It was July 22, 1934, just 4 months before my birth, that John Dillinger was attending a movie at the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Upon leaving, John was met by a group of F.B.I. agents and shot to death. There are several macabre details about his death.
After the shooting, many people bought Chicago newspapers and rushed to soak pages in Dillinger’s spilled blood on the sidewalk after the F.B.I. had killed him. This was done as keepsakes of the man’s death.
How do I know about this macabre act that took place? When I was promoted and took over the position of hospital salesman for the Houston Medical Center and the John Sealy Center in Galveston, my manager, Jake Gaddis told me he and his wife had been to the movie that night as well and Jake got a page of the Chicago paper and soaked it in Dillinger’s blood himself.
Here is another fact about John Dillinger:
One of the more bizarre celebrity legends is the claim that notorious bank robber John Dillinger was not only the proud possessor of an unusually large penis, but that this portion of his anatomy was removed post-mortem and put on display at one of the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C.
Some versions state that the receiving institution was not the Smithsonian but the Armed Forces Medical Museum, which is on the grounds of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington.) That the Smithsonian denies having (or ever having had) this piece of classic Americana in their collection is part of the game, of course. (An auxiliary portion of the legend is that Smithsonian docents, upon being asked where Mr. Dillinger's organ can be found, will not deny its presence in the collection but will fabricate an excuse as to why it is not currently on display.)
So, the question is this: Were the F.B.I. after Dillinger because of his bank robberies, or just jealous of his equipment? Just Sayin…RJS
Now Mr. Samples, that story is hitting below the belt. 🙈
It wasn't me, it was in the newspapers! Can you just imagine folks dipping newspapers in someone's blood? Just Sayin...RJS
Hysterical!!!!!
Well played!
Thank you!
I needed that laugh!
But people back then did keep weird souvenirs.
A famous boxer named Dan Donnelly, who died in 1840, had his body stolen after it was buried.
Long story short - they got the body back, but only if the Right Arm was allowed to be kept.
The right arm was his famous tool that he used to beat his opponents.
The arm toured the US last year as part of a boxing exhibit.
I think it normally rests in an Irish pub in the UK.
Soaking newspaper in blood is probably less macabre than a mummified arm.
In my opinion.
Thanks RJS.
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