Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March. 24th 1909. He was the son of a poor farmer and started committing petty thefts as early as 1924 and was arrested for car theft (a crime he would repeatedly commit) and stealing turkeys. His crimes steadily increased in their violent nature until petty robberies of gas stations, grocery stores, and car thefts were replaced by bank robberies and murder.
CLYDE ESCALATES TO MURDER:
Clyde worked with various criminals before forming his own gang. Up until this time Barrow could be classified as a petty thief whose chances of becoming a career criminal were almost certain. But the fact that he became a hardened man-killer was a little more surprising.
He was the driver in a store robbery where the victim was shot and killed. He was identified as one of the robbers by the victims wife and was on the run. In 1932 Clyde murdered a merchant (J.W. Butcher) during a heist and never looked back or hesitated to pull the trigger thereafter.
THE BARROW GANG:
Clyde met the love of his life (Bonnie Parker) in 1930 and she would forever be by his side throughout the rest of his short life and stand beside him and support him even though he became one of the most infamous bandits of his era and would ultimately be directly or indirectly responsible for the shooting deaths of nine police officers.
Clyde's brother Buck and his spouse Blanche became members of the gang upon his release from prison in March of 1933 and along with a revolving fifth member of the gang (Raymond Hamilton & later Bill Jones) the gang continued to commit bold larceny and hold up banks.
The gang made national headlines and were involved in several harrowing shootouts with lawmen across the country. Many lawmen lost their lives in these intense and fateful encounters and in July of 1933 in Iowa Buck was fatally shot by police and Blanche and gunman Jones were captured.
THE EASTHAM PRISON BREAK:
After the disastrous events in Iowa, Clyde and Bonnie continued on alone. But in January of 1934 they orchestrated a daring and deadly prison break in Waldo, Texas and freed old pal Raymond Hamilton who was serving 200 years for various crimes and four other prisoners from the Eastham State Prison Farm killing two guards in the process.
The raids and a fresh new murder spree continued unabated with Clyde gunning down two highway patrol officers near Grapevine, Texas on April 1st of 1934 and an Oklahoma Constable five days later, and the violence temporarily abated after the kidnapping of a police chief, who was later released alive.
THE FATAL SETUP AND END OF THE PUBLIC ENEMY ERA:
Henry Methvin was one of the prisoners who had been sprung by Bonnie and Clyde and became a friend and confidant. The Methvin family provided shelter and a safe resting and hiding place for the gang. In April of 1934 the F.B.I. became aware of the fact that the Methvin family had ties to the fugitives.
Texas Ranger Frank Hamer who was in charge of apprehending the Barrow Gang struck a deal with Henry’s family which gave clemency to Henry Methvin in exchange for helping law enforcement set up an ambush for Barrow.
On May 23rd 1934 Bonnie and Clyde drove unexpectingly into a roadside ambush consisting of Louisiana police officers and Texas Rangers. The concealed posse members surprised the deadly duo and when they tried to turn their car around and evade capture once again their car was riddled with clouds of gunfire.
Clyde Barrow was dead at the age of twenty-five and his constant companion Bonnie Parker was shot dead at the young age of twenty-three. The posse didn’t take any chances at all, and who could blame them with the death toll of police officers attributed to the Barrow Gang at nine.
With the death of Barrow and Parker and later on that same year John Dillinger, the age of the “Public Enemy” depression era bandits came to a bloody close.
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Jim Osborn - http://bigcasinosplace.blogspot.com I'm a Freelance Writer from Reno, Nevada. I have degree's in Business Administration and ...
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