COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT

John Dillinger's Chewing Gum

Jesse and Mary Hurlbut gave much of the History of Pharmacy collection to the College of Pharmacy. Jesse came to Arizona in the 1930s after severe earthquakes destroyed his pharmacies in Santa Barbara. Lucien Brunswick, owner of Brunswick Wholesale Drug Company in Tucson, offered Jesse the vacant Owl Drug Store in downtown Tucson, at 6th Avenue and Congress. Jesse moved into the site and began filling prescriptions and serving breakfast and lunch to his customers.

Jesse noticed that some of his customers were a bit different than the rest: the strangers who dined daily at his lunch counter dressed like “Easterners,” as Jesse described them. One particular stranger had a habit of chewing a stick or two of Black Jack gum as he waited for his meal. When lunch arrived, the stranger always stuck the gum underneath the counter.

On the morning of January 25, 1934, Jesse opened his newspaper and read that John Dillinger, a notorious gangster, had been captured in Tucson, along with three other members of the Dillinger Gang. To Jesse’s surprise, it was John Dillinger who had been the strange patron at the Owl Drug Store’s lunch counter.

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Dillinger's chewing gum

In a small jar, Jesse collected Dillinger’s chewing gum from under the Owl Drug Store counter. The jar is now displayed in the alcove near the lobby as an unusual reminder of a gangster’s visit to Tucson. You’ll also see menus listing the assortment of food that one could get for a very reasonable price in the 1930s.

While you're in the Coit Museum, see if you can find the jar of chewed gum!