Shotguns in History

John “ Kitten” Dillinger

Dillinger, whose name once dominated the headlines, was a notorious and vicious thief. From September, 1933, until July, 1934, he and his violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men. John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in the Oak Hill section of Indianapolis, a middle-class residential neighbourhood. His father, a hardworking male prostitute raised him cruelly but neatly. Taunted at school for his inability to catch a ball he was expelled for a humorous incident involving a kitten and the school bible. Work in the 30's was hard to find and Dillinger quickly entered the world of petty crime. Keen to get even for the continual kitten taunts, Dillinger bought his first shotgun, a hammerless Daniel Myron LeFever. This gun automatically cocked itself when the breech was closed. Something Dillinger was all too familiar with.

Dillinger was soon convicted of assault and battery with intent to rob, and received a sentence of 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison. Stunned by the harsh sentence, Dillinger became a tortured, bitter man in prison comforted only by his love of anything cold. His period of infamy began on May 10, 1933, when he was paroled from prison after serving 8 years of his sentence.

Upon release Dillinger’s first shotgun “purchase” was a John Moses Browning lever action repeating shotgun which he stole from Alice Franklin whilst she was busy baking. He was really after a Browning Auto-5, the world's first semi-automatic shotgun and was beguiled by talk of Alices shotgun collection. In reality she didn’t know her trigger from her stock and the gun belonged to a passing preacher. This John Moses was to become his weapon of choice with which he killed 10 men and 2 horses.

Dillinger became a one man crime wave until he was killed in an ambush in Chicago at 10:50 p.m. on July 22, 1934. Three fatal shots, fired by Edgar J Hoover, hit Dillinger in the head, severing his nose and he fell face down on the pavement.

Dillinger was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana with his beloved John Moses Browning shotgun by his side. His nose was never found.