Bonnie and Clyde’s days were slowly getting numbered. Their last few robberies occurred in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. They had to be extremely careful, realizing that they can get recognized, as had happened in Missouri and Iowa that left multiple casualties. The couple would sleep in their car during the night and drive during the day to avoid scrutiny. With bad luck, the couple were setup in Grand Prairie, Texas in November 1933 by the Dallas Texas Rangers and deputies. They escaped the officers’ bullets and reached an attorney on the freeway. They held him up at gunpoint and fled with his car, towards Louisiana. The couple were already accustomed to their situations, always too close for comfort.1
Bonnie and Clyde met in Texas in January, 1930. Before that time, Clyde was born into a family of a poor farmer. Clyde had a passion for music and at one point was considering to pursue a career in music. Influenced negatively by his older brother Buck, and a shady family friend, Clyde went from learning how to play instruments to stealing cars. Bonnie was very similar to Clyde when growing up, as she also had a love for music and acting. She always had a dream of performing on the silver screen. When Bonnie was nineteen, she was married to Roy Thornton, who was just another criminal. Clyde who was twenty-one and unmarried, was already sent to prison a little while after the couple met. He was able to escape with the help of Bonnie, who had snuck him a gun, but he was later recaptured and sent back to prison. Clyde was paroled in February 1932, and rejoined Bonnie to resume their life of crime with each other.2
With the capture of the couple’s friend “Jones” (who rode with the couple for eight months) on November 16, 1933, law enforcement learned of the close ties Bonnie and Clyde had with their families. This resulted in another ambush attempt, which led to putting their mothers in danger. Clyde was furious and decided to retaliate by being focused on the East Ham Prison Farm.3 In January 1934, Clyde broke out an old friend, Raymond Hamilton, who had previously been a part of the Barrow gang. A guard was killed and multiple prisoners escaped. Among those prisoners was Henry Methvin, who had begun riding with Bonnie and Clyde. The crime spree began once again, to include the brutal murder of two motorcycle cops, who were parked and waiting for an Easter meeting with family members. Henry Methvin got spooked and shot at the first cop, then Clyde shot the second cop. By mid-afternoon they played dead by their motorcycle on what was then a country road off Texas 114. But the end was near.
Referring to the importance of values Bonnie and Clyde had with their families, the Rangers once again set up another ambush. This ambush would involve Methvin’s family this time. When police learned that Methvin had split up from the couple on the evening of May 19, 1934, they realized this was a huge opportunity. Police assumed they would search for Henry at his father’s farm, so they planned an ambush along the road that the outlaws were expected to take. The six rangers confiscated Iverson Methvin’s truck (Henry Methvin’s father) and removed one of its tires, then placed it alongside highway 164, which is between Sailes and Gibsland, LA. They figured if Clyde saw the truck, they would slow down and want to investigate. Sure enough, they were right. At 9:15 am on May 23, 1934, they saw Clyde’s stolen Ford v8 slow down while approaching the truck. The officers opened fire at the car, killing Bonnie and Clyde instantly. About 130 bullets were fired at the car, blowing a hole in the back of Clyde’s head and shooting off Bonnie’s right hand.4
Bonnie’s wish was to be buried next to Clyde, but their families had different wishes. Although they created a romantic image of two young lovers running from the big, bad cops, Clyde’s driving skills, Bonnie’s poetry, and her beauty, it was destroyed by the truth. Though they often captured police who caught up to them and let them off unharmed hours and hundreds of miles later, they killed thirteen people, some bystanders slain during bungled robberies.5 They really never got away with much money when they robbed banks. Bonnie and Clyde were desperate criminals, sleeping in their most recently stolen car and constantly fearing death in a hail of bullets from a police ambush. Still, they were the stuff of legends.
- Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2019, s.v. “Bonnie and Clyde,” by John Phillip Jenkins. ↵
- Jeff Guinn, “The Irresistible Bonnie Parker,” Smithsonian (website), April 2009. ↵
- Pauline Kael, “ Bonnie and Clyde,” The New Yorker, October 1967. ↵
- John Treherne, The Strange History of Bonnie and Clyde ( New York: Stein and Day, 1985) 143-151. ↵
- Karen Blumenthal, Bonnie and Clyde: The making of a legend (New York: Vikings Children Books, 2018), 51-56. ↵
70 comments
Aiden Dingle
I think that the story of Bonnie and Clyde is an interesting story. I never really knew that they weren’t successful criminals, I always thought that they were moderately successful. The only thing that heard about Bonnie and Clyde was how they were in love and how the police shot them down while they were in their car. However, since they weren’t very successful I wonder about how they got this famous.
Kennedy Arcos
This article was very interesting. Before reading, I only knew the bare minimum about these two lovers. It was shocking to me that they really didn’t gain too much from the crimes they were committing. I also found it interesting to learn about how they would make their escapes. Another thing I found crazy was how the cops felt the need to go on a shooting spree in order to stop them.
Matthew Avila
it’s cool to read the story behind the legendary duo especially because it takes place in Dallas (where I’m from). They got what they deserve but I do think it’s a bit too harsh to unload one hundred and thirty bullets on two people. I mean come on, Bonnie got her hand blown off. this is a great article, it’s short but it’s very informative.
Davis Nickle
I really enjoyed how this article not only covered the story of Bonnie and Clyde but also stripped away the mysticism that shrouded the story. The last paragraph giving a down to Earth view of how the couple was afraid every day and were desperately sleeping in stolen cars to avoid notice really showed me how dire the situation was for them. I was also shocked by how the police shot their car 130 times, I can definitely see why this couple is so legendary.
Juliana Montoya
Bonnie and Clyde have always been an iconic duo in the history of crime, especially since they were a couple. The article very informative in the couple’s different but somewhat similar backgrounds. The couple was very comfortable with the criminal life and it was very interesting to read about how they evolved as criminals together.
Sara Guerrero
Never heard about Bonnie and Clyde maybe in my head I thought it was a legend, but I can’t believe the persistence of these two lovers to get away with what they did. The photo of their bodies is haunting in my view just seeing them lifeless and reading the crimes they had done. I feel sadness for their families and wondering if they thought they had done something to make Bonnie and Clyde criminals. Interesting read.
Melanie Fraire
I’m familiar with who Bonnie and Clyde were and what they did but I never knew the details of their lives. It’s interesting how they both had a troubling life since the beginning and they both had a dream to be in the music/acting industry. I also think it’s interesting how they had friends willingly riding along with them knowing the dangers they faced.
Yuliana Vasquez
This is my first time actually hearing the story of Bonnie and Clyde and it was actually really interesting to know that they were lovers and criminals. I always saw people people dress up as them and hold guns but I never had a clue about their story. Also the way they hunted them down and shot them 130 times just to make sure they wouldn’t escape was intense.
Brandon Torres
I really love how the fiction aspect of Bonnie and Clydes ultimate robbery spree was torn down in this article! For ages, people often connect Bonnie and Clyde to sly tactics, genius planning, an undeniable love bond, and the “hundreds of thousands of dollars ” in their possession. This is forged into a true instance of what actually happened (as stated by the author exposing that the couple really never left banks with unholy amounts of money) and the ultimate aura throughout the entire article was that their luck was surely running out. Although they are still regarded with their legendary charisma and violence, let it be known that they still played the game and lost in the end.
Ana Jimenez de la Garza
The story of Bonnie and Clyde has always fascinated me. Often portrayed as a tragic love story, this article truly summarizes the facts of what they actually did, which in this case was murder and how they always evaded the police constantly until their untimely demise. Loved it!