Fiendish Killers

by Anne Williams

  A gun battle broke out and Blanche ran round the apartment screaming at the top of her voice, completely out of control. Clyde motioned to the others to head towards the garage using an inside staircase. Once inside the garage, Clyde pushed the others into the car, but Blanche managed to escape from Buck’s grasp and made a dash for it out of the back door. Clyde yelled to his brother that they would pick her up outside and then drove the car as hard as he could through the garage doors. They rammed the barricade of police who scattered left and right, and as they swerved the corner Buck opened the back door of the car and dragged Blanche inside as she was running, still screaming, down the road. They all escaped unharmed, with the exception of Jones who had been wounded in the shoot-out.

  Exhausted, desperate and disconsolate, the Barrow Gang were once again on the run. They were constantly on the search for somewhere to sleep or eat without being spotted, and tempers were frayed.

  the accident

  With an exhausted Clyde behind the wheel, the occupants of the car all missed the sign warning them of maintenance work ahead. A bridge over a small gully had been removed for repair work, and by the time they saw the gaping hole it was too late. Clyde braked as hard as he could, but the car spun sideways and dropped into the ravine. The car rolled and trapped Bonnie underneath. Within seconds the car burst into flames and the rest of the gang struggled to free Bonnie from the wreckage. Miraculously, they managed to get her out just as the car exploded, but not without Bonnie suffering third-degree burns to her left leg.

  A local farmer, Tom Pritchard, had seen the accident and rushed over to help the occupants of the car. He carried Bonnie back to his house and placed her in one of his beds, but as he laid her down he realised the men had guns inside their belts. He then recognised Bonnie’s face as being the girl on the wanted poster which had been posted up in the local town hall.

  As the farmer’s wife attended to Bonnie’s wounds, her husband crept out of the house and went to a neighbour’s farm to alert the police. Clyde was suspicious and gathered the gang together, stealing the Pritchards’ car, despite the fact that Bonnie was still crying in pain.

  Back on the road, hungry, with no money and Bonnie in need of urgent medical attention, Clyde realised that he needed to take a major risk. He took Bonnie to a nearby doctor and told him that she had burned herself on an oil stove. The doctor patched Bonnie up as best he could, but advised that she should be taken to hospital as her condition could become critical.

  Clyde decided to rent two cabins near Platte City, Missouri, and hold out there until Bonnie was well enough to travel. Although Clyde did everything he could to relieve Bonnie’s pain, she continued to cry for her mother and, in desperation, he phoned her sister Jean, who rushed up from Dallas to be by her side. With nursing from Jean and Blanche, Bonnie gradually started to respond, but their trips into town to purchase bandages and atropine sulphate to treat Bonnie’s leg had alerted the local sheriff, who decided to put the cabins under surveillance.

  Clyde was keen to keep Jean Parker out of any trouble and drove her back to the station. The sheriff moved his men around the cabins with Thompson sub-machine guns directed at the buildings, determined that this time the gang would not get away. Then all hell broke out as a volley of bullets burst through the windows and doors causing shards of glass to fly through the air and large lumps of plaster to fall from the ceiling. Buck stupidly attempted to fire back, but stepped too close to a window and took two bullets to the head. Blanche, who was standing directly behind him, was sprayed with her husband’s blood, and managed to catch him in her arms as he fell to the floor.

  Clyde, realising that the situation was hopeless, grabbed Bonnie and placed her in the back of their car which was parked in one of the garages. Luckily the bullets had not penetrated the car and, after going back for his wounded brother, shouted at Jones to fire at the armoured car blocking their escape route. Because the police hadn’t expected such bravado, they failed to act quickly enough when Clyde drove flat out at their cordon, and once again the Barrow Gang were out on the open road.

  However, Buck was dying, Blanche had been blinded from flying glass, Jones was wounded and suffering from a fever, and Bonnie was still moaning and feverish as a result of her burns. The situation for the Barrow Gang was desperate and the prospect of them holding out against further police attacks looked hopeless. Bonnie was really frightened and, although she tried not to show it, she knew that their time was nearly up.

  Just after sunrise, Bonnie caught sight of movement in the bushes at the side of the clearing where they had stopped for the night. The gang managed to clamber into the nearest car but every exit seemed to be blocked by armed officers. Clyde was hit in the arm and he lost control of the car and hit a tree. The now pathetic gang literally fell out of the car and Bonnie felt the pain of a bullet tear through a muscle in her arm. Jones was grazed on the side of the head and, unable to reach another car, they had no alternative but to head into the woods. Clyde was unable to reach Buck and Blanche who were huddled together and, with a sad heart, he had to leave them behind.

  Buck died three days later in hospital and Blanche was prosecuted and received a ten-year stretch in a women’s jail.

  Bonnie and Clyde amazingly managed to escape, hiding out in barns and nursing their wounds, until Clyde had the opportunity to steal another car. Jones, who had simply had enough of being in the limelight, decided not to try and find Bonnie and Clyde and went his own way, only to be later apprehended in Houston.

  the end is nigh

  After several more narrow escapes and a few more robberies, Bonnie and Clyde decided to instigate a jailbreak from Eastham Prison Farm for their old ally Ray Hamilton. However, Hamilton brought a friend with him, a car thief by the name of Henry Methvin, who was partly responsible for the eventual demise of Bonnie and Clyde. During the escape a guard was killed, and when the names Bonnie and Clyde once again came to the fore, the authorities decided that this was the final straw.

  A former bounty hunter, Frank Hamer, was hired to track them down. The final shoot-out came on May 23, 1934, on a desolate stretch of road in Louisiana. Bonnie and Clyde had been to see their parents in Dallas for the last time, and Hamer had been informed by Methvin that they were probably en route to visit his father in Acadia, Louisiana. Methvin’s hunch was correct and Hamer and his men, hiding in the bushes, soon heard the sound of the stolen Ford V8 approaching them.

  As Clyde came over the hill he spotted the truck with Methvin’s father standing beside it, all part of Hamer’s devious plan. As Clyde slowed down, Hamer yelled ‘Shoot!’ and his gunmen opened fire, killing Bonnie and Clyde in a hail of bullets.

  Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray

  This is the story of a scheming blonde goading her timorous boyfriend into killing her dull, boring and very rich husband. The media relished every gory detail of the case which resulted in Ruth Snyder being the first woman to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison, since 1899.

  albert schneider

  In the main Albert Schneider was happy with his life. His job was editor of Motor Boating magazine, which tied in well with his true passion in life – fishing, boats and the outdoor life. However, despite being happy in his working life, Albert still felt that there was something missing in his life. At the age of thirty-two, Albert felt that time was slipping by and he was ready to find a wife. His first engagement, to Jesse Guishard, had ended in tragedy, when she died of pneumonia before they even got the chance to tie the knot.

  Albert encountered nineteen-year-old Ruth Brown when he lost his temper with a telephone operator after she failed to put him through to the number he had requested. After shouting profanities down the line, he immediately felt sorry for his outburst and, on hearing the sweet, apologetic voice saying, ‘Please excuse me’, he felt he wanted to make up for his bad temper. He decided to pay a visit to the operator and was completely captivated by the pretty girl with the long blonde hair as soon as he set eyes on
her. Albert visited Ruth on a regular basis, and after only a couple of weeks he offered to help her get a job on the magazine that he edited. Ruth felt that it was a step in the right direction and eagerly accepted his help.

  Despite his persistent efforts to seduce Ruth, Albert had no luck in winning her over as she was determined to stay a virgin until her wedding day. In the end Albert proposed, and Ruth was quick to accept, with one condition. She asked Albert if he would be prepared to change the spelling of his surname to ‘Snyder’ as she felt it sounded less Germanic and more American. Albert was so keen to marry Ruth that he agreed to the change.

  Ruth never had any real desire to follow a career; she wanted to get married and to someone who would be able to provide for her. She yearned for the finer things in life and, realising that Albert could provide these for her, she happily quit her job at the New York telephone exchange.

  Ruth was twenty when she married her new boss, Albert Snyder, but the marriage was troubled right from the outset. Not only was the age difference proving to be a problem, but intellectually Ruth was not a match for her husband and he started to compare her with his beloved Jesse. Ruth soon became jealous of her rival, even though she was no longer alive, and found it hard to accept the pictures, the boat named after her and the tie pin Albert always wore which bore her initials. Everywhere she turned were reminders of the woman who Albert described as ‘the finest woman I have ever met’. Once when Ruth removed a portrait of Jesse from the wall, it ended in a huge argument, with Albert demanding that she put the picture back in its rightful place.

  When Ruth found out she was pregnant, she thought Albert would at last be pleased with her, but this was not the case. He was not happy about the situation and told her in no uncertain terms that he had never wanted children. Their daughter, Lorraine, was born in 1918, but the trials of having a new baby in the house drove an even larger wedge between the couple.

  JUDD GRAY

  In 1923 the Snyder’s moved into Queens Village in New York City. Ruth had grown into an exceptionally good looking young woman and she wasn’t prepared to stay at home and play the dutiful housewife any longer – especially to someone who didn’t appreciate her. She invited her mother, Josephine Brown, to come and stay so that she had a permanent babysitter for Lorraine, and Ruth started living the high life. Ruth loved to socialise and started to attend parties and dances and play bridge. Because of her high spirits, her friends nicknamed her ‘Gay Tommy’.

  Ruth met thirty-three-year-old Judd Gray when she was dining with some friends at a Swedish restaurant. Her friends introduced her to Judd, who was a quiet, bespectacled man who worked for the Bien Jolie Corset Company. Judd was married and could be described as a nice, ordinary man who liked to play golf and bridge. Although they were an unlikely match, Ruth and Judd started to have an affair. Ruth fulfilled the passion in Judd’s life, which was sorely missing in his marriage to Isabel. For Ruth, Judd provided a shoulder to cry on and he listened patiently to her stories of belittlement.

  The couple met on a regular basis at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where they were such frequent guests that Ruth was allowed to leave her baby in the lobby while she went upstairs with her lover. They always registered as ‘Mr and Mrs Gray’ and as the weeks went by Ruth gradually talked about ‘doing away’ with her husband. She had been astute enough to take out three separate life insurance policies on Albert, which amounted to a payment of $90,000 if his death was accidental.

  Over the period of a few months, Albert became ‘prone to accidents’ but, despite Ruth’s efforts to harm her husband through drowning, poison and gas, he survived until March 20, 1927.

  Judd was completely against Ruth’s devious plans to kill Albert, and her constant demands soon drove him to find solace in alcohol. He started to consume large amounts to try and settle his nerves but on March 19, he finally gave in to her demands.

  the murder

  Saturday, March 19, was a cold, raw day and Judd had spent most it drinking, trying to pluck up the courage to go through with their plan. He travelled to Queens Village, where the Snyders lived, via Syracuse and hung about for a long time in the street outside their house. He kept taking sips from his hip flask, almost as if he hoped to be picked up by the police for loitering. But there was no such luck and finally he knew he had to go ahead with their plan. He got into the house through the back door, just as Ruth had told him to do. The Snyders were out at a party and Judd planned to lay low in the spare room until they returned. Inside the room Ruth had carefully laid out a window weight, a pair of rubber gloves and some chloroform – the murder tools they had previously talked about.

  Albert and Ruth returned from the party at around 2.00 a.m. Ruth went to put Lorraine to bed while Albert went off to bed himself. Ruth told him she wasn’t tired and said she was going to sit up and read for a while. After settling Lorraine, Ruth put her head round the spare room door to see if Judd had arrived safely. She returned several minutes later wearing just a flimsy nightdress, and the pair made love while Albert slept blissfully unawares in the other room.

  After an hour the couple grabbed the window weight and Ruth led Judd down the hall to where Albert was sleeping in the master bedroom. The couple stood either side of the bed and, as Ruth pulled back the blankets from her husband’s head, she placed a cloth soaked in chloroform over his face. When they felt Albert was in a state of semi-consciousness, Judd clumsily crashed the weight down onto his skull. Possibly, due to his advanced state of drunkenness, Judd’s first hit simply glanced off the side of Albert’s head causing him to cry out loud and he lurched to grab his attacker. Ruth, keeping a clear head and exasperated at her lover’s feeble efforts, grabbed the weight out of Judd’s hands and brought it crashing down on her husband’s head, killing him instantly.

  When the deed was done, the couple went downstairs, poured themselves a drink and then discussed how to carry out the remainder of their plan. They decided they would fake a robbery and set about knocking over furniture and opening drawers and cupboards, scattering their contents over the floor. Then Judd tied Ruth’s hands and feet loosely, leaving her enough movement to enable her to reach Lorraine’s room, and finally placed a gag in her mouth before leaving the house. Waiting until Judd was safely out of the way, Ruth went up to her daughter’s room and knocked loudly on the door. Lorraine opened the door and then removed the gag from her mother’s mouth. Ruth told her to run to the neighbours and ask them to call the police.

  bungled job

  Although Ruth and Judd felt they had covered their tracks after carrying out the ‘perfect murder’, the investigating officers were far from convinced. When they arrived at the scene of the crime they found Albert Snyder in the bedroom, bound at the hands and feet and lying in a pool of his own blood, with a piece of picture wire tied tightly around his neck. On the floor were three bullets and a revolver lay on the top of the bed. Ruth told the police that there was money missing from her husband’s wallet, and that her jewellery had also been stolen.

  All of the items that Ruth told the officers had been stolen, were soon found to be hidden under the mattress. Added to this they found a pillowcase covered in bloodstains, a five-pound sash window weight and a cheque made out for $200 to H. Judd Gray. Also, after leaving the Snyder house, the police discovered the life insurance policies taken out on Albert secreted in a safety deposit box registered to a Ruth Brown. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t long before Ruth confessed. However, she was not prepared to take the entire wrap and tried to blame the whole thing on Judd Gray.

  Gray was found hiding out in his hotel room in Syracuse, having taken several shots of illicit liquor to settle his shaking hands. Although he emphatically denied having been in New York, he had carelessly thrown his train ticket stub into the waste paper basket. He also acted with stupidity when he walked away from the Snyder house, by approaching a policeman to ask him when the next bus was due to take him back to the station. With all the odds against him, Judd coul
d do nothing but confess. Just like Ruth, however, he tried to place all the blame on his accomplice, and by the time the case went to trial, the two former lovers were at each other’s throats.

  the trial

  Ruth and Judd both had separate attorneys arguing their cases. One said that Ruth had been driven to it by living in a loveless home, blaming her lover Judd for pushing her into killing her husband.

  Judd, when asked to take the witness stand, played the downtrodden husband and lover, saying that he had been drawn into Ruth’s devious plan because of his weakened mind due to an overpowering lust for his lover.

  Ruth’s attorney tried to say that Judd had taken out the insurance policy on Albert, thus encouraging her to kill for monetary gain. On the other side, Judd’s attorney argued that the insurance policy had been all Ruth’s idea and added that this was not the first time that she had attempted to kill her husband.

  Despite all the play-acting and tears on the part of Ruth, the jury only took ninety minutes to reach their verdict. They were both pronounced guilty and sentenced to death.

  the day of execution

  The case of the two lovers had not only attracted a large media following but it had also encouraged 1,500 applications to witness the electrocutions. The death chamber at Sing Sing Prison could only hold twenty, so many people were disappointed not to witness the end of such a notorious murder case.