CLYDE CHAMPION BARROW
Name: Clyde Barrow
Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow) were American criminals who
traveled the southwestern United States during the Great Depression, robbing
banks and generally causing chaos with their cohorts. It is estimated that they
were responsible for as many as thirteen murders, about a dozen small bank
robberies and holdups of stores and gas stations too numerous to count.
Their exploits, along with those of other criminals such as John Dillinger and
Ma Barker dominated the attentions of the American press and its readership
during what is sometimes referred to as the public enemy era between 1931 and
1935, a period which led to the formation of the modern FBI.
Bonnie Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. She was fond of
creative writing and the arts, and her poem The Story of Bonnie and Clyde is a
remarkably personalized account of her escapades. Bonnie was married at sixteen
to Ray Thornton, who was in prison on a fifty-five year sentence by their first
wedding anniversary. Out of monetary necessity, the young bride took up a
waitressing job.
Clyde Barrow was born on March 24, 1909, in Telico, Texas (near Dallas) as one
of many children in a poor farming family. His life of crime began when he was
arrested in 1926 for auto theft. Undeterred, he continued a series of oft-successful
Dallas-area robberies over the next four years. After meeting Bonnie in 1930 in
the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff, he was arrested and taken to prison. His
subsequent escape attempt was only partially successful--he was free for a week
before being caught in Ohio--and so Clyde remained incarcerated until 1932.
After his release, he and Bonnie stole a car in Texas. There ensued a police
chase, after which Clyde escaped and Bonnie went to prison for a few months. She
was released in June of 1932.
The duo became the leaders of a small group of like-minded criminals later known
as the Barrow Gang. Clyde's brother Buck and his wife Blanche are two of its
more infamous members. During a police raid near Platte City, Missouri, in 1933,
Buck was mortally wounded and his wife captured.
Bonnie and Clyde then killed two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas
on April 1, 1934 and another policeman five days later near Commerce, Oklahoma
and were in-turn ambushed and gunned down on May 23 later that year near their
hide-out in Black Lake, Louisiana by Texas and Louisiana peace officers.
Clyde Barrow is buried in the Western Heights Cemetery and Bonnie Parker in the
Crown Hill Memorial Park, both in Dallas, Texas.
They were among the first celebrity criminals of the modern era. Barrow is
alleged to have written a letter to the Ford Motor Company praising their "dandy
car", signing it "Clyde Champion Barrow", though the handwriting has never been
authenticated. (Ford received a similar letter around the same time from someone
claiming to be John Dillinger and used both for car advertisements.) Bonnie's
aforementioned poem, The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, was published in several
newspapers.
In 1967, Arthur Penn directed a rather romanticized film version of the tale.
Bonnie and Clyde, which starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was critically
acclaimed and contributed significantly to the glamorous image of the criminal
pair. Dorothy Provine also starred in the 1958 movie The Bonnie Parker Story.
The first film based on Bonnie and Clyde was made only three years after their
deaths and titled You Only Live Once, starring Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sydney.
Name: Clyde Barrow
Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow) were American criminals who
traveled the southwestern United States during the Great Depression, robbing
banks and generally causing chaos with their cohorts. It is estimated that they
were responsible for as many as thirteen murders, about a dozen small bank
robberies and holdups of stores and gas stations too numerous to count.
Their exploits, along with those of other criminals such as John Dillinger and
Ma Barker dominated the attentions of the American press and its readership
during what is sometimes referred to as the public enemy era between 1931 and
1935, a period which led to the formation of the modern FBI.
Bonnie Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. She was fond of
creative writing and the arts, and her poem The Story of Bonnie and Clyde is a
remarkably personalized account of her escapades. Bonnie was married at sixteen
to Ray Thornton, who was in prison on a fifty-five year sentence by their first
wedding anniversary. Out of monetary necessity, the young bride took up a
waitressing job.
Clyde Barrow was born on March 24, 1909, in Telico, Texas (near Dallas) as one
of many children in a poor farming family. His life of crime began when he was
arrested in 1926 for auto theft. Undeterred, he continued a series of oft-successful
Dallas-area robberies over the next four years. After meeting Bonnie in 1930 in
the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff, he was arrested and taken to prison. His
subsequent escape attempt was only partially successful--he was free for a week
before being caught in Ohio--and so Clyde remained incarcerated until 1932.
After his release, he and Bonnie stole a car in Texas. There ensued a police
chase, after which Clyde escaped and Bonnie went to prison for a few months. She
was released in June of 1932.
The duo became the leaders of a small group of like-minded criminals later known
as the Barrow Gang. Clyde's brother Buck and his wife Blanche are two of its
more infamous members. During a police raid near Platte City, Missouri, in 1933,
Buck was mortally wounded and his wife captured.
Bonnie and Clyde then killed two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas
on April 1, 1934 and another policeman five days later near Commerce, Oklahoma
and were in-turn ambushed and gunned down on May 23 later that year near their
hide-out in Black Lake, Louisiana by Texas and Louisiana peace officers.
Clyde Barrow is buried in the Western Heights Cemetery and Bonnie Parker in the
Crown Hill Memorial Park, both in Dallas, Texas.
They were among the first celebrity criminals of the modern era. Barrow is
alleged to have written a letter to the Ford Motor Company praising their "dandy
car", signing it "Clyde Champion Barrow", though the handwriting has never been
authenticated. (Ford received a similar letter around the same time from someone
claiming to be John Dillinger and used both for car advertisements.) Bonnie's
aforementioned poem, The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, was published in several
newspapers.
In 1967, Arthur Penn directed a rather romanticized film version of the tale.
Bonnie and Clyde, which starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was critically
acclaimed and contributed significantly to the glamorous image of the criminal
pair. Dorothy Provine also starred in the 1958 movie The Bonnie Parker Story.
The first film based on Bonnie and Clyde was made only three years after their
deaths and titled You Only Live Once, starring Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sydney.