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Travel, History & Culture in America's Dairyland |
| Valley of the Molls - Part II | |||||||||||||||
| In part one, three women left behind by the Dillinger gang following the shootout at Little Bohemia are brought to Madison for arraignment in federal court. The city is gripped by hysteria with reports that the Dillinger gang is approaching the city… The three women were to be arraigned at noon Wednesday before the federal court commissioner. Fearing an ambush on the way to the court office, officials scheduled the arraignment inside the jail. Capital Times reporter R.D. Linton hustled to the Bank of Wisconsin building on the state Capitol Square. He hoped to take a picture of the court commissioner and federal agents walking to the arraignment. Outside of the 7th floor commissioner's office, Linton snapped a picture of the men leaving. "Did you get my picture?" asked an agent named Hardy, the man who loomed mysteriously over federal justice department activities in Madison. "I don't know," Linton replied. The two boarded an elevator. Linton tweaked Hardy about the "mantle of secrecy" surrounding the case "ever since it became known agents' bullets killed an innocent bystander" at Little Bohemia. Hardy asked Linton twice more about taking his picture. Twice more Linton played dumb. The group walked into the circus that had become the jail courtyard. Police officers, feds, reporters, newsreel cameras, gawkers; an unwieldy crowd was milling around waiting for something, anything, to happen. Hardy provided the action. In front of the assembled crowd, he loudly demanded the plate holders (the precursor to modern day film) from Linton. "I don't know that I have your picture and I can't give it to you," Linton replied. "You'll have to put me under arrest to get it." Hardy had other ideas. He grabbed Linton by the lapels and threw the photographer to the pavement. Putting one knee across Linton's neck, Hardy began wrenching the photgrapher's arm. A deputy sheriff joined in, grabbing Linton's legs and pulling the photographer in other direction, increasing the torque on Linton's arm. Linton gave up the camera. Hardy raised the plates over his head. "You don't have to break up the plate holders," Linton said, still prostrate, "all you have to do is let light in on them." The agent slammed the plates on the ground. For good measure, ground his heel into the shattered glass in front of Linton. Having set the tone for the day, Hardy turned and marched into the jail. The crush of reporters began to follow. Moments before, the court commissioner assured reporters that the hearing, like any other in Madison, would be open to the public. Reporters approached the jail entrance. "The federal government is running this hearing, and I've been given orders to not admit nobody," announced Sheriff Finn, who had been unceremoniously dispatched to enforce the new rules according to J. Edgar Hoover and the mysterious man named Hardy. Finn held the crowd at bay, telling reporters that even he had "not seen the girls since they were brought here." Reporters saw the women being led to the jail office and rushed a window. The shades were drawn promptly. Inside, nearly a dozen armed guards crowded into the small jail office for the arraignment. A score of others patrolled surrounding corridors. Bail was set at $50,000 each. A grand jury would convene May 7. That night, "Dillinger-conscious" agents roamed Madison streets in search of a "big sedan" carrying four men reported to have circled the county jail four times between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. |
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