The Battle of Barrington

The Battle of Barrington was an intense and deadly gunfight between federal agents and notorious Great Depression Era gangster, Baby Face Nelson, that took place on November 27, 1934 in the town of Barrington, outside Chicago, Illinois. It resulted in the deaths of Nelson, Federal Agent Herman "Ed" Hollis and Agent/Inspector Samuel P. Cowley.

With the death of "Public Enemy Number One" John Dillinger in July 1934, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, known at the time as the Division of Investigation, focused on eliminating what remained of the notorious Dillinger Gang. Lester "Baby Face Nelson" Gillis, whom newspapers of the era dubbed "Dillinger's aid", had managed to elude the federal dragnet. By late November 1934, the new Public Enemy Number One was hid out in the isolated piney woods of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Bolstered by his new found status, the diminutive Nelson bragged he would rob, "...a bank a day for a month."

On the morning of November 27, Nelson, sporting a thin mustache on his youthful face, Helen Gillis (Nelson's loyal wife), and John Paul Chase, Nelson's trusted right-hand man, departed Lake Geneva and traveled south, toward Chicago, on U.S. Route 12 (now U.S. 14). Nelson planned to meet two underworld figures in Chicago and had reasoned daylight the safer time to travel as agents would expect an evening departure.

Near the village of Fox River Grove, Illinois, Nelson observed a vehicle driven in the opposite direction. Inside the car were federal agents Thomas McDade and William Ryan. McDade and Ryan were traveling to Lake Geneva to support a fellow agent who had relayed an encounter with Nelson. The agents and the gangster recognized each other simultaneously and after several U-turns by the agents and by Nelson, Nelson wound up in pursuit of the federal car.

As Nelson's powerful V-8 Ford, driven by Helen Gillis, caught up to the weaker federal sedan, Nelson and Chase opened fire on the agents. Incredibly, McDade and Ryan were not killed or injured. The agents returned fire, sped ahead and ran off the highway. Taking defensive positions, McDade and Ryan awaited Nelson and Chase. The agents, however, were unaware a round fired by Ryan had punctured the water pump and or the radiator of Nelson's Ford. With his Ford rapidly losing power, Nelson was now pursued by a Hudson automobile driven by two more agents: Herman Hollis (who was thought to have delivered the fatal shot to John Dillinger) and Samuel P. Cowley.

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