Herman Hollis

Herman Edward "Ed" Hollis (January 27, 1903 – November 27, 1934) was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent.

Hollis was born in Des Moines, Iowa in January 1903 and received his law degree from the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, D.C. in 1927.

He was married and had one son.

Hollis began his service with the FBI almost immediately after finishing law school in August 1927.

During his seven years with the Bureau, Hollis worked with the Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Chicago field offices.

Rated as one of the FBI's top investigators, Hollis earned a sharp-shooter's medal for his work with the Thompson submachine gun.

Over the years, Hollis repeatedly requested that the Bureau transfer him to a field office in California or Arizona; doctors insisted that a warmer climate would help improve his wife Genevieve's nervous condition.

As an FBI special agent in the 1930s, Hollis worked with agents Melvin Purvis, Samuel P. Cowley and others fighting bank robbers, gangsters and organized crime in the Chicago area during the Great Depression.

Hollis is best known for having been killed in the line of duty during an intense shootout with Chicago-area bank robber Lester Gillis, a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, at the Battle of Barrington in 1934.

Hollis was also one of the three FBI special agents who shot John Dillinger near the Biograph Theater earlier that year, resulting in Dillinger's death.

One controversial account also implicates Hollis in the death of Pretty Boy Floyd.

Hollis served as a special agent for the FBI's field offices in Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Chicago for over seven years; at the time of his death, he was 31 years old.

On July 22, 1934, Hollis, Purvis and agents Charles B. Winstead and Clarence O. Hurt participated in a gun battle with the bank robber and gangster John Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

As Dillinger came out of the building with two women, Agent Purvis signaled to the other agents, including Hollis.

At least one account states that Purvis then approached Dillinger from behind and said, "OK, Johnnie, drop your gun."

Dillinger fled toward a nearby alley and reached in his pocket for a pistol.

Hollis, Winstead and Hurt then fired a total of four or five shots; either two or three hit Dillinger, who fell to the ground.

According to one source, Winstead fired his .45 pistol three times, and both Hollis and Hurt fired once.

Because of the simultaneous gunfire, it was unclear which agent was responsible for the shot that killed Dillinger, and the agents themselves did not say.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was pleased at the news of Dillinger's death and later recognized Hollis, Winstead, and Hurt for their "fearlessness and courageous action".

Notorious bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd was killed on October 22, 1934 after a shootout with FBI agents and local authorities in an apple orchard near East Liverpool, Ohio.

In 1934, the FBI put Inspector Samuel P. Cowley of the FBI's Chicago Office in charge of the search for Baby Face Nelson.

On November 27, 1934, Cowley received a tip that Nelson had been recognised in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin driving a stolen car.

Cowley and Special Agent Hollis left the FBI's Chicago office heading northwest on Northwest Highway to intercept Nelson; Hollis drove.

Local FBI special agents William Ryan and Tom McDade spotted a vehicle matching the description of Nelson's stolen car between Fox River Grove and Barrington, Illinois and realized that Nelson, Nelson's accomplice John Paul Chase, and Nelson's wife Helen Gillis were in the vehicle.

The occupants of the two cars recognized each other, and Agents Ryan and McDade began a pursuit.

After a series of u-turns, Chase shot at Ryan and McDade's vehicle with an automatic rifle.

The gunfire broke windows on both cars.

Agent Ryan then returned fire, hitting the radiator of Nelson's car.

Hollis and Cowley met up with the outlaws as Nelson, whose car was partially disabled from Agent Ryan's shots, left Northwest Highway and stopped his car near the entrance to what is now Langendorf Park in Barrington.

Chase, Nelson and Gillis all got out of the car, and Gillis ran toward a nearby field and flung herself down in the grass.

When Hollis and Cowley stopped and emerged from their car to apprehend the suspects, Nelson and Chase began firing at them.

Hollis and Cowley took cover behind their vehicle; neither was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Both agents returned fire, and Hollis wounded Nelson with a shotgun blast to the legs.

In a 1979 Time magazine article, East Liverpool, Ohio Police Captain Chester C. Smith claimed that Hollis killed Floyd under orders from FBI agent Melvin Purvis.

According to Smith, after Smith had wounded Floyd, "Purvis turned to G-Man Herman Hollis and said: 'Fire into him.' Hollis obeyed, killing Floyd with a burst from a tommy gun" at close range.

This version of events contradicts the official FBI account and is highly controversial since, in Smith's version, Floyd was already wounded and could have been taken into custody at the time Purvis ordered Hollis to fire.

In a subsequent letter to Time editors, FBI Special Agent Winfred E. Hopton claimed that he was one of the agents present when Floyd was apprehended, that he knew Hollis personally, and that Hollis was not present when Floyd was apprehended and could not have been responsible for Floyd's death.

At least one other source discredits Smith's version, stating that although Smith's story received wide currency, Hollis was not at the orchard that afternoon.

Hollis' FBI profile does not mention his participation in this incident.