Curious Chicagoans Pack the Cook County Morgue to View the Body of Slain Fugitive John Dillinger on July 22, 1934

John Dillinger, one of the most notorious bank robbers in American history, was gunned down by FBI agents on July 22, 1934, outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Dillinger had become Public Enemy No. 1, the face of crime during the Great Depression, and a symbol of both rebellion and menace. His death sparked a frenzy among the public, turning the end of his life into a bizarre spectacle.

After news broke of his shooting, curious onlookers rushed to the crime scene. Some reportedly dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, believing it held some sort of power or souvenir value. The fascination did not end there. Thousands descended upon the Cook County morgue to view his body. The morgue, overwhelmed by crowds, allowed people to file past Dillinger’s corpse for one final glimpse of the man who had eluded capture for months and embarrassed law enforcement with his bold prison escapes and daring heists.

People posed for photos, laughed, and treated the event like a social gathering. This scene of morbid tourism highlighted the strange celebrity status Dillinger had achieved. To some, he was a criminal menace. To others, he was a folk hero who robbed banks during an era of economic despair.

Dillinger’s death marked a turning point for the FBI. It gave the agency national credibility and helped solidify J. Edgar Hoover’s legacy. But the reaction of the public served as a chilling reminder of how infamy, even when born from violence, can captivate the American imagination.

A throng of people wait in line to view the body of slain gunman John Dillinger at the undertakers rooms in Mooresville, Indiana, in July 1934.

Betty and Rosella Nelson, along with a crowd of people, view the body of John Dillinger, 32, while in bathing suits at the Cook County morgue in Chicago. In the days after Dillinger was killed on July 22, 1934, massive crowds lined up outside the morgue to get a glimpse of the notorious public enemy.

Betty and Rosella Nelson, sisters and entertainers in Chicago, view the body of the notorious criminal John Dillinger in the morgue.

Coroner Frank J. Walsh stands next to the body of John Dillinger as a long line of people pass by on the other side of the glass panel to get a look at the famous criminal on July 23, 1934, at the Cook County Morgue.

Dillinger’s corpse at the morgue attracted crowds of onlookers in the days following his death. The photo, which shows sheet draped over Dillinger’s arm set in with rigor mortis, led to sensational interpretations by the public.

John Dillinger was shot and killed by FBI agents on July 22, 1934, at the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago after agents received a tip from Dillinger’s friend Anna Sage. Sage, known as the “Woman in Red,” told authorities that she, Dillinger, and Dillinger’s girlfriend, Polly Hamilton Keele, would be at the movies and to look for her dressed in red. Some reports say Sage was actually dressed in orange.

A crowd of people stood outside the Biograph Theater after John Dillinger’s death.

People stand around the bloodstain from John Dillinger, 32, in the alley behind the Biograph Theater in Chicago.

Professor D. E. Ashworth lifts a plaster death mask off the face of John Dillinger while his students watch on July 23, 1934, at the Cook County morgue in Chicago. Ashworth, of the Worsham College of Mortuary Science, had told employees at the morgue that he had permission to create the mask, but he didn’t. Ashworth and his students were ousted from the morgue, and the partially completed mask was confiscated by the police. Unbeknownst to the FBI, a complimentary copy of another death mask was sent to the bureau from the Reliance Dental Corporation, which also did not have permission. To this day, there is controversy over how many death masks were made of Dillinger’s face and the authenticity of the masks.

Dillinger’s body lies in the Cook County morgue after he was shot and killed by FBI agents on July 22, 1934, at the Biograph Theater in Chicago. According to the Chicago Tribune, Dillinger was “partly covered with a sheet below which well manicured feet protrude, a tag labeled ‘Dillinger’ on each big toe.”

John Dillinger’s body leaves the Cook County Morgue at Polk and Wood Streets to be taken to McCready Funeral home at 4506 Sheridan Road on July 24, 1934. Dillinger’s father, John Dillinger Sr., traveled from Mooresville, Indiana to claim his son’s body.