More on Dillinger and Sheriff’s Residence

Thanks to a couple of readers, I’ve got some details to add to past columns.

Sandy Lynch, the director of the Hamilton County Historical Society Museum, sent some photos of the Sheriff’s Residence and Jail with — and without — the garage and tower.

Garage?

I’d completely forgotten there used to be a garage. (I’d also forgotten about the small parking area that once sat on the northwest corner of the courthouse square behind the garage and the jail.)

The garage was located on the east side of the jail. According to Sandy, it was added in the early 1950s and torn down in 1983 as part of a historic preservation project.

Sandy also sent photos of the tower that was added to the Sheriff’s Residence in 1992. The new tower restored the building to the way it looked in 1876. (The original tower had been blown down during a storm in 1948.)

After the first John Dillinger column ran, I received an email from Bob McColgin, the son of Helen (Carey) McColgin, whose parents owned the Westfield Cafeteria where Dillinger was said to have eaten.

Bob included a photo of several members of the Carey family standing in front of the cafeteria and noted that his mother’s job was to roll pie dough each morning before heading to school. (I especially liked the sign in the photo: “32 MILES TO NEXT TOWN, EAT HERE.”)

Bob said his memory of his mother’s account of “Dillinger’s” visit differs a little from what I wrote.

According to him, she didn’t actually see the man believed to be Dillinger, but “she remembered the story that when John and his men walked into the cafeteria, the only commotion was that the barber, Doc Ross, swallowed an ice cube and choked.”

(In point of fact, the “men” were one man and two women.)

About the body in a hearse parked outside the cafeteria  —  Mrs. McColgin and her sisters DID get a look at the casket inside the hearse while the driver was eating, but Bob said his mother was never sure who was in the casket.

We know now that body was most likely Dillinger gang member Harry Pierpont.

(By the way, Pierpont was no stranger to Hamilton County. In 1924 he was part of a gang that attempted to rob the Citizens State Bank in downtown Noblesville. A few months later he was caught and sent to the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton, which is where he met Dillinger.)

You can’t fault Mrs. McColgin and her father, Lowell Carey, for believing Dillinger had eaten at their cafeteria. Remember, people in the 1930s had no television, no internet and no smartphones. All they had to go on to identify the notorious bank robber were newspaper photos and maybe an occasional newsreel at a movie theater. Most people never saw how he moved, or heard his voice.

While I can’t say with 100 percent certainty Dillinger NEVER ate at the Westfield Cafeteria, it’s extremely unlikely. From 1924 to 1933 he was serving time for the attempted robbery of a Mooresville grocery. Following his release in May, 1933, he was only known to have been in this area once or twice.

It’s well established that he visited his family in Mooresville April 5-8, 1934. (He was staying there the weekend he made the trip to Ohio that ended with the Hamilton County car crash.)

Additionally, the Indianapolis Times and another source indicate that he made a “fleeting” visit to Indianapolis to drop money off for his family on May 10, 1934. I haven’t been able to confirm that to my satisfaction, though.

Notable Nineties Update: I get to add a name to the list this week — Sarah Cloud of Noblesville. Sarah’s been a family friend for many years. Congratulations, Sarah! 

Paula Dunn’s From Time to Thyme column appears on Wednesdays in The Times. Contact her at younggardenerfriend@gmail.com