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Bonnie and Clyde: the true story. Who are Bonnie and Clyde? What they looked like and what they are known for: the story of life, love and crime Bonnie and Clyde the story of death

Bonnie and Clyde are famous American robbers who operated during the Great Depression. Killed in 1934 FBI agents. Bonnie was 24 years old at the time of the murder, Clyde was 25 years old.

Bonnie was born into a poor family of a mason and seamstress with three children. Clyde comes from a family of poor farmers with seven children. Bonnie studied well, was a fashionista, and wrote poetry. Clyde, apparently, did not shine with education.

Everything in their lives happened extremely quickly and concentratedly.

Bonnie dropped out of school at age 15. She got married at 16. At 17 I got a job as a waitress. At 18 I separated from my husband. At 22, I met Clyde, and away we go...

(pictured is Bonnie and her first husband, whom she, by the way, never divorced)

At the age of 17, Clyde stole a car (rented it and did not return it), for which he was arrested. A little later he stole turkeys and was arrested again. At the age of 18-20 he began cracking safes, robbing stores and stealing cars, for which he was sent to prison at the age of 21. There he was raped. Clyde killed the rapist. There, Clyde lost two toes, which he chopped off as a sign of protest against the rules that prevailed in this establishment.

It is believed that it was in prison that Clyde finally “matured.” His sister Mary said, “Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same again.” Ralph Fults, who served time at the same time as Clyde, said he saw him go from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake. At the age of 23, Clyde was released early, after which he met Bonnie, and away we go...

They had only two years of life left, during which they had time to become famous as frostbitten murderers and robbers, about whom many legends would later be created, films would be made, and their names would become household names.

Bonnie and Clyde are usually portrayed as romantic lovers who were devoted to each other to the end. But, there are also slightly different opinions.

According to some sources, it is believed that Clyde was homosexual. Others claim that Bonnie and Clyde were lovers, but at the same time had sexual relations with other gang members. For example, it is known that Roy Hamilton was the lover of both.

(Pictured - Raymond Hamilton)

And then Roy also brought a girlfriend into the gang, which is why relations within the team became tense to the limit.

(Hamilton's girlfriend, whom he, by his own admission, loved more than anyone in the world, with the exception of his mother)

By the way, what is noteworthy is that Raymond Hamilton was sentenced to 264 years in prison for shooting the sheriff and his deputies while drunk.

Based on such “free” relationships and Clyde’s difficult orientation, some people believe that by definition there was no unearthly love between Bonnie and Clyde. Although there was no doubt that they were really very devoted to each other: Bonnie at one time pulled Clyde out of prison, giving him a weapon on a date, and Clyde later, when the police detained Bonnie, fought off his friend, brazenly attacking the police station .

And Bonnie’s mother, Emma Parker, said: “I immediately realized that there was something between them when Bonnie introduced him to me. I saw it in her eyes, in the way she held onto the sleeve of his jacket.”

It is believed that Bonnie became the brain center of the gang and thanks to her, the crimes came to the fore. new level.

Nevertheless, they explained their crimes, of course, not by their bloodthirstiness or passion for profit, but by “hard fate” and “fight against the system.”

Here, for example, are the poems Bonnie wrote in those two years:

“Nowadays Bonnie and Clyde are a famous duet,
All the newspapers are trumpeting about them.
There are no witnesses after their “work”,
All that remains is the stench of death.
But there are a lot of false words about them,
And they are not that cruel.
They hate informers and liars,
And the law is their mortal enemy."

One day, criminals kidnapped the sheriff, stripped him, tied him up, and threw him on the side of the road with the words: “Tell your people that we are not a gang of murderers. Put yourself in the shoes of people trying to get through this damn depression.”

“The country shook from cold murders,
And their cruelty is a grave sin,
But I knew Clyde in those days,
When he was like everyone else.

He was a good, simple Texas boy,
There was nothing to blame him for,
But life dealt him harshly
And pushed me onto the devilish path.”

After meeting, Bonnie and Clyde immediately became close. They often went out of town and learned to shoot accurately. Perhaps accurate shooting from all types of weapons became the only science in which they achieved perfection.

They also loved to be photographed with weapons: with a pistol or rifle in their hands, they often posed in front of the lens. In general, they were constantly photographed. And in 1933, fleeing from the police, the criminals left some things at the site of their home - a series of photographs and poems by Bonnie about the difficult fate of highwaymen. The evidence was left “by accident,” but here’s what’s interesting. The photographs were extremely posing: Bonnie and Clyde appeared as daring thugs with huge guns, cigars, in fashionable outfits and against the backdrop of a cool car.

Bonnie's poems talked about love and the expectation of imminent death under police bullets. After all this was published in the newspaper, the popularity of Bonnie and Clyde skyrocketed - they became the main characters of gossip columns.

One day in Kansas, Bonnie first saw a “Police Wanted” poster with her image on it. The fact that she and Clyde had become "celebrities" shocked Bonnie so much that she immediately sent a dozen letters to major newspapers with pictures that she and Clyde had taken along their criminal path.

In general, they loved PR. Actually, that’s why they eventually became so famous.

“If a police officer is suddenly killed in Dallas
And the "cops" have no clue,
The real killer will not be revealed
Bonnie and Clyde are responsible.

If the couple suddenly decides to calm down
And he will rent an apartment for himself,
In a couple of days they will get tired of everyday life,
And again with a machine gun in his hand.

And he once confessed to me bitterly:
“I cannot see a century of freedom.
My life will end on the fire of hell,
And there will be retribution!"

The unreliable path is getting darker and more terrible,
The struggle becomes more and more pointless.
May we become rich someday
But never free!

They didn't think they were stronger than everyone else
After all, the law cannot be defeated!
And that death will be the payment for sin,
They both knew for sure.”

They started with the robbery of a weapons warehouse in Texas in the spring of 1930. There they armed themselves to the teeth. After that, they began to rob eateries, shops, and gas stations. By the way, in those days there was no way to make much money by robbing banks - the Great Depression raked out all the big money from the banks, and the gang sometimes received more by robbing some roadside store.

The robbery scenario was usually like this: Bonnie was driving the car, Clyde broke in and took the proceeds, then jumped into the car while shooting back. If someone tried to resist, they immediately received a bullet. However, they mercilessly removed innocent witnesses as well. They were not just robbers, they were murderers, and they included both ordinary people like owners of small shops and gas stations, and police officers whom Clyde preferred to kill in order to avoid prison.

After the murder of the first policeman who decided to check the documents of the suspicious couple from the car, there was nothing left to lose: now they were probably facing a death sentence. Therefore, Bonnie and Clyde went to great lengths and, without hesitation, fired at people in any situation, even when they were practically in no danger. On August 5, 1932, two police officers spotted Clyde at a village festival. When they asked him to come up, the bandit killed them both on the spot. A month later, breaking through police checkpoints on the road, the gang shot twelve guards of the law.

Of course, the police were constantly hunting for them. However, for the time being they were incredibly lucky. However, they had absolutely nothing to lose, so any attempts by the police to get at this gang were met with shooting.

However, the father of one of the gang members, in exchange for pardoning his son, offered his help in capturing the criminals. He gave the police the key to the house where Bonnie and Clyde were hiding. The house was surrounded by two dense rings of police, all entrances to it were blocked.

However, they did not succeed. Before they could fire a single shot, they were shot dead by the police. They write that more than five hundred bullets pierced the bodies of the gangsters, and they were almost torn to pieces.

“May you suffer from heartaches,
And death will take away those who are decrepit.
But with the misfortunes of Bonnie and Clyde fate
Don't compare your small adversities!
The day will come and they will fall into eternal sleep
In the unsorrowful loose earth.
And the country and the law will breathe a sigh of relief,
Sending them into oblivion."

The mutilated bodies of criminals were put on public display in the morgue, and anyone could look at them for one dollar. There were quite a lot of curious people... All newspapers published photographs of the killed bandits.

After death, they became natural symbols, like moths, who lived their lives in the fight against the law and poverty. And they even wrote on Bonnie’s grave:

“Just as flowers bloom under the rays of the sun and the freshness of the dew, the world becomes brighter thanks to people like you.”

What kind of alternatively gifted person thought of writing this on the killer’s grave – I can only guess. But this is very revealing in the sense of how much crime can be romanticized. People even make tattoos with their images. So you can imagine their popularity.

By the way, several films have been made about Bonnie and Clyde. But I don’t think you can see anything interesting there. At least, judging by this photograph, it shows nothing more than glamorized gangsters in love with each other.

Both of our heroes, whose names have become household names, are from Texas. Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born in Rowena, and after the death of her father, she moved with her mother and sisters to Dallas. If I had not taken the wrong path, I could have become a poetess. Even in prison, she wrote a small collection of poems.

Few people know that Bonnie was officially married - and not to Clyde at all! On September 25, 1926, at almost 16 years old, she married Roy Thornton and got a job as a waitress in a cafe. At the beginning of 1929, they separated, but did not divorce, and soon Thornton was imprisoned for robbery. Nevertheless, Bonnie continued to wear wedding ring, and on her thigh she had a tattoo: two hearts with the names “Bonnie” and “Roy”.

Clyde Chestnut Barrow was a little older, he was born on May 24, 1909 in the city of Teliko into a poor large farmer family. He suffered from malaria as a preschooler.

At the age of 15, he and his older brother Marvin began to engage in petty theft. But the first time he was brought to the police was not for this at all: he rented a car and did not manage to return it in time. However, the charges were soon dropped.

A little later, he wanted to join the navy, but was discharged for health reasons - due to an illness suffered in childhood.

Acquaintance

The exact date of his acquaintance with Bonnie is unknown. Most likely, this happened in early 1930, when he came to the cafe where she worked. They quickly found a common language, and Clyde, who by that time was an experienced robber, turned the diminutive waitress's head (his height was only 162 cm, and Bonnie was shorter - 150 cm). And not in the literal sense - he was gay, but with stories about criminal acts that they could commit together to become rich and free.

Obviously, the criminal path promised a much more interesting life than offering coffee and scrambled eggs to visitors!

They were also united by a passion for weapons. Even during her short marriage, Bonnie fell in love with holding Roy's gun in her hands, and when he was in a good mood, he taught his wife to shoot. Bonnie later developed this skill together with Clyde: they even went out into the field just to shoot.

Three months later, Clyde was arrested for robbery and spent almost two years in prison. And when he came out, Bonnie invited him to work together.

Complete crime

Nowadays, Bonnie and Clyde are often portrayed as Robin Hoods of the Great Depression: they only robbed the rich. Nothing of the kind: they robbed everyone. The first raid was on a weapons depot in Texas, and then they indiscriminately attacked gas station stores, roadside motels, and banks. The income was sometimes very small, but they seemed to enjoy the process itself. The number of their crimes, according to various estimates, ranges from 70 to more than a hundred.

It will also not be possible to imagine them in the aura of holy robbers: both did not hesitate to kill those who stood in the way. To avoid going to prison, Bonnie and Clyde even shot back at the police: after killing one of them for trying to check documents, they had nothing to lose. True, when they began to be searched throughout the country, Bonnie took several photographs stating that they were fighters for justice and sent them to various newspapers. But it did not help. In total, the couple killed about two dozen ordinary people and at least nine police officers.

In total, the couple killed about two dozen ordinary people and at least nine police officers.

By the time he met Bonnie, Clyde had a whole gang of robbers, but they often worked together. Sometimes they were joined by one of Barrow's older brothers, mutual acquaintances, and one of Bonnie's many lovers, Reynold Hamilton. Rumor has it that Clyde also liked him...

Both raiders were periodically imprisoned for robbery (if the police had found out about the massacres, they would have been executed immediately). But usually they managed to free themselves quickly: either due to lack of evidence, or because they helped each other out. Nowadays it is impossible to imagine that a weapon could be handed over to a prison on a date, but in the 30s everything was possible, and Bonnie took advantage of it. One day, Clyde was released altogether after his mother’s request!

Lame criminals

Interestingly, at the end of their short lives, both began to limp.

When Clyde was sent to prison, he wanted to get sent to lighter work - and cut off one and a half toes on his left foot. True, he was soon released, but it was not possible to sew the severed body back.

In 1933, Bonnie and Clyde had an accident - he lost control and the car flew into a ditch. Bonnie's leg was severely burned by battery acid, and her whole Last year She had difficulty moving throughout her life.

End of story

Their criminal journey ended two years after it began. And it was sentimentality that ruined the couple. Despite the fact that both left their parents' home quite early, they periodically visited their families (who, of course, suspected something, but did not know for sure). This gave the police the opportunity to track their routes.

2016-01-03 11:18:23

Many stories have been written about Bonnie and Clyde, but probably no one knows which one is the most true. This one, in my opinion, is the most plausible. I suggest you take a look..

Probably each of us has at least heard about this couple. She was greatly romanticized as two lovers fighting the system. It’s hard to say who they really were, but in general, it’s interesting to read about them. If only because there weren’t really many such bright couples.

Bonnie and Clyde are famous American robbers who operated during the Great Depression. Killed in 1934 by FBI agents. Bonnie was 24 years old at the time of the murder, Clyde was 25 years old.

Everything in their lives happened extremely quickly and concentratedly.

Bonnie dropped out of school at age 15. She got married at 16. At 17 I got a job as a waitress. At 18 I separated from my husband. At 22, I met Clyde, and away we go...

In the photo: Bonnie and her first husband, whom she, by the way, never divorced.

It is believed that it was in prison that Clyde finally “matured.” His sister Mary said: “Something terrible must have happened to him in prison because he was never the same again.” Ralph Fults, who was incarcerated at the same time as Clyde, said he saw him go from a schoolboy to a "rattlesnake." At 23, Clyde was released early, after which he met Bonnie, and away we go...

Bonnie and Clyde are usually portrayed as romantic lovers who were devoted to each other to the end. But there are also slightly different opinions.

And then Roy brought a girlfriend into the gang, which is why relations within the team became tense to the limit. By the way, Raymond Hamilton was sentenced to 264 years in prison for shooting the sheriff and his deputies while drunk.

In the photo: Hamilton's girlfriend, whom he, by his own admission, loved more than anyone in the world, with the exception of his mother.

Based on such “free” relationships and Clyde’s difficult orientation, some people believe that by definition there was no unearthly love between Bonnie and Clyde. Although there was no doubt that they were really very devoted to each other: Bonnie at one time pulled Clyde out of prison, giving him a weapon on a date, and Clyde later, when the police detained Bonnie, beat off his friend, brazenly attacking the police station .

It is believed that Bonnie became the brain center of the gang and thanks to her, crimes reached a new level. Nevertheless, they explained their crimes, of course, not by their bloodthirstiness or passion for profit, but by “hard fate” and “fight against the system.” Here, for example, are the poems Bonnie wrote during that period:

“The country shook from cold murders,
And their cruelty is a grave sin,
But I knew Clyde in those days,
When he was like everyone else.
He was a good, simple Texas boy,
There was nothing to blame him for,
But life dealt him harshly
And pushed me onto the devilish path.”

The photographs were extremely posing: Bonnie and Clyde appeared as daring thugs with huge guns, cigars, in fashionable outfits and against the backdrop of a cool car.

In general, they loved PR. Actually, that’s why they eventually became so famous.

“If a police officer is suddenly killed in Dallas
And the “cops” have no clue,
The real killer will not be revealed
Bonnie and Clyde are responsible.
If the couple suddenly decides to calm down
And he will rent an apartment for himself,
In a couple of days they will get tired of everyday life,
And again with a machine gun in his hand.
And he once confessed to me bitterly:
“I cannot see a century of freedom.
My life will end on the fire of hell,
And there will be retribution!”
The unreliable path is getting darker and more terrible,
The struggle becomes more and more pointless.
May we become rich someday
But never free!
They didn't think they were stronger than everyone else
After all, the law cannot be defeated!
And that death will be the payment for sin,
They both knew for sure.”

They started by robbing a weapons warehouse in Texas. There they armed themselves to the teeth. After that, they began to rob eateries, shops, and gas stations. By the way, in those days there was no way to make much money by robbing banks - the Great Depression raked out all the big money from the banks, and the gang sometimes received more by robbing some roadside store.

The robbery scenario was usually like this: Bonnie was driving, Clyde broke in and took the proceeds, then jumped into the car as he walked, shooting back. If someone tried to resist, they immediately received a bullet. However, they mercilessly removed innocent witnesses as well. They were not just robbers, they were murderers, and they included both ordinary people like owners of small shops and gas stations, and police officers whom Clyde preferred to kill in order to avoid arrest.

After the murder of the first policeman who decided to check the documents of the suspicious couple in the car, there was nothing left to lose: now they were probably facing a death sentence. Therefore, Bonnie and Clyde went to great lengths and, without hesitation, fired at people in any situation, even when they were practically in no danger. On August 5, 1932, two police officers spotted Clyde at a village festival. When they asked him to come up, the bandit killed them both on the spot. A month later, breaking through police checkpoints on the road, the gang shot twelve guards of the law.

On the morning of May 23, 1934, a stolen Ford appeared on the road. The driver was wearing dark glasses, and a woman in a new red dress was sitting next to him. Hidden in the car were two thousand rounds of ammunition, three rifles, twelve pistols, two pump-action shotguns and... a saxophone. It was Bonnie and Clyde. Apparently they still hoped to get away. However, they did not succeed. Before they could fire a single shot, they were shot dead by the police. They write that more than five hundred bullets pierced the bodies of the gangsters, and they were almost torn to pieces.

The mutilated bodies of criminals were put on public display in the morgue, and anyone could look at them for one dollar. There were quite a lot of curious people... All the newspapers published photographs of the killed bandits.

After death, they became real symbols, like moths, who lived their lives in the fight against the law and poverty. And they even wrote on Bonnie’s grave:

“Just as flowers bloom under the rays of the sun and the freshness of the dew, the world becomes brighter thanks to people like you.”

What kind of alternatively gifted person thought of writing this on the killer’s grave – one can only guess. According to one version, it was written by her mother. But it's very indicative of how much crime can be romanticized. People even make tattoos with their images. So you can imagine their popularity.

By the way, several films have been made about Bonnie and Clyde. But you can hardly see anything interesting there. At least, judging by this photograph, it shows nothing more than glamorized gangsters in love with each other.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a tendency in Russian culture to romanticize crime. Bandits and murderers were presented as victims of circumstances, unfortunate, rejected by society, in need of compassion and understanding. “We are not like this, life is like this” - this deceptive thesis has become the leitmotif of an entire era.

It should, however, be recognized: the romanticization of crime has long history, and not only in our country, but also in the world. Often, real villains appear years and decades later in the images of “romantic Robin Hoods” sympathetic, not rejection.

A classic example is the famous Bonnie and Clyde, American gangsters of the 1930s. Hundreds of books, dozens of songs have been written about them, a lot of films and television series have been made.

1967 Hollywood film Bonnie and Clyde directed by Arthur Penn With Warren Beatty And Faye Dunaway starring a large number of awards, including two Oscar statuettes.

What were Bonnie and Clyde really like before they became part of popular culture?

Good girl loves bad boys

Their history is directly related to the Great Depression: an economic crisis that lasted almost a decade, ruining and plunging millions of Americans into poverty. The same period saw the heyday of the gangster era, when gangster groups in the country became a “second power,” sometimes more significant than the first.

However, this has nothing to do with Bonnie and Clyde. They were not part of a powerful mafia structure, but were what in the 1990s in Russia would be called “scumbags”: criminals who did not obey anyone, wreaking havoc and death around them.

Bonnie Parker And Clyde Barrow were natives of Texas. She came from a working-class family, where her father worked as a mason and her mother as a seamstress. He grew up in a large but poor family of farmers.

Bonnie was one of the first students at school, had a rich imagination and, according to teachers, had good acting skills.

Good girls are often attracted to bad boys. And at the age of 15, Bonnie was drawn to Roy Thornton, a hooligan and brawler, to whom those around him promised a place behind bars. Despite this, they got married in September 1926. Bonnie got a job as a waitress.

The marital bond lasted a year. Roy began to disappear from home for weeks at a time, and Bonnie, having suffered with her husband’s behavior for some time, decided to break up with him. Thornton didn't mind. Soon he ended up in prison, where he spent the time when his wife became a criminal legend.

Victim of prison rape

Clyde Barrow, who was a year older than Bonnie, was first jailed at age 16 when he failed to return a rental car on time. He was quickly released, but was soon detained again along with his brother when they were stealing turkeys. Clyde was not frightened by the first arrests: despite the fact that the young man, unlike many around him, had a job, he continued to commit petty thefts and steal cars.

Finally, in April 1930, Clyde, who had just turned 21, was sent not to the local lockup, but to Eastham Prison.

Mary Barrow, Clyde's sister, later recalled: "Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same again." The rogue and hooligan turned into a gloomy, embittered person who hated the entire world around him. As those who sat in Eastham with Clyde later said, from a schoolboy he became a “rattlesnake.”

Some biographers of the criminal couple believe that the reason was that Clyde was a victim of sexual abuse in prison. One of the prisoners liked the young man, who raped him several times. As a result, Clyde killed his offender.

However, in 1932 he was released.

Clyde Barrow. Photo: Public Domain

Kill for $28

In early 1932, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow first met at the house of a mutual friend. He was a 22-year-old criminal embittered by the whole world, she was a 21-year-old bored waitress with a rich imagination, a craving for “bad boys” and “dangerous adventures.” Bonnie kept a diary and wrote poetry. She didn’t dream of a long life and a big family, she wanted to “have fun.” Clyde Barrow liked Bonnie and could provide her with the “fun” she wanted.

Contrary to subsequent legends, the Bonnie and Clyde gang, which included several other people, did not specialize in bank robberies. The main targets of the raiders were small shops and gas stations.

Clyde Barrow dreamed of taking revenge on the prison in which he had to endure terrible humiliation. The revenge was to be a mass escape, which he intended to organize. To get money for it, gangsters began to rob small stores.

On April 30, 1932, during another raid on a store in which Bonnie did not participate, the owner tried to resist, for which he was killed on the spot.

Clyde was not frightened by this outcome, but only provoked. August 5, 1932 Barrow along with an accomplice Raymond Hamilton We were drinking in one of the bars in Stringtown. When the sheriff and his assistants appeared on the threshold of the establishment, the bandits shot them.

On October 11, Clyde dealt with the store owner Howard Hall. The killer's loot was $28 and food.

The beginning of a legend

Bonnie was not afraid of murder, but she told Clyde that all these were “toys” and that she needed to get down to serious things. After this, the bandits moved on to raiding banks.

Raymond Hamilton fell into the hands of the police and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. The new accomplice was a 16-year-old W. D. Jones, who begged Clyde to accept him into the gang. The boy turned out to be a “worthy student”: the very next day he killed the owner of the car, who tried to prevent it from being stolen.

Sixteen-year-old W. D. Jones committed two murders within the first two weeks of joining Clyde Barrow. Photo: Public Domain

The bandits set up headquarters in Missouri, in the city of Joplin, which was known as the main “gangster haven” in the United States. First three people lived in a three-room apartment with a garage, and then five people: they were joined by Clyde’s brother Tank released from prison and his wife Blanche. It is said that Buck came to his brother to convince him to “stop it”, but then decided that Clyde was “on the right track.”

Bonnie and Clyde's apartment in Joplin. Photo: Public Domain

It so happened that the legend of Bonnie and Clyde was born in Joplin. Bonnie's creative nature haunted her, and she asked her accomplices to photograph her in various images. Clyde also got involved in this game.

The bandits did not observe any precautions. The endless noisy fun began to irritate the neighbors. And when one day a shot was heard in the house (Clyde shot accidentally while cleaning his weapon), they called the police.

Prohibition was in force in the United States at that time, and local police decided that we were talking about persons involved in alcohol smuggling.

In the early morning of April 13, 1933, the police arrived at the house of the criminals, blocking the entrance to the garage. The gangsters were not going to give up, and a fight broke out near the house. After killing one of the policemen and wounding the second, Bonnie, Clyde and their accomplices broke free. And the police got the photo archive of the gang, which the newspapers clung to and began to spin the story about a respectable gangster couple.

A decent woman doesn't wear trousers

Fame created a lot of problems for the gang. They could be recognized, so it became impossible to appear in crowded places, hotels and restaurants. At best, we spent the night in roadside motels away from big cities, at worst, in the forest near a fire.

In June 1933, a car with bandits was involved in an accident. Bonnie suffered the most: due to damage to her right leg, she began to limp severely.

Bonnie Parker poses with a revolver and a cigar. This is one of those photos that created a false image around Parker. Photo: Public Domain

A few days later they stopped at the Red Crown Motel in Arkansas. The vigilant owner of the establishment suspected something was wrong: three people registered, and five got out of the car. The guests covered the windows with newspapers and bought food and alcohol for a large group. In addition, the owner did not like the fact that Blanche Barrow, who was sent to resolve issues with the settlement, appeared before him in trousers. In patriarchal Arkansas of those times, it was believed that a woman in this form could only be a criminal.

The owner reported to the police, and at night law enforcement officers attacked the motel. The criminals managed to escape, but Buck and Blanche Barrow were seriously wounded.

The police were on their heels. They had to stop at an abandoned amusement park in Iowa, but they were noticed there too. The police attacked the bandits' makeshift camp. Three managed to escape, and the Barrow spouses fell into the hands of law enforcement officers. Clyde's brother died of his wounds a few days after his arrest.

Dream come true

On August 20, a criminal trio robbed a gun store in Illinois, adding to its arsenal. After that they went to visit relatives. In Houston, where Jones' mother lived, he was arrested.

In November, the remaining two Bonnie and Clyde arrived in Texas to visit their relatives, making an appointment for them to meet in an abandoned village. The local sheriff, having learned about the meeting, prepared an ambush, but the criminals noticed the catch and again escaped from the trap.

Clyde did not forget about his main goal, and on January 16, 1934, he implemented a plan: gangsters attacked Eastham prison, provoking a mass escape of prisoners, during which a security officer was killed.

This was a challenge to the system, so both the federal government and the Texas authorities threw their best forces into putting an end to the gang.

A man who caused no less consternation was called to fight the criminal “scumbags.” Retired Texas Ranger Frank A. Hamer was a real "bounty hunter" who arrested dozens of criminals and personally killed more than 50 offenders.

Blanche's arrest. Photo: Public Domain

167 bullets from Mr. Hamer

Hamer and his henchmen followed on the heels of the criminals. They behaved like cornered animals: on April 1, 1934, they shot two patrol policemen. In response, the authorities announced a reward for the corpses of Bonnie and Clyde: they were no longer going to catch them alive after everything that had been done.

The last victim of the bandits was Constable William Campbell, killed in Commerce, Oklahoma.

Frank Hamer had by that time thoroughly studied the dossier of the bandits and prepared a trap. An ambush awaited Bonnie and Clyde on a rural road in Bienville, Louisiana.

Frank A. Hamer. Photo: Public Domain

On May 23, 1934, Hamer's group, consisting of six people, opened heavy fire on the Ford in which the bandits were located. 167 bullets hit the car, most of them went to the criminals. Forensic experts counted more than 50 bullets in Clyde Barrow's body, and over 60 in Bonnie Parker's body.

After the death of the criminals, they began to do business with them immediately: in order to look at the dead, you had to pay a dollar, and there were a lot of people willing. The gangsters' personal belongings were taken by people from Hamer's group, who then sold them at auction through third parties. Hamer took for himself the gangster's weapons and fishing gear, with the help of which the bandits obtained food for themselves in their worst days.

Bonnie and Clyde's car. The shooting was so loud that Hamer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day. Photo: Public Domain

Child of Vice

Bonnie and Clyde were not buried together, as they themselves wanted, but their graves almost immediately became tourist attractions, which they remain to this day.

Bonnie and Clyde forced an overhaul of the US insurance system. The fact is that at that time, life insurance guaranteed payments to relatives even if the insured were criminals and were killed by the police. When the Parker and Barrow families received the money, they rushed to change the system.

In 1934, twenty friends and relatives of Bonnie and Clyde were convicted of harboring criminals. Even Clyde's teenage sister Mary Barrow was given a symbolic hour of arrest.

Bonnie's husband Roy Thornton, from whom she did not have time to officially divorce, upon learning of his wife's death, said: “I'm glad they had so much fun. It's much better than getting caught." Three years later, Thornton would be killed while attempting to escape from prison.

Historians have been grappling with the question for many years: why did Bonnie and Clyde gain popularity among the mass of criminals of the Great Depression era? Most agree that Bonnie's artistic nature, the press and the Puritan morals of America of that era played a major role.

Staged photographs of Bonnie, absolutely harmless from the point of view of today, then seemed the height of depravity and debauchery. The challenge for society was not only the crimes of Bonnie and Clyde, but also their extramarital sexual relationship, which, thanks to the efforts of the press, awakened secret desires in many Americans.

The public did not want to think about the fact that behind this beautiful picture there were ruined human lives, blood and dirt. Just as he doesn’t want to now.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow —
famous American robbers active during the Great Depression. At various times, their gang included Buck Barrow, Clyde's older brother; Blanche Barrow, Buck's wife; Raymond Hamilton, W. D. Jones, Joe Palmer, Ralph Fults and Henry Methvin. Although they are now known for about twelve bank robberies, Barrow preferred to rob small stores and gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and several civilians. Bonnie and Clyde themselves are killed by Texas Rangers and Louisiana State Police. Their fame was cemented in American pop folklore by the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

Even during their lives, the image that the couple was given in the press was very different from their real life, especially in the case of Bonnie. Although she was present at more than a hundred crimes in two years, she was not the cartoonish, machine-gun-slinging killer she was portrayed in newspapers, newsreels and pulp detective stories of the time. W.D. Jones wasn't even sure he ever saw her shoot at the officers. Her reputation as the gangster's cigar-smoking mistress stemmed from a playful mugshot police found in the gang's abandoned Joplin hideout that was published in the press. Parker really smoked a lot, but not cigars, but Camel cigarettes.

Historian Jeff Gean believes that these photos gave rise to the legend of Bonnie and Clyde: “John Dillinger had the looks of a woman's favorite, handsome Floyd got the best nickname you can think of, and these photos created new criminal superstars under the most exciting brand name - illicit sex. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were wild and young and undoubtedly slept with each other. If it weren't for Bonnie, the media most likely would never have noticed Clyde. Bonnie's saucy photographs provided a sex appeal, a charm that allowed them to gain fame far greater than they deserved for the small thefts and unnecessary murders that made up their entire criminal career."

Bonnie Parker

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) was born in Rowena, Texas, the middle of three sisters. Her father, bricklayer Charles Parker, died when Bonnie was four. Her mother, Emma Crouse, moved with the children to her parents' home in Cement City, an industrial suburb of Dallas, where she worked as a seamstress. Her maternal great-grandfather, Frank Kraus, immigrated from Germany. Despite the fact that her family lived in poverty, Bonnie made progress in school - she was one of the best students in school, with a rich imagination, with a penchant for acting and improvisation. She loved to dress fashionably. Her writing abilities later found expression in poems such as "The Story of Suicidal Sal" and "The End of the Trail" (known as "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde"). At age 15, Bonnie met Roy Thornton. They dropped out of school together. On September 25, 1926, an attractive petite girl (she was 150 cm tall and weighed 44 kg) married him. In 1927, Bonnie got a job as a waitress at Marco's Cafe in East Dallas, but two years later the great economic depression began and the cafe closed.

The relationship between the spouses did not work out. A year after their marriage, the husband began to regularly disappear for long weeks, and already in January 1929 they separated. Shortly after the breakup (there was no official divorce, and Bonnie wore a wedding ring until her death), Thornton went to prison for five years. When he learned of Bonnie's death, he said, "I'm glad they had so much fun. It's much better than getting caught."

In 1929, after the end of her marriage but before meeting Clyde Barrow, Parker lived with her mother and worked as a waitress in Dallas. One of the cafe's regular customers, postal worker Ted Hinton, would take part in the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. In her diary, which she kept in early 1929, she wrote about her loneliness and love for sound films.

Clyde Barrow

Clyde Chestnut Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) was born in Ellis County, Texas, near Dallas, the fifth of seven children of Henry Basil Barrow (1874–1957) and Cumie T. Walker (1874–1943). His family were poor farmers. Clyde was first arrested in late 1926 when he failed to return a rental car on time. Soon he and his brother Marvin "Buck" Barrow were arrested again for stealing turkeys. Although he had a legitimate job, between 1927 and 1929 he cracked safes, robbed stores and stole cars. After several arrests in 1928 and 1929, he was sent to Eastham Penitentiary in Texas in April 1930. While serving his sentence, he beat to death another prisoner who repeatedly raped him. This was Clyde's first murder.

In 1932 he was released early. He left prison an even more seasoned and cruel criminal. His sister Mary said, “Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same again.” Ralph Fults, who served time at the same time as Clyde, said he saw him go from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake.

First meeting

There are several versions of how Bonnie and Clyde first met. The most plausible one is that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met in January 1932 at a friend’s house.

They liked each other immediately; most historians believe that Bonnie joined Clyde because she was in love with him. She remained his faithful companion during his crime spree, and awaited the violent death which, in their opinion, was inevitable.

Joint crimes

1932: first robberies and murders

In February 1932, Clyde was released from prison, and he and Ralph Fults began robbing convenience stores and gas stations. Their goal was to accumulate enough money and weapons to stage a mass breakout from Eastham Prison. On April 19, Parker and Fults were arrested during a botched store robbery. household appliances. Bonnie was released a few months later, and Fults left the gang for good. On April 30, during a robbery of a store, the owner tried to resist the criminals, for which he was shot in the heart.

After this incident, the gang becomes more and more aggressive. On August 5, while Parker was visiting her mother, Hamilton and Clyde, while intoxicated, shot and killed the sheriff and his deputies at a bar in Stringtown, Oklahoma. The next murder occurred on October 11 in Sherman, Texas. The victim was store owner Howard Hall. The gang stole $28 in cash and some groceries from the store. Bonnie later declared that it was time to stop playing with toys and start doing serious things. And robberies, murders, car thefts began. As a result of all this, Hamilton was caught and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

“After Hamilton’s arrest, Bonnie learned to shoot,” writes biographer of the criminal couple, John Shevy, “showing a real passion for firearms. Their car turned into an excellent arsenal: several machine guns, rifles and hunting rifles, a dozen revolvers and pistols, thousands of cartridges. With Bonnie's help, Clyde masters the art of snatching a rifle from a pocket specially sewn along his leg in a matter of seconds. This kind of virtuosity is very entertaining for both. They develop their own elegant killing style. In all this, Bonnie is attracted primarily by the romantic-heroic side of the matter. She understands that she chose death. But this is more pleasant for her than the boredom she experienced earlier. The monotony of the measured life of those around her is over forever. She will be famous in her own way. At least they will talk about her.”

W. D. Jones had been a friend of the Barrow family since childhood. Although he was only 16 years old on Christmas Eve 1932, he convinced Bonnie and Clyde, who were leaving Dallas, to take him with them. The next day Jones committed his first murder. He and Clyde killed the owner of the car they were trying to steal. Less than two weeks later, on January 6, 1933, Barrow shot and killed another sheriff when he, Parker and Jones walked into a trap intended for another criminal.

1933

Foreman J.B. Koehler assumes that the suspicious company is bootleggers and decides to organize a raid. On April 13, 1933, at 4 p.m., two police cars approach Barrow's apartment. Clyde and Jones are standing on the porch when the first car pulls up. They immediately disappear into the garage, slamming the door behind them. A second police car is blocking the road, blocking the exit from the garage. Clyde and Jones shoot from the garage. This is a signal for those who are in the apartment. After the first shots, the police suffer losses: one is wounded, the other is killed. Koehler sends for reinforcements. Under the cover of Clyde and Buck's machine gun fire, Jones rushes towards the police car, which is still blocking the road. He is trying to release the handbrake when a bullet hits him in the head. Staggering, he returns to the house. Buck also tries to clear the passage and succeeds. He takes the police car off the brake and, using it as a shield, pushes it towards the highway and back into the house. The car leaves the garage and disappears.

When examining the apartment in which the Barrow gang lived, a large number of photographs of Bonnie and Clyde were found, as well as a poem by Bonnie. These photographs were the first reliable images of the criminals. Photos of the criminals are being sent to neighboring states.

Sixteen-year-old W. D. Jones committed two murders within the first two weeks of joining Clyde Barrow.

Over the next three months, they traveled from Texas as far north as Minnesota. In May they attempted to rob a bank in Luserne, Indiana and robbed a bank in Okabina, Minnesota. Previously, in a carjacking involving Dillard Darby, they kidnapped him and Sophia Stone in Ruston, Louisiana. This was one of five kidnappings they committed between 1932 and 1934. In addition to Dillard and Sophia, they kidnapped Joe Jones on August 14, 1932, Officer Thomas Purcell in January 1933, Sheriff George Corry and Police Chief Paul Hardy on June 10, 1933, and Percy Boyd on April 6, 1934. They usually released their victims far from home. Sometimes they gave them money so they could come back.

Although the photographs in the newspapers created an image of a beautiful and romantic life for Bonnie and Clyde, however, according to Blanche, they were in despair. In her book, she wrote that when they left Joplin, all her hopes and dreams were destroyed. Fame added to their problems. More hotels and restaurants were not a viable option. They slept in the forest near a fire and washed in cold rivers. Quarrels began among the two couples and Jones' fifth wheel. Jones was so uncomfortable being in this company that he used a car stolen from Darby to get away from them. He returned on June 8.

On June 10, Parker, Barrow and Jones were involved in a car accident - Clyde did not notice a sign about bridge repairs, and the car flew into a ravine. Bonnie suffered third degree burns to her right leg. The reason is not known for certain - either the car caught fire due to a gasoline leak, or acid from Parker got on her leg. car battery. Towards the end of her life, Bonnie had difficulty walking - she either hopped on her good leg or was carried by Clyde. They received first aid from a family of local farmers. After meeting up with Buck and Blanche, they traveled to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they tended to Bonnie's wounds. A little later, Clyde killed city marshal Henry Humphrey in Alma, Arkansas. Because of this, they had to flee again, despite Bonnie's deplorable condition.

On June 18, 1933, they checked into the Red Crown Motel in Arkansas. It consisted of only two rooms connected by garages. The gang rented both. They immediately attracted undue attention. The owner noticed that Blanche had registered three people when he saw five get out of the car. He also found it suspicious that Clyde drove into the garage in reverse, “gangster style,” to make it easier to escape. Blanche bought food and drinks for five people. She was wearing trousers, which was unusual for women of that time and place. They covered the windows of their room with newspapers. All this was enough for the owner to tell Captain William Baxter about the suspicious company. When Clyde and Jones went to the nearest town to get food and medicine for Bonnie, the pharmacist called Sheriff Holt Coffey, who put the cabins under surveillance. At 11 p.m., the sheriff and a group of armed officers attacked the motel; They managed to escape, but Jones was wounded in the head, and Blanche was practically blinded by shrapnel.

Five days later, the gang stopped at an abandoned amusement park near Dexter, Iowa. Buck's injury was so severe that Bonnie and Clyde even dug a grave for him. Local residents noticed the bloody bandages and realized that the vacationers were Barrow's gang. Soon they were again under fire in the presence of more than a hundred spectators. Bonnie, Clyde and Jones escaped. Buck was shot again, this time in the back, and he and his wife were arrested. Buck died five days later in the hospital due to complications from surgery.

Parker, Barrow and Jones spent the next six weeks far from their usual places and tried to remain inconspicuous, committing only petty robberies in order to get money for everyday needs. On August 20, they robbed an ammunition store in Platteville, Illinois. They replenished their arsenal with Browning machine guns, pistols and a large amount of ammunition.

In early September, they ventured back to Dallas to see family, and then stopped in Houston, where Jones' mother had moved. There he was arrested.

On November 22, Parker and Barrow were nearly arrested again in the now abandoned town of Sowers, Texas, while attempting to see their family again. Dallas Sheriff Smut Schmid and two of his subordinates ambushed them. Clyde sensed a trap and drove past the car in which his family was sitting. Then the sheriff and his deputies opened fire. No family members were injured. Bonnie and Clyde fled the city that same night.

1934

On January 16, 1934, Clyde finally carried out his long-planned plan to raid Eastham Prison. As a result, Raymond Hamilton, Henry Methvin and a number of other criminals escaped from there. The public was outraged, the Texas prison system received much criticism, and Clyde finally fulfilled what Phillips called his life's passion: he took revenge on the Texas Department of Corrections.

During a prison break, Joe Palmer shot and killed Officer Joe Crowson. This case forced Texas and federal authorities to devote all their efforts to catching Bonnie and Clyde.

Former Texas Ranger Captain Frank A. Hamer was hired to capture Bonnie and Clyde. Tall, strong, secretive and taciturn, he always “unquestioningly obeyed the law, or what he considered the law.” For twenty years he was feared and admired throughout the Lone Star State. He earned his reputation by making some spectacular arrests and shooting down many Texas criminals. He is credited with 53 murders; he himself was wounded 17 times.

Since February 10, he has become the shadow of Bonnie and Clyde. On April 1, 1934, Barrow and Methvin killed two highway patrolmen, H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler. This case was widely reported in the newspaper. True, then the newspapers erroneously wrote that Murphy killed Bonnie, in particular because a cigar butt with marks of tiny teeth that could only belong to Bonnie was allegedly found at the crime scene. Patrol Chief L. G. Fairs placed a $1,000 reward on the killers' bodies; not for their capture, but only for the corpses ..

Public hostility grew when, five days later, Barrow and Methvin killed 60-year-old constable and single father William "Cal" Campbell near Commerce, Oklahoma. That's when they kidnapped Commerce Police Chief Percy Boyd, crossed the Kansas border with him, and then released him with a clean shirt, a few dollars and a request from Bonnie to tell the world that she doesn't smoke cigars.

Death

Bonnie and Clyde's car. The shooting was so loud that Hamer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day.

Barrow and Parker were ambushed and killed on May 23, 1934, on a rural road in Bienville, Louisiana. Their Ford V8 was ambushed by a squad of four Texas Rangers (Frank Hamer, B. M. "Manny" Gault, Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton) and two Louisiana officers (Henderson Jordan and Prentiss Morle Oakley). 167 bullets pierced the car, of which more than 110 hit the bandits: Bonnie - about 60, Clyde - about 50.

Hamer was able to achieve this by studying the criminals' movement patterns. They constantly crossed the borders of the five midwestern states, taking advantage of the fact that officers from one state had no jurisdiction in another, and the FBI was not yet as influential as it is today. Barrow was a master of this technique, however, unlike John Dillinger, who was active throughout the Midwest, Clyde was more consistent in his movements, so that an experienced hunter like Hamer could map out their intended route.

Frank Hamer would later tell reporters: “It’s a shame I killed the girl. I liked her so much. We even had an affair... However, it was initially doomed to a sad outcome.”

Funeral

Bonnie and Clyde wanted to be buried together, but Bonnie's family wouldn't let that happen. Bonnie was originally buried in Fishtrap Cemetery in Dallas, but was moved to Crown Hill Memorial Park in 1945. More than twenty thousand people attended Bonnie's funeral. On her grave there is an inscription left by her mother:

"As all flowers become more fragrant from sunlight and dew, so does this old world made brighter by lives like yours."

Clyde was buried in Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas next to his brother Marvin.

Bonnie and Clyde's insurance benefits were paid in full. Since then, the benefit policy has changed: they are no longer paid if the insured dies as a result of a crime.

Further fates of the participants in the events

Immediately after shooting up Bonnie and Clyde's car, the squad began to examine their belongings; Of these, Hamer appropriated an “impressive” arsenal of stolen weapons and ammunition and a box of fishing tackle. Alcorn took Clyde's saxophone, but later, ashamed, returned it to the Barrow family. Other personal items, such as Bonnie's clothes, were also taken from the scene of death, and when the Parker family asked for them back, they were refused. These items were later sold as souvenirs. According to rumors, a suitcase filled with cash in the car was stolen by Sheriff Jordan. He also tried to keep the car itself, but the owner of the car, Ruth Warren, sued him. The court ordered Jordan to return the car to Mrs. Warren.

In February 1934, twenty people, family members and friends of Bonnie and Clyde, were arrested on charges of harboring and assisting criminals. All twenty were found guilty. Both mothers were sentenced to 30 days in prison; others received sentences ranging from an hour in jail for Clyde's teenage sister Mary Barrow to two years in prison for Raymond Hamilton's brother Floyd. Other defendants included Blanche Barrow, W. D. Jones, Henry Methvin, and Bonnie's sister Billie.

Blanche spent the rest of her 1930s in prison. When she was arrested, she weighed only 37 kg.

Blanche Barrow was left blind in her left eye by shrapnel. Following her arrest in Dexfield Park, she was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but was released on good behavior in 1939. She left her criminal past behind and returned to Dallas, where she cared for her disabled father. In 1940, she married Eddie Frazier; She also worked as a taxi dispatcher and beautician. They lived amicably with her husband until his death in 1969. She died in 1988 at the age of 77.

Raymond Hamilton and Joe Palmer were caught and charged with murder. They were executed by electric chair on the same day: May 10, 1935.

W. D. Jones initially found work in Houston, but was soon discovered and arrested. He gave evidence that shed light on the gang's sex life. This caused a wave of rumors about Clyde's uncertain sexuality. Jones was charged with the murder of Doyle Johnson and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was killed in 1974 by George Arthur Jones, the jealous boyfriend of the woman he was trying to help. George Jones later killed himself with the same shotgun he used to shoot W.D. Jones.

Henry Methvin was charged with the murder of Constable Campbell in Commerce. He was released early in 1942. In 1948, he was killed by a train. It is believed that he fell asleep on the tracks while intoxicated. Bonnie Parker's husband Roy Thornton was killed by guards during the 1937 Eastham Prison escape