Highlighted Crime
Story of the Week -
.jpg)
On May 23, 1934, infamous outlaw fugitives Clyde Barrow
and Bonnie Parker were killed in a police ambush near Sailes, Louisiana. A
contingent of officers from Texas and Louisiana set up along the highway,
waiting for the duo to appear, and then unloaded a two-minute fusillade of 167
bullets at their car, killing the criminal couple. Bonnie Parker was 19 years
old when she met Clyde Barrow while visiting her husband in a Texas jail.
Barrow, serving time for burglary, obviously made quite an impression on
Parker, because she smuggled a gun, taped to her thigh, into prison to help him
escape. He was eventually caught in Ohio and brought back to prison. When a
personal appeal from his mother to the Texas governor earned his release in
1932, he vowed never to return.
Bonnie and Clyde teamed up shortly thereafter. After
Bonnie was caught stealing a car, she had to spend three months in prison,
while Clyde went on a robbery spree. He then killed a sheriff and deputy at a
barn dance in Oklahoma. In the fall of 1932, the pair spent their time carrying
out small-time robberies throughout Texas and Oklahoma. At one such robbery,
they picked up W. D. Jones, a gas station attendant, who joined their team for
the next 18 months. Buck Barrow, Clyde’s brother who was recently pardoned by
the new Texas governor, Ma Ferguson, also joined the gang.
For some reason, the media latched onto Bonnie and Clyde.
The pair loved the attention, posing for snapshots with their arsenal of
weapons. In early 1934, they barely escaped a trap in Missouri, killing two
lawmen in the ensuing shootout. Buck and his wife, Blanche, were shot and
captured, but Buck died from his wounds. Texas Ranger Frank Hamer finally
caught up with Bonnie and Clyde in May, after tracking them for more than three
months. Today, Bonnie and Clyde are remembered as charming Robin Hood type characters
which are far from the truth, mostly due to the sympathetic personalities
portrayed in the 1967 classic movie Bonnie
and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, as well as other farfetched
portrayals.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author
of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.
Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment