school to work in a machine shop. You may as well say I'm going to jail. Yeah. If you quit school and work in a machine shop, you should just say I'm going to be a prisoner now. Well, dude, when you're at seventh grade,

it's tough. It is tough. I mean, you're one year away from graduating. You got a kid. You got a kid already. It's time. But John Dillinger still stayed out all night parting. So his dad moved the family to the rural town of Moresville. Wait, this is after he'd been begging his stepmom. His dad is moving the family. I couldn't figure out exactly when he was begging his stepmom. But yes, somewhere in here, he's begging his stepmom. I don't think his dad knew about it. I'm moving the family. John was arrested in Moresville for stealing a car. Dad was not happy. Okay. And John was pushed to join the Navy. That did not go well. Right. He deserted. Okay. He then returned home and met a lady and got married.

But he couldn't keep a job and decided that being a robber was the way to go. That's a good job. Yeah. Honey, I tried the IHOP. Hang on. I'm going to put guns on people's faces and take money. Follow your dreams. Okay. Thank you. I love your support. I love you. He and a friend robbed a grocery store of $50. But they did it into the town. So as they ran out the door, they passed the local minister who knew them. Sorry. They literally just went into like the grocery store in their town. Yeah. And they robbed it. And there's a minister like, Hey, John. Hey, Gary. How are you guys doing? Hey. We're running. Running. So, okay. So there's the, so he got arrested the next day. Yeah. But how do you, sorry.

It's a terrible plan. Okay. But we, there were disguises back then. People knew what a disguise was. Maybe what John Dillinger needs is some sort of mentor. Great. So now it's time for Harry to hook it up. The rest of the next day, John's dad, after talking to the prosecutor, convinced John to confess and plead guilty. Okay. Which John did, assuming his dad had worked out a deal with the prosecutor. But has his dad worked out no deal? No deal. It turns out he was very surprised when he was given a 10 to 20 year sentence. What did his dad, does his dad know what a deal is? I didn't give a shit. Oh, so his dad just wanted to fuck him over.

Yeah. His dad's like, fuck this kid. Right. Okay. Now he was in Indiana State prison with a gentleman named Harry Pierpaugh. So John Dillinger wasn't happy and he said, quote, I will be the meanest bastard you ever saw when I get out of here. Good. He also had gonorrhea when he went in. Yep. But Harry and Dillinger had, that's the way we should call it when diarrhea goes away. Gonorrhea? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, I've gonorrhea. Yeah, we were just like, how's your diarrhea? It's like gonorrhea. Gonorrhea. I feel better. Pepto-Bismo. Gonorrhea. Gonorrhea. Harry and Dillinger had similar interests like robbing banks. So you like to rob too? Like to steal money from dudes. I can't believe

we're just meeting. Hey. So also other prisoners like Dillinger because he could do twice the amount of work expected in the laundry room and he could do other prisoners work. Okay. So he was like, you know, he was fucking making shit happen in prison. Sure. So they're in prison. Harry taught John Dillinger how to really plan a bank robbery. It turns out that Harry- Why would you listen to a man in a jail cell with you on how to do successful robberies? Well, who else are you going to listen to? The Guard? Well, someone who's out on the out, yeah. But they call prison criminal school. That's true. Like you learn all kinds of shit. All right. I was having some fun. You're right. So it turns out Harry

had studied the best. He had studied Herman Lamb, a German bank robber who believed in the importance of precision, meticulously casing the bank, knowing the loud, knowing how to access vaults and mapping out escape routes. And he would do rehearsals over and over. So nothing would go wrong. Okay. Now, these gentlemen really wanted to work together, robbing banks. But the big problem was that they were in jail because they tried to rob banks. They got to get out, Dave. Luckily, Dillinger was finally paroled in 1933 and they could set their plan in motion. Okay. Harry had given Dillinger a list of easy banks and stores to hit. He also set him up with a reliable gang to get the jobs done. So Harry's

still on the inside. He's in the joint. Harry's in the joint. Yeah. But Dillinger's out, turn and shit loose. All right. Dillinger spent the summer of 1933 on a crime spree. Fun. His gang made tens of thousands of dollars all for a good cause, which was to break Harry and his boys out of prison. Right. They use the money for bribery, a safe house and to buy guns and ammo. Jesus. At one point, his brother Hubert, Oh, there was a really close calls at one point, his brother Hubert and, uh, and John Dillinger were driving home and Hubert fell asleep. Uh, and he ran to an into another car on the road and then their car veered off into the woods. The people in the other cars said the two gunmen got out and

walked in separate directions. Dillinger walked off with a Tommy gun after he removed the car's license plates. Okay. So he gets out of the car, he takes off the license plates and they just walks out of the Tommy gun and they're like, sir, are you a state farm? Sir. Just that's so baller. Yeah, it's amazing. Just take the license plates off, get the Tommy gun and walk away. When police looked in the car, they found maps, a machine gun clip, a length of rope and a bullwhip. Apparently John Dillinger was going to use the bullwhip when he paid a visit to his former one armed attorney who had run off with a retainer. Oh, wow. That is awesome. That's that's kind of Tarantino written all over it. It's very

specific. Just one arm. So you're going to take a bullwhip. Well, you have guns. Yeah, but I want to keep them alive for a little while. Meanwhile, the Indian estate clemency commission heard an appeal for Harry's release. Harry said he was a man of strong character and then he was a leader, not a follower. Is that what you that's not what you should say to me. There's neither is right. No. Hey, I'm really good at getting people to follow me. Yeah. And I'm a very serious gentleman. Yeah. The state produced records that explained that when Harry had been sentenced, he said he would try to escape. It was only the duty of official of the it was the duty of authorities to stop him and that he made three failed

escape attempts during his imprisonment. He had also received 10 punishments in prison for his behavior along with two reprimands. Okay. Clemency was denied. Okay. They're right to do that. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. On September 13, 1933, John Dillinger drove up, ran to the prison wall and threw three loaded revolvers wrapped in newspapers over the prison wall. Extra extra read all about it. But they were not found by Harry. Instead, two other prisoners found the guns. Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, seriously, you got to be pretty meticulous. I thought the whole thing was planning. Where where over the wall? Yeah. Yeah, you're like, Oh, shit, I think they found the newspapers with guns at them. Three other prisoners were punished

for the guns and put into solitary confinement. Danny McGorgian, Jack Gray and Eddie Murphy. Can you believe that? Eddie fucking Murphy, man. What like, right? What hasn't he been in? Next, you know, when he was in there, he's like, Roxanne, you don't have to put on a red light. Next, Dillinger managed to sneak three 45 caliber pistols into the prison's shirt factory in a barrel of thread. I mean, listen to what you just said. What? How it's like a cartoon. The prison shirt factory right off the bat is interesting. Yeah. But they just put them just a big barrel of thread with some guns. Dillinger, what are you doing? I deliver thread for a living now. That's my job. You really turned the corner. I did.

Harry and fellow prisoner Russell Clark told the factory superintendent that they were needed in the basement. I mean, so he walked him down there. Yeah. Naturally, of course, we're needed in a dark place away from everybody else. Okay, let's head over there. The supervisor was quickly overpowered by several prisoners prisoners in the basement. What a double cross. Wait a minute. You lied to me. The gang then gang member Walter Dietrich ran to tell another superintendent that there was a fight. That guard then ran into a trap. Oh man. Yeah. Now seven gang members had guns and three had clubs. A foreman came downstairs to get some supplies and he was also quickly captured. Oh no, I don't even give a fuck. I'm here

for pencils, gentlemen. Jesus Christ. So now they had three hostages and they began their long walk to freedom. Okay. They hid their guns under shirts and slowly walked through the entire prison. Okay. The guards and other prisoners did not notice. So if I'm understanding this correctly, it's three guards and 10 dudes just walking through the prison and everyone's just like, Hey, Bob. Yeah, look at that. Jimmy John, Jimmy John. They look pretty cool. Look at those guys just walking on through the prison. See, it doesn't matter. You could be a guard or a prisoner. You're still friendly. Everybody's good here. We're all good. When they got to the gate to a gate, one of the hostages told the guard to open the gate or

they'd be killed. Okay. Hey, Larry, could you open this gate? Why? Well, this guy's gonna shoot me in the head. Yeah, I'll open it. Thank you. The gate was open. They did the next thing at the next. They did the same thing in the next gate. And at a third gate, they used a steel shaft as a battering ram to get through Jesus. Now they had to get through the outer gate there. But what are the guard? What are the other guards? What do they think? They know they're under? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what they think. I like to think that they had no idea. There they beat the shit out of a guard until another guard opened the gate. At this point, they had access to the administration building and put eight

prison workers into vaults. One was moving too slow, so he was shot in the leg and shoulder. Oh, that'll speed him up. Yeah. Then the warden stumbled in and now he was a hostage. I don't recognize you. Good morning, fellas. Oh, you know me now, huh, motherfucker? Now you know who I am. Right. Interesting, bitch. Fine. I'll get in the goddamn vault. They went outside and they split into two groups. One group happened upon a sheriff who was dropping off some prisoners. Wow. Bad timing. They quickly jumped on him, took his guns, and three of them climbed in his car and made him drive. Oh, God. He was like, no. No. So that group had four guys, but only three got in the car. So I don't know. The fourth guy was like,

I'm going to walk at my legs. You know, I can use the Xers. I've been I've been really just I've been cooped up. Yeah, really super cooped up. I think I'm going to go for a jog. A little joggy jog. Harry was leaving the other group. They went to a gas station and attacked the attendant, stole a car and headed west. They made it to their setup safe house. They were immediately ready to start robbing banks, knowing Dillinger had been out there casing and setting everything up. But then they learned Dillinger had been arrested four days before. Oh, fuck. And he was in the Allen County jail. Go get him. And that would not do. The gang came up with a plan to get Dillinger out of jail. Oh, God. The world

was also now the world is also completely different than when they went in. When they went in, it was all fucking the Roaring Twenties. And now it's the Great Depression 25% unemployment. You know, it's all everything's gone to fucking shit. So they stole another car and took off for a different safe house. But the Indiana State police soon learned about the car theft and put up a blockade. And now the gang was speeding through the Indiana roads trying to make a getaway. During the flight, a door of the car opened up and one of the gang James Jenkins fell out. Okay, they couldn't stop to get him and they had to leave him behind. Oh, God. So this is a time when car doors just open up and you fall out and people like

fuck it. Yeah, well, you know, that's gonna do that's gonna happen. Oh, man, we lost to Jenkins. I mean, imagine just falling out of a car. Oh, my bad. Oh, I'm trying to reach for something. Jenkins was killed that night by a local posse. Oh, God. Yeah. The gang realized they were short on funds. So they hatched a plan to rob a local bank. They hit the first National Bank in St. Mary's and got away with $11,000. A female member of the gang spent the next couple of days baking and ironing the money to make it look old. The purpose the women in the gang even have to bake money. Yeah, I mean, I have so many questions about ironing money. Are you I think it's just to make it look war? Doesn't that

make it look newer? Yeah, I think it would make it straight out again. Baking it again. I guess baking it, but baking it, but baking it. What about rolling in dirt or your asshole like anything but easy? I think dirt is a fine option. Your money smells terrible, sir. Well, it's been ironed. Harry then had Dillinger's girlfriend brought to Ohio and set off to free him from jail. Okay. So that's nice as lady is ladies there. Yeah, I'm sure she was a page. The gang consisted of several men and women, including Homer Van Meter, who was the funny one and had the skill. The name tells you he's the funny one. Homer Van Meter. Hey, what am I? This candle's all like what what? What's this? A clown nose on my

ear? Yeah. Homer had the skill of being able to throw himself out of joint and appear to be crippled. Oh, so so he would. Oh, he could throw like he could. Oh, wow. Legs are as hip or something out of joint. And then it looks like while that's just helpful. That's like a superpower. That is a superpower back then in the fucking 30s. Totally. There was also Charles, fat Charlie Macley and Russell Booby Clark. Booby. Yeah. Booby and John Red Hamilton, bunch of guys. So Harry and two other had to have a nickname. You had to. Okay. Harry and two other gang. Yeah, that was really what they said. Everyone wanted a nickname. Yeah. You know, that's why they had baby face and all that shit. Harry and

two other gang members entered the jail at six in the evening and said they were Indiana state prison officials and had come to transfer Dillinger back to Indiana. Well, Dave, that can't possibly work. Why? Because it's crazy and well, the sheriff said, Okay, can I see your paperwork? Okay. And Harry was like, it's right here, motherfucker. And he shot him in the gut. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He actually said it's right here. And then he shot him. He has your paperwork. He has your paperwork. You'll do it. Then then beat the sheriff just to be sure, even though they shot him in the tummy. Right. That's the right order. Yeah. The sheriff's wife and a deputy were then locked in a cell that his wife was there doing

a crossword puzzle. Oh, God. Barry, what's five down my stomach, something you pick, but something that can't pick you bleeding five down bleeding. Hold on. Let me look at five across five across wound. No, that's not even part. What are you saying? The wound is five down wound. The wound is five down. That's too many letters wound. No, I don't know. Well, unless actually, if that you was actually a W maybe, I don't know. Okay, so the sheriff's and his deputy were locked in a cell and the gang went off with Dillinger, who was like, man, I'm happy to see you guys. Can't believe that fucking word. You guys. The Indiana State police captain thought he knew of a great way to fuck with these guys.

Whenever he talked to the media, he would call the gang the Dillinger gang instead of the Pierpont gang. Oh, God. He figured that would create friction in the group. Pretty smart. Nope. Harry didn't give a shit about it. And Dillinger loved it. Okay, great. But the heat was still on and the gang decided to split up and meet again in Chicago. On October 14th, Dillinger and gang member Homer Van Meter went to the Indiana police station in Peru and acted like they were tourists in Peru. Yeah, Indiana's got a bunch of fucking cities named after other saying, did we like exports out of America? Some point. Indiana's fucking ridiculous. All right. Okay, so they show up at a police station and they're like,

hey, we're here to check out your jail and other things at the station. And they're like, we're tourists. Oh, we're here to look at everything. Well, sure. The cops showed them around the station. So the criminals got a nice look at where everything was. Later that night, Dillinger, Pierpa, and Dietrich raided the station for guns and bullet per vest. Wow. They got vests. Police now thought the gang had declared war on the law. Some cops thought they were trying to start an army of criminals. Interesting. Yeah. The Indiana National Guard was put at the ready for whenever the state police needed them and volunteer posse's formed all over the state. The gang hit a bank in Green Castle,

Indiana on October 23. It was their usual precise robbery, taking just five minutes and hauling in $74,000. Shit. They were so good that not one cop at the police station across the street knew what was going on. Wow. They robbed a fucking bank across the street from a police station. They really don't give a fuck. Huge balls. Yeah. At that robbery, Dillinger refused to take the money of a farmer who had been standing in line. Oh, and he's a sweetie. He's a sweetie guy. Now the gang got a Robin Hood reputation, which was perfect during the Great Depression. Yeah. Harry would later say, Trump's economic policy. Exactly. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm getting to. Yeah. Harry would

later say, quote, I only stole from the bankers who stole from the people and everyone pretty much was down with that. The press was covering the gangs every move coast to coast, making them celebrities. How great would that be today? Fucking amazing. Just people who just stole from the bankers. I would love it if they stole Street. I would love it if they stole from the Wall Street guys who just make all that fucking money and fuck everybody they just take their money. That'd be great. I'd be fine with that. They planned another bank robbery, but problems were arising in the gang. Copeland was drinking way too much and Shouse was fucking every woman alive and that was driving everyone crazy. Interesting.

Yeah. Harry said they needed to drop Copeland as the driver and give the job to Shouse. So Copeland was booted out. But then Shouse said he already decided to rob a bank by himself. Oh, he's going solo. But then someone overheard Shouse trying to convince Hamilton to rob the bank with him. And so it's a total cluster fuck. Right. I don't know when we became a high school gang. It sounds fun, but we're a fucking gang of criminals, not a bunch of shit. All this bullshit of like, I went and robbed a bank with you, but now we just need to go out together. It's very clicky. It's very Beverly Hills 90210. So they kicked Shouse out of the gang. As Shouse left, he walked outside and stole Clark's car. Jesus. He's

a criminal. That's awesome. It's the best thing ever. That's how you get out. That's mic drop. That is total mic drop. So and maybe don't kick out one of the guys who knows how to steal cars near the cars. Yeah, well, at least keep your eye like how are you getting out of here? Yeah, what are you going to do? Why are you walking? Right? But the robbery was still on the morning of the Big Heist. They woke up and read in the paper that Copeland had been arrested. Okay, for drinking. But what? Who knows? Probably. Probably. Yeah, because he got kicked out of the gang too. So but they still hit the American Trust Company Bank in Wisconsin anyway. Yeah, let's go. They walked in and yelled stick him up. So

that that actually happened. Classic move. Teller on the phone did not stick them up. So they shot him. Well, he should have stuck them up when the teller fell to the ground. He hit a hidden alarm. He felt like that dude's like a diving catch. I still hit the button. Two cops came in, but they were really bad at being cops. And Harry jumped on one sub doing him and the other one was shot. That is insane to be able to subdue two at once. No, it's crazy. The gang then cleared out the vault and took a bunch of hostages outside. They shot at a couple of cops on the way out, and then got in their car and sped off a couple blocks away. The cop hostage they had was tossed out of the car, and they escaped again. Okay.

Next Harry Dillinger and Hamilton robbed a bank in Indiana. How is it? Are they they're just that good? Yeah, I think they are very good. Yeah. Cops were there again. And but also like the cops aren't the cops are organized in a national unit really yet. Like the FBI is just getting going. The idea that like you just have to do a little research seems like yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. I don't even know if they had the I don't know what year the FBI started, but it's right around now. Anyway, so the cops are there again. This time Dillinger killed a cop. Oh boy. Hamilton was wounded. Shit was going south, right? Harry Dillinger and two other gang members headed out to West Tucson, Arizona, because

the heat was on. They had shit looks they're trying to get away from the heat. Don't go to do so. Girl gets very hot. They had shit loads of cash from all the robberies in the middle of the night on January 21st, a fire broke out at the hotel Congress. Firemen went room to room waking up the guests. But one guy on the top floor was very concerned about his luggage and didn't want to leave the building. I wonder what he had packed. The fireman forced him out. Later, when he was outside on the sidewalk, he talked a fireman into letting him back into the burning building. How do you? I don't know. So hey, I got these. Do you know what a kitty is? Please. I have a kitty. Jose's up there. Jose. When he came

out, he had expensive looking bags. Three days later, the fireman saw the fireman saw a photo of Russell Clark in a detective magazine and told police that was the guy from the hotel. Okay, I just love the fact that he was reading a detective magazine. What is the what is a detective magazine? I don't know. Only for detectives. You're detective. Oh, no. Sounds like you might be here you go. Oh, thank you. I'm a detective now. Around the same time, two tourists told the police a man that looked exactly like Russell Clark had been bragging in a nightclub that it was really easy to make a living robbing banks interesting. So

So this guy's not a brain search. No, he's what's known as a fucking idiot. Right. Okay, to be clear, to be clear, the fucking more for sure. Yep. Police investigated and realized that Harry, fat Charlie Macley and Russell Clark were in town. They figured Dillinger would arrive at any time. Macley was arrested in a radio repair shop. Okay. Harry was stopped in his car for a routine check of his car papers and then arrested. Okay. Clark was located in a rented house and went down swinging. Literally, he we a B we made he fought. I like it. He ended up with a lacerated scalp in the house. They found the bags Clark had gotten out of the hotel. They contain machine guns, pistols, ammunition and bulletproof vests. But anything

incriminating the cops then waited and watched the house. Sure enough, Dillinger came walking up the path and the three cops jumped out and quickly arrested him. Dillinger said, Well, I'll be damned. Fair, fair. He was legit surprised. Right. Legit. Well, I'll be damned. Holy moly fellas. Look at this small world. At this point, the gang was famous, particularly Dillinger. The Fox movie ton news brought in a camera crew from Hollywood. 2000 people swarmed the jail hoping to see Dillinger and his gang. Their meals were catered by a local restaurant. And Dillinger was allowed to have his terrier puppy in jail. That's pretty cool. Local law

enforcement wanted. So cool. Quite of insane. If you can have your dog in jail, it's not bad. Ah, way better. The dog on the other end is like, What the fuck happened? What did I do? I go to your yard. Holy fuck. I was in a yard an hour ago. Yard would be fun. Local law enforcement wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible. Dillinger was sent to Indiana and the others to Ohio to face their respective murders. Right. Right. The jail Dillinger was in was called escape proof by Sheriff Lillian Holly. They're just asking for it. Three months later, Dillinger carved a piece of wood into the shape of a gun, painted a black and walked out of jail. He fucking made a wood gun. Yeah. That he painted that

he painted and people like, shit, he got a gun. Holy shit. He's got a really weird looking gun. So smart. Larry Dillinger's got an IKEA gun. That must have been. He must have been like, and I can't believe that fucking work. That's fucking crazy. I really never thought that would work. I mean, I'll tell you what I was like when I was actually like sanding that gun. Yeah, I was like, no way. And let me tell you something. When I was using it, so hard not to laugh. Oh, God, I was so hard. They were so freaked out. Oh, my God, I kept biting my tongue. I was actually biting my tongue. I literally lost the piece of my tongue. Uh, FBI records say that he actually carved a potato into the shape of a gun, a potato

gun. Yeah, and painted black. Man, Dillinger went back to robbing banks and hiding out in Chicago and he got plastic surgery. What if he just got really cocky and was not like robbing him with bananas? Fuck him. I don't mean what isn't a gun to these people. I don't know what to do. So I'm going to give you all my money because this is too weird. He just paints like his thumb and his index finger black and just holds it up, holds it up. It's really weird. So I'm just going to give you the money. Yeah. Watch it too. Okay. I got bullets in my fingernail and my figure. I think he's crazy. What is that? I just cocked it. Okay. Okay. Here you go. Thank you. He got plastic surgery done by two underworld

surgeons. They had plastic surgery who had lost their license due to drug use. Yeah. What would you get back there? Okay. So he got a small facelift, had moles removed and scars fixed and he filled his famous cleft chin. He finally had the cleft filled. Yeah. Finally. Then chemicals were used to burn off his fingerprints. Oh, wow. So that was a thing. Yeah. And when it was over, Dillinger looked himself in the mirror and said, hell, I don't look any different than I did. It's got some like five grand. Shouse testified against Clark and Harry. Okay. He was still pissed about getting kicked out. Okay. But then he refused to testify against Mackley because he was scared after Harry's trial.

Harry went toe to toe with a prosecutor in his trial while on the stand. After the prosecutor accused him of stealing over $300,000, Harry said, quote, I wish I had. Well, at least if I did, I'm not like some bank robbers. I didn't get myself elected president of the bank first. Zing. Take that your asshole. Zing. Then the prosecutor asked, that's the kind of man you are, is it? And Harry said, Yeah, I'm not the kind of man you are robbing widows and orphans. You'd be like me if you had the nerve. Does he think it's a roast battle? Does he know what's happening? He thinks it's a roast battle. Okay. In March, Harry and Mackley were sentenced to death. Clark got life. Okay. Harry got a marriage

license and tried to marry his longtime sweetheart and fellow gang member Mary kinder. Oh, kinder. He contacted three ministers, but none would perform the ceremony. Mackley appealed his sense based on the fact that he'd been shackled during the entire trial with machine guns pointed at his back. So he was he felt he was owed something. He felt like that. That is basically, yeah, right. That's time served. But that was rejected. On July 22nd, Dillinger was shot and killed by FBI agents as he tried to escape from a trap they had set outside a theater in Chicago. One of his own gang and turned him in for 25,000. Now Harry and the guys knew Dillinger would not be coming back to break them out of jail and they had

to do it on their own. So Harry and Mackley carved fake guns out of soap. Soap guns and painted them black with shoe polish. Jesus. Cramming an hour. The guns also contained bits of cardboard, fountain pen, jigsaw puzzle, tin foil, wire and threads from blankets. So their guns were bird's nest. What were they? What else have we got? Your gun smells really good and it's got a lot of thread coming out of it. Thank you. Is that a puzzle? That's the last piece. That's shoot a puzzle bullet at him. Oh, God. Harry pretended to be sick. Then his guard brought his food. Harry said he couldn't get up. So the guard came close to him and put it down. Harry then jumped up and punched the guard and whipped out his

soap gun. Hey, you're going to get washed. Easy pal. You ready to be clean? Yeah, don't make me use bubbles, baby. The guard refused to give him his keys. So Harry hit him again and took the keys. He then opened all the death row cells and Mackley held other guards at bay with his soap gun. Soap gun. Quite a few prisoners declined the invitation to run, but 10 did join, including Russell Clark. There he is. The teams getting back together. They made the way through the prison until they came to a giant iron door. Then the alarm was sounded. Local police headed for the prison and guards took their positions. All the other prisoners went back to their cells except for Mackley and Harry. So now everyone's like,

yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I like it. It's better in their place to sit down in a toilet. I mean, it's a soap gun. You know what I mean? This looks like a whole like die thing because we have soap. Yeah. Hey, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go back to my cell and get some dove, like a nice bar of dove. And I'll be right out here with you to fight the good fight. All right, guys, looking forward to it. You got the Irish spring? We're really going to kill these motherfuckers. Leave for 2000s. Leave for 2000. So Harry grabbed a guard uses a shield. As the guards with rifles arrived, the hostage guard threw himself against a wall and shots rang out. Mackley was hit in the head and shoulders. Harry was hit in

the spine. Mackley was dead. Harry had a little chance of recovery and would be paralyzed for life if he did live. Four days later, Harry's appeal to be given life in prison instead of death was denied. Let me talk about shitty timing. I know, right? Oh, it's just like bad on top of bad. Turns out the escape attempt did not help him with his appeal. Well, on October 17th, Harry was carried to the electric chair. He was crying from the pain from his wounds. He had been seeing crying for several days. He was strapped in the chair and his last words were today. Oh, this hurts like fuck, holy fucking shit. Or it's last words. God damn son of a bitch. Really burns, really burns, really burns, hurts, hurts, hurts,

hurts. His last words were today, I am only, I am the only man alive who knows the who's and how's. Was he ready, Dr. Susan? And the how's and who's and then the who's came and the house said how the houses and the who'sers. And as my end comes very shortly, I'll take this little story with me on the last walk. So he didn't, he was completely out of his fucking tree. That doesn't make no sense. No, no, he's taking the skin to tell the story in heaven. The switch was thrown and Harry jerked for two minutes until declared dead. Harry was 32 years old. He was buried in a family plot in Holy Cross Cemetery in Indian apolis. Jesus. How about that shit? Some badass motherfuckers. That's the guy who taught

Dillinger what the what was. Yeah, we know. I mean, he's kind of the Rube and how the do forgotten. Yeah, he was forgotten because Dillinger got all the press. Dillinger was what he was so hot. He was called shiznit. He was hot. What do we got anything? That's it. You got anything else to say? You care about anybody? I don't, I mean, I don't feel like this is a form. Go to follow us on Twitter at the dollop. If you want to give us a suggestion for a topic, send it to the dollop podcast at gmail.com. Do not send it to Facebook. Do not send it to Twitter because those are very hard to keep track of and I would just lose them. Like I said, subscribe on itunes. Tell your friends the writer review and subscribe

on itunes. That helps us a lot. And then member Vancouver on December 12th. Yep. And somewhere in Utah soon. Somewhere in Utah soon. All right, Greg.