THE DEATHS OF TWO OUTLAWS

            Bonnie Parker met Clyde Barrow when she was 19 (and he was 20). Her husband of three years was in prison.  Soon after, Clyde went to prison for robbery.  Bonnie visited him and slipped him a gun, which he used to escape.  He was recaptured and when he was paroled, the couple rekindled their affair.  After Bonnie spent two months in jail, the couple and their gang went on a crime spree for the next two years.  They became famous for bank robberies, but also stole from small stores and funeral homes.  The press made them Robin Hood heroes.  In 1934, they freed a gang member from a Texas prison farm.  In the escape, several guards were machine-gunned and one died.  The “Eastham Breakout” turned the public against the gang.  Texas vowed to bring them to justice and brought Texas Ranger Frank Hamer out of retirement to track them down.  Hamer was famous in Texas.  He had killed 53 criminals in his career and had been wounded 17 times.  He began to follow the gang as it moved in its path through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico, and Louisiana.  Their visits to gang members’ families were predictable.  On April 1, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde and Henry Methvin killed two state troopers.  It is unclear whether Methvin or Bonnie shot one, but the newspapers chose to highlight Bonnie as a cold-blooded murderer.  The public no longer showed some sympathy for her.  In May, Hamer knew the gang was probably going to go to Methvin’s house.  He talked (or tortured) Methvin’s father Ivy into ratting out the gang in exchange for his son not getting the death penalty. (It is unclear whether Henry knew about the deal.)  Hamer now knew that the duo would be travelling down a certain highway for a rendezvous with Methvin.  They staked out a stretch of the road near Sailes, Louisiana and hid in the bushes for more than a day.  Ivy had pulled his truck onto the shoulder and it was hoped Clyde would pull over to talk to him.  On May 23, a Ford V8 came along and slowed down near the truck.  Hamer and five other cops opened fire without offering a chance to surrender.  Clyde was hit in the head and killed instantly in the opening shots.  The lawmen fired off their machine guns, then their shot guns, then their pistols.  A total of 130 bullets were fired.  The coroner counted 17 wounds for Clyde and 26 for Bonnie.  In the back of the car was numerous weapons and several thousand rounds of ammunition.  There were also 15 different license plates.  The owner of the stolen car sued for its return and allowed it to tour the country and appear at county fairs, amusement parks, and flea markets for the next thirty years.  In 1988, the car was purchased by a casino near Las Vegas for $250,000.  It is on display there.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/police-kill-famous-outlaws-bonnie-and-clyde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde