BONNIE PARKER AND CLYDE BARROW

BONNIE PARKER AND
CLYDE BARROW
Also known as “Bonnie and Clyde”
or the “Barrow Gang”
By Jessica Farra
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Bonnie
• Born: Rowena, Texas on October 1, 1910
• Family: Father- Henry, mother- Emma, older brother- Hubert(Buster), and younger
sister- Billie
• Father died in 1914
• Family moved to the “Cement City” (West Dallas) to live closer to relatives
• Honor student in public school
– Enjoyed writing poetry and reading romance novels
• Dropped out of high school in 1926 and married Roy Thornton by the age of 16
– He was sentenced to 5 years in prison
• Moved in with grandmother and became a waitress
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Clyde
• Born: Telico, Texas on March 24, 1909
• Family: father- Henry, 6 other children
• Poor farming family
• Moved to Dallas in 1922
– Family farm failed
– Opened a gas station
• Had ambitions of becoming a musician- learned to play saxophone and guitar
• Dropped out of school
• Met Bonnie when his sister broke her arm and her friend, Bonnie, was making hot
chocolate in their kitchen
CRIMES COMMITTED
• Clyde
– By late 1929, at the age of 20, Clyde was already a fugitive from
the law, wanted by authorities for several robberies in and
around Dallas.
– 1930. Arrested and convicted of five counts of auto
theft(sentenced to two years)
• Additional 12-year suspended sentence for two burglaries
– Bonnie smuggled a gun in so he and his cellmate could escape
– Quickly recaptured in Middletown, Ohio, April 21, 1930
• Sentenced to 14 years hard labor at Eastham Prison Farm
– tried to escape by having another inmate cut off his toes.
– This was unnecessary because his mother already convinced the judge to grant
him parole. He was released in February 1932.
CRIMES COMMITTED CONT.
• Bonnie, Clyde, and gang
– Clyde joined Bonnie and they went on a crime spree consisting of robberies
of small businesses and murders of a shop owner and a police officer.
• Clyde had a $250,000 price on his head
– During a failed robbery Bonnie was captured and jailed in Kaufman,
Texas(March 1932)
• June 17,1932 Grand Jury no-billed¹ Bonnie which secured her release
– Clyde killed merchant J. W. Butcher on April 27, 1932
– Killed 2 officers in Atoka, Oklahoma at a dance they attended
– Gunned-down a grocery-store owner, a citizen, and another law officer.
– Bloody shoot-out left two more lawmen dead and six rolls of film
1 no-billed: A grand jury’s determination that there is not adequate evidence to
indict someone.
CRIMES COMMITTED CONT.
• June 10, 1933, Bonnie was burned in a car crash and went to a nearby farm for
assistance in Wellington, Texas. Officers sent to investigate were kidnapped and
later freed in Oklahoma. Killed the town marshal near Alma, Arkansas.
• Orchestrated a jailbreak for a former accomplice, Raymond Hamilton, January
1934
– A prison guard was killed in the process
• Clyde and Henry Methvin killed two highway patrolmen on April 1, 1934*
– This led to Bonnie and Clyde’s deaths -> Methvin’s father sold them out to save his son
• Their last murder was committed on constable William Campbell in Commerce,
Oklahoma on April 6, 1934*
– Wanted for 9 murders of other officers in four states
– Kidnap of Chief Boyd
•
Guilty but were not able to be sentenced because they were shot to death
*limited evidence
QUOTES BY AND ABOUT BONNIE AND CLYDE
• “No man but the undertaker will ever get me, if officers
ever cripple me to where I see they will take me alive, I'll
take my own life.” CLYDE BARROW
• “Never go crooked. It's for the love of a man that I'm
gonna have to die. I don't know when, but I know it can't
be long.” BONNIE PARKER (To Percy Methvin, two nights
before her death)
• Bonnie wrote two poems while on the run
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/qt/suicidesal.htm
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY: ANOMIE THEORY
Bonnie Parker began as an honor student but dropped
out of high school at the age of 16 and married. Her
husband ended up in prison leaving her to become a
waitress. She had to live with her grandmother. That was,
until she met Clyde, the high school drop-out whom she
fell deeply in love with. He came from a large farming
family which lacked much luck with success. The duo
wanted to have the same opportunities as those deemed
as “successful” but lacked the means of achieving this, as
they were both high school drop-outs and Clyde and his
brother had already been involved in crime.
ANOMIE THEORY: INNOVATION
Neither Bonnie nor Clyde would be able to gain wealth by
legal means, especially since the police were making it
exceedingly hard for Clyde to gain and keep a good job.
Since they could not achieve the cultural goal of gaining
wealth and success, they chose to achieve it through
criminal acts. They robbed banks and small businesses and
murdered the owners along with officers. Although they
were caught a few times they were always able to find a
way out. They would rejoin each other and continue on
their way. They were able to do this until their demise in a
trap where the police shot them in the car they were
driving.
CULTURAL REFERENCE TO CRIMINALS
• 1967 movie “Bonnie and Clyde”
• 1992 movie “Bonnie & Clyde: The True Story”
• 2013 TV mini-series “Bonnie and Clyde”
• 2014 movie “Bonnie and Clyde”