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Old 05-23-2009, 10:43 AM
mikepriwer mikepriwer is offline
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Special to The New York Times

Shreveport, La., May 23 -- Clyde Barrow, notorious Texas "bad man" and murderer, and his cigar-smoking, quick-shooting woman accomplice, Bonnie Parker, were ambushed and shot to death today in an encounter with Texas Rangers and Sheriff's deputies.

The 24-year-old desperado, who was accused of twelve murders in the last two years, and his companion whizzed along a little-traveled, paved road near Gibsland, about fifty miles east of here, at eighty-five miles an hour in a high-speed gray automobile, rushing into a carefully-laid death trap.

Before they could use any of the weapons in the small arsenal they had with them, the Rangers and others in the posse riddled them and their car with a deadly hail of bullets.

The onrushing machine, with the dead man at the wheel, careened crazily for an instant and then catapulted into an embankment. While the wheels of the wrecked machine still whirled, the officers, taking no chances with the gunman who had tricked them so often, poured another volley of bullets into the machine.

Both Died Holding Guns

A moment later the uproar in the otherwise peaceful countryside spot had subsided and the officers swarmed over to the car. They found that Barrow and Bonnie had died with weapons in their hands, prepared to kill at the slightest alarm. The woman was crumpled up on the seat, her head between her knees and a machine gun in her lap. Marrow, a smear of red, wet rags, had been clutching a sawed-off shotgun in one hand as he drove.

The car proved to be a traveling arsenal. In it the officers found three submachine guns, six automatic pistols, one revolver, two sawed-off automatic shotguns and enough ammunition for a siege.

Governor O. K. Allen of Louisiana congratulated Sheriff Anderson Jordan of Bienville Parish, where Barrow and the Parker woman were killed, when he was informed of the details today.

The so-called "Public Enemy No. 1 of the Southwest," a mere hoodlum in Dallas up to 1930, met his end in an ambush that had been planned carefully by Frank Hamer, a former captain in the Texas Rangers, who had clung to Barrow's trail for years.

Hamer, who was recently commissioned as a highway patrolman for the special purpose of getting his man, as well as his gunwoman, trailed Barrow into Bossier Parish, where the criminal was said to have relatives.

It was reported that Hamer had received a tip as to Barrow's whereabouts from the father of a convict who recently escaped from a Texas penitentiary. The father, a resident of Louisiana, whispered the word to the authorities in the hope of winning clemency for his son.

Several weeks ago Hamer and his fellow officers barely missed the couple at a hide-out at Black Lake. Since then, the Rangers and Sheriff's deputies charted the highways that had been frequented by the pair and then quietly adopted a scheme of watchful waiting.

Once again Hamer picked up a "red-hot" clue to Barrow's trail, this time in Bossier Parish. He anticipated that the outlaw and his woman friend would head west toward Texas. Hamer, a Ranger associate, Sheriff Jordan and his men raced ahead to a point on the highway where they got an unobstructed view of the road. There they hid and waited.

Shortly after 9 A.M. the lookouts recognized the eight-cylinder sedan approaching at terrific speed. Some of the officers coolly walked out into the roadway, motioning and shouting for the driver to halt, while those in the ambuscade trained their weapons on the criminals.

Barrow answered by stepping on the accelerator and reaching for a sawed-off shotgun. In a split second the officers of the law, spurred by the knowledge of Barrow's ruthlessness, opened up their death-dealing barrage.

The first volley appeared to have the effect of a bolt of lightning, and the uncontrolled car shot with its topmost speed into the embankment. The law had settled its score with Barrow and his quick-shooting woman accomplice.

Posted by Mike Priwer
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Old 05-23-2009, 11:01 AM
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Hi:
This newspaper article should have been read by the Movie Studios prior to filming the several films about Clyde and Bonnie.
Thanks for posting,
Jimmy
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Old 05-23-2009, 11:13 AM
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Mike, wow, this is 75th anniversary of this event. Thanks for posting it.
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Old 05-23-2009, 11:56 AM
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Neat story. Can I still get two of those automatic pistols and at least one automatic shotgun?
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Old 05-23-2009, 12:03 PM
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Quote:
Sheriff Anderson Jordan of Bienville Parish
This Sheriff was Bill Jordan's Uncle.

Bob
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Old 05-23-2009, 01:12 PM
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Mike-thanks for the article. I enjoyed reading it.
Ed
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Old 05-23-2009, 02:00 PM
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I grew up not to far from there if you got to that road to this day you can still pick up casings form the rounds the police used to gun them down, amazing place, the near by town has a HUGE swap meet every month called by bonnie and clyde trade days, look it up it's pretty cool
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Old 05-23-2009, 02:18 PM
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Hi:
Reference to Diamonback68's post:
In the same era at Lake Weir, Florida the FBI and Marion County Sheriffs Office took down "Ma Barker" and one of her Sons in a "Shootout".
The Marion County Sheriffs Office still has the Barker's Thompson Submachine Guns (4). I don't have knowledge of the other Barkers' weapons.
These weapons are still used every year in the "Reenactment" of the "Shootout" complete with cars and clothing from that era.
Jimmy
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Old 05-23-2009, 03:47 PM
mikepriwer mikepriwer is offline
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Sparkgap

Is there any documentation about Anderson being Bill Jordan's uncle ?

The story I posted came from the internet version of the NY Times. Every day
they have a posting called "On this day in history" , or something like that,
and they post the front-page of the paper from that day. I would have included
that, along with the story, but it was too hard to read !

The part I found most interesting was the participation of the Texas Rangers .

Regards, Mike Priwer
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Old 05-23-2009, 03:53 PM
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It is the anniversary of the ambush, but there is very little in that story that is factually correct.

The Rangers at no time entered onto the Highway. They all remained well hidden in the bushes.

Clyde did not go "barreling" past the Rangers, he had pulled the Ford V8 over because the father of one his members was changing a tire alongside the road. Clyde recognized him and pulled over to help. This was a pre-arranged setup to get clemency for his kid.

Neither Bonnie nor Clyde tried to reach for a gun. Neither died with a gun in their hand. Bonnie in fact died while eating a chicken sandwich she had just ordered at the local cafe.

The Ford did not careen crazily, it was stopped when Prentiss Oakley, a local deputy went against Frank Hamers orders and fired first. Good that he did as he was in the bushes on the driver's side and a round from his Remington model 8 hit Clyde in the left temple and exited out his right, killing Clyde instantly. The fight was over in the first few seconds. With Clyde dead, the car coasted slowly and went into a ditch. Frank was on the passenger side and pretty much riddled Bonnie with every shot. He even opened the door and gave her another burst from his automatic. She was long dead by then as well.

All the weapons found in the car were in the back seat and trunk. Frank Hamer took them all as this was agreed to prior to the ambush.

Oh, Bonnie never smoked cigars. She posed for that one picture with one in her mouth but she smoked camel cigarettes. A bloody pack of camels can be seen still sitting on her lap in one of the photos taken of her on a stretcher.

Interesting saga. Clyde was certainly a killer but they have never been able to successfully hang a single killing on Bonnie.
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Old 05-23-2009, 06:01 PM
mikepriwer mikepriwer is offline
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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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Old 05-23-2009, 06:20 PM
mikepriwer mikepriwer is offline
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Here is a picture of the car - now on display at a casino/resort in Primm, NV :



There is a good number of bullet holes through the driver side door - far more than just
the one shot claimed in one of the stories !

Later, Mike Priwer
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Old 05-23-2009, 06:53 PM
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I can't say for sure how it happened, I wasn't there.
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Old 05-23-2009, 08:58 PM
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These men, were neither indecisive of their duty nor poor shots…



"On February 10, I took the trail and followed it for exactly 102 days."
"Like Clyde Barrow I used a Ford V8, and like Clyde I lived in the car most of the time" - Frank Hamer

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Old 05-23-2009, 09:29 PM
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I remember Bonnie & Clyde's car came to our local strip shopping center in Ft. Worth, TX in the early 70's when I was a young boy. They had it in an enclosed semi trailer that you could walk through. Dad took me and it made quite an impression. I was about 10 at the time.
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Old 05-23-2009, 10:47 PM
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Quote:
Is there any documentation about Anderson being Bill Jordan's uncle ?
None that I can locate right now.

But a number of years ago, I think 1989, at the NRA show in St. Louis, I was along side Jordan when he was talking about it to one of the vender's. And If I remember right, after his death Shooting Times ran the obituary and included this information.

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