American Outlaws: Bonnie & Clyde
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Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.
Speaker 1: Warning. Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and
Speaker 1: descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and
Speaker 1: we recommend you stop listening now. True crime with a
Speaker 1: dash of the paranormal, the garish, the strange, in the
Speaker 1: darkly comic. I'm Zevanodleberg, and You've found your way to
Speaker 1: kind of murdery, a place that means more than just murder.
Speaker 1: It's my very own pocket Dimension, home to a curated
Speaker 1: collection of bizarre and compelling stories. The unsolved, the unsettling,
Speaker 1: and the unbelievable. I cover it all just so long
Speaker 1: as it's kind of murdery. Welcome everybody. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Zevan Odleberg, and this is kind of murdery. I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you, guys, I am excited today because we are
Speaker 1: kicking off Bonnie and Clyde. This story is bonkers. It's
Speaker 1: not just kind of murdery. It's very murdery, and it
Speaker 1: is whild. Kind of murdery starts right now. A man
Speaker 1: carried a yellow haired little boy about two years old
Speaker 1: through Roosevelt Park in San Antonio, Texas, the evening of
Speaker 1: August thirteenth, nineteen twenty eight. He was an insignificant looking fellow,
Speaker 1: just five feet five inches tall and weighing only one
Speaker 1: hundred and ten pounds. His cheeks were somewhat sunken, and
Speaker 1: his hair had not been trimmed in several weeks. He
Speaker 1: was so commonplace a figure that he escaped the notice
Speaker 1: of the dozens of men and women enjoying the cool
Speaker 1: night air on the park benches. But he did not
Speaker 1: escape the notice of Patrolman W. T. Mitchell. In fact,
Speaker 1: Patrolman Mitchell was so interested in the fellow that he
Speaker 1: dodged from tree to tree to observe him better. He
Speaker 1: had seen the man with the baby tampering with motor cars.
Speaker 1: Although the man merely might be interested in automobiles, the
Speaker 1: officer was taking no chances. As Patrolman Mitchell watched, the
Speaker 1: fellow tried several door handles, they were locked. He attempted,
Speaker 1: unsuccessfully to turn on some ignition switches. Finally, after examining
Speaker 1: eight cars, he turned on the switch of a whippet roadster,
Speaker 1: placed the baby on the seat, climbed in, and started
Speaker 1: the motor. The officer rushed from his cover, shouting stop. Wait.
Speaker 1: The surprised man leapt from the car and raced down
Speaker 1: the street. The baby wailed Daddy and began to cry.
Speaker 1: For several blocks, the fleeing man and the pursuing officer
Speaker 1: darted in and out of crowds on the sidewalks. Then
Speaker 1: the fugitive dodged into an alley, breathing hard. Patrolman Mitchell
Speaker 1: cornered his man in the garage, grasped him by the
Speaker 1: shirt collar, and dragged him into the dim light cast
Speaker 1: by a street lamp. The prisoner whimpered, fear was written
Speaker 1: in his chestnut eyes. He begged the officer to turn
Speaker 1: him loose. Patrolman Mitchell had only contempt for the cowardly creature.
Speaker 1: He did not know that this terrified, petty thief would
Speaker 1: one day be known as one of the Bloody Barrows.
Speaker 1: When Patrolman Mitchell reached headquarters with Marvan Ivan later to
Speaker 1: be Buck Barrow, he learned that his captive already was
Speaker 1: known to Chief Owen W. Kilday. He had been in
Speaker 1: minor trouble at Dallas, his hometown, and was under suspended
Speaker 1: sentence of a year in jail for car theft at Wakahachie, Texas,
Speaker 1: a misdemeanor warrant charging attempted motor theft was filed against
Speaker 1: Barrow in County Court Number one. He was released on
Speaker 1: bond on the date for his trial. He failed to appear.
Speaker 1: Several weeks later, he was found and placed in the
Speaker 1: county jail for some reason not revealed by the records.
Speaker 1: The case against him was dismissed January twenty third, nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty nine, but police began to watch him more closely.
Speaker 1: He had no apparent means of support, and soon rumors
Speaker 1: began to float through the underworld that buck Barrow was
Speaker 1: quote in right unquote with desperate criminals, that he was
Speaker 1: leaving petty crime for quote the big Time. Police obtained
Speaker 1: evidence on October thirteenth, nineteen twenty nine, that there was
Speaker 1: something to the new underworld estimate of Barrow. Several men
Speaker 1: were surprised in an attempt to blow open the safe
Speaker 1: of a lumberyard at twenty five twenty one Florence Street
Speaker 1: in North Dallas. The cracksman escaped, but acting later on
Speaker 1: a tip, Detective Smith and Herron arrested buck Barrow and
Speaker 1: three other men for questioning. One of these men was
Speaker 1: Dan Black, a notorious yegg a yegg, by the way
Speaker 1: is old timey slang for a safecracker. Another was Frank Claus,
Speaker 1: a former convict, and the third man was Buck's younger brother,
Speaker 1: Clyde Champion Barrow, the man who was to travel with
Speaker 1: him on an unbelievable trail of death and crime. Clyde Barrow,
Speaker 1: like his brother, had a previous police record and was
Speaker 1: the same sort of undersized, shifty eyed individual. Evidence to
Speaker 1: convict the group of the attempt on the lumberyard safe
Speaker 1: was lacking, but under a promise of no prosecution, Clyde
Speaker 1: made a confession implicating the gang in scores of safe
Speaker 1: robberies in Dallas, Houston, and other Texas cities. Because of
Speaker 1: the bargain made to obtain Clyde's confession, the gang was freed.
Speaker 1: On October twenty seventh, nineteen twenty nine, a Chevrolet coup
Speaker 1: was stolen on the street at henryet To, Texas. The
Speaker 1: license number was sent to police officers all over the state.
Speaker 1: Three days later, a patrolman in Denton, Texas, saw a
Speaker 1: car bearing the license and carrying four men. He forced
Speaker 1: the card to the curb. In it were Buck and
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow, Sidney Albert Moore of Waco, Texas, and Roger
Speaker 1: pug Mitchell of Dallas. Buck accepted responsibility for the theft,
Speaker 1: and on January fourteenth, nineteen thirty, began a four year
Speaker 1: sentence in the state prison at Huntsville as prisoner number
Speaker 1: six three zero five to one. Several counties contended for
Speaker 1: the privilege of prosecuting Clyde Barrow. He was sent to
Speaker 1: Waco on March second, nineteen thirty, and there confessed to
Speaker 1: two burglaries and five motor thefts. He was sentenced to
Speaker 1: two years in prison on one charge, the others being
Speaker 1: held in abeyance. Buck Barrow seemed such a docile sort
Speaker 1: of prisoner that prison authorities did not feel it necessary
Speaker 1: to confine him closely. He belied that estimate of his
Speaker 1: character by walking away from the penitentiary on March eighth.
Speaker 1: Prison officials still were distributing posters offering a reward for
Speaker 1: the arrest of Buck. When Clyde escaped from the Waco
Speaker 1: jail on March eleventh, nineteen thirty, with William Turner and
Speaker 1: Emory Abernaffy also prisoners, he forced his way past the guard.
Speaker 1: Nothing was learned about the fugitives for a week. Then
Speaker 1: three bandits robbed the station of the Baltimore and Ohio
Speaker 1: Railroad at Middletown, Ohio, early in the afternoon of March eighteenth.
Speaker 1: While the police were searching for them, the same bandits
Speaker 1: entered a dry cleaning plant, robbed the manager, and ran
Speaker 1: into the street. Passing officers caught them as they emerged.
Speaker 1: The outlaws admitted the hold ups to Roy W. Schofield,
Speaker 1: Chief of Police, but refused to divulge their identities. However,
Speaker 1: their fingerprints were checked and they were found to be
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow, William Turner, and Emory Abernathy. When Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: was returned to Waco on March twenty first, the six
Speaker 1: charges held in the bands were invoked, and on March
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, he was sentenced to two years on each count,
Speaker 1: making a total sentence of fourteen years that he faced
Speaker 1: when he entered the Huntsville prison on April twenty first.
Speaker 1: Nineteen thirty months passed with no news of Buck Barrow.
Speaker 1: His name appeared in public print only only once, when
Speaker 1: his wife divorced him inside the prison. Meanwhile, Clyde spent
Speaker 1: several weeks in the hospital, he had been assigned to
Speaker 1: a task that required the use of an axe. He
Speaker 1: showed up one day with two toes of his right
Speaker 1: foot missing, he said, and the authorities accepted the explanation
Speaker 1: that it had been an accident. His fellow prisoners smiled grimly.
Speaker 1: They knew he had severed the toes deliberately to avoid work.
Speaker 1: As time dragged on, officials despaired of ever returning Buckbarrow
Speaker 1: to a cell. Then, after almost two years, when hope
Speaker 1: of finding him was at its lowest, he walked into
Speaker 1: the penitentiary December twenty seventh, nineteen thirty one, and surrendered.
Speaker 1: Prison authorities were astounded and asked Buck what had led
Speaker 1: him to this action. A woman, he smiled. Shortly after
Speaker 1: I escaped, I met a girl down in the country.
Speaker 1: We fell for each other. Her name was Blanche Calledwell,
Speaker 1: and she was just a good, honest country girl who
Speaker 1: had lived most of her life on the farm. The
Speaker 1: first of last July, we went to Idabell, Oklahoma and
Speaker 1: got a marriage license. We were married three days later
Speaker 1: at America, Oklahoma. Finally I told her all about myself.
Speaker 1: She begged me to come back here and serve my time,
Speaker 1: so we could live like other people. So here I am.
Speaker 1: Clyde was eligible for parole early in the new year,
Speaker 1: and since his record as a prisoner was clear, Governor R. S.
Speaker 1: Sterling acted favorably on his application. On February second, nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty two, Clyde returned to Dallas. Soon afterward, on the street,
Speaker 1: he met a small woman who attracted him. He stared
Speaker 1: at her and she smiled at him. They spoke. After
Speaker 1: a moment's conversation, they walked down the street together, thus
Speaker 1: casually met one of the most heartless criminal pairs of
Speaker 1: modern times. From the date of this chance meeting, Clyde
Speaker 1: and the woman were often seen together, usually in speakeasies
Speaker 1: where the woman paid the bills. They were a couple
Speaker 1: that attracted attention. Clyde, with his small size, his weak chin,
Speaker 1: and his soft hazel eyes and wavy brown hair, seemed effeminine.
Speaker 1: In contrast, the woman liked to wear masculine clothes, her
Speaker 1: mouth was hard, her hair a striking yellow, and she
Speaker 1: habitually smoked big black cigars. The police investigated her quietly.
Speaker 1: They learned that she worked as a waitress, and while
Speaker 1: she used her maiden name Bonnie Parker. She was the
Speaker 1: wife of a sober industrious man. The manager of Sim's
Speaker 1: Oil Company looked up from his desk in his opposite
Speaker 1: Dallas on March twenty fifth, nineteen thirty two, and into
Speaker 1: the muzzle of a semi automatic pistol. Quickly, the bandit
Speaker 1: emptied the victim's pockets and ransacked his safe. At police
Speaker 1: headquarters an hour later, the manager identified a picture of
Speaker 1: the bandit. He was Clyde Barrow. Less than two months
Speaker 1: had passed since his parole. Detectives rushed to the usual
Speaker 1: haunts of Clyde Barrow. Others went to shadow Bonnie Parker,
Speaker 1: but Barrow was not found and Bonnie Parker had not
Speaker 1: been at work that day. A pickup order was issued
Speaker 1: for Barrow, and when Bonnie Parker failed to appear at
Speaker 1: work the next day, the order was amended to include her.
Speaker 1: Two bandits rushed to kr Bibven Night, operator of the
Speaker 1: Magnolia Service station at seven eighty nine South First Street
Speaker 1: in Lufkin, Texas, at two o'clock in the morning of
Speaker 1: April twenty fourth, nineteen thirty two. Get your hat, one
Speaker 1: of the mortared. You're going out for a little air
Speaker 1: Bivin was robbed of twenty six dollars a thirty eight
Speaker 1: caliber revolver, and shoved into a Chrysler seventy coup that
Speaker 1: stood at the curb four blocks down the street. The
Speaker 1: bandits stopped at the Gulf Service Station, where they seized
Speaker 1: Herman Miller, night manager, after robbing him of nine dollars
Speaker 1: and a revolver. The car sped south out of town
Speaker 1: as its lights split the dense darkness. There was no
Speaker 1: hinge from the bandits as to what they intended to
Speaker 1: do with their captives. Two miles outside of town, the
Speaker 1: hearts of the captives sank as the car stopped. Abruptly,
Speaker 1: they were ordered out. One of the bandits got out too.
Speaker 1: He faced his quaking victims and leveled his revolver. Then
Speaker 1: a faint smile played on his lips. You can go,
Speaker 1: he said. Bivin and Miller ran to town and notified R. C. Chancey,
Speaker 1: chief of Police, who at once organized a pursuit. At
Speaker 1: five o'clock that morning, Dan Richards, a railroad man, found
Speaker 1: the Chrysler at the east edge of town. It had
Speaker 1: been stolen earlier in the night from the home of W. B.
Speaker 1: Keane of Lufkin. On the chance that the bandits might
Speaker 1: be from one of the larger cities, Chief Chauncey took
Speaker 1: Bivin and Miller to Dallas. There, from the thousands of
Speaker 1: photographs in the police Bureau of Identification, Bibvin picked pictures
Speaker 1: of Clyde Barrow and Frank Claus as his abductors. Miller,
Speaker 1: who had seen the outlaws only in the dark, was
Speaker 1: unable to make identification. The search for Barrow was intensified,
Speaker 1: but for six days no trace of him was found.
Speaker 1: John M. Butcher, sixty one years old, had been a
Speaker 1: businessman in Hillsboro, Texas for thirty five years. For more
Speaker 1: than twenty years, his establishment was on the Courthouse Square
Speaker 1: of this town of eight thousand persons. At first he
Speaker 1: had only a jewelry store, but when bicycles became popular,
Speaker 1: he established a bicycle repair shop in conjunction. Then the
Speaker 1: motor car replaced the bicycle, and he added automobile accessories
Speaker 1: and a filling station. Then eight or nine years ago,
Speaker 1: a new north and south paved highway was constructed through Hillsborough.
Speaker 1: Mister Butcher saw an opportunity. He left his location on
Speaker 1: the square and built a two story structure of reinforced
Speaker 1: concrete on the new road north of the square and
Speaker 1: just inside the city limits. No other building was near it.
Speaker 1: In front were the gasoline pumps. The first floor was
Speaker 1: devoted to an accessory business and the jewelry shop. A
Speaker 1: stairway led from the rear of the store to the
Speaker 1: second floor, where mister Butcher lived with his wife. Shortly
Speaker 1: after noon on Wednesday, April twenty seventh, nineteen thirty two,
Speaker 1: a car stopped in front of the store. At the
Speaker 1: wheel was a young woman whose striking yellow hair would
Speaker 1: have been noticed anywhere. The two young men with her
Speaker 1: got out and walked into the store. Butcher walked forward
Speaker 1: to greet them. One carried a small package. He led
Speaker 1: the jeweler toward the rear of the establishment. We'd like
Speaker 1: to sell you some pocket knives. I've got plenty, Butcher replied,
Speaker 1: But I might buy him if the price is right.
Speaker 1: The package was unwrapped. While Butcher examined the knives, he
Speaker 1: noticed that the second man was walking around the store,
Speaker 1: carefully examining every corner of it. For the moment, Butcher
Speaker 1: felt a sense of uneasiness. Why was the fellow so
Speaker 1: curious However, the salesman of the pair seemed so anxious
Speaker 1: to sell the knives that the jeweler decided his own
Speaker 1: anxiety was baseless. He turned his attention to the driving
Speaker 1: of the bargain. The man with the knives wanted more
Speaker 1: for them than Butcher was willing to pay. They contended
Speaker 1: over the price in such loud tones, and Missus Butcher
Speaker 1: went downstairs to see what was taking place. For several minutes,
Speaker 1: she listened with amusement to the good natured bickering, fixing
Speaker 1: the faces of the strange men firmly in her memory. Then,
Speaker 1: after her husband had obtained the knives at his price
Speaker 1: and the men had gone, she returned to her sewing.
Speaker 1: Three days passed, the knife episode was all but forgotten.
Speaker 1: Saturday was a long day for mister and Missus Butcher,
Speaker 1: and they did not retire until nearly midnight. They were
Speaker 1: still awake when someone outside called Butcher's name. Appeals for
Speaker 1: aid from motorists stranded on the highway were not unusual
Speaker 1: at any hour. Butcher walked to the window and called down, cheerfully,
Speaker 1: what can I do for you? Will you sell me
Speaker 1: some guitar strings? Was the answer? A sense of danger,
Speaker 1: gripped Butcher. Why should a man want guitar strings at
Speaker 1: that hour? Soberly, he drew on his dressing gown and
Speaker 1: thrust a forty five caliber Colt pistol under the draw
Speaker 1: string of his pajamas. His hand held ready on the
Speaker 1: butt of the weapon. He descended the stairs and opened
Speaker 1: the front door. A man stood there, smiling. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to disturb you, he apologized, but we were having
Speaker 1: a little party and I need some guitar strings. I
Speaker 1: hope you don't mind. Butcher breathe easier. His hand came
Speaker 1: away from the pistol. The fellow was one of the
Speaker 1: men who had sold the Jeweler of the Knives three
Speaker 1: days earlier. All right, we're back. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for donating a little bit of your time to support
Speaker 1: the brands that support Kind of Murdery. Also, please do
Speaker 1: leave reviews. They trigger algorithms that make the show more visible.
Speaker 1: The more visible it gets, the more excited I get,
Speaker 1: the better these stories can be. Let's let's do this together, guys.
Speaker 1: Let's make it a group effort. Now, as you know,
Speaker 1: I like to do shout outs. Right here, I have
Speaker 1: a very special shout out today. I've mentioned often how
Speaker 1: I have cerebral palsy and I want kind of Murdery
Speaker 1: to be a support community for people with disabilities. And
Speaker 1: I got to review a couple of days ago that
Speaker 1: really moved me. It really meant a lot to me.
Speaker 1: So today's shout out goes to Ryan Downer Fromleyville, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: And here's what Ryan had to say in his review
Speaker 1: that he left on the Apple podcasts app It says,
Speaker 1: very well produced with extremely interesting content. Love listening while
Speaker 1: I work and look forward to each episode. My uncle
Speaker 1: had cerebral palsy. He had zero use of his legs
Speaker 1: and had crutches his whole life. I used to carry
Speaker 1: him up and down our steps when he came to
Speaker 1: visit so we wouldn't have to wear himself out. Thanks
Speaker 1: for all you're doing and keep up the good work.
Speaker 1: I love some stickers. I'll put him on the window
Speaker 1: of my truck. I got to tell you, guys, I
Speaker 1: got a little bit choked up reading that. That's exactly
Speaker 1: the kind of outreach that I would like for us
Speaker 1: all to have together. Ryan shared with me that his
Speaker 1: uncle has passed on now RIP and his uncle's CP
Speaker 1: was much more severe than mine is. But I think
Speaker 1: it's so valuable for us to be able to share
Speaker 1: stories like this, because I think everyone has their struggles,
Speaker 1: and sometimes when another person's struggle is not your own,
Speaker 1: it can be hard to connect to it if you
Speaker 1: don't see it, if you don't hear about it. It's
Speaker 1: like they almost become characters from some kind of fairy
Speaker 1: story that's not totally real. But the more real what
Speaker 1: everybody's going through can become for all of us, the
Speaker 1: more empathy and compassion we can have for each other.
Speaker 1: And that's what I hope to facilitate with the show
Speaker 1: and with the wonderful community we're building together. So Ryan
Speaker 1: Downer from Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, thank you so much for being
Speaker 1: willing to be open enough to share that personal story
Speaker 1: with me and with all of us. God bless you,
Speaker 1: and God bless your uncle. And with that, let's get
Speaker 1: back into some ultraviolent romance, shall we. Wheels, barrows and Blood,
Speaker 1: The bad Lands Romance of Bonnie and Clyde returns now
Speaker 1: appeals for aid from motorists stranded on the highway. We're
Speaker 1: not unusual at any hour. Butcher walked to the window
Speaker 1: and called down cheerfully. What can I do for you?
Speaker 1: Will you sell me some guitars? Was the answer. A
Speaker 1: sense of danger gripped Butcher. Why should a man want
Speaker 1: guitar strings at that hour? Soberly, he drew on his
Speaker 1: dressing gown and thrust a forty five caliber Colt pistol
Speaker 1: under the draw string of his pajamas. His hand held
Speaker 1: ready on the butt of the weapon, he descended the
Speaker 1: stairs and opened the front door. A man stood there, smiling. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to disturb you, he apologized, but we were
Speaker 1: having a little party and I need some guitar strings.
Speaker 1: I hope you don't mind, Butcher breathed easier. His hand
Speaker 1: came away from the pistol. The fellow was one of
Speaker 1: the men who had sold the Jeweler of the Knives
Speaker 1: three days earlier. The proprietor led the way to the
Speaker 1: musical strings case at the rear of the store, near
Speaker 1: the safe. The customer made his selection with a care
Speaker 1: that marked him as an expert. While Butcher and his
Speaker 1: customer were busy at the back of the store, a
Speaker 1: second man walked into the front door and leaned against
Speaker 1: the counter. The guitar strings were wrapped. Butcher and the
Speaker 1: purchaser walked toward the front, the man drawing out a billfold.
Speaker 1: As they went at the door, he handed Butcher a
Speaker 1: ten dollar bill. I'm sorry, it's the smallest I have. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll have to get some change, Butcher replied. The merchant
Speaker 1: went to the foot of the stairs and called to
Speaker 1: his wife, Mama, I have to get some change for
Speaker 1: a ten Will you come down and open the safe? Missus?
Speaker 1: Butcher hurriedly drew a garment over her night clothes and
Speaker 1: went downstairs. She recognized the men and nodded to them
Speaker 1: as she whirled the dial and swung open the safe.
Speaker 1: A scream of horror escaped the woman as she turned around.
Speaker 1: Her husband's face was a mask of terror. The congenial
Speaker 1: customers had become snarling madmen. Ugly pistols flashed in their
Speaker 1: hands without a single word of warning. One of them
Speaker 1: sent a bullet through the heart of Butcher, who stiffened,
Speaker 1: clutched his chest, and fell dead at his wife's feet.
Speaker 1: The old fashioned gun, which he was given no opportunity
Speaker 1: to use, clattered on the floor. A circle of blood
Speaker 1: spread on his dressing gown. As the grayness of death
Speaker 1: came to his face. Filled with a terrible despair, the
Speaker 1: woman whisked the weapon from the floor and swung it
Speaker 1: toward the bandits, but she was too slow. A pistol
Speaker 1: ground into her ribs, and a voice barked, put it
Speaker 1: on the counter, or you'll get the same thing. Knowing
Speaker 1: that these cold blooded killers would murder her unless she obeyed,
Speaker 1: Missus Butcher laid the weapon on the counter and sobbed hysterically.
Speaker 1: One of the bandits snatched up Butcher's pistol, then, coolly,
Speaker 1: stepping over the body of his victim, the desperado went
Speaker 1: to the safe and removed about forty dollars in money
Speaker 1: and twenty five hundred dollars worth of diamonds. The slayers
Speaker 1: ran out the front door through the thick walls of
Speaker 1: the store. There came faintly to Missus Butcher. The roar
Speaker 1: of a speeding motor car with the nearest help blocks away.
Speaker 1: Missus Butcher knelt by the body of her husband, sobbing
Speaker 1: and praying. Realizing that she must do something, she fought
Speaker 1: to control her emotions. After a few minutes, she forced
Speaker 1: her way upstairs to the telephone and called sheriff J. W.
Speaker 1: Freeland of Hill County with deputy Sheriffs Robert Wilkinson and
Speaker 1: Kelly Rush. Sheriff Freeland rushed to the scene of the
Speaker 1: murder of his old friend. Hastily he drew from the
Speaker 1: widow on account of the tragedy. Appalled by the savage outrage,
Speaker 1: the sheriff within a few minutes set in motion one
Speaker 1: of the greatest man hunts known to Texas. In towns
Speaker 1: fifty one hundred and two hundred miles away, officers were
Speaker 1: roused from their sleep and ordered to take up the search.
Speaker 1: City Marshal Elee Okis Heaton organized a posse in Hillsborough,
Speaker 1: and scores of men, eager to avenge the death of
Speaker 1: their respected townsmen, sped along the highways. So thoroughly was
Speaker 1: the hunt organized that it seemed impossible that the killers
Speaker 1: could escape. Yet the hours dragged on with no trace
Speaker 1: of them. So aroused with Sheriff freelom that he asked
Speaker 1: the newspapers to publish an appeal for help. Over his signature,
Speaker 1: it was headed to all police officers, help me catch
Speaker 1: these brutal murderers and robbers. Governor Stirling ordered the famous
Speaker 1: Texas Rangers into the search and issued a proclamation offering
Speaker 1: a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars for the
Speaker 1: arrest of the slayers. Angry citizens gathered on corners and
Speaker 1: demanded action as the hours wore on and officers labored
Speaker 1: without sleep. Then Sunday morning, it seemed the case had
Speaker 1: taken a favorable turn. Two men, known criminals who answered
Speaker 1: to the descriptions of the Butcher killers, were arrested in
Speaker 1: Fort Worth, Texas. Sheriff Freeland hurriedly brought them to Hillsborough,
Speaker 1: and missus Butcher agreed to view them. For only an
Speaker 1: instant did the sorrowing woman hesitate. They're not the men,
Speaker 1: she said. The disappointment made the officers more determined than ever.
Speaker 1: When a three o'clock bus rolled into Hillsborough Monday morning night,
Speaker 1: Marshal C. J. Smith and Ward Russell were waiting for it.
Speaker 1: A small man stepped off and was immediately arrested. The
Speaker 1: officers hurried him to the office of Sheriff Freeland. Daylight came,
Speaker 1: the questioning of the man went on and on words
Speaker 1: spread that one of the killers was in custody. A
Speaker 1: crowd gathered outside the Sheriff's office Finally the sheriff emerged.
Speaker 1: The crowds swarmed around him. Excited questions were hurled from
Speaker 1: all sides. I am satisfied that the fellow has no connection,
Speaker 1: the sheriff said. No hint of the killer's identity had
Speaker 1: been received. At three o'clock Monday afternoon, when funeral services
Speaker 1: for Butcher were held at the First Baptist Church. After
Speaker 1: the burial, Sheriff Freeland questioned missus Butcher more closely. He
Speaker 1: found every detail of the slaying etched deeply in her memory.
Speaker 1: She told of the knife episode and described the killers minutely.
Speaker 1: Both seemed to be about twenty two years old. But
Speaker 1: while one was extremely small, only about five foot seven
Speaker 1: inches tall, the other was about five foot eleven inches.
Speaker 1: She was positive she would be able to identify them
Speaker 1: anywhere under any circumstances. From other sources, Sheriff Freeland heard
Speaker 1: of a woman with brilliant yellow hair who had been
Speaker 1: seen in a town with two men. Her description sounded familiar.
Speaker 1: Where had he seen it? The sheriff went to the
Speaker 1: office and was thumbing through posters advertising wanted criminals. Within
Speaker 1: a few minutes he found what he wanted. The woman
Speaker 1: fit the description of Bonnie Parker. The small man might
Speaker 1: be Clyde Barrow, But who could the second man be.
Speaker 1: Frank Claus had been with Barrow in the Lufkin robberies,
Speaker 1: could he have been in the Butcher killing two. The
Speaker 1: sheriff took pictures of Clyde Barrow and Clause to Missus Butcher.
Speaker 1: She studied them intently a moment. Then she said that
Speaker 1: man was certainly one of them. The picture she held
Speaker 1: forward to the Sheriff was of Clyde Barrow. For the
Speaker 1: first time, one of the bloody Barrows was wanted for
Speaker 1: a killing. He was not the other one, Missus Butcher said,
Speaker 1: as she returned the picture of Clause. Quickly, Sheriff Freeland
Speaker 1: spread the news that Clyde Barrow had been identified as
Speaker 1: the murderer of Butcher. He asked police departments at San Antonio, Houston, Dallas,
Speaker 1: and Fort Worth to give him complete information concerning all
Speaker 1: past associates of the Merciless Desperado. Pictures and descriptions began
Speaker 1: to arrive by the dozens, one by one. Missus Butcher
Speaker 1: examined them, but always her decision was the same, he
Speaker 1: is not the man. Then, when it seemed that the
Speaker 1: mystery of the identity of the second man could not
Speaker 1: be solved. A new lot of pictures was shown Missus Butcher.
Speaker 1: She picked one up from the group and exclaimed, here
Speaker 1: he is, here he is. She had selected a picture
Speaker 1: of Raymond Hamilton, a Dallas criminal who for several years
Speaker 1: had been associated with Clyde Barrow. The fevered search for
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow, Hamilton, and Bonnie Parker went on, but months
Speaker 1: passed with only vague traces of them. A series of
Speaker 1: filling station robberies occurred in the state. In many of them,
Speaker 1: the bandit car was driven by a woman. Officers believed
Speaker 1: the robberies were committed by Barrow and his companions, but
Speaker 1: there was no definite proof. Then there came an underworlled
Speaker 1: rumor that the Barrow gang had taken refuge in the
Speaker 1: hills about Nagadosh's, Texas, the birthplace of Clyde Gangland informants
Speaker 1: warned the police that Barrow would not be taken alive.
Speaker 1: They said he realized he was a marked man, and
Speaker 1: that he had collected a large supply of arms and ammunitions,
Speaker 1: and the gang had established a target range at its
Speaker 1: hideout where shooting was practiced regularly in preparation for the
Speaker 1: meeting with officers that was certain to come. Sooner or later,
Speaker 1: a squad of Texas Rangers under Sergeant C. H. Plot
Speaker 1: swooped into the territory. They did not capture the gang,
Speaker 1: but they did find the target range marks had been
Speaker 1: improvised from wrapping paper. Dozens of empty shotgun, rifle and
Speaker 1: pistol cartridges indicated how seriously the practice had been taken.
Speaker 1: A few cigar butts that bore unmistakable traces of lipstick
Speaker 1: showed that Bonnie Parker was still with the gang. It
Speaker 1: seemed that the career of the Barrow gang would end
Speaker 1: in a bloody episode. If so, the officers were ready,
Speaker 1: a more determined effort than ever was made to run
Speaker 1: the gang to the earth. It was not until August first,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two, that definite trace of the outlaws was
Speaker 1: found again. That day, a bandit entered the office of
Speaker 1: the new Hoff Packing Company at Dallas and robbed the
Speaker 1: Nuhoff brothers of several hundred dollars and some diamond rings.
Speaker 1: The New Hawks identified Clyde Barrow as the bandit, but
Speaker 1: the trail was lost almost as soon as it was found.
Speaker 1: While Dallas police alertly awaited a new outrage in that city,
Speaker 1: the locale of the man hunt shifted hundreds of miles.
Speaker 1: A country dance was in progress at Stringtown near Atoka, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: the night of Friday, August fifth, nineteen thirty two. Desiring
Speaker 1: no rowdyism, the management had requested Sheriff C. G. Maxwell
Speaker 1: of Atoka County to attend. He was present with under
Speaker 1: Sheriff Eugene C. Moore until eleven o'clock. Everything went smoothly.
Speaker 1: Shortly before that time, four men drove up in a
Speaker 1: car bearing a Texas license plate. They remained in the
Speaker 1: car several minutes, talking in low tones. Then they got out,
Speaker 1: walked to another car, and climbed in. Let's see who
Speaker 1: they are, under Sheriff Moore said to his superior. The
Speaker 1: officers approached the group. Sheriff Maxwell saw one of the
Speaker 1: men tilt a whiskey bottle. Consider yourselves under arrest, he said.
Speaker 1: Flashes of flame spurted from the car. Four guns belch led.
Speaker 1: Without a chance to draw their weapons. The eye officers
Speaker 1: crumpled before the deadly hail. Under Sheriff Moore shot through
Speaker 1: the heart and head. Died where he fell. Sheriff Maxwell
Speaker 1: struck in the chest, side, arms and wrist, and the
Speaker 1: legs writhed on the ground. Inside the dance hall, the
Speaker 1: sharp gunfires sounded above the music. The rhythm broke. Panic stricken,
Speaker 1: the dancers rushed out of the doors. Young women screamed
Speaker 1: and fainted at the sight of the bleeding officers. Their escorts,
Speaker 1: pale with anger and horror, were forced to stand by
Speaker 1: helplessly as the butchery went on, firing a last burst
Speaker 1: at the prone officers. The gangsters left into the car
Speaker 1: with the Texas license and sped away. Using his last strength,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Maxwell raised himself on an elbow, drew his revolver,
Speaker 1: and emptied it into the rear of the madly racing car.
Speaker 1: The outlaw car swung crazily from side to side as
Speaker 1: it roared on quickly. The men at the dance snatched
Speaker 1: up the weapons of the fallen officers and organized a pursuit.
Speaker 1: Carlights shone like meteors as they swung in behind the
Speaker 1: fleeing desperadoes and dashed through the night at a speed
Speaker 1: so terrific that death lurked in every turn of the wheels. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: the murderer's car swung too near the edge of the road.
Speaker 1: For a moment, it poised on two wheels, then it
Speaker 1: crashed into a ditch and rolled over Cleave. Brady of
Speaker 1: Stringtown saw the crash. He saw limping men crawl from
Speaker 1: the wreckage, and stopped to see if he could be
Speaker 1: of help. He found himself looking into the muzzles of revolvers.
Speaker 1: The outlaws forced him from his car and entering it themselves.
Speaker 1: They went on east at breakneck speed. Fifteen miles east
Speaker 1: of Stringtown, the left rear wheel flew from the car.
Speaker 1: The machine spun around in the road, sending up a
Speaker 1: cloud of dust. One gangster was thrown clear, but when
Speaker 1: the others piled out, he was able to continue the flight,
Speaker 1: running until they were out of breath, walking then running again.
Speaker 1: The outlaws reached the farm home of John Redden. One
Speaker 1: of them rapped sharply on the door. We've had a wreck,
Speaker 1: a bad one. Reddin was told, can you help us
Speaker 1: get this injured man to a doctor. Reddin's son offered
Speaker 1: to help. Out of side of the farmhouse. A revolver
Speaker 1: jammed into his side, and he was ordered to drive
Speaker 1: east near Clayton, Oklahoma. Young Reddin was set free, and
Speaker 1: the bandit stole a car belonging to Frank Smith of Seminole.
Speaker 1: With Sheriff Maxwell near death. After an emergency operation in
Speaker 1: a McAllister Hospital district, Judge P. L. Gassaway appointed O. C. Elkins,
Speaker 1: a former under sheriff, to take charge of the sheriff's
Speaker 1: office temporarily. Large posses scoured the countryside all night and
Speaker 1: the next day. Elkins called other peace officers in to
Speaker 1: aid him. C. A. Burns, Chief of the Oklahoma State
Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigation, O. P. Ray Assistant Chief of Operatives C. M. Reeber,
Speaker 1: and D. Arthur Wilson, and sheriffs from McAllister, Colgate, Antlers,
Speaker 1: and Durant all hurried to Atoka. They agreed that Maxwell
Speaker 1: and Moore probably had surprised some badly wanted men. The
Speaker 1: first step toward the solution of the crime would be
Speaker 1: identification of those men as quickly as possible. They checked
Speaker 1: up on the motor car in which the killers had
Speaker 1: driven to the dance. It had been stolen Friday morning
Speaker 1: at Corsicana, Texas. While frantic search was being conducted for
Speaker 1: the car stolen at Clayton, word was received that a
Speaker 1: badly wounded man had been found in a tourist camp
Speaker 1: near the Red River Bridge south of Durant, Oklahoma. Officers
Speaker 1: sped to question him. The man was James Acker of Dinsborough, Texas,
Speaker 1: a former convict. He denied, however, that he had been
Speaker 1: wounded by Sheriff Maxwell. He insisted that he had never
Speaker 1: been near a Toka or String town and claimed he
Speaker 1: had been robbed of seven dollars by a bandit who
Speaker 1: shot him when he protested. While not satisfied with the story,
Speaker 1: officers were unable to discredit it, and Acker was surrendered
Speaker 1: to Sherman Texas authorities, who held a warrant for him.
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, the car stolen by the killers at Clayton
Speaker 1: was found at Grandview, a little town near Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 1: Officers were amazed at the spectacular distance covered in the flight.
Speaker 1: The murderers had come from Texas and fled to Texas.
Speaker 1: That fact was considered significant. Gathering all available descriptions of
Speaker 1: the slayers, Elkins telegraphed them to numerous Texas cities, asking
Speaker 1: for pictures of men whom the descriptions might fit. Two
Speaker 1: of the many photographs received were at once recognized by
Speaker 1: those who had seen the killers. Sheriff Maxwell, from his
Speaker 1: hospital bed, removed all doubt of the identifications. The men
Speaker 1: were Clyde Barrow and Raymond Hamilton. The true meaning had
Speaker 1: been read in the sinister target practice on the range
Speaker 1: near Nagadocius, Now wanted for two u Barrow and Hamilton
Speaker 1: dashed across hundreds of miles in a frantic effort to
Speaker 1: escape the gigantic net spread for them throughout the Southwest.
Speaker 1: Their evil luck held. Six days later, and fifteen hundred
Speaker 1: miles away, they struck again shortly before noon Saturday, August fourteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two. Deputy's SHAREFF Joe Johns was patrolling the
Speaker 1: streets of Carlsbad, New Mexico, a town in the southeast
Speaker 1: corner of the state, eighty miles west of the Texas line.
Speaker 1: A Ford V eight sedan passed him. He glimpsed the
Speaker 1: license number he had received a report earlier that a
Speaker 1: car bearing that number had been stolen. Speeding up, he
Speaker 1: drove alongside the car and forced it to the curb.
Speaker 1: Two men were in the front seat. The rear seat
Speaker 1: was occupied by a woman with bright yellow hair. The
Speaker 1: deputy explained that he wanted to check the motor number.
Speaker 1: Drawing his revolver and watching the men from the corner
Speaker 1: of his eye, he raised the hood. He was astonished
Speaker 1: to hear the woman's voice say, pile in, hero, I'll
Speaker 1: blow you up. The shotgun pointed at him was held
Speaker 1: with a steady hand. The officer did not have a
Speaker 1: fighting chance to use his revolver. To resist meant certain
Speaker 1: death and no possible advantage. Reluctantly, the officer got in
Speaker 1: the car and was whisked away. Witnesses reported the kidnapping
Speaker 1: to authorities. Deadly fear swept over the friends of John's
Speaker 1: as the abductors were described to them. There seemed to
Speaker 1: be no doubt that the luckless man had fallen into
Speaker 1: the hands of Barrow, Hamilton and Bonnie Parker. The mercy
Speaker 1: he could expect was small. Make sure your mind is
Speaker 1: in the mood for murder and follow me back to
Speaker 1: the early nineteen thirty smack dab in the middle of
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde's reckless robbing rampage, its wheels, barrows and blood.
Speaker 1: The bad Lands Romance of Bonnie and Clyde Park two. Swiftly,
Speaker 1: a thorough's search was instituted, but night came with no
Speaker 1: word from John's. Each passing hour lessened the chances of
Speaker 1: his escaping alive. Sunday morning, all hope for him was abandoned.
Speaker 1: Searchers went into the hills to find his body. Toward noon,
Speaker 1: the dreaded word came that a body had been found
Speaker 1: in an arroyo and identified by a chance acquaintance as
Speaker 1: that of John's. Sadly, the comrades of the slain deputy
Speaker 1: went to bring the body to town. Reverently, they gathered
Speaker 1: about the still sheet covered figure. One of them exposed
Speaker 1: the face. There was exclamations of surprise. There had been
Speaker 1: a mistake. The body was not that of John's. Later
Speaker 1: it was identified as the body of a hitchhiker. Late Sunday,
Speaker 1: the missing deputy telephoned his home from San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 1: He had been carried on a mad ride of more
Speaker 1: than one thousand miles. The bandits, who admitted they were
Speaker 1: the Barrow Gang, had disarmed him and set him free
Speaker 1: on a lonely road near San Antonio. The endurance of
Speaker 1: the outlaws was remarkable, Even the long ride with John's
Speaker 1: did not exhaust them enough to force arrest. W. W. Pittman,
Speaker 1: Marshal of Wharton, Texas, received a long distance phone call
Speaker 1: about four o'clock in the afternoon of August fifteenth. The
Speaker 1: Marshal at Edna, Texas warned that a Ford V eight
Speaker 1: sedan stolen at Victoria had passed through Edna, apparently headed
Speaker 1: toward Wharton. Calling on Deputy Sheriff C. R. Sebreckt and F. F.
Speaker 1: Damon for help, Marshall Pittman rushed to the bridge over
Speaker 1: the Colorado River, which offered a strategic place to set
Speaker 1: a trap. Seabrick was placed about three hundred yards from
Speaker 1: the bridge on the Edna side. Pittman and Damon were
Speaker 1: concealed at the other end. When the car was sighted,
Speaker 1: seebrick was to signal the others would block their end.
Speaker 1: The car would be trapped tensely. The officers waited. Then
Speaker 1: came the signal. A Ford coup carrying a man and
Speaker 1: a woman with yellow hair swept around the bend, followed
Speaker 1: by a sedan driven by a man. When the cars
Speaker 1: were well on the bridge, Damon and Pittman stepped out,
Speaker 1: riot guns in their hands. Shotgun slugs sang around them.
Speaker 1: The cars spun in the wide roadway and rushed back
Speaker 1: towards seabric. Guns roared from both. The deputy bravely stood
Speaker 1: his ground and returned fire. On and on rushed the
Speaker 1: cars and the occupants, still shooting, just in time to
Speaker 1: escape being crushed under the wheels. The deputy stepped aside
Speaker 1: the car sped on, leaping into their car. The officers
Speaker 1: gave chase. After a mile and a half, they found
Speaker 1: the coop abandoned. The sedan had too long a lead
Speaker 1: they could not overtake it. Examining the coop, they found
Speaker 1: the revolver and holster taken from Deputy John's Fingerprints of
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow were on the rearview mirror. Within the next month,
Speaker 1: Barrow and Hamilton swept from one side of the state
Speaker 1: to the other. They were identified in the robbery of
Speaker 1: an inter urban station at Grand Prairie, Texas. An inter
Speaker 1: urban station, by the way, is an electric railway station
Speaker 1: between two towns. They twice robbed the bank at Cedar
Speaker 1: Hill and Underworld. Rumors said that Barrow and Hamilton split
Speaker 1: up after the bank robberies. Apparently that was true, because
Speaker 1: when next heard from Barrow and Bonnie Parker seemed to
Speaker 1: be working alone. A young man walked into the grocery
Speaker 1: store operated at Vaden and Wells Streets in Sherman, Texas
Speaker 1: by S. R. Little, a former city councilman, at about
Speaker 1: six forty on the evening of October eleventh, nineteen thirty two.
Speaker 1: Homer Glaze, the clerk, and how Hall, the sixty seven
Speaker 1: year old butcher, were alone in the store preparing to close.
Speaker 1: The man, a small fellow, wore a swayed lumberjacket and
Speaker 1: a hat pulled low over his eyes. For a moment,
Speaker 1: he looked about uncertainly. Glaze, taking him for a newcomer
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood, walked forward, introduced himself and inquired the
Speaker 1: customer's name. The man merely grunted a response and ordered
Speaker 1: some bread and eggs. He stayed near Glaze while the
Speaker 1: clerk filled the order and handed him a dollar in payment.
Speaker 1: The clerk opened the cash register to make change. Suddenly
Speaker 1: he felt hot breath on his neck and heard these
Speaker 1: whispered words, give me that money. A revolver jammed against
Speaker 1: his spine. The bandit's right hand reached into the register
Speaker 1: and extracted fifty dollars. Hall, from his place behind the
Speaker 1: meat counter, saw everything. Several years before, when he operated
Speaker 1: a store of his own, he had faced a like situation.
Speaker 1: He had disarmed a large bandit, and he would disarm
Speaker 1: this little fellow. The old butcher, as he walked around
Speaker 1: his counter, towered head and shoulders over the man who
Speaker 1: held Glaze at his mercy. Well, you can't do that,
Speaker 1: young man, All spoke firmly. The bandit world toward Hall,
Speaker 1: a sneer on his face. I can't, can I coolly? Deliberately,
Speaker 1: He swung his gun at the butcher's head. Blood spurted
Speaker 1: from an ugly gash. Hall cried with rage. He lunged
Speaker 1: at the bandit and encircled him with his arms. The
Speaker 1: outlaw placed the muzzle of his revolver in the pit
Speaker 1: of the butcher's stomach and pulled the trigger. All groaned
Speaker 1: with pain as the bullet tore through him. He staggered,
Speaker 1: but his hold on the smaller man did not relax.
Speaker 1: Glaze tried to close in. The bandit jerked his gun
Speaker 1: arm free and sent the clerk reeling with a blow
Speaker 1: on the forehead. All's strength failed rapidly, still. He clung
Speaker 1: to his man, but inch by inch, the bandit dragged
Speaker 1: him toward the alley door. They reached the threshold and
Speaker 1: fell outside in a struggling heap. The bandit twisted free.
Speaker 1: He stood over the prostrate hall, cursing. Elsie Butler, a
Speaker 1: delivery clerk, was in the rear yard of the store,
Speaker 1: putting his car away for the night. His wife was
Speaker 1: waiting for him. Street lights made it possible for mister
Speaker 1: and missus Butler to see the bandit plainly. The killer
Speaker 1: raised his weapon. The already dying man made a last
Speaker 1: desperate effort to close with his assailant. Three more shots
Speaker 1: blasted into his body. He lay still. The form of
Speaker 1: glaze appeared in the doorway. The bandit raised his revolver
Speaker 1: and pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked, the cartridge failed
Speaker 1: to explode. Darting across the vacant lot behind the grocery store,
Speaker 1: the bandit reached the street. He leaped into a black
Speaker 1: sedan that had been cruising around the block with a
Speaker 1: woman at the wheel. The car roared away. All was
Speaker 1: still alive when officers arrived. He was quickly removed to
Speaker 1: Saint Vincent's Sanitarium just across the street, where he died
Speaker 1: forty five minutes later. Fury seized Police Chief H. Grady
Speaker 1: Thompson as details of the killing were given him. With
Speaker 1: Detective B. V. Atnip and Deputy share of Ali Netheri,
Speaker 1: he raced in search of the murderer, ready to shoot.
Speaker 1: The officers didn't care whether they took their man dead
Speaker 1: or alive, but the car had vanished. One man said
Speaker 1: he had seen its speed east out of the city
Speaker 1: over Highway Number five. Chief Thompson dashed out the highway
Speaker 1: as far as the county line, but found no trace
Speaker 1: of the black sedan desk. Sergeant J. W. Daniel sat
Speaker 1: at a telephone all night, pleading with officers for the
Speaker 1: early arrest of the slayer. Acting on his request, the
Speaker 1: radio station of the Dallas Police broadcast the tragic story
Speaker 1: and appealed to civilians for help. Deputy Sheriff Denver Seal
Speaker 1: of Dallas heard the broadcast. The description reminded him of
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow, in search of whom he had spent many,
Speaker 1: many fruitless hours. He telephoned his suspicion to Sheriff Frank
Speaker 1: Reese at Sherman and Early the next morning, he sent
Speaker 1: Reese a number of pictures of Barrow. Witnesses to the
Speaker 1: murder recognized them at once. They were positive Barrow was
Speaker 1: the slayer, And just like that, Barrow was wanted for
Speaker 1: his third murder. The press and the people demanded that
Speaker 1: something be done to end his body Career officers didn't
Speaker 1: need to be pressed. They were working day and night.
Speaker 1: Governor Sterling revoked the Barrow parole on November seventeenth. An
Speaker 1: officers scoured the underworld in scores of cities. Wait, the
Speaker 1: governor just revoked his parole after he's been on a
Speaker 1: robbing and murdering spree for about a month. Now, I
Speaker 1: guess those are the wheels of bureaucracy churning. Huh. All right,
Speaker 1: back to the story. So the governor's revoke Barrow's parole.
Speaker 1: Officers are scouring the underworlds in all kinds of towns
Speaker 1: and cities. But Barrow did not fall before ordinary police routine.
Speaker 1: His constant and long dashes were hard to follow. He
Speaker 1: became the most nomadic of all modern bat men. He
Speaker 1: drove hundreds of miles in a day robbing. When he
Speaker 1: needed money, a young woman appeared at the Bank of Oronago, Missouri,
Speaker 1: a few miles from Joplain, the afternoon of November twenty third,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two. She explained to ra Norton's sixty year
Speaker 1: old cashier that she wanted to make an affidavit. As
Speaker 1: he placed his signature and stamp on the document, the
Speaker 1: young woman casually studied the interior of the institution. When
Speaker 1: she was gone, the cashier remembered only that she had very,
Speaker 1: very yellow hair. A week later, three men drove up
Speaker 1: to the bank in a nineteen thirty one model Chevrolet Sedan.
Speaker 1: One stayed at the wheel, two carrying shotguns dashed into
Speaker 1: the bank. Cashier Norton saw them coming. Seizing a revolver
Speaker 1: in his cage, he opened fire, cursing the bandits dis
Speaker 1: blazed away with slugs whining around him. The cashier dropped
Speaker 1: to his knees. One of the bandits snatched up one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen dollars. They ran from the bank, piled
Speaker 1: into the car, and sped west on Main Street. Vigilantes
Speaker 1: attracted by the shooting were waiting behind an oil truck
Speaker 1: a block on. They opened fire as the bandits passed.
Speaker 1: One of the outlaws smashed a car window, thrust out
Speaker 1: a shotgun, and sprayed the truck with lead, With both
Speaker 1: groups firing furiously, the car raced on. A farmer saw
Speaker 1: the bandits abandon the Chevrolet three miles out of town
Speaker 1: and get into a Ford coup that was driven by
Speaker 1: a yellowhaired woman. The car bore a Texas license. The Joplin,
Speaker 1: Missouri Police Department was called in to help. The woman
Speaker 1: indicated to us that the Barrow gang had made another
Speaker 1: of its long jumps and invaded our territory. Checking the
Speaker 1: deserted Chevrolet, we learned that it had been stolen earlier
Speaker 1: that day on the street at Carthage, Missouri. Carefully examining
Speaker 1: tourist camps in the vicinity of Carthage, we found that
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker and two men had stayed
Speaker 1: several days at a camp about ten miles east of Carthage.
Speaker 1: Attendants identified their pictures once. Several days later, we succeeded
Speaker 1: in identifying the other bandits as Hollis Hale and Frank Hardy,
Speaker 1: Dallas criminals. We spread the word that Hardy and Hale
Speaker 1: were traveling with Barrow and Bonnie, but despite our best efforts,
Speaker 1: the gang eluded us. Five days later we learned they
Speaker 1: were on another of their phenomenal cross country John's Doyle
Speaker 1: Johnson parked his car in front of his home at Belton, Texas,
Speaker 1: the evening of December fifth, nineteen thirty two, and went inside.
Speaker 1: A few minutes later, he noticed two men trying to
Speaker 1: start it. A woman waited for them in another car.
Speaker 1: Johnson dashed from the house. One of the thieves shot
Speaker 1: at him and missed. The shot did not deter Johnson.
Speaker 1: He rushed on, Climbing onto the running board. He reached
Speaker 1: for the throat of the outlaw, who had attempted to
Speaker 1: take his life. The other placed the muzzle of his
Speaker 1: revolver against Johnson's throat and fired. Johnson fell to the pavement, dying.
Speaker 1: The desperadoes piled into the car with the woman and escaped.
Speaker 1: A few hours later, witnesses identified pictures of Clyde Barrow,
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker, and Frank Hardy. Four murders were now charged
Speaker 1: to Barrow, and still the remarkable luck held. Two days later, however,
Speaker 1: the law got a break in its contest with the gang.
Speaker 1: Raymond Hamilton was arrested by Sheriff WS day when he
Speaker 1: was observed to be carrying a revolver in a dance
Speaker 1: hall at Bay City, Michigan. A submachine gun was found
Speaker 1: in his hotel room. Hamilton said he had split with
Speaker 1: Barrow after an argument over Bonnie Parker. He told me
Speaker 1: she was worth half a dozen of million. A jam,
Speaker 1: Hamilton complained, But I must give the girl credit. She
Speaker 1: is plenty tough. She can handle a pistol with either hand.
Speaker 1: But those cigars, oh my. When Hamilton was returned to Texas,
Speaker 1: he received a sentence of ninety nine years for the
Speaker 1: Butcher murder, ninety nine years for a bank robbery in
Speaker 1: Lagrange County, twenty five years for various hold ups, and
Speaker 1: twelve years for motor thefts in Dallas. The state of Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: satisfied he would be permanently confined, decided not to extradite
Speaker 1: him for a trial in connection with the murder of Moore.
Speaker 1: At Stringtown. Just before noon December thirty first, nineteen thirty two,
Speaker 1: two bandits rushed into the bank of Grapevine, Texas, scooped
Speaker 1: up three thousand dollars and fled in a motor car.
Speaker 1: A posse gave chase after a few miles. The bandit
Speaker 1: car crashed, The outlaws ran into a tract of timber.
Speaker 1: The posse surrounded them and closed in. One man escaped,
Speaker 1: the other Les Stuart, was captured. He said his companion
Speaker 1: was Odell Chandless, a former convict of Dallas. Fleeing toward Dallas,
Speaker 1: Chandless robbed a milkman near the city limits and continued
Speaker 1: into town in his truck. Several days later, officers received
Speaker 1: a tip that Chandless was going to call at the
Speaker 1: home of Lilly McBride, a sister of Raymond Hamilton, who
Speaker 1: lived on County Avenue in West Dallas. January sixth, nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty three, Lily McBride went to Hillsboro to visit Hamilton
Speaker 1: in jail. There, officers took advantage of her absence to
Speaker 1: set a trap for Chandless. Shortly after dark, they took
Speaker 1: their posts. At about eleven forty five PM, a car
Speaker 1: drove up. A woman stayed at the wheel with the
Speaker 1: motor running. A man got out and walked toward the house.
Speaker 1: Even in the darkness, Deputy Davis recognized Clyde Barrow stepping
Speaker 1: from his cover. He ordered the Desperado to halt quickly,
Speaker 1: Barrow worled, a shotgun flashed. Davis fell dead, shot through
Speaker 1: the heart under a hail of bullets from the house.
Speaker 1: Barrel ran to the car, bent low over the wheel,
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker sent it speeding into the night. Barrow had
Speaker 1: committed his fifth murder, and still his luck held. Twenty
Speaker 1: days were to pass before he was seen again, hundreds
Speaker 1: of miles away. In the meantime, Chandlers was arrested at Tampa, Florida,
Speaker 1: returned to Texas, and sentenced to thirty five years in prison.
Speaker 1: Stewart was sentenced to twenty five years. Thomas Purcell, a
Speaker 1: motorcycle patrolman at Springfield, Missouri, noticed two men and a
Speaker 1: woman eyeing him suspiciously on January twenty sixth nineteen thirty three.
Speaker 1: He chased them several blocks to question them. Finally, he
Speaker 1: forced them to the curb. Before he could draw his revolver,
Speaker 1: they had their guns on him. They forced him into
Speaker 1: their car, covered him with a blanket, and drove him
Speaker 1: out of town. After an all night search had been
Speaker 1: conducted for him, Purcell called the Joplin, Missouri Police office
Speaker 1: at twelve thirty. The next day, he had been released
Speaker 1: at Poundstone Corner, twelve miles north of Joplin and two
Speaker 1: hundred miles from Springfield. The Joplin office sent for him
Speaker 1: and heard his story first hand. His captors admitted they
Speaker 1: were the Barrow g and Bonnie Parker joked about dyeing
Speaker 1: her hair. It no longer was the distinguished yellow, it
Speaker 1: was now a vivid red. The outlaws had stopped in
Speaker 1: several towns, Buffalo, fair Play, Golden City, Carthage, and some
Speaker 1: others the officer was unable to identify. From Carthage, they
Speaker 1: came to Joplin, drove through the residential section for a
Speaker 1: few minutes, and then went on to Onarago. At Onarago
Speaker 1: they stole a battery to replace the one in their car,
Speaker 1: which had been giving them trouble. From Onarago, the outlaws
Speaker 1: drove to Poundstone Corner, where they released Percell. When last
Speaker 1: scene they were speeding west toward Carl Junction. Evidently the
Speaker 1: gang drove on to Texas, because at Marshall, Texas, on
Speaker 1: January thirty first, they stole a Ford coup from R. F. Rosborough.
Speaker 1: As usual, they immediately set out on another cross country swing,
Speaker 1: and two weeks later Sheriff John E. York found the
Speaker 1: Rosboro car abandoned near Venita, Oklahoma. While conjecture ran high
Speaker 1: as to the probable scene of Clyde's next outbreak, missus
Speaker 1: Buck Barrow appealed to Governor Ferguson of Texas for her
Speaker 1: husband's freedom. Missus Barrow had been given credit for her
Speaker 1: husband's return to prison after his escape, and she was
Speaker 1: given a sympathetic hearing. She urged the fact that Buck's
Speaker 1: voluntary return to serve his sentence indicated a sincere intent
Speaker 1: to reform. Her plea was backed by the favorable recommendation
Speaker 1: of Warden W. W. Wade, Assistant Warden R. H. Bond,
Speaker 1: Secretary of State, W. W. Heath, Henry Alleley of the
Speaker 1: State Department. V. G. Isaacoff, Director of the Prison Laboratory, E. W.
Speaker 1: Anderson Prison Medical Director, and C. E. Garrett Methodist prison
Speaker 1: chaplain Holy Molly. She had an entire village backing her
Speaker 1: up on the request. Buck Clyde Barrow's brother was granted
Speaker 1: a full pardon on March twentieth, nineteen thirty three. He
Speaker 1: went to Dallas for three weeks. He visited his parents
Speaker 1: and other relatives, then he packed his suitcase and disappeared
Speaker 1: with his wife. Police immediately became nervous. Informers were ordered
Speaker 1: to learn where Buck Barrow could be found. They reported
Speaker 1: he had told friends he was going to see Clyde,
Speaker 1: who was reported to be hiding in the Arkansas Ozarks.
Speaker 1: Missus Barrow had told acquaintances that Buck had gotten a
Speaker 1: letter from his brother he was going to try to
Speaker 1: persuae him to surrender and go straight. Was Buck Barrow,
Speaker 1: pardon convict, really going to solve the problem? Was he
Speaker 1: really going to try to reform his murderous brother quide
Speaker 1: Bloody Barrow? Or did his disappearance foreshadow trouble? In less
Speaker 1: than a week, law enforcement had the answer, and of
Speaker 1: all the Bloody Barrow crimes to date, the one to
Speaker 1: come was to be the worst. Sergeant GB Koller of
Speaker 1: the Missouri State Highway Patrol station at Joplin was directing
Speaker 1: his men in the annual roundup of motorists whose cars
Speaker 1: were not licensed properly when he received a telephone report
Speaker 1: early in April that several cars bearing tags from out
Speaker 1: of the state had been behind the garage near thirty
Speaker 1: fourth Street and Oak Ridge Drive. In the Freeman's Grove edition,
Speaker 1: a suburb of Joplin. For several days. He was too
Speaker 1: busy to investigate it, but his attention was returned to
Speaker 1: the matter by an agitated man who went to the
Speaker 1: sergeant's office and demanded that something be done at once. Vaguely,
Speaker 1: the man hinted that something sinister was taking place out
Speaker 1: in Freeman's Grove. He pictured persons darting in and out
Speaker 1: of the living quarters above the garage like frightened animals.
Speaker 1: Sergeant Collar telephoned Ed Portley, the chief of detectives in Joplin,
Speaker 1: and asked him if he had received any complaints about
Speaker 1: the place. Portly said he had not. Caller said he
Speaker 1: was going to look into the situation. The place Coller
Speaker 1: found was a two story stone building on the north
Speaker 1: side of thirty fourth Street, about one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: feet east of oak Ridge Drive. On the ground floor
Speaker 1: was a double garage. A door at the left of
Speaker 1: the garage entrances one faced the building opened on a
Speaker 1: stairway that led to living quarters over the garage. People
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood were shy and evasive. They didn't want
Speaker 1: to talk plainly. For some reason, the sergeant could not
Speaker 1: determine they feared the men and women living over the garage. However,
Speaker 1: mac Parker, a private watchman in the neighborhood, told of
Speaker 1: going to the house in uniform on one of his
Speaker 1: nightly rounds and in forming the occupants that he would
Speaker 1: guard them against burglars for a fee of one dollar
Speaker 1: a month. They received him cordially and employed him. He
Speaker 1: added the name Callahan to his list of clients. It
Speaker 1: was the story of a laundryman that convinced Coller something
Speaker 1: was seriously a miss. The laundryman said the persons living
Speaker 1: in the building had been his customers for two weeks.
Speaker 1: When he returned their first bundle, the door at the
Speaker 1: foot of the stairway flew open. Before he could knock.
Speaker 1: A small, apparently frightened woman with vivid red hair confronted
Speaker 1: him with trembling hands. She reached for the bundle. All
Speaker 1: carry it upstairs for you, the laundryman offered, it's almost
Speaker 1: as big as you are. No, the woman spoke crisply,
Speaker 1: I'll take it. You wait, the laundryman insisted. The woman,
Speaker 1: glancing nervously up the steps, remained firm took the bundle upstairs,
Speaker 1: then descended and paid her bill. The scene repeated the
Speaker 1: next week. The laundryman got the impression that the woman
Speaker 1: was deathly afraid for him to see something or someone
Speaker 1: on the second floor. Sergeant Caller believed he'd stumbled onto
Speaker 1: a bootleg liquor plant and decided to raid the place.
Speaker 1: Explained his intention to Chief of Detectives Ed Portley, who
Speaker 1: assigned to detectives Thomas de Graff and Harry L. McGinnis
Speaker 1: to aid him. Caller took Patrolman we Grammar from his
Speaker 1: own office. Freeman's Grove is just outside Jasper County, so
Speaker 1: it was necessary for the officers to go to Neosho,
Speaker 1: Missouri County seat of Newton County for a search warrant.
Speaker 1: There they added Constable West Harriman of Saganah, Missouri to
Speaker 1: the raiding party. The officers swung south out of Joplin's
Speaker 1: main street in two cars. As they turned west into
Speaker 1: thirty fourth Street, Sergeant Caller and Patrolman Grammar were in
Speaker 1: the lead. De Graff and Harryman rode on the front
Speaker 1: seat of the trailing police car, with mcguinnis on the
Speaker 1: rear seat. The plan was to drive around the block
Speaker 1: before making the raid, but as Caller drove past the house,
Speaker 1: he saw two men standing in the garage door at
Speaker 1: the site of the uniformed state officers. They banged the
Speaker 1: door shut. Stop stop, Caller shouted, jamming on his brakes.
Speaker 1: The garage door opened a crack. A blast from a
Speaker 1: shotgun sprayed the car with lead. As the state car
Speaker 1: slid to a halt to graft driving, the police car
Speaker 1: whirled the steering wheel and drove straight into the withering
Speaker 1: fire from the garage. He did not stop until both
Speaker 1: of the doors of the garage were blocked and the
Speaker 1: exposed officers were within a dozen feet of the outlaws,
Speaker 1: who were protected by the stone building. The odds hopelessly
Speaker 1: against him. Constable Harriman drew his revolver and stepped from
Speaker 1: the car. His weapon barked once. Ten shotgun slugs tore
Speaker 1: through his neck and left shoulder. He was dead before
Speaker 1: he could fire again. Detective McGinnis leaped out. This time
Speaker 1: his pistol cracked as he pulled the trigger a fourth time.
Speaker 1: The arm holding the weapon was ripped off at the elbow.
Speaker 1: Buckshot showered his face and head. He dropped unconscious. The
Speaker 1: graft slid from beneath the wheel. Crouched beside the car,
Speaker 1: he emptied his gun through the garage doors at the
Speaker 1: assailants he could not see. Evidently sensing that de Graf's
Speaker 1: weapon was empty, one of the outlaws dashed from the buildings,
Speaker 1: sweeping everything before him with a Browning automatic rifle, reloading
Speaker 1: as rapidly as possible. The graft was forced to retreat
Speaker 1: around the east side of the building. Sergeant Collar ran
Speaker 1: from the state car as soon as it stopped, closely
Speaker 1: followed by Patrolman Grammar. Grammar took a position between the
Speaker 1: garage and the large stone house that stood a few
Speaker 1: yards west of it. He worked toward the rear of
Speaker 1: the garage. Caller, in the open, his only weapon or revolver,
Speaker 1: fought a single handed duel with the Browning armed Desperado
Speaker 1: four times. Caller pitted his puning weapon against the automatic,
Speaker 1: slowly walking backward toward the corner of the house to
Speaker 1: the west. Then suddenly he tripped over a chicken wire
Speaker 1: support for the flowers. Taking advantage of the situation, the
Speaker 1: outlaw darted to the police car and fought to release
Speaker 1: the break, hurriedly drawing himself into a sitting position. Caller
Speaker 1: took deliberate aim and sent his last shot at the killer.
Speaker 1: The man screamed with pain and dropped furiously. The sergeant
Speaker 1: reloaded stiffly. The outlaw struggled to his feet and staggered
Speaker 1: into the garage, striving for a position of advantage. Grammar
Speaker 1: into Graff met behind the garage telephone for help. Get
Speaker 1: it quick. Detective to Graft shouted, running desperately. Grammar went
Speaker 1: to a neighboring house and telephoned the Joplin Police Office.
Speaker 1: In an instant, detectives were speeding to the battle. Just
Speaker 1: one question was in ed Portley's mind. Would they be
Speaker 1: there in time. As the wounded man entered the garage,
Speaker 1: another outlaw ran out, jerking free the brake on the
Speaker 1: police car. He gave the car a shove. Slowly, it
Speaker 1: coasted down the inclined driveway, gathering speed. Crazily, it swung
Speaker 1: across thirty fourth Street and crashed against a red oak
Speaker 1: tree on the south side of the street. The garage
Speaker 1: doors were unobstructed. Inside the garage, the motor of an
Speaker 1: automobile roared. A hysterical woman suddenly burst from the garage
Speaker 1: and ran east down the street. With a grinding of gears,
Speaker 1: the motor car swept out of the garage. Three men
Speaker 1: and a woman were in it, all spraying led desperately.
Speaker 1: The living officers carried on the outlaws slowed down. As
Speaker 1: they reached the fleeing woman, a man reached out and
Speaker 1: grabbed her into the car. The machine gained speed. His
Speaker 1: gun empty, sergeant Collar scribbled the license number of the
Speaker 1: marmon car as it raced from sight. It was Texas
Speaker 1: number two seven nine dashed seven nine seven. The murderers
Speaker 1: were gone when reinforcements arrived. The officers divided into groups.
Speaker 1: One group dashed after the desperadoes, and the others entered
Speaker 1: the building seeking clues as to the identities of the fugitives.
Speaker 1: Detective McGinnis, his life completely despaired of, was rushed immediately
Speaker 1: to Saint John's Hospital, where he died four hours later.
Speaker 1: Men under the direction of Chief of Detectives ed Portley
Speaker 1: frantically spread over the countryside, searching highways and byways for
Speaker 1: the escaping killers. George Clemens, a garage operator at thirty
Speaker 1: fourth in Main Street, saw the bullet marked car speed passed.
Speaker 1: One man was bent over as though in terrible pain.
Speaker 1: At that point, law enforcement lost trace of the desperate
Speaker 1: crew for a moment. It was four thirty pm on
Speaker 1: April thirteenth, nineteen thirty three. In one of the two
Speaker 1: rooms over the garage, officers found a meal in preparation.
Speaker 1: On the dining table was a sheet of paper carrying
Speaker 1: some pen lines that gave an extraordinary sidelight on the
Speaker 1: character of one member of this desperate gang. The ink
Speaker 1: was still wet with exclamations of astonishment. The officers read
Speaker 1: this bit of doggerel. Doggrel being a derogatory term for
Speaker 1: amateur poetry. The poem was entitled The Story of Suicide
Speaker 1: sal by Bonnie Parker. So, guys, here's what I'm going
Speaker 1: to do. Bonnie Parker's poem is pretty long. I can't
Speaker 1: bring myself to skip it. You got to hear it.
Speaker 1: But I also don't want to exit the narrative for
Speaker 1: too long. So what I'm gonna do is we're going
Speaker 1: to take our ad break here, except it won't be
Speaker 1: an ad break. Instead, I'm gonna skip ads and read
Speaker 1: you the entirety of Bonnie Parker's poem. When we come back,
Speaker 1: we'll jump right back into the story. So if you
Speaker 1: don't care about her poem, I mean shame on you,
Speaker 1: but go ahead and skip through it. Suicide Sal by
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker. We each of us have a good alibi
Speaker 1: for being down here in the joint, but few of
Speaker 1: them are really justified. If you get right down to
Speaker 1: the point, you've heard of a woman's glory being spent
Speaker 1: on a downright curve. Still, you can't always judge the
Speaker 1: story as true being told by her. As long as
Speaker 1: I stayed on the island and heard confidence tales from
Speaker 1: the gals, there was only one one interesting and truthful.
Speaker 1: It was the story of suicide Sal Now. Sal was
Speaker 1: a girl of rare beauty. Though her features were somewhat tough,
Speaker 1: she never once faltered from duty to play on me
Speaker 1: up and up. Sal told me this tale on the
Speaker 1: evening before she was turned out free, and I'll do
Speaker 1: my best to relate it just as she told it
Speaker 1: to me. I was born on a ranch in Wyoming,
Speaker 1: not treated like Helen of Troy. I was taught that
Speaker 1: rods were rulers and ranked as a greasy cowboy. Then
Speaker 1: I left my old home for the city to play
Speaker 1: in its mad dizzy world. Not knowing how little of
Speaker 1: pity it holds for a country girl. There I fell
Speaker 1: for the line of a henchman, a professional killer from Shy.
Speaker 1: I couldn't help loving him madly. For him, even I
Speaker 1: would die one year. We were desperately happy our ill
Speaker 1: gotten gains. We spent free. I was taught the ways
Speaker 1: of the underworld. Jack was like a god to me.
Speaker 1: I got on the FBA payroll to get the inside
Speaker 1: lay of the job. The bank was turning big money.
Speaker 1: It looked like a cinch for the mob, eighty grand
Speaker 1: without even a rumble. Jack was the last with the
Speaker 1: loot in the door. When the teller dead aimed a
Speaker 1: revolver from where they forced him to lie on the floor,
Speaker 1: I knew I had only a moment. He would surely
Speaker 1: get Jack as he ran, so I staged a big
Speaker 1: fade out beside him and knocked the forty five out
Speaker 1: of his hand. They wrapped me down big at the
Speaker 1: station and informed me that I'd get the blame for
Speaker 1: the dramatic stunt pulled on the teller. Looked to them
Speaker 1: too much like a game. The police called it a
Speaker 1: frame up, said it was an inside job, but I
Speaker 1: steadily denied any knowledge or dealings with underworld mobs. The
Speaker 1: gang hired a couple of lawyers, the best fixers in
Speaker 1: any man's town. But it takes more than lawyers and
Speaker 1: money when Uncle Sam starts shaking you down. I was
Speaker 1: charged as a scion of gang Land and tried for
Speaker 1: my wages of sin. The Dirty Dozen found me guilty
Speaker 1: from five to fifty years in the pen. I took
Speaker 1: the rap like good people, and never once squawk did
Speaker 1: I make. Jack dropped himself on the promise that we'd
Speaker 1: make a sensational break. While to shorten a sad, lengthy story,
Speaker 1: five years have gone over my head without even so
Speaker 1: much as a letter. At first I thought he was dead,
Speaker 1: but not so long ago I discovered from a gallon
Speaker 1: the joint named Lyle that Jack and his mall had
Speaker 1: got over and were living in true gangster style. If
Speaker 1: he had returned to me sometime, though he hadn't assent
Speaker 1: to give, i'd forget all the hell that he'd caused
Speaker 1: me and love him as long as I lived. But
Speaker 1: there's no chance of that ever coming, for he and
Speaker 1: his mall have no fears that I will die in
Speaker 1: this prison or flatten this fifty years. Tomorrow I'll be
Speaker 1: on the outside and i'll drop them myself on it. Today,
Speaker 1: I'll bump them if they give me the hot squat
Speaker 1: on this island out here in the bay. The iron
Speaker 1: doors swung wide next morning for a gruesome woman of
Speaker 1: waste who at last had a chance to fix it.
Speaker 1: Murder showed on her cynical face. Not long ago I
Speaker 1: read in the paper that a gall on the east
Speaker 1: side got hot, and when the smoke finally retreated, two
Speaker 1: of gangdam were found on the spot. It related a
Speaker 1: colorful story of a jilted gangster gas Two days later,
Speaker 1: a subgun ended the story of suicide sal So that
Speaker 1: was the poem that officers discovered at the abandoned house
Speaker 1: on thirty fourth Street in Freeman's Grove from which the
Speaker 1: outlaws had just fled following the gun battle. Police were
Speaker 1: appalled the bloody Barrows had killed for the sixth and
Speaker 1: seventh time, with five dead men mutely accusing her from
Speaker 1: the grave. Bonnie Parker had been able to pen such
Speaker 1: a poem as this, and then she'd been able to
Speaker 1: lay down her pen and calmly take part in two
Speaker 1: more murders. Such obvious evidence of pride and her shameful
Speaker 1: crimes infuriated the officers, who had just seen their bleeding comrades.
Speaker 1: Five high powered rifles and a revolver were dragged out
Speaker 1: of the closet in a suitcase, where found three official
Speaker 1: looking documents. One of them was the certificate of pardon
Speaker 1: issued just three weeks before to Buck Barrow. Another was
Speaker 1: the certificate that marked marriage of Buck to Blanche Caldwell
Speaker 1: while he was a fugitive from the Texas Penitentiary in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one. The third was a motor car registration
Speaker 1: certificate issued to Carl Beatty ten ten East Jefferson Street, Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 1: It was for a nineteen twenty nine Marmon Sedan Texas
Speaker 1: license number two seven nine DASH seven nine seven motor
Speaker 1: number T DASH eight six ninety two. The killers had
Speaker 1: escaped in that car. Could Carl Beatty have been the
Speaker 1: third man in the gang? Joplin's chief of detectives hurried
Speaker 1: a telegram to the Dallas Police asking them to check
Speaker 1: up on him. One other discovery seemed to have some
Speaker 1: potential value as evidence. It was a camera containing a
Speaker 1: role of film, rushing the film to a photographer. Police
Speaker 1: waited impatiently while it was developed great, as had been
Speaker 1: the challenge of Bonnie's poem, it was mild compared to
Speaker 1: the taunt that screamed at law enforcement from the finished photographs.
Speaker 1: In the center of three pictures was the stag handled
Speaker 1: revolver taken from Officer Percell at Springfield. It was evident
Speaker 1: that the outlaws considered the Percell episode a great joke.
Speaker 1: In one picture, Clyde Barrow, smiling broadly, wore the weapon
Speaker 1: in a holster, facing him with a shotgun held at
Speaker 1: his stomach. Bonnie Parker reached her left hand to the weapon.
Speaker 1: And if you guys have checked out Kind of Murdery's
Speaker 1: social media, whether Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, by the way,
Speaker 1: I created a short promotional video for the Bonnie and
Speaker 1: Clyde story that includes the photos that are being referred
Speaker 1: to here, So if you haven't seen them, go check
Speaker 1: it out at Kind of Murdery on any social media.
Speaker 1: The revolver in the other pictures hung on the radiator
Speaker 1: cap of a Ford bearing nineteen thirty three Texas license
Speaker 1: number five eight seven DASH nine five six. A collection
Speaker 1: of shotguns and rifles leaned against the Bumper Clyde posed
Speaker 1: with the guns in one instance and Buck in the other.
Speaker 1: A fourth exposure showed Bonnie in front of the car.
Speaker 1: A fifth showed Buck and his wife, Blanche Caledwell Barrow.
Speaker 1: The pictures were unusually clear because they were the latest
Speaker 1: likenesses of the badly wanted criminals. Chief of Detectives ed
Speaker 1: Portly ordered hundreds of copies made, and as fast as
Speaker 1: they were printed, mailed them to other officers. After two
Speaker 1: days of terrific work, he received a telephone call from
Speaker 1: Detective Lieutenant J. W. Fritz at Dallas. His men had
Speaker 1: found Carl Beattie. Lieutenant Fritz explained that Betty was an
Speaker 1: absolutely reputable man and had made a sworn statement concerning
Speaker 1: the marm An escape car. I received the statement in
Speaker 1: the mail the next morning. Beattie said he had known
Speaker 1: Buck Barrow ten years. He had sold him the marm
Speaker 1: in March twenty ninth, and had received two Ford coups
Speaker 1: and one hundred dollars in payment. The identity of the
Speaker 1: third man in the gang remained as deep a mystery
Speaker 1: as ever. Joplin detectives worked anxiously through the discouraging days
Speaker 1: to obtain some fresh trace of the Barrow gang. More
Speaker 1: and more they became convinced that the Bloody Barrows had
Speaker 1: set off on another of their migratory flights through the country. Consequently,
Speaker 1: they widened the scope of their appeal until almost every
Speaker 1: community in the nation was reached. Confirmation of the theory
Speaker 1: was not long in coming. Pictures of the much wanted
Speaker 1: criminals appeared in the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper the morning of
Speaker 1: April eighteenth. That afternoon, Steve Fronius of one two nine
Speaker 1: zero three Oakfield Avenue, an employee of the Walls Transportation Company,
Speaker 1: picked up two women hitchhikers at seventy ninth Street in
Speaker 1: Euclid Avenue. They told them they were from Dallas, Texas
Speaker 1: and intended visiting in turn Columbus, Chillicothe, Ohio, and Annapolis, Maryland.
Speaker 1: By the way, guys, I don't always have time to
Speaker 1: look up the correct pronunciations of every place, so I
Speaker 1: apologize if I horribly butcher any of these place names,
Speaker 1: like Chillicothe, for example. Please feel free to reach out
Speaker 1: Kindamurdery at gmail dot com or at Kindermtory on social
Speaker 1: media and correct me. I'd love to be corrected I'd
Speaker 1: love to meet you. I'll send you some kind of
Speaker 1: murdery stickers. All right. Back to the story. So, the
Speaker 1: women who said they were from Texas had a list
Speaker 1: of places they were planning to visit, so directing them
Speaker 1: to United States Highway number forty two, Phronius let the
Speaker 1: women out at ninth Street and Prospect Avenue. A few
Speaker 1: hours later, they appeared at the office of the Walls
Speaker 1: Transportation Company, explaining that they had left a pair of
Speaker 1: right boots in the car. They obtained the boots and left,
Speaker 1: but not before several persons saw them. That night, when
Speaker 1: Phronius read his morning paper, he recognized Blanche Caldwell Barrow
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Parker as his passengers of earlier in the day.
Speaker 1: He hurried to the office of George J. Matowitz, chief
Speaker 1: of Police, where he told his story. Mattowitz notified Joplin,
Speaker 1: and they rushed pictures of the women to him by airmail.
Speaker 1: Soon the jop and police had word from Mattowitz that
Speaker 1: the pictures had been identified by Phronius and six others
Speaker 1: who saw the women. The police of a dozen Ohio
Speaker 1: cities snapped into action, trying to draw the fugitives into
Speaker 1: a trap. The question arose as to what had become
Speaker 1: of the men in the gang. None of the witnesses
Speaker 1: had seen men with the women. Was it possible that
Speaker 1: the deluge of publicity had sent them to cover, that
Speaker 1: it had put an end to their mad dashes? Police
Speaker 1: hoped it had. They felt it would be easier to
Speaker 1: capture them if they held to one locality with startling decisiveness.
Speaker 1: The delusions that the police entertained on that score were
Speaker 1: swept aside. B. D. Darby and Undertaker sat in his
Speaker 1: boarding house at Rushed in Louisiana, the evening of April
Speaker 1: twenty six seven, talking to Miss Sophie Stone of Mansfield, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: home demonstration agent for Lincoln Parish. His motor car was
Speaker 1: parked in front of the house. Miss Stone's car stood
Speaker 1: directly behind it, uttering a sudden exclamation, I imagined something
Speaker 1: like what the hell? Darby leaped to his feet and
Speaker 1: dashed out the door. Surprised at the sudden interruption of
Speaker 1: the quiet conversation, Miss Stone followed. Darby's car was moving
Speaker 1: away from the curb. In it were three men and
Speaker 1: two women. One of the men waved and called back, thanks, buddy.
Speaker 1: While they're stealing my car. The undertaker shouted, get in mine,
Speaker 1: let's follow him. Miss Stone urged, with the courageous Miss
Speaker 1: Stone beside him. Darby fell in behind the thieves. The
Speaker 1: outlaws speeded up, but Darby kept the pace. Miles flashed by.
Speaker 1: Neither car seemed to gain an advantage. Then, near Hiko,
Speaker 1: the thieves began to draw away. It was obvious Darby
Speaker 1: could not catch them unless he did something at once,
Speaker 1: they would escape. The nearest town was Hiko. If he
Speaker 1: could reach officers there in time, his car might be saved.
Speaker 1: Spinning around, Darby raced for the town. Miss Stone looked
Speaker 1: back over her shoulder. A cry alarm escaped her. They're
Speaker 1: following us. A glance told Darby she was right. The
Speaker 1: outlaws were chasing them. Fear for the safety of the
Speaker 1: brave woman seized the man, thrusting the accelerator down hard.
Speaker 1: He hurled the car over the highway, but foot by
Speaker 1: foot the criminals gained. Swinging alongside, they forced Darby to
Speaker 1: a ditch. Guns bristling in their hands, the thieves piled
Speaker 1: from Darby's car. You're not so smart, bucko, hop out
Speaker 1: of there. Roughly the outlaws pushed Darby and miss Stone
Speaker 1: into the stolen car, swung it around and sped north.
Speaker 1: When Darby and miss Stone failed to return to the
Speaker 1: boarding house, Sheriff aj Thigpin of Russian was notified Quickly.
Speaker 1: He placed all highways from the city under guard, but
Speaker 1: the outlaws slipped through. Several hours passed, the silence concerning
Speaker 1: Darby and miss Stone remained unbroken. As time ticked away.
Speaker 1: Sheriff Figpin's telephone rang about eight o'clock. Oh, thank god,
Speaker 1: they're safe, he exclaimed as he hung up the receiver.
Speaker 1: Darby and miss Stone, after a ride of one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty five miles, had been released near Magnolia, Arkansas.
Speaker 1: Their captors gave them five dollars on which to return home.
Speaker 1: They hurried to Magnolia, where they reported their release to
Speaker 1: officers while they telephoned. Rushed in Magnolia, authorities rushed after
Speaker 1: the outlaws. The stolen car was sited passing through Hope, Arkansas,
Speaker 1: some three hundred miles south of Joplin, at about eight o'clock.
Speaker 1: Then the Ozark Hills seemed to swallow it. Believing that
Speaker 1: the kidnappers might continue north, Sheriff Thigpen telephone. Chief of
Speaker 1: Detectives ed Portley and Joplin. This next section of the
Speaker 1: story is told in Chief Portly's own words. The gang
Speaker 1: sounded like the Barrows. I had learned that they sometimes
Speaker 1: worked in Arkansas. In the stock of one of the
Speaker 1: rifles taken after the Joplin murders, I found a receipt
Speaker 1: showing that the weapon had been purchased by a man
Speaker 1: in Bolls Scott County, about one hundred miles from Hope, Arkansas.
Speaker 1: It had been stolen from him. I asked Sheriff Thigpen
Speaker 1: to have the victims view pictures of the Barrow gang.
Speaker 1: A little later he called me again. He'd intercepted Darby
Speaker 1: and miss Stone at Waldo, Arkansas. They had identified the
Speaker 1: Barrow brothers Missus Blanche Caldwell Barrow and Bonnie Parker, but
Speaker 1: there was no inkling of the identity of the third man.
Speaker 1: While Posseman poured in the hills of northwestern Arkansas, Joplin
Speaker 1: police distributed thousands of posters offering a reward of one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars for the arrest of the Barrow brothers. The
Speaker 1: governor of Missouri offered four hundred of the amount Joplin
Speaker 1: two hundred, Jasper County two hundred, and Newton County two hundred.
Speaker 1: Warned by the long jump from Cleveland to Louisiana that
Speaker 1: the killers could still be expected almost anywhere, police all
Speaker 1: over the Midwest and Southwest waited alertly. The feared news
Speaker 1: came suddenly. The gangsters dashed into Broken Bo, Oklahoma, near
Speaker 1: the point of their disappearance after the Louisiana kidnapping, on
Speaker 1: the evening of April twenty eighth, Brutally beating an attendant,
Speaker 1: they robbed a filling station of a few dollars. With
Speaker 1: officers close on them, the killers raced west through Hugo
Speaker 1: and Durant, and finally, under the cover of night, they
Speaker 1: apparently circled to the safety of the Hills. Two weeks passed,
Speaker 1: exhausting every device known to police work, law enforcement failed
Speaker 1: utterly to find the least trace of the desperadoes. A
Speaker 1: bandit ran into a filling station at Fort Dodge, Iowa,
Speaker 1: May sixteenth, nineteen thirty three, robbed the attendant, and escaped car,
Speaker 1: which had been left parked a block away. The attendant
Speaker 1: was unable to tell whether other persons were in the car.
Speaker 1: The victim was reporting the robbery in the office of
Speaker 1: John P. La Craye, chief of Police, when his eyes
Speaker 1: fell on a reward poster tacked to the wall. Why
Speaker 1: there's the man, he exclaimed. He pointed to a picture
Speaker 1: of buck Barrow. The gang had made another of its
Speaker 1: long sweeps. Three days later, two men and two women
Speaker 1: drove into Okabina, Minnesota, one hundred and thirty miles north
Speaker 1: in a dark green Ford V eight sedan. One of
Speaker 1: the women had bright red hair. The car stopped, the
Speaker 1: red headed woman stayed at the wheel. The men swooped
Speaker 1: into the First State Bank, driving bank officers and employees
Speaker 1: before them. They herded them into a vault, took twenty
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars, and ran to the car. The hold
Speaker 1: up had been witnessed. Townspeople opened fire from the sidewalks.
Speaker 1: Bullets thudded into the body of the car as it
Speaker 1: pulled away, knocking glass from the windows. The bandits enveloped
Speaker 1: the street in a shower of flying lead. The two
Speaker 1: men used shotguns and one of the women a high
Speaker 1: powered rifle. For a moment the battle raised furiously, but
Speaker 1: it was impossible to face the outlaw barrage and live Slowly,
Speaker 1: the defenders fell back into the shelter of buildings, and
Speaker 1: the bandits escaped. Bank employees identified pictures of the Barrow Gang.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension joined the Iowa
Speaker 1: State Bureau of Investigation in an effort to him in
Speaker 1: the bandits. Roads were barricaded. Investigators went into the underworlds
Speaker 1: of the larger cities, ready to mark any newcomers, and
Speaker 1: marshals in smaller towns carefully questioned all strangers. While that
Speaker 1: energetic effort was being made, the law won another point
Speaker 1: in its battle with the gang. Frank Hardy and Hollis
Speaker 1: Hale were arrested at Waco when they called on a
Speaker 1: young woman who had been shadowed after it became known
Speaker 1: she associated with the fugitives. Hardy was taken to the
Speaker 1: County jail at Temple, Texas, to be held for trial
Speaker 1: and connection with the murder of Doyle Johnson. Hale was
Speaker 1: returned to Missouri and questioned carefully. He confirmed every detail
Speaker 1: of the Onarago bank robbery as it had been constructed
Speaker 1: by the police, but he could tell them nothing of
Speaker 1: the word whereabouts of the Barrow brothers who had slipped
Speaker 1: through the net spread for them in Minnesota and Iowa.
Speaker 1: Hard as he was, Hale admitted he had left the
Speaker 1: Barrow gang because they were too desperate. He was sentenced
Speaker 1: to twenty years in Missouri penitentiary for his part in
Speaker 1: the Onarago robbery. It was with satisfaction that the police
Speaker 1: saw him off to prison. But the bigger problem, the
Speaker 1: capture of the Barrow brothers themselves, was as far from
Speaker 1: a solution as ever. They had again dropped out of sight,
Speaker 1: but heartbreaking past experience told law enforcement that they would
Speaker 1: not be missing long, and indeed that dread assumption would
Speaker 1: prove true. Steve Pritchard, a farmer living on the Salt
Speaker 1: Fork River seven miles north of Wellington, Texas, sat on
Speaker 1: his front porch on Saturday night, April tenth, nineteen thirty three,
Speaker 1: talking to Lonzo Carter, who lived at the Prichard home.
Speaker 1: Prichard heard the roar of a motor. Looking up, he
Speaker 1: saw a car speeding down the highway toward them. It
Speaker 1: was only a few hundred miles away. Well, gee, that
Speaker 1: fellow is really traveling, he remarked to Carter. Before Carter
Speaker 1: could answer, the car lurched over an embankment and disappeared
Speaker 1: in an instant. Flames leaped high in the darkness, bounding
Speaker 1: to their feet. Prichard and Carter sprinted toward the scene
Speaker 1: of the accident. The fire burned brighter. As they neared,
Speaker 1: they could see the car. It had landed top down.
Speaker 1: And we're going to pause our story right here. Did
Speaker 1: all the members of the Bloody Barrel Gang survive the crash?
Speaker 1: Is their reign of terror ended? Or is this just
Speaker 1: one more hiccup in their seemingly indefatigable quest to rain
Speaker 1: robbery and murder across two thirds of the United States.
Speaker 1: The capture of the Barrow Brothers themselves was as far
Speaker 1: from a solution as ever. They had again dropped out
Speaker 1: of sight, but heartbreaking past experience told law enforcement that
Speaker 1: they would not be missing long and indeed that dread
Speaker 1: assumption would prove true. Steve Pritchard, a farmer living on
Speaker 1: the Salt Fork River seven miles north of Wellington, Texas,
Speaker 1: sat on his front porch on Saturday night, April tenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one three talking to Lonzo Carter, who lived
Speaker 1: at the Prichard home. Prichard heard the roar of a motor.
Speaker 1: Looking up, he saw a car speeding down the highway
Speaker 1: toward them. It was only a few hundred miles away. Well, gee,
Speaker 1: that fellow is really traveling, he remarked to Carter. Before
Speaker 1: Carter could answer, the car lurched over an embankment and disappeared.
Speaker 1: In an instant, Flames leaped high in the darkness, Bounding
Speaker 1: to their feet. Prichard and Carter sprinted toward the scene
Speaker 1: of the accident. The fire burned brighter. As they neared.
Speaker 1: They could see the car. It had landed top down,
Speaker 1: illuminated by tongues of flame. Two men were tugging a
Speaker 1: third person pinned in the wreckage. Suddenly the flames reached out.
Speaker 1: The pain born scream of a woman split the night.
Speaker 1: With a final burst of speed. Prichard and Carter reached
Speaker 1: the car. Help us, Help us, One of the men pleaded.
Speaker 1: Facing the almost unbearable heat, the farmers bent their shoulders
Speaker 1: to the task. The hot metal scorched their hands and
Speaker 1: acrid fumes tortured their lungs as their muscles taunted with
Speaker 1: a death. But a heave, they lifted the car. A red
Speaker 1: haired young woman was dragged from the tangled mass and
Speaker 1: carried to the roadside, where she writhed with pain. Her
Speaker 1: arms were seared to the shoulders and the lower part
Speaker 1: of her face was white with blisters. Prichard and Carter
Speaker 1: looked up and down the road, hoping to stop a
Speaker 1: passing motorist and get the woman to a doctor. The
Speaker 1: men with her ran back to the car and jerked
Speaker 1: something from the rear seat, where do you live. Angered
Speaker 1: by the curt tone of the question, Prichard was about
Speaker 1: to give a sharp retort, he forgot the intention. Suddenly
Speaker 1: the farmers were covered by automatic rifles. Prichard pointed toward
Speaker 1: his home. Carry the girl up there. There was nothing
Speaker 1: to do but obey. With the rifles close at their backs.
Speaker 1: Prichard and Carter carried the young woman to the house
Speaker 1: and later her on a bed. Quickly, Prichard prepared a
Speaker 1: paste of baking soda and spread it on her burns.
Speaker 1: The gunman moved throughout the house nervously, as though uncertain
Speaker 1: what to do. The woman was suffering terribly. Her groans
Speaker 1: echoed through the rooms. Plainly, she needed medical attention. Let
Speaker 1: me call an ambulance, Prichard pleaded. The girl should to
Speaker 1: be in a hospital. No, no, we can't afford to
Speaker 1: do that. The outlaw vetoed the suggestion it's impossible. You'll
Speaker 1: have to take care of her. For several minutes, the
Speaker 1: bandits kept the nervous pacing. Then one of them said,
Speaker 1: you watch these fellows. I'm going back to the car
Speaker 1: to get the rest of those guns. Left with only
Speaker 1: one guard, Carter watched his chance catching the outlaw, and
Speaker 1: a second's relaxation, the farmer sprang toward the rear door
Speaker 1: the desperado world. He shouted come back here and raised
Speaker 1: his rifle, but Carter was gone. He ran madly to
Speaker 1: a neighboring farmhouse and telephone Sheriff George Corey at Wellington.
Speaker 1: Corey picked up City Marshall Paul Hardy on the street
Speaker 1: and sped toward the Pritchard home. I should kill you
Speaker 1: for that, the guard threatened Pritchard. Well, I've done everything
Speaker 1: you told me to do, and I'm not responsible for
Speaker 1: what that fellow does, the farmer insisted. The bandit seemed
Speaker 1: to weigh the defense for a moment, then he said, well,
Speaker 1: I guess you're right. A sharp rap sounded at the
Speaker 1: back door. With a cry of rage, the outlaw world
Speaker 1: and brought his gun into position. Expecting an answering blast,
Speaker 1: Pritchard leaped to cover the Desperado's rifle roared. From outside.
Speaker 1: The came a scream of pain that froze both men
Speaker 1: in their tracks and brought a look of surprise and
Speaker 1: disbelief to their faces. The scream had come from a
Speaker 1: woman springing to the door. Prichard swung it open into
Speaker 1: the house, staggered his daughter in law, missus Jack Pritchard,
Speaker 1: who lived nearby, sobbing. She held out her mangled right hand,
Speaker 1: hurting the injured woman and Pritchard before him. The outlaw
Speaker 1: drove them through the house into the front yard. Jumping
Speaker 1: from her bed at the sound of the shot. The
Speaker 1: badly burned woman followed. In a moment, the second outlaw
Speaker 1: panted to the house, his arms filled with rifles. Soon
Speaker 1: a car swung into the Prichard driveway. It skidded to
Speaker 1: a stop at the back of the house, and two
Speaker 1: men got out. Sheriff Corey and Marshall Hardy burst in
Speaker 1: the back door revolvers ready for action. Finding the house empty,
Speaker 1: they went to the front porch and peered into the darkness.
Speaker 1: They were silhouetted sharply against the lights in the house.
Speaker 1: Unseen by the authorities, The outlaws crept toward them. Slipping
Speaker 1: alongside the porch, they gained positions behind the unsuspecting men.
Speaker 1: Suddenly they leaped out, whisked the weapons from the officers,
Speaker 1: jerked a pair of handcuffs from the pocket of Marshall Hardy,
Speaker 1: and fastened the pair again. The entire capture was accomplished
Speaker 1: in one unbelievably fast, coordinated gesture. The surprise had been
Speaker 1: so complete that the brave effort to resist made by
Speaker 1: the officers was predestined to failure. Hopelessly trapped, the luckless
Speaker 1: captives were forced into Sheriff Corey's car. The outlaws piled
Speaker 1: in after them and fled with their hostages. Pritchard hurried
Speaker 1: his daughter in law to a hospital, where it was
Speaker 1: said it might be necessary to amputate her hand. Then
Speaker 1: he organized a search for the kidnapped officers, fearing that
Speaker 1: the captives would meet death at the hands of the
Speaker 1: desperate men. Scores of citizens responded to the alarm, and
Speaker 1: authorities in the surrounding town stopped all cars in an
Speaker 1: effort to intercept the abductors. But protected by the darkness,
Speaker 1: The outlaws in less than an hour dashed from the
Speaker 1: Texas Panhandle into western Oklahoma. Three hours later, while his
Speaker 1: anxious neighbors still searched, Sheriff Corey telephoned authorities at Sayer,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma that he and Marshall Hardy had been released unharmed
Speaker 1: near Eric, Oklahoma. Their captors, the sheriff said, fled westward
Speaker 1: toward Pampa, Texas. On the road between Eric and Pampa,
Speaker 1: officers found Sheriff Corey's car, but the fugitives, taking to
Speaker 1: side roads, eluded them. After they seized the officers, the
Speaker 1: desperadoes drove madly until they crossed the Texas line. Once
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma, their spirits brightened. They chided their prisoners, you're
Speaker 1: in a fine pickle. One of the men told the sheriff,
Speaker 1: I'm Clyde Barrow. Guess what that means for you. Grimly,
Speaker 1: the sheriff thought that it probably didn't mean anything pleasant.
Speaker 1: A short distance outside of Eric, the outlaws were met
Speaker 1: by a man in another car. They talked to him
Speaker 1: a moment, then the three approached the captives. This is
Speaker 1: just as good a place as any to get rid
Speaker 1: of these fellows. One of them said. The officers were
Speaker 1: ordered out of the car, their hearts sinking. They were
Speaker 1: marched to a tree that stood in a pasture near
Speaker 1: the road. Some barbed wire was twisted from a fence.
Speaker 1: With it, they were bound securely to an oak. Are
Speaker 1: we going to kill these men? The newcomer asked, Nah,
Speaker 1: cried Barrow replied, I've had them with me so long,
Speaker 1: I'm beginning to like them. The outlaws returned to the
Speaker 1: cars and drove away. Thirty minutes later, the officers succeeded
Speaker 1: in freeing themselves and hurried to a farmhouse and telephone
Speaker 1: news of their release. As soon as Chief of Detectives
Speaker 1: Ed Portly heard of the Wellington afair, he telephoned share
Speaker 1: of Corey. Corey told him he'd examined the pictures of
Speaker 1: the Barrow brothers and was certain they had been his captors.
Speaker 1: The woman, he said, was Bonnie Parker. He had been
Speaker 1: unable to identify the third man. Portly assumed he probably
Speaker 1: was the mysterious third man who had been present at
Speaker 1: the Joplin murders. The sheriff said he believed Bonnie's burns
Speaker 1: were serious, and it was his opinion that the gang
Speaker 1: would have to hold up somewhere until she recovered. It
Speaker 1: seemed he was right. The buddy barrows were not seen
Speaker 1: for ten days. H. D. Humphrey, who had been a
Speaker 1: Marshal of Almah, Arkansas less than two months, was walking
Speaker 1: past the commercial bank the morning of Thursday, June twenty second,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind. His
Speaker 1: arms were pinned his side, and a hand was pressed
Speaker 1: over his mouth, lifting him bodily. The assailant carried him
Speaker 1: into the bank and bound him to a pillar. Recovering
Speaker 1: from his surprise, the marshal looked about him. Two bandits
Speaker 1: armed with rifles were in the bank. One of them
Speaker 1: held the employees at bay, while the other rolled a
Speaker 1: small safe over the marble floor, through the door and
Speaker 1: onto a waiting truck. The robbers escaped with thirty six
Speaker 1: hundred day The looting was accomplished before persons passing on
Speaker 1: the street were aware it was even taking place. By
Speaker 1: the time the news was spread, the bandits had a
Speaker 1: good start, and although a pursuit was started, the outlaws
Speaker 1: succeeded in reaching some inaccessible hideout in the Ozark Mountains.
Speaker 1: While no one blamed Marshall Humphrey for his unfortunate capture.
Speaker 1: He was deeply humiliated by the experience. To intimates, he
Speaker 1: confided that he would never rest until he had sent
Speaker 1: the bank bandits to prison. The next evening, June twenty third,
Speaker 1: two bandits rushed into the Piggly Wiggly grocery store at
Speaker 1: fayette Bille, Arkansas, fifty miles south of Alma, just at
Speaker 1: closing time. Shouting threats of death at the clerks. The
Speaker 1: outlaws emptied the cash till and fled toward United States
Speaker 1: Highway number seventy one toward Almah. Witnesses to the robbery
Speaker 1: obtained good descriptions of the bandits in their car, which
Speaker 1: was a nineteen thirty three Model Forward carrying Indiana license
Speaker 1: number two two five DASH four sixty four. Officers at
Speaker 1: Fayetteville telephoned Vernon Humphrey, son of the Alma Marshall, and
Speaker 1: gave him the descriptions of the gangsters and the license number.
Speaker 1: Young Humphrey was a manager of the AHC Garage situated
Speaker 1: on Highway number seventy one at the outskirts of Almah.
Speaker 1: The robbers, if they stayed on the highway would have
Speaker 1: to pass his garage. Vernon Humphrey at once warned his
Speaker 1: father and am Sawyer's deputy Sheriff of Crawford County. Sliers,
Speaker 1: in his car, picked up Marshall Humphrey, and they drove
Speaker 1: to the garage, where the Marshall's son gave them detailed information.
Speaker 1: Sawyers saw the look of determination that came onto the
Speaker 1: Marshall's face as he heard the description. The deputy knew
Speaker 1: what it meant, but he didn't say anything. It was
Speaker 1: Marshall Humphrey who mentioned the matter. Sounds like those fellows
Speaker 1: in the bank, he remarked, coolly. Let's go get him.
Speaker 1: Armed only with revolvers, the officers started out the highway
Speaker 1: toward Fayetteville to meet the fleeing bandits. About two miles out,
Speaker 1: they saw another car approaching. Deputy Sawyers slowed down, so
Speaker 1: did the other car. It was Webber Wilson, night, manager
Speaker 1: of the AHC garage, was on his way to work.
Speaker 1: Saliers was about to stop when he noticed another car
Speaker 1: behind Wilson's driving at a high speed, swerving to the
Speaker 1: side of the road. Called to Wilson, don't stop, or
Speaker 1: that fellow will run over you. The warning came too late,
Speaker 1: with a terrific crash. The speeding car banged into Wilson's
Speaker 1: and bounced back, its motor disabled, its front wheels crushed
Speaker 1: Wilson's car, chilted and rolled over. Flying glass whizzed about
Speaker 1: the garageman's head as his car struck the pavement. Blood
Speaker 1: flowed from deep gashes on his face. As he crawled
Speaker 1: free of the wreck, Wilson was furious, believing the driver
Speaker 1: of the car which struck his as a drunk. He
Speaker 1: snatched up two large rocks and started after him. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: he dropped the rocks and ran for his life toward
Speaker 1: a patch of timber. The officers were about seventy five
Speaker 1: yards past the wreck cars when Deputy Saliers stopped his automobile.
Speaker 1: It seemed impossible that anyone could have escaped the crash uninjured.
Speaker 1: They started toward the cars on a run. Suddenly, Marshall
Speaker 1: Humphrey shouted a warning and whipped out his revolver. He
Speaker 1: had recognized the license plate number of the bandit car. Saliers,
Speaker 1: taking in the situation, drew his pistol. The officers ran
Speaker 1: on fifty yards from the bandits. Marshall Humphrey shouted put
Speaker 1: up your hands. The bandits threw open the front doors
Speaker 1: of their car and took shelter behind them, and the
Speaker 1: guns flashed in their hands, but the exposed officers did
Speaker 1: not hesitate straight toward the shield of desperadoes. They ran,
Speaker 1: with Salliers in the lead and Marshall Humphrey three feet
Speaker 1: behind him on the left. Sawyers directed his attention to
Speaker 1: the man behind the right door of the car. Humphrey
Speaker 1: charged the other. The rattle of gunfires split the evening air.
Speaker 1: Bullets from a Browning automatic rifle whine past the deputy's head.
Speaker 1: Then the other bandit opened up his shotgun roared. Marshall
Speaker 1: Humphrey staggered. His slugs tore through his chest, but he
Speaker 1: did not falter. His revolver barked on until another blast
Speaker 1: from the shotgun dropped him helpless. With Humphrey down, Deputy
Speaker 1: Sawyer faced the gangsters alone, exchanging shots with the rifle
Speaker 1: armed bandits at a range of less than twenty yards.
Speaker 1: The shotguns swung toward him. The bandit aimed deliberately. Salliers
Speaker 1: glimpsed him out of the corner of his eye. He
Speaker 1: realized that his life hung on a split second desperately,
Speaker 1: he whirled and sent his last shot at the man's head.
Speaker 1: He missed. The bandit smiled grimly as the hammer of
Speaker 1: the deputy's weapons snapped on an empty cartridge. He pulled
Speaker 1: the trigger, but there was no explosion. The shotgun had jammed.
Speaker 1: The outlaw reached into the car and jerked out another
Speaker 1: Browning automatic. It was impossible for the deputy to face
Speaker 1: the two weapons without a weapon of his own. Reloading
Speaker 1: as he went, he ran to the corner of a
Speaker 1: farmhouse a few dozen yards away. With the deputy and
Speaker 1: temporary retreat, the desperadoes abandoned the protection of the car doors.
Speaker 1: One of them bent over the mortally wounded Humphrey and snarled,
Speaker 1: I ought to finish you right now. Go ahead, Humphrey
Speaker 1: defied them. I think you've already finished me. His revolver reloaded.
Speaker 1: Deputy Slyers stepped out from behind the house and renewed
Speaker 1: the battle. The bandits answered. Chips flew from the house
Speaker 1: a few inches from the officer's head. Bullets passed entirely
Speaker 1: through the house and lodged in the barn yards away.
Speaker 1: Sallyers charged into the deadly hail, snatching Marshall Humphrey's empty
Speaker 1: revolver from the ground. The bandits ran to Salier's car
Speaker 1: and sped north. As long as the car was in sight.
Speaker 1: The deputy kept up his fire. When the battle was over,
Speaker 1: more than two hundred empty shells littered the ground. Cars
Speaker 1: traveling the highway were stopped by the battle. A traffic
Speaker 1: jam resulted. Salliers loaded the Marshal into one of these cars.
Speaker 1: After emergency treatment at Alma, Humphrey was taken to a
Speaker 1: hospital at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he died four days later.
Speaker 1: The bloody Barrows had dealt death for the eighth time.
Speaker 1: Deputy Salliers and six motorists named Buck as the man
Speaker 1: who shot the Marshal. The dying officer Weekly agreed the
Speaker 1: second man had not been identified. He was said to
Speaker 1: move stiffly. Perhaps he was the mystery third man in
Speaker 1: the Joplin affair, the fellow who shot Sergeant Coller. When
Speaker 1: Deputy Salliers reported the battle, Sheriff Maxie and Chief Deputy W. S. Bush, Mayor,
Speaker 1: with Deputies Joe Simpson and Clyde Peevie, Homer Mitchell, and
Speaker 1: Bruce Jackson, rushed to the scene. The officers assumed command
Speaker 1: of rapidly organized posses. Hotly they pressed the search in
Speaker 1: all directions. Our hearts left as news came from the
Speaker 1: man hunters. The posse, led by Chief Deputy Bushmeyer, was
Speaker 1: pressing the outlaws. Closely seven miles north of Almah. They
Speaker 1: found Saliar's car. A tire was blown, and beside it
Speaker 1: stood a mister and Missus Lofton of Fort Smith. The
Speaker 1: outlaws had forced them from their car, loaded half a
Speaker 1: dozen rifles in several boxes of ammunition, and sped on.
Speaker 1: They were only a few minutes ahead. Swiftly the possemen
Speaker 1: pushed on persons along the way, kept them posted on
Speaker 1: the progress of the fugitives. Suddenly news came that caused
Speaker 1: the searchers to shout for joy. The desperadoes had turned
Speaker 1: into a mountain trail near Winslow. It was a dead
Speaker 1: ended road. The slayers had driven into a natural trap.
Speaker 1: Eagerly the man hunters went on. Soon they saw the
Speaker 1: banded car, they formed a circle, weapons ready, they closed in,
Speaker 1: but there was no deadly charge from outlawed guns. The
Speaker 1: killers were in the underbrush on foot. The pursuit was
Speaker 1: so close they'd left behind their weapons and ammunition. At
Speaker 1: the most they had only revolvers. Anxiously pressing the advantage,
Speaker 1: possemen swarmed over the mountain side. Meanwhile, Sheriff John B.
Speaker 1: Williams of Sebastian County was visited by a physician who'd
Speaker 1: treated a redheaded woman for burns and a tourist camp
Speaker 1: near Fort Smith. She gave a name of missus Ruth
Speaker 1: McCrae of Houston, Texas. Could she be Bonnie Parker? Sheriff
Speaker 1: Williams investigated. He learned that the Barrel gang, including the
Speaker 1: mysterious third man, had arrive at the camp at three
Speaker 1: o'clock on the morning of June fifteenth, and had left
Speaker 1: at ten forty the night of June twenty third, shortly
Speaker 1: after the shooting at Almah. Investigation of the car abandoned
Speaker 1: at Almah revealed it was stolen at Hutchinson, Kansas, on
Speaker 1: June fourteenth, apparently after releasing the officer kidnapped at Wellington, Texas.
Speaker 1: The gang had hidden in the Texas Panhandle. A day
Speaker 1: or two afterwards, they swung into western Kansas, then circled
Speaker 1: the Arkansas Ozarks, and probably crossed part of Oklahoma. It
Speaker 1: seemed that The gang was finally at the mercy of
Speaker 1: law enforcement, who regarded it as only a matter of
Speaker 1: hours until they closed in on them. Bonnie Parker was
Speaker 1: in too painful a condition to travel well. The killers,
Speaker 1: almost unarmed, were a foot in territory well known to
Speaker 1: the posseman. Through the night, possemen searched the brush. Morning
Speaker 1: found them still pushing on in the direction of Winslow.
Speaker 1: Suddenly news came that indicated the bandits were still in
Speaker 1: the vicinity. Missus John Rogers heard steps in the yard
Speaker 1: of her mountain home. Stepping out, she met two men
Speaker 1: who appeared tired, torn clothes and unshaved faces. Told her
Speaker 1: they'd spent some time in the brush. Sensing that the
Speaker 1: men were fleeing something, she started back in the house,
Speaker 1: whipping out a revolver. One of the men stopped her.
Speaker 1: Give us the keys to your car, he commanded, I'll
Speaker 1: not do it, and you can't make me. The terrified
Speaker 1: woman bravely defied them with a snarl of rage. The
Speaker 1: second outlaw picked up a chain from the ground. Savagely,
Speaker 1: he brought it down across the back and shoulders of
Speaker 1: the helpless woman. But Missus Rogers made no outcry, now,
Speaker 1: will you give them to us? No, No, I won't,
Speaker 1: not if you kill me again and again the chain fell.
Speaker 1: The desperado did not relent until his victims sank to
Speaker 1: the ground, hardly conscious. If you won't give us the keys,
Speaker 1: we'll fix the car so nobody can use it. The
Speaker 1: bandits gave the car a shove. It rolled toward the
Speaker 1: brink of a fifty foot cliff. Exerting all her strength,
Speaker 1: the woman staggered to her feet and ran toward the car.
Speaker 1: A revolver was leveled at her. Don't touch it, or
Speaker 1: will kill you. Missus Rogers paid no attention. She climbed
Speaker 1: on the right board, gave the steering wheel a twist,
Speaker 1: and sent the car against a tree. When she looked around,
Speaker 1: the outlaws were fleeing into the woods at the rear
Speaker 1: of her home. My goodness, Missus Rogers is a freaking hero.
Speaker 1: That woman is so brave. There was a rustling of
Speaker 1: the underbrush at her back. Posseman streamed out of the woods, halting,
Speaker 1: only to hear Missus Rogers's story. The manhunters rushed on.
Speaker 1: With the memory of the bruised woman freshened their minds.
Speaker 1: They were in no mood to deal gently with the
Speaker 1: beasts of prey that fled before them. While possemen circled
Speaker 1: the district adjoining the Rogers home and began to close
Speaker 1: in on their quarry. A man followed doctor Julian Fields
Speaker 1: along the streets of Enid, Oklahoma. When doctor Fields went
Speaker 1: into his home, he left his medicine kit in his
Speaker 1: car parked on the curb. The man stepped to the car,
Speaker 1: hastily examined the kit, slipped under the steering wheel, and
Speaker 1: drove away. A fellow fitted the description of Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: was Bonnie Parker, receiving treatment for her burns somewhere near Enid.
Speaker 1: It seemed likely Enlisting the aid of volunteers, officers began
Speaker 1: a foot by foot investigation of the territory round Enid.
Speaker 1: Success at last seemed within reach. The outlaws were on
Speaker 1: the run. They'd left nearly all their guns behind. A
Speaker 1: few hours at most should see them captured. And then
Speaker 1: a small bandit burst into the National Guard armory at
Speaker 1: Enid and escaped with fifty army automatics and armloads of
Speaker 1: ammunition uh oh. He was identified as Clyde Barrow, Clyde
Speaker 1: was preparing to make a last desperate effort to save
Speaker 1: his trapped brother, the mysterious man with him, and of course,
Speaker 1: to protect the badly burned and injured Bonnie Parker with
Speaker 1: a small arsenal of death dealing weapons in their possession.
Speaker 1: Where will the outlaw barrows strike next? How many more
Speaker 1: lives will be snuffed out before these desperadoes are captured?
Speaker 1: Is Bonnie Parker through or will she again play a
Speaker 1: part in the murderous depredations of the Vicious Gang. We'll
Speaker 1: find out as Kind of Murdery continues after the break
Speaker 1: and welcome back everyone. Thank you for taking a moment
Speaker 1: to support the brands who support Kind of Murdery. I'm
Speaker 1: going to jump back into the story pretty quick here.
Speaker 1: We've got quite a bit to cover, but I quickly
Speaker 1: wanted to shout out Cody Pearce from Belton, Texas, who
Speaker 1: will be my next sticker recipient. And also I wanted
Speaker 1: to shout out Brian Vegso from Las Vegas, Nevada. Thank
Speaker 1: you Cody and Brian for being such good friends of
Speaker 1: the show. Okay, I also have three quick reminders that
Speaker 1: I feel like I was remiss not mentioning in Thursday's episode.
Speaker 1: The first as you know is that I have cerebral
Speaker 1: palsy and that I would love for kind of Murdery
Speaker 1: to become a support network for people with disabilities. So
Speaker 1: if you or someone you know has a disability, physical
Speaker 1: or otherwise and they'd like someone to connect with, someone
Speaker 1: to reach out to for support, please feel free to
Speaker 1: contact the show Kindamurdery at gmail dot com or at
Speaker 1: kind of Murdery on all social media. I think it's
Speaker 1: so important that we continue to share stories of the
Speaker 1: unique experiences that people with different challenges go through. Speaking
Speaker 1: of challenges, that leads me to my second reminder, Please
Speaker 1: don't forget. If you're struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts, mental
Speaker 1: health or substance abuse issues, there is a new free
Speaker 1: three digit number nine eight eight. Program it into your phone.
Speaker 1: If you're an acute crisis, please do dial nine eight eight,
Speaker 1: where you will be connected immediately with someone who's there
Speaker 1: to talk to you, with someone who cares. And please
Speaker 1: do remember that you're loved and people do care. And
Speaker 1: if you're not in acute crisis but you would still
Speaker 1: love to make a connection, feel free again to reach
Speaker 1: out to the show Kindomurdery at gmail dot com or
Speaker 1: at kind of Murdery on all social media. I care.
Speaker 1: I'm here for you, okay. Third reminder, a little more
Speaker 1: self serving, please do leave reviews. When you leave a review,
Speaker 1: it triggers algorithms on the podcast platforms that makes the
Speaker 1: show more visible, helps the audience grow, and inspires me
Speaker 1: to continue telling stories and hopefully, if possible, to do
Speaker 1: a better and better job. So if you could just
Speaker 1: take a moment and leave a review for kind of Murdery,
Speaker 1: that would be so awesome. In fact, I'd like to
Speaker 1: share with you a review I just received, not because
Speaker 1: it's someone saying they love the show, but because what
Speaker 1: it says about the community that we're building together. This
Speaker 1: is from Pat D two Foxfire. It says love it,
Speaker 1: look forward to it. I love every single one of
Speaker 1: these well researched and produced episodes, very different than many
Speaker 1: other true crime podcasts I've listened to, and in the
Speaker 1: most positive way. Additionally, hats off to Zeven Odeberg's work
Speaker 1: and efforts to share his story as well as reach
Speaker 1: out to others, making each of us feel like part
Speaker 1: of the family. Thank you so much, Pat D two Foxfire.
Speaker 1: That means so much to me. You understand exactly what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to do, and I really appreciate that that
Speaker 1: comes through. And with that, it's time to get back
Speaker 1: to the desperate flight of the Bloody Barrow Gang. Wheels,
Speaker 1: barrows and blood. The bad Lands romance of Bonnie and
Speaker 1: Clyde resumes now. Success at last seemed within reach. The
Speaker 1: outlaws were on the run. They'd left nearly all their
Speaker 1: guns behind. A few hours at most should see them captured.
Speaker 1: And then a small bandit burst into the National Guard
Speaker 1: Armory at Enid and escaped with fifty Army automatics and
Speaker 1: armloads of ammunition. Oh He was identified as Clyde Barrow.
Speaker 1: Clyde was preparing to make a last desperate effort to
Speaker 1: save his trapped brother, the mysterious man with him, and
Speaker 1: of course, to protect the badly burned and injured Bonnie Parker.
Speaker 1: Every precaution was taken to guarantee that the possemen would
Speaker 1: be able to match arms with the Bloody Barrows. Scores
Speaker 1: of rifles and a dozen machine guns were rushed into
Speaker 1: the mountains. Scouts were sent ahead of the main body
Speaker 1: of the Posse to guard against ambush. Everyone regarded a
Speaker 1: battle as imminent. In the midst of this almost military movement,
Speaker 1: a story came to us through underworld informers in Dallas,
Speaker 1: hundreds of miles away, Clyde Barrow, it's being whispered in
Speaker 1: various dives, had reached his brother Buck. They had slipped
Speaker 1: through the posse lines in the dark and were speeding
Speaker 1: north with the weapons stolen from the Enid Armory, intending
Speaker 1: to release a brother from the federal penitentiary at Levenworth, Kansas.
Speaker 1: We'd never heard before that there was a Barrow in
Speaker 1: Levenworth and considered the story a ruse to divert our
Speaker 1: attention from the manhunt. Nevertheless, we notified the United States
Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigation, which sent agents to Leavenworth to investigate.
Speaker 1: They found a man named Barrow in prison, but after
Speaker 1: exhaustive examination, proved he was not related to the killers.
Speaker 1: The careful search in the Ozarks extended into two days. Then,
Speaker 1: on July eighteenth, nineteen thirty three, three men and two
Speaker 1: women in a Ford sedan swept into Fort Dodge, Iowa,
Speaker 1: and robbed three filling stations in quick succession. Victims went
Speaker 1: to the office of Willis Bellknapp, chief of the Police
Speaker 1: Bureau of Identification, and identified pictures of the barrows, Blanche
Speaker 1: Calledwell Barrow and Bonnie Parker. They were unable to point
Speaker 1: out the third man, Bonnie Parker, they said, still wore
Speaker 1: bandages on her arms. Word that the Barrel gang was
Speaker 1: back in that part of the state spread quickly. The
Speaker 1: next morning, a farmer reported to Police Chief John P.
Speaker 1: McCray that a group fitting the description of the Bandits
Speaker 1: had camped on his place several days prior to the robberies.
Speaker 1: The chief found the camp site strewn with bandages smeared
Speaker 1: with salv A physician identified the ointment as a brand
Speaker 1: commonly used in the treatment of burns. Hours before Chief
Speaker 1: the Craye visited the camp near Fort Dodge. Three men
Speaker 1: and two women in a Ford sedan drove to the
Speaker 1: Red Crown Cabin camp at the junction of United States
Speaker 1: Highway seventy one and Missouri State Highway number fifty nine,
Speaker 1: six miles southeast of Platte City, Missouri. It was ten
Speaker 1: o'clock the night of July eighteenth. The car stopped at
Speaker 1: twin cabins connected by a double garage. The men and
Speaker 1: one woman remained in the car. The second woman, whose
Speaker 1: hair was red and who wore bandages on her arms
Speaker 1: sounds like Bonnie Parker to me, rented the cabins for
Speaker 1: the night from Delbert Crabtree attended to the filling station
Speaker 1: operated in conjunction with the tourist camp. She paid in
Speaker 1: small change. Two men and one woman moved into the
Speaker 1: cabin on the left as one faced the building. The
Speaker 1: other man and a woman took the cabin on the right.
Speaker 1: The car was running the garage at once and the
Speaker 1: doors were closed shortly. The red haired woman returned to
Speaker 1: the filling station and purchased five sandwiches and five bottles
Speaker 1: of beer. Again she paid in small change. The cabin
Speaker 1: rental was renewed the next day by the red haired woman,
Speaker 1: who purchased chicken dinners that came to ten dollars. The
Speaker 1: bills were paid with nickels, dimes, and quarters. The men
Speaker 1: and the second woman never showed themselves outside of the cabins.
Speaker 1: The afternoon of Thursday, June nineteenth, Crabtree related these unusual
Speaker 1: circumstances to M. D. Hawser, his employer. That evening, Howser
Speaker 1: reported the matter to Captain William Baxter, in command of
Speaker 1: the Kansas City area of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Speaker 1: Suspecting from the descriptions that the gang was the Barrows,
Speaker 1: Captain Baxter hurried to Platte City to confer with Sheriff
Speaker 1: Holt Coffee of Platte County. Shortly after Captain Baxter left,
Speaker 1: a man walked from the left cabin. He waved down
Speaker 1: a car on the high and rode toward Platte City.
Speaker 1: He was a small fellow, about five feet seven inches tall.
Speaker 1: He seemed to be about twenty years old and wore
Speaker 1: a blue shirt open at the collar. He wore no hat.
Speaker 1: Captain Baxter and Sheriff Coffee decided to raid the cabins.
Speaker 1: The captain took Sergeant Thomas Whitecotton and Patrolman La Ellis
Speaker 1: from his force. The sheriff called in deputy Sheriffs George
Speaker 1: Borden and Lincoln Baker, deputy Constables Byron Fisher and Thomas Hullett,
Speaker 1: and his son Clarence Coffee nineteen, who was not deputized.
Speaker 1: The group went to the junction to look over the
Speaker 1: situation and plan the attack. Sheriff Coffee proposed to raid
Speaker 1: the place at Once Captain Baxter was in favor of
Speaker 1: waiting for the suspects to emerge, he questioned the legal
Speaker 1: status of the raid. The officers had no search warrant. D. R. Clevenger,
Speaker 1: prosecutor of Platt County, walked into a Platte City drug
Speaker 1: store about eight o'clock. He noticed a small man at
Speaker 1: a counter purchasing bandages and salve. The fellow wore a
Speaker 1: blue shirt open at the collar. A man walked into
Speaker 1: the store and called the prosecutor. Clevenger say, I noticed
Speaker 1: there's a lot of officers out there at the junction.
Speaker 1: What's going on there? Gathering up his purchases? And the
Speaker 1: man at the counter rushed from the store. Clevenger noticed
Speaker 1: he was in a hurry, but thought nothing of it.
Speaker 1: And then the prosecutor telephoned the howser filling station and
Speaker 1: asked for the sheriff. You'd better come over here, sheriff
Speaker 1: copy told him, I don't want to talk over the telephone.
Speaker 1: Realizing that something was seriously afoot, Clevenger sped to the junction.
Speaker 1: When he heard the details, he said he believed a
Speaker 1: raid was justified by the circumstances, but he urged caution,
Speaker 1: Why take chances? He counseled, Let's call the Jackson County
Speaker 1: Sheriff at Kansas City and get an armored car out
Speaker 1: here and some steel shields and machine guns. If these
Speaker 1: people are the Barrow Gang, they'll fight us to the death.
Speaker 1: Chief Deputy Sheriff William G. Schickhard at Kansas City received
Speaker 1: a call from the Platte County authorities at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1: He sent Deputy Sheriffs George Highfield, James Thorpe, Lyle Smith,
Speaker 1: and William Ryan. They traveled in an armored car, carrying
Speaker 1: two shields big enough for Amanda Crouch behind and two
Speaker 1: machine guns. Meanwhile, unseen by the officers, the young man
Speaker 1: who had rushed out of the Platte City drug store
Speaker 1: crept into his When the Jackson County officers reached the junction,
Speaker 1: everything seemed quiet. The lights in the cabins had been
Speaker 1: out since nine o'clock. Plans for the attack were made.
Speaker 1: The lights on the filling station were turned off. The
Speaker 1: signal was given Quickly, Deputy Sheriff high Field blocked the
Speaker 1: escape and the garage doors opened with the armored car,
Speaker 1: Deputy Thorpe on the seat beside him focused a spotlight
Speaker 1: on the left cabin door. Captain Baxter and Sheriff Coffee
Speaker 1: dashed to the right door. The other officers took their positions,
Speaker 1: which had been arranged to avoid the danger of crossfire.
Speaker 1: Shriff Coffee knocked on the door and called officers, we
Speaker 1: want to talk to you. To his surprise, an answer
Speaker 1: came immediately in a woman's voice. Obviously the inmates of
Speaker 1: the cabin had been awake. Sure thing, Officer. As soon
Speaker 1: as we get dressed, there was the sound of movement inside.
Speaker 1: In a moment, the woman spoke again, the men are
Speaker 1: on the other side. A metallic click came from within.
Speaker 1: Warned by a Shariff Coffee shouted, you'd better come out.
Speaker 1: A man screamed, let them have it. There was a
Speaker 1: roar of gunfire. Bullets rattled on the steel shields as
Speaker 1: the officers swung their machine guns in action. Lead poured
Speaker 1: both ways through the garage doors. Bullets tore into the cabins.
Speaker 1: The officers were shooting, largely by guests. The desperadoes evidently
Speaker 1: were firing from the inside doors connecting the cabins with
Speaker 1: the garages. Sheriff Coffee raised his head above his shield
Speaker 1: in an effort to definitely locate the bandits. His son,
Speaker 1: Clarence saw what he was doing, recklessly exposing himself. The
Speaker 1: boy rushed towards his father. Keep her head down, Dad,
Speaker 1: keep her head down. As Sheriff Coffee ducked. A bullet
Speaker 1: struck him in the neck. He looked toward his son. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: the boy pitched to the ground. A bullet had smashed
Speaker 1: into his right arm, and another had struck him in
Speaker 1: the cheek. Oh no, Furious fire showered on the armored car. Instantly,
Speaker 1: the officers in it became aware that the bullets from
Speaker 1: the high powered rifles inside the cabin were penetrating the
Speaker 1: car's steel sides as though they were paper. Deputy high
Speaker 1: Filled winced. I'm hit through both knees, he said calmly
Speaker 1: to Thorpe. Deputy Thorpe swept his machine gun across the
Speaker 1: front of the garages, hoping for a chance hit. A
Speaker 1: bullet broke the window at his head. He started to
Speaker 1: swing the gun again. It refused to fire. A chip
Speaker 1: of glass had lodged in the mechanism. Thorpe worked hopelessly
Speaker 1: at the worthless weapon, tried to get it to work,
Speaker 1: get out. Highfield said, there's no use both of us
Speaker 1: getting killed. We're together. Thorpe responded, you handle the steering wheel,
Speaker 1: I'll shift the gears. With bullets whizzing around them, the
Speaker 1: deputies got the car in motion. It backed away from
Speaker 1: the garage doors. Leads still thudded into the body. A
Speaker 1: shot short circuited the horn so that it sounded continuously.
Speaker 1: Believing the horn was a signal of some sort of effort,
Speaker 1: the other officers rushed toward the car. In that instant
Speaker 1: of confusion, the bandits burst from their cabins. Flame flashed
Speaker 1: in the night. As the officers reopened their fire, two
Speaker 1: women and a man appeared first, the women using mattresses's
Speaker 1: shields and the man firing two pistols, one with each hand.
Speaker 1: A motor sounded inside the garage. A man swung open
Speaker 1: the garage doors and hopped on the running board. As
Speaker 1: the car emerged, the women dropped their mattresses with a
Speaker 1: pistol in each hand, they joined the battle. Suddenly, a
Speaker 1: woman's scream pierced the air. One of the men pitched
Speaker 1: on his face. Okay, gotta pause for a second and
Speaker 1: just say I don't want to glorify the law breaking
Speaker 1: and the murder and the robbery and everything that the
Speaker 1: Bloody Barrows gang did. But I just got the most
Speaker 1: badass mental picture in my head of these two women
Speaker 1: throwing down the mattress shields and pulling out a gun
Speaker 1: in each hand from behind the mattresses and just blazing
Speaker 1: away in their nineteen thirties dresses. I mean, John wu
Speaker 1: needs to direct a Bonnie and Clyde movie. This is
Speaker 1: an incredible scene. Okay, back to it. The women dropped
Speaker 1: their mattresses with a pistol in each hand and joined
Speaker 1: the battle. Suddenly, a woman's scream pierced the air. One
Speaker 1: of the men pitched on his face, still using one pistol.
Speaker 1: A woman jerked him to his feet with her free hand.
Speaker 1: He staggered toward the car. The officers closed in again.
Speaker 1: The man fell. This time he game the car. It
Speaker 1: roared toward the highway. The officers riddled it with bullets,
Speaker 1: but it did not stop. The windshield shattered as it
Speaker 1: reached the highway, and for a moment it careened crazily.
Speaker 1: A woman screamed in pain. The car was righted and
Speaker 1: sped away in the direction of Platte City. Clarence Coffee
Speaker 1: was rushed to Anthony Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, and
Speaker 1: Deputy Highfield was taken to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.
Speaker 1: Neither was critically wounded. Sheriff Coffee did not stop to
Speaker 1: have his own wound dressed. Believing the outlaws would pass
Speaker 1: through Platte City. In an effort to reach Saint Joseph, Missouri,
Speaker 1: he telephoned Platt City. Guards were quickly posted at the
Speaker 1: entrances to the city. When the desperadoes did not appear
Speaker 1: there within a few minutes, it was evident they had
Speaker 1: turned off the main highway, leaving strict orders that nothing
Speaker 1: in the cabins was to be disturbed. Sheriff Coffee and
Speaker 1: his posse of officers set out to recover the trail
Speaker 1: of the gunmen. Cleave Burrell, a farmer living four miles
Speaker 1: east of Platte City, told the sheriff he had been
Speaker 1: awakened after midnight by two men and two women who
Speaker 1: asked to borrow a motor car jack. One of the
Speaker 1: women had red hair. He went to get the jack.
Speaker 1: When he returned with it, the callers were gone. Burrell
Speaker 1: went back to bed. An hour later, he was awakened
Speaker 1: again by the same persons. They changed a wheel on
Speaker 1: their car and left the old wheel beside the road.
Speaker 1: It was identical to the wheels on the car in
Speaker 1: which the gangsters had fled. The farmer was positive there
Speaker 1: was no third man in the car. Sheriff Coffee was
Speaker 1: certain Burrel's visitors had been the gang but what had
Speaker 1: become of the third man? Had the bandit who felt
Speaker 1: the cabin been fatally wounded, had he been tossed beside
Speaker 1: the road or hastily buried For the moment, all efforts
Speaker 1: were directed toward answering those questions. About daybreak, the searchers
Speaker 1: found a bloody dress and a pasture not far from
Speaker 1: the borough home. It was so stained its original color
Speaker 1: could not be determined. Wow, that's a lot of blood.
Speaker 1: Four holes, apparently made by buckshot, were in the upper
Speaker 1: part Near the dress. A bloodstained newspaper was spread on
Speaker 1: the ground. Fresh car tracks led up to it, as
Speaker 1: though a wounded person had been stretched out on the
Speaker 1: paper and treated under light from the car. Sheriff Coffee
Speaker 1: believed the bandits had left the wounded man in the
Speaker 1: pasture while they changed the wheel, returning for him later.
Speaker 1: But what did the bloody dress mean? Had the woman
Speaker 1: who screamed been wounded too? The United States Bureau of
Speaker 1: Investigation had been after the Barrel Gang ever since the
Speaker 1: robbery of the Enid Armory Sheriff. Coffee now called on
Speaker 1: that department for help, which was given at once. Federal
Speaker 1: agents asked all hospitals to bring about the detention of
Speaker 1: any person seeking treatment for gunshot wounds, cooperating on an
Speaker 1: effort to trap the gang. WDAF, the radio station of
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Star, broadcasts the request and descriptions of
Speaker 1: the fugitives. Two hundred and seventy exploded shells in the
Speaker 1: cabins at the junction showed how desperate the resistance of
Speaker 1: the desperadoes had been. A dozen deserted revolvers indicated how
Speaker 1: frantic the fight, but nothing was left behind to throw
Speaker 1: light on the mystery of the identity of the third man.
Speaker 1: The alarm broadcast by WDAF soon brought results. A motorist
Speaker 1: near Mount Iyre, Iowa, just north of the Missouri line,
Speaker 1: came upon a parked car. A man lay on the
Speaker 1: rear seat. Two men and two women bent over a
Speaker 1: little fire in front of the car, burning bloody bandages
Speaker 1: in a bloody dress at the site of the motorists,
Speaker 1: they leapt into the car and sped away. Having heard
Speaker 1: the broadcast, the motorists reported the matter at once. However,
Speaker 1: a thorough search of the vicinity brought no trace of
Speaker 1: the fugitives. On Sunday afternoon, July twenty third, Henry Penn,
Speaker 1: a farmer, was walking through Dexfield Park, an amusement resort
Speaker 1: midway between Dexter and Redfield Eye, Iowa. He discovered a
Speaker 1: smoldering campfire. Strewn about were bloody bandages and a bloody
Speaker 1: automobile map that someone had tried unsuccessfully to burn. His
Speaker 1: suspicion aroused, Penn reported his find a Special Deputy Sheriff
Speaker 1: John Love, a member of the Dallas County, Iowa Vigilante.
Speaker 1: Love examined the camp site and decided to watch it
Speaker 1: awhile from the cover of some brush nearby. Later in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, three men and two women drove to the
Speaker 1: camp in two cars, one of which was a Ford
Speaker 1: Sedan that had been reported stolen earlier in the day
Speaker 1: from Edward Stoner of Perry, Iowa. Special Deputy Love telephone.
Speaker 1: Sheriff c A Knee of Adol, who had been conducting
Speaker 1: a search for the Barrow Gang with the deputy Sheriff's
Speaker 1: Burger and Chase Knee rushed to dexter. The descriptions Love
Speaker 1: gave him convinced the sheriff that those in the park
Speaker 1: were the Texas Desperadoes. Quickly, Sheriff Knee called together his deputies,
Speaker 1: and Love summoned dozens of the vigilante. A circle of
Speaker 1: heavily armed men was thrown about the twenty acres of
Speaker 1: the resort. However, Sheriff Nee knew the previous record of
Speaker 1: the gang. While the men already gathered stood guard, the
Speaker 1: sheriff began assembling the largest force of manhunters in the
Speaker 1: history of the state. He appealed to the sheriffs of
Speaker 1: surrounding counties, the Iowa National Guard, the Des Moines Police,
Speaker 1: and the Iowa State Bureau of Investigation. Within an hour,
Speaker 1: scores of men were rushing toward the scene of the
Speaker 1: coming battle by car, motorcycle, and airplane. They carried rifles,
Speaker 1: riot guns, revolvers, automatics, and machine guns. Some had tear
Speaker 1: gas bombs. As the officers began to congregate in large numbers.
Speaker 1: Words spread that the barrel gang at last was surrounded
Speaker 1: and helpless before superior arms and numbers. Citizens by the
Speaker 1: dozens joined the posse with their rabbit guns. Despite all
Speaker 1: the excitement caused by the mustering of men, it was
Speaker 1: accomplished so quietly that the gangsters were unaware it was
Speaker 1: taking place. The guards were drawn so closely about the
Speaker 1: camp that they could see the flickering of the campfire
Speaker 1: and could hear the sound of men working on a
Speaker 1: motor car. By daylight, the mobilization was completed. Guards were
Speaker 1: posted on every road that a motor car could possibly travel.
Speaker 1: Escape for the killers seemed impossible. Shortly before six o'clock,
Speaker 1: the posse spread out and closed in quietly as possible.
Speaker 1: The man hunter slipped from tree to tree in a
Speaker 1: moment they could see their quarry. The men stood about
Speaker 1: smoking cigarettes. One of the women was frying eggs, the
Speaker 1: other was making coffee. Suddenly, one of the women glimpsed
Speaker 1: a form moving among the trees. She screamed a warning.
Speaker 1: Coppers coffee spilled into the fire, pans clouded on the ground.
Speaker 1: Possemen stepped into the open with cries of halts, springing
Speaker 1: into action, the entire gang snatched up automatic pistols and
Speaker 1: opened fire. Leaping back to escape the deadly barrage, the
Speaker 1: possemen took shelter behind trees and fallen logs. From all sides.
Speaker 1: There came a withering volley. That blast was the first
Speaker 1: indication the bloody Barrows had of the size of the
Speaker 1: force about them. They were seized with panic, Almost falling
Speaker 1: over one another, they tumbled into one of their cars. Madly,
Speaker 1: they dashed through the woods, with Clyde at the wheel.
Speaker 1: Every tree seemed to harbor a posseman. Hundreds of guns roared.
Speaker 1: The car was riddled. Before it had gone a dozen yards.
Speaker 1: A bullet ripped into Clyde's arm. The car swerved out
Speaker 1: of control and banged into a stump. The left front
Speaker 1: wheel crumpled. Running through a hail of lead, the desperate
Speaker 1: climbed into the other car again. They were swept by
Speaker 1: blistering fire. They saw they could not stay in the
Speaker 1: car and live. After fifty yards, not a window remained.
Speaker 1: There was hardly a space as big as a man's
Speaker 1: hand that was not bullet marked. Miraculously escaping death, the
Speaker 1: outlaws piled out of the car. Clyde, Bonnie, Parker, and
Speaker 1: the third man ran north through the woods, fighting desperately.
Speaker 1: Possemen raced after them. Buck Barrow dropped behind a stump,
Speaker 1: his wife beside him. Each had a pistol. Officers circled
Speaker 1: around them called for them to surrender, with a curse
Speaker 1: go to hell. Buck gave his answer. His gun barked,
Speaker 1: his wife's echoed it. They had elected to fight to
Speaker 1: the end. The guns around them spit fire. A bullet
Speaker 1: whipped the pistol from Blanche's hand. Buck winced, crawling closer
Speaker 1: to her killer husband. Blanche handed him a clip of
Speaker 1: shells for the automatic. He jammed them into the gun
Speaker 1: and emptied it again. The posse's hot fire went on uninterrupted.
Speaker 1: Soon the hand that passed the clips to Buck was bleeding.
Speaker 1: Blanche began to scream hysterically. Her husband slumped his lead
Speaker 1: thudded into him, yet he would not surrender. In a
Speaker 1: daring rush, Doctor H. W. Keller of des Moines, a
Speaker 1: National Guardsman, closed with Barrow. The killer raised his weapon,
Speaker 1: but it was knocked from his hand. Doctor Keller pressed
Speaker 1: the muzzle of a rifle against the Banda's chest. The
Speaker 1: desperado wilted. Six bullets were in his body, and there
Speaker 1: was an older open wound in his head. State Agent
Speaker 1: Forbes and others seized Blanche, fighting like a tigress against
Speaker 1: being led away. She screamed, don't you die, Daddy, don't
Speaker 1: you die. Clyde, Bonnie, Parker, and the unidentified third man
Speaker 1: fought desperately each step through the woods, darting from brush
Speaker 1: clump to brush clump. They made difficult targets, and they
Speaker 1: were shooting with deadly accuracy. Deputy Sheriff Rags Riley of
Speaker 1: Pope County, a veteran officer, tried to rush the trio.
Speaker 1: When they paused a second for breath. Taking deliberate aim,
Speaker 1: Clyde fired. Riley sprawled. Blood appeared on his forehead. A
Speaker 1: cry of rage went up from his comrades. They believed
Speaker 1: he'd been fatally wounded. In a moment, he sat up
Speaker 1: an emptied revolver at the outlaws. He'd merely been stunned. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: the third man broke away from Clyde and Bonnie and
Speaker 1: dashed toward a bridge near the park entrance. Deputy Sheriff
Speaker 1: Burger and e a place of dexter stepped from their
Speaker 1: cover and shouted, get your hands up quick, don't shoot.
Speaker 1: The man screamed, quick as a flash, he dived behind
Speaker 1: a tree. Bullets flew about the possemen, but they held
Speaker 1: their ground. Gradually they flanked the fugitive and drove him
Speaker 1: from cover. Running for his life, he overtook Clyde and Bonnie. Together,
Speaker 1: they raced toward a creek that skirted the north side
Speaker 1: of the park. On the opposite bank was a cornfield.
Speaker 1: If they could reach that, they might possibly escape. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, if they made the attempt, they would
Speaker 1: have to cross about fifty yards of open space. For
Speaker 1: a moment, they appeared undecided. Hasty words were exchanged. They
Speaker 1: decided to take the chance. The posseumen saw their intention
Speaker 1: with a burst of speed. They tried to close in. However,
Speaker 1: the desperadoes already were in the water to their breasts.
Speaker 1: Halting at the edge of the clearing, the posemen took
Speaker 1: careful aim. Water splashed Bonnie Parker screamed and sank. Clyde
Speaker 1: tried to drag her up, but his disabled arm was
Speaker 1: equal to the task. Pushing barrow ahead, the other man
Speaker 1: gathered Bonnie in his arms just as the posse fired again.
Speaker 1: They scampered up the north bank and disappeared into the
Speaker 1: cornfield waiting the stream. The man hunters pushed after them.
Speaker 1: Balley Fellers, his son Marvel, and Walter Spiller's, a neighbor,
Speaker 1: stood in the barnyard at the Feller's farm north of
Speaker 1: the park, listening to the battle in the distance. Suddenly
Speaker 1: the shooting stopped. In a few minutes, a bloodstained man
Speaker 1: stepped out of the nearby cornfield and leveled a pistol
Speaker 1: how on a motor car. Quick he panted, Fellers directed
Speaker 1: the man to his plymouth sedan. The fellow whistled. A
Speaker 1: second man came out of the cornfield carrying a woman
Speaker 1: who moaned in pain, go help him get her in
Speaker 1: the car. When Bonnie had been loaded in, the gangsters
Speaker 1: drove away. Sheriff Knee sent out a general alarm by
Speaker 1: telephone when he learned of the escape. Possees were organized
Speaker 1: in all the towns around. Soon word came that the
Speaker 1: fugitives had been sighted in Dale, fourteen miles northwest. Arriving
Speaker 1: there with a group of des Moines police officers, the
Speaker 1: sheriff was informed that the suspected car had passed through
Speaker 1: Panora eight miles on. State officers swarmed over the territory
Speaker 1: about Panora in airplanes, the police scouted the roads on motorcycles.
Speaker 1: A hastily organized posse swept over the countryside, but beyond
Speaker 1: Panora the trail was lost. However, within a few minutes,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Knee received information that the lost trail had been
Speaker 1: the wrong one. After all, instead of going northwest, the
Speaker 1: desperadoes had gone east. They had evaded the dragnet. There
Speaker 1: was no doubt of that, So hold on a second.
Speaker 1: The bandits have escaped this massive posse that's completely encircled
Speaker 1: them in the woods, stolen a plymouth from a nearby farmer,
Speaker 1: which presumably the sheriff knows about, almost immediately after they
Speaker 1: drive away, and yet somehow the wrong car is spotted
Speaker 1: going the wrong direction minutes later. Give me a break.
Speaker 1: Come on, guys, you got this, or apparently you don't
Speaker 1: got this. Bonnie and Clyde once again are on the run.
Speaker 1: At Folk City, about twenty miles from Des Moines. They
Speaker 1: robbed George Albright, a filling station attendant, and exchanged the
Speaker 1: feller's plymouth for Albright's Chevrolet. The outlaws were going north
Speaker 1: when they left Polk City. Believing they were headed for
Speaker 1: des Moines, the officers centered their efforts in that vicinity.
Speaker 1: Five posses set out from des Moines, examining every barn
Speaker 1: and other possible hiding place. Park A. Findley, chief of
Speaker 1: State Agents, cruised over the district in an airplane. Two
Speaker 1: hundred possemen and cars followed him on the ground. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: Finley's plane dipped low. It was the signal that the
Speaker 1: fugitives had been sighted. He directed the posse to a
Speaker 1: ravine near Guthrie Center. Spreading out, the manhunters surrounded the
Speaker 1: indicated spot, but all the advantage was with the outlaws.
Speaker 1: They were in a sheltered position, sending for an armored
Speaker 1: car to shield them in the rush against this natural stronghold.
Speaker 1: The possemen waited. In a surprising desperate rush, the killers
Speaker 1: dashed past the inexperienced civilians. Late that evening came a
Speaker 1: report that two men with banded heads and a woman
Speaker 1: apparently unable to walk, had been seen in a ravine
Speaker 1: near Sutherland, Iowa, northwest of Dexter, in about fifty miles
Speaker 1: south of the Minnesota line. Federal officers joined the state
Speaker 1: and county men at Sutherland shortly after sundown. Led by
Speaker 1: park A. Findley adjunct General Charles Grawl of the Iowa
Speaker 1: National Guard, United States Marshal Fred Hurd, and O. C. Dewey,
Speaker 1: a United States Bureau of Investigation agent from Des Moines,
Speaker 1: the officers pushed into the ravine. They went as far
Speaker 1: as the Little Sioux River without finding a trace of
Speaker 1: the fugitives. The next day, HUGO. Sagow, an insurance dealer
Speaker 1: at Dennis and, Iowa, about ninety miles northwest of Dexter,
Speaker 1: was sitting in his office when a man walked in
Speaker 1: and asked for a doctor. Segou explained his business and
Speaker 1: told the man where to find a physician. The fellow
Speaker 1: backed out of the insurance office. That night, Sigal saw
Speaker 1: the man's picture in the newspaper. It was Clyde Barrow.
Speaker 1: Immediately Chief State Agent Finley was notified. At about the
Speaker 1: same time, Finley received a report from another man in
Speaker 1: Denison that removed all doubt in his mind that Barrow
Speaker 1: had been the man seen there. A highly nervous man,
Speaker 1: apparently in a great hurry, entered a Denison drug store
Speaker 1: Stanley Bailey, the pharmacist waited on him. The fellow purchased
Speaker 1: a hypodermic needle and ran from the building. Bailey, like
Speaker 1: segu recognized him by the pictures in the paper. This knowledge,
Speaker 1: for the time centered the search around Denison. The purchase
Speaker 1: of the hypodermic needle indicated to officers that Bonnie Parker
Speaker 1: was the most seriously wounded of the escaped trio and
Speaker 1: was suffering acute pain and possibly was near death in
Speaker 1: some nearby hideout. All physicians were worned to report gunshot
Speaker 1: wound cases. Although the search was kept up in all
Speaker 1: sections of Iowa for a week, all trace of the
Speaker 1: gang was lost for the moment. After the capture of
Speaker 1: Buck and Blanche Barrow, officers placed a guard over them
Speaker 1: and examined the bullet ridden cars. One of them was
Speaker 1: the car stolen at Perry. The other belonged to the
Speaker 1: Enid doctor. His medicine kit was still in it. From
Speaker 1: one of the cars, officers drew an old pair of
Speaker 1: trousers that had been converted into a sack trouser sack
Speaker 1: that sounds handy. In this improvised bag were thirty four
Speaker 1: Army automatic pistols, which were identified by their serial numbers
Speaker 1: as part of the weapons taken in the robbery of
Speaker 1: the Enid armor. In addition, two Browning automatic rifles were
Speaker 1: in the car, as well as an old rubber tube
Speaker 1: filled with ammunition. The army pistols were turned over to
Speaker 1: the government men, who at once sent them to merle
Speaker 1: A Gill, Kansas City ballistics expert, to be checked in
Speaker 1: connection with several slayings in the Southwest. Now captured along
Speaker 1: with his wife Blanche, it was playing to the officers
Speaker 1: that Buck's condition was critical. He had lost much blood
Speaker 1: from his fresh wounds, and the old wound on his
Speaker 1: head was badly infected. It was thought best to question
Speaker 1: him at once, presumably before he died. Buck denied one
Speaker 1: by one all the crimes charged against him. The wound
Speaker 1: in his head, he explained, was the result of a
Speaker 1: quarrel in a tourist camp at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and
Speaker 1: not of the gun battle with officers at Platte City.
Speaker 1: He claimed to have purchased the guns from a soldier
Speaker 1: at Fort Still, Oklahoma, for one hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 1: Seeing he was not ready to talk, officers ordered him
Speaker 1: taken to the King's Daughter's Hospital at Perry, where a
Speaker 1: heavy guard was placed over him. Surgeons, after a brief examination,
Speaker 1: said he had little chance to live. Blanche was wearing
Speaker 1: a riding habit and a pair of goggles. When the
Speaker 1: goggles were removed, it was discovered that she was suffering
Speaker 1: from a serious injury to her left eye. She said
Speaker 1: something had blown into it. The woman was so hysterical
Speaker 1: and abusive that she could not be questioned properly, so
Speaker 1: she was taken to the Dallas County Jail at Adele, Iowa.
Speaker 1: I love how they just describe her as hysterical and
Speaker 1: abusive when they've also told us that she's likely blind
Speaker 1: in one eye now and her husband, who we know
Speaker 1: is the love of her life, because after all, she
Speaker 1: was a law abiding country girl who got him out
Speaker 1: of jail and set him straight, but loved him enough
Speaker 1: to become his gangster mal So her beloved husband's about
Speaker 1: to die, she's now blind in one eye, and she's
Speaker 1: described just as hysterical and abusive. I imagine she was
Speaker 1: in a pretty heightened emotional state. I mean, this sounds
Speaker 1: like a pretty difficult situation. Sure, she made her own
Speaker 1: bed but still come on. So they couldn't question Blanche
Speaker 1: and sent her to the the Dallas County Jail at
Speaker 1: adel Iowa. Because there were no quarters for women at Adele,
Speaker 1: she was transferred to the County jail at Des Moines.
Speaker 1: After she had spent several hours there, another attempt was
Speaker 1: made to question her. Still she was defiant. Good for her.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not exactly rooting for the criminals here,
Speaker 1: but you got to admire the moxie, you just do so.
Speaker 1: Still Blanche was defiant. She denied being present at the
Speaker 1: Joplin murders, although she had left her marriage certificate behind
Speaker 1: to see Moxie. She denied she knew the names of
Speaker 1: the persons who'd escaped in the fight at the park.
Speaker 1: She denied she knew any of the crimes committed by
Speaker 1: her husband. She denied everything and was placed alone in
Speaker 1: a cell to think things over. Nick news of the
Speaker 1: capture of Buck and Blanche Barrow caused many persons to
Speaker 1: hurry to Perry in Des Moines. Buck's mother began a
Speaker 1: race with death for his bedside. Sheriff Maxie and Deputy
Speaker 1: Sheriff Saliers wanted to question him about the murder of
Speaker 1: Marshall Humphrey near Almah, Arkansas, detected the graph of Joplin,
Speaker 1: wished to ask him about what went down in his town.
Speaker 1: Sheriff Thomas B. Bash, which is one of the best
Speaker 1: names I've ever heard. Tommy B. Bash of Jackson County, Missouri,
Speaker 1: wanted more details about the attack on his men in
Speaker 1: Platte City. A mission in connection with that same crime
Speaker 1: caused Shriff Coffee and Prosecutor Clevenger of Platte County to
Speaker 1: make the trip. While it turns out Gallon's a moxie
Speaker 1: or no, a few hours alone in her cell succeeded
Speaker 1: in softening Blanche Barrow. Federal agents who questioned her were
Speaker 1: smiling when they emerged. The congregated officers waiting in the
Speaker 1: corridors knew without being told that she had talked. The
Speaker 1: United States Bureau of Investigation, through confidential sources, had been
Speaker 1: informed sometime before of the probable identity of the mysterious
Speaker 1: third man in the Barrow gang. Blanche had been shown
Speaker 1: a picture of the suspected man. The man she named
Speaker 1: was Herbert Blythe of Oklahoma, who sometimes was known as
Speaker 1: Hubert bly or Jack Sherman. Blythe had served one prison
Speaker 1: term of two years for burglary in Creek County, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty nine, a federal pickup order was issued
Speaker 1: for him. His name blazed across the front pages of
Speaker 1: newspapers throughout the Southwest. Prosecutor Clevenger of Platt County shook
Speaker 1: his head when he saw the picture. He remembered the
Speaker 1: man who'd been in the drug store at Platte City
Speaker 1: the night of the battle at the junction. Meanwhile, detected
Speaker 1: to Graf went to des Moines to pick up missing
Speaker 1: details in the story of the murders at Joplin. He
Speaker 1: found Blanche Barrow to be a typical gunman's mall. One moment,
Speaker 1: she was polite and consider it. The next she was
Speaker 1: starling and cursing. When they made her understand that the
Speaker 1: evidence against the Barrow gang was conclusive. Whether she talked
Speaker 1: or not, she indicated a willingness to discuss certain phases
Speaker 1: of the case, but she steadfastly refused to give any
Speaker 1: information that would help the police punish the persons who
Speaker 1: helped hide the killers. After their murders, Blanche said she
Speaker 1: and Buckett joined Clyde Bonnie and the third man, who
Speaker 1: she called Jack Sherman and a tourist camp in Arkansas,
Speaker 1: just south of the Missouri line. They came to Joplin
Speaker 1: at once, and Blanche arranged the rental of the living
Speaker 1: quarters above the garage. The prisoners said she was preparing
Speaker 1: dinner when the fight started. Buck was upstairs with her.
Speaker 1: Bonnie was writing the Suicide sal poem, which I read
Speaker 1: for you guys a couple episodes ago, and Clyde and
Speaker 1: Sherman were downstairs. The first inkling of trouble that came
Speaker 1: to those upstairs was a burst of gunfire. Snatching up weapons,
Speaker 1: the entire gang joined in the fight. Blanche, never having
Speaker 1: been under fire before, became hysterical and ran from the house.
Speaker 1: She was dragged into the car as the gang escaped.
Speaker 1: She said Jack Sherman had been shot through the kidney
Speaker 1: by Sergeant Collar and had been treated by an underworld surgeon,
Speaker 1: whose name she refused to divulge. Sherman, she said, still
Speaker 1: carried a prominent scar. The few details that the police
Speaker 1: obtained were picked up one at a time. For a second,
Speaker 1: Blanche would talk readily, then she'd become stubborn. She seemed
Speaker 1: to be laboring under the delusion that she would be
Speaker 1: rescued by other members of the gang. More than once,
Speaker 1: she told Detective mcgraf, they'll get me out of here,
Speaker 1: you see. If they don't, all right, Graff promised her,
Speaker 1: we'll see. Prosecutor Clever found her in a little better mood.
Speaker 1: She admitted readily that she'd been in the fight at
Speaker 1: the junction. The gang, she hinted, had been warned of
Speaker 1: the impending raid by Jack Sherman when he returned from
Speaker 1: Platte City, where he'd gone to purchase bandages and ointment
Speaker 1: for the treatment of burns received by Bonnie near Wellington, Texas.
Speaker 1: The old wound in Buck's head, she admitted, had been
Speaker 1: suffered in that fight. Her own eye had been injured
Speaker 1: when officers shot the windshield from the bandit car as
Speaker 1: it reached the highway. She insisted that no other member
Speaker 1: of the gang was wounded. The bloody dress found in
Speaker 1: the pasture near the Bertle farm, belonging to Bonnie Parker,
Speaker 1: and had been used to wrap Buck's wound. Clevenger drew
Speaker 1: from the woman a vivid picture of the life lived
Speaker 1: by the outlaws, Realizing that they faced almost certain death
Speaker 1: if taken alive. The Barrow brothers had sworn never to
Speaker 1: surrender and never to desert each other. Blanche was bitter
Speaker 1: over what she considered to be the desertion of Buck
Speaker 1: by Clyde and Bonnie, fearing that underworld acquaintances might turn
Speaker 1: them over to the authorities for the sake of the
Speaker 1: reward for their arrest. The gunmen were afraid to day
Speaker 1: in one place more than a day or two at
Speaker 1: a time. Stealing one car after another, they dashed madly
Speaker 1: about the country, never enjoying a moment free from worried.
Speaker 1: Always they had to remain alert and on guard. The
Speaker 1: money they needed to finance their long trips and to
Speaker 1: purchase food they obtained by robberies, most of them petty
Speaker 1: raids on filling stations. Blant said that only a small
Speaker 1: part of all the robberies the gang had committed had
Speaker 1: actually been charged to them. When some member of the
Speaker 1: gang was injured or wounded, the gang would hide in
Speaker 1: some secluded spot while Blanche or some physician of the
Speaker 1: underworld nursed the ailing member back to health. Knowing that
Speaker 1: sooner or later there would come a bloody meeting with
Speaker 1: the officers of the law, the killers practiced their shooting
Speaker 1: as regularly as the members of a big city police department.
Speaker 1: Every other day without fail. The whole gang had target
Speaker 1: practice generally along the road. After several conferences, it was
Speaker 1: decided that Blanch should be returned to Platte County to
Speaker 1: face a charge of assault with intent to kill. Sheriff
Speaker 1: Coffee Prosecutor cleveng Or arrived at Platte City with Blanche
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, July twenty sixth. The next day, newspapers screamed
Speaker 1: a new sensational development in the case. A worker in
Speaker 1: the oil fields near Snowmack, Oklahoma slipped up to Deputy
Speaker 1: Sheriff Harry Gideon and informed him in an excited voice
Speaker 1: that Herbert Blythe was in a store right down the street.
Speaker 1: Hastily calling Deputy Sheriff's Cliff Woodson, Harve Weatherford and Bob Short,
Speaker 1: Gideon led them to the store. The man, under suspicion,
Speaker 1: had his back to them as they entered the store,
Speaker 1: and they were able to approach him unobserved. Outspread in
Speaker 1: the man's hand was a newspaper carrying an account of
Speaker 1: the escape of the desperadoes in the fight near Dexter, Iowa,
Speaker 1: and proclaiming the fact that Blythe had been named as
Speaker 1: the third man. Pinning the man's arms at his side,
Speaker 1: the officers searched him. They found a flashlight, a big
Speaker 1: roll of bills, and a bundle containing several pairs of
Speaker 1: new trousers. Readily admitting that he was Blythe, the fellow
Speaker 1: denied indignantly that he was in the gunfight or that
Speaker 1: he even was acquainted with the Barrow brothers. He said
Speaker 1: he had been visiting around Snowmack for three weeks. Federal
Speaker 1: agents returned Blythe to Arkansas in an effort to connect
Speaker 1: him with the murder of Marshall Humphrey at almin and
Speaker 1: began to check on his story. The longer they checked,
Speaker 1: the more apparent it becan that the man had been
Speaker 1: around Snowmak. On the other hand, Blanche Barrow had been
Speaker 1: so positive in her identification, what was a miss? Prosecutor
Speaker 1: Clevenger was asked to assist in unraveling the mystery. He
Speaker 1: questioned Blanche anew concerning the third man. A malicious gleam
Speaker 1: came into her eyes and a taunting smile played around
Speaker 1: her lips when she learned that Herbert Blythe was under arrest.
Speaker 1: I told you my Blathe, or as I call him,
Speaker 1: Jack Sherman, has a scar from a bullet wound. Has
Speaker 1: this man? Prosecutor clevenger knew already that the federal men
Speaker 1: had failed to find the scar Blanche described to them.
Speaker 1: And my Blithe is only eighteen years old, Blanche laughed,
Speaker 1: The guy you have is too old. Deeper investigation convinced
Speaker 1: officials that Blythe was not implicated in any of the
Speaker 1: gunfights charged to the Barrow gang. It did develop, however,
Speaker 1: that he was wanted in Oklahoma for robbery, and he
Speaker 1: was returned to that state. Blanche had evaded close questioning
Speaker 1: about the identity of the mysterious third man by identifying
Speaker 1: the first photograph shown her her husband. Buck Barrow grew
Speaker 1: progressively weaker from the moment he entered the hostel, his
Speaker 1: reserve strength sapped by his fresh wounds. The infection and
Speaker 1: the old wounds spread despite the best efforts of attending physicians.
Speaker 1: Soon the desperado realized he was dying. Dropping all his pretense,
Speaker 1: he confessed to the crimes charge to him, although he
Speaker 1: refused to name the men implicated with him. A pained
Speaker 1: smile twisted his face as he faced Deputy Saliers, whom
Speaker 1: he had not seen since the bloody day on the
Speaker 1: highway near Alma. You know me, Buck, Deputy Saliers asked him,
Speaker 1: I couldn't forget you. The outlaw replied, in a weak voice.
Speaker 1: I was just about to blow your head off when
Speaker 1: you ran for that house. That was the smartest damn
Speaker 1: thing you ever did. Barrow admitted to Saliers that he
Speaker 1: was the man who fired the shots that killed Marshall
Speaker 1: Humphrey of Alma, Speeding across the country in a motor car.
Speaker 1: The mother of the killer fought to reach his bedside
Speaker 1: before the end. Until the last she had maintained hope
Speaker 1: that all the things charged against her boys would stand
Speaker 1: revealed as some ghastly mistake and identity. Even now, her
Speaker 1: mother's love did not falter. She won the race with death.
Speaker 1: Shortly before Buck died on July twenty ninth. The body
Speaker 1: of the Desperado was taken to Dallas. On July thirty first,
Speaker 1: members of the family and fifty or more friends gathered
Speaker 1: at the Sparkman holtz Brand Funeral Chapel. The Reverend Frank P. Daily,
Speaker 1: pastor of the Cedar Valley Baptist church, read a few
Speaker 1: passages from the scripture and uttered a brief prayer. At
Speaker 1: the conclusion of the simple service, the outlaw's first wife fainted.
Speaker 1: She was revived, and the small procession moved to the
Speaker 1: West Dallas Cemetery. Sad thutted on the casket top at
Speaker 1: thirty years of age, Buck Barrow was in a gunman's grave.
Speaker 1: While popular public attention immediately after the battle near Dexter,
Speaker 1: Iowa was given to the dramatic events that followed the
Speaker 1: capture of Buck and Blanche Barrow, the most intense official
Speaker 1: attention was given to efforts to capture the members of
Speaker 1: the gang remaining at large. Two days after the gunfight,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Thomas B. Bash of Jackson County, Missouri received information
Speaker 1: that two men who carried machine guns and the marks
Speaker 1: of wounds had stopped for gasoline at the garage in Independence, Missouri,
Speaker 1: seven miles east of Kansas City. The garage attendant followed them.
Speaker 1: He reported to the sheriff that they'd stopped in a
Speaker 1: small log cabin three quarters of a mile east of
Speaker 1: Blue Mills in Jackson County. Heading a party of nine
Speaker 1: deputy sheriffs sped to the cabin and quickly closed in
Speaker 1: around it, forcing the door open. The officers rushed in.
Speaker 1: No one was there, but there was evidence that a
Speaker 1: meal had been recently prepared in the cabin. Two days later,
Speaker 1: on July twenty eighth, the bloodstained Chevrolet Sedan was abandoned
Speaker 1: on the streets of Broken Bow, Nebraska. In it, officers
Speaker 1: found a driver's license registered in the name of Molly
Speaker 1: Albright from Polk County, Iowa. The car was the one
Speaker 1: stolen from the Polk City filling station attendant by Clyde
Speaker 1: Barrow and his companions. Another car had been stolen from
Speaker 1: the street at Broken Bow and was seen to speed
Speaker 1: west from the city. Several hours after the discovery of
Speaker 1: the car theft at Broken Bow, United States Bureau of
Speaker 1: Investigation agents at Kansas City learned that a coupe bearing
Speaker 1: three persons, two men and a red haired woman had
Speaker 1: passed through Junction City, Kansas. At least two of the
Speaker 1: persons were wearing bandages, and the group made no secret
Speaker 1: of the fact that it carried a Browning automatic rifle.
Speaker 1: Still later, John A. Dowd, agent in charge of the
Speaker 1: Denver office of the United States Bureau of Investigation, traced
Speaker 1: the car and its occupants to Stockton, Kansas, where three
Speaker 1: wounded persons were seen on United States Highway number forty
Speaker 1: just outside the city limits. On the chance that the
Speaker 1: Outlaws might slip into eastern Colorado and make their way
Speaker 1: to the comparative safety of some heavily populated cities such
Speaker 1: as Denver, agent Doubt asked all city police departments to
Speaker 1: guard the entrance to their towns. Nevertheless, no new trace
Speaker 1: of the Outlaws was found until they were reported seen
Speaker 1: in New Mexico, headed presumably for Texas, seen of their
Speaker 1: old haunts. The daily news of some fresh trace of
Speaker 1: the group was broken by the news that Blanche Barrow
Speaker 1: pleaded guilty to the charges against her and received a
Speaker 1: sentence of ten years at the Missouri penitentiary, where she
Speaker 1: was now serving her term. Frank Hardy was later tried
Speaker 1: for the murder of Doyle Johnson, and the jury was
Speaker 1: discharged after it failed to reach a verdict. On August eighteenth,
Speaker 1: a cafe proprietor and a waitress at Gonzales, Texas, reported
Speaker 1: to police that Clyde Barrow and a companion had stopped
Speaker 1: at the cafe for lunch in the days following the
Speaker 1: fugitive was identified in one or two petty robberies. Then
Speaker 1: suddenly came information that cheered officials. It was reported that
Speaker 1: Barrow was loitering around Nagadosh's, Texas, a community familiar to
Speaker 1: him since boyhood, the district in which he'd set up
Speaker 1: his target range early in his murderous career. Parties went
Speaker 1: into the section. Many stories were heard that seemed to
Speaker 1: prove the crafty outlaw had been about, but he wasn't caught,
Speaker 1: nor was the identity of the mysterious man with him learned.
Speaker 1: It was reported a few days later that Barrow was
Speaker 1: to keep a rendezvous with relatives near Kilgore, Texas. A
Speaker 1: trap was set for him there. The meeting was earlier
Speaker 1: than what had been expected, and the most wanted man
Speaker 1: in the Southwest escaped again. Holy moly, it's incredible. No
Speaker 1: matter how much they know or how many men they bring,
Speaker 1: Clyde seems to always slip away. As officers continued doggedly
Speaker 1: on his trail, there was one familiar note missing from
Speaker 1: all reports concerning him. Bonnie Parker was never mentioned. She
Speaker 1: seemed to have vanished completely from the picture. Some remembering
Speaker 1: the fact that Bonnie was carried from the Dexfield Park
Speaker 1: battle and that Clyde was seen buying hypodermic needles. At
Speaker 1: the time, thought she was dead, buried in some secret grave,
Speaker 1: but those who believed that were soon to get the
Speaker 1: shock of their lives, for Bonnie was still alive and
Speaker 1: on the rampage. Where will this two gun red heead
Speaker 1: strike next? Has she found a new partner in crime
Speaker 1: or is she still teamed with Clyde Barrow? Must moral
Speaker 1: lives be sacrificed before these two are caught find out
Speaker 1: after the break? All right, welcome back. As always, Thank
Speaker 1: you for taking the time to support the brands that
Speaker 1: support kind of murdery as I often do. There's a
Speaker 1: couple things I'd like to talk about quickly before we
Speaker 1: jump back into the story. First, I'd like to remind
Speaker 1: you of the phone number, the three digit phone number
Speaker 1: nine eight eight, which you can call to receive suicide,
Speaker 1: substance abuse, or mental health related counseling. So if you're
Speaker 1: in acute crisis, please do remember that you are loved,
Speaker 1: and please do dial nine to eight eight to talk
Speaker 1: to someone who cares immediately. If you're not in acute crisis,
Speaker 1: but you are feeling down and would like to make
Speaker 1: a connection. Please don't hesitate to reach out to the show.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Kindomurdery at gmail dot com
Speaker 1: or at kind of Murdery on all social media. I'm
Speaker 1: here for you, care and never forget that you are loved. Also,
Speaker 1: as I often mentioned, I have cerebral palsy and I
Speaker 1: want kind of Murdery to be a support community for
Speaker 1: people with disabilities, physical or otherwise, So please also reach
Speaker 1: out to me if you would like to connect in
Speaker 1: that way. And I'd like to offer a heartfelt thank
Speaker 1: you to everyone for truly helping me to deal with
Speaker 1: my own issues and making me feel the support of
Speaker 1: your community. You know, as I've often said, and as
Speaker 1: I just mentioned, i have cerebral palsy, and the truth is,
Speaker 1: I've never really been able to conceptualize my disability as
Speaker 1: anything other than a hindrance, and that's created a lot
Speaker 1: of emotional distress for me. But because of you guys,
Speaker 1: I'm starting to see the other side of the disability coin.
Speaker 1: To that point, I'd like to share with you a
Speaker 1: review that I just received that really meant a lot
Speaker 1: to me. And I've been getting a lot of reviews
Speaker 1: lately that mean a lot to me, which is why
Speaker 1: I want to say thank you to you, you guys.
Speaker 1: Here's this one. It's from a listener in Australia named
Speaker 1: Yas Yas and it says, wonderful podcast, great narration. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm from Australia. I am totally loving this podcast. I
Speaker 1: found out about it well listening to an episode of
Speaker 1: the Weird Darkness podcast. Also wow, I also have cerebral
Speaker 1: palsy mild though, and so does my younger brother who
Speaker 1: has it worse. So I just want to say thank you,
Speaker 1: yes and thank you everyone, but thank you so much
Speaker 1: for connecting with me. Yes about your CP, because here
Speaker 1: we are finding each other and building a community. And
Speaker 1: for the very first time in my life, you all
Speaker 1: are making me feel like my disability could be something
Speaker 1: or is something other than a negative in my life.
Speaker 1: And I can't tell you how healing that is. So
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you all. Right. Also, as
Speaker 1: Yaz did, please do leave reviews. They help so much.
Speaker 1: They don't just make me feel good, they trigger algorithms
Speaker 1: on podcasting platforms that make the show more visible and
Speaker 1: help our community grow. So if you enjoy the show.
Speaker 1: If you enjoy the sense of family that we're cultivating,
Speaker 1: and god, it means so much to me, then please
Speaker 1: do leave a review because you will help to make
Speaker 1: our family larger. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And
Speaker 1: with that, let's get back to part four of Wheels,
Speaker 1: Barrows and Blood. The Badlands romance of Bonnie and Clyde
Speaker 1: kind of murdery resumes now, all right, if you'll recall,
Speaker 1: there's been news about Clyde, but Bonnie seems to have disappeared.
Speaker 1: And yet, as you heard in the pre break teas,
Speaker 1: she's about to reappear in a very dramatic way. So
Speaker 1: here we go. September twenty fifth, nineteen thirty three, a
Speaker 1: man and a woman slipped into McKinney, Texas as that
Speaker 1: little town drowsed at noontime. The couple raced down the
Speaker 1: main street with reckless daring and rushed into a small
Speaker 1: grocery store, flourishing weapons and shouting curses. The man and
Speaker 1: his woman could panions, snatched a handful of small change
Speaker 1: from the cash till, and escaped, taking the operator of
Speaker 1: the place as a hostage. News of the raids spread
Speaker 1: anxiety for the safety of the grocer was great. From
Speaker 1: the description witnesses gave of the fleeing bandits officers were
Speaker 1: certain that Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker had come out
Speaker 1: from hiding. Car loads of searchers spread over the highways.
Speaker 1: About two hours later, the grocer was released unharmed. He
Speaker 1: was positive that he'd been a captive of a desperate pair.
Speaker 1: You know, I do have to say about Bonnie and Clyde.
Speaker 1: As much as they murder lots of people and sometimes
Speaker 1: for very little gain, I give them a small amount
Speaker 1: of credit because they don't seem to murder when it's
Speaker 1: not necessary. They don't hesitate to murder when it's expedient.
Speaker 1: But they don't seem to kill just for killing's sake,
Speaker 1: and that's something. About two hours later, the grocer was
Speaker 1: released unharmed. He was positive that he'd been a captive
Speaker 1: of a desperate pair. He related that the wounds Bonnie
Speaker 1: had received in the gun battle at Dexter, Iowa had
Speaker 1: not healed. The mcineansident gave us an inkling of a
Speaker 1: remarkable change that had occurred, a change that was to
Speaker 1: prove decidedly important days to come. Bonnie Parker, who had
Speaker 1: passed many grueling tests, fighting like a wounded tiger in
Speaker 1: a pinch. Now was accepted as an efficient criminal partner
Speaker 1: by Barrow. Often he used to leave Bonnie in the
Speaker 1: car while he and another man committed crimes. Now Bonnie
Speaker 1: was at his side. The fact that Barrow had dared
Speaker 1: to commit such a petty robbery when he was the
Speaker 1: object of such a wide search convinced the manhunters on
Speaker 1: his trail that he was sorely pressed for funds. Since
Speaker 1: he had not obtained them in the grocery robbery, it
Speaker 1: was only reasonable to fear that he would strike again
Speaker 1: soon where would it be Certainly he would not travel far.
Speaker 1: Every officer alert the whole state of Texas waited for
Speaker 1: the strike, and sure enough it came. Soon Barrow and
Speaker 1: the cigar smoking Bonnie swept through a small grocery store
Speaker 1: in fort Worth, and with the old time Barrow luck
Speaker 1: escaped again. But again the loot was too small, far
Speaker 1: too small to satisfy Barrow. Of that, everyone felt certain
Speaker 1: the constant watch was not relaxed. But if Barrow committed
Speaker 1: any robberies in the several weeks to follow, they were
Speaker 1: not credited to him. Again, he dropped from sight October
Speaker 1: pass with no word from him. Then, on November eighth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, a slight, short woman dressed neatly in
Speaker 1: somber colored fall clothing, loitered a few moments in front
Speaker 1: of the McMurray oil refinery near Overton, Texas. A group
Speaker 1: of truck drivers worked at a loading rack near the
Speaker 1: plant's offices. Certainly it was no place for a hold up,
Speaker 1: and none was feared. The woman disappeared for a few moments.
Speaker 1: When she returned, two men were with her. They wore
Speaker 1: smoked glasses. A sharp command rang out, get your hands up.
Speaker 1: Ugly muzzles of machine guns commanded the workers. The husky
Speaker 1: truck drivers were herded together and forced into the refinery office.
Speaker 1: He saw he had no chance to resist. Without a word,
Speaker 1: he turned over two thousand dollars to the bandit crew. Still,
Speaker 1: the trio was not ready to leave. Tearing a small
Speaker 1: safe from its mooring, they hammered it open, ransacked that,
Speaker 1: and escaped in a motor car. Bonnie Parker was identified
Speaker 1: one of the men fitted the description of Barrow, and
Speaker 1: the third man was considered to be the mystery man
Speaker 1: who had moved through the story of the Barrow Gang
Speaker 1: since the Joplin affair in which Constable Harriman and Detective
Speaker 1: mcguinnis were slain. Following the resurfacing of Bonnie and police
Speaker 1: were optimistic that capture of the Bandit gang was only
Speaker 1: a matter of hours away. The last three crimes charge
Speaker 1: of the Barrow Gang had been committed within a comparatively
Speaker 1: narrow radius. There had been none of those wild cross
Speaker 1: country sweeps that had marked their earlier activities. The bandits
Speaker 1: left the refinery in a Ford V eight coup headed
Speaker 1: southward in the direction of Dallas. Witnesses obtained the license
Speaker 1: number Oklahoma for eight five Dash three seven zero. While
Speaker 1: Dallas police guarded all roads into the city and Texas
Speaker 1: Highway Police scoured the highways, other officers started checking the license.
Speaker 1: They found it had been issued to Glenn Daniels from
Speaker 1: Wua Rica, Oklahoma, whose car had been stolen from the
Speaker 1: street at Wichita Falls, Texas, earlier in the month. But again,
Speaker 1: the almost fabulous, incredible Barrow luck held. Nothing was heard
Speaker 1: from them for several days. Then the most astonishing news
Speaker 1: of the whole manhunt reached police ears an informant whose
Speaker 1: name must remain. An official secret told Dallas police that
Speaker 1: relatives of Barrow were making funeral arrangements for him at
Speaker 1: a local undertaking parlor. Could it be that the bloody
Speaker 1: crime trail had come to an end at last? Hopefully?
Speaker 1: Officers followed up this startling news. They found that it
Speaker 1: was true. Relatives of Barrow had been seen at an
Speaker 1: undertaker and made funeral arrangements. Police telephoned every few minutes
Speaker 1: to inquire has the body come in yet? But hours
Speaker 1: passed and the body did not come. Tracing the telephone calls,
Speaker 1: officers learned from where their relatives were calling. Hurrying, they
Speaker 1: found a sorrowing group. Barrow was not dead yet, officers
Speaker 1: were told, But that was virtually the extent of the information.
Speaker 1: Suffering acutely from gunshot wounds received at Dexter, he was
Speaker 1: awaiting death in the underbrush in a secluded hide out
Speaker 1: within twenty five miles of Dallas. That much the relatives
Speaker 1: would reveal. But no more. Does it sound to anyone
Speaker 1: else like there's an ambush being set up here? Apparently
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound that way to law enforcement. Police and
Speaker 1: deputy sheriffs speeded to the outskirts of the city, working
Speaker 1: in a widening circle, they searched every possible hiding place
Speaker 1: they came across. An ambulance waited for the call that
Speaker 1: would send it after Barrow the relatives, apparently believing that
Speaker 1: death was only hours away, officers stayed on the job,
Speaker 1: but the hours grew into days. Finally, there was disheartening news.
Speaker 1: The cat like desperado had recovered his strength so far
Speaker 1: that he was able to flee to a more secure
Speaker 1: hiding place. Or maybe he'd never lost his strength and
Speaker 1: it was foolish to trust the reports of his family
Speaker 1: stealing a car on the airline road. Clyde and Bonnie
Speaker 1: were on the way to the Rolling Hills south of
Speaker 1: Oak Cliff. There they were reasonably safe from capture. Ragged country,
Speaker 1: deep ravines and hills densely covered by brush, offered them security.
Speaker 1: The night of Wednesday, November twenty second, nineteen thirty three,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Are Schmid of Dallas received a tip the place
Speaker 1: at which Barrow had been meeting relatives was on the
Speaker 1: dairy farm of Charles Stovell near Sours, Texas. Knowing that
Speaker 1: Stovell was a respected citizen, Sheriff Schmid took him into
Speaker 1: his confidence. The dairyman confided that he'd known for some
Speaker 1: time that Barrow had been meeting members of his family
Speaker 1: along the two hundred feet wide airline road. He pointed
Speaker 1: out the place on the road where Barrow would park
Speaker 1: his car often, the farmers said, the car lights would
Speaker 1: blink on and off. Soon another car would draw alongside.
Speaker 1: Persons would get out of each car and talk. Delighted
Speaker 1: with this information, Sheriff Schmid set a trap, taking deputy
Speaker 1: Sheriffs Bob Alcoren, Ed Caster and Ted Hinton. The sheriff
Speaker 1: placed them on each side of the wide road. Just
Speaker 1: at dusk. An hour later, a small sedan drove up.
Speaker 1: The officers recognized Bonnie Parker at the wheel. The long
Speaker 1: sought after Barrow and another man were with her. The
Speaker 1: car slowed down. The sight of their quarry after so
Speaker 1: long made the officers less cautious than they ordinarily would
Speaker 1: have been without waiting for their prey to stop. The
Speaker 1: officers swooped out of their hiding places and charged the
Speaker 1: bandit car. In a moment, the air was filled with
Speaker 1: the blaze of gunfire. A life and death struggle was
Speaker 1: in process. Glass flew from the Barrow car as the
Speaker 1: officers opened fire. Revolver bullets chipped the concrete at the
Speaker 1: feet of the officers, but the threat of death did
Speaker 1: not stop the manhunters. Bravely they charged into the fight,
Speaker 1: but the width of the road gave Bonnie all the
Speaker 1: chance she needed. Swinging the car from side to side,
Speaker 1: she fled down the highway while Barrow and the other
Speaker 1: man in the car continued their deadly barrage. Just as
Speaker 1: the car was about to get out of rain, Sheriff
Speaker 1: Schmid took careful aim. His heavy rifle cracked a tire
Speaker 1: blew out out. The car swayed crazily, but the deaf
Speaker 1: Bonnie held to the road and made her way to safety.
Speaker 1: The fight at lasted just a few moments, but in
Speaker 1: that time the officers had fired seventeen shots and eleven
Speaker 1: exploded pistol shells were strewn along the road in the
Speaker 1: path of the barrel car. Tr James A Lawyer and
Speaker 1: paul A s Reich, both of Fort Worth, had been
Speaker 1: to Dallas attending a Masonic Lodge meeting. They were on
Speaker 1: the way home in James Carr in nineteen thirty two.
Speaker 1: Ford entirely unaware that anything was amiss, They were astonished
Speaker 1: when a small car with a flat tire swung across
Speaker 1: their path. To avoid a wreck, James stopped. Two men
Speaker 1: and a woman leaped out of the car that blocked
Speaker 1: the road. All had guns. Get out of there, James
Speaker 1: and Reich were ordered. Before the men had a chance
Speaker 1: to obey the outlaws command, one of the men, later
Speaker 1: identified as the Desperado Clyde Barrow, fired a shotgun into
Speaker 1: the car. Flying glass cut both men, but they managed
Speaker 1: to crawl out. A passing motorist stopped to see what
Speaker 1: was happening. With a snarl, Barrow's mysterious male partner ordered
Speaker 1: get back in there before I blow your damned head off.
Speaker 1: He fired several shots toward the fellow's foot. The frightened
Speaker 1: onlooker crawled back into car and sped away. Police never
Speaker 1: heard of him again. Hastily piling into james car, the
Speaker 1: bandit trio sped on the wounded men. Suspecting the identity
Speaker 1: of their attackers, climbed into the crippled car, deserted by
Speaker 1: the Desperadoes, and drove as fast as they dared toward Dallas.
Speaker 1: There they received first aid treatment for their cuts and
Speaker 1: reported to police. Quickly, officers ran out and examined the
Speaker 1: barrel car. A fresh bloodstain on the running board told
Speaker 1: them that someone in the car had been wounded. Articles
Speaker 1: found in the car indicated that Barrow and his companions
Speaker 1: had been living in a day and night. There were
Speaker 1: pillows and bedding. Badly soiled clothing told that the dapper
Speaker 1: killer had come to desperate straits. Bonnie's fir trim could
Speaker 1: have been left behind, and sitting on top of it
Speaker 1: was a newspaper carrying a story of the murder of
Speaker 1: Deputy Sheriff Eugene Moore at Toka, Oklahoma, in which Barrow
Speaker 1: had participated. But Bonnie's touch was found more unmistakably in
Speaker 1: a thumb marked book of poems, ballads of the barroom type,
Speaker 1: Ace in the Hole, the Kid's Last Fight, the Boston Burglar,
Speaker 1: the Convict, and the End of the Trail. Obviously, she
Speaker 1: was still getting that thrill out of her desperate career
Speaker 1: that led her to write poetry. And if you'd like
Speaker 1: to read some of Bonnie Parker's poems, while I found
Speaker 1: some of them at Texas Hideout dot tripod dot com,
Speaker 1: you can just google it. They'll come up all right
Speaker 1: back to it. Despite the most strenuous efforts of officers,
Speaker 1: killer couple Bonnie and Clyde had escaped again. Personally, I've
Speaker 1: lost count of how many times. The car Clyde had
Speaker 1: taken from James was abandoned at Grand Prairie, Texas, but
Speaker 1: there was no clue as to how the gang had
Speaker 1: escaped from that point. The day after the brush with
Speaker 1: Barrows gang on Airline Road, Sheriff Schmid received an underworld
Speaker 1: tip that set his force on its toes again. Not
Speaker 1: a breath of what the information amounted to got outside
Speaker 1: the inner circle of the Sheriff's office, but two trusted deputies,
Speaker 1: al Corn and Castor left town. The following day, the
Speaker 1: sheriff made an electrifying announcement the mysterious third man in
Speaker 1: Barrow's gang was under arrest. He had been picked up
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas. For several hours Sheriff Smid questioned him. Finally,
Speaker 1: the young desperado broke down in a twenty eight page confession.
Speaker 1: He set down one of the bloodiest tales in the
Speaker 1: history of America and policing. The youth under arrest was W. D. Jones,
Speaker 1: seventeen years old. He'd been with Barrow in all his
Speaker 1: major gunfights. As evidence that the prisoner was telling the truth,
Speaker 1: he showed seven fresh scars marks of wounds suffered in
Speaker 1: the battle with the Posse at Dexter, Iowa. He also
Speaker 1: revealed that Clyde Barrow had been badly wounded in that battle,
Speaker 1: while Buck Barrow mortally wounded and his wife Blanche were
Speaker 1: captured in the same fight. The story that Jones told
Speaker 1: will have to be briefed here, but the most skeletonized
Speaker 1: account is enough to make the hair rise on one's head.
Speaker 1: Starting Out as a motor car thief, Jones fell in
Speaker 1: with Barrow. Lured on by the man's reputation, the youth
Speaker 1: stuck to him. Soon Jones saw Barrow shoot down Doyle
Speaker 1: Johnson in cold blood at Temple, Texas on December fifth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two. From that moment on, he was entirely
Speaker 1: under the bandit's domination. Barrow would not allow him to leave,
Speaker 1: forcing him by threats of death to stay with him.
Speaker 1: The bandit leader held him often by force. Sometimes at night,
Speaker 1: he would chain him to trees and handcuff him so
Speaker 1: he could not escape. Speaking freely, the young desperado told
Speaker 1: how he'd met Clyde, Barrow and Bonnie near the filler
Speaker 1: station operated by Clyde's father in Dallas a few weeks
Speaker 1: before Christmas in nineteen thirty two. How would you like
Speaker 1: to take a ride with me? Barrow had asked. That
Speaker 1: ride ended in the murder at Temple when the gang
Speaker 1: was stealing Johnson's car. That night, with blood fresh on
Speaker 1: his hands, Barrow was joined by Buck Barrow's wife, Blanche,
Speaker 1: at a tourist camp outside Temple. Blanche went to town
Speaker 1: for some bread and eggs, and Clyde and Bonnie Parker
Speaker 1: planned to rob a grocery store in Temple the next day.
Speaker 1: I got cold feet, Jones said, and I shook my
Speaker 1: head at Clyde. He became alarmed and jumped up and
Speaker 1: swung a shotgun into position. He thought I was warning
Speaker 1: him that something was up. When he learned that I
Speaker 1: was only scared, he cussed me out for being yellow.
Speaker 1: I told him I wanted to go home. He answered, well,
Speaker 1: steal yourself a car and go home then, but I
Speaker 1: was afraid to go. Concurrent with Jones's confession, Frank Hardy
Speaker 1: was still being held for the murder of Johnson. His
Speaker 1: first trial for the killing resulted in a hung jury,
Speaker 1: and it was considered that jones confession had cleared Hardy.
Speaker 1: Two detectives were sent to Dallas to question Jones in
Speaker 1: connection with the slags. In Joplin County Prosecutor Ray Watson
Speaker 1: was structed to immediately start extradition proceedings against Hardy, who
Speaker 1: had been named as an accomplice of Barrow and Hollis
Speaker 1: Hale in the bank hold up at Honarago, Missouri. Hale
Speaker 1: was sentenced to twenty years in the Missouri State Penitentiary
Speaker 1: for that crime. Returning to Dallas with Barrow, Jones was
Speaker 1: not permitted to leave him. Two weeks later, he accompanied
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde to Fort Worth, Texas, and witnessed the
Speaker 1: slaying of Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis. There. We'd been at
Speaker 1: the home of Bonnie's mother, the prisoner said, regarding the
Speaker 1: Davis shooting. We had half a gallon of liquor and
Speaker 1: we're drinking it pretty freely. Leaving there, we went to
Speaker 1: Floyd Hamilton's house to see what we could learn about Raymond,
Speaker 1: who was in jail at Hillsboro. Then we went to
Speaker 1: Lily McBride's house to ask about some women. She wasn't there,
Speaker 1: so we took a girl I had home, and then
Speaker 1: went to see Clyde's mother. Later we went back to
Speaker 1: Lily McBride's place again. Lily was in Hillsborough to see
Speaker 1: if she could get Raymond down. Clyde started in, carrying
Speaker 1: his pistol and shotguns strapped to his body. It was dark,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't see anything, but I heard a pistol shot,
Speaker 1: and then the report of a shotgun. I saw a
Speaker 1: man fall over. Bonnie had a forty one caliber revolver
Speaker 1: and she fired it over my should two or three times.
Speaker 1: Clyde ran back to the car and we drove away.
Speaker 1: The escape led toward Grapevine, Texas. According to Jones, Clyde's
Speaker 1: car miired in the mud near Grapevine, and they gave
Speaker 1: a farmer three dollars to pull them out with a team.
Speaker 1: From there, they went to Oklahoma, where they hid for
Speaker 1: a while in the hills of the eastern part of
Speaker 1: the state. A little later they went to Missouri, held
Speaker 1: up a filling station in Springfield, and escaped into Arkansas,
Speaker 1: where they were joined by Buck and Blanche. From there
Speaker 1: they went to Joplin, Buck and Blanch occupied one room,
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde another. I slept on the couch. We'd
Speaker 1: just driven into the garage that day when Clyde shouted
Speaker 1: it's the law. Shots began to ring out in every direction.
Speaker 1: Clyde and Buck were trying to get the garage open,
Speaker 1: and I ran to help them when a bullet struck
Speaker 1: me in the head and I went out. The next
Speaker 1: thing I remember is that I was riding at high
Speaker 1: speed into V eight sedan. Clyde was driving, and Bonnie
Speaker 1: and Blanch were taking care of me. They told me
Speaker 1: two officers had been killed. We headed for the Texas Panhandle.
Speaker 1: The shooting was on Friday, and I got no medical
Speaker 1: attention until Saturday night, when they brought me some alcohol
Speaker 1: and a sab at Amarillo, Texas for the wound on
Speaker 1: my scalp. From Amarillo, we rambled through a good many
Speaker 1: states Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, and Louisiana. Later in the summer,
Speaker 1: we were in a Colorado town when we read in
Speaker 1: a newspaper that they were looking for us in that
Speaker 1: bury town. So we beat it to the east, then
Speaker 1: going through Kansas and back to Louisiana. While we're in Louisiana.
Speaker 1: Clyde sent me to steal a Chevrolet car. I did,
Speaker 1: but instead of going back to him, I came to
Speaker 1: Dallas and stayed almost a month with my mother. I
Speaker 1: never expected to join the gang again, but about a
Speaker 1: month later I was walking along the street one evening
Speaker 1: and who should drive up alongside me but Bonnie and Clyde.
Speaker 1: They told me I had to get in with him.
Speaker 1: I was afraid. I could see myself going for a ride.
Speaker 1: I asked, where are we going? Just going up in
Speaker 1: the country, I was told. The next night we got
Speaker 1: in a car wreck near Wellington, Texas. I was knocked
Speaker 1: out and Bonnie was burned badly. When I came to,
Speaker 1: Bonnie told me i'd shot a woman in the hand.
Speaker 1: Missus Jack Pritchard, daughter in law of Steve Pritchard, who'd
Speaker 1: gone to the aid of the occupants of the wrecked car,
Speaker 1: was wounded, as you'll remember, when she knocked on the
Speaker 1: door of the Prichard home. The gang had taken possession
Speaker 1: of the place. Jones continued telling the story of Sheriff
Speaker 1: George Corey and Marshall Hardy when they appeared at the
Speaker 1: farm while we were getting fixed up at the farmhouse.
Speaker 1: Some officers came out. We caught two of them and
Speaker 1: took them along with us into Oklahoma. Then we went
Speaker 1: on to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Buck and I set out
Speaker 1: to steal an automobile down there and took one away
Speaker 1: from a man along the road. Later we had a
Speaker 1: wreck and I got knocked out again. Buck told me
Speaker 1: he'd killed a man. I guess he did, because we
Speaker 1: lost no time getting back to Oklahoma. The man who
Speaker 1: was killed was Marshall H. D. Humphrey of Almah, Arkansas,
Speaker 1: who with Deputy Sheriff A. M. Sawyers, attempted to stop
Speaker 1: the barrel car after the gang and staged a hold
Speaker 1: up in Fayetteville. Jones continued a few days later buck Well,
Speaker 1: actually I called him Marvin. But Buck and Clyde went
Speaker 1: out on an expedition and came back with so many
Speaker 1: guns it looked like they'd robbed a gun factory. There
Speaker 1: was forty six automatic pistols, and they said they'd robbed
Speaker 1: an arsenal. They also had a lot of ammunition. From there,
Speaker 1: we went to that tourist camp near Platte, Missouri. The
Speaker 1: second night we were there, the officers trailed us. A
Speaker 1: man went to Blanch's cabin and said they were looking
Speaker 1: for some of the boys. Blanche told him the boys
Speaker 1: were in the next cabin. I was in that cabin
Speaker 1: with Clyde and Bonnie, and Clyde whispered to me, that's
Speaker 1: the law. So Bonnie hands me the keys of the
Speaker 1: car and said to start it. Clyde started shooting. I
Speaker 1: refused to start the car, and Clyde picked me up
Speaker 1: and carried me outside into the firefight. Buck was shot
Speaker 1: in the head and Blanche was carrying him her arms
Speaker 1: around his waist. Clyde hell put him in the car,
Speaker 1: shoved me in and told the women to get in
Speaker 1: and lie on the floor. He got in then backed
Speaker 1: the car out with one hand, shooting with the other.
Speaker 1: All the officers were shooting at us. Afterwards, we counted
Speaker 1: fifteen bullet holes in the car, but man, we were lucky.
Speaker 1: None of us were hit except Buck, and he was
Speaker 1: hitting the head. Two back tires went flat before we'd
Speaker 1: gone far, and we ran on one flat in one rim.
Speaker 1: We fled to Dexter, Iowa, where we're hid in the
Speaker 1: woods for three or four days. Marvin wasn't out of
Speaker 1: his mind, but he was suffering from his wound. The
Speaker 1: gang thought I knew too much, so they chained me
Speaker 1: to a tree to keep me from getting away. Then
Speaker 1: Clyde went into town the first night we were there
Speaker 1: and returned with five dinners and addressing for Buck's wound.
Speaker 1: A couple days later we roasted some wieners. The next morning,
Speaker 1: I was roasting the ones left over when Clyde shouted
Speaker 1: it the Law's coming the shoe and started. Before I
Speaker 1: could straighten up, I ran and got hit by a
Speaker 1: load of buckshot. I got one in the right hip,
Speaker 1: one in the little finger, and one on my chest.
Speaker 1: A bullet went through the calf of my leg, A
Speaker 1: machine gun bullet in my chest, my left wrist, and
Speaker 1: my right thumb. I do not know how I am
Speaker 1: still alive. They knocked me down. Clyde kept yelling at
Speaker 1: me to start the car. He was shooting all the time.
Speaker 1: He picked me up and put me in the back seat.
Speaker 1: Bonnie was in the front seat, squatting low. Clyde started
Speaker 1: the car. Before we'd gone far. The car hung up
Speaker 1: in a stump. Clyde told me to get out with
Speaker 1: a rifle and pry it loose. We couldn't get the
Speaker 1: car loose, so we started running through the woods. He
Speaker 1: made me carry Bonnie half a mile after she was hit.
Speaker 1: While we're hid in the woods, Clyde started toward a farmhouse,
Speaker 1: but he'd got in another gun battle and came back
Speaker 1: with three wounds. After this fight at Dexter, we went
Speaker 1: through Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. The
Speaker 1: graphics story told by Jones was of considerable value to
Speaker 1: the officers. It cleared up points about the movements of
Speaker 1: the game that previously had only been guessed at, and
Speaker 1: it was remarkable that so few of the guesses had
Speaker 1: been wrong. And yet even though they'd apparently been guessing
Speaker 1: right all along, Bonnie and Clyde just kept on getting away.
Speaker 1: It was also evident that Jones had been just a
Speaker 1: tool of the gang. He obviously had been badly frightened,
Speaker 1: not because of what he feared at the hands of
Speaker 1: the law, but because of what he feared at the
Speaker 1: hands of Clyde Barrow. He begged to be kept in jail.
Speaker 1: He wanted a life sentence, just anything that would keep
Speaker 1: him permanently out of the reach of the murderous banded gang.
Speaker 1: While the veil of mystery had been swept away from
Speaker 1: the mysterious third man in the gang, the major problem,
Speaker 1: the capture of Bonnie and Clyde themselves, remained as far
Speaker 1: from a solution as ever all the old time good
Speaker 1: luck still rode on the shoulders of Barrow without doubt.
Speaker 1: Now the most widely sought out law in America, Clyde
Speaker 1: was even more wanted than the notorious Charles pretty Boy Floyd.
Speaker 1: While occasional tips were to the effect that Barrow was
Speaker 1: here or that Barrow was there, no definite word came
Speaker 1: from him until January third, nineteen thirty four. That day,
Speaker 1: Monroe Routin, an ex convict, was arrested at Houston, Texas.
Speaker 1: After long police grilling, he admitted that he had fenced
Speaker 1: bond taken in a bank robbery at Shiro, Texas, the
Speaker 1: night of February twentieth, nineteen thirty three, through a Kansas City,
Speaker 1: Missouri politician. Further questioning drew from him that he had
Speaker 1: participated in the robbery as well, having his companions Clyde, Barrow,
Speaker 1: and a man whose name he didn't know. Officers believed
Speaker 1: the man probably was Jones. The night of January fifteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four, Ralph Highly, a Kansas City, Missouri detective,
Speaker 1: was visiting his wife's father, William Gilmour, at Grand Sline, Texas.
Speaker 1: About seven point fifteen. He heard someone trying to start
Speaker 1: his car, which was parked in front of his house.
Speaker 1: Highly stepped onto the front porch. Beside his car was
Speaker 1: another car, a Ford, with a man in the rumble
Speaker 1: seat and a woman at the wheel. Not suspecting the
Speaker 1: identity of his callers, Highly walked out to the car
Speaker 1: and asked what was going on. Then he noticed a
Speaker 1: second man standing at the door of his car. The
Speaker 1: detective asked no questions. The face was all too familiar.
Speaker 1: He'd seen it looking out from scores of police circulars.
Speaker 1: He was facing Clyde Barrow, who wants to know what's
Speaker 1: going on? Barrow asked, is this year car? Barrow nodded
Speaker 1: his head toward the Ford. Highly looked. Bonnie Parker was
Speaker 1: smiling down the barrel of a submachine gun. Well Highly said,
Speaker 1: recalling that his pistol was in the car Barrow was stealing.
Speaker 1: I guess I might as well go on back in
Speaker 1: the house. That would be the best thing for you
Speaker 1: to do, the outlaw replied. One hundred and fifty miles
Speaker 1: from Grand Sealine is the Eastern Texas State Prison farm. Here,
Speaker 1: in river bottoms, densely covered by brush, Clyde Barrow had
Speaker 1: spent a part of his first prison sentence, and here
Speaker 1: he was faded to write another bloody chapter of his
Speaker 1: life story. The track lies in deep southeast Texas. It
Speaker 1: is near the little town of Weldon and lies along
Speaker 1: the Trinity River. The morning of January sixth, nineteen thirty four,
Speaker 1: Raymond Hamilton, early crime partner of Barrow, was among the
Speaker 1: convicts laboring on the place. The outlook was hopeless for Hamilton,
Speaker 1: sentences totally two hundred and sixty three years faced him. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: he seemed to be filled with a suppressed excitement. A
Speaker 1: new hope seemed to burn in his eyes. As Olin Bozeman,
Speaker 1: prison guard took a squad of seventeen men from their quarters,
Speaker 1: Hamilton and originally assigned to another squad, attached himself to
Speaker 1: Bozeman's group. As the convicts marched out into the foggy morning,
Speaker 1: day had not fully broke. The men were shadowy figures
Speaker 1: in the early light. The men had not yet started
Speaker 1: their work. When Major Joseph Crosen of the prison guards noticed,
Speaker 1: while on a round of inspection that Hamilton was in
Speaker 1: the wrong squad. Croson walked up to Bozeman, send a
Speaker 1: guard captain with Hamilton and see that he gets into
Speaker 1: his own squad. As the guard walked up to Hamilton,
Speaker 1: the convict darted into the center of the convict group.
Speaker 1: Bill Palmer, a convict, slipped up to Major Croson and Bozeman.
Speaker 1: Thrusting a pistol against Bozman, he demanded stick them up, boys.
Speaker 1: Whirling on the prisoner, Major Crosen tried to grab his gun,
Speaker 1: but he was not quick enough. Cursing, Palmer fired a
Speaker 1: shot into Crosen's abdomen. Quickly mounting his horse, Bozeman returned
Speaker 1: the fire. At that moment, a new note, fearsome and
Speaker 1: deadly in the fog, entered the combat man. This is
Speaker 1: where I want to go. Dun, Dun, Dunn. All right,
Speaker 1: we're back. Thank you again for taking the time to
Speaker 1: support the brands that support kind of murdery. As I
Speaker 1: often mention, I'd love to create a community here where
Speaker 1: we can all share the unique experiences and stories that
Speaker 1: are connected to our lives, especially those of us who
Speaker 1: may have, as I do, a disability. So if you
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Speaker 1: story or just have a chance to be heard, please
Speaker 1: don't hesitate to reach out to the show Kindomurdery at
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Speaker 1: social media. Also, please remember that there's a three digit
Speaker 1: number nine eight eight that you can call to receive
Speaker 1: counseling for suicidal thoughts, mental health or substance abuse related issues. Please,
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Speaker 1: show more visible on podcasting platforms and help us to
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Speaker 1: that the community itself isn't kind of murdery, but you know,
Speaker 1: that is the name of the show. And with that,
Speaker 1: let's get back to part five of Wheels, Barrows and Blood.
Speaker 1: The Badlands Romance of Bonnie and Clyde. Kind of murdery
Speaker 1: resumes now. Palmer fired a shot into Croson's abdomen. Quickly
Speaker 1: mounting his horse, Bozeman returned the fire. At that moment,
Speaker 1: a new note, fearsome and deadly in the fog, entered
Speaker 1: the combat. Two dim, ghostly figures rose from the ravine
Speaker 1: less than fifty yards from the party. A blaze of
Speaker 1: machine gun fire streaked the air. Bullets thudded into Croson.
Speaker 1: Bozeman was knocked from his horse a bullet at his hip.
Speaker 1: Struggling to his knees, he aimed at one of the
Speaker 1: shadowy figures. Before he could fire, a bullet whipped the
Speaker 1: gun from his hand. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were
Speaker 1: firing into prisoners and guards alike. They were shooting from
Speaker 1: a trench like gully. Only a small number of the
Speaker 1: convicts appeared to have had advanced warning of the trouble
Speaker 1: and knew what to do. As guards shouted for their
Speaker 1: charges to lie down. Hamilton, Palmer, Henry Methman, W. H.
Speaker 1: Biby and JB. French, all desperate long termers, rushed to
Speaker 1: the side. Protected by the Barraja machine gun fire. They
Speaker 1: ran toward Barrow and dropped into the ditch beside him.
Speaker 1: Now the gang had things their own way. The only
Speaker 1: available guards were down. Major Croson was badly wounded. Bozeman
Speaker 1: was helpless leading the gang through the undergrowth with which
Speaker 1: he had become familiar while serving his own term. Clyde
Speaker 1: Barrow reached two cars parked beside the road. Motors roared,
Speaker 1: the cars sped away. Clyde, Bonnie, and Bonnie's old sweetheart
Speaker 1: Raymond Hamilton, fled in a coupe. The four other convicts
Speaker 1: escaped in a sedan. Prisoners carried the wounded men to
Speaker 1: the office, where they were given emergency treatment, and an
Speaker 1: intensive hunt was started for Barrow in the escaped convicts.
Speaker 1: Frank J. Blake, head of the Division of Investigation, Department
Speaker 1: of Justice at Dallas, started out with three of his
Speaker 1: men to meet Barrow, all superbly armed. Hundreds of well
Speaker 1: armed state and county officers were enlisted in the gigantic search.
Speaker 1: Major Crosn was rushed to a Huntsville hospital, where surgeons
Speaker 1: recognized that the only chance of saving his life lay
Speaker 1: in an immediate operation. It was found that Bozeman's wounds
Speaker 1: were not dangerous and he soon recovered. Meanwhile, W. W. Wade,
Speaker 1: warden of the State prison at Huntsville, broadcast an alarm
Speaker 1: by telephone. Within a few minutes, he learned that a
Speaker 1: car apparently bearing the had passed through Lovelady and headed north.
Speaker 1: It appeared that the gang was trying to make Dallas,
Speaker 1: hometown of both Barrow and Hamilton. Lee Simmons, general manager
Speaker 1: of the Texas State Prison System, started an investigation. He
Speaker 1: was assisted by B. B. Monzigo, manager of the prison fom,
Speaker 1: while bloodhounds tore through the underbrush on the bare chance
Speaker 1: that some of the escape men might be around. Officers
Speaker 1: questioned prisoners who had heard the whine of Barrow's bullets.
Speaker 1: It was learned that the delivery had been carefully pre arranged.
Speaker 1: Barrow had watched a group at work the day before.
Speaker 1: He knew from his own experience that their task was
Speaker 1: not finished, and that they would be back at the
Speaker 1: same place early the next morning. Just exactly how Barrow
Speaker 1: got word to Hamilton that he would try to effect
Speaker 1: his release wasn't learned, but the prisoners knew that when
Speaker 1: the gang went to work that morning, three revolvers were
Speaker 1: waiting in a brush pile. Hamilton obtained them and distributed
Speaker 1: them to men he felt he could trust and waited. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: as the search went on, Major Croson failed to rally
Speaker 1: from the emergency operation. He continued to grow weaker until finally,
Speaker 1: on January twenty seventh, died. The bloody Barrows had killed
Speaker 1: their ninth man. The entire Southwest was demanding that their
Speaker 1: career be brought to an end. Hours of heated search
Speaker 1: failed to reveal any additional trace of the escaped killers.
Speaker 1: Inasmuch as the group would be large enough to be
Speaker 1: noticed if it stayed together, and since Barrow was known
Speaker 1: to trust few men, officers soon inclined to the theory
Speaker 1: that the company had broken up. Barrow, Hamilton and Bonnie
Speaker 1: Parker probably stayed together. Realizing that there might be some
Speaker 1: mistake in the information as to the method of the escape,
Speaker 1: officers did not stop their checking of the territory immediately
Speaker 1: surrounding the prison farm. Disappointing as it was, the trail
Speaker 1: soon grew cold. Police officers over the entire Southwest went
Speaker 1: on the watch. None of them knew where barrows swooping
Speaker 1: flight might pause. The Texas officers kept up their valley
Speaker 1: in search, fighting hard against the discouragement they felt as
Speaker 1: they continued day after day, following numerous leads and tips,
Speaker 1: all of which proved worthless. A month after the raid
Speaker 1: on the Texas prison farm, there appeared in Southwestern newspapers
Speaker 1: are startling and now ounce a rate of huge proportions
Speaker 1: on the Cooks and Hills area of eastern Oklahoma, notorious
Speaker 1: for its criminal hideouts, had been dropped. That was the
Speaker 1: first suggestion the general public had of the amazing event
Speaker 1: that was to follow. The announcement was made for a purpose,
Speaker 1: all right, Let's set the scene here. A drizzling rain
Speaker 1: was falling over the jack oak timbered Cooks and Hills.
Speaker 1: The night of February seventeenth, It half concealed a tremendous activity.
Speaker 1: Trucks loaded with men wearing the uniform of the National
Speaker 1: Guard were rolling over the rough roads. There were scores
Speaker 1: of motor cars filled with men in civilian garb. Many
Speaker 1: of the cars bore police insignia. Four whole companies of
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma National Guard were on the move upon the
Speaker 1: orders of Governor William Murray. Altogether one thousand men, federal,
Speaker 1: state and county officers were converging toward pre arranged points.
Speaker 1: The great Drive was about to start. Information had been
Speaker 1: received that Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, and Raymond Hamilton were
Speaker 1: hiding in the hills. The huge posse was under orders
Speaker 1: to bring them in. Also sought were Charles pretty Boy Floyd,
Speaker 1: and other lesser criminals. The area comprising the Cooks and
Speaker 1: Hills is about sixty miles long and about forty miles wide,
Speaker 1: twenty four hundred square miles of some of the wildest,
Speaker 1: most inaccessible country in America. Cooks and Hills lies along
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma Arkansas line north from the Arkansas River, which
Speaker 1: crosses the state line at Fort Smith, Arkansas. An area
Speaker 1: without paved highway. It was historic as a hiding place
Speaker 1: for criminals since the days of the James Boys. It
Speaker 1: spread into four Oklahoma counties, Cherokee, Adare, Sequoya, and Muskegee.
Speaker 1: Bases of operation had been established at Tellquah, Muskegee Stillwell,
Speaker 1: and Silisaw. Zero hour, the dawn of Sunday February eighteenth
Speaker 1: found one thousand peace officers either on the march or
Speaker 1: at their posts, guarding paths and roads into the hills.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma had answered the challenge of the Barrow Pack. The
Speaker 1: orders were shoot to kill. The most perfectly organized in
Speaker 1: one of the largest man hunts in the history of
Speaker 1: Oklahoma was under way. The drizzling rain had turned to
Speaker 1: snow during the night, but before dawn the clouds broke.
Speaker 1: Starting at the first suggestion of daylight. The great raid
Speaker 1: on the Cooks and Hills of eastern Oklahoma was well
Speaker 1: along when the sun rose over the trees. February eighteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four, was an anxious day for law enforcement.
Speaker 1: Joplin Chief of Detectives Ed Portley, remained close to his office,
Speaker 1: hoping to receive a message that the murderous pair Clyde
Speaker 1: Barrow and Bonnie Parker had been captured or killed. Would
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma trap for them and Charles Pretty Boy Floyd
Speaker 1: be successful? In their heart of hearts police feared that
Speaker 1: it would not. They realized the tremendous task that the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma authorities had undertaken. A posse of one thousand men
Speaker 1: seemed large. The participating officers were well equipped, perhaps even
Speaker 1: better armed than the dangerous Barrow Pack, but it seemed
Speaker 1: impossible to cover thoroughly the area of twenty four hundred
Speaker 1: square miles, with its thousands of impregnable hideouts. Still, the
Speaker 1: chance of a fortunate break buoyed hopes. A car rushed
Speaker 1: down a rutted road near Weber's Falls. As it neared
Speaker 1: a barricade manned by Oklahoma National Guardsmen, the machine seemed
Speaker 1: to gain speed. An officer shouted a command. Crews leaped
Speaker 1: to army machine guns set up on both sides of
Speaker 1: the road. The guns were trained on the approaching car.
Speaker 1: The officer raised his automatic. The driver of the car
Speaker 1: apparently intended to ram the barricade of logs. The officer
Speaker 1: saw that a woman was in the front seat. He shouted, ready,
Speaker 1: it may be barrow. With only seconds to spare before
Speaker 1: crashing into the logs. The driver jammed on his brakes.
Speaker 1: The car skidded sideways across the road under the thread
Speaker 1: of the machine guns. A man and three women, their
Speaker 1: hands in the air, climbed out of the car. None
Speaker 1: of the occupants resembled members of the Barrow Gang, but
Speaker 1: the officer informed them that they were under arrest. Sheriff
Speaker 1: Stanley Rogers of Oklahoma County, one of the officers in
Speaker 1: command of the Posse unit of Muscogee, was informed of
Speaker 1: the arrest. Sheriff Rodgers, who was the president of the
Speaker 1: Organization of Peace Officers in Oklahoma, rushed to the scene
Speaker 1: when he learned of several articles found in the motor car.
Speaker 1: Only one man was in the car, but in the
Speaker 1: rear seat were two men's overcoats. A briefcase found under
Speaker 1: the coats contained several sh shells loaded with number two
Speaker 1: buckshot and a handful of forty five caliber pistol bullets.
Speaker 1: A hasty check revealed that the man and the three
Speaker 1: women under arrest did not have criminal records. Following the release,
Speaker 1: a few hours later, Sheriff Rogers made this announcement. We
Speaker 1: believe we missed Ford Bradshaw by a hair's breadth. We
Speaker 1: are positive that the car was sent ahead by Bradshaw,
Speaker 1: a notorious bank robber, as a decoy. There's every reason
Speaker 1: to believe that Bradshaw is still in the hills. At
Speaker 1: about the time of the incident near Weber's Falls, there
Speaker 1: was a similar occurrence near Muskige. A car broke down
Speaker 1: on a barricade erected on the road between von and Tahaqua.
Speaker 1: Disregarding the weapons of the officers at the barricade, the
Speaker 1: driver crashed his car through the heavy planks. The officers
Speaker 1: swung around and started firing at the fleeing car. Machine
Speaker 1: guns and rifles were spitting lead. The car gained distance
Speaker 1: fifty yards one hundred yards. A rear tire exploded, then another.
Speaker 1: Lurching wildly, the machine toppled into a ditch. Before the
Speaker 1: occupants could clamor from the disabled car, it was surrounded
Speaker 1: by a ring of determined officers. All right, we give
Speaker 1: up the men. As he climbed out, a federal agent
Speaker 1: lifted a revolver from the speaker's pocket. As the second
Speaker 1: man was getting out of the car with his hands
Speaker 1: elevated the daring display by the arrested men had led
Speaker 1: the officials to believe they'd captured two of the major
Speaker 1: criminals of Cooks and Hills. They were disappointed. At Salisaw,
Speaker 1: it was revealed that the men were not associated with
Speaker 1: the Barrow of Floyd gangs. The armed man had been
Speaker 1: sought some time for questioning. Such were the reports coming
Speaker 1: from Cooks and Hills. Nineteen persons, including six women, were
Speaker 1: arrested in the raid. Peace officers throughout the Southwest felt
Speaker 1: keenly the disappointment of the leaders of the Big Raid.
Speaker 1: Tired and wet from its day in the slushy brush,
Speaker 1: the army started home after dark. Not one major criminal
Speaker 1: had been arrested. Although failing in its principal objectives, the
Speaker 1: raid was in effect a success because the spirit and
Speaker 1: intensity behind the huge posse had a terrorizing effect on
Speaker 1: the criminals of the bad Lands. However, there was only
Speaker 1: one concrete result of the raid, Worth mentioning Ford Bradshaw,
Speaker 1: believed recently to have become a Lieutenant of Floyd, apparently
Speaker 1: no longer considered the Cooks and Hills area as safe
Speaker 1: hiding from confidential sources, Oklahoma authorities learned that he fled
Speaker 1: soon after the search died down. A few days later,
Speaker 1: this young outlaw was cornered by deputies in a roadhouse
Speaker 1: southwest of Fort Smith in attempting to fight his way clear.
Speaker 1: Bradshaw was shot to death. Now that the Big raid
Speaker 1: had become merely another incident in the far flung search
Speaker 1: for Clyde Barrow, law enforcement could not help but wonder
Speaker 1: where he would strike again. If he had been in
Speaker 1: eastern Oklahoma, it seemed probable that he would flee northward
Speaker 1: from that area. Orders were issued for a close watch.
Speaker 1: A motor car dealer in Springfield, Missouri, reported to police
Speaker 1: in the city that a car had been stolen from
Speaker 1: the front of his home. He saw the thieves as
Speaker 1: they drove away. The dealer positively identified Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker,
Speaker 1: and Raymond Hamilton. There was no identification for a third
Speaker 1: man with the gang. The warning was broadcast, as Springfield
Speaker 1: is only eighty miles east of Joplin. Chief of Detectives
Speaker 1: Ed Portley immediately ordered all available officers to rhads entering
Speaker 1: the city, but the trail was picked up at Galena,
Speaker 1: miles south of Springfield. Sheriff Seth Tuttle of Stone County
Speaker 1: and two deputies sighted the stolen car speeding westward on
Speaker 1: Missouri Highway number forty four. He wheeled his car about
Speaker 1: and started in pursuit. Rapidly he cut down the long
Speaker 1: lead of the banded car. The chase continued through Galina,
Speaker 1: then south. A few miles south of that town, the
Speaker 1: bandits abandoned the car stolen in Springfield, stealing another, which
Speaker 1: was parked in front of a farmhouse. Sheriff Tuttele instructed
Speaker 1: his men to continue the chase. He climbed into the
Speaker 1: abandoned car and rushed back to Galina to notify the
Speaker 1: reed spring Missouri police. Unless the Bannits could be stopped there,
Speaker 1: the sheriff knew the chance of capture was slight. The
Speaker 1: trail would be lost in the ravines of the Ozark Mountains.
Speaker 1: Marshall Dale Davis of Reid's Springs received the sheriff's call.
Speaker 1: He rushed to the highway. At a point north of
Speaker 1: the town, he saw a car approaching from the north.
Speaker 1: His revolver drawn, Marshall Davis signaled for the speeding car
Speaker 1: to stop, Hardly slackening its speed, the bandit driver whipped
Speaker 1: the car into a ruddy side road. The skidding wheels
Speaker 1: through a shower of gravel down the highway. Deftly, the
Speaker 1: driver kept control. A few seconds later, the sheriff's car
Speaker 1: came to a halt at the frantic waving of Marshall Davis.
Speaker 1: That way. Davis shouted, pointing down the side road. It's
Speaker 1: a dead end road. We got them, let's go. As
Speaker 1: the officer's car slid around a sharp turn in the
Speaker 1: narrow road, they were greeted with a fullasod of machine
Speaker 1: gun and pistol fire. The bullets plowed into the hood
Speaker 1: of the car, disabling the ignition system. Equipped only with revolvers,
Speaker 1: the officers were forced to seek cover. They miraculously escaped injury.
Speaker 1: Davis and the deputies were unable to fire often as
Speaker 1: the bandits maintained the barrage of rapid fire, able to
Speaker 1: send only a few feudal bullets after the bandit car
Speaker 1: as it retraced its course over the road. The officers
Speaker 1: were left stranded with their crippled car. Clyde Barrow again
Speaker 1: had eluded capture. The next day brought startling sequels to
Speaker 1: the affairs at Springfield and Reads. Spring Joe gunn a
Speaker 1: farmer living near Red spring returned to his home at
Speaker 1: noon after an absence of almost twenty four hours, and
Speaker 1: related an amazing experience. A car with two men and
Speaker 1: a woman, and it stopped and asked me for road directions.
Speaker 1: Gun said they wanted to go to Springfield. I told
Speaker 1: him the way and then started to go about my
Speaker 1: business when one of the men said get in here.
Speaker 1: He had a pistol in his hand. They took me
Speaker 1: to Springfield, where they stole the car. Then there was
Speaker 1: a wild ride, the officers chasing us. They told me
Speaker 1: that the officers ought to know me and wouldn't shoot
Speaker 1: at me, but the officers did not recognize me. The
Speaker 1: fight near Red Springs was terrible for me. Gun was
Speaker 1: released late that night, about twenty five miles south of
Speaker 1: the Missouri line. When he was showing pictures of the killers,
Speaker 1: the farmer completed the identification of Barrow, Hamilton, and Bonnie.
Speaker 1: The next development occurred in Kansas, only two hundred miles
Speaker 1: northwest of Berryville. Only a few hours after the farmer
Speaker 1: had been released. Guards on the wall the Kansas State
Speaker 1: Penitentiary noticed as Chevrolet Sedan circling the prison. In the
Speaker 1: car were four men and a woman. The woman was
Speaker 1: smoking a cigar. Well, that's Bonnie for you. Two hours later,
Speaker 1: prison authorities received reliable information that the same car with
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow at the wheel, had been parked on a
Speaker 1: side road near the prison. Radio stations were asked to
Speaker 1: broadcast a warning to peace officers of eastern Kansas and
Speaker 1: western Missouri. Heavily armed searching parties were sent out by
Speaker 1: Warden Lacey Simpson of the Kansas Prison and Warden Fred
Speaker 1: Ziers to the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, which is
Speaker 1: only a few min from the Kansas Institution at Lansing.
Speaker 1: The prison officials remembered rumors in the summer of nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty three that Barrow had planned a raid on the
Speaker 1: Federal prison, where one of Barrow's friends was a prisoner.
Speaker 1: There seemed to be considerable reason to believe that Barrow
Speaker 1: was in the vicinity of the prisons, but if a
Speaker 1: delivery had been planned, he'd evidently lost his courage. The
Speaker 1: trail was lost, the pack again had dropped from sight.
Speaker 1: The morning of February twenty seventh, the dark colored motor
Speaker 1: car swept into the little town of Lancaster, Texas. The
Speaker 1: cars stopped in front of the RP. Henry and Sons Bank.
Speaker 1: Two men stepped out and injered the car. A woman
Speaker 1: remained in the car. A few seconds later, the men
Speaker 1: dashed from the bank and leapt into the car seat
Speaker 1: of the machine. The car raced wildly down the street.
Speaker 1: The woman driving it had disappeared before startled witnesses learned
Speaker 1: what occurred in the bank. Bank officials announced that four thy,
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty eight dollars had been obtained in
Speaker 1: the hold up. They identified Clyde Barrow and Raymond Hamilton
Speaker 1: as the bandits. The chase was on again. Time passed
Speaker 1: without any definite word as to the whereabouts of the
Speaker 1: outlaw gang. The days following were marked only by the
Speaker 1: attempted escape of Roy thay Thornton, Bonnie Parker's former husband,
Speaker 1: from the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. At one o'clock
Speaker 1: on the morning of March seventh, five men crept from
Speaker 1: their cells in the prison. The convicts had unlocked their
Speaker 1: cell doors with keys fashioned in the prison machine shop.
Speaker 1: A few minutes later, the prison was thrown into confusion
Speaker 1: by the roar of shotguns. Three of the convicts attempting
Speaker 1: to scale the wall were wounded by buckshot. The other two,
Speaker 1: one of whom was Thornton, surrendered quickly. Vigilant guards had
Speaker 1: frustrated the plot. Warden W. W. Wade said that Thornton,
Speaker 1: a life termer, had plotted the escape because of his
Speaker 1: affection for Bonnie and his desire to rejoin her. The
Speaker 1: man is crazy over that woman, Wardon Wade said. The
Speaker 1: next morning, hundreds of miles distant from the Huntsville prison,
Speaker 1: a man burst excitedly into the office of Sheriff W. A.
Speaker 1: Wantland of Franklin County, Kansas. The man, whose name is
Speaker 1: withheld by Sheriff Wantlan, told of a strange experience. He
Speaker 1: said he was hitchhiking on United States Highway number seventy
Speaker 1: three West near Ottawa, Kansas, when he was picked up
Speaker 1: by a man and a woman in a Ford V
Speaker 1: eight sedan bearing an Oklahoma license. The couple asked him
Speaker 1: directions to Osawatomi, Kansas, and then let him out of
Speaker 1: the car. A few miles down the highway, the sheriff's
Speaker 1: visitor told of two sowd off shotguns in the car,
Speaker 1: and of a revolver and a holster strap to the
Speaker 1: steering wheel. The description of the couple seemed familiar to
Speaker 1: Sheriff Wantland. After viewing several pictures, the hitchhiker found they
Speaker 1: had been given a ride by you guessed Quiet Barrow
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Parker. Needless to say, this information caused a
Speaker 1: renewal of the search for Barrow in Kansas. It was
Speaker 1: at about this time that a series of some twelve
Speaker 1: bank hold ups started occurring in that state, But except
Speaker 1: for one vague instance, neither Barrow nor Bonnie Parker were
Speaker 1: identified in connection with any of those robberies. That one
Speaker 1: vague instance was in connection with the twenty five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars hold up on March twelfth of Exchange National and
Speaker 1: the Exchange State banks, which occupy the same building in Atchison, Kansas.
Speaker 1: Eight employees were kidnapped as hostages, and the chief of police,
Speaker 1: Willard Lynnville, was wounded in a battle with the bandits.
Speaker 1: Several persons reported to Atchison police that they'd seen a
Speaker 1: woman who was smoking a cigar in an Adjison hotel.
Speaker 1: The description given of the woman was somewhat similar to
Speaker 1: that of Bonnie Parker. However, the Barrow gang was ultimately
Speaker 1: not connected with the hold up. Business houses in the
Speaker 1: little town of West Texas. That's right, not the region.
Speaker 1: The town is actually called West Texas were enjoying the
Speaker 1: usual rush of Saturday the morning of March thirty. First.
Speaker 1: Few of the many persons on the street paid particular
Speaker 1: notice to a motor car that drew up to the
Speaker 1: front of the State National Bank. There was a red
Speaker 1: haired young woman at the steering wheel. A young man
Speaker 1: stepped from the car and sauntered into the bank. Once inside,
Speaker 1: he whipped out a bulky object he had concealed under
Speaker 1: his coat. It was a sub machine gun. A moment later,
Speaker 1: the man dashed from the bank and piled into the car.
Speaker 1: Bank officials ran to the streets, shouting for a chase
Speaker 1: to be organized. The loan bandit had scooped up one
Speaker 1: eight hundred and sixty two dollars from the tills. The
Speaker 1: alarm spread over Central Texas. Was it barrow? Witnesses to
Speaker 1: the hold up viewed pictures of the killer. He was
Speaker 1: not the bandit. The man was Raymond Hamilton. The witnesses
Speaker 1: said they were unable to identify the woman. Pozis of
Speaker 1: thirty officers spread out over the roads. Thirty minutes after
Speaker 1: the hold up, the trail of the banded car was found.
Speaker 1: A farmer said he'd pulled the car from a mud
Speaker 1: hole on the county road east of West. East of
Speaker 1: West really again, West Texas is the name of the town.
Speaker 1: There was a man in a redhaired woman in the car.
Speaker 1: The man answered Hamilton's description, courting death on the slippery road.
Speaker 1: Two car loads of deputy sheriffs dashed out in pursuit
Speaker 1: of the banded couple. As they neared the village of Thelma,
Speaker 1: the officers came upon an amazing scene. Two farmers were
Speaker 1: standing beside a wrecked car. They were waving frantically at
Speaker 1: the officers. The motors cut off. The deputies heard the
Speaker 1: wild sobs of a small child who was leaning against
Speaker 1: the wrecked car. Mother mother. The child cried, my mother
Speaker 1: is gone. God, that's tragic. The farmers said they'd been
Speaker 1: attracted to the scene by a loud crash. They found
Speaker 1: a man and a woman standing by the car, which
Speaker 1: had skidded from the road and plunged into an embankment. Mister,
Speaker 1: we got to get out of here in a hurry,
Speaker 1: the man addressed one of the farmers, Have you got
Speaker 1: a chain you could tie to your car. The farmers
Speaker 1: said they had no chain in the car, but volunteered
Speaker 1: to go to the nearby farm house where they could one.
Speaker 1: They climbed over the embankment and cut across the field.
Speaker 1: About fifteen minutes later they returned, carrying between them a
Speaker 1: long log chain. As they approached the edge of the embankment,
Speaker 1: the farmers heard the scream of a woman dropping the chain.
Speaker 1: They rushed forward. One of the farmers, who had a
Speaker 1: shotgun in his hand, released the safety catch on the weapon.
Speaker 1: They heard the man say, lady, we robbed a bank
Speaker 1: and we have to have your car. Apparently sensing the
Speaker 1: return of the farmers, the man released the struggling woman
Speaker 1: and dived for the wrecked machine. A second car was
Speaker 1: standing in the center of the road. The man pulled
Speaker 1: a machine gun from the car and pointed it toward
Speaker 1: the startled farmers. Drop that shotgun, he shouted. The farmer hesitated.
Speaker 1: A score of bullets from the machine gun ripped up
Speaker 1: the lip of the embankment at his feet. The shotgun
Speaker 1: tumbled down into the water of the ditch, defenseless. The
Speaker 1: farmers were unable to protest against what followed. They recognized
Speaker 1: the woman driver of the second car. She was Missus
Speaker 1: cam Gunter, an attractive young matron of Mexia, a town
Speaker 1: east of Thelma. In her car was her four year
Speaker 1: old son, Jolly. The man and his woman companion pulled
Speaker 1: the little boy from Missus Gunter's car and calmly proceeded
Speaker 1: to tran for several weapons from their wrecked car. The
Speaker 1: frightened mother crouched at the side of the road, her
Speaker 1: arms around the boy. Finally, the bandits appeared ready to leave.
Speaker 1: The man said to missus Gunter, you're going with us.
Speaker 1: The horrified young woman was forced into the front seat
Speaker 1: of the car between the bandit and his woman companion.
Speaker 1: The child was left behind. You take care of the kid,
Speaker 1: the man told the farmers, we can't use them. With
Speaker 1: the man driving, the car started eastward towards Mexia. The
Speaker 1: farmers plunged down the side of the bank, both attempting
Speaker 1: to find the shotgun. By the time it had been retrieved,
Speaker 1: the bandits and their hostage were out of sight. The
Speaker 1: deputy sheriffs did not tarry long, and obtaining the bare
Speaker 1: details of this new outrage, taking the child with them.
Speaker 1: They raced to Mexia with a report of the kidnapping.
Speaker 1: All police officers in the central part of the huge
Speaker 1: state were notified of the new turn. Radio stations in
Speaker 1: the larger cities broadcast a warning, a warning that there
Speaker 1: was an innocent person with the robbers. Sheriffs and police
Speaker 1: chiefs rushed additional men into the field. An outraged citizen
Speaker 1: reformed determined posses For two hours. News of the affair
Speaker 1: was kept from mister Gunter of Mexia. It was hoped
Speaker 1: that the surgers would missus Gunter unharmed and thus save
Speaker 1: her husband from shock and worry. When he was notified,
Speaker 1: the husband found willing volunteers for another posse. Hour after hour,
Speaker 1: the search went on. A watch was kept over all
Speaker 1: main highways, in most of the possible dirt roads. Every
Speaker 1: possible hideout was searched. Even after many of the other
Speaker 1: searching parties were forced to stop by exhaustion, the infuriated
Speaker 1: husband drove his party on at midnight. There had been
Speaker 1: no word. By that time, it had been definitively established
Speaker 1: that Raymond Hamilton, robber of the Bank at West, was
Speaker 1: the kidnapper. Hamilton the desperate escaped convict was a known killer,
Speaker 1: and perhaps even then he was keeping a rendezvous with
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow. It was no wonder that the hope of
Speaker 1: again seeing Missus Gunter alive was waning. When dawn came,
Speaker 1: a new posse took up the search. It was Sunday,
Speaker 1: April first, April Fool's Day. It was a dark, sad
Speaker 1: easter for the husband and son of Missus Gunter and
Speaker 1: the young woman's many friends. The one topic of conversation
Speaker 1: in the churches of Mexia that morning was the fate
Speaker 1: of the young mother. At nine point thirty in the morning,
Speaker 1: a long distance call for mister Gunter came from Houston,
Speaker 1: a city two hundred miles south of Mexia. The operator
Speaker 1: was unable to locate the husband, who was still driving
Speaker 1: his posse. On May I give mister Gunter a message,
Speaker 1: the operator asked, Or shall I call you back when
Speaker 1: you're able to reach him. Tell him that Missus Gunter called,
Speaker 1: The astonished operator heard over the wire. Tell him that
Speaker 1: I am safe and I was released a few minutes
Speaker 1: ago in Houston, and I will start home as soon
Speaker 1: as I have a little work done on my car.
Speaker 1: Missus Gunter was connected with the chief of Police. She
Speaker 1: said that she'd been unharmed and that Hamilton had given
Speaker 1: her thirty dollars to repair her car. When he released
Speaker 1: her at Houston shortly after one o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: following a mad drive over slippery roads, Hamilton had driven
Speaker 1: the car into a wooded patch. He told Missus Gunter
Speaker 1: to sleep. The Mexia woman described Hamilton's companions, telling how
Speaker 1: the red haired woman had called the bank robber by
Speaker 1: such endearing terms as darling and sweetheart. I dozed in
Speaker 1: the car, Missus Gunter said. The girl seemed to sleep
Speaker 1: pretty well, but I don't think the man win to sleep.
Speaker 1: He walked around with a machine gun in his hands
Speaker 1: most of the time. Missus Gunder said that Hamilton stole
Speaker 1: the black sedan with yellow wheels in Houston. Before he
Speaker 1: released her. She watched the couple drive away in the
Speaker 1: stolen car. Then she reported the affair to Houston police.
Speaker 1: Officials learned that Hamilton apparently had made no contact with
Speaker 1: Barrow during the time he held Missus Gunder captive, but
Speaker 1: the mere fact that Hamilton was headed south made it
Speaker 1: seem probable that Barrow was in the southern part of Texas.
Speaker 1: Mister and missus fred A giggle. Okay, that's spelled gigga
Speaker 1: l So I guess I can say giggle or gigle.
Speaker 1: I'm going with giggle. Mister and Missus fred A Giggle
Speaker 1: of four two two six, Prescott Avenue, Dallas, started to
Speaker 1: drive to Rome, a town northwest of Dallas, that Easter
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon. They were driving on Texas State Highway number
Speaker 1: one fourteen. Shortly before three thirty pm. Three officers of
Speaker 1: the Texas Highway Patrol mounted on motorcycles past them. Attached
Speaker 1: to one of the motorcycles was a sidecar containing a
Speaker 1: set of scales. Far down the highway, mister and Missus
Speaker 1: Giggle observed two of the motorcycles swerve into a side road.
Speaker 1: The machine with the sidecar continued on. His curiosity aroused,
Speaker 1: mister Giggle slowed his car as he approached the intersection
Speaker 1: of a dirt road. About one hundred yards up the road,
Speaker 1: he could see a parked black motor car with yellow
Speaker 1: wire wheels. The officers approached the car. The Dallas man
Speaker 1: turned his attention to the highway and started to speed
Speaker 1: up his car. A roar of gunfires sounded behind him. Quickly,
Speaker 1: mister Giggle brought his car to a halt. The reports
Speaker 1: of the guns died out, then began again. As he
Speaker 1: could see the park car only faintly through the trees,
Speaker 1: Mister Giggle started backing his car up. As soon as
Speaker 1: he stopped, he and his wife saw two brown uniform
Speaker 1: men lying on the dirt road. Two persons were standing
Speaker 1: over them. Both were dressed in brown riding trousers, and
Speaker 1: one was wearing a brown shirt, the other a blue shirt.
Speaker 1: One the shorter of the two, obviously was a woman.
Speaker 1: To their horror, the couple on the highway saw the
Speaker 1: taller of the two persons bend over one of the
Speaker 1: uniform men and fire several shots. The killers ran to
Speaker 1: the parked car. The car was turned around facing the highway.
Speaker 1: It started forward quick quick. They'll kill us two, missus,
Speaker 1: Giggle screamed. Mister Giggle started his car. Okay, can I
Speaker 1: just I'm sorry, I have to pause and just say
Speaker 1: there's this incredible emotional disconnect between how horrible the events
Speaker 1: that are occurring are and the fact that the couple
Speaker 1: that's witnessing them is named mister and missus Giggle, So
Speaker 1: you know, just deal with that. I am. Mister Giggle
Speaker 1: started his car down the highway. The car containing the
Speaker 1: killer's pods at the intersection. It seemed at first that
Speaker 1: the driver was about to turn it in pursuit. Then
Speaker 1: he turned southeast toward Dallas and soon disappeared. Driving at
Speaker 1: a high speed. Mister Giggle soon overtook the officers on
Speaker 1: the sidecar equipped motorcycle. The officer was Patrolman Polk Ivy.
Speaker 1: A moment later, Patrolman Ivy was traveling at a terrific
Speaker 1: pace back toward the scene of the shooting. Stretched out
Speaker 1: on the roadway, he found his two fellow officers, Patrolman
Speaker 1: EB Wheeler and HD Murphy. Wheeler, one of the best
Speaker 1: shots in the Texas Patrol, was dead and Murphy, unconscious
Speaker 1: from his wounds, died A few minutes later. Patrolman Ivy
Speaker 1: rushed to it telephone to notify Captain S. C. Ham
Speaker 1: of Dallas District, Chief of the Texas Patrol, of a
Speaker 1: double murder. Captain Ham immediately called Sheriff ra A. Schmid
Speaker 1: and Police Chief Claude W. Trammel through the facilities of
Speaker 1: the police department and the Sheriff's office to pick up
Speaker 1: for the black sedan with yellow wheels was broadcast earlier
Speaker 1: in the day. Officials at Dallas had been informed that
Speaker 1: Raymond Hamilton had stolen a black sedan with yellow wheels
Speaker 1: that morning in Houston. The first thought was that Hamilton
Speaker 1: had participated in the double killing. The car was similar
Speaker 1: and the slayers were a man and a woman. It
Speaker 1: was only a matter of minutes until investigating officers from
Speaker 1: Dallas and Fort Worth were at the murder scene. The
Speaker 1: officers were slain near the village of Grapevine, between the
Speaker 1: two larger cities. A few empty cartridge and shell cases
Speaker 1: scattered over the road gave mute evidence of the brutal crime.
Speaker 1: Officers found the cases of three sixteen gage and three
Speaker 1: twelve gage shotgun shells, and the cases of five forty
Speaker 1: five caliber pistol cartridges and one thirty sixty rifle shell.
Speaker 1: All had been fired by weapons in the hands of
Speaker 1: the killers. Neither of the officers had been able to
Speaker 1: Patrolman Wheeler, who had fallen beside his motorcycle, evidently had
Speaker 1: attempted to free his sowd Off shotgun from its scabbard.
Speaker 1: The revolvers of both of the officers were still in
Speaker 1: the holsters. Just as a minute search of the scene
Speaker 1: was being started, a third witness to the brutal affair
Speaker 1: stepped forward to talk to the officials. He was William Schaeffer,
Speaker 1: a farmer whose land borders the side road. He was
Speaker 1: about one hundred yards distant from the park car when
Speaker 1: the shooting started. Scheiffer's version of the affair corroborated that
Speaker 1: given by mister and missus Giggle. He said that the
Speaker 1: two officers alighted from their machines about twenty five feet
Speaker 1: from the park car. A man and a woman, both
Speaker 1: thressed in riding breeches, leapt from the car and opened
Speaker 1: fire with shotguns. The farmer saw both of the killers
Speaker 1: fire at the still forms of the officers. Detective A. C.
Speaker 1: Howerton of fort Worth questioned mister Scheiffer how long had
Speaker 1: the car been parked there? Since ten thirty this morning.
Speaker 1: Scheiffer replied, I passed it when I was to turn
Speaker 1: into my farm with a load of stone. There was
Speaker 1: a man and a woman in it, a good looking
Speaker 1: young woman and smallish and a hatchet faced young man.
Speaker 1: The officers crowded around the farmer at these words about
Speaker 1: how tall was the man. There was an air of
Speaker 1: suppressed excitement as the questions were fired at the farmer.
Speaker 1: Similar questions were asked of the Giggles. Detective Howerton said, man,
Speaker 1: we know who killed Wheeler and Murphy. There ain't a
Speaker 1: doubt in the world. The killers were Clyde Barrow and
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker. The Barrow gang had committed their tenth and
Speaker 1: eleventh murders. It was certain then that Hamilton had not
Speaker 1: been with Barrow at the time of the murders. If
Speaker 1: the car had been parked near Grapevine at ten thirty
Speaker 1: that morning, it would have been a physical impossibility for
Speaker 1: Hamilton to have traveled there from Houston, a distance of
Speaker 1: about two hundred and sixty miles. Hamilton was last seen
Speaker 1: by Missus Gunter and Houston at nine thirty. It will
Speaker 1: be recalled. After the officers had finished talking to the witnesses,
Speaker 1: the search for further evidence was resumed. At the side
Speaker 1: of the road, Detective Howerton bent over. He picked up something.
Speaker 1: It was a cigar butt. It bore the imprint of
Speaker 1: small teeth. Bonnie Parker had tossed it into the ditch
Speaker 1: an hour later, the identification of Barrow and Bonnie Parker
Speaker 1: as the slayers of patrol men Wheeler and Murphy was
Speaker 1: made even more more positive when the witnesses were shown
Speaker 1: pictures of the killers. In the meantime, hundreds of officers
Speaker 1: had been scouring the country roads of northern Texas. The
Speaker 1: peace officers of town after town were called by long
Speaker 1: distance by the Dallas authorities. The hunt for the killers
Speaker 1: grew in widening circles. Twenty five Dallas detectives and patrolmen
Speaker 1: were added to the forces of Sheriff Schmid to carry
Speaker 1: on the search in Dallas County. Numerous posses were at
Speaker 1: work in Tarrant and Denton Counties, believed to be frequently
Speaker 1: visited by Barrow. The trail was picked up in Grapevine.
Speaker 1: A black Ford sedan with yellow wheels had raced through
Speaker 1: the town a few minutes after the officers had been slain.
Speaker 1: The car was traveling at a speed estimated at seventy
Speaker 1: five miles an hour. Persons who observed the speeding cars
Speaker 1: that its occupants were laughing. Barrow dropped from sight. More
Speaker 1: than twenty four hours passed before Texas officials obtained another
Speaker 1: definite lead. Thank you for taking a moment to support
Speaker 1: the brands who support Kind of Murdery. Also, thank you
Speaker 1: for being part of our Kind of Murdery community, a
Speaker 1: community that, as you know, I truly hope, can become
Speaker 1: a police where we all can feel seen and cared for.
Speaker 1: I would like to especially acknowledge our listeners with disabilities,
Speaker 1: physical or otherwise. As you know, I have cerebral palsy myself.
Speaker 1: If you need a friend, don't hesitate to reach out
Speaker 1: to the show. And also, everyone, please remember the three
Speaker 1: digit number nine eight eight. Program it into your phone.
Speaker 1: It's new. It's a free number that you can dial
Speaker 1: in times of crisis to receive suicide, substance abuse and
Speaker 1: mental health related counseling. If you're in crisis, please remember
Speaker 1: your loved and dial nine eight eight to talk to
Speaker 1: someone right away. If you're not in crisis, but the
Speaker 1: clouds are pressing down on you and you could use
Speaker 1: a friend, please don't hesitate to reach out to the
Speaker 1: show Kindomurdery at gmail dot com or at kind of
Speaker 1: Murdery on all social media. I'd love to connect with you.
Speaker 1: I'm here for you and I care. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get back to the killer couple. Shall we as we
Speaker 1: continue with with part six of Wheels, barrows and Blood,
Speaker 1: the bad Lands Romance of Bonnie and Clyde kind of
Speaker 1: murdery resumes now. A blackboard sedan rolled slowly down the
Speaker 1: main street of Blanket, Texas, a town about one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty five miles southwest of Dallas. The driver, sighting
Speaker 1: Howard Strickland, Night Marshall, stopped the car beside the officer.
Speaker 1: Two persons were inside the car, a man and a woman.
Speaker 1: Marshall Strickland found himself covered by a submachine gun. He
Speaker 1: was forced to accompany the bandage to a filling station.
Speaker 1: The man broke the lock on a pump and the
Speaker 1: fuel tank of the car was filled to overflowing. A
Speaker 1: second later, the sedan was speeding down the road. The
Speaker 1: officer whipped out his revolver and fired four times at
Speaker 1: the racing car. None of the bullets took effect. The
Speaker 1: Marshall's telephone message through the search for Clyde Barrow to
Speaker 1: Central Texas for it was Clyde who was driving the car.
Speaker 1: While not positive, Marshall Strickland believed the woman was Bonnie Parker.
Speaker 1: By this time, the demand for the capture of the
Speaker 1: Bearargang had reached a new peak. Texas newspapers were calling
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow Texas public enemy number one papers and other
Speaker 1: states were ranking him as the public Enemy number one
Speaker 1: of the United States. Following the announcement of Missus M. A. Ferguson,
Speaker 1: Governor of Texas, that the state would pay five hundred
Speaker 1: dollars for the capture of the criminals, there came a
Speaker 1: flood of private subscriptions to a reward fund. Most of
Speaker 1: the donations were for one dollar. They poured in at
Speaker 1: such an extent that within a few days, Chief L. G.
Speaker 1: Ferris of the Texas Highway Patrol announced that the fund
Speaker 1: had grown to almost three thousand dollars. A downpour of
Speaker 1: rain the night of April fourth hampered the statewide search
Speaker 1: for the killers. It was that night that a black
Speaker 1: sedan slipped into Dacab in northern Texas, near the Oklahoma line.
Speaker 1: There were two men and a woman in the car.
Speaker 1: John Hall, a filling station operator at d KALB, looked
Speaker 1: curiously at the occupants of the cars it drew up
Speaker 1: in front of his pumps. Just four gallons of gasoline
Speaker 1: were required to fill the car's tank. Get In ordered
Speaker 1: the driver of the car. He was pointing a pistol
Speaker 1: at Hall. Boy, if I had worked at a gas
Speaker 1: station in the midwest of the South during Bonnie and
Speaker 1: Parker's cross country rampage, I think I would have retired
Speaker 1: or found another job. Sheesh get In ordered the driver
Speaker 1: of the car. He was pointing a pistol at Hall.
Speaker 1: Inside the car, the woman and a second man rifled
Speaker 1: Hall's pockets, taking forty dollars. Before his absence had been discovered,
Speaker 1: Hall called the Decalb police from a farm telephone eight
Speaker 1: miles north of town. He'd been thrown from the car
Speaker 1: by the bandits. The driver of the car was Clyde Barrow.
Speaker 1: Hall had remembered newspaper pictures of the Killer. A black
Speaker 1: Ford sedan with yellow wheels skidded on the muddy road
Speaker 1: at the outskirts of Commerce, Oklahoma, a village in the
Speaker 1: northeast corner of the state. The driver stepped on the accelerator,
Speaker 1: but he could not keep the machine in the road.
Speaker 1: It slid into a ditch. The furiously spinning wheels would
Speaker 1: not take hold. Several persons volunteered to push on the
Speaker 1: mired car. At first they were waved away, then their
Speaker 1: offer was accepted. Some of the more curious peeked into
Speaker 1: the mud spattered windows. Beside the driver. They saw a
Speaker 1: blond young woman, and another man of the car started
Speaker 1: cursing the volunteers. The second man, a sandy haired fellow,
Speaker 1: leaped from the sedan. When several of the helpers started
Speaker 1: to draw away, the man held a machine gun. Oh no,
Speaker 1: you don't, he shouted, you stay right here. Alia. Charles Dodson,
Speaker 1: who was driving his heavy truck along the road, came
Speaker 1: to a halt when he saw the ugly muzzle of
Speaker 1: a gun trained on his cab. Tie on here, the
Speaker 1: man ordered, you'll pull us out or you'll get filled
Speaker 1: with lead under the thread of death. Dodson climbed out
Speaker 1: of his truck and fastened a length of rope to
Speaker 1: his machine and the car. He started to feed the
Speaker 1: gas to his motor. Slowly, the car was tugged from
Speaker 1: the ditch. The driver unfastened the rope. Two men whom
Speaker 1: the truck driver and the bystanders had recognized, were approaching.
Speaker 1: They had revolvers in their hands. Constable cal Campbell had
Speaker 1: been informed that a car containing several drunks was creating
Speaker 1: a disturbance at the edge of town. He went to
Speaker 1: the village barber shop, where he found Chief of Police
Speaker 1: Percy Boyd. Together the two officers started out to investigate.
Speaker 1: It was the morning of April sixth. As they came
Speaker 1: up upon the scene, the officers saw the machine gun.
Speaker 1: They knew that they would be facing no simple gang
Speaker 1: of common drunks. Constable Campbell shouted, get ready to shoot.
Speaker 1: The man with the machine gun swung around. The driver
Speaker 1: of the car, also armed with the machine gun, got
Speaker 1: out of the car. Constable Campbell raised his revolver. He
Speaker 1: fired three times. Chief Boyd started firing. The machine guns
Speaker 1: opened up. The Chief threw himself on the ground. Constable
Speaker 1: Campbell fell by his side. Turnover, lie flat, or they'll
Speaker 1: fill you with lead, Chief Boyd cried to his fellow officer.
Speaker 1: The constable only groaned. A burning sensation ran down the
Speaker 1: side of Chief Boyd's face. He felt faint. Recovering in
Speaker 1: a second, he looked up to find himself covered by
Speaker 1: the machine guns, blood streaming down his face. The chief
Speaker 1: was forced into the car and a machine gun prodded
Speaker 1: him in the back. The car started forward, then slipped
Speaker 1: into the ditch again. This time the tires held and
Speaker 1: the machine swerved into the middle of the road. Constable
Speaker 1: Campbell was dead. Chief Boyd, believed to be badly wounded,
Speaker 1: had been kidnapped. That was the state of affairs as
Speaker 1: found by Sheriff d Waters when he arrived in the
Speaker 1: terror stricken village. Quickly, Sheriff Waters set the machinery in
Speaker 1: motion to search for the killers. He obtained volunteers to
Speaker 1: spread the alarm to other towns. Then he started piecing
Speaker 1: together descriptions of the killers. There could be no doubt.
Speaker 1: Sheriff Waters declared that the driver of the car was
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow. With him were Bonnie Parker and a second
Speaker 1: man believed to be at this point also notorious Raymond Hamilton, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Speaker 1: Missouri and Arkansas offered avenues of escape for the killers
Speaker 1: and kidnappers. Just south of Commerce Lade the Cooks and Hills.
Speaker 1: Remember the Cooks and Hills where that giant raid that
Speaker 1: was almost on a military scale didn't manage to catch anyone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the place. Roads to that area were blocked and
Speaker 1: the peace officers of towns and counties in the four
Speaker 1: states concentrated on the borders. Captain Ham of the Texas
Speaker 1: Patrol rushed Patrolmanto the bridges over the Red River, which
Speaker 1: forms the Texas Oklahoma border. Clyde Barrow was responsible for
Speaker 1: a twelfth murder. What was the fate of Chief Boyd?
Speaker 1: Was he to be listed as number thirteen and the
Speaker 1: bloody record? The Barrow gang had fled westward from Commerce,
Speaker 1: three miles from the shooting scene. Their car again hadmired
Speaker 1: a and Butterfield. A farmer reported to Sheriff Waters that
Speaker 1: he'd been forced to tow the car onto solid road.
Speaker 1: The woman, Bonnie Parker, held the wheel while the two
Speaker 1: men kept Butterfield covered with their weapons. Two hours rolled
Speaker 1: by with no further word from the killers. At midnight
Speaker 1: there seemed to be no hope, and then Sheriff Harry
Speaker 1: Hile of Fort Scott, Kansas, was awakened by the insistent
Speaker 1: clamor of his telephone. It was twelve twenty one am
Speaker 1: in the morning of April seventh. Instinctively, Sheriff Hyle knew
Speaker 1: that he was about to receive a message concerning the killer.
Speaker 1: This is Percy Boyd, Sheriff. Were the startling words the
Speaker 1: Kansas officer heard Clyde Barrow just turned me loose seven
Speaker 1: miles south of Fort Scott, near Kansas State Highway number seven.
Speaker 1: I believe he's headed toward your city. The conversation between
Speaker 1: the two officers was short and to the point, and
Speaker 1: then the connection was broken. A second later, Sheriff high
Speaker 1: was calling his deputies, the Fort Scott Police, and the
Speaker 1: offices of the Kansas Highway Patrol at Topeka with something
Speaker 1: definite to guide them. Dozens of peace officers again took
Speaker 1: up the chase. Sheriff Hyle completed his calls, then he
Speaker 1: took a car load of deputies and rushed to Chief Boyd.
Speaker 1: The Commerce chief had called from the farmhouse of Harry Dugan.
Speaker 1: A short time later, Chief Boyd was admitted to the
Speaker 1: Fort Scott Mercy Hospital for treatment of a scalp wound.
Speaker 1: After reciting briefly the details of the affair at Commerce,
Speaker 1: Chief Boyd told the detail of his ride with Clyde
Speaker 1: Barrow and the conversation he had with Bonnie Parker. The
Speaker 1: second man, a silent fellow the chief believed was Hamilton.
Speaker 1: At times, the light car whizzed along at ninety miles
Speaker 1: an hour, Barrow seemed to have no definite destination. Almost
Speaker 1: forty gallons of gasoline were consumed in a mad merry
Speaker 1: go round flight in southeastern Kansas. Bonnie, Parker and Barrow
Speaker 1: freely admitted their identities. They joked about the shooting and commerce.
Speaker 1: At one point the conversation turned to the double murder
Speaker 1: near Grapevine. That's where they got us wrong, Bonnie said.
Speaker 1: In later conversation, things were set. In contradiction to that denial,
Speaker 1: Barrow and Bonnie bragged that they were too smart to
Speaker 1: be caught. The woman denied that she smoked cigars. They
Speaker 1: had an arsenal in that car. Chief Boyd said, I
Speaker 1: saw three machine guns, three shotguns, and a bunch of
Speaker 1: automatic pistols. Then they had a suitcase full of ammunition,
Speaker 1: and there was a pint a whiskey in the car.
Speaker 1: But Barrow said he never drank. My shirt was covered
Speaker 1: in blood, so Barrow gave me one of his and
Speaker 1: the other man gave me a necktie. One of them
Speaker 1: poured some antiseptic over the wound in my head. Believing
Speaker 1: that Barrow still was in Kansas, adjunct General Milton MacLean
Speaker 1: ordered out several companies the National Guard because of the
Speaker 1: violation of the federal kidnapping While United States Attorney General
Speaker 1: Cummings at Washington instructed Department of Justice agents to utilize
Speaker 1: every resource to apprehend Barrow. In a surprise development, shown
Speaker 1: pictures of Raymond Hamilton. Chief Boyd said that the criminal
Speaker 1: was not the companion of Barrow and Bonnie. Belief that
Speaker 1: the second man was Jim Clark, escaped Kansas convict led
Speaker 1: to a raid by federal, state and county officials that night.
Speaker 1: It was believed that Barrow might be hiding with Clark
Speaker 1: on a farm between Chatoba, Kansas and Welch, Oklahoma. Hamilton
Speaker 1: himself denied that he was with Barrow in the Commerce
Speaker 1: raid and clothed with a paper bearing his fingerprints. A
Speaker 1: letter from Hamilton was received by a Dallas lawyer on
Speaker 1: April eighth. The letter, mailed in New Orleans, was sent
Speaker 1: special delivery. It read, in part, I'm sending you a
Speaker 1: bill from a hotel I was staying at at the
Speaker 1: time of the killing in Commerce, Oklahoma. I haven't been
Speaker 1: with Clyde Barrow since the Lancaster bank robbery. I'm sending
Speaker 1: you one hundred dollars and I want this put before
Speaker 1: the public, improved right away. I'm enclosing also my fingerprints.
Speaker 1: I want to let the public and the whole world
Speaker 1: know that I am not with Clyde Barrow, and I
Speaker 1: don't go his speed. I'm a lone man and I
Speaker 1: intend to stay that way. I was in Houston Wednesday night,
Speaker 1: April fourth, and I've been here ever since Thursday evening,
Speaker 1: April fifth. The hotel bill was for Fa Murphy and
Speaker 1: wife in Lake Charles, Louisiana. At the hotel in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: It was said that Murphy and a striking brunette had
Speaker 1: stopped there the night of April fifth. The clerk and
Speaker 1: a bell boy identified a photo of Hamilton. A number
Speaker 1: of handwriting experts examined the letter. It was declared genuine.
Speaker 1: The fingerprints were Hamilton's. Why should the murderer Hamilton be
Speaker 1: so concerned over the slaying and commerce? The lawyer to
Speaker 1: whom the letter was addressed explained it as follows. Hamilton
Speaker 1: is wanted in Oklahoma for the killing of an officer
Speaker 1: at Atoka. He's afraid of that state now, believing that
Speaker 1: he would be sentenced to death for the Atoka killing,
Speaker 1: and he's anxious that it not be connected with the
Speaker 1: Commerce killing, for that would result in his being taken
Speaker 1: to Oklahoma if he is ever captured. The following day,
Speaker 1: the black Ford sedan used by Barrow was found half
Speaker 1: buried in a haystack near Fort Scott. In it were
Speaker 1: Chief Boyd's necktie and several other articles identified by the
Speaker 1: Commerce Chief of Police. Days passed without a definite lead
Speaker 1: to follow. On April eleventh, it was reported that Barrow
Speaker 1: had been sighted near Independence, Kansas, and on the same
Speaker 1: date a first degree murder charge was filed against him
Speaker 1: in Miami, Oklahoma, in action with the death of Constable Campbell.
Speaker 1: The following day, a letter purporting to come from Bonnie
Speaker 1: Parker was received by a Houston newspaper. The letter, signed
Speaker 1: by Clyde and Bonnie, stated that Raymond Hamilton no longer
Speaker 1: was associated with the pair. The letter had been mailed
Speaker 1: at Groveton, Texas. On April thirteen, two raids at widely
Speaker 1: separated points were made with the capture of Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: as the objective. One was at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and
Speaker 1: the other was near Ringold, Louisiana. Neither raid and this
Speaker 1: is unsurprising at this point was successful. The next day,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Schmid announced the arrest of Floyd Hamilton, brother of
Speaker 1: Raymond Hamilton, and three other men at Dallas. The search
Speaker 1: for Barrow swung to the vicinity of Erdell, Texas, on
Speaker 1: April twentieth, when a bandit entered the Ardell State Bank
Speaker 1: and escaped with about one hundred dollars. Identification was made
Speaker 1: by J. Wiley Harris of Dallas, who was in the
Speaker 1: bank at the time of the hold up. The next
Speaker 1: announcement of importance came from Crockett, Texas. On April twenty fourth.
Speaker 1: Officials there filed former charges against Floyd Hamilton, accusing of
Speaker 1: smuggling weapons into the Eastern Prison Farm previous to Barrow's
Speaker 1: raid on January sixteenth. Then the next day, a more
Speaker 1: startling event occurred. A Plymouth motor car pulled up to
Speaker 1: the side door the First National Bank at Louisville, Texas.
Speaker 1: Two men were in the car, One got out, swaggered
Speaker 1: into the bank, and the other remained in the machine.
Speaker 1: Seconds later, the man ran from the bank and leapt
Speaker 1: into the car in an unbelievably short time. Police radio
Speaker 1: stations in the larger cities of Texas were broadcasting reports
Speaker 1: of the hold up. The bandits had obtained approximately twenty
Speaker 1: two hundred dollars. The bandit who'd performed the actual robbery
Speaker 1: was Raymond Hamilton. The second man was unknown. Posse's converged
Speaker 1: on Lewisville. Two and a half hours later, Deputy Sheriff's
Speaker 1: Callier Urrey and D. S. McDaniel of Grayson County and
Speaker 1: doctor John T. Hall, arms instructor of the Sherman, Texas
Speaker 1: Police Department, were speeding down a side road about seven
Speaker 1: miles south of Sherman. They observed a Plymouth car swing
Speaker 1: from the main highway and onto their road. Deputy Urrey
Speaker 1: swung the possecar across the road that Plymouth was forced
Speaker 1: to hault under the threatening weapons of the officer. Raymond
Speaker 1: Hamilton and his companion T. R. Brooks climbed from the
Speaker 1: car and surrendered. Occupying a death cell in the Dallas
Speaker 1: County jail, Hamilton said he had not seen Barrow since
Speaker 1: the Lancaster Bank robbery. Continued questioning of the robber and
Speaker 1: murderer resulted in nothing of value. In the hunt. May one, Hamilton,
Speaker 1: former member of the Barrow gang, was indicted as a
Speaker 1: habitual criminal. Dallas County officials announced that a determined effort
Speaker 1: would be made to obtain the maximum penalty death by
Speaker 1: electric chair. Law enforcement acknowledged this victory with little excitement,
Speaker 1: because against Hamilton's capture, the death of Buck Barrow, the
Speaker 1: imprisonment of his wife Blanche, and the arrest of other
Speaker 1: accomplices now in prisoner waiting trial, stands a grim challenge
Speaker 1: of twelve lives wantonly snuffed out by the murderous gang.
Speaker 1: With Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker still eluding the dragnet
Speaker 1: spread for them over the Southwest, Buckle up, strap on
Speaker 1: your Doc Martin's, and head for the moshpit. As we
Speaker 1: immerse ourselves in the inside story of the killing of
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, as told by a man
Speaker 1: who was there on the road where it happened. Sheriff
Speaker 1: Henderson Jordan from Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Early in nineteen thirty two,
Speaker 1: when I became Sheriff of Bienville Parish, Clyde Barrow was
Speaker 1: a convict in the Texas State Penitentiary. He was a
Speaker 1: small timer then, and on February second of that year,
Speaker 1: the youthful car thief who was to spread terror and
Speaker 1: death through a dozen states, was released on general parole.
Speaker 1: The notoriety of the Bloody Barrows gathered momentum hardly more
Speaker 1: than a year following his release, Clyde Barrow and his
Speaker 1: associates had been identified in seven murders. Within that short time,
Speaker 1: the crimson partnership with Bonnie Parker, pretty red haired waitress,
Speaker 1: had been sealed. As a police officer, I watched with
Speaker 1: horror the increasing atrocities of the gang twelve murders in
Speaker 1: twenty six months. Nine of those victims were officers who'd
Speaker 1: been shot down in battles with this wantonly, violent pack
Speaker 1: of desperadoes. I rejoiced at the victories won by the
Speaker 1: law in the other states. Buck Barrow, Clyde's brother, wounded
Speaker 1: by Missouri officers, died after his capture by the Iowa posse.
Speaker 1: Blanche Barrow, wife of Buck Now, is in the Missouri
Speaker 1: State penitentiary. A member of the Gango participated in several
Speaker 1: of the murders, is under death sentence in Texas. Others
Speaker 1: are in various prisons. From all of this dramatic robbery,
Speaker 1: murder and violence, a cold blooded heartless criminal combination emerged.
Speaker 1: Sheriff Henderson Jordan just called Bonnie and Clyde a cold blooded,
Speaker 1: heartless criminal combination and referred to Bonnie as Clyde's able lieutenant,
Speaker 1: and that likely all is true. Bonnie was certainly able.
Speaker 1: She was far more than some gangster's girlfriend. That being said,
Speaker 1: it seems to me that the truth lands squarely in
Speaker 1: Girls Run the World. What this story suggests to me
Speaker 1: is that Clyde was just as much Bonnie's able lieutenant,
Speaker 1: if not more than the other way around. Perhaps there's
Speaker 1: more than just linguistic rhythm to the fact that America's
Speaker 1: most famous killer couple is remembered as Bonnie and Clyde,
Speaker 1: not Clyde and Bonnie. That's right, cigar chomping, aspiring movie
Speaker 1: star and certified badass Bonnie Parker was Nobody's lieutenant. She
Speaker 1: strikes me as having been a general officer, a general
Speaker 1: officer of brutality, banditry, murder, and yes, of course, romance.
Speaker 1: I mentioned at the very outset of this story in
Speaker 1: part number one that in researching it, I felt that
Speaker 1: perhaps I had come across the reason and why Bonnie
Speaker 1: and Clyde were so much more famous than Dale Jones
Speaker 1: and Margie Dean. And it wasn't just the rise of
Speaker 1: the popularity of the radio or Bonnie's attractiveness and brightly
Speaker 1: colored hair, although both of those things were probably part
Speaker 1: of it. It's that Bonnie and Clyde were a hot mess.
Speaker 1: You never knew what was coming next. They were the
Speaker 1: best dramatic television show, the best wildest reality show, if
Speaker 1: you want to think of it like that in America now,
Speaker 1: Dale Jones and Margie Dean. They were largely extremely careful.
Speaker 1: They planned big heists, They kept as a commandment never
Speaker 1: to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary. They were a well run,
Speaker 1: well oiled unit, and so in many ways, as incredible
Speaker 1: as their story is, they were far less dramatic. I mean,
Speaker 1: what do we know about reality TV. Reality TV shows
Speaker 1: are never about super functional, responsible families. No, They're about
Speaker 1: train wrecks, dumpster fires, and hot messes. Right, Well, Bonnie
Speaker 1: and Clyde, they weren't planning well, Bonnie and Clyde. They
Speaker 1: weren't planning inflation adjusted million dollar train heists. They were
Speaker 1: running from the law like their hair was on fire,
Speaker 1: robbing gas stations willy nilly, often for loose change, and
Speaker 1: killing anyone that got in their way. I mean, to
Speaker 1: their credit, they generally didn't kill people just to kill them,
Speaker 1: as you've heard. They let people go when they could.
Speaker 1: But compared to Dale Jones and Margie Dean, my goodness,
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde were a veritable fountain of death. And
Speaker 1: they might kill you because you tried to step between
Speaker 1: them and five dollars, not five thousand. In other words,
Speaker 1: their unpredictability combined with their general attractiveness, the radio, the romance,
Speaker 1: combined with the cigar chomping woman who was, most likely,
Speaker 1: though the people chronicling the story didn't want to say it,
Speaker 1: the leader of the gang. All of these things made
Speaker 1: them incredibly as they still are, and that, more than
Speaker 1: just the radio, is the reason why I think they
Speaker 1: are so much more famous than Dale Jones and Margie Dean.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to the story of Sheriff
Speaker 1: Henderson Jordan from Bienville Parish, Louisiana. We'll pick it up
Speaker 1: at what he called a cold blooded, heartless criminal combination
Speaker 1: and what we call a kuelar couple, the viciousness of
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow and his able lieutenant Bonnie Parker surpassed even
Speaker 1: that of John Dillinger, who was rated as Public Enemy
Speaker 1: number one. Like countless other peace officers in the South
Speaker 1: and the Southwest, I had attempted to visualize some plan
Speaker 1: to end the wild career of the pair. Never had
Speaker 1: I actually believed, however, that such an opportunity would occur
Speaker 1: in my quiet parish. Bienville Parish is in the northwest
Speaker 1: part of Louisiana Arcadia. The parish site, which is in
Speaker 1: the northeast part of the parish, is about eighty miles
Speaker 1: east of the Texas Louisiana line. The greater part of
Speaker 1: the parish lies to the southwest of our Kadia. Geographically,
Speaker 1: this would have placed my parish. And again this is
Speaker 1: Sheriff Henderson Jordan from Bienville speaking well within the reach
Speaker 1: of the swooping dashes of the Killers. But until the
Speaker 1: bombastic end of their sadistic story, only one crime had
Speaker 1: been charged to Barrow and his gang in Louisiana. That
Speaker 1: one crime occurred on the night of April twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, when H. D. Darby, a Ruston undertaker,
Speaker 1: and Miss Sophie Stone, home demonstration agent, were kidnapped by
Speaker 1: Barrow and later released in Central Arkansas. Ruston is about
Speaker 1: twenty five miles east of Arcadia. The afternoon of March
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, nineteen thirty four, one of my deputies informed
Speaker 1: me that two men wished to speak to me. The
Speaker 1: visitors entered my private office. The door was closed. The
Speaker 1: men were Agent La Kendall of the Division of Investigation,
Speaker 1: Department of Justice, and Deputy Sheriff Steve Norid of Bossier Parish. Again, please,
Speaker 1: I ask you to forgive this Yankee retelling my story,
Speaker 1: both for his flat northern accent and also for all
Speaker 1: the times he inevitably will mispronounce the name of a
Speaker 1: place or a person in the great state of Louisiana. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's who came to visit me, Agent La Kendall of
Speaker 1: the Division of Investigation, Department of Justice, and Deputy Sheriff
Speaker 1: Steve Norrid of Bossier Parrish. They were on the trail
Speaker 1: of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Do you recall the
Speaker 1: East of Texas prison farm escape last January? Agent Kendall
Speaker 1: asked me that was the raid in which a guard
Speaker 1: was killed and five convicts were freed. Now, I remembered
Speaker 1: vividly the daring exploit of Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Raymond Hamilton,
Speaker 1: who was one of Barrow's earlier criminal companions. Henry Methvin,
Speaker 1: Joe Palmer, W. H. Bibye and JB. French were the
Speaker 1: convicts delivered in the affair. Major crosson the Guard was
Speaker 1: struck down by a hail of bullets fired from the
Speaker 1: weapons of the killers. We've established positively that Henry Methvin
Speaker 1: has been traveling with Barrow and Bonnie Parker, Agent Kendall said,
Speaker 1: working on the supposition that Methvin he might attempt to
Speaker 1: visit relatives. We've been trying to locate his father, Ivan Methvin.
Speaker 1: Ivan Methvinn lived until recently in Bossier Parish, just west
Speaker 1: of your parish. He moved sometime back. Our information is
Speaker 1: that he moved to a place about fifteen miles north
Speaker 1: of Coushatta, Red River Parish. Well, that would put him
Speaker 1: just inside my parish, I said, down in the southwest corner.
Speaker 1: Agent Kendall nodded. The visit of the two officers ended
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes later. Before they left, I'd agreed to carry
Speaker 1: on a quiet investigation. I spent virtually every daylight hour
Speaker 1: the following ten days traveling through the southwestern part of
Speaker 1: Bienville Parish. I stopped my car to talk to the
Speaker 1: farmers in the area. At no time did I ever
Speaker 1: make any reference to the purpose of my trips to
Speaker 1: the various communities I talked to merchants and police in
Speaker 1: the villages of the district. After the first week of
Speaker 1: the task began to appear hopeless, I spent hours listening
Speaker 1: to farmers discussing cotton prices, politics, and casual gossip. After
Speaker 1: the first week the task began to appear hopeless, I'd
Speaker 1: spent hours listening to farmers discussing cotton prices, politics, and
Speaker 1: casual gossip. I'd asked carefully worded questions about neighbors. A
Speaker 1: new neighbor is an event of importance in a rural community.
Speaker 1: Finally I caught a break. I heard the name of
Speaker 1: Ivan Methbin, the father of Clyde Barrow's cohort Henry Methbin.
Speaker 1: Ivan had rented a place in the very tip of
Speaker 1: the parish, close to where Bienville Parish na to Toci's.
Speaker 1: And again, I'm basically a ghost, and Zevin is my medium,
Speaker 1: and so you'll have to forgive him that he has
Speaker 1: no idea how to pronounce the words that I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But it's there at the tip of the parish, close
Speaker 1: to where Bienville Parish, nach Toci's and Red River Parish
Speaker 1: meet at a common point, where Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker
Speaker 1: and Henry Methbin using that piny woods section with its
Speaker 1: innumerable hiding places as a rendezvous point. I realized that
Speaker 1: I had just started a difficult and perhaps dangerous undertaking.
Speaker 1: Are HAPs dangerous? That's pretty cavalier. If the killers had
Speaker 1: been frequenting the vicinity, I knew that one misstep on
Speaker 1: my part would send them scurrying away. A carefully thought
Speaker 1: out plan would need to be devised. I could not
Speaker 1: then foresee the next development. I regret that I must
Speaker 1: withhold the name of the person who supplied information of
Speaker 1: the utmost importance in order to protect this man. I
Speaker 1: will not disclose any of the conditions under which we communicated.
Speaker 1: Now remember Zevin chiming in here. Now, remember Zevin chiming
Speaker 1: in here that Sheriff Jordan is telling this story in
Speaker 1: November of nineteen thirty four, not even a year after
Speaker 1: the death of Bonnie and Clyde, who had lots of
Speaker 1: family and friends and were very popular among some people.
Speaker 1: So if he seems to be a little bit cagy
Speaker 1: in the information he reveals, that's because the danger to
Speaker 1: allies of the law was very real and immediate. All right.
Speaker 1: Back to Sheriff Jordan, like I said, I regret that
Speaker 1: I might withhold the name to protect the man. But
Speaker 1: all that can really be said is that my informant
Speaker 1: was on the inside. Of course, I suppose you wouldn't
Speaker 1: be much of an informant from the outside, now would you. Now.
Speaker 1: Through this informant, this confidential informant, I learned that Barrow,
Speaker 1: Henry Methvan and Bonnie Parker had been making periodic visits
Speaker 1: to the vicinity of the Ivan Medmn farm. The visits
Speaker 1: had been made at intervals of about two weeks. Traveling
Speaker 1: at night, usually between ten and eleven o'clock. The outlaws
Speaker 1: would dash into the area in a fast motor car.
Speaker 1: An hour or so later, their car would be seen
Speaker 1: speeding away over narrow side roads. That was in early
Speaker 1: April nineteen thirty four, barely six months ago. I called
Speaker 1: Agent Kendall, who was then at Monroe, fifty three miles
Speaker 1: east of Arcadia. Without revealing my information, I urged the
Speaker 1: federal operative to come to my office immediately. Two hours later,
Speaker 1: we were discussing plans for trapping the killers. And by
Speaker 1: the killers, of course, I mean what Zevin would call
Speaker 1: the killer couple, Bonnie and Clyde. The federal agent was
Speaker 1: thoroughly convinced the genuineness of my inside source of information.
Speaker 1: April thirteenth was the date for the next visit. Long
Speaker 1: distance calls were placed for Chief of Police D. D.
Speaker 1: Baser of Shreveport and Sheriff Tom Hughes of Caddo Parish.
Speaker 1: These officers were asked to bring heavily armed men to Arcadia.
Speaker 1: Agent Kendall notified his office of the raid plans. Federal
Speaker 1: officers were to meet at Arcadia and at Ringgold, the
Speaker 1: town in the Alabama Bend section close to the band
Speaker 1: at Rendezvous. All of the officers were requested to be
Speaker 1: at the meeting places at six o'clock that evening. As
Speaker 1: a final precaution, Agent Kendall and I decided to make
Speaker 1: another check before setting the big posse into action. It
Speaker 1: was well that we did. Hey, everybody, we're back. Thank
Speaker 1: you for taking a moment to support the brands who
Speaker 1: support kind of Murdery. First off, I'd like to give
Speaker 1: a shout out to listener Brandy Peterson from I'm Homish, Washington. Brandy,
Speaker 1: I know I owe you some kind of Murdery stickers,
Speaker 1: full color vinyl stickers. If anybody wants one, reach out
Speaker 1: to the show Kindomurdery at gmail dot com. Brandy, I
Speaker 1: know I owe you the stickers. I'm sorry I've been
Speaker 1: so slow. They are coming your way. And you know what, guys,
Speaker 1: the truth is, it's disingenuous for me to just call
Speaker 1: Brandy a listener because what she is, in fact is
Speaker 1: a dear, dear family friend. Years ago, when my wife
Speaker 1: was pregnant with our daughter and we had to move
Speaker 1: in the midst in the later stages of that pregnancy,
Speaker 1: Brandy flew to Los Angeles from Washington and helped us move.
Speaker 1: She's the best friend any family could hope for. So Brandy,
Speaker 1: I love you, We love you. Your stickers are coming.
Speaker 1: Forgive me for taking so long, and please accept my
Speaker 1: eternal gratitude for your friendship. Speaking of friends, I also
Speaker 1: would like to shout out my good buddies Brent and Carl,
Speaker 1: who hosts the Evil Never Dies podcast, which is a
Speaker 1: kick ass podcast about heavy metal and other things, and
Speaker 1: also like kind of Murdery, has a badass skull logo.
Speaker 1: Brett Carl, thanks for being good buddies, Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to the show, And specifically, Brett, who is a Texan,
Speaker 1: was kind enough to reach out to me the other
Speaker 1: day on Instagram. That's at kind of Murdery on Instagram
Speaker 1: to let me know that the town of Montague, Texas,
Speaker 1: now I had called it Montague, Texas in my ignorance,
Speaker 1: is in fact pronounced Montag, So everybody in Montag, Texas,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening to the show. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I screwed up the name. It wasn't the first time,
Speaker 1: it won't be the last time that I mispronounced the name.
Speaker 1: Thank you, guys for forgiving me in my infinitely fallible humanity,
Speaker 1: which brings me to my next point. Please everyone, let's
Speaker 1: remember to be kind to each other, to be mindful
Speaker 1: of the fact that the social media bubble makes us
Speaker 1: all believe that nobody could possibly feel as disconnected or
Speaker 1: lonely as we feel, because everybody curates that little window
Speaker 1: into their lives, even if it's just a tiny little
Speaker 1: peep hole. They make you think that everything is perfect,
Speaker 1: that you're the only one who's alone and sad and
Speaker 1: broken and fallible, and of course that is a lie.
Speaker 1: We all feel that way all the time, some of
Speaker 1: us to greater degrees than others. But we all feel lonely,
Speaker 1: we all feel sad, we all make mistakes, we all
Speaker 1: have things in our lives that we'd rather not bear
Speaker 1: to the world. So if there's someone out there who
Speaker 1: you care about, and they're a human being, it's a
Speaker 1: pretty safe assumption that they feel lonely pretty regularly. And
Speaker 1: so what I would suggest, and I started being mindful
Speaker 1: about doing this after my dear, dear friend from college,
Speaker 1: Nicholas Tucci, passed away at the start of the pandemic.
Speaker 1: But if you think about a friend of yours, a
Speaker 1: family member, somebody you care about, if you think about them,
Speaker 1: pause and actually reach out to them, text them, call them.
Speaker 1: Because there's a funny thing about the human brain. The
Speaker 1: brain is able to trick itself into believing that intending
Speaker 1: to do something or just thinking about doing something is
Speaker 1: the same as doing it. And so what happens is
Speaker 1: you intend to donate to charity, You intend to reach
Speaker 1: out to a friend or a family member, or someone
Speaker 1: else who's in a tough place, or someone you just miss.
Speaker 1: You intend to do it, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: your brain decides that that intention is the same as
Speaker 1: the action and rewards itself with the dopamine hit that
Speaker 1: you're looking for for doing something good, except you never
Speaker 1: actually did it. And that's a big part of the
Speaker 1: problem with social media. Right we see an article about
Speaker 1: a worthy cause that we support, or a problem in
Speaker 1: the world that needs correcting or action that should be taken,
Speaker 1: and we comment on it or we like it, and
Speaker 1: our brain goes, okay, good, you did it. You did
Speaker 1: the thing. You're a good person, But in fact you
Speaker 1: didn't really do anything. So let's apply that to our
Speaker 1: human relationships as well. And if you think think about
Speaker 1: somebody you care about, reach out to them, because thinking
Speaker 1: about them is not the same as letting them know
Speaker 1: that you're thinking about them. Now. I know I always
Speaker 1: mentioned in this section and I will write here the
Speaker 1: new free three digit number nine eight eight, where if
Speaker 1: you are in acute crisis you can call to receive
Speaker 1: immediate counseling from someone who cares for suicidal thoughts, substance abuse,
Speaker 1: or mental health related issues. So please remember that number
Speaker 1: nine eight eight, Program it in your phone, use it
Speaker 1: if you need it. Please remember that you are loved.
Speaker 1: But in this case, although it's extremely valuable to reach
Speaker 1: out and let somebody who may be in a dark
Speaker 1: place know how much you care about them, how much
Speaker 1: you want to see them, how important it is that
Speaker 1: they continue to walk the planet, that's all extremely important,
Speaker 1: But in this case, I'm not talking about just reaching
Speaker 1: out to friends or family or people you care about
Speaker 1: who may be in a dark place or maybe vulnerable
Speaker 1: to descending into a dark place. I'm talking about any friend, family,
Speaker 1: or loved one that you have, no matter how stable
Speaker 1: and happy they may seem, if you think about him,
Speaker 1: text them, call him, let him know you're there. Because
Speaker 1: in today's world, with so much digital separation between humans,
Speaker 1: add to that the pandemic and all of this stuff,
Speaker 1: we're all feeling more disconnected than ever before. And humans
Speaker 1: are communal creatures. We need to be together. So if
Speaker 1: you think about someone, reach out in that moment. Don't
Speaker 1: tell yourself you're gonna do it later, because you might not,
Speaker 1: and it might be too late. I mentioned at the
Speaker 1: top here that I started doing this after my dear
Speaker 1: friend Nick Tucci passed away unexpectedly. Well, here's what happened
Speaker 1: to me. Nick, wonderful guy, wonderful actor. He shared a
Speaker 1: birthday April third with the legendary actor Marlon Brando, and Nick,
Speaker 1: who was a tremendously talented actor, was understandably proud of
Speaker 1: sharing a birthday with an all time great like Marlon Brando.
Speaker 1: And so, because of this little mnemonic device, and because
Speaker 1: he was one of my closest friends in life, I
Speaker 1: always is remembered nixt birthday, April third, and every year,
Speaker 1: come hell or highwater, I would always call him on
Speaker 1: his birthday. Well, in twenty twenty, just a couple weeks
Speaker 1: into the pandemic, it was late March, probably the last
Speaker 1: week of March, and I thought to myself, remember, Zevan,
Speaker 1: remember to call Nick on April third. We'd known each
Speaker 1: other since college. We've been roommates in Los Angeles, just
Speaker 1: very close friends, more like brothers, for twenty plus years.
Speaker 1: At this point I lived in LA he'd moved back
Speaker 1: to the East Coast. I hadn't talked to him. In
Speaker 1: a while, I said, remember April third's coming up, Remember
Speaker 1: to call Nick on his birthday. And it felt like
Speaker 1: mere seconds after I had that thought. But it was
Speaker 1: probably a day later that a close mutual friend of
Speaker 1: ours reached out to me and let me know that
Speaker 1: Nick Tucci had passed, And of course I was shocked
Speaker 1: and devastated. This would have been Nick's thirty ninth birthday,
Speaker 1: if he'd had a chance to celebrate it. You don't
Speaker 1: expect your close friend to pass away at thirty nine.
Speaker 1: But what I remember thinking first, well two things. One
Speaker 1: was that Nick was very passionate about the things that
Speaker 1: he cared about. He never had a middle of the
Speaker 1: road or a halfway opinion about anything. He would either
Speaker 1: love it to the moon or hate it straight to
Speaker 1: the depths of hell. And one of the things that
Speaker 1: Nick was very passionate about was Batman, the character of
Speaker 1: Batman comic books and movies. And at this point we
Speaker 1: all knew that Robert Pattinson, he originally of Harry Potter
Speaker 1: and Twilight Fame, had been cast as the caped Crusader
Speaker 1: the Dark Night, And if you'd only seen him in Twilight,
Speaker 1: you might have wondered way back then if that was
Speaker 1: a good decision or not. Of course, it turned out
Speaker 1: to be a good decision, and I knew that whether
Speaker 1: he loved it or hated it, the Robert Pattinson Batman
Speaker 1: Movie or what Nick probably would have called the bat
Speaker 1: Man Movie, whether he loved it or hated it, he
Speaker 1: would have had an extremely passionate, extremely compelling, well reasoned
Speaker 1: diatribe that supported his feelings. And when I heard that
Speaker 1: he'd passed away, my first thought was, Oh, no, I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna find out what Nick thinks about pat Man.
Speaker 1: And then my next thought was if I had just
Speaker 1: reached out to him, just called him, just texted him
Speaker 1: in that moment when I mentally reminded myself to call
Speaker 1: or text him in a couple weeks, then I might
Speaker 1: have gotten to talk to him one last time. Those
Speaker 1: kind of regrets about people you love suck. I hope
Speaker 1: none of you listening know what that's like. I'm sure
Speaker 1: many of you do, so yes, if you think about
Speaker 1: someone you care about, just pause and reach out. It'll
Speaker 1: mean a lot to them. And whether it's only because
Speaker 1: you connected with someone you care about or because you
Speaker 1: didn't miss the chance to connect with someone you love
Speaker 1: for the last time. It'll mean a lot to you too,
Speaker 1: all right, thank you for giving me the space to
Speaker 1: share that personal story. It's something I've been gnawing on
Speaker 1: for a long time, and it's an example of the
Speaker 1: kind of story that I hope we can all share
Speaker 1: with each other. So if you have a personal story
Speaker 1: to tell, reach out to me Kindomurdery at gmail dot
Speaker 1: com or at kind of Murdery on all social media,
Speaker 1: including now TikTok. Reach out to me and share it.
Speaker 1: And if you'd just like to share it with me,
Speaker 1: you can. But if you'd like me to share it
Speaker 1: with our audience, I will. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: wise to have wisdom. We've all collected wisdom along the way,
Speaker 1: and it's likely that things that seem obvious to you
Speaker 1: have never even occurred to someone else. So please reach out, share,
Speaker 1: let's make a connection. And I would be remiss if
Speaker 1: on this September the eleventh, twenty twenty two, I failed
Speaker 1: to remember with deep honor and gratitude, the heroes and
Speaker 1: the victims of that terrible tragedy twenty one years ago,
Speaker 1: and the ultimate sacrifice that they made for us in
Speaker 1: our place so that we did not have to. To
Speaker 1: the families and friends of everyone who died that day
Speaker 1: and in the days that followed. Thank you and I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry. I'm so sorry that you must carry so
Speaker 1: much more than your fair share of a pain that
Speaker 1: belongs to all of us. So thank you, Thank you,
Speaker 1: and your family and friends will never be forgotten. All right,
Speaker 1: it's time to get back to the thrilling conclusion of wheels,
Speaker 1: barrows and blood The bad Lands Romance of Bonnie and Clyde,
Speaker 1: Part seven kind of murdery resumes now. Late that afternoon,
Speaker 1: we left Arcadia in my car to reconnoiter the vicinity
Speaker 1: of the projected raid. The other officers were to remain
Speaker 1: at their posts until they heard from us. We drove
Speaker 1: into Natchitotia's parish. What we learned there came as a
Speaker 1: bitter disappointment. Thing had caused Barrow to postpone his scheduled visit.
Speaker 1: He would not be there that night. There seemed to
Speaker 1: be some uncertainty as to the time of his next trip,
Speaker 1: and for the safety of the innocent, how that was
Speaker 1: determined must not be revealed. Speeding back to Arcadia, we
Speaker 1: notified the officers gathered there of the change to the
Speaker 1: Bandit's plans. Slowly the men gathered their weapons and ammunition,
Speaker 1: preparing to leave. I addressed the officers. I want to
Speaker 1: ask you men to say nothing about this affair tonight.
Speaker 1: This is the first time in two years that anything
Speaker 1: approaching a spot used as a permanent hideout by Barrow
Speaker 1: has been found. If our plan should leak out, the
Speaker 1: gang will be scared out of the country. Please keep
Speaker 1: it quiet, plead. Perhaps my desire for secrecy was unnecessary,
Speaker 1: but I will never think so. In that manner, I
Speaker 1: entered the far flung search for the Killer Gang. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, two of the most outstanding officers in the
Speaker 1: Southwest had been relentlessly following the trail of Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Parker. Their assignment was to bring the desperadoes
Speaker 1: in or alive. Of course, the law would prefer alive.
Speaker 1: But frankly, at this point there were so many officers
Speaker 1: of the law and other innocent people dead in the
Speaker 1: wake of Bonnie and Clyde, that we were a little
Speaker 1: less picky than we might have been otherwise. Captain Frank Hamer,
Speaker 1: who had made criminal apprehension history. As a member of
Speaker 1: the famous Texas Rangers, had taken up the hazardous task
Speaker 1: of capturing Bonnie and Clyde soon after the Easteram prison
Speaker 1: farm delivery. He was a fit man for the assignment.
Speaker 1: Six foot three inches tall and powerfully built, he possessed
Speaker 1: the analytical mind necessary to cope with Barrow's elusiveness. Infuriated
Speaker 1: by the raid on the prison farm, Lee Simmons, general
Speaker 1: manager of the Texas Prison System, declared that the state
Speaker 1: would be avenged for the indignity. He decided early that
Speaker 1: there was only one procedure, and that was to put
Speaker 1: one or two highly capable officers on the trail and
Speaker 1: keep them there until they succeeded. Captain Hamer was his
Speaker 1: immediate choice. The former Texas Rance, then a member of
Speaker 1: the Texas State Highway Patrol, was noted for his persistence,
Speaker 1: ability and bravery. Called the fastest man on the draw
Speaker 1: in the state of Texas. Captain Hammer had killed sixty
Speaker 1: five outlaws who had been foolish enough to attempt to
Speaker 1: kill him. Holy crap, sixty five sixty five outlaws, and
Speaker 1: this is presumably not from a mile away. With a
Speaker 1: long distance precision rifle. I imagine a lot of these
Speaker 1: were firefights. Sixty five outlaws, Holy moly. Although the stories
Speaker 1: about the officer were legion, General Manager Simmons knew that
Speaker 1: Captain Hamer was closed mouth, declining even to discuss his
Speaker 1: past exploits. Barrow would never know that the nemesis of
Speaker 1: outlaws might someday look at him down the barrel of
Speaker 1: a deadly revolver. Before approaching Captain Hamer on the subject,
Speaker 1: Simmons went to Governor M. A. Ferguson. The prison executive
Speaker 1: outlined his plan. At first, it seemed as though technicalities
Speaker 1: the law might defeat the plan. Finally, the Governor's consent
Speaker 1: was won. If Captain Hamer wanted the task, he would
Speaker 1: be given a blanket assignment with permission to leave the
Speaker 1: state at will. February tenth, twenty five days after the
Speaker 1: prison camp delivery, Captain Hamer became special investigator of the
Speaker 1: Texas State prison System. He had obtained an indefinite leave
Speaker 1: from the Highway Patrol. At that time. The Captain's knowledge
Speaker 1: of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker was only general. The
Speaker 1: crimes of the pair and the activities of peace officers
Speaker 1: against them had been scattered over a wide territory. If
Speaker 1: there was a modus operandi an mo, it would seem
Speaker 1: to be kill and flee. So where to find barrow?
Speaker 1: A spot map of the criminal operations of the outlaws
Speaker 1: would seem to indicate that you could find barrow anywhere
Speaker 1: in a half a million square miles. Anywhere and a
Speaker 1: half a million square miles. Huh, easy, pas right. Captain
Speaker 1: Hamer knew that his only chance of success lay in
Speaker 1: a careful study of the Barrow method of operations. The
Speaker 1: man's early and more recent crimes would have to be analyzed.
Speaker 1: The most minute details would have to be taken into consideration.
Speaker 1: The swooping, cross country dashes of the gang might lead
Speaker 1: to a forecast. In other words, what Captain Frank Hamer
Speaker 1: had set out to do was to prepare, in effect,
Speaker 1: a weather map of the Barrow tactics. By accumulating a
Speaker 1: vast knowledge of the criminal's activities, the officer believed that
Speaker 1: he might be able to predict a spot at which
Speaker 1: he would encounter the outlaws. To start with, he had
Speaker 1: his basic points nine murders, possibly a score of sizeable
Speaker 1: hold ups, and literally countless petty robberies of all sorts.
Speaker 1: Captain Hamer's first act was to go to the office
Speaker 1: of Sheriff R. A. Schmid of Dallas County, Texas. The
Speaker 1: sheriff and his deputies probably were better acquainted with the
Speaker 1: Barrow depredations than any other officers in the country. Baron Dallas,
Speaker 1: the special investigator was introduced to Deputy Sheriff Bob Alcorn,
Speaker 1: who some months previously had been given a special assignment
Speaker 1: on the Barrow case. Sheriff Schmid and Deputy Alcorn had
Speaker 1: engaged in a wild battle with Barrow and bos Mony
Speaker 1: Parker in November of nineteen thirty three. For hours, the
Speaker 1: three officers went over the records on Barrow and his
Speaker 1: various companions. The Bear facts were there, Sheriff Schmid and
Speaker 1: Deputy Alcorn went into further detail. The hour was late
Speaker 1: when this important conference was ended. When it was over,
Speaker 1: the Hamer Alcorn combination was formed. The two officers were
Speaker 1: to work together indefinitely. It was not so much the
Speaker 1: crimes committed by the outlaws that interested the officers at
Speaker 1: this point. They were rather trying to become acquainted with
Speaker 1: the habits and psychology of the perpetrators. More than fifteen
Speaker 1: thousand miles were to be covered by Frank Hamer's team
Speaker 1: of searchers. Their travels were to carry them through nine states, Texas,
Speaker 1: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and into Mississippi
Speaker 1: and Louisiana. Before the desperate pair the killer couple, Bonnie
Speaker 1: and Clyde were cornered. Law enforcement learned that Barrow apparently
Speaker 1: was a strong believer in hunches. The bandit leader would
Speaker 1: stop his car in one of his mad dashes, backtracked
Speaker 1: for miles, and again suddenly changed his direction. His movements
Speaker 1: seemingly were without rhyme or reason. Much about the habits
Speaker 1: of Barrow and his woman companion, that's Bonnie Parker, of course,
Speaker 1: were learned from W. D. Jones, a youthful witness to
Speaker 1: several of the murders and other crimes who was arrested
Speaker 1: by Sheriff Schmid late in nineteen thirty three. And of
Speaker 1: course you'll remember Jones's story about being picked up by
Speaker 1: Barrow and traveling with the gang and committing crimes with
Speaker 1: the gang, and then fleeing the gang and going home
Speaker 1: to his mother, planning to never be a criminal again,
Speaker 1: only to have Barrows show up and force him to rejoin.
Speaker 1: One of the periods that had been a blank to
Speaker 1: earlier investigators was cleared up by Hamer's team. That was
Speaker 1: the time that Bonnie and Clyde disappeared following the kidnapping
Speaker 1: of two officers near Wellington, Texas, last year. Bonnie, at
Speaker 1: that time was suffering from severe burns received in a
Speaker 1: motorcar wreck. After binding the kidnapped officers to a tree
Speaker 1: in western Oklahoma, the gang dashed across the state and
Speaker 1: took possession of a home in Venita, Oklahoma. Two members
Speaker 1: of the party went to Miami, a nearby town Miami, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: and secured the services of a nurse. The nurse was
Speaker 1: instructed to go to Afton. There, she was picked up
Speaker 1: and taken by motor car to the Venita house. For
Speaker 1: several days, the nurse was kept prisoner by Clyde Barrow.
Speaker 1: The young woman was forced to treat Bonnie Parker's burns.
Speaker 1: Still badly frightened by her experiences, the nurse told her
Speaker 1: story for the first time to Captain Hamer and Deputy Alcorn.
Speaker 1: A rapid succession of new atrocities starting in late March
Speaker 1: and continuing into April nineteen thirty four, caused the officers
Speaker 1: to speed madly over hundreds of miles of highways. There
Speaker 1: were two bank robberies in which Clyde Barrow and Raymond
Speaker 1: Hamilton were identified. Then April first Easter Sunday, public sentiment
Speaker 1: against Barrow and his cigar chomping best gal was brought
Speaker 1: to a white heat by the murder of two State
Speaker 1: Highway patrolmen. The officers were brutally killed near Grapevine, between
Speaker 1: the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. L. G. Ferris,
Speaker 1: head of the patrol, immediately offered all of his resources,
Speaker 1: all of the men in his organization to Captain Hamer
Speaker 1: and Deputy Alcorn. Captain Hamer chose just one man, Roman M. B. Gault,
Speaker 1: who had been a member of the Rangers. The pursuers
Speaker 1: were given further powers and resources by a secret action
Speaker 1: of the Dallas County Grand Jury. There's a pretty entertaining,
Speaker 1: pretty darn good movie if you like the kind of
Speaker 1: movies that I like. This is Zevin budding in here,
Speaker 1: of course, called The Highwaymen, starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson,
Speaker 1: with Costner playing Frank Hamer and Woody Harrelson playing mb
Speaker 1: Gault about the capture of Bonnie and Clyde. By the way,
Speaker 1: that was an entirely unpaid, honest and contemporaneous endorsement and
Speaker 1: plug for the movie The Highwaymen, which is a Netflix
Speaker 1: original movie. By the way, I'm not getting a dime
Speaker 1: from Netflix to plug their movies. However, Netflix, if you're
Speaker 1: listening and you would like to sponsor kind of murdery,
Speaker 1: well that would be awesome. That's right. Kind of murdery
Speaker 1: is available to be sponsored by any product that doesn't
Speaker 1: somehow demagnetize our moral compass. So if you like the show,
Speaker 1: reach out and sponsor us. In the meantime, everybody, do
Speaker 1: watch The Highwaymen. It's great, and that's something I am
Speaker 1: not being sponsored to say. Back to the story, Five
Speaker 1: days later, Bonnie and Clyde killed Constable cal Campbell at Commerce, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: In their escape, they kidnapped Chief of Police Percy Boyd,
Speaker 1: releasing the officer hours later in Kansas. It was then
Speaker 1: that Attorney General Homer S. Cummings ordered the Department of
Speaker 1: Justice to make every effort toward apprehension of Barrow and
Speaker 1: his companions. Then followed days of running down tip after
Speaker 1: tip on the whereabouts of the killers. Traveling sometimes separately
Speaker 1: but more often together, the three officers, Captain Frank Hamer,
Speaker 1: Deputy Alcorn, and Patrolman M. B. Gault, sped all over
Speaker 1: the Southwest. At times they knew they were close on
Speaker 1: the trail. On several occasions they believed it would be
Speaker 1: just a matter of hours before the gang would be cornered.
Speaker 1: But law enforcement all over the country a number of
Speaker 1: times that I could no longer even count, believed that
Speaker 1: exact same thing at so many points throughout this incredible
Speaker 1: story of escape and murder and banditry, and escape and
Speaker 1: murder and banditry, rinse, repeat. That is the epic tale
Speaker 1: of the bad Lands Romance of Bonnie and Clyde, which
Speaker 1: we are rapidly approaching the climax. So yes, at times
Speaker 1: the officers believe that the gang would soon be cornered
Speaker 1: within a matter of hours. Traveling sometimes separately but more
Speaker 1: often together, the three officers, Captain Frank Hamer, Deputy Alcorn,
Speaker 1: and Patrolman MB Gault, sped all over the Southwest. At
Speaker 1: times they knew they were close on the trail. On
Speaker 1: several occasions they believed it would be just a matter
Speaker 1: of hours before the gang would be cornered. Raymond Hamilton
Speaker 1: was captured on May twenty fifth. He was fleeing from Lewisville,
Speaker 1: where he'd robbed the First National Bank. Hamilton told the
Speaker 1: officers that his association with Barrow had been terminated. Some
Speaker 1: weeks previously. The gang had quarreled over the division of
Speaker 1: loot from a bank at Lancaster, Texas. The split had
Speaker 1: occurred at Terry Hot, Indiana or Terre Haute or Terre Hot.
Speaker 1: If you're from in Indiana, please reach out Kindamurdery at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com and correct me the split had occurred
Speaker 1: at Terry Hot, Indiana. When Hamilton escaped, he was serving
Speaker 1: sentences totaling two hundred and sixty three years. One of
Speaker 1: the sentences was for a murder in which he had
Speaker 1: participated with Clyde Barrow. The killer was rushed to trial
Speaker 1: on one of the bank robbery cases. The state demanded
Speaker 1: the death sentence. A jury gave him another ninety nine
Speaker 1: year sentence, bringing the total to three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: two years. This was the second time that Hamilton had escaped.
Speaker 1: The extreme penalty asked by the State. Although disappointed by
Speaker 1: the verdict, state officials announced that they were not through
Speaker 1: with the young slayer. He would be tried for the
Speaker 1: murder of Major Crosson at the prison farm. Numerous letters
Speaker 1: mailed by the outlaws gave the officers additional information on
Speaker 1: the movements of their quarry. In one, Bonnie Parker denied
Speaker 1: that she smoked cigars. The final letter mailed to Hamilton
Speaker 1: was received May fifteenth. Barrow called his former partner a
Speaker 1: killer and a yellow punk. He accused Hamilton of attempting
Speaker 1: to take more than his share of the bank loot.
Speaker 1: A fingerprint on the letter was identified as that of
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow by Douglas Walsh, identification expert of the Dallas
Speaker 1: Police Department. The print was identified by at least twenty
Speaker 1: specific points. Gradually, Captain Hamer, Deputy Alcorn, and Patrolman Gulch
Speaker 1: were closing in on the remaining members of the gang.
Speaker 1: At last, they had determined that Barrow was shuttling back
Speaker 1: and forth between At last, they determined that Barrow was
Speaker 1: shuttling back and forth between points near Fort Smith, Arkansas,
Speaker 1: and Shreveport, Louisiana. In fact, the night of April thirteenth,
Speaker 1: a trap was laid for Barrow at Fort Smith. This
Speaker 1: was the same night that Barrow had failed to appear
Speaker 1: at his hideout in Bienville Parish. It was believed that
Speaker 1: the gang barely had escaped capture in the Arkansas raid.
Speaker 1: Underwelled contacts and several cities were utilized. That the officers
Speaker 1: solved fourteen bank robberies while in pursuit of Barrow indicates
Speaker 1: the thoroughness of which they worked, although a glass half
Speaker 1: empty kind of person might say that the fact that
Speaker 1: they had time to solve fourteen bank robberies before capturing
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde showed how incredibly ineffectively and inefficiently they
Speaker 1: had worked, at least at the goal of capturing the
Speaker 1: famed outlaws. Shortly after the date that my raid had
Speaker 1: failed to materialize, and when I say my I'm Sheriff
Speaker 1: Henderson Jordan from Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Shortly after my raid
Speaker 1: failed to materialize, Captain Hamer and Deputy Alkhorn dashed into Shreveport,
Speaker 1: a city about sixty miles west of Arcadia. In a
Speaker 1: conference call there with Sheriff Hughes, the Texas officers were
Speaker 1: advised to call on me. Sheriff Hughes did not divulge
Speaker 1: the nature of my information. A few hours later, I'd
Speaker 1: made the acquaintance of the Texans. Seated in my opposite arcadia,
Speaker 1: they listened closely as I related the details of my investigation.
Speaker 1: They asked numerous questions about the lay of the land. Finally,
Speaker 1: Captain Frank Hamer said, well, that's the best darn information
Speaker 1: we've had on them. It looks like you might have
Speaker 1: a fine chance of catching them. We'd like to work
Speaker 1: with you, if you don't mind. It should go without
Speaker 1: saying that. I was more than glad to accept the
Speaker 1: offer of Captain Hamer. We talked for some time. In
Speaker 1: the exchange of information, I learned much about the killers
Speaker 1: profiting from the arduous work of the men trailing the
Speaker 1: Barrow gang. Assuming the rumors of the presence of the
Speaker 1: Texas officers might reach the ear of Barrow, it was
Speaker 1: agreed that Captain Hamer should return to his home in
Speaker 1: Austin and the Deputy Alcorn would return to Dallas. They
Speaker 1: would await my call before returning to Louisiana. I immediately
Speaker 1: contacted my undercover man. We made plans for a cautious
Speaker 1: watch over the vicinity of the meth beIN farm. Too
Speaker 1: late I learned of another visit to the place by Barrow,
Speaker 1: Henry Methman, and Bonnie Parker. It occurred the night of
Speaker 1: May eighth. The report I received on that visit was
Speaker 1: so detailed that it revealed a little of Barrow's conversation.
Speaker 1: He'd gone to bed at one in the morning, sleeping
Speaker 1: only two hours. Here's what infamous crook and killer Clyde
Speaker 1: had to say. I slept in a bed for the
Speaker 1: first time in eight months, Barrow said. The report of
Speaker 1: this snippet of conversation reached me several hours after the
Speaker 1: three members of the gang fed away in their motor car.
Speaker 1: Believing that there might be some chance of capturing Barrow
Speaker 1: alive some night when he was taking one of those naps,
Speaker 1: I made arrangements for speedier communication with my informant. In
Speaker 1: many respects I dreaded the thought of such a night rate,
Speaker 1: as it would endanger the lives of several women and children. However,
Speaker 1: it appeared as if the risk might be necessary in
Speaker 1: order that Captain Hamer and Deputy Alcorn might become acquainted
Speaker 1: with the country. I asked them to come to Arcadia.
Speaker 1: We drove over most of the roads in the southwestern
Speaker 1: part of the parish. I described the surrounding country. Before
Speaker 1: that trip had been completed, the officers were thoroughly familiar
Speaker 1: with every possible avenue of escape. I don't like the
Speaker 1: idea of a raid, I told the Texans. I'm sure
Speaker 1: I can think of some way of us avoiding it.
Speaker 1: Give me a little more time, and we may be
Speaker 1: able to take them without killing or wounding innocent persons.
Speaker 1: The officers offered no objection. They returned to their homes.
Speaker 1: The morning of May ninth, I called Captain Hamer. He
Speaker 1: arrived in my office at six o'clock in the evening.
Speaker 1: He was accompanied by Deputy Alcorn, Patrolman Gault, and Deputy
Speaker 1: Ted Hinton of Dallas County. We're about ready to go,
Speaker 1: I said, sometime between now and the first of the month.
Speaker 1: Barrow and Bonnie Parker will be at the hideout. Just now,
Speaker 1: the date is uncertain. Will you be ready to come
Speaker 1: when I call? There was no doubt about the response.
Speaker 1: Captain Hamer agreed to stay at a designated hotel in Shreveport.
Speaker 1: He would be ready to leave on a minute's notice,
Speaker 1: the other officers would be likewise prepared for action. About
Speaker 1: a week later, Ivan Methfin moved, not moved figuratively, like
Speaker 1: made an action in this overall caper. He literally moved houses,
Speaker 1: moved homes. What would that do to our plans? A
Speaker 1: tedious weight was ended by word from my informer he'd
Speaker 1: been able to maintain his contact. Barrow had paid a
Speaker 1: visit to Methin's new location. Methan had moved from the
Speaker 1: tip of Bienville Parish to an abandoned house east of Sales.
Speaker 1: This house, the property of SG Coal of Sales, was
Speaker 1: located about eighteen miles southwest of Arcadia and somewhat near
Speaker 1: the center of my parish. Situated deep in a forest
Speaker 1: of pine trees, the house was a mile and a
Speaker 1: quarter off of State Highway number four sixteen. The road
Speaker 1: leading to the house was winding, barely wide enough to
Speaker 1: accommodate a slowly moving car. It was lined with tall trees.
Speaker 1: Several hundred yards from the highway, the road passed through
Speaker 1: a clearing about four hundred yards long. From there onto
Speaker 1: the house, the lane wound its way through the forest
Speaker 1: and across a draw in a surprise twist, the house
Speaker 1: was occupied by meth beIN without the permission of the owner.
Speaker 1: My next information concerning Barrow was of a startling nature.
Speaker 1: Late Monday night, May twenty first, word came to me
Speaker 1: that Barrow and Bonnie were planning a raid on the
Speaker 1: First National Bank at Arcadia. Barrow's set up for such
Speaker 1: a robbery was almost perfect. He could have raided the
Speaker 1: bank and twenty five minutes later have literally dropped from
Speaker 1: sight in his new hiding place. He would not have
Speaker 1: had to use a main highway in his escape. Early
Speaker 1: the next morning, I warned WMDs, president of the bank,
Speaker 1: of Barrow's plot. WMD's all right. I have to say
Speaker 1: this just for all the kids today and back when
Speaker 1: I was a kid too. WMD's WMD's nuts all right.
Speaker 1: So I warned the bank owner of the plot. I
Speaker 1: lent the banker a high powered rifle and placed armed
Speaker 1: band in strategic positions in the vicinity of the institution.
Speaker 1: A constant guard was to be maintained during the business
Speaker 1: hours of the bank. It was eight thirty Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: May twenty second that I received another report from my
Speaker 1: undercover man. The import of that whispered message was staggering.
Speaker 1: It meant an immediate formulation of a new plan if
Speaker 1: I could move fast enough. It meant that Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Parker would drive into an inescapable trap. Clyde Barrow,
Speaker 1: Henry Methman, and Bonnie Parker had visited the Old Coal
Speaker 1: Place near Sales Monday night. The following morning, Clyde, Bonnie,
Speaker 1: and the escape convict drove to Shreveport. Their car was
Speaker 1: parked in a secluded spot. Meth then started off on
Speaker 1: foot to obtain food for himself and his companions. Something
Speaker 1: had alarmed Barrow. No one will ever know what caused
Speaker 1: him to drive away. Before Methin returned. I learned that
Speaker 1: an hour or so later he returned to the place,
Speaker 1: but had been unable to find meth been alarmed over
Speaker 1: the separation from Henry. Barrow and Bonnie returned to the
Speaker 1: Coal Place. They arrived there between five and six o'clock.
Speaker 1: They soon learned that Methvin had not returned to his
Speaker 1: father's home. Barrow gave an order to ivan Methbin, Henry's father.
Speaker 1: You go to the old Place and see if Henry's there,
Speaker 1: The outlaw commanded, We'll go to Bossier Parish. He may
Speaker 1: have gone there. I was to learn later that the
Speaker 1: gang had a meeting place in that parish, between the
Speaker 1: towns of Benton and Plain Dealing. The vital part of
Speaker 1: my informer's message was yet to come. His voice lower
Speaker 1: than ever, he quoted Barrow, We'll meet you on the
Speaker 1: road between Sales and Gibbsland between nine and ten o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning. The outlaw told the elder Methbin, could
Speaker 1: we trap Barrow on the highway. I rushed to the
Speaker 1: telephone and called Captain Hamer. My message was short, come
Speaker 1: to Arkadia at once, get your other men if you can.
Speaker 1: There was no time to be lost. We'd have to
Speaker 1: select a place for the trap, a place distant from homes.
Speaker 1: I knew it would be difficult to find a desirable
Speaker 1: clearing along the Gibbsland Sales Road. A forest line road
Speaker 1: would have offered too good an opportunity for the pair
Speaker 1: to escape. The tentative plan for the trap was made
Speaker 1: in my office. Besides myself, there were five other in
Speaker 1: the room, Captain Hamer, Chief Deputy Sheriff, Prentice M. Oakley
Speaker 1: of Bienville Parish, Deputy Sheriff's Alcorn and Hinton of Dallas
Speaker 1: County and Patrolman Gault. About eleven o'clock I took Captain
Speaker 1: Hamer and Deputy Alcorn in my car to Gibbsland, a
Speaker 1: little town southwest of Arcadia. For the next two hours
Speaker 1: we drove back and forth over the sandy gravel road
Speaker 1: between Gibbsland and Sales. Our plan made it necessary to
Speaker 1: establish the trap somewhat closer to Sales than Gibbsland. Meth
Speaker 1: Ben would be driving north over the highway, and we
Speaker 1: wanted him to be the first to arrive at the trap.
Speaker 1: At last, we found what seemed to be a perfect spot.
Speaker 1: It was about three miles north of sALS and situated
Speaker 1: on a straight north and south stretch of highway. The
Speaker 1: road swung down a fairly sharp grade over a small rise,
Speaker 1: and then to a steeper hill. The place for our
Speaker 1: ambush was on the rise. The road cut through the
Speaker 1: small hill to leave an embankment of about three feet
Speaker 1: in height on both sides. The forest was seated at
Speaker 1: the point, and the sides of the road were lined
Speaker 1: with low brush. In throwing back the earth from the cut,
Speaker 1: the highway workers had created a low ridge along the
Speaker 1: east embankment. Grass and wheat along the edge made a
Speaker 1: perfect cover. From behind the ridge could be obtained a
Speaker 1: good view of the road to the north. We could
Speaker 1: see the road for three quarters of a mile to
Speaker 1: the north and a full half mile to the south.
Speaker 1: Would Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker keep the appointment with
Speaker 1: Ivan Methman. That was all that was vital to us.
Speaker 1: We'd be ready for them. We returned to Arcadia to
Speaker 1: pick up the other officers. Shortly before three o'clock the
Speaker 1: morning of May twenty third. Our posse of six men
Speaker 1: left Arcadia and two motor cars. Less than an hour later.
Speaker 1: We were squatting in the dew soaked brush and weeds
Speaker 1: at the trap. Our cars were hidden deep in the brush.
Speaker 1: I had arranged the men in a line about forty
Speaker 1: yards long, all on the east side of the road.
Speaker 1: Deputies Alcorn and Hinton were at the north end of
Speaker 1: the line. They would be better able to identify Barrow
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Parker than other members of our group. Captain
Speaker 1: Frank Hamer, because of his accuracy with firearms, was stationed
Speaker 1: at the south end. I was near the center of
Speaker 1: the line. Chief Deputy d Oakley was at my right
Speaker 1: and Patrolman Gulf to my left. Deputy Hindon was armed
Speaker 1: with a Browning automatic rifle. Deputy all Corn, Captain Frank Hamer,
Speaker 1: and Patrolman Gault were armed with automatic shotguns loaded with buckshot.
Speaker 1: Deputy Oakley and I were carrying Remington automatic rifles, and
Speaker 1: there was a third rifle of that type available for use.
Speaker 1: All of us, of course, were carrying our regular side arms.
Speaker 1: Chilled by the dew, we were glad when the sun
Speaker 1: rose over the trees. All of us were hungry. The
Speaker 1: next meal was the principal topic of discussion, and we
Speaker 1: talked about food to lessen the monotony. Barrows seldom was mentioned.
Speaker 1: Attacks by swarms of mosquitoes did not make the weight easier.
Speaker 1: At about daylight, I called to Deputy Hindon, how are
Speaker 1: the groceries holding out? Ted? What groceries? I'm so hungry,
Speaker 1: I've eaten the stalk off your rifle when I'm starting
Speaker 1: on the barrel. Our plan was to stop Methvin as
Speaker 1: he drove along the road. We would force him to
Speaker 1: park on the side of the highway. Awaiting the appearance
Speaker 1: of Barrow and Bonnie Parker. We wanted to capture them
Speaker 1: alive if possible. There would be no chance of that
Speaker 1: if we tried to stop their car as it sped
Speaker 1: over the road. Barrow was known to be a fast driver.
Speaker 1: A barricade would have spoiled any chance we might have
Speaker 1: at avoiding bloodshed. The sound of a motor came from
Speaker 1: the south. Instantly, all members of the group dropped to
Speaker 1: reclining positions in the undergrowth. A truck pulled over the hill.
Speaker 1: It appeared familiar to me As it drew closer. I
Speaker 1: recognized the driver. When it was about fifty yards from
Speaker 1: the trap. I stepped into the road and signaled the
Speaker 1: driver to stop. He was Ivan Methmin Henry, Methbin's father,
Speaker 1: Henry being the current third member of Bonnie and Clyde's gang.
Speaker 1: As the truck pulled to a halt, the other officers
Speaker 1: stood up. Meth beIN looked at them. What's the trouble officers,
Speaker 1: he asked, we've got a trap set for Barrow and
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker. Methfin, I said, we're going to take him
Speaker 1: right where you meet him on the road. Right here
Speaker 1: is where the meeting is going to take place. If
Speaker 1: meth Ben had any objection to the idea. He didn't
Speaker 1: put it into words. He pulled his truck over to
Speaker 1: the west side of the road, still headed north. It
Speaker 1: stood directly across the highway from Deputies Alcorn and Hinton.
Speaker 1: Pull off that right front wheel. I instructed him, I
Speaker 1: want you to give the effect that you have a
Speaker 1: flat tire. Barrow will stop when he sees you. I
Speaker 1: told Methman to stand beside his truck. I called the
Speaker 1: officers together. We're ready, I said, there's only one thing more.
Speaker 1: Don't start anything until it's absolutely certain that Barrow and
Speaker 1: his women are in Any car that may pull up.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can take them alive, but I don't believe
Speaker 1: we ought to take any chances. If they reach for
Speaker 1: their guns, you let him have it. As the hour
Speaker 1: of nine o'clock approached, the strain increased. Two or three
Speaker 1: cars flashing down the highway from the north caused added tenseness.
Speaker 1: As we awaited the word from deputies. Hinted in Alcorn
Speaker 1: for each of those cars, they shouted no. At nine
Speaker 1: point fifteen, a car nosed over the north hill and
Speaker 1: started down the grate. At the distance we could tell
Speaker 1: it was a Ford V eight. It was the type
Speaker 1: of car that Barrow was driving. According to my informant.
Speaker 1: As it drew closer, we could distinguish its color as
Speaker 1: light tan. That also checked out with my informant. Traveling
Speaker 1: at a pace of about forty five miles an hour,
Speaker 1: it rapidly was cutting down the distance. The driver apparently
Speaker 1: saw methmin. The car began to slow down. Deputy Alcorn, crouching,
Speaker 1: peered through the weed. His rifle was in his right hand,
Speaker 1: His left hand was stretched out behind him, ready to
Speaker 1: emphasize a signal. It's barrow. He called the parker. Woman's
Speaker 1: with him. The car was about one hundred yards away,
Speaker 1: traveling at a much slower speed. The occupants looking at
Speaker 1: methven apparently felt safe. The first warning had sent a
Speaker 1: vibration up my spine. As the time neared where life
Speaker 1: or death hinged on split second action, the top feeling passed.
Speaker 1: I was ready. I could see most of the other
Speaker 1: men in the posse. None showed the slightest trace of nervousness. Bob,
Speaker 1: I called, be sure man. Deputy Alcorn replied. His words
Speaker 1: barely were audible. I know it's barrow and his woman steady.
Speaker 1: Now A heavy rumble from the south caused me to
Speaker 1: look in that direction. A wood pulp truck was approaching
Speaker 1: at a fair rate of speed. Two black men were
Speaker 1: in the cab. It seemed as though the truck might
Speaker 1: present a shield for the barrel car. Then the truck
Speaker 1: slowed down to a crawling speed. Evidently the driver feared
Speaker 1: a collision. The toward sedan came to a halt between
Speaker 1: my men and meth Fin's Chevrolet truck. Hello got a flat.
Speaker 1: Barrow called yes, meth Fn replied, did you find Henry? No,
Speaker 1: haven't you seen them? Clyde Barrow was under the wheel
Speaker 1: of the car. Bonnie Parker was sitting beside him. I observed,
Speaker 1: thankfully that no one was in the rear seat. Methvin
Speaker 1: continued the conversation by answering Barrow's question in the negative.
Speaker 1: He then spoke to Bonnie, Hey, have you got that
Speaker 1: drink for me? There was no answer to that question.
Speaker 1: Had it been a signal? I jumped to my feet
Speaker 1: and shouted, put him up, Clyde, you're covered. The big
Speaker 1: Tan V eight left forward. Barrow had shifted into low
Speaker 1: gear as he was talking to Methvin. I was watching Barrow.
Speaker 1: His left hand was on the steering wheel. He picked
Speaker 1: up a gun with his right hand. Bonnie Parker was
Speaker 1: seen to raise a pistol. Then the door on Barrow's
Speaker 1: side of the car started to swing open. Barrow would
Speaker 1: not surrender. The sharp report of a rifle sounded. Its
Speaker 1: echo was drowned by the roar of six guns. Lead
Speaker 1: was poured into Barrow's car. The windshield was shattered. Most
Speaker 1: of the bullets were taking effect there and in the
Speaker 1: left front door of the sedan. The car continued to
Speaker 1: move oo gunfire was raking it from six angles. The
Speaker 1: glass and the rear left door was blown to bits.
Speaker 1: I saw black holes appear in the side of the car.
Speaker 1: The noise was deafening. I had no idea of time.
Speaker 1: It might have been an hour that I stood there
Speaker 1: on the firing line, but actually everything was over in seconds.
Speaker 1: I saw Barrow's head fall against the back of the seat.
Speaker 1: Blood was gushing out. I saw Bonnie Parker slump forward
Speaker 1: as if to pick up something off the floor of
Speaker 1: the car. The motor of the Ford had died. Still
Speaker 1: in gear, the car coasted jerkily. It rolled into a
Speaker 1: ditch on the west side of the road, coming to
Speaker 1: a stop against the side of the embankment. There was
Speaker 1: no sign of movement inside the car. All of us
Speaker 1: leapt onto the gravel road and ran to the stalled machine.
Speaker 1: Our weapons were ready, but even then we knew that
Speaker 1: we could discard our guns. Nothing could have lived through
Speaker 1: that volley of more than one hundred and fifty shots.
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow was dead. Bonnie Parker, her head between her knees,
Speaker 1: was dead. They'd been unable to fire a shot. I
Speaker 1: looked down the road at the wood pulp truck. It
Speaker 1: had stopped at the first shot. The two men who'd
Speaker 1: occupied the cab had fled into the timber. The back
Speaker 1: of Barrow's head literally had been beaten into a pulp
Speaker 1: by the hail of lead. He'd been struck at least
Speaker 1: a dozen times in the body. Six or seven bullets
Speaker 1: had taken effect. In Bonnie Parker's face. We later found
Speaker 1: that she'd been struck by twenty five shots. Her right
Speaker 1: hand virtually was cut off. Both of the outlaws had
Speaker 1: been cut badly by flying glass. In the lap of
Speaker 1: Clyde Barrow was a sowd Off sixteen gage automatic shotgun.
Speaker 1: His right hand was curled around the shortened stock seven
Speaker 1: grim notches had been carved in the wood by the
Speaker 1: killer boy, leaving Sheriff Jordan for a second zeven here.
Speaker 1: You know, as terrible of murderers and criminals as Bonnie
Speaker 1: and Clyde were, It's hard, right somehow, to be gunned
Speaker 1: down on an ambush against such overwhelming odds. It doesn't
Speaker 1: feel right. It doesn't feel fair, even though they absolutely
Speaker 1: deserve justice. Somehow, stacking the deck like that doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like justice, right, I mean, that was my initial reaction.
Speaker 1: I have to say, though, that the report that Clyde
Speaker 1: had carved seven notches into the stock of his automatic shotgun,
Speaker 1: one for each person that that shotgun had killed, does
Speaker 1: do something to alleviate the sense of foul play or
Speaker 1: unfair play, stacked deck, rigged rules, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it. Seven notches in the shotgun, one for each
Speaker 1: human life it's taken, does a pretty effective job of
Speaker 1: reminding us who law enforcement was actually dealing with. Not
Speaker 1: so much the romantic figures the killer couple, but really
Speaker 1: cold blooded murderers. All right. Back to the story, seven
Speaker 1: grim notches had and carved in the wood of the
Speaker 1: shotgun stock by the killer in Bonnie's lap was a
Speaker 1: forty five caliber automatic pistol. There were three notches on
Speaker 1: this gun. Between the pair was another automatic shotgun, so
Speaker 1: they were both keeping a proud tally of their murders yikes.
Speaker 1: On the floor of the car was a bag containing
Speaker 1: forty clips for a Browning automatic rifle. Three rifles of
Speaker 1: that type were in the rear of the car. All
Speaker 1: were loaded under a robe. On the rear seat were
Speaker 1: ten automatic pistols and one revolver, all fully loaded. Three
Speaker 1: bags in a box contained more than two thousand rounds
Speaker 1: of ammunition. Make no mistake, Clyde Barrow and the red
Speaker 1: headed Bonnie had been ready for us or any other
Speaker 1: officers that might have accosted them. We gave them a
Speaker 1: chance to surrender. They refused. Six Texas and Louisiana officers
Speaker 1: are alive today because they shot first, and shot fast,
Speaker 1: and shot straight. While we were examining the car and
Speaker 1: the bodies of its occupants, Ivan Methvin replaced the wheel
Speaker 1: on his truck and drove away. A few minutes later,
Speaker 1: telegraph and telefeh and wires were carrying the news of
Speaker 1: our success. By success, while accurate, is a tough thing,
Speaker 1: to call it when you've literally ripped them to shreds
Speaker 1: with bullets and glass. Sheriff Jordan remained at the scene
Speaker 1: while Captain Hamer and Deputy Alcorn drove to Gibbsland to
Speaker 1: report to Texas officials. Chief Deputy Oakley notified Coroner J. L.
Speaker 1: Wade of the killing. Coroner Wade ordered the bodies moved
Speaker 1: to Arcadia. The tan Ford Sedan, which we later learned
Speaker 1: had been stolen from a resident of Topeka, Kansas, was
Speaker 1: towed to the parish site. It served as a hearse
Speaker 1: for Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker on that eighteen mile ride.
Speaker 1: In Arcadia, a closer examination was made of the contents
Speaker 1: of the outlaw car. Fifteen sets of license plates under
Speaker 1: a rear seat indicated one of Barrow's favorite tricks to
Speaker 1: elude capture. A pair of sunglasses that had been worn
Speaker 1: by the band that were found on the seat. The
Speaker 1: lenses had been shattered by the bullets. Bonnie's over nightcase
Speaker 1: was in the rear of the car. It contained lipstick, rouge,
Speaker 1: face powder, and various personal effects. Also in the rear
Speaker 1: of the car was a saxophone and several sheets of
Speaker 1: music in the trunk. On the the back of the
Speaker 1: machine was a bag containing Barrow's extra clothing, a hot
Speaker 1: water bottle, and two magazines. At the time of her death,
Speaker 1: Bonnie was wearing a red dress and red shoes. She
Speaker 1: was wearing a wedding ring, but that must have been
Speaker 1: one of the very few concessions to appearances ever made
Speaker 1: by Bonnie. She was not married to Barrow. On Barrow's
Speaker 1: person was found more than five hundred dollars. The young
Speaker 1: killer was dressed in blue trousers and a white shirt.
Speaker 1: His tie hanging on the rear view mirror had been
Speaker 1: shredded by bullets. He died with his shoes off. They
Speaker 1: were on the floor of the car. We were compelled
Speaker 1: to lock the car in the jail yard. Souvenir hunters
Speaker 1: threatened to tear the machine to pieces. The streets around
Speaker 1: the jail and the conger funeral parlor where the bodies
Speaker 1: were taken were jammed by the curious. The population of
Speaker 1: Arcadia was multiplied by four times. Within a few hours.
Speaker 1: After arriving in Arcadia, I informed state authorities of the
Speaker 1: successful trap. An hour or so later, I received this
Speaker 1: telegram from the governor of Louisiana. Sheriff Henderson Jordan Arcadia, Lie, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: you are to be congratulated upon the capture of two
Speaker 1: of the most notorious outlaws in the Southwest. It is
Speaker 1: only by such diligence and action as you have shown,
Speaker 1: that crime can be stamped out. Oh Kay Allen, Governor.
Speaker 1: A coroner's jury reported that afternoon that the outlaws had
Speaker 1: been killed by officers in the line of duty during
Speaker 1: the night. The bodies were removed to Dallas by relatives.
Speaker 1: Mister Darby, the undertaker, once a victim of the Bloody Barrows,
Speaker 1: assisted in the embalming. County officials from Fort Worth, Texas
Speaker 1: requested permission to fire test shots from the sixteen gage
Speaker 1: shotgun found in Barrow's lap. The discharged cartridge cases were
Speaker 1: given to George Lacy, Houston, Texas ballistics expert. He compared
Speaker 1: the firing pin marks of the cartridge cases with those
Speaker 1: on discharged shells found at the scene of the murder
Speaker 1: of the two Texas Highway patrolmen. The markings were identical.
Speaker 1: The tests substantiated previous evidence that Clyde Barrow and Bonnie
Speaker 1: Parker had killed Patrolman Wheeler and Murphy the morning of
Speaker 1: Easter Sunday, at long last, with a heavy price in
Speaker 1: human life, the trail of the Bloody Barrows had been
Speaker 1: brought to a conclusion. A few days after Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Parker had been buried, a Texas jury added
Speaker 1: what might be called an exclamation mark. Raymond Hamilton was
Speaker 1: sentenced to death in the electric chair for the murder
Speaker 1: of the prison farm guard. So since Bonnie and Clyde
Speaker 1: died without a trial, they took Raymond Hamilton, who was
Speaker 1: facing a three hundred and sixty something year sentence, and
Speaker 1: decided to put him to death instead. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: execution by proxy is necessarily the right thing to do,
Speaker 1: or actually I am sure that it's not the right
Speaker 1: thing to do. But moving on the Dogrel elegy again.
Speaker 1: Doggrel is an amateurish poem. The Dogrel Elergy which follows
Speaker 1: was written by Bonnie Parker. It had been given to
Speaker 1: a Dallas newspaper with the understanding that it would not
Speaker 1: be published before her death. And so there you go.
Speaker 1: On a grave no pun intended, sober and very serious note.
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde knew full well that there was only
Speaker 1: one way that their spree could in. And here is
Speaker 1: the Elegy of Bonnie and Clyde, written by Bonnie Parker herself.
Speaker 1: You've read the story of Jesse James of how he
Speaker 1: lived and died. If you still are in need of
Speaker 1: something to read, well here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde.
Speaker 1: Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow Gang, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you all have read how they rob and steal,
Speaker 1: and how those who squeal are usually found dying are dead.
Speaker 1: There are lots of untruth to their write ups. They
Speaker 1: are not so merciless as that they hate all the law,
Speaker 1: the stool pigeons, spotters and rats. They class them as
Speaker 1: cold blooded killers. They say they are heartless and mean.
Speaker 1: But I say this with pride that I once knew
Speaker 1: Clyde when he was honest and upright and clean. But
Speaker 1: the law fooled around, kept tracking him down and locking
Speaker 1: him up in a cell till he said to me,
Speaker 1: I will never be free, so I will meet a
Speaker 1: few of them in hell. This road was so dimly
Speaker 1: lighted there were no highway signs to guide, but they
Speaker 1: made up their minds if the roads were all blind,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't give up till they died. The road gets
Speaker 1: dimmer and dimmer. Sometimes you hardly can see still its fight,
Speaker 1: man to man, and do all you can. For they
Speaker 1: know they can never be free if they try to
Speaker 1: act like citizens and rent them a nice little flat.
Speaker 1: About the third night they're invited to fight by a
Speaker 1: machine gun. Rat tat tat. If a policeman is killed
Speaker 1: in Dallas and they have no clues for a guide,
Speaker 1: if they can't find a friend, they just wipe the
Speaker 1: slate clean and hang it on Bonnie and Clyde. Two
Speaker 1: crimes have been done in America, not accredited to the
Speaker 1: Barrow Mob, for they had no hand in the kidnapping
Speaker 1: demand of the Kansas City Depot job. A newsboy once
Speaker 1: said to his buddy, I wish Old Clyde would get
Speaker 1: jumped in this awful hard times. We might make a
Speaker 1: few extra dimes if five or six laws got bumped.
Speaker 1: The police haven't gotten a report yet. Clyde sent a
Speaker 1: wireless today saying we have a piece flag of white
Speaker 1: we stretch out at night. We've joined the NRA. They
Speaker 1: don't think they're too tough or desperate. They know the
Speaker 1: law always wins. They've been shot at before, but they
Speaker 1: do not ignore that death was the wages of sin,
Speaker 1: from heartbreak, some people have suffered from weariness, some people
Speaker 1: have died. But take it all in all our troubles
Speaker 1: are small till we get like Bonnie and Clyde. Someday
Speaker 1: they will go down together and they will bury them
Speaker 1: side by side. To a few, it means grief to
Speaker 1: the law, it's relief, but it's death to Bonnie and Clyde.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if it's fair to call
Speaker 1: this poem doggrel in its entirety. Sure, some of the
Speaker 1: stanzas could perhaps be a little bit more elegant, But man,
Speaker 1: they're a few in here that just rocked me. This
Speaker 1: one in particular. The road was so dimly lighted, there
Speaker 1: were no highway signs to guide, but they made up
Speaker 1: their minds if the roads were all blind, that they
Speaker 1: wouldn't give up till they died. The road gets dimmer
Speaker 1: and dimmer, sometimes you can hardly see. Still, it's fight,
Speaker 1: man to man, and do all you can for they
Speaker 1: know they can never be free. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think that's dogrel, man, I think that's just poetry. And
Speaker 1: in a last twisting of the knife for the notorious Outlaws,
Speaker 1: Bonnie Parker's apparent desire to be buried beside Clyde Barrow
Speaker 1: because the final line of the poem someday they will
Speaker 1: go down together and they'll bury them side by side.
Speaker 1: To a few, it means grief to the law, it's relief,
Speaker 1: but it's death to Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie's desire to
Speaker 1: be buried beside Clyde Barrow was denied. Their graves in
Speaker 1: different cemeteries are miles apart. Wow. What a story. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for going on that journey with me.
Speaker 1: As I've said before, friendships are built when you spend
Speaker 1: quality time doing something you care about together. I hope
Speaker 1: this story was quality time for you. I hope it
Speaker 1: made you care. It certainly was quality time for me. Pooh,
Speaker 1: and boy, it sure did make me care. Wow. What
Speaker 1: a killer couple. You know. I'd like to do now,
Speaker 1: as I do every week, tease you with what the
Speaker 1: episode coming on Thursday is. But I'm going to be
Speaker 1: honest you guys. I have been so deep into the
Speaker 1: story of Bonnie and Clyde that I honestly have no
Speaker 1: idea what story I'm going to tell you on Thursday,
Speaker 1: September fifteenth. But hey, most of us love surprises, right,
Speaker 1: So if it's a surprise for me now, it'll be
Speaker 1: a surprise for you on Thursday the fifteenth. And all
Speaker 1: I can say is hopefully I've given you reason enough
Speaker 1: to trust me that it's going to be a story
Speaker 1: you enjoy and worth tuning in for. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for spending the time with me, for going on
Speaker 1: this epic American journey of love and death and crime
Speaker 1: and violence and hatred and mystery and compulsion and familial
Speaker 1: duty and all of the things, like wow, absolutely epic,
Speaker 1: as epic as anything you could make up, and it's
Speaker 1: all true. I'm Zevan Odelberg, and this has been kind
Speaker 1: of murgery. If you've enjoyed today's kind of murgery, please
Speaker 1: tell your friends and family, tell strangers, leave a review.
Speaker 1: It's the best way to ensure that I can keep
Speaker 1: telling that special brand of bizarre and terrible tales that
Speaker 1: you'll only find here on Kind of Murdery.
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