Above: Local Indictment Against Dillinger: "..with the intent, then and there, ...to murder [Detective.] Henry Cummings."
Many times conveniently overlooked by those who find some romantic appeal in his escapades, is another shooting incident at St. Paul involving Dillinger and law enforcement. In the company of his girl, "Billie" Frechette, Dillinger's intent that day is extremely clear. So may we add, was that of Homer Van Meter, who was initially thought to be the bank robber, Eddie Green. We do place some emphasis on the words another shooting incident.
Intent....that is the key word and as the facts are reviewed in this St. Paul, Lexington Ave. apartment shooting, most will find or should find that it's very difficult to argue Dillinger's intent. When you purposely fire a Thompson SMG through a doorway at persons you know to be law enforcement officers, (in this case, Detective Homer Cummings) regardless if you miss or not, there is very little room to believe you had something else in mind other than killing or maiming. Of course we have left out Dillinger's total disregard for other tenants who may have been in the hallway and any others inside their nearby apartment. Cummings did manage to wound Dillinger in the leg.
Homer Van Meter's intent was no different when he fired nearly point blank at FBI agent, Rufus Coulter in the stairwell.
When cornered at the Lexington apartments in St. Paul, Minn. Dillinger clearly exhibited his propensity for violence and his intent on killing Cummings and continued that intent on firing on agent Coulter from the window.
While we show readers the content of the state indictment, above, no one needs to see a legal document in order to know what the investigative facts reveal in this incident.
Check the navigation area for the actual FBI reports on the St. Paul shootout and a host of facts long conveniently forgotten by those who insist on looking at them as "Robin Hoods" of the era... see the "navigation" section title: "Intent To Kill: Dillinger & The Soap Salesman."
Readers may desire to search the Net separately relative to Detective Henry Cummings.