Rubbernecking the stiff.

John Dillinger's corpse meets his adoring fans. July 23, 1934.

JD met death at 10:50pm on July 22nd 1934, walking out of a late night movie arm in arm with his best girl. Hordes of FBI agents ambushed the fearsome Dillinger and he died in a hail of gunfire, cursing those g-man rats with his dying breath!

Ah, I can't lie to you good folks. It wasn't that romantic. As he came out of the theater, they closed in. There were three agents. The plan was to take him alive but Dillinger saw them and panicked, drew first and ran down a dark alley. They then drew their weapons & called out for him to stop. 5 shots were fired by the g-men and 3 shots hit Dillinger in the back. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Fun fact: The FBI’s July 2019 Artifact of the Month was the death mask of John Dillinger.