August 18, 1928

"My dearest wife,

...I hope you are not worrying about how you are going to keep me home with you after I get out, as sweet as you are you can let me do the worrying. Dearest we will be so happy when I come home to you and chase your sorrows away and it wont take any kids to keep me home with you always. For sweetheart I love you so all I want is just to be with you and make you happy. I wonder, if I will get an interview Monday. I sure hope so for I am dying to see you. Darling have some pictures taken, every time I see you, you look dearer and sweeter to me so I want late pictures. Now say raspberries but honey its the truth. I sure am crazy about you....Write soon and come sooner.

Love from Hubby
XXXOOOXXXOOOXXX"

This excerpt from a letter written by Dillinger to his wife shows a side of him that many never got to see. Many know and have read of his many robberies, and supposed murder, but behind this was a caring and sincere man who genuinely appreciated those around him. Two of John's biggest heroes were Robin Hood and Jesse James not only because of their daring, but also because of their kindness and love towards women and children.

During a robbery at the Central National Bank in Greencastle, Indiana, it is said that Dillinger approached a farmer at the tellers cage with a large stack of bills in front of him. John asked the farmer, "that your money or the bank's?" "Mine," the farmer told him. "Keep it. We only want the bank's." was Dillingers reply.

John wasn't the best of characters, but he did have a good heart. While Dillinger was in jail, he wrote to his father: "Hope this letter finds you well and not worrying too much about me. Maybe I'll learn someday, Dad that you can't win in this game. I know I have been a big disappointment to you but I guess I did too much time for where I went in a carefree boy I came out bitter toward everything in general. Of course, Dad, most of the blame lies with me for my environment was of the best but if I had gotten off more leniently when I made my first mistake this would never have happened....I am well and treated fine. From Johnnie."

The famous Bohemia Lodge is yet another example of John's good nature and kind heart. On April 20, 1934, the gang needed a place to hide out. One of them suggested a summer resort in northern Wisconsin called Little Bohemia. During their stay the owners, Emil and Nan Wanatka, saw the guns and holsters on the gang and figured out who they were. This terrified the couple! Emil worked up the courage to approach John about this. Doing what he could to put his host at ease, Dillinger told him, "Don't worry. I want to sleep and eat a few days. I want to rest up. I'll pay you well and then we'll all get out."

A devoted husband, a Navy man, and a good baseball player, John Dillinger led the life of a bank robber. This may not have been the case had it not been for one unfortunate incident which changed his life forever...

One summer, John played shortstop on the Martinsville baseball team where he became friends with an umpire named Ed Singleton. A distant relative of Dillinger's stepmother, Singleton was described as a weak, tortured man with webbed fingers who drank heavily. Singleton became Johnnie's first partner in crime.

On a Saturday night in early September, Dillinger, armed with a .32 caliber pistol and a bolt wrapped in a handkerchief, assaulted a local grocer who was on his way to the barbershop. John had been told by Singleton, that the grocer would be carrying his daily receipts with him. This was not the case. Dillinger whacked the grocer over the head with the bolt, but the grocer fought back grabbing at the gun and forcing it to discharge. John, thinking that he had shot the grocer, took off running down the street to where Singleton was supposed to be waiting with the getaway car. No one was there.

Convinced by the local prosecutor that if he plead guilty the court would be lenient on him, Dillinger's father persuaded his son to confess. John appeared in court without a lawyer. His father, who had once been too busy to meet with his son's schoolteachers, was now too busy to attend the trial. The judge threw the book at young Dillinger sentencing him to 10 to 20 years at the Pendleton Reformatory. Upon entering the prison, the 21-year-old, but cocky confident, Dillinger was brought before the superintendent and calmly told him, "I won't cause you any trouble except to escape."