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Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were notorious robbers and criminals who traveled the central United States during the Great Depression . Their exploits were known nationwide. They captivated the attention of the American press and its readership during what is sometimes referred to as the " Public Enemy Era " — between 1931 and 1935, a period which led to the formation of the FBI . Though remembered as bank robbers, Clyde Barrow preferred to rob small stores or gas stations. BONNIE PARKER Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born October 1 , 1910 , in Rowena, Texas , the second of three children. Her father, a bricklayer, died when Bonnie was four, prompting her mother to move with the children to West Dallas , where they lived in poverty. Bonnie was a precocious child. An honor roll student in high school she excelled in creative writing. She won a County League contest in literary arts, for Clement City School, and even gave introductory speeches for local politicians. Described as intelligent and personable by those who knew her, yet also strong willed, she was an attractive young woman, petite at 4’11” and weighing only 90 pounds. On September 25 , 1926 , at age sixteen, she married Roy Thornton . The pairing was short-lived. In January 1929, they parted ways. He was sentenced to five years in prison shortly thereafter. They never divorced; Bonnie was wearing Thornton's wedding ring when she died. Bonnie Parker then met Clyde Barrow. Often portrayed as Clyde's equal in crime, Bonnie's role in the many robberies, murders, and auto thefts of the Barrow gang was apparently limited to logistics support. She was a stalwart and loyal companion to Clyde Barrow as they carried out their crime spree and awaited the violent deaths they viewed as certain. Her fondness for creative writing and the arts found expression in poems such as "Suicide Sal" and "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde." Jimmy Fowler of the Dallas Observer noted "although the authorities who gunned down the 23-year old in 1932 conceded that she was no bloodthirsty killer and that when taken into custody she tended to inspire the paternal aspects of the police who held her (she was given the sheriffs oversized work-shirt to wear to make her feel more comfortable and less criminal while behind bars), there was a mystifying devolution from the high school poet, speech class star, and mini celebrity who performed Shirley Temple-like as a warm up act at the stump speeches of local politicians to the accomplice of rage-filled Clyde Barrow." No authority has ever offered legal evidence for this "devolution" that authorities used as justification to kill her in the 1932 ambush. ROLE OF BONNIE PARKER IN THE "BARROW GANG" The role of Bonnie Parker in the Barrow Gang crimes has long been a source of controversy. Gang members W.D. Jones and Ralph Fults testified that they never saw Bonnie fire a gun, and described her role as logistical.Phillips, John Neal. ''Running with Bonnie & Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults'' In that book, Fults was adamant that Bonnie never fired a shot in any of the gang's gun battles. W.D. Jones stated under oath to the authorities, "Bonnie never packed a gun, out of the five major gun battles I was with them she never fired a gun." Writing with Phillip Steele in ''The Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde'', Marie Barrow, Clyde's youngest sister, made the same claim: "Bonnie never fired a shot. She just followed my brother no matter where he went”. The only claim that Bonnie ever fired a weapon during one of the gang's crimes came from Blanche Barrow , and is backed by a newspaper article from the Lucerne, Indiana , newspaper on May 13 , 1933 . No charges were ever taken out on either woman for the alleged act. By this account, Bonnie would had been firing a " Machine Gun " - however, the only "machine gun" (fully automatic firing weapon) Clyde (or anyone in the Barrow Gang) was ever known to use was the Browning Automatic Rifle (B.A.R.). CLYDE BARROW Clyde "Champion" Chesnut Barrow was born on March 24 , 1909 in Ellis County , Texas, near Telico (just south of Dallas ). However according to some reputable sources, Barrow, Blanche Caldwell; Phillips, John Neal (Ed.) (2004). My Life With Bonnie & Clyde. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806136251. the year of his birth was 1910. He was the fifth child of seven children in a poor farming family. Clyde was first arrested in late 1926, after running when police confronted him over a rental car he had failed to return on time. His second arrest, with brother Buck Barrow , came soon after — this time for possession of stolen goods (turkeys). In both of these instances there is the remote possibility that Clyde acted without criminal intent. However, despite holding down "square" jobs during the period 1927 through 1929, he also cracked safes, burgled stores, and stole cars. Known primarily for robbing banks, he preferred smaller jobs, robbing grocery stores and filling stations at a rate far outpacing the ten to fifteen bank robberies attributed to him and the Barrow gang. According to John Neal Phillips, Clyde's goal in life was not to gain fame and fortune from robbing banks, but to eventually seek revenge against the Texas Prison system for the abuses he suffered while serving time, which he eventually achieved in the famous "Eastham breakout" of 1934, freeing Henry Methvin, Raymond Hamilton and several others. Unfortunately, the death of a guard (killed by Joe Palmer) during that escape brought the full power of the Texas and federal governments to bear on the manhunt for Bonnie and Clyde, and directly resulted in their deaths. It was an expensive revenge for all concerned, Major Clawson, the guard who died in the breakout, and the convicts who were hunted down one by one, and all but Methvin, killed or executed. MEETING OF BONNIE AND CLYDE There is some disagreement over how Bonnie and Clyde first met, but the most prevalent story is that it was through Clyde's friend Clarence Clay. In another account, they met when he visited one of her girlfriends, who sent him to the kitchen to meet "a nice girl." All stories agree on one thing: it was love at first sight for them both. PRISON AND RELEASE By mid-February 1930, Clyde and Bonnie were seeing each other regularly, to the point where the police staked out her mother's house hoping to catch the wanted Barrow. They arrested him there, and he was sentenced to prison for two years (seven concurrent, two-year terms for burglary and auto theft). Except for a one-week escape ending with his recapture in Ohio , Clyde remained incarcerated in the Texas State Prison at Eastham Farm until early 1932. Fellow inmate Ralph Fults said that it was Eastham where Clyde turned "from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake".(see John Neal Phillips's book ''Running with Bonnie & Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults'') After his release in 1932, Clyde moved to Massachusetts , purportedly to make a clean start. However, he returned to Texas within weeks, embroiled in a plan to raid Eastham prison and free associate Raymond Hamilton and others. He recruited help and set about arming and financing the operation. In April, a night watchman saw Barrow and Ralph Fults breaking into a hardware store. They escaped after exchanging fire, rejoined Bonnie, and attempted to leave the "hot" area. The incident followed a pattern for Bonnie and Clyde that persisted until their deaths — desperate evasion at high speed down sometimes impassable roads, stealing cars and swapping stolen plates regularly. Though Clyde's driving skill and ability to evade capture were later grudgingly respected by law enforcement, this situation ended poorly, perhaps because the gang was finally reduced to stealing Mule s for transportation in the Texas farm country. Clyde escaped, and Bonnie and Fults were arrested. She claimed to have been kidnapped, and a grand jury failed to indict her. Having spent two months in the Kaufman, Texas jail, Bonnie returned to Dallas in June 1932, and was soon back on the road with Clyde. MURDER While Bonnie had been in jail, Clyde was the driver in a store robbery. The wife of the murder victim, when shown photos, picked Clyde as one of the shooters. In August 1932, while Bonnie was visiting her mother, Clyde and two associates were drinking alcohol at a dance in Oklahoma (illegal under Prohibition ). When they were approached by the local sheriff and his undersheriff, Ray Hamilton and Clyde opened fire, killing the undersheriff. That was the first killing of a lawman by what was later known as the Barrow gang. HIGHWAYMEN Between 1932 and 1934, there were several incidents in which the Barrow gang kidnapped lawmen or robbery victims, usually releasing them far from home, sometimes with money to help them get back. Stories of these encounters may have contributed to the Myth ic Aura of Bonnie and Clyde; a couple both reviled and adored by the public. Notoriously, the Barrow Gang would not hesitate to shoot anybody, civilian or lawman, if they got in the way of their escape. Clyde was a probable shooter in approximately ten murders. Other members of the Barrow gang known or thought to have murdered are Raymond Hamilton , W.D. Jones , Buck Barrow , Joe Palmer , and Henry Methvin . Bonnie herself was never implicated for killing anyone in these shootings. JOPLIN On March 22 1933 , Clyde's brother Buck was granted a full pardon and released from prison. By April, he and his wife Blanche were living with W.D. Jones, Clyde, and Bonnie in a temporary hideout in Joplin, Missouri — according to some accounts, merely to visit and attempt to talk Clyde into giving himself up. As was common with Bonnie and Clyde, their next brush with the law arose from their generally suspicious behavior, not because their identities were discovered. Not knowing what awaited them, local lawmen assembled only a two-car force to confront the suspected bootleggers living in the rented apartment over a garage. Though caught by surprise, Clyde, noted for remaining cool under fire, was gaining far more experience in gun battles than most lawmen. He and W.D. Jones quickly killed one lawman and fatally wounded another. The survivors later testified that their side had fired only fourteen rounds in the conflict. The Barrow gang escaped the police at Joplin, but W.D. Jones was wounded, and they had left most of their possessions at the rented apartment — including a camera with an exposed roll of pictures. The film was developed by the Joplin ''Globe'', and yielded many now famous photos, two of which are shown above. Afterward, Bonnie and Clyde used coats and hats to cover the license plates of their stolen vehicles when taking pictures. DISCORD Despite the glamorous image often associated with the Barrow gang, they were desperate and discontent. Blanche Barrow recounted in a recently published manuscript much of what it was like to be constantly running. Barrow, Blanche Caldwell; Phillips, John Neal (Ed.) (2004). My Life With Bonnie & Clyde. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806136251. Clyde was a machine behind the wheel, driving dangerous roads and searching for places where they might sleep or have a meal without being discovered. One member was always assigned watch. Short tempers led to regular arguments. Even with thousands of dollars from a bank robbery, sleeping in a bed was a luxury for a member of the Barrow gang. Sleeping peacefully was nearly impossible. BONNIE HURT In June 1933, while driving with W.D. Jones and Bonnie, Clyde missed some construction signs, dropping the car into a ravine. It rolled, and Bonnie was trapped beneath the burning car, suffering Third Degree Burns to her left leg. Though she was seriously injured, Clyde's first requirement was to get them out of the area — a difficult task with the attention drawn by the accident. When finally away, their latest hostages released, Clyde insisted that Bonnie be allowed to convalesce. After meeting up with Blanche and Buck Barrow again, they stayed at one place until Buck bungled a local robbery with W.D. Jones, and killed a city marshal. The gang moved several times, eventually renting two cabins near Platte City, Missouri , the evening of July 18 1933 . Platte City On July 18, 1933 the gang checked into the Red Crown Tourist Court in Platte City, Missouri. The courts consisted of two brick cabins joined by two single car garages. Several yards to the south stood the Red Crown Tavern, managed by Neal Houser. Houser became interested in the group when Blanche paid for dinners and beer with silver instead of currency. When Blanche went into town to purchase bandages and atropine sulphate to treat Bonnie's leg the druggist contacted Sheriff Holt Coffee, who decided to put the cabins under watch. Coffee had been alerted by Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas to be on the lookout for strangers seeking such supplies. The Sheriff contacted Captain Baxter of the Highway Patrol, who called for reinforcments from Kansas City, including an Armoured car. At 11 P.M. that night Sheriff Coffee led a group of officers armed with Thompson Submachine Gun s toward the cabins. But the sub-machineguns proved no match for the Browning Automatic Rifle s of the Barrows, who had recently robbed an armory. At a high price, the gang escaped once again. Buck Barrow was shot in the head, and Blanche was nearly blinded from glass fragments in her eye. The prospects for holding out against the ensuing manhunt dwindled. Death of Buck Barrow On July 24 1933 , the Barrow gang was ambushed at Dexfield Park, an abandoned amusment park near Dexter, Iowa . After being noticed by local citizens, it was determined that the campers were the Barrows. Surrounded by local lawmen and approximately one hundred spectators, the Barrows once again found themselves under fire. Clyde, Bonnie, and W.D. Jones escaped on foot. Gerenger maintains Buck was shot at least twice in the head, and his wife hit in the face and eyes with flying glass. Buck died five days later at Kings Daughters Hospital in Iowa of pneumonia after surgery. FINAL RUN Bonnie and Clyde regrouped and, on November 22 1933 , again escaped an ambush, while meeting family members at an impromptu rendezvous near Sowers, Texas . In January 1934, Bonnie, Clyde, Floyd Hamilton (brother of Raymond Hamilton), and 2005 . The Texas Department of Corrections received national publicity over the jailbreak, but in the end, won out over Bonnie and Clyde. As Major Clawson, the wounded guard lay dying, the head of the Texas Department of Corrections reportedly promised him every person involved in the breakout would be hunted down and killed. He kept his word, except for Henry Methvin, whose life was exchanged in return for betraying Bonnie and Clyde. The Texas Department of Corrections then contacted legendary retired manhunter and Texas Ranger Captain Frank Hamer, and convinced him to accept a commission to hunt down the Barrow Gang. Though technically retired, Hamer had been allowed to keep an active Ranger commission (thus technically was an active Senior Ranger Captain, though drawing a retirement pension), and accepted the assignment immediately. Hamer was the only retired Ranger in history to keep an active commission. The commission paper is displayed in the state archives in Austin Texas. Bonnie, Clyde and Henry Methvin killed two young Highway Patrol men near Grapevine, Texas , on April 1 , 1934 ; an eyewitness account stated that Methvin fired the lethal shots. John Treherne exhaustively investigated this shooting, and found that Methvin fired the first shot, after assuming Clyde wanted them killed. (Clyde was preparing to capture them and take them on one of his famous rides.) Clyde then fired at the second officer, having no choice once Methvin had begun a gun battle with law officers, and Methvin is believed to have been the primary killer on both. But these particularly senseless killings shocked and outraged the public, which to this point had tended to idolize Bonnie and Clyde. Another policeman was killed five days later near Commerce, Oklahoma . DEATH Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed May 23 1934 , on a desolate road near their Bienville Parish , Louisiana , hideout. They were shot by a posse of four Texas and two Louisiana officers (the Louisiana pair added solely for jurisdictional reasons — an aspect of pre-FBI America that Clyde had exploited to its fullest when selecting robbery and hideout locations). The posse was led by former Texas Ranger Senior Captain Frank A. Hamer , who had never before seen Bonnie or Clyde. He began tracking the pair on February 10 1934 , after being hired by the Texas Department of Corrections with specific orders to put an end to Bonnie and Clyde. Within a month or two, Hamer met in Bienville Parish with a representative of Henry Methvin's parents. Hamer studied Bonnie and Clyde's movements, and found they swung in a circle skirting the edges of five states in the midwest, to take advantage of what was then called the "state line" rule, that officers from one jurisdiction could not pursue a fugitive into another. Bonnie and Clyde were masters of that pre-FBI rule, but they were consistent in their movements, so that they could see their own families, and those of their gang members. Unfortunately for them, it allowed an experienced manhunter like Hamer to immediately chart their path, and predict where they would be going. They were due next to see Henry Methvin's family, which explains Hamer's meeting with them within a month of beginning the hunt. On ), but with no sign of Bonnie and Clyde. At approximately 09:10 on 2006 . The vast majority of the bullets -over 100 rounds - were fired while the car was directly across from the waiting posse. They were shooting fully automatic rifles and emptied a number of magazines during the action. Following the ambush, officers inspected the death vehicle and discovered a small arsenal of weapons including stolen automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns, assorted handguns, and several thousand rounds of ammunition. Bonnie and Clyde were known to have wished to be buried side by side, but the Parker family would not allow it. Bonnie's mother had wanted to grant her daughter's final wish, which was to be brought home, but the mobs surrounding the Parker house literally made that impossible. Bonnie's funeral was attended by over 20,000 people, and the Parker family had trouble even getting to Bonnie's grave. Clyde Barrow is buried in the Western Heights Cemetery, and Bonnie Parker in the Crown Hill Memorial Park, both in Dallas, Texas . The bullet-riddled Ford in which Bonnie and Clyde were killed is currently on display (February 2006) at the Primm Valley Resort in Primm, Nevada . CONTROVERSY AND AFTERMATH Controversy lingers over certain aspects of the ambush, and the way Hamer conducted it. Very respected historians and writers, such as Milner, Treherne and Phillips, have turned up no warrants for any capital offense for Bonnie Parker. No jurisdiction checked by Treherne, or E.R. Milner, showed warrants for Bonnie Parker for murder. In fact, the only warrant for Bonnie Parker in the FBI files is one for aiding Clyde in the interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. The historians and writers then raise the issue of whether Hamer should have ordered to fire without warning, no matter what happened, prior to the car's arrival. Prentis Oakley fired the first shot without warning, into Clyde Barrow's head on Hamer's order. The posse continued to fire once Clyde was dead. By Hinton and Alcorn's account, (and the official report made by Hammer on the ambush), Clyde was killed first by a head shot from Oakley. The officers on the scene then fired Automatic Rifle s, Shotgun s, Pistol s, until the car was on fire. On Hamer's orders, the officers on the scene shot at a girl who was not wanted for anything other than assisting in transporting a stolen car. Oakley is reported to have been haunted for the rest of his life by his actions that day. He was the only posse member to publicly express regret for his actions. The posse, including Frank Hamer, took and kept for themselves stolen guns that were found in the death car. In a grisly aftermath, the men who were left to guard the bodies (Gault, Oakley, and Alcorn) allowed people to cut off locks of Bonnie's hair and tear pieces from her dress. Hinton returned to find a man trying to cut off Clyde's finger.John Treherne. The Strange Life of Bonnie and Clyde With the growing outcry over the Bonnie and Clyde crime spree in which law enforcement had been thwarted repeatedly, even officials from outside Louisiana had been given a free hand toward the goal of ending it. The Coroner , arriving on the scene, saw the following: "nearly everyone had begun collecting souvenirs such as shell casings, slivers of glass from the shattered car windows, and bloody pieces of clothing from the garments of Bonnie and Clyde. One eager man had opened his pocket knife, and was reaching into the car to cut off Clyde's left ear."E.R. Milner. "Death Came Out to Meet Them", from The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde The coroner realized he could not even do his job in a "circus like atmosphere," and asked Hamer for help. Hamer was speaking to a group of people while others were cutting bloody locks from Bonnie's hair, and pieces from her clothes. Most of these souvenirs were later sold, conduct which many people found horrifying, as recounted in Treherne's book; see also The Real Bonnie and Clyde by Miriam Deford. Only when the coroner intervened did Hamer order people away from the car.Milner Finally, after Ted Hinton's death, his son published an account of the ambush radically different from anything stated before. According to Hinton, the posse had tied Henry Methvin's father to a tree the night before the ambush, to keep him from possibly warning the duo off. The conventional belief that Methvin cooperated with authorities was a lie, according to Hinton, one that Hamer came up with to keep from getting in trouble over kidnapping a citizen not wanted for any crime. Hinton claimed Hamer made Methvin a deal: keep quiet about being tied up, and he would get his son a pardon for the murder of the two young highway patrolmen. Hinton then claimed Hamer made every member of the posse swear they would keep this secret as long as any of them lived. Hinton only released this story after his death, through his son. It is notable that Hamer did indeed get the pardon for Henry Methvin for the two murders of the young highway patrolmen. REMEMBERING Every year near the anniversary of the ambush, a "Bonnie and Clyde Festival" is hosted in the town of 2005 . A small metal version was added to accompany the stone monument. It was stolen, as was its replacement. POPULAR CULTURE Bonnie and Clyde were among the first celebrity criminals of the modern era, and their legend has proven durable. Certainly Bonnie knew how to enhance the pair's popular appeal by manipulating the media. Gerenger says Bonnie appealed to the out of work and generally disenfranchised third of America shattered by the Depression, who saw the duo as a Robin Hood like couple striking blows at an uncaring government. In that article he states "Both Clyde and Bonnie interpreted that treatment (from the Texas Department of Corrections) as just another example of the government beating the downtrodden into further submission." {Link without Title} He went on to say "Americans thrilled to their "Robin Hood" adventures. The presence of a female, Bonnie, escalated the sincerity of their intentions to make them something unique and individual -- even at times heroic" In that same article he quotes noted Historian Jonathan Davis, who, in an excellent A&E Cable Network-produced Biography on the two bandits, says of Bonnie and Clyde’s crimes, "Anybody who robbed banks or fought the law were really living out some secret fantasies on a large part of the public." {Link without Title} Clyde is alleged to have written a letter to the Ford Motor Company praising their "dandy car", signing it "Clyde Champion Barrow", though the handwriting has never been authenticated. (Ford received a similar letter around the same time from someone claiming to be John Dillinger and used both for car advertisements.) Bonnie's poem, "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde", was published in several newspapers. Her other poetry, especially "Suicide Sal", shows her flair for an underworld vernacular that owes much to the detective magazines she read avidly. The first film based on Bonnie and Clyde was made only three years after their deaths. '' You Only Live Once '' ( 1937 ) was directed by Fritz Lang and starred Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney . Dorothy Provine starred in the 1958 movie '' The Bonnie Parker Story '', directed by William Witney . In 1967 , Arthur Penn directed a romanticized film version of the tale. '' Bonnie And Clyde '', which starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway , was critically acclaimed and contributed significantly to the glamorous image of the criminal pair. In December of that year, Serge Gainsbourg recorded his song "Bonnie and Clyde" as a duet with Brigitte Bardot (in the 1990s Gainsbourg's song was covered by the bands Stereolab and Luna ). In the 1992 TV film, , Tracey Needham played Bonnie while Clyde was portrayed by Dana Ashbrook . The lead characters of Mickey and Mallory in the 1994 Oliver Stone film, '' Natural Born Killers '' bear many similarities to Bonnie and Clyde, particularly in the media attention that the pair received for their crimes. In a 1994 second season episode of '''', entitled "That Old Gang of Mine", a scientist brings Bonnie and Clyde back from the dead and the two commit crime in modern-day Metropolis. In 1968 , Merle Haggard had a hit single with his song "Legend of Bonnie and Clyde". Country Singer Travis Tritt also recorded a song called ''Modern Day Bonnie And Clyde'', about a Man and Woman on a crime spree. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames had a hit both sides of the Atlantic with "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde." In his 1996 song "Me and My Girlfriend," rapper Tupac Shakur says that he and his gun are the "'96 Bonnie and Clyde." Eminem 's 1999 album The Slim Shady LP features a song called "'97 Bonnie & Clyde". Tori Amos did a cover of it on her album, Strange Little Girls . The duo is also referenced in The Tears ' song " Refugees " and "'03 Bonnie and Clyde" by Beyonce and Jay-Z . Finally trying to put the duo's appeal to the public during the depression in perspective, and their enduring appeal to those who consider themselves outsiders, or oppose the existing system, "The country’s money simply declined by 38 percent," explains E.R. Milner, author of The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde. "Gaunt dazed men roamed the city streets seeking jobs...Breadlines and soup kitchens became jammed. (In rural areas) foreclosures forced more than 38 percent of farmers from their lands (while simultaneously) a catastrophic drought struck the Great Plains...By the time Bonnie and Clyde became well known, many had felt the capitalistic system had been abused by big business and government officials...Now here were Bonnie and Clyde striking back." {Link without Title} . SEE ALSO REFERENCES
Matteson, Jason, 'Texas Bandits: A Study of the 1948 Democratic Primary"
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