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Travel, History & Culture in America's Dairyland |
| Valley of the Molls - Part II | |||||||||||||||
| In the center of the fear and the frenzy and the shotguns remained the women. The trio had been offering misinformation from the moment they walked out of Little Bohemia. Authorities struggled with the basics of their identity, including their real names. One maintained she was Ann Southern, a popular actress of the day. Federal agents knew how to break the toughest of men. They went to work on the women. "Valuable information regarding John Dillinger and his gang slipped from the lips of their three deserted feminine consorts today," United Press reported. "The bravado in which they displayed when they were forced out of Little Bohemia lodge by a barrage of machine gun bullets and tear gas was gone. The stubborn resistance with which they first met questioning has broken down. Bit by bit the gangsters' girls offered information, bargaining for sleep and rest. Each further revelation only brought more inquiry." (The Capital Times wondered aloud if federal agents were giving the prisoners the same kind of treatment received by reporter R.D. Linton.) Marion Marr told agents that she had been married only two weeks to one of the gangsters -- she wouldn't say which one -- and had been spending her honeymoon at Little Bohemia. "Gangster's Bride Spends Honeymoon Alone in Cell," blared the Wisconsin State Journal. "County Jail is Honeymoon Hotel to Gangster Girl," countered the Capital Times. According to one account, "For a dozen adventure-packed days, three girls traveled and consorted with a quintet of the 'baddest men' on the American continent, five men led by John Dillinger on a trail of murder that has cost this country more than a million dollars. "You would, perhaps, think the three girls who, apparently voluntarily, followed these desperados would be 'bad' in more ways than one. "But two of them don't even drink or smoke! "Federal agents who have spent three days and four nights questioning the trio have found that two of the girls - blond, shapely Ann Southern and the petite red-head, Rose Ancker - neither drink nor smoke. The other member of the trio of 'molls' is Marion Marr, who claimed to be married to one of their gangster companions." Marr, apparently, did drink and smoke. The Wisconsin State Journal featured "Ann Southern," whose sister arrived in Madison with an attorney. "She says, to the outside world, "My name's Ann Southern, the movie actress," but her real name's Delaney, she's 21, her home is in St. Paul and she's sorry to have brought 'all this trouble' to her family." "The blonde Ann and her attractive brunette sister, clad in a neat blue suit with white trimmings, embraced, wept a bit and talked about family affairs when the two met for the first time since the three girls were deserted by the fleeing gangsters. "Ann, it was reported, seemed quite concerned over her mother and the effect upon the latter's health caused by her daughter's plight." Ann Southern, or Ann Delaney, would later be identified as Jean Compton. Her sister was married to Dillinger pal Pat Reilly. Delaney's attorney declared that her association with the gang was innocent. A "comfortable" sum of money was left "to provide comforts during her incarceration." Agents discovered that Marion Marr was Helen Gillis, wife of Lester Gillis, "Baby Face" Nelson. Far from being a new bride, she had been married to the killer for six years and was a mother of two children whose whereabouts were unknown. The extent of the women's complicity with the gang's activities remained a mystery. The prisoners admitted only one thing. They missed Rex, the dog. |
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