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The Original Dead Girl: Mary Rogers/Marie Roget

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DEPRESSION ERA - HELEN GILLIS

Helen Gillis

Wifey Helen Gillis stood by her man until the bitter end and then tossed away his naked corpse.

Bank robber and brutal monster Lester "Baby Face Nelson" Gillis (1908-1934) enjoyed killing. He liked to "go in blasting." In his private life, 5'5" Lester liked to refer to himself as "Big George."

As a youngster, Lester was in and out of juvenile reform school. In 1928, he met a salesgirl, Helen Wawzynak, and married her.

As an adult, Lester went to adult prison for bank robbery and escaped. Then he joined the Dillinger mob and pulled a series of bank robberies - often needlessly shooting down bank guards and bystanders for the pleasure of it. Dillinger had to keep a lid on Lester's boiling temper and soon became disenchanted with him.

Still, Helen stood by "Big George."

On April 22, 1934, FBI agents surrounded the gang at Little Bohemia Lodge in northern Wisconsin. The men escaped, but the agents arrested the female members of the gang including Helen Gillis. Shortly thereafter, she was released on parole and rejoined her husband.

After Dillinger was shot down in that Chicago alley on July 22, 1934, Lester was all alone with his wife Helen and his longtime faithful sidekick, John Paul Chase. They were making plans to organize a new gang. But on November 27, 1934 two FBI agents, Sam Cowley and Herman E. Hollis, identified them and a gun battle ensued. Lester killed the FBI agents in a spectacular manner similar to Wyatt Earp's head on confrontation with Curly Bill - except Lester was mortally wounded.

"I'm going down there and get those sons of bitches."
- Baby Face Nelson 

" It was just like Jimmy Cagney. I never seen nothing like it.
That fellow just came right a'coming at them two lawmen
and they must of hit him plenty,
but nothing was gonna stop that fellow."
- Witness (a highway construction worker) 

Helen and Chase drove Lester away from the scene. Lester Gillis died in Helen's arms later that evening. His naked corpse was found the next day in a roadside ditch next to a cemetery. Helen surrendered two days later and was sentenced to a year and a day at the Woman's Federal Reformatory in Mila, Michigan.

HISTORICAL: Celebrity Wives Depression Era European Executed Porno Stars Starlets Western