BONNIE AND CLYDE

2010-08-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most romanticized criminals in the annals of crime are Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. This pair operated in the early 1930's, during the Depression Era, committing murder, armed robbery, car theft, burglary and kidnapping. They met in January of 1930; Bonnie, then 19, was already married to imprisoned murderer Roy Thornton. Clyde was 21 and had never been married, but the two had quickly become a couple. Soon, Clyde was arrested for burglary and sent to jail; Bonnie helped him escape. Soon after, he was recaptured and sent back to prison. He was later paroled, in February 1932. They, quickly, commenced with their life of crime. A trail of bank robberies, murders and sitings of the pair trailed through Texas, New Mexico and Missouri. When Clyde's brother Ivan M. "Buck" Barrow was released from Texas State Prison on March 23, 1933, he and his wife, Blanche, joined the pair. The gang now totaled five, including their other companion, William Daniel Jones, whom they'd met in November of 1932. On July 29, 1933, Buck was fatally wounded in an Iowa police shootout, while Blanche was taken into custody. Jone's was captured in Houston, Texas in November of 1933; this left only Bonnie and Clyde. For the remainder of 1933, Bonnie and Clyde continued in their crimespree, essentially, alone. They aided in a prison break at Eastern State Prison Farm in Waldo, Texas. This resulted in the liberation of five prisoners, including Raymond Hamilton and Henry Methvin of Louisianna. In their final months, Bonnie and Clyde continued on the run, stealing car and killing police officers. This would all catch up to them in Louisianna, where FBI and local law enforcement learned of a party being planned by Bonni, Clyde and the Methvin family. On the morning of May 23, 1934, law enforcement, from Louisianna and Texas laid their trap, hiding in the bushes along the highway, awaiting the arrival of the pair. The pair realized this too late, as they attempted to escape yet another time . Officers opened fire on the car; Bonnie and Clyde were both killed instantly---together to the very end.

Crimeland Chronicles

BONNIE AND CLYDE