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Homer Van Meter | |
|---|---|
 FBI mug shot of Homer Van Meter | |
| Born | Homer Virgil Van Meter (1905-12-03)December 3, 1905 Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | August 23, 1934(1934-08-23) (aged 28) St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Criminal charge | Drunk and disorderly conduct, larceny, motor vehicle theft, armed robbery |
| Penalty | Imprisonment from January to December, 1924; 1925 to 1933 (paroled) |
Homer Virgil Van Meter (December 3, 1905 – August 23, 1934) was an American criminal andbank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate ofJohn Dillinger andBaby Face Nelson.
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Van Meter was born to Cary B. Van Meter and Julia Miller in 1905 (according to other sources December 3, 1906)[citation needed] inFort Wayne, Indiana, the son of analcoholic railroad conductor. During the sixth grade, Van Meter ran away from home, eventually ending up inChicago, Illinois, where he worked as abellhop and a waiter.[1][citation needed]
He was arrested for the first time as a teenager, for drunk and disorderly conduct. InAurora, Illinois, on June 23, 1923, Van Meter was sentenced to 41 days in jail forlarceny. On January 11, 1924, he was sentenced formotor vehicle theft and incarcerated inSouthern Illinois Penitentiary. At the time of his admission, he had a tattoo reading "HOPE" on one forearm.[citation needed]
Van Meter was paroled in December 1924. Three months later, he teamed up with an old cellmate to rob the passengers of a train inCrown Point, Indiana. He was caught and convicted of the crime, and received a sentence of 10 to 21 years, to be served in theIndiana Reformatory.[2]
While in the Indiana Reformatory, Van Meter metJohn Dillinger andHarry Pierpont. Whereas Van Meter befriended Dillinger, he and Pierpont openly despised each other, largely because of Van Meter's clowning antics and demeanor. On July 28, 1925, Van Meter's repeated joking and violation of the Indiana Reformatory rules earned him a transfer to the state prison atMichigan City.[2]
In January 1926, Van Meter was transported to Chicago to testify in defense of a man wrongly suspected of being his accomplice for the train robbery in Crown Point. He escaped from the transport at Union Station, but was quickly apprehended by his captors whilebegging for change on the street. A week later, Van Meter attempted another escape, this time with cellmate Charles Stewart. After sawing through the bars of their cell, the two beat acorrections officer unconscious but were caught before leaving the prison. As a penalty, he spent the next two months insolitary confinement, where he was severely beaten by prison guards.[2][additional citation(s) needed]
Afterwards, Van Meter affected a reformation sufficient to allow the parole board to release him on May 19, 1933, one week after Dillinger had made parole. On August 18, Van Meter aligned himself withBaby Face Nelson andTommy Carroll to rob a bank inGrand Haven, Michigan. They got away with $30,000. On October 23, the trio, along withJohn Paul Chase and Charles "Chuck" Fisher, robbed a bank inBrainerd, Minnesota, escaping with $32,000. When Illinois published its list of "public enemies" at the end of 1933, Van Meter ranked 18th.[citation needed]
Dillinger broke out of prison in Crown Point, Indiana, on March 3, 1934. Dillinger andJohn "Red" Hamilton later joined the gang. On March 6, Dillinger, Nelson, Van Meter, Carroll,Eddie Green, and Hamilton robbed the Security National Bank & Trust Company inSioux Falls, South Dakota. The gang escaped with $49,500 to their hideout inSt. Paul, Minnesota. One week later, on March 13, the men robbed the First National Bank inMason City, Iowa, for $52,000.[3] On April 12, Dillinger and Van Meter robbed a police station inWarsaw, Indiana, stealing firearms andbulletproof vests.[4][citation needed]
Because of this level of criminal activity, Van Meter and the gang became the subject of an intenseFBI manhunt. Eddie Green was ambushed and killed by the FBI on April 3. Days earlier, Van Meter, Dillinger, and Dillinger's girlfriendBillie Frechette had narrowly escaped from police in St. Paul after a gunfight. Later, on April 23, while fleeing fromLittle Bohemia Lodge, Dillinger, Van Meter and Hamilton were involved in a gun battle inHastings, Minnesota.[5] Hamilton was mortally wounded and died four days later at the house ofVolney Davis. Dillinger, Van Meter, and members of theBarker Gang buried him in a gravel pit nearOswego, Illinois.[6][citation needed]
On May 3, Van Meter, Dillinger, and Carroll robbed the First National Bank inFostoria, Ohio, during which Van Meter shot and wounded local police chief Frank Culp. The three spent most of May hiding in a woodland cabin nearEast Chicago, Indiana. On May 24, while driving a red panel truck, Van Meter and Dillinger were stopped by Detectives Martin O'Brien and Lloyd Mulvihill of the East Chicago Police Department. Van Meter gunned down both officers with hisTommy gun. On June 7, Carroll was killed in a gunfight inWaterloo, Iowa.[7][citation needed]
A few days later, in an attempt to conceal their identities, both Dillinger and Van Meter underwentplastic surgery at the hands ofWilhelm Loeser in the apartment of Jimmy Probasco, a bar owner connected to theChicago Outfit.[8] Loeser operated on Van Meter on June 3. Unsatisfied with the results and, not coincidentally, with the pain of the operation, Van Meter attempted to kill Loeser on the spot.[9][citation needed]
On June 30, Van Meter, Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and an unidentified fourth man robbed the Merchants National Bank inSouth Bend, Indiana. During the robbery, Van Meter shot and killed South Bend police officer Howard Wagner, but was also shot in the head himself and wounded. The fourth man, never identified, has been suggested at times to bePretty Boy Floyd,Johnny Chase, or Fatso Negri. It was the last confirmed raid for all of the confirmed and suspected participants.[2]
On July 22, 1934, a combined force of FBI agents led byMelvin Purvis andSamuel P. Cowley and East Chicago cops led by Detective Martin Zarkevych ambushed and gunned downJohn Dillinger outside theBiograph Theater in Chicago. That night, Van Meter and his girlfriend Marie Comforti fled to St. Paul.[citation needed]
On August 23, at the corner of Marion Street andUniversity Avenue inSaint Paul, Minnesota, Van Meter was confronted by four police officers, including Chief Frank Cullen, DetectiveTom Brown, and two other men, all heavily armed with shotguns and Thompson submachine guns.[10] Brown was a former police chief who had been notorious for his willingness to take bribes from criminals. Van Meter had previously helped to fund Brown's bid to become sheriff.[11] By this time Brown had been demoted and was under investigation for corruption and allegations that he had been an accomplice to theBarker–Karpis gang in the kidnappings of William Hamm and Edward Bremer. The FBI were interviewing captured former criminal associates.[citation needed]
The officers later claimed Van Meter ignored their command to stop and fled into a nearby alley, where he fired twice on the officers with a .380 caliber pistol.[12] Chief of Police Frank Cullen, armed with a rifle, held his fire as a bystander walked into the line of fire, but the remaining officers opened fire on Van Meter, who fell dead.[12] He was 28 years old.[12] Brown continued to fire at Van Meter as he lay prone; the impact of the bullets ripped off one finger and nearly severed a thumb and finger of the right hand.[12][13] The body was found to be armed with a .380 caliber Colt automatic pistol. The number and severity of Van Meter's wounds were attributed to the use of the shotguns;[12] Van Meter's family later said that their kin had been used for "target practice".[10]
According to Ramsey County Coroner, he was hit by 26 buckshot slugs and a single machine gun bullet – all entry wounds in the back.[12] The four officers reported $1,323 found on Van Meter,[14] although his friends and associates claimed he was carrying at least $10,000 on that day.[15] A number of explanations of who betrayed Van Meter to the police have been advanced since his death, including Baby Face Nelson, with whom he had quarreled, St. PaulJewish-American organized crimeleaderHarry Sawyer and hisGerman-American underlingJack Peifer, and local St. Paulbank robber Tommy Gannon.[10]
According to a 1939 FBI interview of one Thomas Kirwin, a handyman who worked on Harry Sawyer's farm north of St. Paul, and who had harbored both Gannon and Van Meter there, Gannon betrayed Van Meter to the St. Paul police in collusion with Peifer and Sawyer, who split $10,000 or so of Homer Van Meter's money with Detective Brown, while Gannon was given Van Meter's guns.[10][15][16] That same year, the FBI announced that it believed Sawyer had set up Van Meter to get at his money, splitting the take with the four ranking officers who did the shooting.[2]
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