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Document 32010

MELVIN PURVIS. Identification Card signed "Melvin Purvis", 4¾x3. His U.S. Senate identification card, bearing his 1x1½ b/w photograph and facsimile signatures of the Chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service Olin D. Johnson and the Chief Counsel, Melvin Purvis, who has signed in ink, vertically at the far left as "(Signature of employee)". In full: "This Certifies that Melvin Purvis whose photograph and signature appear hereon is a duly authorized representative of the committee for the purpose of making investigations as authorized and directed by Senate Resolution 53, Eighty-Second Congress". The 82nd Congress was in session from 1951-1953. FBI Special Agent Melvin Purvis led the agents who gunned down John Dillinger in Chicago in 1933 and Pretty Boy Floyd in an Ohio farm field in 1934. Purvis left the FBI in July 1935 after a year of personal confrontation with J. Edgar Hoover. With his health in decline, on February 29, 1960, Purvis committed suicide with the nickel-plated Colt .45 automatic he had received as a going away gift from fellow agents 25 years earlier. I.D. has separated from inside cover of leatherette folder (3¼x5¼ when closed). Glue stains on verso lightly show through, touching the "P". U.S. seal and lettering on cover embossed in gilt. Overall, fine condition.

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