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Articles and Products of History Baby Face Nelson Lester Gillis was born on December 6, 1908 in Chicago, Illinois. He would later become “Baby Face Nelson”. One of seven children, Baby Face Nelson was born to Belgium immigrants Joseph and Mary Gillis. It wasn’t long before Baby Face Nelson started his committing his first crimes.
By the time Baby Face Nelson was in his early teens, he was already an accomplished thief. He got the name “Baby Face” due to his childish features and his short stature. Soon stealing tires, running stills, and armed robbery led to his first conviction for auto theft in 1922. For this, Baby Face Nelson was sent to a boy’s home. Somewhere along the way Baby Face Nelson met and fell in love with Helen Wawzynak a store clerk in Chicago. They were married and had two children. Often, Baby Face Nelson would get settled in a place and than send for his family. He was said to be a very loving and loyal husband and father. It was in January of 1931 that Baby Face Nelson received his first prison term for a bank robbery in Chicago. He was sentenced to a term of one year to life, but was facing charges for another bank robbery in Wheaton, Illinois as well. On February 17, 1932, Baby Face Nelson escaped from prison guards during the transfer back to Joliet from standing trial for the other bank robbery. He then fled to California where he would meet his closest partner John Paul Chase, who often called him his half brother. Though Nelson would join up with many famous bank robbers including John Dillinger, Chase was by his side most of the time. On November 27, 1934, Baby Face Nelson would face his last exchange with the police. On the way from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin back to Chicago Illinois, Baby Face Nelson and his wife and partner were spotted by the FBI. While shooting and killing two agents, Baby Face Nelson received wounds that would have him dead by morning. Between leaving the scene of the shoot-out with his wife and Chase, he passed away just before turning 26 years old. His body would turn up in a ditch wrapped in a blanket. His wife turned herself in the next day and spent a year and a day in a woman’s prison for violating her parole. Further Reading
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