Fine Books and Manuscripts: Featuring Important Chicago Memorabilia

Dillinger, John. John Dillinger Death Mask, Hair from His Moustache, and Melvin Purvis Letter. A lot comprising: (1) a death mask made from a plaster mold of Dillinger’s face as he lay in the Cook County Morgue, July 22—23, 1934 (10 x 5 ¾ x 3”), likely struck from the ‘first-generation’ Ashford mold, this example bearing the identification number “8” on the reverse, most probably the Goddard Crime Lab material inventory number; (2) a strand of moustache hair (approx. 15mm long), removed from Dillinger’s original and first mask mold created in the morgue on the same aforementioned dates, and stored in an envelope with printed return address “Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory/469 East Ohio Street/Chicago Illinois,” upon which has been noted in pencil “Moustache Hairs of John Dillinger”, accompanied by a handwritten note on blank stationery, from “Ed” to “Brother,” reading in part, “In going through some papers I cam across the enclosed specimen. Samples of hair obtained post mortem showed presence of hair dye under microscope, one of means used [by Dillinger] to prevent identification…”; and (3) a TLS by Melvin Purvis (1937) declining an invitation to join an organization from Mr. E.C. Kirkpatrick. From the Collection of noted crime collector Michael Webb (1950—2009).