On This Day, July 22

1. 1934: Public Enemy No.1 gets gunned down

Notorious criminal John Dillinger was gunned down outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago on this date in 1934. Dillinger had been deemed “Public Enemy No.1” by J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, for the countless banks he had robbed and the casualties left along the way. With the help of other infamous criminals such as “Baby Face” Nelson, Dillinger and his gang stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks in Wisconsin, Chicago, and Indiana, which in the era of the great depression that was a small fortune. In July of 1934, the FBI recruited Romanian-born Anna Sage, who was a madam of a brothel in Chicago Dillinger frequented. Sage was a friend of Dillinger but turned on him for leniency in her upcoming deportation hearing and hoping to receive the $10,000 reward for his capture. On this day Sage and Dillinger attended a movie at the Biograph, the gangster film Manhattan Melodrama. She was supposed to wear an orange dress in order to identify Dillinger when they walked out of the movie, however the lights at the theater made the dress appear red instead. This would earn her the nickname “lady in red”. After being ordered to surrender Dillinger attempted to flee, but only made it to the alley where it was reported that he tried to pull a gun which forced officers to open fire.

2. 1991: Jeffrey Dahmer is caught

One of the most horrific criminals in American history, Jeffery Dahmer, was caught on this date in 1991. The details of this story are so gruesome that I won’t be repeating them. Taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 32 year old male Tracy Edwards ran down the street in handcuffs towards the police officers he saw in the distance. He tells them Dahmer had held him hostage at his apartment and threatened to kill him. Police take Edwards back to the apartment where he said he was held where they spoke with Dahmer and he calmly explained it was all a misunderstanding. It was reported that the officers almost believed him, but they happened to spot some Polaroid photos laying on the table of dismembered bodies. At that point Dahmer was placed under arrest. The search of Dahmer’s apartment is when the real horrors begin, and where I skip the specifics. A reported 11 victims were found in the apartment after forensic examination, dating back to March of 1989. However later Dahmer would admit to a total of 17 victims, his first being in 1978. Once the trail began, the defense went the insanity route but the jury didn’t buy it. He was found guilty and sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms. He was later killed by another inmate in 1994.

3. 1933: Wiley Post lands after first solo flight around the world

It was on this date in 1933 that Wiley Post landed at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, completing the first solo flight around the world. This happened just two years after Post had set the record for a flight around the globe with the help of his navigator, Harold Gatty. For his solo flight Post used the same Lockheed 5C Vega he had named Winnie Mae. just with the addition of a few upgrades. The major upgrades were the direction radio and Sperry automatic pilot system, both of which making the solo flight possible. Not only did he do the second flight solo, but the route he took was said to be 15,596 miles versus the 15,474 on his first record, an he did it less time. He was able to complete the flight in just 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes, almost a full day quicker than before. He did this thanks to the new systems he put in place, as well as riding the jet streams to drastically increase his speed.