Bonnie And Clyde "Famous Cases"

Clyde Champion Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker, were shot to death by officers in an ambush

near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934, after one of the most colorful and spectacular

manhunts the Nation had seen up to that time.

Barrow was suspected of numerous killings and was wanted for murder, robbery, and state charges of

kidnaping.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), then called the Bureau of Investigation, became interested in

Barrow and his paramour late in December, 1932, through a singular bit of evidence. A Ford automobile,

which had been stolen in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, was found abandoned near Jackson, Michigan in

September of that year. At Pawhuska, it was learned another Ford car had been abandoned there which had

been stolen in Illinois. A search of this car revealed it had been occupied by a man and a woman, indicated

by abandoned articles therein. In this car was found a prescription bottle, which led Special Agents to a drug

store in Nacogdoches, Texas, where investigation disclosed the woman for whom the prescription had been

filled was Clyde Barrow's aunt.

Further investigation revealed that the woman who obtained the prescription had been visited recently by

Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, and Clyde's brother, L. C. Barrow. It also was learned that these three were

driving a Ford car, identified as the one stolen in Illinois. It was further shown that L. C. Barrow had secured

the empty prescription bottle from a son of the woman who had originally obtained it.

On May 20, 1933, the United States Commissioner at Dallas, Texas, issued a warrant against Clyde Barrow

and Bonnie Parker, charging them with the interstate transportation, from Dallas to Oklahoma, of the

automobile stolen in Illinois. The FBI then started its hunt for this elusive pair.

BACKGROUND

Bonnie and Clyde met in Texas in January, 1930. At the time, Bonnie was 19 and married to an imprisoned

murderer; Clyde was 21 and unmarried. Soon after, he was arrested for a burglary and sent to jail. He

escaped, using a gun Bonnie had smuggled to him, was recaptured, and was sent back to prison. Clyde

was paroled in February, 1932, rejoined Bonnie, and resumed a life of crime.

In addition to the automobile theft charge, Bonnie and Clyde were suspects in other crimes. At the time they

were killed in 1934, they were believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries.

Barrow, for example, was suspected of murdering two police officers at Joplin, Missouri, and kidnaping a

man and a woman in rural Louisiana. He released them near Waldo, Texas. Numerous sightings followed,

linking this pair with bank robberies and automobile thefts. Clyde allegedly murdered a man at Hillsboro,

Texas; committed robberies at Lufkin and Dallas, Texas; murdered one sheriff and wounded another at

Stringtown, Oklahoma; kidnaped a deputy at Carlsbad, New Mexico; stole an automobile at Victoria, Texas;

attempted to murder a deputy at Wharton, Texas; committed murder and robbery at Abilene and Sherman,

Texas; committed murder at Dallas, Texas; abducted a sheriff and the chief of police at Wellington, Texas;

and committed murder at Joplin and Columbia, Missouri.

THE CRIME SPREE BEGINS

Later in 1932, Bonnie and Clyde began traveling with Raymond Hamilton, a young gunman. Hamilton left

them several months later, and was replaced by William Daniel Jones in November, 1932.

Ivan M. "Buck" Barrow, brother of Clyde, was released from the Texas State Prison on March 23, 1933, having

been granted a full pardon by the Governor. He quickly joined Clyde, bringing his wife, Blanche, so the group

now numbered five persons. This gang embarked upon a series of bold robberies which made headlines

across the country. They escaped capture in various encounters with the law. However, their activities made

law enforcement efforts to apprehend them even more intense. During a shootout with police in Iowa on July

29, 1933, Buck Barrow was fatally wounded and Blanche was captured. Jones, who was frequently

mistaken for "Pretty Boy" Floyd, was captured in November, 1933, at Houston, Texas, by the sheriff's office.

Bonnie and Clyde went on together.

On November 22, 1933, a trap was set by the Dallas, Texas, sheriff and his deputies in an attempt to capture

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