Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were infamous American outlaws who, alongside their gang, terrorized the Central United States during the Great Depression. Between 1931 and 1934, their crimes, which included bank robberies, store heists, and murders, captured national attention. Although often glamorized in the media, their story was one of violence and tragedy. The couple was ambushed and killed by police in Louisiana in 1934, after being linked to the murders of at least nine officers and four civilians.
The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde reignited public interest in their story, portraying them as rebellious, romantic figures. More recently, the 2019 Netflix film The Highwaymen depicted their pursuit from the perspective of law enforcement officers.
Bonnie Parker
Born in 1910 in Rowena, Texas, Bonnie Parker grew up in a working-class family. After losing her father at a young age, her mother moved the family to an industrial suburb of Dallas, where Bonnie excelled academically and dreamt of becoming an actress. At 16, she married Roy Thornton, but the marriage quickly deteriorated due to his criminal activities. Though they never divorced, they separated in 1929.
After her marriage ended, Bonnie moved back in with her mother and worked as a waitress. During this time, she also wrote poetry, including her famous works “The Story of Suicide Sal” and “The Trail's End,” which romanticized her life of crime. She met Clyde Barrow in 1930, and the two were inseparable from that point on, embarking on a crime spree that left a lasting mark on American history.
Clyde Barrow
Clyde Barrow was born in 1909 into a poor farming family in Texas. His family moved to Dallas in the 1920s, living in extreme poverty. Clyde began his life of crime in his late teens, quickly escalating from petty theft to more serious offenses. His relationship with Bonnie began in 1930, shortly before he was arrested and imprisoned for auto theft. While in prison, he was subjected to abuse, which fueled his hatred for the prison system and led to his first murder.
Upon his release, Clyde, now hardened by his prison experience, sought revenge against the Texas prison system. He led the Barrow Gang in a series of robberies, primarily targeting small stores and gas stations, though they were also linked to several bank robberies. His weapon of choice was the Browning automatic rifle, and he harbored no illusions about his fate, expecting a violent death for himself and Bonnie.
Their First Meeting
Bonnie and Clyde’s first meeting took place in January 1930 at a mutual friend’s house in Dallas. Clyde, then 20, was immediately taken with 19-year-old Bonnie, who was staying with her friend while recovering from an injury. Historians agree that Bonnie likely joined Clyde out of love, and she remained devoted to him as they continued their crime spree, fully aware that their lives would likely end in violence.
Despite their infamous legacy, Bonnie and Clyde’s story is not one of glamour, but rather a reflection of the desperation and hardship many faced during the Great Depression. Their tragic tale serves as a reminder of how far some are willing to go when society seems to offer no way out.
1932: Early Robberies and Murders
After Clyde Barrow was released from prison in February 1932, he and Ralph Fults began robbing stores and gas stations to gather money and weapons, with the goal of launching a raid on Eastham Prison. On April 19, Bonnie Parker and Fults were arrested during a failed attempt to rob a hardware store in Kaufman, Texas, where they had planned to steal firearms. Parker was released after a few months when a grand jury failed to indict her, but Fults was convicted and did not rejoin the gang. After her release, Parker reunited with Barrow.
On April 30, Barrow participated in a robbery in Hillsboro, Texas, where store owner J.N. Bucher was killed. Although Barrow remained in the car, Bucher's wife identified him as one of the shooters. Then, on August 5, Barrow, Raymond Hamilton, and Ross Dyer were drinking at a country dance in Oklahoma when law enforcement approached them. Barrow and Hamilton opened fire, killing Deputy Eugene C. Moore and severely wounding Sheriff C.G. Maxwell. This was the first law officer the gang had killed, and over time, they would be responsible for nine more deaths. In October, they allegedly killed Howard Hall during a robbery in Texas, though some historians doubt this claim.
On Christmas Eve 1932, W.D. Jones, a longtime family friend of Barrow, joined the gang at age 16. The next day, Jones and Barrow murdered Doyle Johnson while stealing his car. In January 1933, Barrow killed Tarrant County Deputy Malcolm Davis during a botched robbery. By this point, the gang had killed five people since April 1932.
1933: Buck and Blanche Barrow Join the Gang
On March 22, 1933, Clyde’s brother Buck was released from prison with a full pardon. He and his wife, Blanche, joined Clyde, Parker, and Jones in a hideout in Joplin, Missouri. Despite family attempts to convince Clyde to surrender, the group’s loud behavior drew attention. On April 13, local police raided their hideout, resulting in a shootout. Two officers were killed, and the gang barely escaped, leaving behind many personal belongings, including Bonnie's poems and photographs of the gang posing with guns. These photos soon made national headlines, further boosting the gang’s infamy.
In the following months, the Barrow Gang continued robbing banks and stores across several states, from Texas to Minnesota. In one instance, they kidnapped police officers and released them far from home, sometimes giving them money for the return journey. Their criminal exploits often made front-page news, but the cold-blooded nature of their murders eventually revealed the true brutality of their crimes.
As the gang became more notorious, they struggled to evade the authorities. Their lifestyle grew increasingly difficult, relying on campfire meals and makeshift hiding places. Internal tensions also escalated, especially with Parker suffering severe burns in a car accident in June 1933. Despite her injuries, the gang continued their crime spree, which only intensified their desperate situation.
In July 1933, the gang rented cabins at the Red Crown Tourist Court in Missouri. Their suspicious behavior—such as paying for everything in coins and taping newspapers over windows—raised alarms. Local law enforcement, already on high alert, prepared to confront them.
W.D. Jones' confession led to murder warrants being issued for the gang. In the ensuing gunfight, officers’ .45 caliber Thompsons were no match for Barrow's .30 caliber BAR, stolen from a National Guard armory in Enid, Oklahoma. The gang escaped after a bullet hit the car’s horn, causing the police to mistake it for a cease-fire signal and not pursue them.
While they managed to escape, Buck was gravely injured by a bullet that left a hole in his forehead, exposing his brain. Blanche was also nearly blinded by glass fragments.
The Barrow Gang set up camp at Dexfield Park, an abandoned amusement park in Iowa, on July 24, 1933. Buck was intermittently conscious, eating and speaking, but his head wound was so severe that Barrow and Jones dug a grave for him. Local residents noticed the gang's bloody bandages, leading officers to identify the gang’s whereabouts. Soon after, a shootout ensued. Barrow, Parker, and Jones escaped on foot, but Buck was shot in the back and captured along with Blanche. Buck died five days later due to his injuries.
The remaining gang members eluded capture for weeks, committing armed robberies while moving through Colorado, Minnesota, and Mississippi. On August 20, Barrow and Jones raided another armory in Illinois, adding more weapons and ammunition to their arsenal.
By September, the gang risked a trip to Dallas to visit family, during which Jones parted ways and later was arrested in Houston. Despite their separation, Barrow continued to commit crimes with local accomplices, while Parker received medical care. A failed family meeting on November 22 resulted in another shootout with police, where both Barrow and Parker were wounded but managed to escape.
A Dallas grand jury indicted Parker and Barrow for the murder of Deputy Malcolm Davis, marking Parker’s first murder warrant. Barrow then orchestrated the January 1934 "Eastham Breakout," where his accomplice, Joe Palmer, killed a prison officer, drawing even more intense efforts to capture the gang. Prison chief Lee Simmons vowed to hunt them down, a mission assigned to retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer.
Hamer, known for his reputation as a skilled and relentless lawman, took on the task of tracking the gang. His pursuit of Barrow and Parker started on February 10, 1934, following them closely as they moved through several states. Hamer’s tracking culminated in an ambush on May 23, 1934, in Louisiana. With the help of the Methvin family, Hamer’s team opened fire on Barrow and Parker’s car, killing both instantly.
The ambush ended with 130 rounds being fired into the vehicle, marking the violent end of the Barrow Gang’s reign. The aftermath revealed a car filled with weapons and ammunition, signaling the extent of their criminal activities up to their final moments.
Funeral and Burial
Bonnie Parker's gravestone reads: "As the flowers are all made sweeter by the sunshine and the dew, so this old world is made brighter by the lives of folks like you."
Bonnie and Clyde had wished to be buried together, but the Parker family refused. Bonnie's mother wanted to fulfill her daughter’s final wish to be brought home, but the large crowds surrounding their home made it impossible. Over 20,000 people attended Parker’s funeral, and her family struggled to reach her gravesite. Her service took place on May 26. Allen Campbell recalled that flowers arrived from everywhere, some reportedly sent by notorious figures like Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger. The largest floral arrangement was from a group of Dallas newsboys, as the story of Bonnie and Clyde’s death sold 500,000 newspapers in the city alone. Initially buried in Fishtrap Cemetery, Parker’s body was moved in 1945 to Crown Hill Cemetery in Dallas.
Huge crowds gathered outside the Dallas funeral homes to see both bodies. Clyde Barrow’s private service was held at sunset on May 25, and he was buried in Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas, next to his brother, Marvin. Their shared gravestone carries the epitaph Clyde selected: “Gone but not forgotten.”
The American National Insurance Company of Galveston, Texas, paid out life insurance policies for both Barrow and Parker, but shortly after, the company changed its policy to exclude payouts for deaths resulting from criminal activity.
The six posse members who tracked Bonnie and Clyde were promised a share of the reward money, which Dallas Sheriff Schmid estimated to be around $26,000. However, most organizations that had pledged money reneged, and each lawman received just $200.23, along with various souvenirs from the ambush scene.
Clyde and Buck Barrow’s Grave
Coordinates: 32.765537°N 96.845863°W.
By the summer of 1934, new federal laws made bank robbery and kidnapping federal offenses. Enhanced coordination among local authorities, aided by two-way radios in police cars, made it harder for criminals to evade law enforcement. Just two months after Bonnie and Clyde were killed, John Dillinger was shot in Chicago. Three months later, Pretty Boy Floyd was killed in Ohio, and Baby Face Nelson followed in Illinois a month after that.
As of 2018, Parker’s niece and last surviving relative has campaigned for her aunt to be buried next to Barrow.
Conflicting Accounts
The posse that ambushed Bonnie and Clyde included members from three organizations: former Texas Rangers Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, who were working for the Texas Department of Corrections (DOC); Dallas Sheriff’s office employees Ted Hinton and Bob Alcorn; and Sheriff Henderson Jordan with Deputy Prentiss Oakley from Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The three pairs of lawmen distrusted one another, and each had its own agenda and version of the events. Lee Simmons, head of the Texas DOC, added another perspective, having commissioned the posse.
Sheriff Schmid had attempted to arrest Barrow in Sowers, Texas, in November 1933. When he called for Barrow to stop, gunfire erupted from the criminals' car, which made a U-turn and sped away. Schmid’s Thompson submachine gun jammed after one round, and pursuit was impossible since the posse had parked their cars too far away.
Before the ambush, the posse discussed the possibility of calling for the couple to halt, but the Texans—Hamer, Gault, Hinton, and Alcorn—vetoed the idea, noting that Bonnie and Clyde always shot their way out, as seen in previous encounters in Platte City, Dexfield Park, and Sowers. When the ambush occurred, Oakley fired the first shot, and the rest of the officers immediately followed. Jordan, Alcorn, and Hinton each claimed they had called out to Barrow, while other reports suggest Hamer did. The differing accounts might have been attempts to cover up Oakley’s admission that he fired too early, but this remains speculative.
In 1979, Ted Hinton’s account of the ambush was published posthumously in Ambush: The Real Story of Bonnie and Clyde. Hinton claimed that the night before the ambush, the posse tied Ivy Methvin, the father of Henry Methvin (an accomplice), to a tree to prevent him from warning the couple. According to Hinton, Hamer made a deal with Ivy: if he kept quiet about being tied up, his son would avoid prosecution for two murders in Grapevine. Hinton also alleged that Hamer had the posse swear never to reveal the secret. Other accounts, however, place Ivy at the scene, waving for Barrow to stop.
Hinton also suggested that the famous photo of Bonnie Parker smoking a cigar was manipulated, claiming it was retouched by darkroom staff to include the cigar. Author Jeff Guinn notes that some people believe Hinton became delusional later in life.
Victims of Bonnie and Clyde
During their two-year crime spree from February 1932 to May 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were responsible for the deaths of 12 people, including nine law enforcement officers:
John Napoleon “JN” Bucher (April 30, 1932, Hillsboro, Texas)
Deputy Eugene Capell Moore (August 5, 1932, Stringtown, Oklahoma)
Howard Hall (October 11, 1932, Sherman, Texas)
Doyle Allie Myers Johnson (December 26, 1932, Temple, Texas)
Deputy Malcolm Simmons Davis (January 6, 1933, Dallas, Texas)
Detective Harry Leonard McGinnis (April 13, 1933, Joplin, Missouri)
Constable John Wesley "Wes" Harryman (April 13, 1933, Joplin, Missouri)
Town Marshal Henry Dallas Humphrey (June 26, 1933, Alma, Arkansas)
Prison Guard Major Joseph Crowson (January 16, 1934, Houston County, Texas)
Patrolman Edward Bryan “Ed” Wheeler (April 1, 1934, near Grapevine, Texas)
Patrolman Holloway Daniel "H.D." Murphy (April 1, 1934, near Grapevine, Texas)
Constable William Calvin “Cal” Campbell (April 6, 1934, near Commerce, Oklahoma)
Aftermath and Personal Effects
The posse never received the promised bounty for killing Bonnie and Clyde. Instead, they were allowed to take whatever they wanted from the criminals’ car. Hamer took an arsenal of stolen weapons, as well as a box of fishing tackle. In July, Clyde’s mother Cumie wrote to Hamer, asking for the guns to be returned, claiming that her son had never been tried for murder. No response to her letter is recorded.
Alcorn took Clyde’s saxophone but later returned it to the Barrow family. Other personal items, including Bonnie’s clothing, were refused to her family and later sold as souvenirs. There were also rumors that Sheriff Jordan kept a suitcase full of cash found in the car, although no evidence supports the claim.
The Death Car
Sheriff Jordan tried to keep the Ford car Bonnie and Clyde were driving, but Ruth Warren, the vehicle’s rightful owner, sued him. She eventually reclaimed the car in August 1934, still stained with blood and human remains. Warren drove the car from Arcadia to Shreveport, and from there, it was transported to Topeka.
The bullet-riddled Ford became a traveling attraction, exhibited at fairs, amusement parks, and flea markets. At one point, it was displayed at a Nevada racetrack, where people could pay a dollar to sit in it.
In 1988, a casino near Las Vegas purchased the vehicle for $250,000. As of 2024, it is displayed at Buffalo Bill’s Resort & Casino in Primm, Nevada, along with the shirt Clyde was wearing when he was killed.
Family and Gang Members
Henry Methvin escaped prosecution for the Grapevine murders due to his father’s cooperation with the posse, but he was later convicted of other crimes in Oklahoma and served eight years. Blanche Barrow, who never carried a gun, was convicted of attempted murder and served six years. In February 1935, authorities arrested 20 family members and friends for aiding Bonnie and Clyde. Known as the “harboring trial,” all 20 either pleaded guilty or were convicted, with sentences ranging from a few days to years in prison.
Blanche was permanently blinded in her left eye during a 1933 shootout but was paroled in 1939. She later married Eddie Frasure, worked as a beautician, and lived a quiet life until her death in 1988. Warren Beatty, who played Clyde in the 1967 film *Bonnie and Clyde*, purchased the rights to Blanche’s name for the movie. Though Blanche disliked how she was portrayed in the film, she remained friends with Beatty.
Barrow gang members Raymond Hamilton and Joe Palmer, who escaped from Eastham in 1934, were recaptured and executed in 1935. W.D. Jones served six years in prison for murder.
Bonnie and Clyde's sotry is more than just a tale of crime and violence—it's a reflection of a complex time in American history, when outlaws became anti-heroes, and desperation drove people to drastic measures. What makes their legacy so fascinating isn’t just their string of robberies or their dramatic deaths, but the way their lives have been romanticized over the decades. They were ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, living at the height of the Great Depression, when many felt disillusioned and helpless.
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