Qualla: Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers

Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The bullet holes are still there. Ninety years after the most wanted criminals in America shot their way out of a remote Wisconsin lodge, the pockmarks remain in the walls and windows of Little Bohemia, preserved like relics from a different era. Built in 1929 by Emil Wanatka on a forested stretch of US Highway 51 in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, the lodge was meant to be a quiet Northwoods vacation retreat. On the night of April 20, 1934, it became the stage for one of the most catastrophic law enforcement failures in American history -- a botched FBI raid that let John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and every member of their gang walk free, while leaving one federal agent dead and several others wounded.

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Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers: A Card Game and a Concealed Pistol

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On the afternoon of April 20, 1934, six men and four women arrived at the secluded Little Bohemia Lodge for a weekend of rest. The men were Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, Homer Van Meter, Tommy Carroll, John Hamilton, and gang associate Pat Reilly, accompanied by Nelson's wife...

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Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers: A Note Hidden in a Cigarette Pack

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The following day, Wanatka's wife Nan seized her chance while away from the lodge at a children's birthday party with their young son. She told her brother-in-law Henry Voss that the Dillinger gang was at Little Bohemia, then slipped him a note hidden inside a pack of cigarettes ...

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Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers: Escape Through the Unguarded Back Door

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When the FBI arrived at Little Bohemia, they focused their approach on the front of the lodge. The back was left completely unguarded. Dillinger, Van Meter, Hamilton, and Carroll escaped immediately through the rear, making their way north on foot through woods and past a lake to...

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Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers: Nelson's Trail of Violence

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ninety minutes after escaping into the woods, Baby Face Nelson emerged a mile from Little Bohemia and kidnapped a local couple, ordering them to drive. Dissatisfied with their car's speed, he stopped at the home of switchboard operator Alvin Koerner, taking more hostages. When a ...

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Little Bohemia Lodge: The Night Dillinger Slipped Through the FBI's Fingers: The Bureau Always Gets His Woman

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The toll was devastating: one federal agent dead, a constable and another agent severely wounded, two civilians harmed, and every gang member gone. The only people captured were three women who had accompanied the gang, including Nelson's wife Helen Gillis. Combined with the earl...

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