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Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette (September 15, 1907 – January 13, 1969) was an American woman known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s.
Frechette met John Dillinger at a cabaret in November 1933. They began a relationship soon after that. Frechette was quoted as saying, "John was good to me. He looked after me and bought me all kinds of jewelry and cars and pets, and we went places and saw things, and he gave me everything a girl wants. He treated me like a lady". Frechette assumed more marital roles with Dillinger than an accomplice. She once drove a getaway car after Dillinger was shot by the police. She was arrested on April 9, 1934, for allowing him to hide in her St. Paul, Minnesota, apartment and for obstruction of justice. Dillinger and a companion watched the arrest from a block away. Dillinger wanted to attack the lawmen and rescue her, but accepted the argument that he would die in the attempt.
Frechette served two years at the Federal Correctional Farm in Milan, Michigan, for violating the Federal Harboring Law. She was released in 1936. Frechette traveled with the Dillinger family for five years after her release and his death. The traveling show was "Crime Doesn't Pay.
Offered is an 8.5” x 6.5” original TYPE I photo with the original International News Photo stamp on the back and stamped dated July 24, 1936 from the Central Press Association.
Original paper caption attached dated 7/23/36 - EVELYN FRECHETTE, JOHN DILLINGER's Sweetheart, and a wax figure of the late Dillinger, in a "Crime Doesn't Pay" Exhibit in Evansville, IN. Evelyn is reported to make as much as $25 per day on a basis of ten percent of the "take" of the attraction.
Super Rare image that has some original editorial markings from the newspaper that it originally ran in. Eerie photo
Item: 13604
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