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Clyde and Bonnie remain one of the most notorious couple
in the history of crime in America. Numerous movies
based on the couple have been made in grand Hollywood
style. They have been glamorized as gun slinging,
happy-go-lucky gangsters. However, the fact remains that
they died in a violent death for their deeds. Both of
them were shot to death by law officers in an ambush in
Louisiana. They paid dearly for their crimes. Clyde Champion Barrow first met his partner-in-crime
Bonnie Parker in Texas in January 1930. Clyde was 21
while Bonnie was 19. Clyde had already started a life of
crime while Bonnie was already married to an imprisoned
murderer. Unemployment and poverty were common in those
'depression years'. Shortly after they met, Clyde was
arrested for a burglary and sent to jail. He persuaded
Bonnie to smuggle a gun to him and he escaped. However,
he was recaptured and sent back to jail.
After a short time in jail, Clyde could not take the
hardship of prison life. Inmates generally work from
dawn to sunset, with a short break for lunch. They had
to work hard to pick cotton and clear trees. He
persuaded another inmate to chop off two of his toes. In
what was to be a great embarrassment to the state of
Texas later, Clyde was paroled in February, 1932. He
rejoined Bonnie and resumed a life of crime.
The two of them did not start on their own. Clyde's
brother, Buck and his wife, Blanche, together with
another young gunman, Jones, joined the couple to embark
on a series of bold robberies which made
headlines
across the country. They managed to escape capture for a
while. On July 29, 1933, during a shoot-out with the
police in Iowa, Buck was fatally wounded and Blanche was
captured. A few months later, Jones was captured and the
couple was left on their own again.
Clyde and Bonnie were almost captured in a trap set by
the sheriff and his deputies in Dallas, Texas, in
November 1933. The couple escaped the officers' gunfire
and hijacked an attorney's car. On January 16, 1934,
they surfaced again to stage a daring rescue of five
prisoners from the Eastham State Prison in Texas. Two
guards were shot by the escaping prisoners with guns
supplied by Clyde. As the prisoners ran, Clyde covered
their retreat with bursts of machine-gun fire. Among the
escapees was Henry Methvin of Louisiana.
They continued blazing a trail of robberies and crime
across the country. Every law enforcement officer was on
the lookout for them. On April 13, 1934, an FBI agent
obtained information which placed Bonnie and Clyde in a
remote section of Ruston, Louisiana. The home of the
Methvins was not far away and the agent learned of
visits there by the couple. It was gathered that the
couple had gone away for a party and would be returning
soon.
On. May 23 1934, an ambush was set up by the police.
They concealed themselves in bushes along the highway.
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.
At the time they were killed, they were believed to have
committed a total of 13 murders and several robberies
and burglaries. Several of those killed were law
enforcement officers. The FBI had jurisdiction solely on
the charge of transporting a stolen automobile. However
it was the most colorful and spectacular manhunt the
nation had seen up to that time. |
