Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow) were infamous bank robbers who traveled the central United States during the Great Depression, often with various members of the Barrow gang.

Death

Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed May 23 1934, on a desolate road near their Bienville Parish, Louisiana, hideout. They were shot by a posse of four Texas and two Louisiana officers (the Louisiana pair added solely for jurisdictional reasons — an aspect of pre-FBI America that Clyde had exploited to its fullest when selecting robbery and hideout locations). The posse was led by former Texas Ranger captain Frank Hamer, who had never before seen Bonnie or Clyde. He had begun tracking the pair on February 10 1934, and within a month or two had met in Bienville Parish with a representative of Henry Methvin's parents.

Related Topics:
May 23 - 1934 - Bienville Parish - Louisiana - Texas Ranger - Frank Hamer - February 10

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On May 21 1934, the four posse members were in Shreveport, Louisiana, when they learned that Bonnie and Clyde were to go there that evening with Methvin. Clyde had designated Methvin's parents' Bienville Parish house as a rendezvous, in case they were later separated. Methvin was separated from Bonnie and Clyde in Shreveport, and the full posse, now with the two Louisiana members, set up an ambush along the route to the rendezvous — Highway 154, between Gibsland and Sailes. They were in place by 21:00, waiting all through the next day (May 22), but with no sign of Bonnie and Clyde.

Related Topics:
May 21 - 1934 - Shreveport, Louisiana - Gibsland - Sailes - May 22

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Around 09:10 on May 23, the posse, concealed in the bushes and almost ready to concede defeat, heard Clyde's stolen Ford V-8 approaching. When he stopped to speak with Henry Methvin's father — planted there with his truck that morning to distract Clyde and force him into the lane closest to the posse — the lawmen opened fire, killing Bonnie and Clyde while shooting a combined total of approximately 130 rounds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Controversy lingers over whether Bonnie Parker should have been killed, and whether the first shot, fired into Clyde Barrow's head by Prentis Oakley with a borrowed Remington Model 8, was too hasty. Oakley is reported to have been haunted for the rest of his life by his actions that day. It is not clear what legal authority there was to kill Bonnie Parker, who was not known to have killed anyone, but Hamer made it clear that he had intended to kill her. He had a reputation for not being overly solicitous with regard to law details.

Related Topics:
Prentis Oakley - Remington Model 8

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some of the posse, including Frank Hamer, took and kept for themselves stolen guns that were found in the death car, with the approval of Lee Simmons, "Special Escape Investigator for the Texas Prison System". With the growing outcry over the Bonnie and Clyde crime spree in which law enforcement had been thwarted repeatedly, even officials from outside Louisiana had been given a free hand toward the goal of ending it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~