The Crime Book

26

IT’S FOR THE

LOVE OF A MAN

THAT I’M GONNA

HAVE TO DIE

BONNIE AND CLYDE, 1930–34

I

n the late night hours of

13 April 1933, two police cars

pulled up to an apartment on

Oak Ridge Drive in the windswept

city of Joplin, Missouri. Living

inside the rented apartment were

five infamous outlaws known as

the Barrow Gang, including

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

The gang had spent the past 12

days in hiding, after carrying out

a series of armed robberies and

kidnappings in Missouri and

neighbouring states.

As police yelled for the

occupants to get out, Barrow

grabbed his favourite weapon – a

M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle –

and opened fire through a broken

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Central US

THEME

Gangsters

BEFORE

14 July 1881 The outlaw

known as “Billy the Kid” is shot

dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett in

Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

3 February 1889 Myra

Maybelle Starr, better known

as Belle Starr, is gunned down

near King Creek, Oklahoma.

AFTER

22 July 1934 Depression-era

gangster and notorious bank

robber John Dillinger is killed

by federal agents while fleeing

from arrest.

27 November 1934 FBI

agents kill George “Baby Face”

Nelson, a bank robber and

gangster then labelled “Public

Enemy Number One”.

026-029_Bonnie_and_Clyde.indd 26 13/01/2017 15:09

27

See also: The James-Younger Gang 24–25 ■ The Wild Bunch 150–51

window. His paramour Parker laid

down cover fire with her own gun,

the bullets splintering the

surrounding trees. Amid the hail

of gunfire, the gang killed two

Missouri police officers, Detective

Harry McGinnis and Constable

J.W. Harryman.

Bonnie and Clyde escaped,

leaving behind possessions

including an arsenal of weapons,

Parker’s handwritten poems, and

rolls of undeveloped film, which

would turn the young lovers into

folk legends and eventually lead

to their downfall.

In the photos, the pair playfully

posed with automatic weapons,

standing in front of a stolen vehicle.

In one picture, Parker is clenching a

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS

cigar between her teeth and holds

a pistol in her hand. Soon the story

of the outlaw lovers dominated the

front pages of newspapers across

t he cou nt r y.

Criminal superstars

Their four-year crime spree, during

which they robbed banks and killed

police, titillated the American

public. Far from their glamorized

image, however, the Barrow Gang’s

crimes were punctuated by narrow

escapes, bungled robberies, and

fatal injuries.

With the FBI still a fledgling

agency without the power to

combat interstate bank robberies

and kidnappings, the period

between 1931 and 1935 become

known as the “Public Enemy Era”

• a period when a number
  of high-profile criminals wrought
  significant damage across the
  US against the background of the
  Great Depression.
  From their first meeting in
  1930, Parker and Barrow shared an
  instant connection and she became
  his loyal companion. Shortly after
  their romance sparked, Barrow was
  arrested for burglary and sent to
  the Eastham prison facility in ❯❯

No man but the undertaker

will ever get me ... I’ll take

my own life.

Clyde Barrow

Wearing her iconic high heels,

Bonnie playfully points a shotgun at

Clyde in 1932. Parker later sustained

serious burns to her leg in a car crash,

leaving her barely able to walk.

026-029_Bonnie_and_Clyde.indd 27 02/12/2016 14:39