Show I I BULLETS JI M ETS or vr r JUSTICE JU TICIE By REX HEX COLLIER 1938 by t b y lh the North American America N. N ape Alliance Arians toe fry Inc 11 Ilonse Haase In St. St Paul Where Green Was Wal Trapped EDDIE GREEN GREENE GREEN St. St Paul gunman gun gunman EDDIE E man and bank robber wh had the underworld distinction tion of active membership in to the and the Karpis Barker Darker gangs at the same time Invited death death and and got ot it t. t Circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of Green by federal i bureau of investigation agents agent who set et a trap for tot him on April 3 1934 at et a house in St St. Paul were the subject of an en cover undercover inquiry recently by secret ecret service agents The ill advised secret ecret service a activities apparently were prompted by recurring rumors that men G-men f fired ired at Green without knowing his I identity that they only learned who he was by questioning him on his dea deathbed death at et the hospital that Green was mowed down mercilessly merci merel l lessly leuly and without warning and that he was wu a minor hoodlum who deserved better treatment Well lets let's look at the record With the operation co-operation of Director Hoover of at the F F. B B. I. I I have gone thoroughly over the bureaus bureau's heretofore heretofore here here- confidential files dies on the Green case and I believe have found the answer answer to officially to the questions questions ques ques- which puzzled curious secret s service ervice men In the first place a study of the criminal c record of Edward Green atlas alias Eugene Green G George e o 0 r g e Graham Charles Ryan George Green Fred Frederick Riley Riley Ri Ri- ley Fred Graham and Eugene Riley rilley Ri Ri- ley falls fails falla to support the rumor that he was Just a bad boy who became involved Innocently with b time big killers He lie started out as a timer small timer small his f II first i r s t sentence having been served in the house of correction for tor f or grand larceny but he graduated into such select gangland company as that represented by Frank Nash cause of the Kansas City massacre Verne Miller one of the massacre trigger men i Alvin and the Barker brothers of note and finally John Dillinger He lie robbed banks with the Karpis- Karpis Barker Darker gang gana and with the Dillinger gang His home was the haven to which members of ot both gangs would flee in time of trouble the post office omee through which they received their mail mall the clearing house through h which they kept in touch with one another the headquarters where m man many a n y desperate crimes w we were e r e plotted At the time of his death he was custodian of much of the heavy artillery composing the arsenal o of t the Dillinger mob A second point paint supplied by th the e records is that Hoovers Hoover's men menn knew exactly whom they were shooting g when they opened fire They had e set their trap for Green and no on one else ebe A third point is that Green wa was s shot hot only as 81 a final resort resort resort-as as h he e answered a command to halt bait b by y starting to run and reaching fo for tor r his hi hip pocket The fact that he lived for eight t days day after the shooting and was s conscious until a n few hours before helot e his death belles bells reports report that he wa was s riddled with bullets Full FuU details of the events which led up to the capture of Green Crean are arc disclosed herewith by permission of the F. F B B. B L LIt LIt LIt It will be recalled that on March Marc 31 1934 Homer Va Van VanMeter VanMeter n Meter Dieter and Evelyn Frechette shot t their way out of at a St St. Paul apartment apart ment house A careful inquiry a athis at t this apartment provided men G-men with the address of another apartment t on Marshall avenue which they im fm immediately mediately Investigated At the second apartment the they y learned that apartment 6 had n d been occupied by a man of at sus suspicious suspicious habits until the day da of at th the e Dillinger shooting anra affray and that tha et t the man had not returned since e that time tits His description tallied table d with that of at Van Meter The manager man ager ogee sold said the apartment had bee been n rented two weeks week before by b a DinD Mr Din D. D A. A Stevens and that the latter y had bad turned fumed the apartment over t to o the man answering Van Meter Meters s description The agents obtained permission n to enter eater this alb apartment nt T The They b e Y found a leather bag bar a Thompson Thomps on machine gun lUll stock tock that fitted a stockless gun IUD abandoned b by Va Van VanMeter VanMeter n Meter in his escape on March Match 31 31 a large laree quantity of at ammunition a revolver bolster holster a pair of flat field d glasses Ilae a two foot piece of dynamite dyna dyn a mite fuse twe and several get away charts and road maps map used In la bs bank robberies While the agents were in th the t apartment two 0 colored women a ap apo p pealed and end announced they ha had d been sent ent to clean the apartment These women upon interrogation eventually ad admitted that the D A AStevens AStevens AStevens A. A Stevens who had rented the apartment apartment apart apart- ment mart was really Eddie Green Crean to for tor r whom whim they had worked at a road road- house They said Green and his paramour paramour para pars mour moor had called at their house that tha t morning and asked them to go t to the Stevens apartment on Marshall Marshall Mar a shall avenue and get a suitcase a coat and some lame laundry Their Instructions In ht e were to take these a articles to their home home where Green Greet would call for th them m later latet that des day y Several agents were planted Inthe in inthe the colored women's home The They Y were armed with rifles and automatic auto matte matic pistols tor for they believed believe d they were to face tace a desperate ma maan man n nn an associate of ot Dillinger and Va Van n Meter The latter lacier pair had machine machine- e gunned their way to freedon one onea only y a few days before The agents were war e determined not to let another me member memo mem m ber bar of the gang escape One of the colored women was wa a Instructed to open the door an and d hand the bag to Green when h he e hC appeared then step aside Three C agents were hidden at strategic C places on the first floor door where the they could watch developments through throng h curtained windows Just before 6 8 p p. m. m a sedan pulled pulle d to a stop top in front of the house There were a woman and a ma man man manin manin n in n It it Green Crean and his paramour Green began getting out of th the e car almost before it stopped ran u uto up p to the front door of the house an and d received the suitcase from the co colored colored col col- 1 ored aced woman Then he turned quickly an and e dashed back toward the car th the motor of which had been left running run run- ning As Green leaped down the front steps the agent in charge of the squad commanded him to halt Instead of obeying this command the F. F B. B I. I I files show Green quickened quickened quick quick- ened his pace and startled by the command reached toward his pocket as though to draw a gun That instinctive menacing gesture gesture gesture ture was a fatal one one one-it it was the signal for the agents to fire or seek safety and let let another another gangster escape escape es es- es cape without so much as a struggle Actually that impulsive sweep of Greens Green's hand h nd toward his gun pocket was a futile move He had left his guns at home home and and it proved to be quite an arsenal when men G-men found i it t later His woman companion was arrested arrested ar ar- rested and questioned She had on her 1155 Green was found to have two safety deposit boxes containing and respectively Green questioned at the hospital made the following admissions to F. F B B. B I I. I agents He had been downstairs in the St St. Paul apartment when Dillinger and Van Vaa Meter made their sensational sensa sensa- escape on March 31 1934 fleeing during the confusion contusion lIe He lie had arranged for Dr Clayton E. E May Minneapolis physician since convicted of harboring Oil Oil- linger to treat a bullet wound Oil Oil- linger received in the apartment house battle He fie had committed numerous bank robberies In association with the Karpis Darker Barker Barker and Dillinger gangs He Ue had two weeks beiT be be- tore fore iT with Dillinger Van Meter Dieter John Hamilton Baby Face Ne Nel- Nel son eon and Tommy Ca Carroll Toll in the 0 robbery of the First Na banal bank at Mason City Iowa He was planning to rob a bank bankhe In n Newton Iowa at the time he was shot hot Part of hl his hi long one criminal record in the Uie fingerprint division of the F B B. B I I. I follows follow As Eugene Green Crean arrested by police Milwaukee w Wig Wis August 11 Z 1918 1916 charge charle grand Krand larceny sen tented to six Ix months month As F Frederick R Riley ey arrested by police poUce Des Moines Iowa suspicion n of released to St. St Pa Paul F police Th who ah also abo wanted f M him to to tor r rU lit and r robbery robbery Au Augus us t 12 U 1922 As Eddie Green Crean received at State reformatory St St. N Cloud Minn N November No- No vember 15 15 U. 1922 under of at forty 7 and five Ave years yem and sentence M trans ferr d to Minnesota State uary A As Eddie Green paroled fro tram from m Minnesota I 1 li 1930 State sute penitentiary y Jul July July y As Edward Green arrested St Paul Mint Arll Anil 3 1934 and charged wits attempting murder of F F. B B. B L I. agent This wa was was the bad ad bo boy whose death appears to have aroused the sympathies of some critics critic of the tha G NU S aeI |