On November 27, 1934, American bank robber and gangster Baby Face Nelson (real name Lester Joseph Gillis) is killed. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 6, 1908, Nelson became involved in crime at early age as a car and tire thief by the age of fourteen years old. Over the following years, Nelson not only became a married man (marrying Helen Wawzynak, who adopts the name Helen Gillis) but also escalated his criminal activity to armed robbery and bank robbery. In 1931, Nelson was arrested and sentenced to prison; however, he escaped during a transfer to Joliet in 1932 and fled southwest to Nevada and California, adopting a life as a bootlegger in California working with a man named John Paul Chase. Eventually, Nelson joined up with John Dillinger and his gang, operating in the area of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana until Dillinger's death on July 22, 1934. After Dillinger's death, Baby Face Nelson joined forces with Chase once more, operating first in Nevada before returning to Chicago.
On August 27, 1934, Nelson, his wife, and Chase were traveling towards Chicago when they encountered agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the highway. After their vehicle had taken a hit to the radiator during a rolling gunfight on the highway, the gangsters pulled their vehicle to the side of the road. At that time, agents Herman Hollis and Samuel Cowley also stopped their own vehicle and engage Nelson and Chase. In the ensuing gunfight, Nelson was hit with rounds from the agents' shotgun and Thompson submachine gun. Hollis was killed in the firefight and Cowley was mortally wounded. Nelson and Chase proceeded to transfer their weapons to the agents' bullet-riddled car. Nelson, heavily wounded from the gunfight, passed out in the back of the car while Chase drove Nelson and his wife away from the scene of the battle. Despite evading capture one last time, Baby Face Nelson would die from his wounds later that evening. Samuel Cowley would die of his wounds the following morning, despite undergoing a surgery in an attempt to save his life. Nelson's widow Helen Gillis would be arrested a few days later, sentenced to one year in prison for having violated the terms of her parole from a previous arrest. As for John Paul Chase, he would be captured a month later and sent to Alcatraz and later Leavenworth for the murder of Cowley in 1935. In 1966, Chase was released on parole and returned to California where he would live until his death in 1973.
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28 Nov 2020 04:14 CET
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