There's usually a story (or three) behind every weapon in Ross E. Beard Jr.'s collection. In the case of the "Chicago typewriter," a 1928 Thompson submachine gun carried by infamous bank robber John Dillinger, one of the intriguing tales is how the gangster came to own the .45-caliber firearm.
"It started out as a police gun, I'm told," Beard says. "Dillinger heard they had new machine guns and bullet proof vests at the police station in Chicago. That was on Saturday. On Monday, I understand, he went down with his gang, locked the police up in their cells and took their machine guns. ... That really made him public enemy No. 1."
