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Melvin Purvis: The Real Dick Tracy
Born in 1903, Purvis was a young lawyer with no previous law-enforcing experience when he decided to join the FBI in 1927. He spent the first few years chasing minor criminals around states such as Texas and Oklahoma, but quickly moved up the ranks. Then, in 1932, he was moved right into the heart of the action: the Bureau's Chicago office. 1934 was the year that Purvis' action-packed career really started to take off. On April 24, special agents from the Chicago and St. Paul offices received a tip that the Dillinger gang was hiding out in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, however, things didn't go quite as planned - and when they arrived, chaos ensued. In the dark and with no map of the place, two agents became ensnared in a barbed wire fence while two more fell into a ditch. Things only got worse when the agents fired at a passing car, thinking it was Dillinger and crew, when in fact it was just a few locals out for some beers. Two were wounded, one was killed. When all was said and done, one special agent was killed, two were wounded, and the Dillinger gang was on the loose again. Mortified, Purvis offered to resign from the Bureau - but J. Edgar Hoover wouldn't hear of it. He liked Purvis, and knew there was something special about him. Sure enough, in July of that same year, Purvis got another chance to prove himself and to finally bring the Dillinger gang to justice. Thanks to a tip from one “woman in red,” brothel owner Anna Sage, Purvis and his men rushed to the Biograph movie theatre in Chicago. At long last, that night the group ambushed, and then killed the notorious John Dillinger. Purvis gained national acclaim and became a hero known as the “Ace G-Man.” His reputation was further sealed a few months later, when another tip led to the killing of Pretty Boy Floyd. Of course, Hoover, who had had such faith and admiration for Purvis in the beginning, started to get a tad jealous of his newfound fame. It showed in his treatment of him, and led to Purvis' 1935 resignation from the FBI. He married, took a variety of jobs and raised a family, but died suddenly in 1960. While many deemed the death a suicide, there is still speculation that perhaps Purvis was trying to remove a tracer bullet that was stuck in his pistol. During his heyday with the FBI, however, Purvis was heavily promoted by Post cereals in newspapers and magazines, as well as on cereal boxes. His “Junior G-Man Corps” and “Law and Order Patrol” enlisted thousands of youngsters and produced plenty of premiums from badges (with separate badges for members of the Girls Division!) and ID cards to rings, flashlights, knives, fingerprint kits, manuals, and pen and pencil sets. There was a TV movie made in 1974 starring Dale Robertson, Melvin Purvis G-Man, and to this day his legendary life holds a fascination with both historians and collectors alike.
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