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Old 05-23-2009, 06:01 PM
mikepriwer mikepriwer is online now
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Here is the Wikipedia version of the story, I found with google. There is more to the
story - this is just the latter part of it. It mentions the actual possee members,
by name. The earlier parts of this story mention various killings by Clyde.

Final run
In January 1934, Clyde finally made his long-awaited move against the Texas Department of Corrections. In the infamous "Eastham Breakout" of 1934, Clyde's lifetime goal appeared to come true, as he masterminded the escape of Henry Methvin, Raymond Hamilton, and several others.[10] The Texas Department of Corrections received national negative publicity over the jailbreak, and Clyde appeared to have achieved what Phillips describes as the burning passion in his life: revenge on the Texas Department of Corrections.[1]

It was an expensive revenge, for all concerned, as the killing of a prison officer[18] by another escapee, Joe Palmer, brought the full power of the Texas and federal governments to bear on the manhunt for Bonnie and Clyde, ultimately resulting in their deaths. As the officer, Major Joe Crowson, lay dying, Lee Simmons of the Texas Department of Corrections reportedly promised him that the persons involved in the breakout would be hunted down and killed.[10] He kept his word, except for Henry Methvin, whose life was exchanged in return for betraying Bonnie and Clyde.[10] The Texas Department of Corrections then contacted former Texas Ranger Captain Frank A. Hamer, and convinced him to accept a commission to hunt down the Barrow Gang. Though retired,[4] Hamer had retained his commission, which had not yet expired.[19] He accepted the assignment immediately, as a Texas Highway Patrol officer seconded to the prison system as a special investigator, given the specific task of hunting down Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barrow Gang.

Clyde and Henry Methvin killed two young highway patrolmen in what is now Southlake, Texas, on April 1, 1934;[20][21] an eyewitness account stated that Methvin fired the fatal shots. John Treherne exhaustively investigated this shooting, and confirmed that Methvin fired the first shot, after assuming Clyde wanted them killed (though Treherne found, and Methvin later admitted, Barrow did not intend to kill them, but had been preparing to capture them and take them on one of his famous rides, and that Bonnie approached the dying officers to try to help them).[22] Having little choice once Methvin had begun a gun battle with law officers, Barrow then fired at the second officer. Methvin, however, is believed to have been the primary killer of both. (Ted Hinton's son states that Parker was actually asleep in the back seat when Methvin started the gun battle and took no part in it;[13] it is notable that in accepting a pardon for these killings, Methvin admitted to both.) Methvin confessed in open court to being the sole killer in both killings.[22] These particularly senseless killings shocked and outraged the public, which to this point had tended to romanticize the pair. Another policeman, Constable William Campbell, was killed five days later near Commerce, Oklahoma,[23] which further soured public sentiment.


[edit] Death
Bonnie and Clyde were killed on May 23, 1934, on a desolate road near their Bienville Parish, Louisiana hideout.[17][24] They were shot by a posse of four Texas officers and two Louisiana officers (the latter added solely for jurisdictional reasons — see below). Questions about the way the ambush was conducted, and the failure to warn the duo of impending death, have been raised about the incident.

Texas officers

Frank Hamer
B.M. "Manny" Gault
Bob Alcorn
Ted Hinton
Louisiana officers

Henderson Jordan
Prentiss Oakley


The posse was led by Hamer, who had begun tracking the pair on February 10, 1934. Having never before seen Parker or Barrow, he immediately arranged a meeting with a representative of Methvin's parents in the hope of gaining a lead. Meanwhile, federal officials, who viewed the Eastham prison break in particular as a national embarrassment to the government, were providing all support that was asked for, such as weapons. Hamer obtained a quantity of civilian Browning Automatic Rifles (manufactured by Colt as the "Monitor") and 20 round magazines with armor piercing rounds.[22][25]

Hamer studied the gang's movements and found they swung in a circle skirting the edges of five midwest states, exploiting the "state line" rule that prevented officers from one jurisdiction from pursuing a fugitive into another. Bonnie and Clyde were masters of that pre-FBI rule but consistent in their movements, allowing them to see their families and those of their gang members. It also allowed an experienced manhunter like Hamer to chart their path and predict where they would go. They were due next to see Henry Methvin's family, which explained Hamer's meeting with them within a month of beginning the hunt.

On May 21, 1934, the four posse members from Texas were in Shreveport, Louisiana when they learned that Barrow and Parker were to go there that evening with Methvin. Barrow had designated Methvin's parents' Bienville Parish house as a rendezvous in case they were later separated. Methvin was separated from the pair in Shreveport, and the full posse, consisting of Captain Hamer, Dallas County Sheriff's Deputies Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton (who had met Clyde in the past), former Texas Ranger B.M. "Manny" Gault, Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan, and his deputy Prentiss Oakley, set up an ambush at the rendezvous point along Highway 154, between Gibsland and Sailes. They were in place by 9:00 p.m. and waited through the next day (May 22) but saw no sign of Bonnie and Clyde.


The car riddled with bullet holes after the ambush.At approximately 9:00 a.m. on May 23, the posse, concealed in the bushes and almost ready to concede defeat, heard Clyde's stolen Ford V8 approaching. The posse's official report had Clyde stopping to speak with Henry Methvin's father, planted there with his truck that morning to distract Clyde and force him into the lane closest to the posse. The lawmen then opened fire, killing Bonnie and Clyde while shooting a combined total of approximately 130 rounds. By 9:15, the couple was dead. The posse, under Hamer's direct orders, did not call out a warning,[4] or order the duo to surrender. Barrow was killed instantly from Oakley's initial head shot. Parker did not die as easily. The posse reported her uttering a long, horrified scream as the bullets tore into the car.[26] The officers emptied the specially-ordered automatic rifle, as well as rifles, shotguns and pistols at the car.[25] According to statements made by Ted Hinton and Bob Alcorn:

"Each of us six officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns ... There was smoke coming from the car, and it looked like it was on fire. After shooting the shotguns, we emptied the pistols at the car, which had passed us and ran into a ditch about 50 yards on down the road. It almost turned over. We kept shooting at the car even after it stopped. We weren't taking any chances."[24]


The memorial at the ambush site in Gibsland, LouisianaSome sources say Bonnie and Clyde were shot more than 50 times,[10] while other sources claim a total closer to 25 bullet wounds per corpse, or 50 total.[27]

Following the ambush, officers inspected the vehicle and discovered a small arsenal of weapons including stolen automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns, assorted handguns, and several thousand rounds of ammunition, along with fifteen different license plates from various states.[25]

When later asked why he killed a woman who was not wanted for any capital offense, Hamer stated "I hate to bust the cap on a woman, especially when she was sitting down, however if it wouldn't have been her [sic], it would have been us."[28]

Bonnie and Clyde wished to be buried side by side, but the Parker family would not allow it. Parker's mother had wanted to grant her daughter's final wish, which was to be brought home, but the mobs surrounding the Parker house made that impossible.[29] Over 20,000 people turned out for Bonnie Parker's funeral, making it difficult for her family to reach the grave site.[29] Clyde Barrow is buried in the Western Heights Cemetery, and Bonnie Parker in the Crown Hill Memorial Park, both in Dallas, Texas. The following words, from a poem of Parker's, are inscribed on her stone:

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.[30]
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