Was John Dillenger A Stamp Collector When He Wasn't Robbing Banks?

Here's an interesting First Day Cover. It's addressed to John Dillinger in Crown Point Indiana. That was the first thing which caught my attention. The second was that it is marked with a purple straight line "Moved Left No Address."

Okay, so who's John Dillinger and why is this intriguing? THE John Dillinger was a notorious bank robber in the early 1930's whose crime spree made him both a notorious gangster and a folk hero as this was the Great Depression. Hundreds of thousands of people had lost their savings, their businesses and their farms and homes because of bank failures and foreclosures, so banks were not popular at the time (think of putting your money in your mattress - this is where that idea comes from).

A check of the internet shows that John Dillinger was from Crown Point, Indiana but by 1934, he was operating out of Chicago.

Wait, though, because it gets more interesting. The cover is dated, as a First Day Cover, July 24, 1934. Interestingly, John Dillinger was back in Crown Point, Indiana on that date. He did have a new address, however.

John Dillinger was killed in a gunfight on July 22, 1934 and was buried in the Crown Point Cemetary, in Crown Point, Indiana. Guess he forgot to give the Post Office his new address...

So there's the story. Now, for the conjecture part. This may have been a publicity stunt by the sender of the cover. Dillinger's death was national news, so the person who sent the cover, Roberta Roe, "The Girl Stamp Dealer," may have seen an opportunity to create an interesting piece of philatelic mail. Send the cover, wait for it to be returned, and you now have a tie to one of the most infamous gangsters of the era.

Is there any validity to this conjecture? I will probably never know, but if anyone has any information they could share, I'd sure love to hear it!

Here's the cover...

I have no proof, but lean strongly toward this cover being addressed as a publicity stunt.

One correction: Dillinger is buried in Crown Hill cemetery in Indianapolis.

You are absolutely correct on the location of Dillinger's burial site. That lends even greater credence to the idea of this having been a rather clever publicity stunt.

People are strange.

"2) The post office in Mooresville did a heavy business from visitors who wanted to mail postcards back home form [sic] the home town of John Dillinger."

http://www.indystar.com/story/life/...er/30614795/

aw.... you had me for a while there..darn it! Would have been a cover that would have brought a lot of interest----

In March 1933, John Dillinger escaped from the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where he was being held. Supposedly he fashioned a fake gun to facilitate his escape. After the jail break, he stole a car and drove it across the state line into Illinois. This was the first time he had broken a federal law and triggered Hoover and the FBI to attempt his arrest. Today, there is a John Dillinger Museum in Crown Point.

If he died on 22/July and Roberta got this FDC postmarked 24/July (note the 25/July backstamp) then she was pretty quick off of the mark.

OTOH, Herman "Pat" Herst Jr moved pretty quick on 07/December, just seven years later.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Has anyone addressed the stamps on the reverse? Kind of weird, isn't it?

Stamps on back: It was a 3 cent letter rate at that time. This gives a nice single-stamp franking on the front with the remainder of the postage on the back to bring it up to full-rate.

Thanks, John, I suspected as much, but am a little surprised that postal officials would have looked at both front and back.

The give-away as to why this is a philatelic fantasy, although made in the day, is the return address. It is an alias used by convicted felon stamp dealer Albert C. Roessler. Roessler used several names in his highly prolific stamp business including Albert C. Rossler, AC Rossler, AC Roe, Roberta Roe, and G. Nelson Lyons. If you look at the back of this cover you will see him using his "Roberta Roe, Girl Stamp Dealer" alias. Albert was a very eccentric character to put it nicely, but he was also an 'energizer bunny' in finding excuses every day to create some kind of philatelic creation. Many of his works, such as most of his nicely cacheted first day covers seem to be genuine, but he was known for manufacturing event covers when he had clients who wanted them and he did not have any in stock. He was finally caught in 1933 for forging some New York City post marks on some of his fraudulent covers that he was making to meet customer demands for covers he did not have. He was indicted on Federal felony charges and avoided some serious penitentiary time by pleading guilty to two indictments; one charging "the use of mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud", and the other that he "caused to be printed and did use prints (the New York cancellations) in similitude of obligations of the United States".

Whenever you see a cover from 1918 to the 1940s (his period of activity) with his name or any of his aliases you need to take it with a huge grain of salt as to whether it is what it appears to be.

Fascinating update Kimo! Though obviously philatelic, I never would have guessed this to be a Rossler creation.

Which leaves us, does it not, the question of whether/not the FDC was itself forged/genuine?

How fitting it would be that an honest philatelic creation of his would be doubted ...

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

There are collectors out there, that pay good money for AC Roessler
ephemera.
I have seen a small collection of about 15 labels with reserve of $300

I have the Roessler Statue of Liberty Label.
He did a label for Tonga

Riga Stamps
http://www.cinderellas.info/columns/Newf_SOAir/

I reproduce this old weblink, which no longer seems valid ?

Unidentified Philatelic Objects by Rick Scott

If anyone has the current link, I would like to show due accreditation to Mr. Scott

(I have the Bavarian AC Roessler label as well)

[quote]Which leaves us, does it not, the question of whether/not the FDC was itself forged/genuine?

How fitting it would be that an honest philatelic creation of his would be doubted ... keyPikey[/quote]

Hi ikeyPikey. I agree. The problem with Roessler material is that I think it likely that much of it is genuine and authentic, but some unknown percentage are forgeries. And the forgeries are hard to pick out sometimes since Roessler often forged his own creations using the same envelopes and cachets that he used on his legitimate items, but making them after the fact using forged cancellations, as well as overprints and such. Because the forgeries are so hard to detect, it poisons the well on all of his legitimate material which I think is sad.