John Dillinger

I read with interest the article in the Tampa Tribune regarding "John Dillinger."

This man was held in high esteem throughout Indiana and the Chicago area. It seemed he was the modern day "Robin Hood" in those parts due to his benevolent behavior.

The peoples of English, Seymour, Marengo, Sulfur, Corydon, New Albany, Georgetown, Greenville and New Salisbury, Ind. were indebted to Dillinger by way of his saving their properties from tax foreclosures. You see, he would arrive at one of these locations, go to the court house, and pay up all the unpaid property taxes and save the properties from going on the auction block.

The people would hide John from the law. When the sheriff or marshal came looking for John Dillinger, the town folks would lie and say they had not seen him or didn't know who he was. I know these statements are true because of my late Uncle "Al Best." Al played poker with John and several other men in the southern Indiana area back in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He had nothing but the utmost respect for John Dillinger.

It took, I guess, a woman to bring John down, at least that's the way the story goes. By the way, John and Al would hunt with the grandfather of Fuzzy Zeller. Fuzzy is from New Albany. If you are not a golfer, Fuzzy is a professional golfer, played with the PGA tour until his remark to Tiger Woods cost him his sponsorship by Kmart. Tiger never thought a thing of it but the press made a congressional case of it.

It seems there was at one time, a floating poker game in the Floyd and Harrison counties area. I guess there were six players when Dillinger was not in the area, he would make the seventh. The only ones privy to its location were the ones involved.

The last game played, they were robbed by two men, one with a hand gun, the other with a sawed-off shot gun. They said there was about $150,000 in the room, plus the rings and watches, etc. The robbers were never caught, in fact, the players never called the law.

William C. Gates, Sr.
Sebring