The names Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow have become almost as familiar as Romeo and Juliet. Books, songs, and movies have told and retold their story. During their lifetimes, they were blamed for nearly every high-profile robbery in Texas and neighboring states, and a special unit was created to catch them. For several years they did little but rob, kill, and travel constantly, enjoying each other's company. Their lives were short but so vivid that they still attract the attention of millions.
Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909, to Henry and Cumie Barrow near Telico, Texas. He was the fifth of seven children. The Barrow family was not wealthy. His parents worked as farmers in rented fields, and there was little time for a proper upbringing.
According to Clyde's younger sister Marie, the best times of their childhood came when the family went to the movies in towns near the tent camps where they usually lived. Clyde loved the adventures of Wild West gunslingers and spent weeks imagining himself as Jesse James.
After harvest, the Barrows moved frequently, forcing the children to change schools. When the harvest needed close attention, the parents split the children among different relatives. Eventually the family moved to a tent camp west of Dallas, a place crawling with gypsies, vagrants, and homeless people.
Clyde attended school in the Cement City neighborhood of West Dallas and even took some courses at Sidney Lanier High School. He developed an interest in music and playing the guitar, which helped him briefly forget the hard life he lived. He spent many Saturday evenings looking at instruments in Dallas store windows, drawn especially to guitars, banjos, and saxophones.
His family could not afford instruments or lessons, but that did not stop Clyde from developing natural musical abilities. He first discovered them when he taught himself the basics of the saxophone while playing with his older sister Nellie, whose husband was a professional musician and led a traveling orchestra.
At 17, Clyde quit school and started working. He held jobs at eight different companies, changing often because of problems with his superiors. He had an explosive temper and could not always control his outbursts of anger.
Besides music, Clyde loved cars. He bought his first car at 17 for $50, and that was when his third passion, an illegal way to make money, became apparent. He was first arrested with his older brother Marvin, known as Buck, for stealing turkeys from a neighbor shortly after Christmas 1926. Buck was sentenced to a week in jail, and Clyde avoided prison.
Shortly after that minor offense, Clyde committed his first armed robbery, targeting a drugstore in the Oak Cliff neighborhood. He then teamed up with Buck, Frank Clause, and a couple of other friends from West Dallas to rob the Buell Lumber Company. The group was caught and arrested but only questioned and released.
Because they were closely watched and suspected of most crimes in the area, the group left Dallas to rob establishments in Waco and Sherman, Texas. In October 1929, Clyde's group stole an automobile and drove to Denton, where they robbed a garage and took a safe they planned to open elsewhere.
Clyde, acting as driver, attracted the attention of local police by driving extremely fast for no apparent reason. An attempt to evade pursuit ended in an accident. Clyde fled, and Buck was caught and shot while attempting to flee. Buck was found guilty and on January 14, 1930, sentenced to five years in prison. Another participant, Sidney Moore, received 10 years. Clyde was the only one who escaped punishment.
For a while, Clyde left crime and switched to the family business. His father, with financial help from Nellie, bought a small frame house near the campground. Clyde helped convert the front into a gas station and auto repair shop, then used his auto repair experience to help build the new business.
It was a calm period. He was not wanted by police, he made money through honest labor, and he benefited his family. But honest labor did not remain his source of income for long. He soon met a few girls in his neighborhood and encouraged them to monetize their libidos, acting less like a typical pimp and more like their advertising agent, supplying clients and taking a percentage.
None of these girls became the main woman in his life, because on the horizon was the one he would love to the grave. Bonnie Parker was born a year after Clyde, on October 1, 1910, in Rowena, Texas. The Parkers were more affluent than the average Texas family of the time. Bonnie was described as mischievous and irascible, though young Bonnie is remembered as kind and vulnerable.
At 15, she met a handsome young man, Roy Thornton, who charmed her. Convinced she had found her knight in shining armor, Bonnie married Thornton at 16. She soon realized her mistake. He left her for months, disappearing inexplicably, and Bonnie drowned her longing in movies and romantic stories. In 1927, he disappeared for two years. At her mother's insistence, she did not take him back, though he was her first true love.
At 19, Bonnie was left alone. After this emotional upheaval, she traveled to Dallas to visit a friend who had injured her arm and to help around the house. There, trying to dull the pain of the breakup, she met her new love. Clyde Barrow also knew Bonnie's friend, and in January 1930, he went to visit her.
Upon meeting the beautiful young girl caring for his friend, Clyde became interested and offered his help. It was the beginning of a love story destined to captivate the world. The two liked each other at first sight, and soon Bonnie, revived after her recent tragedy, took Clyde to her home and introduced him to her mother.
Clyde hoped to make a good impression but failed miserably. He dressed smartly, tried to appear polite and nice, and then the morning after, police showed up at her house with a warrant for his arrest. Clyde was arrested for his part in the Denton robbery.
Oddly, the incident did not make Bonnie forget her new knight. A few weeks later, while in the Denton jail, Clyde received a letter from her expressing hope that this was the last time he would get into such trouble. On March 2, 1930, Clyde was transferred to the prison in Waco.
By then, Bonnie had not seen him for some time and longed to see him again. After assuring her mother she would be perfectly safe, Bonnie moved in with her cousin Mary in Waco so she could visit her lover. Clyde was placed in a cell block with four other criminals, including the notable William Turner.
When Bonnie came to visit, Turner told her of a plan by which he and Clyde could escape with her help. Bonnie was to visit Turner's parents' home in East Waco, retrieve a gun that belonged to him, and bring it back on her next visit. After getting approval from Clyde, Bonnie agreed.
That evening, Bonnie convinced her cousin to drive her to the right neighborhood. Turner's parents were absent, and the mission succeeded. Afraid of being caught with a gun, Bonnie went straight to the jail and easily handed the weapon to her lover. These were the first known crimes in Bonnie's life.
Next came the main part of the plan. In the evening, Turner asked the jailer for a glass of milk to soothe his stomach. Per regulations, night jailer Stanford left his gun in his office before taking the glass to the prisoner. When Stanford opened the cell door, Turner dragged him inside, while cellmate Emory Abernathy pulled out a gun and threatened to kill the jailer if he raised his voice.
Stanford raised his hands in silence. Clyde, Turner, and Abernathy ran out of the cell. On the first floor, they attacked the jailer who kept the keys, unlocked the front door, and broke free. A few blocks away, the trio stole a Ford. To escape pursuit, they stole three more vehicles, one in Texas and two in Missouri cities.
Continuing through Illinois, the trio committed burglaries of homes and businesses. Meanwhile, Bonnie left Waco and returned to Dallas, where she anxiously awaited word from her lover. Her mother tried to change her mind about Clyde, but it soon became clear the attempts were pointless. After participating in her lover's escape, Bonnie only became more attached to him.
Soon she received a message from him from Illinois, swearing his love and asking her to tell his mother he was all right. He and his former cellmate were indeed all right, which could not be said for the firms they had robbed in Indiana. By March 18, 1930, the trio had reached Middleton, where they robbed a dry cleaner at night and then a depot office of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The total proceeds amounted to $60.
The next morning, the registration number of the suspicious automobile was reported to police. On their way west to Middleton, they stopped for breakfast at a convenience store diner. Just as they pulled away, two patrol cars arrived nearby. Clyde's accomplices jumped out and tried to flee, while Barrow continued driving.
Turner and Abernathy were soon caught. Unknowingly, Clyde returned for his friends in another vehicle and began driving around hoping to find them. Police spotted him and blocked the car. Clyde jumped out and ran, and Middleton patrolman Tom Carmody rushed after him.
Clyde had the lead, but he soon turned onto a street that ended in a dead end. Shortly before being caught, he disposed of his weapon, the same revolver Bonnie had given him in the Waco jail, by throwing it into a nearby canal. Abernathy and Turner, questioned earlier, said the man who drove away was merely a stranger who had picked them up as hitchhikers.
That story received some corroboration when police captured Clyde and sent him for questioning. After receiving descriptions of the three men, Waco County Sheriff Less Stegal and Assistant District Attorney Jim Stanford arrived in Ohio and recognized the captives as wanted fugitives. The next day, Clyde and his friends were taken to the Waco jail.
After returning from Ohio, Clyde's troubles increased. About a year before his arrest, he had been accused of killing a man in Houston. Clyde was not involved; officials simply wanted someone to pin the murder on, and Clyde seemed suitable. But the testimony of alleged witnesses was discredited, and the murder charge was dropped.
On April 21, Clyde Barrow was transferred from Waco to the Texas Federal Penitentiary in Huntsville. He was 21 but said he was 18, hoping guards would treat him more leniently. Shortly after arriving, he was sent to the East Prison Farm, 40 miles from the main prison, where he began serving a 14-year sentence.
While at Eastham, Clyde was raped by a large, overbearing inmate named Ed Crowder. Crowder was a criminal who, after several escapes, had increased his original 15-year sentence to 99. Destined to live on Eastham Farm for the rest of his life, Crowder did not restrain himself. Sodomy among prisoners was not uncommon, and Crowder was the kind of man other inmates and guards did not want to cross. Clyde's pleas for help were ignored.
The assault and humiliation lasted almost a year and made Clyde's life hell. He thought of the only way to save himself: murder. Teaming up with another criminal, Aubrey Skelly, Clyde devised a plan. They agreed Skelly would take responsibility for the murder, but the risk would fall entirely on Clyde. If the plan failed and an angry Crowder tore Clyde apart, Skelly would not interfere.
On October 29, 1931, while returning from fieldwork, Clyde hid a piece of lead pipe in his pant leg. That night, when the other inmates had gone to their bunks, Clyde headed toward the toilet. As expected, Crowder followed. When his rapist was within reach, Clyde brought the pipe down on his head with a furious blow, fracturing his skull and killing him instantly.
His accomplice Skelly hid nearby, and as Crowder collapsed, he plunged a homemade shiv into the corpse. The guard heard the scream and came running. Aubrey Skelly confessed to the murder. Even though Skelly's only weapon was a shiv and Crowder's cause of death was a fractured skull, no one questioned it. The fact that Skelly took all the blame only made life easier for the jailers.
The grand jury did not indict Skelly, ruling he acted in self-defense. Crowder's reputation played against him, and he was buried and forgotten. Clyde had proven he would not hesitate to kill if he felt cornered.
As for Bonnie, her life was not as horrible as her lover's, but she struggled too. She was devastated by their separation. The letters she wrote to him only added to her pain, and at one point she stopped corresponding. Struggling with homesickness, Bonnie got a job as a waitress and started dating other men just to distract herself.
Cumie Barrow tried her best to help her son and get his sentence reduced, begging the district judge. Unaware of his mother's efforts, Clyde was despondent. Short and skinny, he barely coped with work on the prison farm, and then he heard rumors of Bonnie's infidelities, confirmed by the fact that her letters grew shorter and less frequent.
Desperate, Clyde took extreme measures. He persuaded a fellow prisoner to help him fake an accident, forcing his friend to chop off two toes on his left foot with an axe. Ironically, the painful ruse was unnecessary. A few days later, as the hospitalized Clyde learned to walk on the injured foot, news of his parole came. Cumie's pleas were not in vain, and on February 8, 1932, Clyde left prison on crutches.
Back in Dallas, Clyde was reunited with Bonnie. After learning to walk without crutches, he began looking for work, which was not easy during the Great Depression. Along with the recession, dust storms hit Dallas with disastrous consequences. There were days in East Texas when the sky was a dirty brown instead of blue.
Clyde's reputation as an outlaw also played a role. His sister Nell found him a construction job in Massachusetts, but Clyde lasted less than two weeks and returned to his family and Bonnie on March 17, 1932. His sister was furious, but Clyde promised he would soon find her a job she would be proud of. When Nell warned him not to get involved with the company that had driven him to prison, Clyde replied that he had learned his lesson. The only question was what that lesson was.
Soon Clyde gave up on the idea of a regular job and began forming his own gang. He was joined by his buddy from Eastham, Ralph Fults, and 18-year-old car thief Raymond Hamilton. Along with Clyde was Bonnie, who lied to her mother that she had been offered a job with a cosmetics company in Houston so she could leave Dallas with her lover.
The first three weeks of Bonnie and Clyde's new life as career criminals were characterized mostly by mistakes and failures. As darkness fell on March 25, 1932, the trio of Clyde, Fults, and Hamilton set out to commit their first robbery. The target was the Sims Refinery, a few blocks from the Barrow family garage in West Dallas.
Clyde was convinced a large amount of cash would be in the company safe that night, information he had gotten from a Sims employee. The plan was simple: break through the mesh fence, overpower the guard, break into the safe, fill bags with loot, and escape under cover of night. Expected profits were several thousand dollars.
Breaking through the fence was easy, but contrary to Clyde's expectations, four other employees were working in the building. They were quickly subdued and tied up. The room with the safe was found, and the trio broke down the door. At that moment, the plan collapsed. The safe was empty. The would-be thieves escaped successfully, and Clyde was crushed.
Neither he nor his companions were about to give up. While Bonnie waited for instructions to pack for the trip, Clyde, Fults, and Hamilton set up a series of small robberies in and around Dallas to build a budget. They could not linger. After the Sims plant robbery, police were looking for them.
The decision was made to go north and pick a bank to rob. It turned out to be the First National Bank in Lawrence, Kansas. The trio checked into the local Eldridge Hotel and spent two days exploring the city and the bank. After the Sims fiasco, they wanted to be certain of success.
The criminals discovered that the bank president would arrive at about 8:45 a.m., other employees 10 minutes later, and one guard was on duty at the entrance. On the third day, they decided to commit the robbery. The president arrived at his usual time. Clyde and Fults, waving shotguns, rushed in after him, while Hamilton waited outside behind the wheel of a getaway car.
Clyde forced the bank president to open the vault while Fults restrained two employees who had arrived during the robbery. Clyde was given two bags of money, after which he and Fults locked their prisoners in the vault and ran out to join Hamilton. The affair seemed ridiculously simple. The bank guard did not even show up for work when the gang grabbed the money and fled. City cops tried to catch the robbers but failed even to get on their trail.
In Illinois, the trio stopped to count the loot. The proceeds amounted to $33,000, a staggering sum for the time. After that, the robbers split up. Raymond Hamilton got the idea to continue raiding banks, while Clyde and Fults had different plans. Their goal was a long-planned mass escape of prisoners from Eastham Prison Farm.
Clyde and Fults spent their share on .45 caliber pistols, machine guns, and body armor before returning to Texas in early April 1932. They made a brief stop in West Dallas so Clyde could visit his family and spend a few hours with Bonnie. After the visit, Clyde and Fults drove 40 miles north to Denton, where they met four local outlaws: Johnny Russell, Jack Hammett, Ralph Allsup, and Ted Rogers.
The quartet was enthusiastic about the proposed raid on Eastham, probably because they had all served time there and knew the horrors inmates endured. The new group called themselves the Dallas Lake Gang. Clyde decided six assailants would be enough. At night, four guards were on duty outside the Camp 1 dormitory at Eastham.
If the gang eliminated them, they could free prisoners from the dormitory before guards sleeping on the second floor woke up. What to do with a large number of prisoners was apparently not discussed. They were only planned to be pulled out of Eastham and armed if possible. From there, preserving their freedom would be everyone's personal responsibility.
If Clyde worried about anyone, it was Aubrey Skelly, who had helped him kill Ed Crowder and had taken full responsibility. In preparation for the raid, Clyde, Fults, and their new partners found an isolated spot on the shores of Lake Dallas to check the guns and vests they had bought in Illinois. They were joined by an acquaintance of Jack Hammett known as Red.
The test brought disappointment. The vests leaning against trees were punctured by every bullet that hit them, and many guns did not fire at all. The man who had resold the guns had tricked them, but they had gone too far and had no intention of abandoning their goal, though they delayed it.
At first, the gang planned to rob two banks in Denton simultaneously, but their plans were thwarted by a pair of Texas Rangers sitting in a parked car in the plaza. It was odd for the Rangers to be hanging around town. Usually they were there to investigate a crime already committed. Clyde suspected someone in his new gang might be an informant but had no proof, so he decided to proceed with the Eastham raid.
The gang doubted its numbers were sufficient for such a grand enterprise, so they decided to admit the Amarillo brothers of crime, familiar to Clyde and Fults. Clyde, Fults, and Red traveled northwest to find them. They arrived in Amarillo on April 13, but the brothers, whose names the gang history did not preserve, were nowhere to be found.
The trio turned back toward Dallas, but their car broke down in the small town of Electra, about 200 miles east of Amarillo. Normally such situations were no problem for Clyde, who could easily steal another car. But this time, three strangers parked in front of a warehouse seemed suspicious to the town clerk, who reported them to Electra Sheriff James Taylor.
The sheriff arrived just as Clyde, Fults, and Red got out of the stalled car and were about to head into town to steal another automobile. When Taylor asked if they had problems, Fults replied that they had come from Wichita Falls and their car had suddenly broken down. The sheriff said he would have to take them into custody and check their story.
Instead of surrendering, Clyde pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and told the sheriff and the accompanying city clerk to raise their hands. At that moment, McCormick, the man who had summoned the sheriff, drove up, and Fults pointed the revolver at him. Clyde and Fults, along with the three hostages, squeezed into McCormick's car. Red had run away when the confrontation began, and Clyde later decided Red was the informant.
About eight miles from Electra, the bandits pulled over and let the hostages out. It was a risk. The hostages had time to get a good look at them, and kidnapping was considered much more serious than carjacking or bank robbery. But neither Clyde nor Fults at the time had any intention of hurting people they did not think were guilty.
To avoid potential prosecution, Clyde drove back north toward Oklahoma. Once past the state line, he planned to drive east for a while and then south back to Denton. But soon the stolen Chevy ran out of gas, and the outlaws again faced a sudden problem. At that very time, a mailman named Bill Owens drove by, slowing down.
The poor man was greatly surprised when two men beside the stalled car jumped onto his running board and at gunpoint forced him to stop. Clyde took the driver's seat and assured Owens that, provided he cooperated, his life was in no danger. If you think the tense moments ended there, you are sorely mistaken.
Clyde and Fults needed to drive across a toll bridge on the Texas-Oklahoma border. Rather than stopping and paying the toll to avoid attention, Clyde simply sped through the barrier and flew into Oklahoma, whereupon a couple of bridge guards opened fire. Although their bullets missed, the guards soon issued an APB on Owens's car.
Clyde turned the car radio to a local station, and as they approached the town of Fletcher, an announcement was heard that state police were setting up roadblocks on the main roads. Clyde immediately turned onto a small road and told Owens to get out. With the criminals' permission, Owens took his bag of mail and asked a favor: not just to abandon his car, but to burn it so the government would buy him a new one. Clyde agreed, and a day later the remains of a smoldering Ford were found near the site.
Meanwhile, Clyde and Fults stole another automobile and returned to Denton. Things did not go as planned. Instead of adding two more Amarillo outlaws, they lost Red, and their number was once again reduced to six. In addition, the Lake Dallas Gang still lacked the large-caliber weapons needed to break past Eastham guards. But the boys were still determined to raid the prison.
Jack Hammett offered to steal a new arsenal of weapons in a neighboring town. Clyde and Fults promised to steal two automobiles large enough to hold escaped prisoners and fast enough to evade pursuit. Clyde also wanted to relay a message about the impending raid to Aubrey Skelly, and for that he needed Bonnie's help.
Until then, Bonnie's involvement in gang affairs had been purely decorative. She had been Clyde's lover, helping him relax between jobs. But now it was her time to prove herself. On April 17, Clyde and Fults took her to Eastham Prison, and Bonnie introduced herself as Cousin Skelly. The diminutive girl who showed up to visit a relative aroused no suspicion, and Bonnie was let in without a problem.
Skelly's position allowed him private conversations, and there was no security present when he spoke to the girl. Back with Clyde and Fults, Bonnie reported that Skelly had approved the plan and would be ready when they arrived to retrieve him. It meant a lot to Bonnie that Clyde trusted her enough to use her as a go-between.
The visit with Skelly had gone so smoothly, and she had enjoyed being involved so much, that it seemed natural for the girl to accompany Clyde and Fults when they went to the town of Tyler to steal cars for the upcoming raid. Fults had no objection. He found Bonnie thoughtful and witty. Bonnie felt the trips to Eastham and Tyler gave her a new status as a permanent member of her lover's gang.
Before leaving for Tyler, she told her mother she was finally moving to Houston to take a job selling cosmetics. Everything went smoothly in Tyler, and the outlaws were returning in new, bigger, and faster cars. But on the way back, they decided to stop at a store in Kaufman and steal guns in the middle of the night.
While Bonnie waited in the stolen Chrysler, Clyde and Fults began picking the lock on the store door. A night watchman, whom the robbers did not know existed, appeared nearby, and there was a brief exchange of gunfire between him and Clyde. The watchman then ran for help, and Clyde and Fults jumped into the stolen cars and drove away.
Kaufman's townspeople responded quickly, and within the few minutes it took Clyde and Fults to find the main road to Dallas, the highway was blocked by a couple of giant graders. The criminals had no choice but to turn around, drive through Kaufman, then turn east onto a narrow country road strewn with mud.
The stolen cars were much faster than local cars, and the criminals had no trouble evading pursuit. But then a violent storm began to brew. The already water-soaked road flooded completely, and the cars quickly became stuck. Realizing they could now be overtaken, the criminals continued on foot.
Around 1:00 a.m., they reached a farmhouse. The owner had no car to steal but offered the use of two mules. The fugitives had no choice. Bonnie and Clyde climbed on one mule and Fults on the other. The town of Kemp was a few miles away, and the outlaws moved in that direction.
The merry adventure Bonnie had expected turned out to be a misery. She was soaked to the skin and returning home on the uncomfortable back of a mule. The farmer did not even have saddles, and the outlaws had to ride without them. It was almost dawn when they reached the outskirts of Kemp.
There they met the car of Scarsdale, the local doctor, which they stole without trouble. Now they could continue in it, which brought some relief. But soon their pursuers appeared: a motley crew of farmers and residents led by Marshall Kemp and the chief of police of nearby Maybank.
The criminals remained undetected until about 5:00 in the evening, when they ran across the road to steal a car parked outside a small store instead of the one being pursued. But before Clyde could start it, they were attacked by an armed posse. The criminals jumped out and fled.
They made it to the banks of a nearby parched tributary of Cedar Creek. Fults was wounded in the left arm and could no longer keep up with Clyde. Bonnie was not particularly fast either. Clyde faced a difficult choice: stay with Bonnie or run away himself.
He realized that moving at Bonnie's pace, they would soon be caught, and he remembered that when he left Eastham prison he had promised himself he would never go to jail again. The only option was to escape alone and then try to help Bonnie and Fults somehow.
There was no way to be sure what Bonnie thought when her boyfriend blurted out that he was leaving her on the muddy bottom of the creek where angry men were shouting at her. If she begged him not to leave, Clyde was not convinced. Perhaps she was too panic-stricken to realize what he was saying.
In any case, Clyde jumped out of the creek bed and ran straight toward the men shooting at them. This time he was lucky. The two closest members of the squad he attacked were reloading. Taking advantage of the confusion, Clyde escaped while the squad attacked Bonnie and Fults.
Clyde returned to Kemp, stole one car, drove a short distance, stole another, and finally made it to his family in West Dallas. Meanwhile, Fults told Bonnie to turn herself in. He suggested she tell the posse she had been kidnapped and forced to go along on a failed convenience store robbery.
Bonnie came out of hiding and was immediately captured. Fults, still bleeding in the creek bed, was captured a little later. The posse took Bonnie and Fults back to Kemp, where they were locked up for the night in the town's tiny one-cell jail.
Promising to return for Bonnie and Fults, Clyde did not lie. When he reached his family on April 20, he informed them of what had happened and asked his younger brother Buck and Buck's fiancee Blanche to go to Kaufman immediately and find out where his associate and lover were being held. He himself set out to get weapons.
Over the next few days, all the plans of Clyde and his gang fell apart one after another. The reason was active law enforcement agencies that sent out tip sheets and responded quickly. Clyde was desperate. His gang was down to just three men, and a raid on Eastham seemed hopeless. Clyde himself was wanted by police.
After a few days in custody, Fults was sent to trial. His situation was unenviable. He faced a return to Huntsville and possibly to Eastham Farm. Bonnie was temporarily stuck in the Kaufman jail awaiting the court's decision. It was hoped the grand jury would believe she was merely a hostage and release her.
This time, Clyde decided to think carefully instead of acting impulsively. He realized that trying to get Bonnie out before the trial would prove she was more than a hostage and put her in danger. He informed the girl through his relatives, and she took the news calmly.
What Bonnie felt at that moment about Clyde remains a mystery. She spent the days of her imprisonment writing poetry. Between April 20, when she was arrested, and June 17, when Kaufman's grand jury convened, Bonnie composed a collection of poems called Poetry from the Other Side of Life.
During this time, her boyfriend planned a robbery that would get him a gun and free Ralph Fults from the Wichita Falls jail before he was transferred to Huntsville. His new target was the store of wealthy John Boucher, which carried merchandise from jewelry to musical instruments.
Upon exploring the store, Clyde and his accomplices Ted Rogers and Johnny Russell discovered a large safe. However, there was a big risk. The landlord's apartment was directly above the store, and Boucher's wife noticed Clyde and his company. Feeling uneasy, Clyde wanted to abandon the goal, but Fults's imminent trial and his comrades' determination forced him to go ahead on April 30, 1932.
Late in the afternoon, Clyde drove up to Boucher's store. He stayed in the car while Rogers and Russell went inside and asked the downstairs proprietor to show them guitar strings. The owner's spouse also came downstairs, and the criminals pulled out guns. Boucher opened the safe, which contained jewelry and a gun. Boucher tried to take the gun and was shot by Ted Rogers.
After taking money and jewelry, the criminals ran out and drove away. Their proceeds totaled $40 in cash, and the stolen jewelry was valued at about $1,500. This incident completed the breakup of the Lake Dallas gang. The outlaws divided the loot and dispersed.
Although Clyde was not present at the murder, the dead man's wife identified him as one of the robbers, and Barrow was now more than just a wanted thief. Law enforcement hunted him as a murderer. Clyde hid while contemplating a plan to save Fults, but there was no need to carry it out.
Having contacted him through a mutual acquaintance, Fults informed him that he and his cellmate had developed their own escape tactics. This escape ultimately failed. But Fults's cellmate received a lenient sentence: 10 years for armed robbery, and he was sent not to Eastham but to the main prison wing of Walls, where he met Clyde's older brother Buck.
Clyde spent May and the first weeks of June 1932 committing several small robberies in and around Dallas. His sister estimated the total from these raids did not even amount to $100. Clyde was treading water, waiting for a Kaufman County jury to decide Bonnie's fate.
On June 17, Bonnie's trial was held, and the girl was acquitted and given her freedom. She told her mother, who took her home, that she was done with Clyde Barrow. However, it was a lie. Very soon, Bonnie began exchanging messages with her lover.
The girl should have realized that a connection with a wanted killer could lead to worse consequences than prison. But once again, she listened not to reason but to her heart. She told Clyde she was ready to join him. Bonnie was not the only one. Around the same time, Clyde was joined by Raymond Hamilton, whom they had split from after the Kansas bank robbery.
By mid-July, they had rented a small house in Wichita Falls, which became their base of operations. Bonnie settled there with them, again lying to her mother that she had found a good job elsewhere. Of course, her mother suspected her daughter had reunited with Clyde Barrow, but a few days later she received a letter from Bonnie detailing her new job at a cafe and breathed a sigh of relief. Bonnie was not even 22 yet, and she wanted to remain a good girl to her mother.
At first, the duo of Clyde and Hamilton was not lucky. A robbery at a train station in Urban brought only $12. But on August 1, 1932, they joined the team of Ross Dyer to rob the packaging company Newhof, a few miles from the Barrow house, earning $440.
Four days after this robbery, Bonnie went to visit her mother, and Clyde and his companions had an opportunity to blow off steam. Clyde, Hamilton, and Dyer drove a stolen car to Stringtown, Oklahoma, where locals were about to put on an entertainment event at an open pavilion near the highway. The trio blended into the drunken crowd, enjoying drinks and snagging pretty girls.
Clyde was once again out of luck. The local sheriff, Maxwell, attended the party, and his attention was drawn to Clyde's company. The sheriff approached the trio as they sat in the car and tried to arrest them, possibly because a gun had been seen in the back seat, but most likely because Clyde, behind the wheel, was drunk.
The criminals already had charges hanging over them and were not about to give up. They pulled out guns. There was a shootout with the sheriff, during which Deputy Sheriff Eugene Moore was killed and the sheriff himself was seriously wounded. Police units soon began hunting the killers, but Clyde and Hamilton escaped, stealing several cars.
Their comrade Dyer was less fortunate. Mingling with the panicked crowd, he found a bus and traveled to Texas, where police caught him. The incident made Clyde and his family realize he had crossed a line and there was no turning back. If he had previously been charged with a murder he did not commit, now there was no chance of acquittal. If caught, the electric chair awaited him.
Eugene Moore's death was a direct result of Clyde's callousness and an indication that he was capable of the most extreme acts. A normal girl would have run from such a man, but Bonnie was fantastically loyal. Even when Clyde made terrible mistakes, it was not his fault in her opinion. She convinced family and friends that constant harassment by the law had made Clyde a professional criminal and murderer. He used to be a good man, but had no chance to stay that way.
Since August 6, 1932, the fates of Bonnie and Clyde were definitively intertwined. It was Bonnie who told Clyde where they should go to avoid prosecution. This marked the beginning of a new period in her life, when she transformed from mistress to fully fledged partner in crime.
She and Raymond traveled to New Mexico, where Bonnie's aunt lived. It was an excellent choice. Local authorities had no reason to look for Clyde and Hamilton, and the state had poor communications with Texas. Appearing at her Aunt Millie Stamps's house on August 13, Bonnie introduced her companions, identifying Clyde as her husband, James White, and Raymond as their friend, Jack Smith.
The trio settled at Millie Stamps's home, and she could not refuse their hospitality. However, the expensive automobile her niece arrived in and the large sums of money Millie saw could not help but arouse suspicion. She secretly contacted County Sheriff's Deputy Joe Jones and asked him to come over.
Jones showed up and asked Bonnie to get the men who had accompanied her while he inspected their automobile. Clyde and Raymond exited through the back door, one carrying a shotgun. The criminals fired a warning shot. The deputy surrendered without resistance.
Clyde could not just let his hostage go. After all, it was a policeman. But he did not want to kill him. So Clyde, Bonnie, and Raymond forced Jones into an automobile at gunpoint. Clyde drove east toward Texas. Their destination was San Antonio, where they dropped off the hostage with a naive request that he not raise the alarm for an hour.
Of course, the deputy did not honor it, but it took him time to reach a phone and call San Antonio police. Police immediately set up roadblocks on the main highway between San Antonio and Dallas, but they missed. The trio took a different route and turned southeast. Using country roads instead of main highways, they returned to Dallas and settled into an abandoned farmhouse.
From there, they made a trek 35 miles west to Fort Worth, where they broke into a state guard armory and stole several high-powered automatic rifles. Around September 1, Clyde and Raymond's paths diverged. Hamilton planned to move to Michigan for a while.
Clyde and Bonnie continued to live off petty looting of country stores and service stations. The couple did not sit still and traveled constantly. Unsigned postcards kept members of the Barrow family informed of their wanderings through the Midwest. The postcards told of trips along the Great Lakes and described the skyscrapers of Chicago.
So it could be said that Bonnie and Clyde had something of a romantic journey. Traveling by car, they stopped at motels. Sometimes they went into farmhouses and asked to be let in for the night, paying their hosts with money or food. When there were no motels or farmhouses nearby, they slept in the car.
Bonnie and Clyde had their quarrels, but generally behaved like a typical couple in love. Clyde tried to make his girlfriend happy and even stole a typewriter for her so she could type new poems on the road. In October 1932, Bonnie and Clyde returned to Texas.
While driving past the Barrow gas station, Clyde threw away a Coca-Cola bottle with a note inside. The message was intended for his family and included a time and place to meet. Clyde also took Bonnie to visit her mother. Within minutes, Bonnie told her mother she was fine, then slipped out before Emma Parker could lecture her about the mistake she was making.
Before leaving West Dallas, Clyde enlisted two outlaws, Frank Hardy and Hollis Hale, to travel north with them to Missouri. This was not difficult because, thanks to journalists, Clyde's name appeared in all the newspapers, though his participation in thefts or murders was often speculation.
On November 30, Clyde's new gang committed a robbery at a bank in Oronogo, Missouri. Bonnie had gone there the day before on a reconnaissance mission, but apparently, because she had never been in a bank before, she did not know how to behave and aroused suspicion. This explains why, on the day of the robbery, things did not go as planned.
At 11:30 a.m., Clyde, Hale, and Hardy arrived at the bank. Clyde and Hardy entered with a machine gun, while Hale waited outside in a getaway car. The bank was almost empty of customers, but the teller had a gun handy behind an armored counter that Bonnie, due to inexperience, had not noticed. The teller began firing.
Fortunately for the robbers, his gun jammed after a few shots. Clyde returned fire, but his bullets could not penetrate the counter, and the cashier was unhurt. Meanwhile, Hardy grabbed the money lying on the counter, and he and Clyde ran out and drove away. There was no pursuit.
The proceeds totaled far less than the six-figure earnings they had expected. Hale and Hardy lied to Clyde that the earnings amounted to $80, divided that among the three, then divided the remaining money among themselves. They lied again, saying they would go into town for ammunition. They never returned, and Clyde and Bonnie were left alone with about $25.
On December 24, Clyde and Bonnie arrived in West Dallas to celebrate Christmas with family and deliver gifts. There they were found by Clyde's brother's friend, William Jones, a fan of the famous robber who wished to join their gang. He was only 16 but showed great loyalty to his idol, and Clyde needed a reliable assistant, so he did not reject the offer.
A new member required initiation, and Clyde would not put it off until after the holiday. On Christmas morning, he picked a grocery store in Temple and, along with Bonnie and Jones, arrived to rob it. After securing their weapons, Clyde and his associate went in, while Bonnie stayed behind in the car.
But barely entering the store, Jones began to give up the case. Back in the car, Clyde called the recruit a coward, and Bonnie added fuel to the fire with mocking laughter. But poor Jones was not going to be let go for nothing. An angry Clyde began driving around town looking for another target, ignoring Jones's complaints that he wanted to go home.
Clyde spotted a Ford Model A roadster parked outside a house on a residential street. The keys were in the ignition, not unusual in those days. Clyde sent Jones to steal the car, but the nervous teenager was not up to the task. Clyde was too angry to be cautious, and instead of returning Jones and driving away, he got behind the wheel himself, apparently intending to further shame the teenager.
The owner of the car was Doyle Johnson, who was celebrating Christmas with his wife, young daughter, and other family members. As Johnson napped, his father-in-law, Henry Krauser, looked out the window and saw two boys fiddling in Doyle's car. Krauser, his son Clarence, and Johnson's wife Tilly went outside, and Clyde jumped out and drew his gun, warning them to stay put.
He then returned to the car and started it, just as the owner came out of the house. Doyle Johnson ran to the automobile, reached through the open window, and grabbed Clyde by the neck. At that point, a shot rang out, and a bullet pierced Johnson's spinal cord. The owner of the car died suddenly.
Clyde and Jones drove away in the stolen car, and Bonnie followed in another. A few blocks from the murder scene, the boys left the stolen car and moved in with Bonnie. Whether or not Clyde was remorseful, we are left to wonder.
Soon after Johnson's murder, a new target loomed. His partner Raymond Hamilton, back in Michigan, was in prison. Among his charges was the murder of John Boucher, in which he had no part, and Hamilton faced life or even the death penalty. Clyde had always favored justice as he understood it and intended to free Raymond.
In early January 1933, Clyde visited his sister Lillian McBride. He asked her to give Raymond a radio set in which hacksaw blades were hidden. Clyde hoped Raymond would use them to break out of his cell and escape. On the afternoon of January 6, Lillian McBride was visited by a county sheriff's deputy who planned to ambush Hamilton's former partner, Odell Chambless, in the area.
A five-man law enforcement squad showed up late in the evening. Just then, Clyde, William Jones, and Bonnie drove up to Lillian's house. Clyde wanted to find out if she had gotten the radio set to Raymond. He got out and approached the porch armed with a shotgun.
Raymond's other sister, Maggie Ferris, showed herself in the doorway and shouted, "Don't shoot. Think of my children." This was obviously a warning, and Clyde reacted quickly and unexpectedly. He raised his shotgun and fired through the window, causing the police officers to rush to the floor.
Clyde tried to fire again, but his shotgun jammed, and he backed away from the porch trying to pull the spent shell casing from the bolt. Meanwhile, police hiding behind the house heard the shot and ran toward the sound. Clyde had time to handle the shotgun, and when Fort Worth Sheriff's Deputy Malcolm Davis was nearby, Clyde shot him in the chest.
People from neighboring houses ran into the street. Shouting and commotion ensued, allowing Clyde to slip away and run between houses toward Eagle Ford Road. William Jones, in the car, decided to help his mentor and started shooting, but Bonnie stopped him, reasoning that they risked harming Clyde or random passersby.
The girl started the car and drove around the block so Clyde could jump in. Clyde replaced her in the driver's seat and rushed west. Clyde's attempt to help Hamilton proved futile. On January 8, Raymond was caught trying to use a hacksaw to saw through the bars of his cell. He was immediately transferred to a more secure Dallas County Jail, where he was held until trial. For the second time in two weeks, Clyde committed murder.
Clyde, Bonnie, and William Jones were on the run again. From January through March 1933, they traveled aimlessly along winding routes through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. They obtained money for food, gasoline, and other necessities by robbing stores and service stations far from big cities.
It was a carefree time for Bonnie and Clyde to enjoy life. There was no organized pursuit. The trunk was packed with good clothes, guns, and ammunition. Bonnie wrote on her typewriter, Clyde played guitar and sang, and William Jones acted as their personal photographer. The fugitives were discreet and used nicknames in public.
They constantly sent postcards to their families. Clyde signed as Bud, Bonnie as Sis, and William as Jack. At least once a month, they made short visits to Dallas to see relatives. To organize a family reunion, Bonnie and Clyde would drive by the Barrow station on Eagle Ford Road and throw out Coca-Cola bottles with messages about where and when to meet.
Upon receiving such a letter, Clyde's mother would call her daughter Nell and Bonnie's mother Emma and use a special cipher to alert them of the meeting. During visits, Clyde and Bonnie gave their families money, often necessary for survival, for the Depression and the Dust Bowl were still strangling the Texas economy. Even the proud Emma Parker accepted handouts from her daughter, realizing the money had been obtained by dishonest means.
In late March 1933, Bonnie and Clyde were joined by two more people: Clyde's older brother Buck and his wife Blanche. Buck had recently been released from prison and planned to start a law-abiding life while convincing his younger brother to give up robbery and surrender. But something went wrong.
First, Buck and Blanche settled with Clyde and his company in an apartment in Joplin, where they spent time having fun and socializing. Buck's entreaties had no effect on Clyde, who was not eager to return to prison, where he believed only the electric chair awaited him. Eventually, five suspicious people living in the apartment attracted the attention of authorities.
On April 13, a specially organized police squad arrived at the house in two cars. The officers believed the individuals hiding there might be selling contraband booze and were carrying only small-caliber handguns. They pulled up just as Clyde and William were closing the garage door.
District Constable Harriman tried to get inside, but Clyde shot him with a shotgun, and he fell bleeding. A furious firefight ensued. William was seriously wounded in the abdomen but tried to help his mentor whenever possible. Taking advantage of more powerful weapons and the lawmen's unpreparedness, Clyde's team escaped.
The fight left two police officers dead and the fugitives in a terrible situation. All their belongings were left in the apartment, their relative anonymity in Missouri was at an end, and William was seriously injured. The only first aid the teenager received was a bandage and aspirin tablets. Clyde and Buck also suffered minor injuries.
Police sent out an APB detailing the shooters. Buck and Blanche were among those wanted. They had no choice but to join Bonnie and Clyde. Having obtained necessary things, the fugitives traveled to different states. In May 1933, they again visited family in Dallas and temporarily left the still-unrecovered William there before heading north.
They spent a few days in Indiana and then traveled back to Texas via Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Their source of income continued to be robberies of small stores, drug stores, and gas stations. On the night of May 18, Bonnie and Blanche dropped Clyde and Buck off behind the bank building in Okabena.
The Barrow brothers got inside and hid, and in the morning caught the two arriving employees by surprise. They grabbed all the money they could find and escaped with proceeds of about $1,600. On June 8, Clyde and Bonnie picked up William from Dallas, while Buck and Blanche went to visit her father in Oklahoma.
They were to meet late in the evening of June 10 and continue their adventures, but something unexpected happened that day. On the night of June 9, 1933, Bonnie, Clyde, and William were racing down Texas Highway 203 between the communities of Quail and Wellington. Six miles east of Wellington, a construction crew had dismantled a bridge over a large ravine, but proper warning signs had not been erected.
Clyde was racing at 70 mph, and when the road suddenly ended, his Ford broke through a wooden barricade and flew into the air. As it fell, the car hit solid rock and flipped several times. Bonnie was thrown from the car and pinned underneath. The miraculously surviving Clyde and William tried to lift the car and free the girl, but their strength was insufficient.
Gasoline dripped from the tilted tank, and a spark suddenly came from nowhere, igniting the fuel. The gasoline ran down Bonnie's legs, and the girl began to burn. At the most desperate moment, two farmers, Tom Pritchard and John Cartwright, came to the rescue. The men helped lift the car, and Clyde managed to get Bonnie out.
The flames were still engulfing her legs, and they began to extinguish them with sand and dirt. Bonnie's burns were horrific. According to Jones's recollection, the skin on her right leg from thigh to ankle was missing, and bone was visible in some places. The girl was carried to the nearby Pritchard home, where Sally Pritchard and her daughter Gladys applied baking soda to the burns.
Clyde refused persistent offers to call a doctor. His own nose was broken, and William Jones suffered several burns. Meanwhile, John Cartwright slipped out of the house and called the local sheriff. Hearing cars pulling up, Clyde and William went outside and hid behind a hedge.
When Sheriff Corry and Wellington Marshall Tom Hardy entered the house with guns ready, the criminals attacked them from behind and handcuffed the police with their own handcuffs. By then, Clyde had discussed next steps with Bonnie, and they concluded that despite her condition, they should continue running.
Clyde and Marshall Hardy sat in the back seat of his car, and Clyde held Bonnie in his lap. The others positioned themselves in front. The fugitives and their captives rushed toward Wellington, stopping beside Buck and Blanche's car, which met them near Erick, Oklahoma. Clyde released the police officers, and he and William tied their handcuffs to a fence with wire.
Clyde and Buck considered killing the captives to avoid trouble, but Clyde dismissed the idea because the cops were treating Bonnie well. Blanche did what she could to ease Bonnie's suffering. The cops eventually got free and notified authorities that the Barrow gang was heading east of Erick.
Although the news spread quickly, Clyde again slipped away and drove to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they rented two rooms in a tourist complex. Bonnie needed careful care, which could only be provided by someone trusted. So on June 11, Clyde left for Dallas, picked up Bonnie's sister Billie, and returned to Fort Smith.
The proximity of six people in two small sites got on everyone's nerves. Funds for food, medicine, ammunition, and rent were exhausted. The Dennis family, owners of the tourist court, were told the group had been in an automobile accident that left Bonnie with terrible burns. Dennis's daughter arranged for a Fort Smith doctor to treat Bonnie, and the doctor apparently kept his suspicions to himself.
Even with outside help, funds were sorely lacking, and Clyde suggested William and Buck supplement their budget. William and Buck headed to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they robbed Brown's grocery store, earning about $20. Police followed the robbers, and a shootout ensued, during which one lawman was fatally wounded.
This incident seriously disturbed Clyde's crew, and it was decided to leave their temporary hideout as soon as possible. Clyde took the women north into the mountains, then returned for his companions. On the evening of June 24, 1933, the fugitives arrived in Enid, Oklahoma, where they stole a doctor's dark sedan containing necessary medical supplies.
Clyde decided Bonnie had recovered enough to do without her sister's constant care and drove Billy Parker to Texas on June 27. Clyde's gang traveled through Oklahoma and Kansas, pulling off several successful robberies before stopping in Missouri at the Red Crown Tourist Camp.
The new guests aroused the suspicion of the local clerk, and his employer contacted Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain William Baxter. When Baxter learned one of the female suspects was heavily bandaged, he immediately assumed he was dealing with the notorious Barrow gang. Together with Platte County Sheriff Holt Coffee, he began developing a plan to capture the criminals.
Late in the evening of July 19, 1933, there was a knock on the room where Clyde's crew was hiding. Warning that it was the police, Blanche shouted, "You'll have to wait until I get dressed." This woke the others and signaled them. Clyde took Bonnie in his arms, and along with William, escaped through the emergency exit.
As Clyde placed Bonnie in the car, William noticed the driveway was blocked by an armored police car. Clyde grabbed the rifle and began firing at the car and the officers nearby. Buck, who had arrived, joined his brother. Many police officers were wounded, and they soon had to move the car away, unable to withstand the intense gunfire.
During the firefight, Buck took two bullets to the head and lost consciousness. Blanche somehow dragged him to the car. Clyde started the engine and got the whole gang away. Besides Buck, Blanche was also seriously injured. When police bullets shattered the windshield, one shot hit her left eye.
The next evening, near dusk, Clyde stopped the car in a wooded area between Dexter and Redfield, Iowa, where he and William treated the wounded. Leaving the injured there, they drove to the village of Perry and returned with a newly stolen car.
On July 24, 1933, Clyde began making plans to leave for Texas. Police were making plans too, forming a reliable posse to catch the Barrow gang once and for all. The posse consisted of 40 national guardsmen, all Iowa police officers, and about a hundred volunteer farmers.
The posse showed up near the gang's temporary hideout at dawn the next morning. Bonnie was the first to spot them on the horizon and warned the others. Clyde and William drew their rifles and opened fire while the wounded made their way to the car. Then Clyde and William jumped into the car and drove a few yards.
A bullet from one of the pursuers hit Clyde in the arm. He failed to control the car, and it crashed into a tree stump. There was no way to free the bumper, and Clyde told everyone to move to the newly stolen car. The posse closed in harder and harder.
The gunfire made the spare car just as unrideable, and Clyde's gang was left to seek cover in the bushes and behind trees. Buck took several bullets in the chest and back, and Clyde was shot in the leg, leaving William to watch over Bonnie and Buck in the bushes. Clyde went in search of transportation.
When the gunshots subsided, Bonnie and William climbed out of hiding and headed for the river where Clyde had gone. Suddenly they heard gunshots again and thought Clyde Barrow had been killed. Out of desperation, they fell on the grass and began to cry, holding onto each other. But soon they looked up and saw Clyde Barrow coming toward them through the woods.
The trio crossed to the other side, and Clyde left William and Bonnie hiding in a cornfield. Upon reaching the nearest house, Barrow threatened the owner with a rifle, and he obediently handed over his car keys. Clyde washed William's wounds so he could drive, after which Clyde himself lost consciousness.
Meanwhile, the posse discovered Buck and Blanche mortally wounded. They were taken to a hospital in Perry, Iowa. On July 29, 1933, Buck Barrow died. In September of that year, Blanche Caldwell Barrow was imprisoned in the Missouri State Penitentiary for 10 years.
William took his companions to Polk City, where they stole a better car and continued west toward Denver. They found a wooded area where they could rest and remained there several days. Clyde and Bonnie's wounds gradually healed, and Clyde was able to take over the driving again.
At this time, William Jones must have decided he had no future with Bonnie and Clyde, so he bought a bus ticket to Houston and left. For the next few months, the couple traveled country roads, camped in the woods, and stayed with a few friends and relatives they could trust.
On November 1, 1933, Clyde's mother was celebrating her birthday, and the Barrow and Parker families organized a picnic in the countryside, where Bonnie and Clyde came. The families decided to get together again the following evening, which police attempted to take advantage of.
The plan was for a squad to surround the criminals and their families during the picnic, but the agitated lawmen rushed in and opened fire on Clyde's car before it arrived at the designated spot. Clyde abruptly turned around, and after driving some distance, he and Bonnie moved into the car of Thomas James and Paul Wright.
The men were against giving up their Ford Model B sedan for nothing, but the shotgun in Clyde's hands quickly changed their minds. Now, let us remember Raymond Hamilton, Clyde's former partner, who went to prison. In January 1934, he decided he had had enough of sitting behind bars and thought about escape.
He was helped by his cellmate James Mullen, who got out of prison, Raymond's brother Floyd, and of course his old friends Bonnie and Clyde. Through the prison trustee, Floyd and Mullen gave Raymond and his cellmate Joe Palmer automatic pistols. Another prisoner, Henry Methvin of West Louisiana, agreed to join the escapees. Remember this fellow, he will play an important part in the fate of our heroes.
On the morning of January 15, the fugitives gathered in the logging area of the prison farm, where armed Clyde and Mullen approached. Together they opened fire on the arriving guards and managed to get to the car, where Bonnie was waiting. Along with the criminals, two others escaped, who quickly went by the names Bibby and French.
After driving a few miles, Clyde explained to the fugitives that traveling in such a large company would arouse suspicion and split the group up. French and Bibby were left to their own devices, while Methvin, Hamilton, and Palmer continued with Bonnie and Clyde.
Bonnie and Clyde's new friends traveled to Ranger, Texas, and robbed a National Guard Armory. On the 27th, they got together again to rob the Lancaster Bank. The robbery took only a few minutes and did not require the criminals to fire a single shot. While Methvin kept watch in his car, Clyde and Raymond broke into the bank with guns and easily collected all the money in the vault. Their proceeds totaled over $4,100.
After this successful case, the gang split. The reason was Hamilton's attempt to take the looted money without Clyde's knowledge and a conflict between Bonnie and Hamilton's girlfriend, Mary O'Dare. Leaving Raymond and his girlfriend in Indiana, Clyde stole another car and left for Dallas with Bonnie and Methvin.
In April 1934, a black sedan with Bonnie, Clyde, and Henry Methvin was traveling east on Texas Highway 114 before turning north on Dove Lane. Soon they pulled off the road and parked. Bonnie and Clyde wished to nap, while Methvin was left as a guard.
Two patrolmen stopped nearby, apparently noticing the black sedan had been speeding heavily. Clyde immediately realized the approaching patrolmen were not going to hurt them and said to Bonnie and Methvin, "Let's get them." He meant a simple kidnapping, but Methvin, being a rookie, misunderstood the command and opened fire on the patrolmen. Both men were found dead.
These murders were the last straw for the cops looking for Bonnie and Clyde. Four lawmen, Hamer, Lee Simmons, Alcorn, and Hinton, met secretly to discuss a plan to capture Bonnie and Clyde dead or alive. Lee Simmons announced he had the governor's permission to issue a pardon to whoever would help.
Upon hearing this, investigator Hamer immediately thought of Henry Methvin. He quickly contacted Methvin's father, and an agreement was made. Henry Methvin would help police catch his new friends, and in return would receive a pardon, which in his case meant escaping the death penalty.
In the spring of 1934, Bonnie and Clyde met with their families again. Almost all the relatives came to visit them, as if anticipating imminent trouble. In parting, Bonnie promised they would return in two weeks, but her words were not to be. The families never saw Bonnie and Clyde alive again.
In the last few days, Bonnie and Clyde used most of their former hiding places until Henry Methvin wished to visit his father. He suggested Clyde go to Louisiana to hide out at Ivan Methvin's house for a few days. On May 23, the trio left their hideout and headed for Gibsland, where they entered a store.
A few miles out of town, six men from the posse who had been sitting in ambush were already waiting, positioned on the road where the couple was sure to pass. Ivan Methvin, meanwhile, had rolled his old truck to the ambush site and unscrewed a tire to make it appear he was repairing the machine.
At Gibsland, Henry Methvin managed to separate himself from his friends. Clyde noticed a police car in the street, and a sixth sense told him to run, which caused him not to look for Methvin and wait. Around 9:00 a.m., he and Bonnie drove past the set ambush.
Noticing Henry Methvin's father, Clyde stopped to see if the old man needed help. Taking advantage of the perpetrators' attention being focused on Ivan Methvin, the officers got out of hiding. Methvin instantly ducked under his truck.
Before Hamer could suggest the criminals surrender peacefully, one of the officers who harbored a particularly burning hatred for them was unable to control his emotions and shot Clyde in the head. Unable to make sense of what was happening, the others also opened fire on Barrow's car.
Clyde received multiple wounds to different parts of his body and must have died instantly. Bonnie also suffered multiple bullet wounds and let out a loud, piercing scream before dying. The bodies of both were pierced by bullets and shrapnel over 40 times.
Clyde Barrow was 25 years old at the time of his death. Bonnie Parker was 23. Bonnie and Clyde's families arranged for their remains to be returned to Texas. Clyde's body was buried in Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas. Bonnie's body was buried first in Fish Trap Cemetery and later reburied in Crown Hill Cemetery in Dallas.
Bonnie's headstone, which rests next to her mother and nephews, has a long inscription: "Just as flowers are made sweeter by sunlight and dew, so this old world is made brighter by the lives of people like you." On Clyde's headstone, the inscription is much shorter, a four-word motto he asked his parents to write while he was still alive: "Gone, but not forgotten."
Unbeknownst to him, he had predicted his and Bonnie's posthumous fame.