Jeff Guinn

by Untold Story of Bonnie;Clyde Go Down Together: The True

  Now he wanted someone to help him: Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, p. 207.

  Ted Hinton produced his 16-millimeter movie camera: Boots Hinton interview.

  The gunfire temporarily deafened them: Hinton, Ambush, p. 182.

  Hamer took the guns and the tackle box: Harrison Hamer and Jonathan Davis interviews.

  Bob Alcorn grabbed Clyde’s saxophone: Bill Sloan interview; Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, p. 217.

  The Barrows always believed it was taken by Henderson Jordan: Buddy Barrow Williams, Jonathan Davis, and Virginia Becker interviews.

  Hamer telephoned Lee Simmons: Lee Simmons, “Barrow-Parker Death Ambush,” American Detective, August 1934.

  Word spread quickly in Gibsland: John Paul Field interview.

  Observing the carnage wasn’t enough for many of them: Boots Hinton interview.

  With the two corpses still in its front seat: Hinton, Ambush, pp. 173–82.

  screeching children swarmed around the car: Virginia Becker, Ted Johnson, Robert Pitts Thomas, and John Paul Field interviews; Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, p. 209.

  Grasping hands snatched at the corpses: Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, p. 210.

  The journalists wanted a statement from Hamer: Hinton, Ambush, p. 186.

  he liked the idea of giving the crowd outside a good look: Ben Procter interview.

  one of the funeral parlor staff sprayed the gawkers: Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, p. 213.

  He pulled Alcorn and Hinton aside and told his two deputies: Hinton, Ambush, p. 186.

  He’d gotten lost on the way: Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, p. 218.

  Ted Hinton noticed that the Barrows and Parkers: Hinton, Ambush, p. 190.

  Emma Parker told family and friends: Jonathan Davis interview; Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, p. 218.

  Ten thousand people overran: Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 215–16.

  Emma Parker guessed later: Fortune, ed., Fugitives, p. 174.

  During the interment: Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 216–17; Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, pp. 219–20.

  Though Emma Parker boycotted Clyde’s services on Friday: Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, pp. 220–21; Fortune, ed., Fugitives, pp. 174–75; Phillips, Running with Bonnie and Clyde, p. 219; Bill Palmer interview.

  Chapter 41: Consequences

  Interviews with Charles Heard, Mitchel Roth, Rick Mattix, John Neal Phillips, Bill Sloan, Boots Hinton, Ken Holmes, Sandy Jones, Buddy Barrow Williams, Harrison Hamer, Virginia Becker, and Jonathan Davis all helped shape much of this chapter. In 2000, I also conducted an extensive interview with now deceased Phillip Steele, who collaborated with Marie Barrow Scoma on The Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde.

  Most of the basic information about the post-1934 lives and deaths of people related to or associated with Clyde and Bonnie comes from Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-first Century Update, pp. 182–94. Sources of additional information are noted separately.

  Nineteen thirty-four was a fatal year: Mitchel Roth and Jonathan Davis interviews; Mitchel Roth, “Bonnie and Clyde: The End of the Texas Outlaw Tradition,” East Texas Historical Journal 2 (1997); Helmer and Mattix, The Complete Public Enemy Almanac, pp. 27–28, 44, 52–53, 67.

  the six Gibsland posse members received their share: Hinton, Ambush, p. 192.

  He had all of Clyde and Bonnie’s guns: Harrison Hamer interview.

  To Jordan’s way of thinking: Ramsey, On the Trail of Bonnie and Clyde Then and Now, pp. 270–71.

  Stanley loaded the car onto a flatbed truck: Ibid., p. 272; Charles Heard and Sandy Jones interviews.

  Back in Dallas, the Barrows and Parkers were trying: Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, pp. 223–24; Jonathan Davis interview.

  Clyde’s brother L.C. was disgusted to find: Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, pp. 225–26.

  The trial lasted four days: Here is a complete list of the harboring trial defendants and their sentences: Cumie Barrow, thirty days; L.C. Barrow, one year and one day; Audrey Barrow (L.C.’s wife), fifteen days; Marie Barrow, one hour; Joe Bill Francis, sixty days; Emma Parker, thirty days; Billie Jean Parker Mace, a year and a day; Henry Methvin, fifteen months; W. D. Jones, two years; Blanche Caldwell Barrow, a year and a day; Hilton Bybee (Eastham escapee on January 16, 1934), ninety days; Alice Hamilton Davis (Raymond’s mother), thirty days; Steve Davis (Raymond’s stepfather), ninety days; Mary O’Dare, a year and a day; Joe Chambliss (Mary’s father), sixty days; Floyd Hamilton (Raymond’s brother), two years; Mildred Hamilton (Floyd’s wife), one hour; James Mullen (helped plan the Eastham farm break), four months; Baldy Whatley (West Dallas thug who knew Clyde), a year and a day; John Basden (robbed a bank with Raymond and admitted to two meetings with Clyde and Bonnie), a year and a day. All those defendants who were already in jail had the new terms added to their previous sentences. All details of the sentencing in this chapter are gleaned from Knight with Davis, Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 180–81.

  Charles Stanley, the Crime Doctor, wanted them to tour the country: Jonathan Davis and Charles Heard interviews; Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, pp. 226–28.

  Stanley was confronted there by Hamer: Jenkins and Frost, “I’m Frank Hamer,” pp. 258–59; Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, pp. 227–28; Charles Heard and Ben Procter interviews.

  Stanley finally shut down the Death Car tour: Ramsey, On the Trail of Bonnie and Clyde Then and Now, pp. 272–73.

  His reputation suffered: Harrison Hamer interview.

  His daughter claimed that her father’s hair turned white: Virginia Becker interview.

  The surviving members of the Barrow family: Buddy Barrow Williams, Boots Hinton, and Bill Sloan interviews.

  It was the first time the elder Barrows experienced: Marie Barrow Scoma with Davis unpublished manuscript, p. 230.

  The other Barrows swore that Jack: Buddy Barrow Williams interview.

  Sometimes, mention of his brother reduced him to tears: Ibid.

  Marie met Dallas memorabilia collector-dealer Charles Heard: Charles Heard interview.

  In 1998 Marie began working with Dallas historian Jonathan Davis: Jonathan Davis and Charles Heard interviews.

  Blanche began visiting Marie Barrow: Blanche Caldwell Barrow, My Life with Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 183–191.

  “I talk of these incidents”: Ibid., p. 196.

  Chapter 42: The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde

  Winston G. Ramsey, John Neal Phillips, James Knight, and Jonathan Davis have conducted valuable research into books and films based on the criminal careers of Clyde and Bonnie. On the Trail of Bonnie and Clyde Then and Now; My Life with Bonnie and Clyde; and Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-first Century Update all contain extensive information on this subject. For an excellent summation of how Dashiell Hammett’s private eye fiction affected themes in suspense thrillers of the 1940s and 1950s, I recommend William F. Nolan’s introduction to Nightmare Town, a collection of Hammett short stories published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1999.

  I have taken Ken Holmes Jr.’s “Bonnie and Clyde” tour in Dallas and recommend it to anyone interested in the lives and times of the couple. John Neal Phillips also conducts occasional “Bonnie and Clyde” tours for the Dallas Historical Society, and with his grasp of the subject and storytelling talent they must certainly be worthwhile. The opinions expressed about current conditions in the neighborhoods formerly known as West Dallas are entirely my own.

  A typical story appeared: “Killer in Skirts” by Marvin H. Albert, Argosy, March 1956.

  Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton began telling friends: Bill Sloan interview.

  Blanche Barrow Caldwell Frasure certainly thought so: Blanche Caldwell Barrow, My Life with Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 178–83.

  Until Beatty’s movie, Clyde’s name always came before Bonnie’s
: Buddy Barrow Williams interview.

  Hamer’s widow settled for an undisclosed amount: Harrison Hamer interview.

  Emma Parker had taken out a small life insurance policy on Bonnie: Fortune, ed., Fugitives, p. 174.

  Bibliography

  CITED INTERVIEWS. Dates of interviews appear in parentheses; except where noted, all interviews were conducted in person by the author.

  Virginia Becker (March 3, 2007) is a lifelong resident of Arcadia, Louisiana, and manager of the Arcadia–Bienville Parish Depot Museum, which includes a wing devoted to Bonnie and Clyde. Her father became business partners with Henderson Jordan after Jordan retired as parish sheriff.

  Brad Belk (September 26, 2007) is director of the Joplin Museum Complex. As part of the effort to have the apartment at 33471/2 34th Street recognized as a historic site by the National Register of Historic Places, he made an exhaustive study of the April 13, 1933, shootout there. He also arranged a private tour of the apartment for me. It is still maintained almost exactly as it was when the Barrow Gang occupied it for two weeks.

  Robert Brunson (July 28, 2007) was fifteen on May 22, 1934, when he stumbled upon Clyde and Bonnie in their camp outside Mangham, Louisiana. His is the last recorded conversation with the outlaw couple.

  Harold Caldwell (August 22, 2007) lives in Wellington, Texas, and is board chairman of the Collingsworth County Museum. His father interacted with Clyde and Bonnie on the day before the terrible crash that left Bonnie burned and permanently crippled.

  Ron Calhoun (February 13, 2008) is the former political reporter of the Dallas Times-Herald. He knew and often talked to retired Dallas County deputy Ted Hinton.

  Wayne Carter (May 26, 2007) of Gibsland, Louisiana, is the descendant of the owner of “the Old Cole Place,” which Clyde and Bonnie used as a hideout.

  Jonathan Davis (August 8, August 18, September 24, 2007, plus numerous e-mail communications) of Plano, Texas, is coauthor of Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-first Century Update. He was close friends with Marie Barrow Scoma and served as coauthor of her unpublished memoir, which he generously made available for this project.

  Lieutenant Colonel Weldon Dowis (June 2000) was a captain in the 144th Infantry of the Texas National Guard in 1934, with jurisdiction over the weapons in the state’s Dallas armory. He checked out two Browning Automatic Rifles to Frank Hamer for use in the pursuit and ambush of Bonnie and Clyde.

  Lu Durham (July 20, 2007) is the daughter of Dr. Silas Durham, who treated Blanche Barrow’s eye injury while she was a prisoner in the Platte City jail. Lu was a teenager when the Platte City shootout occurred and her father met Blanche.

  Duke Ellis (June 2000) was playing guitar at a country dance in Stringtown, Oklahoma, where Clyde Barrow and Raymond Hamilton shot and killed Atoka County undersheriff Eugene Moore and seriously wounded Sheriff Charley Maxwell. Ellis died in 2004.

  Marvelle Feller (July 19, 2007) was nineteen on July 24, 1933, when Clyde, Bonnie, and W. D. Jones fled from the shootout in Dexfield Park, Iowa, and stole the Feller family car at gunpoint. He helped carry the wounded Bonnie from the nearby woods to the car. He was joined in his interview by Harold and Doris Feller, his son and daughter-in-law, local historians who successfully raised money to place a monument commemorating the Dexfield Park incident.

  John Paul Field (May 26, 2007), a lifelong Gibsland resident, was nine years old on May 23, 1934. He was one of the children who ran to the road to peek into the bullet-riddled car and gawk at Bonnie’s and Clyde’s bodies after the wrecker towing the Death Car broke down in front of the Gibsland public school.

  Harrison Hamer (April 9, 2007) is the great-nephew of Texas Ranger captain Frank Hamer. He retains the Hamer family records at his home outside San Saba, Texas.

  Orville Hancock (March 13, 2007, and several phone conversations) enjoyed a long career as a journalist in Arkansas and Texas. In May 1954, for research on a story commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Gibsland ambush, Hancock traveled through Arkansas and Louisiana inteviewing men and women who had met Bonnie and Clyde.

  Charles Heard (May 5, 2007) befriended Marie Barrow in 1997 when he helped auction her older brother Clyde’s remaining possessions. He later became co-owner of the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland, Louisiana.

  Boots Hinton (March 10, 2007, and January 4, 2008) is the son of Dallas deputy Ted Hinton; he is currently the only daily staff member at the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland. Boots remains adamant that Hamer’s posse waited two days for Bonnie and Clyde to appear at the ambush site.

  Ken Holmes (December 5, 2007) owns and operates the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland. He organizes the annual Bonnie and Clyde Festival held in the town on the anniversary weekend of the May 1934 ambush. Ken, who lives in Dallas, also conducts a “Bonnie and Clyde” tour there, taking visitors to various points of interest. He has served as a consultant to several film documentaries about the outlaw couple.

  Olen Walter Jackson (March 10, 2007) lived in Gibsland at the time of the Hamer posse ambush. He was working for a logging company near the ambush site, and heard all the shooting.

  Sandy Jones (August 24, 2007, plus several e-mail communications) is president of the John Dillinger Historical Society and owner of one of the most extensive collections of Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia. In 1998 he was allowed to conduct an extensive hands-on study of the Death Car, and afterward built an exact replica. He then exhaustively reenacted the ambush, including how Clyde Barrow must have manipulated the foot pedals during the attack for the original car to coast as far and in the direction it did following the first shots fired.

  Henderson Jordan, retired Bienville Parish sheriff, gave an extensive interview about the Gibsland ambush to Dr. Glenn Jordan on October 12, 1958. He otherwise routinely refused interview requests after leaving law enforcement.

  Cissy Stewart Lale (April 25, July 12, and August 4, 2007, plus numerous phone interviews) is past president of the Texas State Historical Association. Her areas of particular expertise include women’s history in Texas, the history of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and the Dust Bowl. She has contributed articles to innumerable magazines and scholarly journals.

  Rhea Leen Linder (September 15 and September 29, 2007) was originally named Bonnie Ray Parker by her father, Bonnie Parker’s older brother, Buster. She changed her name in part because she did not want her friends in school to know she was related to her infamous aunt. In recent years, she has embraced Bonnie’s controversial legacy, and she cooperated enthusiastically with this book.

  Billie Jean Parker Mace (1968) was four years younger than her sister Bonnie. In 1968, soon after the release of the popular Warren Beatty film that the surviving Barrow and Parker families insisted was a gross misinterpretation of the Barrow Gang’s real story, Billie recorded an interview that was released by RCA as a long-playing record album.

  Rick Mattix (July 19 and September 28, 2007, plus numerous e-mail communications) is the author or coauthor of several articles and books concerning the 1930s gangster era, including The Complete Public Enemy Almanac.

  Archie McDonald (May 18, 2007, plus several e-mail communications) is a past president of the Texas State Historical Association, a past president of the East Texas Historical Association, a history professor at Stephen F Austin University in Nacogdoches, and the author of many articles and several books dealing with Texas history.

  Bill Palmer (July 2, 2007) is the great-nephew of Joe Palmer, who was broken out of Eastham Prison Farm on January 16, 1934, and became a temporary member of the Barrow Gang. Much of Bill Palmer’s information about his great-uncle and the Barrow Gang comes from his late aunt Faye, who was her brother Joe’s lifelong confidante.

  Lee Phelps, a native of Commerce, Oklahoma, was the last surviving witness to the April 6, 1934, shootout that left Deputy Sheriff Cal Campbell dead He was interviewed on video on May 10, 1997, by Oklahoma historian and Bonnie and Clyde enthusiast Terry Whitehead, and his comments are taken d
irectly from that video after a viewing on July 17, 2007, at Whitehead’s residence.

  John Neal Phillips (August 18 and September 11, 2007, plus several e-mail communications) is the author of Running with Bonnie and Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults and the editor of Blanche Barrow’s posthumous memoir, My Life with Bonnie and Clyde. He has written extensively about the Barrow Gang for magazines and historical journals, and leads an annual “Bonnie and Clyde” tour for the Dallas Historical Society.

  Ben Procter (June 1, 2007), a past president of the Texas State Historical Association, is the author of several books, including Just One Riot: Episodes of Texas Rangers in the 20th Century, and is professor emeritus of history at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

  Mitchel Roth (June 24, 2007) is an author-historian whose area of specialization is Texas law enforcement. He is a professor of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

  Bill Sloan (May 9, 2007) is the author of several works of nonfiction and a former writer for the Dallas Times-Herald. While still in college he conducted several interviews with former Dallas County deputy and Gibsland ambush participant Bob Alcorn, who was a friend of the Sloan family’s.

  Doris Stallings (August 22, 2007) is the director of the Collingsworth County Museum in Wellington, Texas.

  Terry Whitehead (July 17 and September 30, 2007) of Blackwell, Oklahoma, is a Bonnie and Clyde scholar who, in the 1980s and 1990s, traveled the country conducting videotaped interviews with survivors who had interacted with the Barrow Gang. He generously allowed viewings and made copies of critical tapes for reference purposes for this book.

  James Willett (June 26, 2007) is a former warden at Huntsville State Prison He is now director of the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville.

  Buddy Barrow Williams (May 25, June 3, and September 9, 2007, plus numerous phone calls and e-mail exchanges) is the stepson of L.C. Barrow, Clyde Barrow’s youngest brother. He bases much of his testimony on what he was told by his stepfather, by Marie Barrow Scoma (in her later years Buddy would drive her everywhere), and by his stepgrandfather Henry Barrow. Buddy also made stepgrandmother Cumie Barrow’s unpublished memoir available for this book.