John Dillinger Sr., seated (the father of notorious gangster John
Dillinger), signs a contract to appear at the Walk-
a-thon at Calumet City, Ill., while Frank Gladdin, general manager
of the Metropolitan Vaudeville Agency, watches
at the Woods Theater building on Aug. 28, 1934. With Dillinger Sr. are,
from left, Frances Dillinger, 12, Doris
Dillinger, 16 (both step-sisters of John Dillinger Jr.), Mrs. Audrey
Hancock, (John Dillinger Jr.'s sister), and her
husband Mr. Emmett Hancock. The Dillinger family, along with John
Jr.'s girlfriend Evelyn "Billie" Frechette,
toured with a theatrical production called "Crime Doesn't Pay" after
Dillinger's death.
(Chicago Tribune historical photo)
The family of American bank robber John Dillinger wait outside a
theatre in Indianapolis, where they
will be regaling the audience with tales of the famous outlaw, 31st
July 1934. Dillinger had been shot
and killed by federal agents only nine days earlier. From left to
right, they are John Dillinger, Sr. (his
father), Mrs Audrey Hancock (his sister, who brought him up), Emmett
Hancock (his brother-in-law)
and Hubert Dillinger (his half-brother).
(Photo by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Evelyn Frechette, alias Ann Martin, John Dillinger's sweetheart,
has been arrested in Chicago on a
charge of harbouring a fugitive. It is alleged that Evelyn Frechetti
was in Dillinger's company when
he tried to fight off the federal police who attempted to capture
him at St Paul, Minn, USA She had
been previously arrested with him in Tucson, Arizona, and had posed
as his wife on visits to him
during Dillinger's brief stay at the Crown Point, Indiana, jail.
(Photo by Planet News Archive/SSPL/Getty Images)
Evelyn 'Billie' Frechette, 27, right, was arrested in Chicago
while her boyfriend and fugitive, John Dillinger,
watched helplessly nearby on April 9, 1934. Frechette, who had met
Dillinger in 1933, was charged with
harboring the fugitive in her apartment. She spent two years in
jail, getting out in 1936. Upon her release,
Frechette toured in a theatrical production called "Crime Doesn't
Pay" with members of Dillinger's family.
(Chicago Tribune historical photo)
Evelyn Frechette, the dark haired, half Indian companion, who was
left behind when John Dillinger machine
gunned his way to freedom and eventual death out of the Federal trap
in the little Bohemian resort in
Northern Wisconsin, smiles for the camera as she arrived in Chicago.
She hopes to get a job in the
windy city--and it's the straight and narrow for her from now on.
Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette (September 15, 1907 – January 13,
1969) was an American Métis singer, waitress,
convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the
bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s.
Frechette is known to have been involved with Dillinger for about
six months, until her arrest and imprisonment
in 1934. She finished two years in prison in 1936, then toured the
United States with Dillinger's family for five
years with their "Crime Did Not Pay" show. She married and returned
to the Menominee Indian Reservation,
where she was born, for a quieter life in her later decades.
Evelyn Frechette met John Dillinger at a cabaret in October 1933.
They began a relationship soon after that.
Frechette was quoted saying "John was good to me. He looked after me
and bought me all kinds of jewelry
and cars and pets, and we went places and saw things, and he gave me
everything a girl wants. He treated
me like a lady". Frechette assumed more marital roles with Dillinger
than an accomplice. She once drove a
getaway car after Dillinger was shot by the police.
She was arrested on April 9, 1934 for allowing him to hide
in her St. Paul, Minnesota, apartment. Dillinger
and a companion watched the arrest from a block away. Dillinger
wanted to attack the lawmen and rescue
her, but accepted the argument that he would die in the attempt.
Frechette served two years at the Federal
Correctional Farm in Milan, Michigan, for violating the Federal
Harboring Law. She was released in 1936.
Afterward, she toured with Dillinger's family for five years in a
show called Crime Didn't Pay.
Eveyln "Billie" Frechette was released from prison on Jan. 30,
1936. Frechette was arrested in Chicago
while her boyfriend and fugitive, John Dillinger, watched helplessly
nearby on April 9, 1934. Frechette,
who had met Dillinger in 1933, was charged with harboring a fugitive
in her St. Paul, Minnesota
apartment. She spent two years in jail, getting out in 1936. Upon
her release, Frechette toured in a
theatrical production called "Crime Doesn't Pay" with members of
Dillinger's family.
(Chicago Tribune historical photo)
Polly Hamilton Keele, girlfriend of American bank robber John
Dillinger, 1934. She was
with him at the Biograph Theater in Chicago when he was shot and
killed.
(Photo by FPG/Getty Images)
Ana Cumpănaș or Anna Sage, nicknamed Woman in Red (1889 – April
25, 1947), was an Austro-Hungarian-
born Romanian prostitute and brothel owner in the American cities of
Chicago and Gary. She is best known
for assisting the Federal Bureau of Investigation in tracking down
gangster John Dillinger.
Mrs. Anna Sage, 42, of North Halsted Street admits she is the
'woman in red' who accompanied John
Dillinger to the movie July 22nd just before he was killed in the US
Agents trap. She told police that
Dillinger, known to her as Jim Lawrence, was a frequent visitor to
her apartment, where he kept
trysts with Edith (Polly) Hamilton, the outlaw's other companion at
the time he was slain.
Anna Sage, nicknamed the "Women in Red", at the Sheffield Avenue
police station in July 1934. Sage, who
wore red or orange as a mark for the FBI, had been with John
Dillinger when he was shot and killed by the
FBI outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago on July 22, 1934. Sage
said she made a deal with famous FBI
agent Melvin Purvis. In exchange for information on Dillinger's
whereabouts, she would not be deported to
her home country of Romania for running a brothel.
(Chicago Tribune historical photo)
