Public Enemies_ America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI - Bryan Burrough [133]
“Ernest Blunk,” Cahoon said. Blunk was a thirty-two-year-old deputy sheriff. “Call him back here,” Dillinger commanded.
Cahoon hollered: “Blunk! Come here a minute.”
When Blunk approached, he looked up the steps and saw Dillinger.
“Get up here, you son of a bitch, or I’ll kill you,” Dillinger said. Blunk froze. He saw a flash of the gun in Dillinger’s hand. “I’ve got it on you,” Dillinger said. “You haven’t got a chance.”
Dillinger led Blunk back to the cell block and shoved him into the cell with the others. The moment Dillinger stepped away, Blunk asked Win Bryant if he had seen the gun. Bryant said it looked like a .45. “They’ll kill the son of a bitch now,” Blunk said.
Dillinger herded Cahoon back to the top of the steps, where he ordered him to call for the jailer, Lew Baker. But Cahoon had had enough. “I’ll be goddamned if I’ll help you get outta here,” he said. “I’m not going any farther. Shoot and be god damned.”
Youngblood stepped forward and raised the toilet plunger, as if to strike the elderly Cahoon.
“None of that,” Dillinger said. “I’ll handle this.”
Dillinger shoved Cahoon back toward the cell block.
“Contrary to what people say,” Dillinger said as they walked, “I’m no killer. But I’m gonna get outta here.”
“They’ll kill you before you get halfway down the hallway.”
“Watch me,” Dillinger said.
In the cell block Dillinger thrust Cahoon into the cell and ordered Ernest Blunk to come out. He shoved Blunk down toward the steps. “I’m gonna make this today,” Dillinger said.
“You can’t,” Blunk said. “They’ll kill you.”
“I have everything to gain and nothing to lose,” Dillinger said. “You can either be a dead hero or a live coward.”
Blunk said he wouldn’t help him escape.
“You have a wife and baby that you love dearly and would like to see again, haven’t you?” Dillinger said.
Blunk gave in. “All right,” he said.
“How many guards are in the office?” Dillinger asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me, you son of a bitch, or I’ll kill you.”
“I said I don’t know.” Dillinger told him to lower his voice. He took a moment to think. “Well,” Dillinger said, shoving Blunk forward, “let’s see what we can see.”
They reached the top of the steps. Dillinger told Blunk to call for Warden Baker. Blunk hesitated. Dillinger jabbed the gun into his back. “Oh, Lew?” Blunk hollered.
“Just a minute!” Baker shouted back. The warden was still in his office with the guards. A moment later, he stuck his head out into the hallway. “Come on back!” Blunk said.
Baker walked all the way back to the cell block, where he could now see Blunk standing. The moment he entered, Baker felt a gun thrust into his back. Dillinger grabbed a fistful of the warden’s shirt and shoved him into the cell with the others. “Get in there and you won’t get hurt,” Dillinger said, shutting the door behind him.
One by one, Dillinger used Blunk to lure the four guards in Warden Baker’s office back to the cell block, where they were each surprised and pushed into the cell with the others. One, Kenneth “Butch” Houk, reached for Dillinger’s gun, but Dillinger overpowered him and shoved him in the cell. When the last of the four was locked away, Dillinger ran down to the office and grabbed the warden’s two submachine guns. He took one and handed the other to Youngblood. Armed and ready to make his break for freedom, Dillinger couldn’t resist one last bit of showboating. Trotting back to the cell block, he took out the gun he had been using. Warden Baker and the guards stared in amazement. The gun was made of wood. It was a fake.
“This is how tough your little jail is,” Dillinger announced with a grin. “I did it all with this little wooden pistol.” He tapped the “gun” on the cell bars to make his point.
Dillinger turned to Warden Baker.
“Where are the cars kept?” he asked.
“In the garage. In back.”
“Where are the keys?”
“In the cars.”
The only entrance Dillinger knew to the garage was outside, meaning he would have