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The Crimes of Bonnie and Clyde: A Timeline (Odd Travels)
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow skipped from bank robbery to bank robbery in America's heartland, becoming media sensations for their daring crimes and heart-throbbing love story. But all this came to a terrible halt in 1934 when an ambush stopped them dead in their tracks, decisively ending both their criminal careers and their young lives in a scene so gruesome that the photos cemented their untimely end into American history forever.
See the chilling photos and learn the unbelievable but true story of America’s most infamous outlaw couple
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut (Champion) Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) were an American criminal couple who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The couple were known for their bank robberies, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural funeral homes. Their exploits captured the attention of the American press and its readership during what is occasionally referred to as the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. They were ambushed by police and shot to death in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians.
Bonnie and Clyde in a photo from around 1932–34 that was found by police at an abandoned hideout
The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in the title roles, revived interest in the criminals and glamorized them with a romantic aura. The 2019 Netflix film The Highwaymen depicted their manhunt from the point of view of the pursuing lawmen but received mixed reviews.
After Barrow's release from prison in February 1932, he and Ralph Fults began a series of robberies, primarily of stores and gas stations; their goal was to collect enough money and firepower to launch a raid against Eastham prison. On April 19, Parker and Fults were captured in a failed hardware store burglary in Kaufman in which they had intended to steal firearms. Parker was released from jail after a few months, when the grand jury failed to indict her; Fults was tried, convicted, and served time. He never rejoined the gang. Parker wrote poetry to pass the time in Kaufman County jail, and reunited with Barrow within a few weeks of her release.
On April 30, Barrow was the getaway driver in a robbery in Hillsboro, during which store owner J.N. Bucher was shot and killed. Bucher's wife identified Barrow from police photographs as one of the shooters, although he had stayed inside the car.
On August 5, Barrow, Raymond Hamilton, and Ross Dyer were drinking moonshine at a country dance in Stringtown, Oklahoma, when Sheriff C.G. Maxwell and Deputy Eugene C. Moore approached them in the parking lot. Barrow and Hamilton opened fire, killing Moore and gravely wounding Maxwell. Moore was the first law officer whom Barrow and his gang killed; they eventually murdered nine. On October 11, they allegedly killed Howard Hall at his store during a robbery in Sherman, Texas, though some historians consider this unlikely.
W. D. Jones had been a friend of Barrow's family since childhood. He joined Parker and Barrow on Christmas Eve 1932 at the age of 16, and the three left Dallas that night. The next day, Christmas Day of that year, Jones and Barrow murdered Doyle Johnson, a young family man, while stealing his car in Temple. Barrow killed Tarrant County Deputy Malcolm Davis on January 6, 1933, when he, Parker, and Jones wandered into a police trap set for another criminal. The gang had murdered five people since April.
1933: Buck and Blanche Barrow join the gang
On March 22, 1933, Clyde's brother Buck was granted a full pardon and released from prison, and he and his wife Blanche set up housekeeping with Bonnie, Clyde and Jones in a temporary hideout at 3347 1/2 Oakridge Drive in Joplin, Missouri. According to family sources,[34] Buck and Blanche were there to visit; they attempted to persuade Clyde to surrender to law enforcement. The group ran loud, alcohol-fueled card games late into the night in the quiet neighborhood; Blanche recalled that they "bought a case of beer a day". The men came and went noisily at all hours, and Clyde accidentally fired a BAR in the apartment while cleaning it. No neighbors went to the house, but one reported suspicions to the Joplin Police Department.
The police assembled a five-man force in two cars on April 13 to confront what they suspected were bootleggers living at the Oakridge Drive address. The Barrow brothers and Jones opened fire, killing Detective Harry L. McGinnis outright and fatally wounding Constable J. W. Harryman. Parker opened fire with a BAR as the others fled, forcing Highway Patrol Sergeant G.B. Kahler to duck behind a large oak tree. The .
30 caliber bullets from the BAR struck the tree and forced wood splinters into the sergeant's face. Parker got into the car with the others, and they pulled in Blanche from the street where she was pursuing her dog Snow Ball. The surviving officers later testified that they had fired only fourteen rounds in the conflict; one hit Jones on the side, one struck Clyde but was deflected by his suit-coat button, and one grazed Buck after ricocheting off a wall.
The group escaped the police at Joplin, but left behind most of their possessions at the apartment, including Buck's parole papers (three weeks old), a large arsenal of weapons, a handwritten poem by Bonnie, and a camera with several rolls of undeveloped film. Police developed the film at The Joplin Globe and found many photos of Barrow, Parker, and Jones posing and pointing weapons at one another. The Globe sent the poem and the photos over the newswire, including a photo of Parker clenching a cigar in her teeth and a pistol in her hand. The Barrow Gang subsequently became front-page news throughout America.
The photo of Parker posing with a cigar and a gun became popular. Jeff Guinn, in his book, Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, noted:
The group ranged from Texas as far north as Minnesota for the next three months. In May, they tried to rob the bank in Lucerne, Indiana, and robbed the bank in Okabena, Minnesota. They kidnapped Dillard Darby and Sophia Stone at Ruston, Louisiana, in the course of stealing Darby's car; this was one of several events between 1932 and 1934 in which they kidnapped police officers or robbery victims.They usually released their hostages far from home, sometimes with money to help them return.
Stories of such encounters made headlines, as did the more violent episodes. The Barrow Gang did not hesitate to shoot anyone who got in their way, whether it was a police officer or an innocent civilian. Other members of the gang who committed murder included Hamilton, Jones, Buck, and Henry Methvin. Eventually, the cold-bloodedness of their murders opened the public's eyes to the reality of their crimes, and led to their ends.
The photos entertained the public for a time, but the gang was desperate and discontented, as described by Blanche in her account written while imprisoned in the late 1930s. With their new notoriety, their daily lives became more difficult as they tried to evade discovery. Restaurants and motels became less secure; they resorted to campfire cooking and bathing in cold streams. The unrelieved, round-the-clock proximity of five people in one car gave rise to vicious bickering. Jones was the driver when he and Barrow stole a car belonging to Darby in late April, and he used that car to leave the others. He stayed away until June 8.
Barrow failed to see warning signs at a bridge under construction on June 10, while driving with Jones and Parker near Wellington, Texas, and the car flipped into a ravine. Sources disagree on whether there was a gasoline fire[54] or if Parker was doused with acid from the car's battery under the floorbo but she sustained third-degree burns to her right leg, so severe that the muscles contracted and caused the leg to "draw up". Jones observed: "She'd been burned so bad none of us thought she was gonna live. The hide on her right leg was gone, from her hip down to her ankle. I could see the bone at places."
Parker could hardly walk; she either hopped on her good leg or was carried by Barrow. They got help from a nearby farm family, then kidnapped Collinsworth County Sheriff George Corry and City Marshal Paul Hardy, leaving the two of them handcuffed and barbed wired to a tree outside Erick, Oklahoma. The three rendezvoused with Buck and Blanche, and hid in a tourist court near Fort Smith, Arkansas, nursing Parker's burns. Buck and Jones bungled a robbery and murdered Town Marshal Henry D. Humphrey in Alma, Arkansas. The criminals had to flee, despite Parker's grave condition.
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