Grayson County TXGenWeb

Charles Batsell Winstead

Charles Batsell Winstead is the F.B.I. Agent credited by J. Edgar Hoover for firing the fatal shot that killed John Dillinger. He also assisted in the capture of "Baby Face" Nelson during the 1930s. As an Army Intelligence officer during World War II, he was responsible for outside security for the secret atomic bomb project at Los Alamos.

Charles Batsell Winstead, born Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas, is the son of Washington Lee Winstead, who was born 21 October 1865 in Hopkins Co., Texas; he died 13 February 1901 in Sherman, Texas and is buried in West Hill Cemetery. Charles' mother was Mae Batsell, born 11 July 1872 and died 25 December 1951. She and Washington Lee Winstead had two sons, Charles and a younger brother Glendon Elmo Winstead. Mae married Joseph Cartwright Rigby after Washington Lee Winstead's death but had no other children.

John Dillinger

John Dillinger robbed two dozen banks and four police stations during the Depression. Known as "Public Enemy No. 1", J. Edgar Hoover developed the Federal Bureau of Investigaion as a weapon against organized crime and used Dillinger and his gang to launch the FBI. After being wounded, Dillinger returned to his father's home to recover and returned to Chicago in July 1934. The owner of a brothel where Dillinger sometimes sought refuge informed the authorities of his where-abouts. On July 22 while watching a gangster movie at the Biograph Theater, Federal agents attempted to arrest Dillinger as he left the theater. Pulling his weapon and attempting to flee, he was shot three times and killed.