John Dillinger's cell donated to Bluffton group

BLUFFTON — A new museum may be in Bluffton's future, thanks in part to a donation connected to Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger. Pieces of the cell Dillinger was confined in at the Allen County Jail — including the front bars and sliding door, bunkbed, sink, toilet, built-in shelf desk and chairs and a coat rack — are now on permanent loan to the Bluffton Ohio Historical Society, said vice president Dan Groman. "We have enough things collected already that it's kind of overflowing in all our members' garages," he laughed. "So now that we've got the jail stuff from John Dillinger, it's forcing our hand. We're going to have to do something." It's time for society members and others who may be thinking about joining the group to get serious about a capital campaign for a museum, he said. "We're at the point where we're going to set up a committee and basically get the ball rolling," said Groman. Members have started laying out how much room it's going to take to create a display for Dillinger cell, as well as all of the other items they've collected pertaining to Bluffton's history. "We need to get either an existing building somewhere or build new," he said. Obtaining the jail cell was an opportunity for the historical society, said Groman. Allen County officials needed the space and decided to tear down the old jail, circa 1833. He contacted Allen County Auditor Rachael Gilroy, who headed up the project. Gilroy is also in charge of the county's Land Bank Program that provided funds for the demolition, Groman said. The 6,000-square-foot structure is probably best known as the site of the 1933 jailbreak of gangster John Dillinger, which resulted in the shooting death of Allen County Sheriff Jess Sarber. After the event, the jail was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure continued to serve Allen County until 1990, when the current justice center was dedicated. "When I contacted her (Gilroy), she said they'd had some requests (for the cell) from some other individuals. They were mainly private individuals who wanted to put it on display in their garage or their man cave or something like that," Groman said. Since the only Dillinger robbery in Allen County occurred in Bluffton, Gilroy believed that's where the jail cell should go. The Allen County Commissioners discussed the idea and agreed. Groman said Bluffton used to have a number of banks. "The Depression came along and times were so hard, some of those banks closed. They never reopened," he said. "And some of the people turned to bad things." One of them was John Dillinger. He and his gang robbed Citizens National Bank in Bluffton on Aug. 14, 1933. It took them just five minutes to make off with $2,100 — worth about $45,000 today. The haul was the smallest of the banks Dillinger was said to have robbed during his career. Bullet holes can still be seen in some of Bluffton's downtown buildings, according to Groman. He said the society plans to put up markers to identify some of the historical events that took place around town. "Somebody has some bullets that were dug out of one of the walls across the street from the bank," he said. "When they left the bank, they sprayed the downtown with bullets from a machine gun, and somebody was standing in the window. They kind of shot that direction, but I think they could tell they weren't aiming for that person." Someone else has a couple of unspent bullets that were found on the bank floor, he said. "So there's some artifacts and a lot of stories, and they all kind of got stretched over the years," said Groman. Dillinger was later captured and booked in Dayton before his transfer to the Allen County Jail for his trial. Several members of the gang broke him out of jail. Allen County Sheriff Jess Sarber was shot twice and fatally wounded. He died Oct. 12, 1933. As for Dillinger, he was killed by FBI agents in Chicago on July 22, 1934. "It's one of those things now that it's going to get some interest in the community and hopefully we'll get some people that will be willing to step up and come up with something (for the campaign)," said Groman. But there's much more to know about Bluffton than just the town that Dillinger robbed, he said, noting the Phyllis Diller had studied at Bluffton College) and a number of patents were held by residents like the ashless cigar and the Bluffton slaw cutter. The society also has some of the original interurban rails that once traveled down Main Street, said Groman. "Last summer when the temperature was just right, it caused some of the original interurban rails to buckle because they're still underneath the pavement all the way down Main Street going through Bluffton. They buckled so they cut out some sections of that and so we saved that. That's going to be a part of our display, too," he said. Members have already gathered many items, he added. "There's a lot of things, and people want to give us things. We don't have any room right now," Groman said. "So hopefully we're going to get a good sized committee here that has an interest in moving forward, and hopefully some people that have a good background in fundraising and can come up with some good ideas that get the ball rolling on it."