Bonnie and Clyde true story. Who are Bonnie and Clyde? What they looked like and what they are known for: a story of life, love and crime (8 photos)
For two years from 1932 to 1934, during the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow amused themselves with crime, robbery and murder. At this time in the United States, public opinion was against the government, and the young couple used this to their advantage. They remained in the memory of the nation in the image of Robin Hoods, fighting the system alone, and not as mass murderers.
Their relationship was very romantic. Bonnie and Clyde were a young and loving couple who took the “high road” of fighting against “bad laws.” The hearts of many were won by the poetry of excellent student Bonnie and the driving skills of Clyde, who created a gang of his relatives and friends.
Although the pair killed people, they kidnapped a policeman, who was then released hundreds of miles away, completely unharmed. They had fun with adventures, easily flouting the law.
Their image created in the press was far from the truth. Bonnie and Clyde committed 13 murders. Among their victims were some innocent people who died due to unfortunate mistakes during the Clyde robberies. The couple stole cars and lived off money stolen from stores and gas stations. Sometimes Bonnie and Clyde managed to rob a bank, but they did not manage to steal very much money. They were a desperate pair of criminals, constantly afraid of persecution and confident that they would have to die in a hail of bullets from a police ambush.
Bonnie Parker
Bonnie was born October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. She was the second child of three children in the family of Henry and Emma Parker. They lived comfortably until Henry Parker, a mason, died in 1914. Emma then moved the children to her parents in Cement City (now part of Dallas). Smart Bonnie did well at school and loved to write poetry. Having met Roy Thornton at age 15, she dropped out of school and got married at 16. The marriage turned out to be unhappy, Roy began to disappear from home more and more often. In 1927, he was caught for theft and went to prison for five years. They never officially divorced. Bonnie worked as a waitress and was often unemployed, like many during the Great Depression that began in late 1929.
Right in photo: Bonnie Parker
Clyde was born on March 24, 1909 in Ellis (near Dallas), Texas. He was the sixth child of eight children in the family of farmer Gary Barrow. Parents often could not feed their children. When they moved to Dallas, they lived first on the streets and later in a tent. Clyde and his older brother Marvin stole turkeys from stores, then began stealing cars. At the age of 17, he was first arrested in a stolen car, and in 1930 he ended up in a colony.
Clyde Barrow's personnel file
Meet Bonnie and Clyde
In January 1930, Bonnie and Clyde met at the house of a mutual friend. We instantly liked each other. A few weeks after they met, Clyde was sentenced to two years in prison and sent to prison. Bonnie smuggled him a weapon, and on March 11, 1930, Clyde escaped from the colony. But he was soon caught, received new term and on 21 April 1930 he was sent to Eastham Prison. There he was sexually harassed and killed a prisoner for the first time. For good behavior, he received parole and was released on February 2, 1932. He swore that he would rather die than go to prison again.
How Bonnie also became a criminal
When Clyde was released from prison during the Great Depression, it was impossible to get a job. Having experience of robberies behind him, he began to steal again. Immediately after his release, Bonnie went with him to rob a hardware store. Although she was sitting in the car, she was captured and taken to Kaufman Prison, Texas. The girl was later released due to lack of evidence.
While Bonnie was in prison, Clyde and Raymond Hamilton robbed a department store. Everything should have gone easily and quickly, but they made a mistake, something went wrong. As a result, an innocent store owner was wounded and killed.
Bonnie and Clyde were often photographed together
Now Bonnie had to make a decision - stay with Clyde and live with him on the run, or leave him and live in peace. Bonnie knew that Clyde would never return to prison, so staying with him meant a lot imminent death. However, Bonnie decided to remain faithful to him until the end.
On the run
Over the next two years, Bonnie and Clyde robbed and murdered across five states:
- Texas;
- Oklahoma;
- Missouri;
- Louisiana;
- New Mexico.
They stopped to rest near the border, taking advantage of the fact that the police pursuing them did not cross the border. To avoid arrest, Clyde often changed stolen cars and even more often changed license plates. He studied maps in detail and knew every country road, which saved them more than once during the pursuit. Bonnie and Clyde always returned back to Dallas, Texas to be with their families.
Wanted notices for a gang of criminals
Bonnie loved her mother very much and could not help but see her after a couple of months of separation. Clyde also often visited his mother and his beloved sister Nellie. The police set up ambushes, and meetings with families almost cost them their lives.
Buck and Blanche
Bonnie and Clyde had been in hiding for about a year when Clyde's brother Buck was released from prison in March 1933. The couple has already committed several murders, robbed a number of banks, shops, gas stations and stole many cars. They were hunted by police in several states. Bonnie and Clyde decided to rent an apartment in Joplin, Missouri, so they could meet Buck and his wife Blanche.
Blanche Barrow after her arrest
For two weeks they enjoyed life and played cards. After noticing the car with Texas license plates, neighbors called the police. On April 13, 1933, a shootout began. After killing several police officers, the criminals fled, but many photographs of them with weapons in their hands and Bonnie's poems about their crimes remained in the apartment.
The car is on fire
In June 1933, they were involved in an accident near Wellington, Texas. Clyde realized too late that the bridge was closed for repairs, swerved and the car rolled down the embankment. Clyde and Jones jumped out, but Bonnie remained in the burning car. Oncoming drivers helped her get out, but she was badly burned and suffered a serious injury to one leg. While hiding, they could not seek medical help. Clyde himself nursed Bonnie after her injury.
Ambush at the Red Crown Tavern
A month after the accident, the entire Bonnie and Clyde gang, including Buck, Blanche and Jones, stopped at the Red Crown Tavern. On the night of July 19, 1933, local residents alerted the police. This time the police were better prepared and armed. They surrounded the building and began to take over. A mass shooting began, during which Buck was shot in the head. The whole gang was able to escape in a car, firing back from a machine gun. Police managed to snag a couple of tires and break the car window. The glass severely damaged Blanche's eye.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were famous American robbers who operated during the Great Depression. The expression “Bonnie and Clyde” has become a common noun to refer to lovers involved in criminal activities. Killed by FBI agents.
The names of Bonnie and Clyde are probably as well known today as they were 70 years ago. Their criminal history remains one of the most tragic and romantic to this day. What brought them to this ending? 
Bonnie Parker was born in 1910 in the small Texas town of Rowina. At school, Bonnie was an excellent student, with rich in imagination, a penchant for acting and improvisation. She loved to dress fashionably. At the age of 16, she dropped out of school, and, having fallen in love with a certain Roy Thornton, Bonnie married him.
In 1927, Bonnie got a job as a waitress in a cafe, but two years later the great economic depression began and the cafe closed.
Clyde Chestnut Barrow is also a Texas native. He was born in 1909 into the family of an illiterate farmer with seven children, and lived on a farm until he was 13 years old. He rarely appeared at school, preferring to play with wooden pistols and wander around, enviously looking at the cars of wealthy citizens. In 1922, the Barrow family went bankrupt and Clyde's father moved to West Dallas. Like Bonnie, upon reaching the age of 16, Clyde dropped out of school and went to work. Another Bonnie analogy is that Clyde also liked to dress smartly.
One day at the end of 1929 they met. The little red-haired girl struck Clyde at first sight. And when Clyde is arrested for armed robbery, Bonnie helps him escape from prison by handing over a weapon during a tryst. A week later, the police captured Clyde again, and the court sentenced him to 14 years in prison. In protest, Clyde cuts off two of his toes, but this does not help. Then, on the contrary, he turns into a model prisoner and in 1932 earns parole.
Upon release, Clyde continued petty robberies and thefts. The catches are insignificant, and Bonnie is indignant. One day the seller refused to open the cash register, resisted, and had to be shot.
This was Clyde Barrow's first murder. He stopped being afraid of anything, since he had already earned the death penalty if caught.
Bonnie soon learned to shoot, writes biographer of the criminal couple John Chevy, showing a real passion for firearms. Their car turned into an excellent arsenal: several machine guns, rifles and hunting rifles, a dozen revolvers and pistols, thousands of cartridges. With Bonnie's help, Clyde masters the art of snatching a rifle from a pocket specially sewn along his leg in a matter of seconds. This kind of virtuosity is very entertaining for both. They develop their own elegant style murders.
Real photo. 
Still from the film
In all this, Bonnie is attracted primarily by the romantic-heroic side of the matter. She understands that she chose death. But this is more pleasant for her than the boredom she experienced earlier. The monotony of life is over for her forever. She knows that they will talk about her. And she doesn’t give a damn about morality, about the souls of the murdered. Money, easy and short life mayfly butterflies are her choice. You can work for a long time and earn pennies, or you can do this - rob, kill and not think about anything.
The gang's method of "work" was the same. Bonnie sits in the car with the engine running as Bonnie bursts into the bank screaming, "Robbery!" In most cases, weapons did not even have to be used.
There is no point in retelling in detail all the many adventures of the gang, the incredible luck of Bonnie and Clyde, who many times got out of the most seemingly hopeless situations. One day, when the police almost caught the criminals, an unfinished manuscript of the poem “A Dirty Murder” was found in their temporary shelter. Its author was Bonnie.
In January 1934, Clyde launched a daring attack on a prison farm, freeing his accomplice and several other prisoners. At the end of February, Clyde kills two policemen, and another in April. Thus, the total number of his victims approached one and a half dozen.
In May of the same year, after many failures, Sheriff Frank Hamer, vowing to find and neutralize Bonnie and Clyde, managed to organize an ambush on a country road. On May 22, 1934, Clyde and Bonnie's Ford was shot in an ambush by six police officers. 167 bullets pierced the car, of which 50 hit the bandits.
Frank Hamer told reporters: “It’s a pity that I killed the girl. But it was like this: we are them, or they are us, or they are many others.”
The Ford car in which they were shot at the museum.
Both Bonnie and Clyde knew what they had doomed themselves to, but the thirst for a bright life led them exactly where it should have led them - to the same colorful and tragic ending.
This is a sad ending. Common grave. A trace of them remained in the bad memory of people who lost their relatives, sometimes for the sake of a couple of hundred dollars, in a remote cemetery. Several books have been written about the bottom and a film has been made. Was there love there? But why blood?
A squad of police officers led by Frank Hamer, a Texas Ranger, waited for a Ford V8 car to appear on the road, hiding in the bushes. A few minutes later, the car was already smoking on the side of the road, and inside lay dead bodies belonging to the world's most famous pair of robbers, whose names were Clyde and Bonnie.
Origin of Bonnie Parker
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker is the daughter of a mason from Roven, Texas. Her father died when she was not yet four years old. Together with her sister and mother, the girl moved to Dallas. She was not yet 16 years old when she married Roy Thornton, a petty swindler. This marriage could hardly be called (especially given subsequent events) a love story. Soon the husband disappeared into the criminal world, and after 1929 the newlyweds did not meet again, although the girl did not take off her wedding ring until last day. Thornton learned in prison that his wife had died.
Meet Bonnie and Clyde
The main characters of our story, Clyde and Bonnie, met when she was 19 and he was 21. According to some versions, this happened in a diner where the girl was working as a waitress at the time; according to another, they first met at Bonnie’s friend’s place. The girl was just making hot chocolate when Clyde entered the house.
Clyde's Past
The latter was already an avid gangster by the time of this fateful meeting. Together with Buck, his older brother, this son of the poor, originally from Dallas, has already committed a sufficient number of robberies of roadside cafes and stores. After Buck went to prison in 1928, Clyde, the younger Barrow, became the leader of a criminal gang.
The beginning of the story of two lovers
It is not known what he said to Bonnie when they met, but she moved in with him the very next day. The lovers did not part for a minute. Clyde was an excellent shot and always carried a pistol with him. The girl asked to teach her how to shoot too. Clyde soon began to take his girlfriend “on business”: she usually sat in the car when he broke into a gas station or cafe and robbed the cash register, threatening the staff with a weapon. A few months later he was arrested, but Bonnie managed to escape by handing the gun to his partner. Soon she herself went to jail, and then, for two years, Clyde again. Parker at that time wrote him letters in which she promised to wait.
Clyde's first murder
He left prison in 1932 as a completely different person. Barrow Marie, his sister, said that “something terrible” happened there. This is "horrible" - Clyde's first murder - he beat to death the prisoner who raped him.
The love of these two people seems to be a dark story. According to some reports, it was platonic, since the young man was homosexual. According to another version, they had sexual relations not only among themselves, but also with other gang members. Roy Hamilton, as you know, was the lover of both, and then brought his girlfriend, which is why relations within this “team” became extremely tense.
However, everyone who met Clyde and Bonnie said that they truly loved each other. For example, Emma Parker, the girl’s mother, noted that she understood this immediately as soon as Bonnie introduced her beau to her. “I saw it in her eyes,” she said.
Developments
Soon Buck, Clyde's brother, and Blanche, his wife, joined the company. Together they committed murders and robberies with unjustified cruelty. This gang is responsible for 13 deaths.
The life of Bonnie and Clyde was the life of real tramps: they ate what they managed to get in the shops, slept on the street, drank themselves into unconsciousness, as if they had a presentiment of their future death, knowing that they would not survive. Bonnie, during her last meeting with her mother, asked her not to speak ill of Clyde when they were killed.
"Fighters for Justice"
They considered themselves fighters for justice. It seemed an honorable thing to do during the Great Depression to deprive those who had even a little money. Despite the fact that the crimes of these people were high-profile, their loot was very small: in May 1933, they stole $2.5 thousand from a Minnesota bank, which was the most significant amount. John Dillinger, a famous contemporary of the couple, said at the time that Bonnie and Clyde were "the disgrace of bank robbers." In October 1930, lovers shot and killed a grocery store owner in Texas. His life cost only 28 dollars.
The couple loved cars and guns. Shortly before his death, Clyde even wrote a letter of gratitude to Henry Ford, in which he promised that he would only steal cars of this brand.
Robbers in Oklahoma took Percy Boyd, a sheriff, captive, leaving him on the side of the road with a parting order to tell his men that they were “not a gang of murderers,” but ordinary people trying to survive the Depression. The undisputed leader, according to a surviving policeman, was Clyde. And he even liked Bonnie - according to the sheriff, she seemed like a stranger in this company. The policeman noted that they loved each other and told a detail: the lovers had a rabbit in the car, which the girl was taking to her mother as a gift.
"PR Campaign" organized by Bonnie Parker
These two were happy every time they saw articles about themselves in newspapers. Bonnie even specially developed a “PR campaign”: she sent staged photographs to the newspapers in front of a car, with a weapon at the ready. She attached her poems to these photographs. The notebook, in which several poems were handwritten, was sold for $36,000 at a Bonhams auction in 2007.
The glory of the robbers was increasing. They were sent to catch them best forces The FBI and police offered a $1,500 reward for them. Let us note that well-known crime bosses also spoke out against the gang, for example, Handsome Floyd, who absolutely did not want to share the already small loot with a bunch of visiting hooligans.
Ambush
In 1933, the gang was ambushed - Blanche Barrow was shot in the leg and Buck (her husband) was shot dead. Hamilton was arrested and then sent to the electric chair in April 1934. After this, Clyde and Bonnie went to Texas with the intention of staying with Bonnie's relatives there. They found shelter, but the whereabouts of their lovers were revealed by Henry Methvin, the father of one of the gang members, in exchange for his son being found innocent. It was his allegedly broken car that served as bait on that fateful day - May 23, 1934.
How does the story of Bonnie and Clyde end?
The end of this story was as follows. Clyde and Bonnie did not even have time to take up weapons when a barrage of lead fell on their car: many bullets pierced the bodies of the lovers. Evening newspapers immediately published reports of the deaths of these famous robbers, with a front page photo of their bodies riddled with bullets. Clyde's jacket, in which 40 bullet holes were counted, and his gun with 7 notches, one for each of the dead, were presented to the public.
However, this was not enough: the bodies of Clyde and Bonnie were exhibited in the morgue, and anyone could look at them for several days for just a dollar. This was done in Dallas by 40 thousand people who looked at Bonnie's body, and 30 thousand - at Clyde.
20 relatives, including friends and mothers of the couple, were also put on trial for concealment, and the criminals themselves, against Bonnie’s wishes, were buried in different cemeteries. Such is the life and death of robbers named Bonnie and Clyde, true story which were described in this article.
Bonnie and Clyde Museum
There is a museum of the couple in Gibsland, housed in the former cafe where the criminals bought their last meal. The son of Ted Hinton, the ranger involved in the gang shooting, works there as a caretaker. Every weekend leading up to May 23rd, the city hosts a festival dedicated to Bonnie and Clyde, during which the fateful ambush takes place.
Film adaptations of history
For all couples of the criminal world, the names of these robbers have become household names today. They are quoted in music, fashion, cinema. There are several film adaptations of this story, including documentaries, but the most famous is the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. The film is directed by Arthur Penn and produced by Warren Beatty, who played Clyde. For this film, they were looking for a female lead for a long time. Natalie Wood, Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine, Beatty's sister, and Leslie Caron, his then-girlfriend (who left Warren after being rejected) were all up for the role. Arthur Penn finally made up his mind - the choice fell on actress Faye Dunaway, whom he saw in the film "The Happening", the debut for this girl, and immediately noted.
"Bonnie and Clyde" (the film) tells the story of this famous couple from the moment they met until the fatal shootout. Clyde was presented as a simple-minded romantic who loves to talk about justice and suffers from impotence - this explains his supposedly platonic feelings for Bonnie. The latter was depicted as an enthusiastic young girl in love with her hero. She longs to break out of the gray everyday life of American life, take risks, live on the edge and love, no matter what.
After the release of the movie “Bonnie and Clyde” (the true story of the life of the robbers became very popular), women began to copy the style of the actress who played Bonnie Parker, and magazines began to publish various shoots with models whose image resembled the heroine - girls posed in midi skirts and blouses in front of the cameras with weapons in hand. Faye Dunaway initially wanted to act in slacks, which were more convenient for shootouts and chases. But Theadora van Runkle, costume designer, suggested a more glamorous look - a beret, a tight pencil skirt and heels. And I was right. Modern Bonnie and Clyde took their idols as models of style. The popularity of the picture was great.
"Bonnie and Clyde" (the film) was released at a time when the West was swept by a huge wave of student protests. Therefore, the youth of the late 60s perceived these robbers as heroes. The film was nominated for an Oscar and received two statuettes - for supporting actress (played by Blanche Barrow Estelle Parsons) and cinematography.
This tape greatly influenced further development American cinema. According to Quentin Tarantino, who quoted this story in his work Natural Born Killers, this film started Hollywood silver Age, which lasted right up until the early 1980s. Of course, it was also a breakthrough for the actors. When Warren Beatty was honored at the 36th American Film Institute Awards in 2008, Faye Dunaway took the stage and gave a touching Bonnie Parker-esque speech, ending with the words that "this is the end of the story." where Faye Dunaway is Bonnie and Warren Beatty is Clyde.
In 2013, the mini-series “Bonnie and Clyde” appeared. The film was a great success with viewers. The main roles were played by Holliday Grainger and Emile Hirsch (Bonnie and Clyde, respectively). Episode 2, for example, tells us how it all began (20 episodes in total).
Many songs were also created based on this story. The groups “Spleen”, “Night Snipers”, Bad Balance have a composition of the same name, or, for example, let’s note the song performed by Kristina Si - “Bonnie and Clyde”.
The story of Bonnie and Clyde, perhaps the most famous criminal couple, is reminiscent of the fairy tale about “Beauty and the Beast,” only with a bad ending. But how did the relationship between these dangerous people actually develop?
The sad fate of little Bonnie
Of course, it is very difficult to classify the girl as a real seductress, but she was not without charm. Even being a real monster inside.
Childhood
Miss Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in one of the dull and unremarkable towns of Texas, Rowena. The girl’s mother did not work, her father was a mason and somehow supported the family. Trouble came to little Bonnie's house with the death of her father. How exactly he died is unknown. However, according to some information, it can be understood that his life was interrupted by an accident at work.
The mother with three children did not linger in her hometown and moved to live in Ciment City. This is where the sad story began, leading to the death and grief of many people.
When did it all go wrong?
As before, the Parker family lived very poorly. The earnings from tailoring were barely enough for the girls, especially when they reached school age. Despite this, Bonnie was almost an excellent student. She had a knack for theater and loved to improvise. Her classmates noted the presence of a restless fantasy, as they often listened to Bonnie's fictional stories.
While studying in high school (around 1925), the girl met a certain Roy Thornton. He exuded danger, could dance and dressed beautifully. Which probably turned the inexperienced quiet head.
They married on September 25, 1926. Neither mother nor sisters were present at the wedding. Bonnie was left without family support, dropped out of school and soon went to work as a waitress at Marco's Cafe in Dallas. Her dreams about happy marriage, prosperity, beautiful life crumbled into ashes. The cruel and merciless reality crushed everything that the girl had fantasized about for so long.
Roy almost immediately stopped paying attention to his young wife, preferring other women to her. Soon he completely disappeared, and after a while Bonnie became unemployed. America was swallowed up by the Great Depression, and the cafe went bankrupt. However, Bonnie never officially divorced her husband and wedding ring I wore it until my death.
The Ugly Life of a Boy with Great Expectations
Bonnie's future accomplice Clyde Barrow was also born in Texas. His parents earned their living by farming, and the boy was accustomed to hard work in the agriculture. However, Ellis County was not considered the most successful in terms of money; soon a large family went bankrupt and was forced to give their land and house to the bank.
In 1922, the Barrow couple and their 7 children moved to West Dallas. My father got a job at a gas station. Clyde was placed in the school closest to his home. The boy studied frankly poorly, conflicts with teachers became commonplace, and at the age of sixteen he dropped out of school.
Broken dreams
The beautiful life attracted Clyde with polished cars, expensive suits and gourmet food. But what could a young, albeit handsome, illiterate guy count on?.. A job as a loader or a gas station attendant, and only if he was lucky.
At first, Clyde wanted to live like everyone else and enlisted in the US Navy, but he was not accepted. A childhood illness crossed out the path to the military. The only memento that remains is the “USN” tattoo on his left arm.
How the story of Bonnie and Clyde began
The first steps in the gangster field
Then Mr. Barrow chose a different path. Easier and full of dangers. In 1926 he stole his first car. Everything turned out to be very simple: supposedly rent a car. Meanwhile, the police could not prove anything, the company withdrew the claim, and Clyde was released. He soon joined one of the major Dallas gangs. “Trivia” no longer interested him.
Oddly enough, Clyde was also not happy with his share of the raids. Therefore, in 1928, he committed his first serious crime. He robbed a gaming hall on his own, although he did not even have a working weapon with him. The pistol with which Clyde threatened the guards was broken. 
Start
The story of Bonnie and Clyde began in 1929. The true date of their acquaintance is unknown: some researchers, for example, even date it to 1932. Nevertheless, they immediately liked each other and did not part until their death.
Also in 1932, Bonnie went to prison for the first time for attempting to rob a store. Only for three months, but the girl did not waste time there. In addition to letters to Clyde, she managed to write a collection of poetry consisting of ten odes.
Clyde Barrow received his first prison sentence a little earlier - in 1929. Then Bonnie brought a gun to the date, thus helping him escape. Only after three weeks the guy was caught and imprisoned for fourteen years. Clyde was not at a loss: as a sign of protest (or simply unwillingness to work), he cut off two of his toes. However, in vain: some time after the act of disobedience, he was released.
Crimes
From that moment on, the two-year epic of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow began. Together, and sometimes three (along with Raymond Hamilton, Bonnie’s former lover), they robbed everything that came their way. It wasn't always banks. For the most part, the couple destroyed gas stations and grocery stores. Sometimes their income was only ten dollars. But fame went before them.
In many ways, Bonnie and Clyde became famous thanks to rumors and staged photos taken by the bandits themselves, in which Parker stands near an expensive car with a cigar in his hand. Or aims a gun at Clyde's chest. Although Bonnie never smoked cigars, preferring regular Camel brand cigarettes. Her accomplice smoked the same ones. 
Hamilton was soon caught and sentenced to 264 years. At the same time, Bonnie, in order to replace the retired shooter, learned to use the weapon herself. And quite accurately, according to eyewitness accounts.
On the night of June 10, 1933, Bonnie was wounded in the leg. Not from a stray bullet. The culprit was Clyde himself, who was driving the car at top speed and lost control. The girl's right leg was severely corroded by acid. Naturally, she did not go to the hospital, and remained forever crippled. Barrow blamed himself for this and supported Bonnie as best he could. During periods of severe pain, she walked leaning on Clyde.
When Buck Barrow and his friend William Jones were released from prison, the life of the gang began to sparkle with new colors.
Fatal contradictions
Bonnie was sitting in the car, the engine was running. She waited while the men did their dirty work. As soon as they got into the car, the reckless Parker took off. The police could only bite their elbows - no one could catch up with Bonnie.
The couple flew as if on wings. They forgot that luck can be fickle, and committed more and more daring robberies. Soon the police managed to kill Buck, and Jones himself came to justice. Such a life was not for him. However, these events not only did not stop Bonnie and Clyde, but also spurred them on even more.
Together, they released Hamilton from custody and returned to their “work.” They just didn’t take into account that the former accomplice had not forgotten about the loot and soon demanded his share be returned in full. Clyde, not wanting to share, expelled Hamilton from the gang.
The lone man was quickly arrested. Threatened death penalty he told everything about how the story of Bonnie and Clyde began, including the most small parts. Make of car, approximate number of weapons, places and people with whom the couple came into contact. The ring around the elusive bandits narrowed.
The last adventure
Strangely, Clyde, having learned about his friend’s case from the newspapers, wrote a detailed letter to the editor, and Bonnie handed over their photos. It seemed that the young people had gone crazy if they were actually giving the police a confession of their own sins.
In the dead of night on May 23, 1934, Sheriff Frank Hammer and nine of his colleagues set up an ambush on the road. Unsuspecting Parker and Barrow were driving another stolen car and didn’t even have time to take out their weapons when they started shooting at them.
Later, the police believed that about 168 bullets were fired into the criminals’ car, more than half of them hit the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde. She was twenty-three and he was twenty-five.
Eyewitnesses almost tore the corpses to pieces, some even managed to cut off strands of Bonnie's hair. 
Despite the girl's desire to be buried with Clyde, her mother acted differently. She could not, and did not want, to forgive the man who broke the fate of her daughter. On Bonnie Parker’s gravestone it is written: “Just as flowers are made more beautiful by the dew and the radiance of the sun, so this world, the old world, is made brighter by the rays of people like you.”
Bonnie and Clyde in March 1933./Public Domain
Behind beautiful picture created by journalists and Hollywood, there is a story full of blood...
In the 1990s and early 2000s Russian culture There was a tendency to romanticize crime. Bandits and murderers were presented as victims of circumstances, unfortunate, rejected by society, in need of compassion and understanding. “We are not like this, life is like this” - this deceptive thesis has become the leitmotif of an entire era.
It should, however, be recognized: the romanticization of crime has a long history, not only in our country, but also in the world. Often, real villains appear years and decades later in the images of “romantic Robin Hoods”, arousing sympathy rather than rejection.
A classic example is the famous Bonnie and Clyde, American gangsters of the 1930s. Hundreds of books, dozens of songs have been written about them, a lot of films and television series have been made.
The 1967 Hollywood film Bonnie and Clyde, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, collected a large number of awards, including two Oscar statuettes.
What were Bonnie and Clyde really like before they became part of popular culture?
Their history is directly related to the Great Depression: which lasted for almost a decade economic crisis, which has ruined and plunged millions of Americans into poverty. The same period saw the heyday of the gangster era, when gangster groups in the country became a “second power,” sometimes more significant than the first.
However, this has nothing to do with Bonnie and Clyde. They were not part of a powerful mafia structure, but were what in the 1990s in Russia would be called “scumbags”: criminals who did not obey anyone, wreaking havoc and death around them.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were Texas natives. She came from a working-class family, where her father worked as a mason and her mother as a seamstress. He grew up in a large but poor family of farmers.
Bonnie was one of the first students at school, had a rich imagination and, according to teachers, had good acting skills.
Good girls are often attracted to bad boys. And at the age of 15, Bonnie was drawn to Roy Thornton, a hooligan and brawler, to whom those around him promised a place behind bars. Despite this, they got married in September 1926. Bonnie got a job as a waitress.
The marital bond lasted a year. Roy began to disappear from home for weeks at a time, and Bonnie, having suffered with her husband’s behavior for some time, decided to break up with him. Thornton didn't mind. Soon he ended up in prison, where he spent the time when his wife became a criminal legend.
Clyde Barrow, who was a year older than Bonnie, was first jailed at age 16 when he failed to return a rental car on time. He was quickly released, but was soon detained again along with his brother when they were stealing turkeys. Clyde was not frightened by the first arrests: despite the fact that the young man, unlike many around him, had a job, he continued to commit petty thefts and steal cars.
Finally, in April 1930, Clyde, who had just turned 21, was sent not to the local lockup, but to Eastham Prison.
Mary Barrow, Clyde's sister, later recalled: "Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same again." The scoundrel and hooligan turned into a sullen, embittered man who hated everything the world. As those who sat in Eastham with Clyde later said, from a schoolboy he became a “rattlesnake.”
Some biographers of the criminal couple believe that the reason was that Clyde was a victim of sexual abuse in prison. One of the prisoners liked the young man, who raped him several times. As a result, Clyde killed his offender.
However, in 1932 he was released.
In early 1932, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow first met at the house of a mutual friend. He was a 22-year-old criminal embittered by the whole world, she was a 21-year-old bored waitress with a rich imagination, a craving for “bad boys” and “dangerous adventures.” Bonnie kept a diary and wrote poetry. She did not dream of a long life and big family, she wanted to “have fun.” Clyde Barrow liked Bonnie and could provide her with the “fun” she wanted.
Contrary to subsequent legends, the Bonnie and Clyde gang, which included several other people, did not specialize in bank robberies. The main targets of the raiders were small shops and gas stations.
Clyde Barrow dreamed of taking revenge on the prison in which he had to endure terrible humiliation. The revenge was to be a mass escape, which he intended to organize. To get money for it, gangsters began to rob small stores.
On April 30, 1932, during another raid on a store in which Bonnie did not participate, the owner tried to resist, for which he was killed on the spot.
Clyde was not frightened by this outcome, but only provoked. On August 5, 1932, Barrow and his accomplice Raymond Hamilton were drinking in a bar in Stringtown. When the sheriff and his assistants appeared on the threshold of the establishment, the bandits shot them.
On October 11, Clyde dealt with store owner Howard Hall. The killer's loot was $28 and food.
Bonnie was not afraid of murder, but she told Clyde that all these were “toys” and that she needed to get down to serious things. After this, the bandits moved on to raiding banks.
Raymond Hamilton fell into the hands of the police and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. The new accomplice was 16-year-old V.D. Jones, who begged Clyde to accept him into the gang. The boy turned out to be a “worthy student”: the very next day he killed the owner of the car, who tried to prevent it from being stolen.
Bonnie and Clyde's apartment in Joplin. Photo: Public Domain
The bandits set up headquarters in Missouri, in the city of Joplin, which was known as the main “gangster haven” in the United States. IN three-room apartment First three of them lived with a garage, and then five of them: they were joined by Clyde’s brother Buck, who had been released from prison, and his wife Blanche. It is said that Buck came to his brother to convince him to “stop it”, but then decided that Clyde was “on the right track.”
It so happened that the legend of Bonnie and Clyde was born in Joplin. Bonnie's creative nature haunted her, and she asked her accomplices to photograph her in various images. Clyde also got involved in this game.
The bandits did not observe any precautions. The endless noisy fun began to irritate the neighbors. And when one day a shot was heard in the house (Clyde shot accidentally while cleaning his weapon), they called the police.
Prohibition was in force in the United States at that time, and local police decided that we were talking about persons involved in alcohol smuggling.
In the early morning of April 13, 1933, the police arrived at the house of the criminals, blocking the entrance to the garage. The gangsters were not going to give up, and a fight broke out near the house. After killing one of the policemen and wounding the second, Bonnie, Clyde and their accomplices broke free. And the police got the photo archive of the gang, which the newspapers clung to and began to spin the story about a respectable gangster couple.
Fame created a lot of problems for the gang. They could be recognized, so it became impossible to appear in crowded places, hotels and restaurants. IN best case scenario we spent the night in roadside motels away from big cities, or, at worst, in the forest near a fire.
In June 1933, a car with bandits was involved in an accident. Bonnie suffered the most: due to damage to her right leg, she began to limp severely.
A few days later they stopped at the Red Crown Motel in Arkansas. The vigilant owner of the establishment suspected something was wrong: three people registered, and five got out of the car. The guests covered the windows with newspapers and bought food and alcohol for a large group. In addition, the owner did not like the fact that Blanche Barrow, who was sent to resolve issues with the settlement, appeared before him in trousers. In patriarchal Arkansas of those times, it was believed that a woman in this form could only be a criminal.
The owner reported to the police, and at night law enforcement officers attacked the motel. The criminals managed to escape, but Buck and Blanche Barrow were seriously wounded.
The police were on their heels. They had to stop at an abandoned amusement park in Iowa, but they were noticed there too. The police attacked the bandits' makeshift camp. Three managed to escape, and the Barrow spouses fell into the hands of law enforcement officers. Clyde's brother died of his wounds a few days after his arrest.
Dream come true
On August 20, a criminal trio robbed a gun store in Illinois, adding to its arsenal. After that they went to visit relatives. In Houston, where Jones' mother lived, he was arrested.
In November, the remaining two Bonnie and Clyde arrived in Texas to visit their relatives, making an appointment for them to meet in an abandoned village. The local sheriff, having learned about the meeting, prepared an ambush, but the criminals noticed the catch and again escaped from the trap.
Clyde didn't forget about his main goal, and on January 16, 1934, he carried out the plan: gangsters attacked Eastham prison, provoking a mass escape of prisoners, during which a guard was killed.
This was a challenge to the system, so both the federal government and the Texas authorities threw their best forces into putting an end to the gang.
A man who caused no less consternation was called to fight the criminal “scumbags.” Retired Texas Ranger Frank A. Hamer was a true bounty hunter who arrested dozens of criminals and personally killed more than 50 offenders.
Hamer and his henchmen followed on the heels of the criminals. They behaved like cornered animals: on April 1, 1934, they shot two patrol policemen. In response, the authorities announced a reward for the corpses of Bonnie and Clyde: they were no longer going to catch them alive after everything that had been done.
The last victim of the bandits was Constable William Campbell, who was killed in Commerce, Oklahoma.
Frank Hamer had by that time thoroughly studied the dossier of the bandits and prepared a trap. An ambush awaited Bonnie and Clyde on a rural road in Bienville, Louisiana.
Frank A. Hamer. Photo: Public Domain
On May 23, 1934, Hamer's group, consisting of six people, opened heavy fire on the Ford in which the bandits were located. 167 bullets hit the car, most of them went to the criminals. Forensic experts counted more than 50 bullets in Clyde Barrow's body, and over 60 in Bonnie Parker's body.
After the death of the criminals, they began to do business with them immediately: in order to look at the dead, you had to pay a dollar, and there were a lot of people willing. The gangsters' personal belongings were taken by people from Hamer's group, who then sold them at auction through third parties. Hamer took for himself the gangster's weapons and fishing gear, with the help of which the bandits obtained food for themselves in their worst days.
Bonnie and Clyde's car. The shooting was so loud that Hamer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day. Photo: Public Domain
Bonnie and Clyde were not buried together, as they themselves wanted, but their graves almost immediately became tourist attractions, which they remain to this day.
Bonnie and Clyde forced an overhaul of the US insurance system. The fact is that at that time, life insurance guaranteed payments to relatives even if the insured were criminals and were killed by the police. When the Parker and Barrow families received the money, they rushed to change the system.
In 1934, twenty friends and relatives of Bonnie and Clyde were convicted of harboring criminals. Even Clyde's teenage sister Mary Barrow was given a symbolic hour of arrest.
Bonnie's husband Roy Thornton, from whom she did not have time to officially divorce, upon learning of his wife's death, said: “I'm glad they had so much fun. It's much better than getting caught." Three years later, Thornton would be killed while attempting to escape from prison.
Historians have been grappling with the question for many years: why did Bonnie and Clyde gain popularity among the mass of criminals of the Great Depression era? Most agree that main role Bonnie's artistic nature, the press and the Puritan morals of America of that era played a role.
Staged photographs of Bonnie, completely harmless from the point of view today, then seemed the height of depravity and debauchery. The challenge for society was not only the crimes of Bonnie and Clyde, but also their extramarital sexual relationship, which, thanks to the efforts of the press, awakened secret desires in many Americans.
About the fact that behind this beautiful picture there are ruined human lives, blood and dirt, the public did not want to think. Just as he doesn’t want to now.
Look documentary: "Famous robbers of the 20th century"
