In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a tendency in Russian culture associated with the romanticization of crime. Bandits and murderers were presented as victims of circumstances, unhappy, rejected by society, in need of compassion and understanding. “We are not like this - life is like that” - this deceptive thesis has become the leitmotif of an entire era.

However, it should be admitted: the romanticization of crime has a long history, and not only in our country, but also in the world. Often, real villains, years and decades later, appear in the images of "romantic Robin Hoods", evoking sympathy, not 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 shot.

1967 Hollywood film Bonnie and Clyde directed by Arthur Penn With Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway starring has collected a large number of awards, including two Oscar statuettes.

But what were Bonnie and Clyde really like before they became part of popular culture?

Good girl likes bad boys

Their history is directly related to the Great Depression: an economic crisis that stretched out for almost a decade, ruining and plunging millions of Americans into poverty. The same period saw the heyday of the gangster era, when gangster groups in the country became the "second power", sometimes more significant than the first.

However, this does not apply to 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, sowing chaos and death around them.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde barrow were natives of Texas. She came from a working-class family, where her father worked as a bricklayer and her mother as a seamstress. He grew up in a large but poor family of farmers.

Bonnie was one of the first students in school, had a rich imagination and, according to the teachers, had good acting skills.

Good girls are often attracted to bad boys. And at 15, Bonnie was drawn to Roy Thornton, a bully and a brawler, whom others promised a place behind bars. Despite this, they got married in September 1926. Bonnie got a job as a waitress.

Marital ties lasted a year. Roy began to disappear from home for whole weeks, and Bonnie, having endured this behavior of her husband for some time, decided to part with him. Thornton didn't mind. Soon he still ended up in prison, where he spent the time when his wife became a criminal legend.

Prison rape victim

Clyde Barrow, who was a year older than Bonnie, went to jail for the first time at 16 when he did not return his rented car on time. He was quickly released, but soon detained again with his brother when they were stealing turkeys. Clyde was not afraid of the first arrests: despite the fact that the young man, unlike many others 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 jail, 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 prankster and the bully turned into a sullen, embittered person who hates the whole world around him. As those who sat in Eastham with Clyde later said, from a schoolboy he became a "rattlesnake".

Some biographers of the crime couple believe that the reason was that in prison, Clyde became a victim of sexual abuse. The young man liked one of the prisoners, who raped him several times. As a result, Clyde killed his abuser.

However, in 1932 he was released.

Clyde Barrow. Photo: Public Domain

Kill for $ 28

In early 1932, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow first met at the house of a mutual friend. He was a 22-year-old worldly embittered criminal; 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 a 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 hijackers were small shops and gas stations.

Clyde Barrow dreamed of taking revenge on the prison in which he had to endure a terrible humiliation. Vengeance was to be the massive escape he intended to organize. To get money for it, gangsters began to rob small shops.

On April 30, 1932, during another raid on the 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. August 5, 1932 Barrow with an accomplice Raymond Hamilton drank in one of the bars in Stringtown. When the sheriff with assistants appeared on the threshold of the institution, the bandits shot them.

On October 11, Clyde cracked down on the owner of the store Howard Hall... The killer's booty was $ 28 and food.

The beginning of the legend

Bonnie was not afraid of the murder, but she told Clyde that it was all "toys" and that serious things needed to be done. After that, the bandits moved on to raids on banks.

Raymond Hamilton fell into the hands of the police and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. 16-year-old became the new accomplice W. 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.

Sixteen-year-old WD Jones committed two murders in the first two weeks after joining Clyde Barrow. Photo: Public Domain

The bandits set up their headquarters in Missouri, in the city of Joplin, which was reputed to be the main "gangster refuge" in the United States. In a three-room apartment with a garage, first three of them lived, and then five of them: Clyde's brother joined them Tank released from prison and his wife Blanche... It is said that Buck came to his brother to convince him to "quit", but then decided that Clyde was "on the right track."

Bonnie and Clyde's apartment in Joplin. Photo: Public Domain

It just so happens that the legend of Bonnie and Clyde was born in Joplin. The creative nature haunted Bonnie, and she asked accomplices to photograph her in various ways. Clyde got into this game too.

The bandits did not observe any precautions. The endless noisy fun began to annoy the neighbors. And when one day a shot was fired in the house (Clyde shot by accident while cleaning weapons), they called the police.

In the United States at that time, there was a "dry law", and local police decided that they were talking about persons involved in smuggling alcohol.

In the early morning of April 13, 1933, the police arrived at the criminals' house, blocking the entrance to the garage. The gangsters were not going to surrender, and a fight began at the house. After killing one of the police officers and wounding the second, Bonnie, Clyde and their accomplices broke free. And the police got the gang's photo archive, clinging to which the newspapermen began to spin the story of a respectable gangster couple.

A decent woman does not wear pants

The 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. At best, we spent the night in roadside motels away from big cities, at worst - in the woods by the fire.

In June 1933, a car with bandits had an accident. Bonnie suffered more than others: due to damage to her right leg, she began to limp severely.

Bonnie Parker poses with a revolver and a cigar. This is one of those photographs that have created a false image around Parker. Photo: Public Domain

A few days later, they stayed 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, bought food and alcohol for a large company. In addition, the owner did not like the fact that Blanche Barrow, who was sent to resolve issues with the settlement, appeared in front of him in trousers. In the 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 during the night law enforcement officers attacked the motel. The criminals managed to escape, but Buck and Blanche Barrow were seriously injured.

The police followed closely behind them. They had to stop at an abandoned amusement park in Iowa, but were spotted there as well. The police attacked the makeshift camp of the bandits. 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.

A dream come true

On August 20, in Illinois, the criminal trio robbed an arms store, adding to their arsenal. After that, they went to visit their relatives. In Houston, where Jones's mother lived, he was arrested.

In November, Bonnie and Clyde, who remained together, arrived in Texas to visit their relatives, making an appointment for them in an abandoned village. The local sheriff, having learned about the date, prepared an ambush, but the criminals noticed the catch and escaped from the trap again.

Clyde did not forget about his main goal, and on January 16, 1934, he implemented the plan: gangsters attacked Eastham prison, provoking a mass escape of prisoners, during which a security officer was killed.

It was a challenge to the system, so the best forces from both the federal government and the Texas authorities threw in to put an end to the gang.

A man who caused no less confusion was called to fight the criminal "thugs". Retired Texas Ranger Frank A. Haymer was a true "bounty hunter" who arrested dozens of criminals and personally killed more than 50 offenders.

Blanche's arrest. Photo: Public Domain

167 bullets from Mr. Heimer

Haymer and his henchmen followed on the heels of the criminals. The same behaved like beasts cornered: on April 1, 1934, two patrol officers were shot. In response, the authorities announced a reward for the corpses of Bonnie and Clyde: they were not going to catch them alive after all that had been done.

The last victim of the bandits was Constable William Campbell, killed in Commerce, Oklahoma.

Frank Haymer by that time thoroughly studied the dossier of the bandits and prepared a trap. An ambush awaited Bonnie and Clyde on a country road in Bienville, Louisiana.

Frank A. Haymer. Photo: Public Domain

On May 23, 1934, Heimer's six-man group opened heavy fire on the Ford, which was carrying the bandits. The car was hit by 167 bullets, most of which went to criminals. In the corpse of Clyde Barrow, forensic experts counted more than 50 bullets, in the corpse of Bonnie Parker - over 60.

After the death of the criminals, they began to do business on them immediately: in order to look at the killed, they had to pay a dollar, and there were a lot of people willing. The gangsters' personal belongings were taken by people from Heimer's group, who then auctioned them through third parties. Haymer took the gangster weapons and fishing gear that the bandits used to get their food on their worst days.

Bonnie and Clyde's car. The shooting was so loud that Haymer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day. Photo: Public Domain

Child of vice

Bonnie and Clyde were not buried together as they wanted, but their graves almost immediately became tourist sites that remain to this day.

Bonnie and Clyde were forced to rethink 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, the system was rushed to change.

In 1934, twenty friends and relatives of Bonnie and Clyde were convicted of harboring criminals. Even Clyde's underage sister Mary Barrow was awarded a symbolic hour of arrest.

Bonnie's husband Roy Thornton, with whom she did not have time to officially divorce, after learning about the death of his wife, said: “I'm glad they had so much fun. It's much better than being caught. " Three years later, Thornton will be killed while trying to escape from prison.

Historians for many years have been struggling with the question: why did Bonnie and Clyde gain popularity from the mass of criminals of the Great Depression era? Most agree that Bonnie's artistic nature, the press, and America's puritanical customs of that era played the main role.

Bonnie's staged photographs, absolutely harmless from the point of view of today, then seemed the height of depravity and licentiousness. The challenge for society was not only the crimes of Bonnie and Clyde, but also their fornication, which in many Americans, thanks to the efforts of the press, awakened secret desires.

The audience did not want to think that ruined human lives, blood and dirt were behind this beautiful picture. As he does not want to now.

Citizenship:

USA

Date of death:

Clyde barrow
Clyde barrow
Birth name:	Clyde "Champion" Chestnut Barrow
Occupation:	American bank robber, criminal
Date of Birth:
Citizenship:	USA
Date of death:

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow(eng. Bonnie parker and clyde barrow ) - famous American robbers who operated during the Great Depression. Bonnie and Clyde has become a household name for criminal lovers. Killed by Texas Rangers and Louisiana Police.

Bonnie Parker

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (Bonnie elizabeth parker) was born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. When Bonnie was four years old, her father, a bricklayer by profession, died, and her mother and three children moved to a suburb of Dallas. Despite the fact that her family lived in poverty, Bonnie did well in school - she was an excellent student with a rich imagination, with a penchant for acting and improvisation. She loved to dress fashionably. At the age of 15, she dropped out of school, falling in love with a certain Roy Thornton, and on September 25, 1926, an attractive petite girl (with a height of 150 cm she weighed 36 kg) married him.

In 1927, Bonnie began working as a waitress at Marco's Cafe in East Dallas, but two years later, the Great Depression began and the cafe closed.

The relationship between the spouses did not work out. A year after their marriage, the husband began to disappear regularly for long weeks, and in January 1929 they parted. Soon after the breakup (there was no official divorce, and Bonnie wore an engagement ring to death) Thornton went to prison for five years.

Clyde barrow

Clyde "Champion" Chestnut Barrow (Clyde "Champion" Chestnut Barrow) was born on March 24, 1909 near Teliko, Texas. He was the fifth child in a family of seven or eight children, his parents were poor farmers. The police first arrested Clyde for stealing a car in 1926. A second arrest soon followed - after Clyde, along with his brother Marvin, nicknamed Buck, committed theft of turkeys. He was subsequently arrested several times in 1928 and 1929 and imprisoned in Eastham Prison in Texas in 1930. In 1932 he was released early. It is believed that Bonnie and Clyde met back in 1930 and began dating again after Clyde was released from prison.

Joint crimes

After being released from prison, Clyde, not thinking about the consequences, continues to commit petty thefts, but Bonnie, who "generated" most of the criminal ideas, develops a plan to rob a record store. Bonnie's friend Raymond Hamilton also joins the case. On April 27, 1932, during a store robbery, the owner tries to resist the criminals, for which he receives a bullet in the heart. After this incident, the gang becomes more and more aggressive. Five months later, Hamilton and Clyde, being in a drunken stupor, shot the sheriff and his deputies in a bar in Oklahoma. Bonnie later announced that it was time to stop playing with toys and start doing serious business. And robberies, murders, car thefts began. As a result of all this, Hamilton was caught and sentenced to 264 years. “After Hamilton was arrested, Bonnie learned to shoot,” writes crime couple biographer 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 the help of Bonnie, Clyde masters the art of snatching a rifle from a pocket sewn along the leg in a matter of seconds. This kind of virtuosity is very entertaining for both. They develop their own elegant killing style. In all this, Bonnie is attracted primarily by the romantic-heroic side of the matter. She realizes that she has chosen death. But this is more pleasant for her than the previously experienced boredom. The monotony of the measured life of those around her is over forever. She will be famous in her own way. At least they will talk about her. "

From now on, Bonnie and Clyde commit murders with amazing ease. The next victim of Clyde was the sheriff, who asked him for documents. Clyde simply "cut" him in half with an automatic burst.

The "technique" of robbery was always the same: Bonnie sat in the car, and the guys flew into the building shouting "Robbery!", After which they robbed and disappeared.

But sooner or later all luck comes to an end. The flexible structure of the newly created FBI allows federal agents to track criminals, as before, regardless of interstate lines. The ring around Bonnie, Clyde and Jones (William Daniel ("W.D.", "Dub", "Deacon") Jones, another member of the gang) is shrinking - this is an FBI effort. They are forced to hide. It was then that Clyde's brother, Ivan Buck, and his wife Blanche, join the gang.

As a temporary shelter, the Barrow brothers choose the town of Japlin in Missouri, where gangsters traditionally hid in the late 1920s. The place is very convenient, it is easy to hide from here: there are mountains nearby, not a single good road. They live in a three-room apartment above the garage. We got up late and took a lot of pictures. In many photographs, Bonnie is captured in theatrical poses. The photographs show Bonnie and Clyde's desire to look elegant, copying advertising images.

Bonnie and clyde

The attention of neighbors is attracted not only by the strange behavior of the tenants of the apartment, but also by the fact that their cars are registered in another state - Texas. Suspecting something was wrong, Barrow's neighbor goes to the Missouri Road Police Station. Brigadier JB Koehler assumes that the suspicious company is bootleggers and decides to organize a raid. On April 13, 1933, at 4 pm, two police cars approach Barrow's apartment. Clyde and Jones are on the porch when the first car pulls up. Instantly they hide in the garage, slamming the door behind them. A second police car blocks the road, blocking the exit from the garage. Clyde and Jones shoot from the garage. This is a signal for those who are in the apartment. After the first shots, the police suffered losses: one was mortally wounded, the other was killed. Kohler sends for reinforcements. Covered by Clyde and Buck's gunfire, Jones rushes to the police car, which is still blocking the road. He is trying to release the handbrake when a bullet hits him in the head. He staggers back into the house. Buck also tries to free the passage and succeeds. He releases the police car from the brake and, using it as a shield, pushes it towards the highway and returns to the house again. The car drives out of the garage and hides.

When inspecting the apartment in which the Barrow gang lived, a large number of photographs of Bonnie and Clyde were found. These photographs were the first reliable images of criminals. Photos of criminals are being sent to neighboring states. After this "feat", Barrow is included in the FBI's lists, where the most dangerous criminals are listed, who must be caught or destroyed on the spot.

Death

After many setbacks, Sheriff Frank Hamer managed to set up an ambush on one of the Louisiana country roads, along which Bonnie and Clyde drove for groceries. On May 23, 1934, their Ford V8 was ambushed by six police officers, four of whom were Texas Rangers and two were Louisiana. 167 bullets pierced the car, of which more than 50 hit the bandits.

Later, Frank Haymer will tell reporters: “It's a pity that I killed the girl. But it was like this: either we are theirs, or they are us. "

Despite Bonnie's prediction, expressed in her poems, they were buried in different cemeteries, and an obelisk was erected on the site of the ambush, pretty crumpled by lovers of souvenirs.

Bonnie's grave has an inscription left by her mother: "As the flowers are all made sweeter by the sunshine and the dew, so this old world is made brighter by the lives of folks like you." dew, so this old world becomes brighter from lives like yours).

Bonnie Parker is left with her only work, the poem "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde", which ends like this:

And if someday you have to die,
To lie to us, of course, in the grave alone.
And the mother will cry, and the bastards will laugh.
Peace will come for Bonnie and Clyde.

Filmography

• Bonnie & Clyde: The True Story, Film, US (1992)
• The Bonnie Parker Story (1958)
• Shelter / Hide, US (2008)

Bonnie and Clyde in creativity

• Lana Del Rey - song "Live or Die".
• group Theory of a Deadman - song "Me & my girl" (album "Gasoline").
• group Reflex - song "Like Bonnie and Clyde" (album "Blondes 126").
• group Splin - album 1997 "Lantern under the eye" song Bonnie and Clyde.
• group Night Snipers - album "Bonnie & Clyde", song "Bonnie & Clyde".
• group Bad Balance - song "Bonnie and Clyde".
• group Scapegoat - song "Bonnie and Clyde".
• group Korsika - the song "On the front page" from the single of the same name.
• the King and the Jester group - the song "Two against all" from the album Shadow of the Clown.
• performer MC Solaar - the song "la Nouvelle Genèse".
• Tupac Shakur - song "Me and My Girlfriend".
• Eminem - song "97" Bonnie & Clyde ".
• Marilyn Manson - song "Putting holes in happiness".
• Beyoncé and Jay-Z - "Bonnie and Clyde" (song and video).
• Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot - Bonnie and Clyde; album "Bonnie and Clyde" (1968).
• Martina Sorbar - song "Bonnie & Clyde".
• Frank Wildhorn - Musical Bonnie & Clyde (Demo 2009).
• Performer Carter - "Bonnie and Clyde" song.
• Performed by Al K-Pote and Amel - the song "Bonnie and Clyde" (French-German).
• Scarlett Johansson and Lulu Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde.
• Andrey Kovalev - Clyde and Bonnie.
• Kaponz et Spinoza - Bonnie aime Clyde.
• group Roman_Rain song "Boni and Clyde"
• Claudia Brucken feat. The Real Tuesday Weld - Guilty (L.A. Noire Original Soundtrack)
• Dmitry Chernus - Boni and Clyde
• Rihanna and Lonely Island recorded a parody song called "Shy Ronnie"
• Jane Air - Bonnie & Clyde (2007)
• Mentioned in the song Desmond Dekker "a Israelites

see also

Links

Categories:

• Personalities alphabetically
• Born on October 1
• Born in 1910
• Deceased May 23
• Dead in 1934
• Born on March 24
• Born in 1909
• Bank robbers
• US criminals

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Great love stories. 100 stories about great feelings Mudrova Irina Anatolyevna

Bonnie and clyde

Bonnie and clyde

Their names have long become household names, and time has softened the incriminating details. The consciousness of the people, fueled by the film industry, has created a romantic myth about two outstanding personalities who challenge "unjust" authorities.

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in Texas. When her father dies, the family moves to Dallas, where they live in complete poverty. Bonnie was a very smart child, won a bunch of competitions at school, wrote essays and poetry. In addition to looking good, she was also blessed with imagination. At 16, she married Roy Thornton, but did not live with him for long due to the fact that he went to prison. However, they did not divorce and Bonnie did not take off her wedding ring until her death.

Clyde "Champion" Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909 (or 1910) in Ellis County, Texas, the fifth of eight children, his parents were poor farmers. At the age of 16, Clyde dropped out of school and took a job. At the same time, he did not stay anywhere for a long time. Clyde was fond of playing the saxophone, and also spent hours contemplating beautiful and rich cars. Clyde was first arrested at age 16. Then Clyde did not return the car he had rented on time. Maybe even then he started his career as a criminal. He sells goods on the black market, at the age of 19 it is already known for certain that Clyde is robbing shops. A second arrest soon followed - after Clyde, along with his brother Marvin, nicknamed Buck, committed theft of turkeys. Subsequently, he was arrested several times.

In 1928, Clyde ran away from home and conducted his first independent criminal operation. With a broken pistol, he burst into the game room, disarmed the guards and seized the proceeds. The next time he tried to commit a night burglary and almost got caught. In the same year, after an unsuccessful raid on a dining car, Buck was convicted, and Clyde, pursued by the police, went to Texas. In late 1929 and early 1930, Clyde and Buck were wanted by the police in many cities.

One day in early 1930, Clyde went into one of the cafes, where a tiny red-haired girl - his future lover - was just a waitress. It was love at first sight. Clyde told the young lady for a long time about his "heroic" adventures. Bonnie was so fascinated by the exploits of her lover that for the first time in her life she went to a crime for the sake of her beloved: when Clyde was arrested for an armed raid, Bonnie, having gone on a date to the police station, was able to organize his escape by secretly handing over a pistol.

He was subsequently arrested again, in 1932, but was released early. After leaving prison, Clyde, without thinking about the consequences, continued to commit petty thefts, but Bonnie developed a plan to rob a record store. Bonnie's friend Raymond Hamilton also joins the case. On April 27, 1932, during a store robbery, the owner tries to resist the criminals, for which he receives a bullet in the heart. From now on, the murders of Bonnie and Clyde are carried out with extraordinary ease. After this incident, the gang becomes more and more aggressive.

After that, Bonnie told the guys that it was enough to play with toys, it was time to get down to real business. And then went car thefts, robberies of banks, gas stations and shops. But the work of the three did not last long. Hamilton was soon arrested and convicted.

Bonnie and Clyde gained popularity all over the world as bank robbers, but in fact, according to information collected on them by the police, Clyde mainly preferred to rob small shops and gas stations, and Bonnie is known to everyone as the wife of her beloved husband. There is no credible evidence that she was actively involved in the Barrow gang. Her portrayal of the legendary bank robber is associated with cinema.

The woman's presence in tales of bank robbers was interesting in newspaper articles, and Bonnie and Clyde quickly became a trademark. How many robberies and murders they actually committed from 1930 to 1934 is not reliably found out - their number is probably much lower than what is attributed to them. Many unsolved crimes in those years were attributed to them. For four years this couple did not leave the newspaper pages. In all this, Bonnie is attracted, first of all, by the romantic-heroic side of the matter. She realizes that she has chosen death. The monotony of the measured life of those around her is over forever. She will be famous in her own way. At least they will talk about her. " Once, when the police almost seized the criminals, an unfinished poem "Dirty Murder" was found in their temporary refuge. It was written by Bonnie.

Sooner or later, all luck comes to an end. The flexible structure of the newly created FBI allows federal agents to track criminals, as before, regardless of interstate lines. The criminals were forced to hide. It was then that Clyde's brother, Ivan Buck, who was released from prison in 1933, and his wife Blanche, join the gang.

The "work" methodology was the same. Bonnie sits in the car with the engine running, and the guys rush into the store, gas station or bank and loudly shout: "Robbery!" In most cases, the weapon does not even have to be used. Sometimes the police are nearby, but the gang's cars are always more powerful and reliable than police rattle cars.

During endless shootings and chases, Buck Barrow was killed, and Jones, unable to withstand the stress, deserted and surrendered to the police. Then in January 1934, Clyde launched a daring attack on the prison farm where Hamilton was being taken to work, and after a shootout with the guards, he and several other prisoners were freed. Among them was the shy peasant boy Henry Met-vin, who, along with Hamilton, joined the gang. Soon, however, after a quarrel over the division of the loot, Hamilton leaves his colleagues. In late February, Clyde kills two police officers, in April another one. Thus, the total number of his victims approached one and a half dozen.

Meanwhile, the ring around Barrow's gang was compressed inexorably. Texas Sheriff Frank Hamer, who has neutralized 65 famous criminals during his career, was tasked with tracking down Bonnie and Clyde. Hamer analyzed each of their attacks, created maps and diagrams of their movements over the years, studied all the places of the raids and the paths they took. "I wanted to penetrate their devilish designs," he said, "and I did it." Several times during the first months of 1934, Hamer and his men followed the trail of bandits, but the police were constantly unlucky - they were always late.

Both Bonnie and Clyde knew what they had doomed themselves to, but the thirst for a bright life led them exactly where it was supposed to lead - to the same colorful and tragic ending.

The police found a house where criminals were hiding from time to time. They needed a key to the door, which could be in the possession of the third member of the gang - Metvin. His father promised to help lure the gang into an ambush if Hamer spared his son. The sheriff, who was primarily interested in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde, went for it.

Henry Methvin agreed to act in concert with his father and quietly slipped out of the bandit den. Soon the police surrounded the shelter and blocked the road leading to it. This time, the police had every chance to overtake the criminals. On May 23, 1934, in Louisiana, police from the two states of Louisiana and Texas, led by Frank Hamer, ambushed to catch the bandits. At 9 o'clock in the morning, Bonnie and Clyde's Ford appeared on the road. The car contained two thousand rounds of ammunition, three rifles, twelve pistols and two gas guns. The sheriff who jumped out of the car ordered the bandits to surrender. But on the criminal couple, this command acted as a challenge. Clyde opened the car door and grabbed a shotgun. Bonnie drew her revolver. But this time they had nothing to hope for. The FBI in charge of this operation was ordered to take the criminals or kill them on the spot. 167 bullets pierced the car, Bonnie and Clyde were hit by more than fifty bullets ...

The front pages of American newspapers were full of reports of the death of daring criminals. Their mutilated bodies were put on public display in the morgue, and those who wished for one dollar could look at them.

Ten years later, Roy Hamilton was also sentenced to death. Before his death, he recalled: “They loved to kill people, to see how blood flows, and they enjoyed this sight. And they never missed the opportunity to enjoy the sight of someone else's death. These people did not know what pity and compassion are. "

About Bonnie and Clyde - these two in love with each other, criminals in danger and cruelty - they make films, they even devote poetry to them. And now their names are clearly connected by the phrase "the story of one love." What was she like, the real life of Bonnie and Clyde, that real life? Perhaps they can be called victims of the Great Depression, a lost generation. Time leaves its traces on everything. It left the stamp of myth on the lives of Bonnie and Clyde.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow —
famous American robbers during the Great Depression. At various times, their gang included Buck Barrow, Clyde's older brother; Blanche Barrow, Buck's wife; Raymond Hamilton, W. D. Jones, Joe Palmer, Ralph Fults, and Henry Methvin. Although they are now known for about twelve bank robberies, Barrow preferred to rob small shops and gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and several civilians. Bonnie and Clyde themselves are killed by Texas rangers and Louisiana police. Their fame was cemented in American pop folklore with the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

Even over the course of their lives, the image that the couple was given in the press was very different from their real life, especially in the case of Bonnie. Although she was present at more than a hundred crimes in two years, she was not the cartoonish, machine-gun assassin that she was portrayed in the newspapers, newsreels and tabloid detectives of the time. WD Jones was not at all sure if he had ever seen her shoot at officers. Her reputation as a cigar-smoking gangster mistress arose from a playful photo found by the police in an abandoned gang hideout in Joplin, which was published in the press. Parker smoked a lot, but not cigars, but Camel cigarettes.

Historian Jeff Geen believes that it was these photos that gave rise to the legend of Bonnie and Clyde: “John Dillinger had the appearance of a favorite of women, handsome Floyd got the best nickname you can think of, and these photos created new criminal superstars under the most exciting trademark - illicit sex. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were wild and young, and no doubt slept with each other. If it weren't for Bonnie, the media most likely would never have noticed Clyde. Bonnie's cheeky photos provided a sex appeal, a charm that allowed them to gain fame far more than they deserved for the little thefts and unnecessary murders that have made up their entire criminal career. "

Bonnie Parker

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910 - May 23, 1934) was born in Rowena, Texas, the middle of three sisters. Her father, mason Charles Parker, died when Bonnie was four. Her mother, Emma Krause, moved with her children to her parents' home in Sement City, an industrial suburb of Dallas, where she worked as a seamstress. Her maternal great-grandfather, Frank Krause, immigrated from Germany. Despite the fact that her family lived in poverty, Bonnie did well in school - she was one of the best students in school, with a rich imagination, with a penchant for acting and improvisation. She loved to dress fashionably. Her writing ability later found expression in poems such as The Story of Suicidal Sal, The End of the Trail (known as The Bonnie and Clyde Story). At 15, Bonnie met Roy Thornton. Together they dropped out of school. On September 25, 1926, an attractive petite girl (with a height of 150 cm, she weighed 44 kg) married him. In 1927, Bonnie took a job as a waitress at Cafe Marco in East Dallas, but two years later, the Great Depression began and the cafe closed.

The relationship between the spouses did not work out. A year after their marriage, the husband began to disappear regularly for long weeks, and in January 1929 they parted. Soon after the breakup (there was no official divorce, and Bonnie wore an engagement ring to death) Thornton went to prison for five years. When he heard about Bonnie's death, he said, “I'm glad they had so much fun. It's much better than being caught. "

In 1929, after the breakup of her marriage, but before meeting Clyde Barrow, Parker lived with her mother and worked as a waitress in Dallas. One of the café's regulars, postal worker Ted Hinton, will take part in an ambush on Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. In her diary, which she kept in early 1929, she wrote about her loneliness and love for talkies.

Clyde barrow

Clyde Chestnut Barrow (March 24, 1909 - May 23, 1934) was born in Ellis County, Texas, near Dallas. He was the fifth of seven children of Henry Basil Barrow (1874-1957) and Cumey T. Walker (1874-1943). His family were poor farmers. Clyde was first arrested at the end of 1926 when he did not return the rented car on time. Soon he was arrested again, along with his brother Marvin "Buck" Barrow, for stealing turkeys. Despite having a legitimate job, between 1927 and 1929 he broke into safes, robbed shops, and stole cars. After several arrests in 1928 and 1929, he was sent to Eastham Prison in Texas in April 1930. While serving his sentence, he beat another prisoner to death, who repeatedly raped him. This was Clyde's first murder.

In 1932 he was released early. He came out of prison as an even hardened and cruel criminal. His sister Mary said, "Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same again." Ralph Fults, who was serving a sentence at the same time as Clyde, said that before his eyes he turned from a schoolboy into a rattlesnake.

First meeting

There are several versions of how Bonnie and Clyde first met. The most plausible is the one according to which Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met in January 1932 at a friend's house.

They immediately liked each other; most historians believe Bonnie joined Clyde because she was in love with him. She remained a faithful companion to him during his criminal revelry, and expected a violent death, which, in their opinion, was inevitable.

Joint crimes

1932: first robberies and murders

In February 1932, Clyde was released from prison, and he and Ralph Fults began robbing shops and gas stations. Their goal was to amass enough money and weapons to orchestrate a massive escape from Eastham Prison. On April 19, Parker and Fults were arrested during a failed home appliance store robbery. Bonnie was released a few months later, and Fults left the gang for good. On April 30, during a robbery of a store, the owner tried to resist the criminals, for which he was shot in the heart.

After this incident, the gang becomes more and more aggressive. On August 5, while Parker was visiting her mother, Hamilton and Clyde, drunk, shot and killed the sheriff and his deputies in a bar in Stringtown, Oklahoma. The next murder took place on October 11 in Sherman, Texas. Shop owner Howard Hall became the victim. The gang took away $ 28 in cash and some groceries from the store. Bonnie later announced that it was time to stop playing with toys and start doing serious business. And robberies, murders, car thefts began. As a result of all this, Hamilton was caught and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

“After Hamilton's arrest, Bonnie learned to shoot,” writes crime couple biographer 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 out of a pocket sewn along his leg in seconds. This kind of virtuosity is very entertaining for both. They develop their own elegant killing style. In all this, Bonnie is attracted primarily by the romantic-heroic side of the matter. She realizes that she has chosen death. But this is more pleasant for her than the previously experienced boredom. The monotony of the measured life of those around her is over forever. She will be famous in her own way. At least they will talk about her. "

WD Jones has been a friend of the Barrow family since childhood. Although he was only 16 on Christmas Eve 1932, he convinced Bonnie and Clyde who were leaving Dallas to take him with them. The next day, Jones committed his first murder. He and Clyde killed the owner of the car they were trying to steal. Less than two weeks later, on January 6, 1933, Barrow shot and killed another sheriff when he, Parker, and Jones fell into a trap intended for another criminal.

1933 year

Brigadier JB Koehler assumes that the suspicious company is bootleggers and decides to organize a raid. On April 13, 1933, at 4 pm, two police cars approach Barrow's apartment. Clyde and Jones are on the porch when the first car pulls up. Instantly they hide in the garage, slamming the door behind them. A second police car blocks the road, blocking the exit from the garage. Clyde and Jones shoot from the garage. This is a signal for those who are in the apartment. After the first shots were fired, the police suffered losses: one was wounded, the other was killed. Kohler sends for reinforcements. Covered by Clyde and Buck's gunfire, Jones rushes to the police car, which is still blocking the road. He is trying to release the handbrake when a bullet hits him in the head. He staggers back into the house. Buck also tries to free the passage and succeeds. He releases the police car from the brake and, using it as a shield, pushes it towards the highway and returns to the house again. The car drives out of the garage and hides.

When inspecting the apartment in which the Barrow gang lived, a large number of photographs of Bonnie and Clyde were found, as well as Bonnie's poems. These photographs were the first reliable images of criminals. Photos of criminals are being sent to neighboring states.

Sixteen-year-old WD Jones committed two murders in the first two weeks after joining Clyde Barrow.

Over the next three months, they drove from Texas north to Minnesota. In May, they tried to rob a bank in Lucerne, Indiana and robbed a bank in Okabin, Minnesota. Earlier in the course of the theft of a car belonging to Dillard Darby, they abducted him and Sophia Stone in Ruston, Louisiana. This was one of five abductions they committed from 1932 to 1934. In addition to Dillard and Sophia, they abducted: Joe Jones on August 14, 1932, Officer Thomas Purcell in January 1933, Sheriff George Corrie and Police Chief Paul Hardy on June 10, 1933, and Percy Boyd on April 6, 1934. Usually they let their victims go far from home. Sometimes they gave them money so they could come back.

Although the photographs in the newspapers portrayed Bonnie and Clyde's beautiful and romantic lives, they were desperate, according to Blanche. In her book, she wrote that when they left Joplin, all her hopes and dreams were shattered. The fame added to their problems. More hotels and restaurants were not a viable option. They slept in the woods by the fire, and washed in the cold rivers. Quarrels broke out among the two couples and Jones' fifth wheel. Jones was so unpleasant to be in this company that he used the car stolen from Derby to get away from them. He returned on June 8th.

On June 10, Parker, Barrow and Jones were in a car accident - Clyde did not notice a sign to repair the bridge, and the car flew into a ravine. Bonnie suffered a third degree burn on her right leg. The reason is not known for certain - either the car caught fire due to a gasoline leak, or acid from a car battery got on Parker's leg. Towards the end of her life, Bonnie had difficulty moving - she either jumped on her good leg, or she was carried by Clyde. They received first aid from a family of local farmers. After meeting with Buck and Blanche, they traveled to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where they healed Bonnie's wounds. Clyde later killed City Marshal Henry Humphrey in Alma, Arkansas. Because of this, they had to flee again, despite Bonnie's deplorable condition.

On June 18, 1933, they checked into the Red Crown Motel in Arkansas. It consisted of only two rooms connected by garages. The gang rented both. They immediately attracted undue attention. The owner noticed that Blanche registered three people when he saw five getting out of the car. It also seemed to him suspicious that Clyde drove into the garage in reverse, "in a gangster" way, to make it easier to escape. Blanche bought food and drink for five people. She was dressed in trousers, which was unusual for women of that time and those places. They covered the windows of their room with newspapers. All this was enough for the owner to tell Captain William Baxter about the suspicious company. When Clyde and Jones went to the nearest town to get food and medicine for Bonnie, the druggist called Sheriff Holt Coffey, and he put the houses under surveillance. At 11 pm the sheriff and a group of armed officers attacked the motel; they managed to escape, but Jones was wounded in the head, and Blanche was practically blinded by the shrapnel.

Five days later, the gang stopped at an abandoned amusement park near Dexter, Iowa. Buck's injury was so bad that Bonnie and Clyde even dug a grave for him. The locals noticed the bloody bandages and realized that the campers were Barrow's gang. Soon they were again under fire in the presence of more than a hundred spectators. Bonnie, Clyde and Jones escaped. Buck was wounded again, this time in the back, and he and his wife were arrested. Buck died five days later in the hospital due to complications from surgery.

The next six weeks Parker, Barrow and Jones spent far from their usual places and tried not to stand out, committing only petty robberies to get money for their daily needs. On August 20, they robbed an ammunition store in Plattville, Illinois. They have replenished their arsenal with Browning assault rifles, pistols and a large amount of ammunition.

In early September, they ventured back to Dallas to see their family, and then stopped in Houston, where Jones' mother had moved. He was arrested there.

On November 22, Parker and Barrow were again nearly arrested in the now abandoned town of Sowers, Texas, while trying to see their family again. Dallas Sheriff Smoot Schmid and two of his subordinates ambushed them. Clyde sensed a trap and drove past the car his family was in. Then the sheriff and his deputies opened fire. Family members were not hurt. Bonnie and Clyde fled the city that very night.

1934 year

On January 16, 1934, Clyde finally carried out his long-conceived plan to raid Eastham Prison. As a result, Raymond Hamilton, Henry Methvin and a number of other criminals escaped from there. The public was outraged, the Texas penitentiary system received a lot of criticism, and Clyde finally fulfilled what Phillips called his lifelong passion: he took revenge on the Texas Department of Corrections.

During a prison break, Joe Palmer shot Officer Joe Crowson. This incident prompted Texas and the federal government to go out of their way to capture Bonnie and Clyde.

Former Texas Ranger Captain Frank A. Haymer was hired to capture Bonnie and Clyde. Tall, strong, secretive and taciturn, he always "obeyed the law without question, or what he considered to be law." For twenty years, he has aroused fear and admiration among the entire staff of the lone star. He earned his reputation by carrying out several spectacular arrests and shooting scores of Texas criminals. He is credited with 53 murders; he himself was wounded 17 times.

On February 10, he became the shadow of Bonnie and Clyde. On April 1, 1934, Barrow and Methvin killed two Highway Patrolmen H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler. This case was widely reported in the newspaper. True, then the newspapers mistakenly wrote that Murphy killed Bonnie, in particular, due to the fact that a cigar stub was allegedly found at the scene of the crime with tiny teeth marks that could only belong to Bonnie. Patrol Chief L. G. Fears has awarded a $ 1,000 bounty for the murderers' corpses; not for their capture, but only for the corpses ..

Public hostility increased when Barrow and Methvin killed 60-year-old constable and single father William "Cal" Campbell just outside Commerce, Oklahoma, five days later. Then they kidnapped Commerce Police Chief Percy Boyd, crossed the Kansas border with him, and then released him in a clean shirt, a few dollars and a request from Bonnie to tell the world that she does not smoke cigars.

Death

Bonnie and Clyde's car. The shooting was so loud that Haymer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day.

Barrow and Parker were ambushed and killed on May 23, 1934, on a rural road in Bienville, Louisiana. Their Ford V8 was ambushed by a squad of four Texas Rangers (Frank Haymer, BM "Manny" Gault, Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton) and two Louisiana officers (Henderson Jordan and Prentiss Morle Oakley). 167 bullets pierced the car, of which more than 110 hit the bandits: Bonnie - about 60, Clyde - about 50.

Haymer was able to achieve this by studying the traffic patterns of the criminals. They constantly crossed the borders of the five midwestern states, taking advantage of the fact that the officers of one state did not have jurisdiction in another, and the FBI was not yet as powerful as it is today. Barrow was a master of this technique, however, unlike John Dillinger, who was active throughout the Midwest, Clyde was more consistent in his movements, so that an experienced hunter like Haymer was able to chart their intended route.

Later, Frank Haymer will tell reporters: “It's a pity that I killed the girl. I liked her so much. We even had an affair ... However, it was initially doomed to a sad outcome "

Funeral

Bonnie and Clyde wanted to be buried together, but Bonnie's family would not let this happen. Initially, Bonnie was buried in Fishtrap Cemetery in Dallas, but in 1945 she was transferred to Crown Hill Memorial Park. More than twenty thousand people attended Bonnie's funeral. On her grave there is an inscription left by her mother:

"As all flowers are made more fragrant by sunlight and dew, so this old world is made brighter by lives like yours."

Clyde was buried in Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas next to his brother Marvin.

Bonnie and Clyde's insurance payments were paid in full. Since then, the payment policy has changed: they were no longer paid if the insured died as a result of a crime.

Further fates of the participants in the events

Immediately after the shooting of Bonnie and Clyde's car, the squad began to examine their belongings; of these, Haymer appropriated an "impressive" arsenal of stolen weapons and ammunition and a box of fishing tackle. Alcorn took Clyde's saxophone, but later, ashamed, returned it to the Barrow family. Other personal items, such as Bonnie's clothes, were also taken from the place of death, and when the Parker family asked for them back, they were refused. Later, these things were sold as souvenirs. Sheriff Jordan was rumored to have appropriated a suitcase full of cash in the car. He also tried to keep the car for himself, but the owner of the car, Ruth Warren, filed a lawsuit against him. By court order, Jordan returned Mrs. Warren's car.

In February 1934, twenty people, family members and friends of Bonnie and Clyde, were arrested on charges of harboring and assisting criminals. All twenty were found guilty. The mothers of both were sentenced to 30 days in prison; others were sentenced from an hour in jail for Clyde's teenage sister Mary Barrow to two years in jail for Raymond Hamilton's brother Floyd. Other defendants included Blanche Barrow, W. D. Jones, Henry Methvin, and Bonnie's sister Billy.

Blanche spent the rest of the 30s in prison. When she was arrested, she weighed only 37 kg.

Blanche Barrow was blinded by shrapnel in her left eye. After her arrest at Dexfield Park, she was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was released for good behavior in 1939. She left her criminal past behind and returned to Dallas, where she looked after her disabled father. In 1940, she married Eddie Fraser; she also worked as a taxi dispatcher and beautician. They lived on friendly terms with her husband until his death in 1969. She died in 1988 at the age of 77.

Raymond Hamilton and Joe Palmer were caught and charged with murder. They were executed by electric chair on the same day: May 10, 1935.

WD Jones first found work in Houston, but was soon discovered and arrested. He gave testimony that sheds light on the gang's sex life. This sparked a wave of rumors about Clyde's undefined orientation. Jones was charged with the murder of Doyle Johnson and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was killed in 1974 by George Arthur Jones, the jealous boyfriend of the woman he was trying to help. George Jones later committed suicide with the same shotgun that he used to shoot WD Jones.

Henry Methvin was charged with the murder of Constable Campbell at Commerce. He was released early in 1942. In 1948 he was killed by a train. It is believed that he fell asleep on the rails while intoxicated. Bonnie Parker's husband Roy Thornton was killed by guards while escaping Eastham Prison in 1937.

- famous American robbers who operated during the Great Depression. The expression has become a household name for lovers involved in criminal activities. Killed by FBI agents.

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. When Bonnie was four years old, her father, a bricklayer by profession, died, and her mother and three children moved to a suburb of Dallas. Despite the fact that her family lived in poverty, Bonnie did well in school, especially doing well in literature.

On September 25, 1926, fifteen-year-old Bonnie, an attractive petite girl (with a height of 150 cm, she weighed only 41 kg), married a certain Roy Thornton.

In 1927, Bonnie began working as a waitress at Café Marco in East Dallas.

The relationship between the spouses did not work out. A year after his marriage, he began to disappear regularly for long weeks, and in January 1929 they parted. Soon after the breakup (there was no official divorce, and Bonnie wore an engagement ring to death) Thornton went to prison for five years.

Clyde Barrow

Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909 near Teliko, Texas. He was the fifth child in a family of seven or eight children, his parents were poor farmers.

At 16, Clyde dropped out of school. He begins to work, but does not stay in any place for a long time. He is more and more interested in cars. Plays the saxophone. The police first arrested Clyde for stealing a car in 1926. A second arrest soon followed - after Clyde, along with his brother Buck, committed theft of turkeys.

In 1928 he left home and moved in with a friend. A few months later, Clyde decides to start organizing thefts on his own. His first raid is on a game room in Fort Bend County, where he threatens with a broken pistol and disarms two guards. This is followed by a failed night burglary attempt.

In late 1929 - early 1930, Clyde and Buck are wanted by the police in many cities, it is at this time that he meets Bonnie Parker.

The 30s are the years of depression in the United States. January 13, 1930 Clyde Barrow walks into a Dallas eatery, shortly after his release from the colony - he is served by a cute blonde waitress, as yet unknown to anyone, Bonnie Parker. What happened between them? What kind of unknown force pulled them to each other? Love at first sight or a sudden outbreak of passion? Hardly: Perhaps Clyde seduced Bonnie with stories about the romance of a life of robbery, about unlimited freedom and power that can be achieved with weapons in hand? This is closer to the truth. Bonnie is sick and tired of vegetating in a lousy cafe, she has long hated boorish customers and trays with dirty dishes. Bonnie didn’t want to work hard for a penny in a cheap eatery, be married to a poor worker, give birth to children who would then have nothing to feed.

I wanted to add other colors to the dull everyday life. The variety did not work: Bonnie's life still remained monotonous, although the gray color changed to scarlet - the color of human blood ... "A little blonde lump", as Bonnie wrote about herself in her diary, excited exciting stories about the life of a reckless vagabond that Clyde told her. As a woman, she was of little interest to the leader of the gang. He changed his sexual orientation while still in prison and lost two toes under unclear circumstances. Bonnie was content with love affairs with other gang members. They fueled their friendship with stories of robberies and violent fights.

But we will sin against the truth if we say that Clyde and Bonnie were cold and dispassionate. They were passionate about weapons. Together they often went out of town and organized a shooting range. Perhaps, accurate shooting from all types of weapons became the only science (Bonnie and Clyde were illiterate and did not even complete their primary education) in which they achieved excellence.

The sweet couple loved to be photographed with weapons: Bonnie with a pistol in her hands and a cigarette in her mouth posed in front of the lenses. Clyde with a rifle in the photographs looked simpler - he lacked the artistry of his girlfriend. Bonnie admired the pistols her admirer carried in a holster under his coat and the power that came from the death-bearing barrels.

Bonnie and Clyde's gang

They soon began to work together. Their deadly odyssey began with the robbery of an arms depot in Texas in the spring of 1930. There they armed themselves to the teeth. The legend of the ‘Robingoods’, lightening the wallets of the moneybags, is untenable: the couple mostly robbed eateries, shops, petrol stations. By the way, in those days there was no way to make much money from robbing banks - the Great Depression raked out all the big money from the banks, and Clyde's gang sometimes got more by robbing a roadside shop. But sometimes even $ 10 was not collected at the box office.

The scenario of robberies was usually as follows: Bonnie was driving a car, Clyde rushed in and took the proceeds, then on the move, firing back, jumped into the car. If someone tried to resist, he immediately received a bullet. However, they ruthlessly removed innocent bystanders as well. They were not just robbers, they were murderers, and on their account were both ordinary people like the owners of small shops and gas stations, and the police, whom Clyde preferred to kill in order to avoid prison.

One day, the criminals kidnapped the sheriff, stripped them off and, having tied them up, threw them on the sidelines with the words: 'Tell your people that we are not. Get in the position of people trying to cope with this damn depression. '

Bonnie and Clyde, 1932

After the murder of the very first police officer who decided to check the documents of the suspicious couple from the car, there was nothing to lose: now they were probably facing a death sentence. Therefore, Bonnie and Clyde went all out and, without hesitation, fired at people in any situation, even when they were practically not threatened. On August 5, 1932, two police officers spotted Clyde at a village party. When they asked him to come, the bandit put both of them on the spot. A month later, while breaking through police posts on the road, the gang shot twelve law enforcers. Pretty soon, more people joined their gang: Clyde's older brother Buck with his wife Blanche and a young boy S.W. Moss, whom they picked up at some gas station, seducing the "free life" romantics from the high road. And also Bonnie's lover Raymond Hamilton, to whom Clyde also showed special feelings ...

Therefore, there was no unearthly love between Bonnie and Clyde by definition, although there was no doubt that they were really very devoted to each other: Bonnie at one time pulled Clyde out of prison, passing him a weapon on a date, and Clyde later, when the police detained Bonnie, he fought off his girlfriend by impudently attacking the police station. The murders aroused the bloody couple more than sex or alcohol. Whiskey was drunk at night, and Bonnie wrote pompous romantic poems in which she mourned her fate ... and amused herself with accomplices. They were united by the desire to live life cheerfully and brightly, and also brought together a pathological passion for murder: that Bonnie, that Clyde killed people because they liked to do it. One of the gang members, a certain Jones, said during interrogation: “These two are monsters. I've never seen anyone enjoy killing so much. ”

Bonnie and Clyde, 1932

Once in Kansas, Bonnie first saw a poster "Wanted by the Police" with her picture. The fact that she and Clyde became "celebrities" shocked Bonnie so much that she immediately sent a dozen letters to major newspapers with pictures that she and Clyde took on their criminal path. Bonnie, by all means available to her, supported the version that she and Clyde were fighters for justice. After all, the banks they rob are owned by those in power, not poor farmers and small businessmen. Later, her works were published in newspapers:

The savage morals of the raiders, their unbridled passions and base desires terrified people. Of course, the police were constantly on the hunt for them. However, for the time being, Barrow's gang was incredibly lucky, and they managed to slip out of the most cunning police traps. However, it was not only a matter of luck. Bonnie and Clyde had absolutely nothing to lose, so any attempts by the police to get this gang ran into a terrible leaden rain of ‘Tommy Guns’ ...

At the very beginning of his criminal career, Clyde was arrested. The first time he escaped with the help of Bonnie, the second time the governor of the state succumbed to the tearful pleas of his mother and Clyde was released from prison on parole (!) In 1933, when photographs of Bonnie and Clyde with the words 'Wanted by the Police' adorned the streets of cities in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the bandits were identified by the owner of the house they had filmed.

All the police forces of the city of Lawton were thrown to capture the gang, but after a fierce shootout in which Clyde's brother Bob was killed, the criminals managed to escape into the nearby forest. The bloody couple miraculously escaped the encirclement and moved to Texas to meet with Clyde's mother. Then they were ambushed: the sheriff's men had been following Cammy Barrow for a long time. Bonnie and Clyde received only scratches, but the car in which they ran away from the cops looked like a sieve from the bullets. Having licked their wounds, the Barrow gang again took the ‘main road’. And again the criminal terror was started: murders, car thefts, robberies. The FBI took over the hijackers. The head of department, Edward Hoover, called Clyde an enraged animal, all forces were ordered to fire to kill. The hunt has begun ...

Texas Sheriff Frank Hamer still crossed the path of a love couple. He analyzed each of their attacks, created maps and diagrams of their movements over the years, studied all the places of the raids and the paths they chose. "I wanted to penetrate their devilish designs," he said, "and I did it." For several months he and his assistants tracked down Bonnie and Clyde. But the criminals left right under the nose. Finally, the father of one of the gang members, Henry Methvin, in exchange for pardoning his son, offered his help in the capture. Henry Methvin gave the police the key to the house where the criminals were hiding. The house was surrounded by two dense circles of policemen, all entrances to it were blocked.

Death of Bonnie and Clyde

On the morning of May 23, 1934, a stolen Ford appeared on the road. The driver was wearing dark glasses, and a woman in a new red dress was sitting next to him. In the car were hidden two thousand rounds of ammunition, three rifles, twelve pistols, two pump-action shotguns and: a saxaphone. And yet they had nothing to hope for. The sheriff's car moved towards them. Hamer got out of the car and ordered the bandits to surrender. Clyde immediately grabbed the rifle, Bonnie - the revolver. But they hardly managed to make at least one shot. Lead hail fell on the car. More than five hundred bullets pierced the bodies of the gangsters, and they were literally torn to pieces, while the police continued to pour deadly fire on the riddled car ...

The front pages of American newspapers were filled with reports of death. The mutilated bodies of the criminals were put on public display in the morgue, and those who wish could have a look at them for one dollar. There were quite a lot of curious people ... Photos of the killed bandits were published by all the newspapers. America breathed a sigh of relief. The inscription on her gravestone Bonnie reads: "As flowers bloom under the rays of the sun and the freshness of dew, so the world becomes brighter thanks to people like you."