Homer Van Meter

Homer Virgil Van Meter (December 3, 1905 – August 23, 1934) was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.

Van Meter was born to Cary B. Van Meter (1871–1918) and Julia Miller (1872–1924) in 1905 (according to other sources December 3, 1906) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of an alcoholic railroad conductor.

During the sixth grade, Van Meter ran away from home, eventually ending up in Chicago, Illinois, where he worked as a bellhop and a waiter.

He was arrested for the first time as a teenager, for drunk and disorderly conduct.

In Aurora, Illinois, on June 23, 1923, Van Meter was sentenced to 41 days in jail for larceny.

On January 11, 1924, he was sentenced for motor vehicle theft and incarcerated in Southern Illinois Penitentiary.

At the time of his admission, he had a tattoo reading "HOPE" on one forearm.

Van Meter was paroled in December 1924.

Three months later, he teamed up with an old cellmate to rob the passengers of a train in Crown Point, Indiana.

He was caught and convicted of the crime, and received a sentence of 10 to 21 years, to be served in the Indiana Reformatory.

While in the Indiana Reformatory, Van Meter met John Dillinger and Harry Pierpont.

Whereas Van Meter befriended Dillinger, he and Pierpont openly despised each other, largely because of Van Meter's clowning antics and demeanor.

On July 28, 1925, Van Meter's repeated joking and violation of the Indiana Reformatory rules earned him a transfer to the state prison at Michigan City.

In January 1926, Van Meter was transported to Chicago to testify in defense of a man wrongly suspected of being his accomplice for the train robbery in Crown Point.

He escaped from the transport at Union Station, but was quickly apprehended by his captors while begging for change on the street.

A week later, Van Meter attempted another escape, this time with cellmate Charles Stewart.

After sawing through the bars of their cell, the two beat a corrections officer unconscious but were caught before leaving the prison.

As a penalty, he spent the next two months in solitary confinement, where he was severely beaten by prison guards.

Afterwards, Van Meter affected a reformation sufficient to allow the parole board to release him on May 19, 1933, one week after Dillinger had made parole.

On August 18, Van Meter aligned himself with Baby Face Nelson and Tommy Carroll to rob a bank in Grand Haven, Michigan.

They got away with $30,000.

On October 23, the trio, along with John Paul Chase and Charles "Chuck" Fisher, robbed a bank in Brainerd, Minnesota, escaping with $32,000.

When Illinois published its list of "public enemies" at the end of 1933, Van Meter ranked 18th.

Dillinger broke out of prison in Crown Point, Indiana, on March 3, 1934.

Dillinger and John "Red" Hamilton later joined the gang.

On March 6, Dillinger, Nelson, Van Meter, Carroll, Eddie Green, and Hamilton robbed the Security National Bank & Trust Company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The gang escaped with $49,500 to their hideout in St. Paul, Minnesota.

One week later, on March 13, the men robbed the First National Bank in Mason City, Iowa, for $52,000.

On April 12, Dillinger and Van Meter robbed a police station in Warsaw, Indiana, stealing firearms and bulletproof vests.

Because of this level of criminal activity, Van Meter and the gang became the subject of an intense FBI manhunt.

Eddie Green was ambushed and killed by the FBI on April 3.

Days earlier, Van Meter, Dillinger, and Dillinger's girlfriend Billie Frechette had narrowly escaped from police in St. Paul after a gunfight.

Later, on April 23, while fleeing from Little Bohemia Lodge, Dillinger, Van Meter and Hamilton were involved in a gun battle in Hastings, Minnesota.

Hamilton was mortally wounded and died four days later at the house of Volney Davis.

Dillinger, Van Meter, and members of the Barker Gang buried him in a gravel pit near Oswego, Illinois.

On May 3, Van Meter, Dillinger, and Carroll robbed the First National Bank in Fostoria, Ohio, during which Van Meter shot and wounded local police chief Frank Culp.

The three spent most of May hiding in a woodland cabin near East Chicago, Indiana.

On May 24, while driving a red panel truck, Van Meter and Dillinger were stopped by Detectives Martin O'Brien and Lloyd Mulvihill of the East Chicago Police Department.

Van Meter gunned down both officers with his Tommy gun.

On June 7, Carroll was killed in a gunfight in Waterloo, Iowa.