Bonnie and Clyde
Clyde
Champion Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker,
were shot to death by officers in an ambush near
Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934,
after one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts
the Nation had seen up to that time.
Barrow
was suspected of numerous killings and was wanted
for murder, robbery, and state charges of kidnaping.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), then called
the Bureau of Investigation, became interested in
Barrow and his paramour late in December, 1932, through
a singular bit of evidence. A Ford automobile, which
had been stolen in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, was found
abandoned near Jackson, Michigan in September of
that year. At Pawhuska, it was learned another Ford
car had been abandoned there which had been stolen
in Illinois. A search of this car revealed it had
been occupied by a man and a woman, indicated by
abandoned articles therein. In this car was found
a prescription bottle, which led Special Agents to
a drug store in Nacogdoches, Texas, where investigation
disclosed the woman for whom the prescription had
been filled was Clyde Barrow's aunt.
Further
investigation revealed that the woman who obtained
the prescription had been visited recently by Clyde
Barrow, Bonnie Parker, and Clyde's brother, L. C.
Barrow. It also was learned that these three were
driving a Ford car, identified as the one stolen
in Illinois. It was further shown that L. C. Barrow
had secured the empty prescription bottle from a
son of the woman who had originally obtained it.
On
May 20, 1933, the United States Commissioner at Dallas,
Texas, issued a warrant against Clyde Barrow and
Bonnie Parker, charging them with the interstate
transportation, from Dallas to Oklahoma, of the automobile
stolen in Illinois. The FBI then started its hunt
for this elusive pair.
Background
Bonnie
and Clyde met in Texas in January, 1930. At the time,
Bonnie was 19 and married to an imprisoned murderer;
Clyde was 21 and unmarried. Soon after, he was arrested
for a burglary and sent to jail. He escaped, using
a gun Bonnie had smuggled to him, was recaptured,
and was sent back to prison. Clyde was paroled in
February, 1932, rejoined Bonnie, and resumed a life
of crime.
 |
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| Clyde
Champion Barrow |
Bonnie
Parker |
In
addition to the automobile theft charge, Bonnie and
Clyde were suspects in other crimes. At the time
they were killed in 1934, they were believed to have
committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries.
Barrow, for example, was suspected of murdering two
police officers at Joplin, Missouri, and kidnaping
a man and a woman in rural Louisiana. He released
them near Waldo, Texas. Numerous sightings followed,
linking this pair with bank robberies and automobile
thefts. Clyde allegedly murdered a man at Hillsboro,
Texas; committed robberies at Lufkin and Dallas,
Texas; murdered one sheriff and wounded another at
Stringtown, Oklahoma; kidnaped a deputy at Carlsbad,
New Mexico; stole an automobile at Victoria, Texas;
attempted to murder a deputy at Wharton, Texas; committed
murder and robbery at Abilene and Sherman, Texas;
committed murder at Dallas, Texas; abducted a sheriff
and the chief of police at Wellington, Texas; and
committed murder at Joplin and Columbia, Missouri.
The
Crime Spree Begins
Later
in 1932, Bonnie and Clyde began traveling with Raymond
Hamilton, a young gunman. Hamilton left them several
months later, and was replaced by William Daniel
Jones in November, 1932.
Ivan
M. "Buck" Barrow, brother of Clyde, was
released from the Texas State Prison on March 23,
1933, having been granted a full pardon by the Governor.
He quickly joined Clyde, bringing his wife, Blanche,
so the group now numbered five persons. This gang
embarked upon a series of bold robberies which made
headlines across the country. They escaped capture
in various encounters with the law. However, their
activities made law enforcement efforts to apprehend
them even more intense. During a shootout with police
in Iowa on July 29, 1933, Buck Barrow was fatally
wounded and Blanche was captured. Jones, who was
frequently mistaken for "Pretty Boy" Floyd,
was captured in November, 1933, at Houston, Texas,
by the sheriff's office. Bonnie and Clyde went on
together.
On
November 22, 1933, a trap was set by the Dallas,
Texas, sheriff and his deputies in an attempt to
capture Bonnie and Clyde near Grand Prairie, Texas,
but the couple escaped the officer's gunfire. They
held up an attorney on the highway and took his car,
which they abandoned at Miami, Oklahoma. On December
21, 1933, Bonnie and Clyde held up and robbed a citizen
at Shreveport, Louisiana.
On
January 16, 1934, five prisoners, including the notorious
Raymond Hamilton (who was serving sentences totaling
more than 200 years), were liberated from the Eastham
State Prison Farm at Waldo, Texas, by Clyde Barrow,
accompanied by Bonnie Parker. Two guards were shot
by the escaping prisoners with automatic pistols,
which had been previously concealed in a ditch by
Barrow. As the prisoners ran, Barrow covered their
retreat with bursts of machine-gun fire. Among the
escapees was Henry Methvin of Louisiana.
The
Last Months
On
April 1, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde encountered two young
highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas. Before the
officers could draw their guns, they were shot. On
April 6, 1934, a constable at Miami, Oklahoma, fell
mortally wounded by Bonnie and Clyde, who also abducted
a police chief, whom they wounded.
The
FBI had jurisdiction solely on the charge of transporting
a stolen automobile, although the activities of the
Bureau Agents were vigorous and ceaseless. Every
clue was followed. "Wanted notices" furnishing
fingerprints, photograph, description, criminal record,
and other data were distributed to all officers.
The Agents followed the trail through many states
and into various haunts of the Barrow gang, particularly
Louisiana. The association with Henry Methvin and
the Methvin family of Louisiana was discovered by
FBI Agents and they found that Bonnie and Clyde had
been driving a car stolen in New Orleans.
On
April 13, 1934, an FBI Agent, through investigation
in the vicinity of Ruston, Louisiana, obtained information
which definitely placed Bonnie and Clyde in a remote
section southwest of that community. The home of
the Methvins was not far away and the Agent learned
of visits there by Bonnie and Clyde. Special Agents
in Texas had learned that Clyde and his companion
had been traveling from Texas to Louisiana, sometimes
accompanied by Henry Methvin.
The
FBI and local law enforcement authorities in Louisiana
and Texas concentrated on apprehending Bonnie and
Clyde, whom they strongly believed to be in the area.
It was learned that Bonnie and Clyde, with some of
the Methvins, had staged a party at Black Lake, Louisiana,
on the night of May 21, 1934, and were due to return
to the area two days later.
Before
dawn on May 23, 1934, a posse composed of police
officers from Louisiana and Texas, including Texas
Ranger Frank Hamer, concealed themselves in bushes
along the highway near Sailes, Louisiana. In the
early daylight, Bonnie and Clyde appeared in an automobile
and when they attempted to drive away, the officers
opened fire. Bonnie and Clyde were killed instantly.
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