Born Lester M. Gillis in Chicago, Illinois, "Baby Face" Nelson started running with local hoodlums at a young age and was an accomplished car thief by age 14. He spent many months of his teenage years in a boys home. By age 22, he had robbed a bank and was sent to the Illinois State Penitentiary. He would later escape and flee to Nevada, then California. There he met a liquor smuggler named John Chase. In 1933, after living on the run for some time, Nelson met up in Chicago with the Dillinger Gang, having befriended gang member Homer Van Meter months earlier. While they were all vacationing at Little Bohemia in Wisconsin, FBI agents learned of their whereabouts and attempted to capture the gang. Nelson fled to a nearby home with two hostages. He managed to escape, allegedly shooting two agents and a contable in the process, killing Agent W. Carter Baum. Nelson continued to live outside the law, moving between Chicago and California. On November 27, 1934, Nelson was spotted in a stolen car and chased down by agents in Barrington, Illinois. A shoot out ensued, resulting in the deaths of Agent Herman Hollis and Inspector Samuel P. Cowley. Nelson, though shot 17 times, was still able to steal Hollis's car and race away with his wife, Helen Gillis, in tow. Nelson succumbed to his wounds at approximately 8pm that evening and was unceremoniously dumped near a Niles Center (present-day Skokie), Illinois, cemetery. Nelson is buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois.
No comments:
Post a Comment