Before becoming Public Enemy #1 during the Depression Era of the United States, John Dillinger was born and raised in a quaint rural community in the Moselle Valley of Indiana. John was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on Cooper Street and was subsequently raised by his older sister Audrey since he was three, who filled the role of a mother, and his father "Honest" John Dillinger. His sister took the place as mother within the Dillinger household because at the age of three Marry Ellen Lancaster, his mother, died.
John attended Public School No. 38 in the Oak Hill district of Indiana. He was seen as an inquisitive and hardworking child during his first few years of elementary school. He was said to be a fairly normal child who did not express any concerning characteristics. After he dropped out of elementary school in eighth grade he became a rambunctious teenager, focussing more on the fun experiences than gaining an institutional education.
John was soon arrested and placed in Indiana State Reformatory at Pendleton for assaulting Frank Morgan, the grocery-man of Mooresville. While serving his 3 year sentence in Pendleton, John wrote a letter to his nephew, Norman Hancock, which shows a different side John than the one eventually portrayed in the media,
Dear Norman.
... I sure was glad to see you but you sure have grown. I hardly knew you. You tell Fred and Mary they had better write or I will disinherit them. Ha ha...
John attended Public School No. 38 in the Oak Hill district of Indiana. He was seen as an inquisitive and hardworking child during his first few years of elementary school. He was said to be a fairly normal child who did not express any concerning characteristics. After he dropped out of elementary school in eighth grade he became a rambunctious teenager, focussing more on the fun experiences than gaining an institutional education.
John was soon arrested and placed in Indiana State Reformatory at Pendleton for assaulting Frank Morgan, the grocery-man of Mooresville. While serving his 3 year sentence in Pendleton, John wrote a letter to his nephew, Norman Hancock, which shows a different side John than the one eventually portrayed in the media,
Dear Norman.
... I sure was glad to see you but you sure have grown. I hardly knew you. You tell Fred and Mary they had better write or I will disinherit them. Ha ha...
Eventually John joined the navy after a temporary break in the relationship between him and his father. His enlistment in the navy did not last long when he decided to abandon ship after getting into some trouble with fellow officers when said ship docked in Boston. He was subsequently dishonorably discharged from the armed forces. The entirety of his experiences from a teenager to a young adult seemed to propel him towards a dangerous life of crime.
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