Departments
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Week of 2 October 1998 |
Vol. II, No. 8 |
Feature
Article
Setting the record straight on setting the record straight
The BU Bridge has added its name to the long roll call of publications that have muddled the story of Melvin Purvis ("SFA prof sets the record straight on his G-man father," September 25, 1998, page 5). Let the record reflect, however, that we are acknowledging our errors in the matter:
"My father did indeed plan and physically lead the assault that resulted in John Dillinger's death at the Biograph Theater on July 24, 1934," Alston Purvis informs us. "Identifying Dillinger as he left the theater, my father gave a signal to his men by lighting a cigar. Three feet away from Dillinger, he said, 'Stick 'em up, Johnny. We have you surrounded.' Dillinger then headed toward the entrance of an alley, and after being shot, fell with his head in the alley and his feet on the sidewalk. My father later wrote in his book, American Agent: 'In his right hand was his gun, and as he fell the elbow hit first, causing a sort of bounce. When his hand bounced up I took the gun from it.' "
The book Purvis is currently writing will concern his father's entire life, he says, and will probably not be published for several years. In it, Purvis does not speculate that J. Edgar Hoover had anything to do with the death of Purvis' father, who was special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office from February 1932 until his resignation in July 1935.
Purvis' previous book, Dutch Graphic Design 1918-1945, was published by Van Nostrand Reinhold. Finally, BU does not have a student exchange program with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at The Hague, although the possibility of such a program has been discussed.