Public Enemies Subject Has Local Ties

LIMA, Ohio—What is expected to be a huge box-office hit opened Wednesday: Public Enemies.

It’s the story of John Dillinger—the notorious bank robber who robbed many banks in Ohio.

In Lima, Dillinger became public enemy no. 1. At the Allen County Museum, an exhibit tells the story of the great escape.

Locked in a jail cell for a bank robbery in nearby Bluffton, Dillinger’s gang broke him out on Oct. 12, 1933.

“Probably came to prominence as the most notorious of the bank robbers … started here in Allen County,“ said John Carnes, curator of the Allen County Museum.

Carnes has studied Dillinger for much of his career and said that what happened the evening of Oct. 12 became the biggest crime in Lima’s history.

Three men, Harry Pierpont, Charles Makley and Jack Clark came to Lima to get Dillinger, who was at the time second in charge of the gang.

The sheriff, Jesse Sarbor, was reading the day’s newspaper with the top story about Machine Gun Kelly.

His wife, Lucy, was across the desk from him and had just started a crossword puzzle.

“All three men pulled their guns and Pierpont said, ‘These are our credentials,‘“ Carnes said.

They beat Sarbor in the head and shot him.

Lucy retrieved the keys to the jail so the three men would stop torturing her husband and Dillinger was a free man.

“When he heard the first shot, he knew what was going on. Apparently he went back to get his coat and he was ready to go,“ Carnes said.

Sarbor died the next day and the next January, the foursome was caught.

Dillinger escaped again, but the three men weren’t as lucky.

But there’s more to the story—and it gets personal for NBC 4‘s Mike Bowersock.

There were three other men involved in Dillinger’s breakout. They were lookouts and a getaway driver: Edward Shouse, John Hamilton and Harry Copeland.

“The story goes something like this: on the night before the breakout, three men came to a bar on Main Street, they said they were out of town businessmen and their car had broken down and they were wondering: was there anyone they could recommend who knew how to fix cars,“ Bowersock said. “They were referred to a man who lived on Robb Avenue. He was very handy with cars. He was also an out-of-work Welsh Coal Miner. He fixed the car up for them. As repayment, these three men took the family to the grocery store and bought them groceries. The next day, they take off. Keep in mind, this is 1933. These people have no idea who these men are (and) thought they were out-of-town businessmen—not members of the Dillinger gang.“

The man the trio approached for vehicle help was Bowersock’s grandfather. Bowersock’s mother was too young to remember the story, but her older sister told him the story.

Carnes said he never heard Bowersock’s story in connection with the Dillinger case before, but that it’s not surprising.

“People did that for strangers in those days—more so than what they would now,“ Carnes said.

After the breakout, Dillinger became a legend, and within a year, he would be dead.

His death brought an end to one of the most famous bank-robbing gangs of all time—and public enemy no. 1.

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