Bonnie and Clyde: The Story of a Myth. Bonnie and Clyde - who is Bonnie and Clyde story in short
American robbers Bonnie and Clyde were villainous during the economic crisis in the United States - the Great Depression. These names are now often used to refer to any lovers involved in criminal activities, although in fact there was little tenderness in the relationship between Bonnie and Clyde.
Raider with a broken gun
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. When Bonnie was four years old, her father, a bricklayer by profession, died, and her mother moved to the suburbs of Dallas with three children. The family lived in poverty. And on September 25, 1926, 15-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 in a cafe in East Dallas. Relations between the spouses did not work out. A year after his marriage, he began to regularly disappear for long weeks, and already in January 1929 they broke up. Shortly after the breakup (there was no official divorce, and Bonnie wore a wedding ring to her death), Thornton went to prison for five years.
Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born March 24, 1909 near Telico, Texas. He was the fifth child in a family of seven or eight children, his parents were poor farmers. At 16, Clyde leaves school. He starts to work, but does not stay in one place for a long time. He is becoming 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 the theft of turkeys.
In 1928, he leaves home and settles with a friend. A few months later, Clyde decides to organize the thefts on his own. His first raid is on a gambling hall in Fort Bend County, where he disarms two guards at gunpoint with a broken gun. This is followed by a failed nighttime burglary attempt. In late 1929 and early 1930, Clyde and Buck are wanted by the police in many cities, that's when he meets Bonnie Parker.
Tired of vegetating in a lousy cafe
January 13, 1930 Clyde Barrow, shortly after being released from prison, enters a Dallas diner. He is served by a pretty blond waitress, as yet unknown to anyone, Bonnie Parker. What happened between them? What unknown force pulled them to each other? Love at first sight or sudden passion? Hardly. Or did Clyde seduce Bonnie with stories about the romance of robbery, about the unlimited freedom and power that can be achieved with weapons in hand? This is closer to the truth.
Bonnie was sick and tired of living in a lousy cafe, she had long hated boorish customers and trays of dirty dishes. Working hard for a penny in a cheap eatery, being married to a poor worker, having children who then would have nothing to feed - Bonnie did not want to. I wanted to bring other colors into the faded everyday life. Diversity did not work out: Bonnie's life still remained monotonous, however, the gray color changed to scarlet - the color of human blood ...
“Little blond lump,” as Bonnie wrote about herself in her diary, excited the exciting stories about the life of a reckless tramp that Clyde told her. As a woman, she was of little interest to the leader of the gang. He changed his sexual orientation while in prison. Bonnie was content with love affairs with other members of the gang. They fueled their friendship with stories of robberies and violent fights.
But we would err on the side of truth if we said that Clyde and Bonnie were cold and impassive. They were passionate about weapons. Together, they often went out of town and set up a shooting range. Perhaps, marksmanship 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 perfection.
The sweet couple loved to be photographed with weapons: Bonnie, with a gun 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 suitor wore in a coat holster and the power that came from the deadly guns.
Ruthlessly removed witnesses
They soon began working together. Their deadly journey began with the robbery of an armory in Texas in the spring of 1930. There they armed themselves to the teeth. The legend of the noble robbers, facilitating the wallets of moneybags, is untenable: the couple mainly robbed eateries, shops, gas stations. By the way, it was impossible to make big money on bank robberies in those days - the Great Depression raked all the big money out of the banks, and Clyde's gang sometimes got more by robbing some roadside shop. But sometimes even 10 dollars was not collected at the box office.
The robbery scenario was usually as follows: Bonnie was driving a car, Clyde broke in and took the proceeds, then jumped into the car on the go, shooting back. If someone tried to resist, then he immediately received a bullet. However, they ruthlessly removed innocent bystanders. Bonnie and Clyde were not just robbers, they were murderers, and on their account there were both ordinary people like owners of small shops and gas stations, and policemen, whom Clyde preferred to kill in order to avoid prison. One day, the criminals kidnapped the sheriff, stripped him and, having tied him up, threw him on the side of the road with the words: “Tell your people that we are not a gang of murderers. Get into the position of people trying to survive this damn depression."
After the murder of the first policeman who decided to check the documents of a suspicious couple, there was nothing to lose: now they were probably waiting for 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 in danger.
On August 5, 1932, two policemen spotted Clyde at a village feast. When they asked him to come up, the bandit put both of them down on the spot. A month later, breaking through police posts on the road, the gang shot 12 guardians of the law.
Devotion without love
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" of romantics from the main road. And also Bonnie's lover Raymond Hamilton, to whom Clyde also showed special feelings ...
Therefore, no unearthly love arose between Bonnie and Clyde, but there was no doubt that they were really very devoted to each other: Bonnie at one time pulled Clyde out of prison, passing him weapons on a date, and Clyde later, when the police apprehended Bonnie, recaptured her friend by brazenly attacking the police station. The murders excited the bloody couple more than sex or alcohol.
At night they drank whiskey, and Bonnie wrote pompous romantic poems in which she lamented her fate and had fun with accomplices. They were united by the desire to live life cheerfully and brightly, and also brought together by 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."
Once in Kansas, Bonnie first saw a Wanted by Police poster with her image. 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 belong to the powerful, not to poor farmers and small businessmen.
The wild customs of the raiders, their unbridled passions and base desires terrified people. Of course, the police were constantly hunting for the gang. However, for the time being, the Barrow gang was incredibly lucky, and they managed to slip out of the most ingenious police traps. However, it wasn't just luck. Bonnie and Clyde had absolutely nothing to lose, so any attempt by the cops to get this gang ran into a terrible lead shower of pistols.
500 bullets in the bodies of gangsters
In 1933, when photographs of Bonnie and Clyde adorned the streets of cities in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, the owner of the house they rented identified the gangsters. All 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 hide in the nearby forest. The bloody couple miraculously escaped from the encirclement and moved to Texas to meet with Clyde's mother. Here they were ambushed: the sheriff's people had been watching Cammy Barrow for a long time. Bonnie and Clyde received only scratches, but the car in which they fled from the cops became like a sieve from bullets.
Having licked their wounds, the Barrow gang again took up dirty deeds. And the criminal terror began again: murders, car thefts, robberies. The FBI took over the raiders. The head of the department, Edward Hoover, called Clyde a mad animal, all forces were ordered to fire to kill. The hunt has begun...
Texas Sheriff Frank 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 that the bandits chose. "I wanted to penetrate their diabolical plans," he said, "and I did it." For several months, he and his assistants tracked down Bonnie and Clyde. But the criminals left right from under the nose.
Finally, the father of one of the gang members, Henry Metvin, offered his help in the capture in exchange for pardoning his son. Henry Methvin gave the police the key to the house where the criminals were hiding. The house was surrounded by two dense rings of policemen, all entrances to it were blocked.
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. Two thousand rounds of ammunition, three rifles, 12 pistols, two pump-action shotguns and ... a saxophone were hidden in the car. Still, they had no hope.
The sheriff's car drove towards them. Hamer got out of the car and ordered the bandits to surrender. Clyde immediately grabbed his rifle, Bonnie - for a revolver. But they hardly managed to fire at least one shot. Lead hail hit the car. 500 bullets pierced the bodies of the gangsters, and they were literally torn apart, and the police continued to pour deadly fire on the riddled car ...
The front pages of American newspapers were filled with reports of the death of Bonnie and Clyde. The mutilated bodies of the criminals were put on public display in the morgue, and those who wished for one dollar could look at them. There were quite a few curious people ... Photos of the killed bandits were published by all the newspapers. America breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the inscription on Bonnie's gravestone, left by her mother, is not at all reproachful: "As flowers bloom under the rays of the sun and the freshness of dew, so the world becomes brighter thanks to people like you."
2016-01-03 11:18:23A lot of stories about Bonnie and Clyde have been written, which of them is the most truthful - probably no one knows. This one is the most plausible in my opinion. I suggest you take a look..
Probably each of us at least vaguely heard about this couple. She was highly romanticized as two lovers fighting the system. It's hard to say who they really were, but in general, it's interesting to read about them. If only because there were really not many such bright couples.
Bonnie and Clyde are famous American robbers active during the Great Depression. Killed in 1934 by FBI agents. Bonnie was 24 at the time of the murder, Clyde was 25.
Bonnie was born into a poor mason and seamstress family with three children. Clyde comes from a family of poor farmers with seven children. Bonnie studied well, was a fashionista, wrote poetry. Clyde, apparently, did not shine with education.
Everything in their life happened extremely quickly and concentrated.
Bonnie left school at the age of 15. She got married at 16. At 17, she got a job as a waitress. At 18, she separated from her husband. At 22, she met Clyde, and away we go…
In the photo: Bonnie and her first husband, whom she, by the way, never divorced.
Clyde stole a car at the age of 17 (rented and did not return), for which he was arrested. A little later, he stole turkeys, and was arrested again. At the age of 18-20, he began to crack safes, rob shops and steal cars, for which he was sent to prison at the age of 21. There he was raped. Clyde killed the rapist. In the same place, Clyde lost two toes, which he chopped off in protest against the orders that prevailed in this institution.
It is believed that it was in prison that Clyde finally "ripened". His sister Mary said: "Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same." Ralph Fults, who served his sentence at the same time as Clyde, said that before his eyes he turned from a schoolboy into a "rattlesnake." At 23, Clyde was released early, after which he met Bonnie, and away we go ...
They had only two years of life left, during which they had to have time to become famous as frostbitten killers and robbers, about whom many legends would then be made, films would be made, and their names would become household names.
Bonnie and Clyde are usually represented as romantic lovers who were devoted to each other to the end. But there are also some other opinions.
According to some sources, it is believed that Clyde was a homosexual. According to others, it is stated that Bonnie and Clyde were lovers, but at the same time entered into sexual relations with other members of the gang. For example, it is known that Roy Hamilton (pictured) was the lover of both.
And then Roy also brought a girlfriend to the gang, because of which relations within the team escalated to the limit. By the way, Raymond Hamilton was sentenced to 264 years in prison for drunkenly shooting the sheriff and his deputies.
In the photo: Hamilton's girlfriend, whom he, by his own admission, loved more than anyone in the world, with the exception of his mother.
Based on such "free" relationships and Clyde's difficult orientation, some people believe that 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 by handing him weapons on a date, and Clyde later, when the police detained Bonnie, repulsed her friend by impudently attacking the police station .
Yes, and Bonnie's mother, Emma Parker, said: “I immediately knew that there was something between them when Bonnie introduced him to me. I saw it in her eyes, in the way she held onto his jacket sleeve.”
It is believed that Bonnie became the think tank of the gang and thanks to her, the crimes reached a new level. Nevertheless, they explained their crimes, of course, not by their bloodthirstiness or passion for profit, but by "hard fate" and "struggle against the system." Here, for example, are Bonnie's poems that she wrote during that period:
"Now Bonnie and Clyde - the famous duo,
All the newspapers are talking about them.
After their "work" there are no witnesses,
Only the stench of death remains.
But there are many false words about them,
And they are not so cruel.
They hate snitches and liars
And the law is their mortal enemy.”
One day, the criminals kidnapped the sheriff, stripped him and, having tied him up, threw him on the side of the road with the words: “Tell your people that we are not a gang of murderers. Get into the position of people trying to survive this damn depression."
“The country shuddered from cold murders,
And their cruelty is a grave sin,
But I knew Clyde back then
When he was like everyone else.
He was a good Texas guy simple,
Nothing to blame him for
But life was harsh with him
And pushed on the devil's path.
After they met, Bonnie and Clyde immediately became close. They often went out of town and learned to shoot accurately. Perhaps, marksmanship from all types of weapons has become the only science in which they have reached perfection.
They also liked to be photographed with weapons: with a pistol or rifle in their hands, they often posed in front of the lens. In fact, they took pictures all the time. And in 1933, fleeing from the police, the criminals left some things on the site of their dwelling - a series of photographs and Bonnie's poems about the difficult fate of highway robbers. The evidence was left "accidentally", but here's what's interesting.
The photographs were extremely poser: Bonnie and Clyde appeared as daring thugs with huge guns, cigars, fashionable outfits and a cool car in the background.
Bonnie's poems told about love and the expectation of an imminent death under police bullets. After all this was published in the newspaper, the popularity of Bonnie and Clyde skyrocketed - they became the main characters of gossip columns.
Once in Kansas, Bonnie first saw a Wanted by Police poster with her image. 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.
In general, they loved to promote. Actually, that's why they eventually became so famous.
“If suddenly a policeman is killed in Dallas
And the "cops" have no clue,
The real killer will not be revealed
Bonnie and Clyde carry the answer.
If suddenly the couple decides to calm down
And rent an apartment
In a couple of days they will get tired of life,
And again with a gun in his hand.
And he somehow confessed bitterly to me:
“I won’t see an age of freedom.
My life will end on a hellish fire,
And there will be retribution!”
Everything is darker and more terrible unreliable way,
More and more senseless struggle.
Let's get rich someday
But never free!
They didn't think they were the strongest
After all, the law cannot be defeated!
And that death will be retribution for sin,
They both knew for sure.
They started by robbing an arms depot in Texas. There they were armed to the teeth. After that, they began to rob eateries, shops, gas stations. By the way, in those days there was not much money to be made from robbing banks - the Great Depression raked all the big money out of the banks, and the gang sometimes received more by robbing some roadside shop.
The robbery scenario was usually as follows: Bonnie was driving, Clyde broke in and took the proceeds, then on the go, shooting back, he jumped into the car. If someone tried to resist, then he immediately received a bullet. However, they ruthlessly removed innocent bystanders. They were not just robbers, they were murderers, and on their account were both ordinary people like owners of small shops and gas stations, and policemen, whom Clyde preferred to kill in order to avoid arrest.
After the murder of the first policeman who decided to check the documents of a suspicious couple in a car, there was nothing to lose: now they were probably waiting for 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 in danger. On August 5, 1932, two policemen spotted Clyde at a village feast. When they asked him to come up, the bandit put both of them down on the spot. A month later, breaking through the police posts on the road, the gang shot twelve guardians of the law.
Of course, they were constantly hunted by the police. However, for the time being they were incredibly lucky. However, they had absolutely nothing to lose, so any attempts by the police to get this gang ran into shooting.
However, the father of one of the gang members, in exchange for pardoning his son, offered his help in catching the criminals. He gave the police the key to the house where Bonnie and Clyde were hiding. The house was surrounded by two dense rings of police officers, all the entrances to it were blocked.
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. Two thousand cartridges, three rifles, twelve pistols, two pump-action shotguns and ... a saxophone were hidden in the car. It was Bonnie and Clyde. Apparently, they still hoped to escape. However, they did not succeed. Without having time to fire a single shot, they were shot dead by the police. They write that more than five hundred bullets pierced the bodies of the gangsters, and they were almost torn to pieces.
“Let you suffer from the pains of the heart,
And death will carry away the decrepit.
But with the misfortunes of Bonnie and Clyde fate
Do not compare your petty adversities!
The day will come and they will fall into eternal sleep
In the unmourned loose earth.
And the country and the law will breathe a sigh of relief,
Sending them into oblivion."
The mutilated bodies of the criminals were put on public display in the morgue, and those who wished for one dollar could look at them. There were quite a few curious people ... Photos of the killed bandits were published by all the newspapers.
After death, they became real symbols, like moths, who lived their lives in the fight against the law and poverty. And even on Bonnie's grave they wrote:
“As flowers bloom under the rays of the sun and the freshness of dew, so the world becomes brighter thanks to people like you”
What kind of alternatively gifted person guessed to write this on the killer's grave - one can only guess. According to one version, it was written by her mother. But it is very revealing in the sense that crime can be romanticized. People even make tattoos with their images. So you can imagine their popularity.
By the way, several films have been made about Bonnie and Clyde. But there is hardly anything interesting to see there. At least, judging by this photo, it shows nothing more than glamorous gangsters in love with each other.
The gangster story of love and crimes of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow began in the era of the Great Depression, when freedom-loving impudent natures did not want to drag out a miserable existence, but took up arms and went to the gangster business. In addition to the famous love couple, the gang included another half dozen people, including Clyde's older brother Buck and his wife Blanche. All members of the gang were killed or arrested, but it was Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who lasted the longest.
Interesting facts about the life of Bonnie and Clyde
1. The first time, Barrow was arrested for failing to return a rental car on time. It happened in 1926, when a young man rented a car to visit his girlfriend, and overstayed the contract. The rental agency dropped the theft charges, but a criminal case against Clyde Chesnut Barrow had already been filed. Soon his folder will be thick and soaked with blood.Photo Clyde Barrow (Clyde Barrow) from the police station
2. Instead of a malicious bandit, America could have received a heroic sailor, but the fleet refused a promising recruit because of the malaria he suffered in childhood, although the young man had already managed to fill himself with a tattoo “USN” - (United States Navy) and subsequently was very worried that he was rejected for military service.
3.
The mistress also had health problems after the bandits got into a serious accident on one of the back roads of Texas. The driver did not notice the sign about the repair of the bridge, only at the last moment leaving the collision and flying at a speed of over 100 km / h into a river ravine. Parker, who was sitting in the passenger seat, suffered the most when the acid ate away parts of her right leg right down to the bone. After the accident, the bandit moved with great difficulty and lameness. Although here they looked like a perfect couple, because in his youth in prison, Clyde cut off two of his toes to evade labor service. After his release, the former prisoner continued to limp.
Interesting articles
4. The famous raiders were very short - 150 cm (woman) and 162 cm (man).
5. Bonnie/Clyde are considered bank robbers in popular memory, although in fact they raided large financial institutions a limited number of times. The main business of the bandits was gas stations and small grocery stores, whose cash register was only $ 5-10.
6. Bullet-riddled with 150 bullets, the Ford V-8 in which the lovers died became a cult item and is still on display as a historical landmark in a Nevada casino.
7. The lovers wanted to be buried together, but their parents separated them after death. The mother did not approve of her daughter's relationship with the hardened raider and categorically forbade burying Bonnie and Clyde side by side.
Photos of Bonnie and Clyde
In the spring of 1933, the police covered the Barrow gang in a rented apartment in the city of Joplin. After a fierce shootout, the criminals managed to escape, but the apartment retained a huge collection of photos of Bonnie and Clyde, which the criminal lovers took at every opportunity. From early childhood, the future criminal showed love for the arts, poetry and the acting profession. Photography was a real passion for Parker, who loved to take theatrical poses in front of the camera alone, along with her beloved man and next to the car. The police found many such photographs in the apartment of the robbers and, by and large, this find became a key element in the hunt for robbers, because the whole country recognized their faces - a large-scale raid on the gang began, which now had to spend the night in cars, an open field or a dense forest and not on soft hotel bedspreads.Subscribe to our page facebook- it will be interesting!
Death of Bonnie and Clyde
Paying tribute to the experience of the Rangers, the main reason for the death of Bonnie and Clyde are strong family ties and love for parents, which the criminals kept until their death. Even after several years of robbery on the highway, the criminal couple constantly visited their parents, driving back and forth along the roads of Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Indiana, Louisiana, but always returning to their native Texas. It was on this that the gangsters got burned, because a team of Texas Rangers under the command of a seasoned captain Frank Hamer (17 of their own wounds and 53 confirmed kills of criminals in the career of a bandit hunter) figured out their route and ambushed them on a country road near the town of Bienville, Louisiana. On May 23, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by four Texas Rangers and two Louisiana police officers. Back in 1933, the authorities announced a reward not for the living persons of the raiders, but for their corpses, so the lawyers did not stand on ceremony. In two minutes, 167 bullets were fired into the criminals' car, 110 of which hit human targets, 60 hit a woman, and 50 hit a man. Thus ended the story of the most famous American crime duo of the 1930s.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a tendency in Russian culture 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 that - life is like that” - this deceptive thesis became the leitmotif of an entire era.
However, it should be recognized that the romanticization of crime has a long history, not only in our country, but also in the world. Often real villains after years and decades appear in the images of "romantic Robin Hoods", causing sympathy, not rejection.
The 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 in the lead roles has collected a large number of awards, including two statuettes "Oscar".
And what were Bonnie and Clyde really like before they became part of popular culture?
Good girl loves bad boys
Their history is directly linked to the Great Depression: a nearly decade-long economic crisis that bankrupted and plunged 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 would be called “thugs” in Russia in the 1990s: criminals who did not obey anyone and sowed chaos and death around themselves.
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 worked 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 a fighter, to whom those around him promised a place behind bars. Despite this, in September 1926 they got married. Bonnie got a job as a waitress.
The marriage bond lasted a year. Roy began to disappear from the house 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 nevertheless 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, first went to jail at age 16 when he did not return a rented car on time. He was quickly released, but was soon detained again along 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, 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 a 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." The mischievous and bully turned into a gloomy, 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 criminal couple believe that the reason was that Clyde was the victim of sexual abuse in prison. The young man liked one of the prisoners, who raped him several times. As a result, Clyde killed his offender.
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 home 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 a large family, she wanted to "have fun." Clyde Barrow liked Bonnie and could provide her with the "fun" she desired.
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. Revenge was to be a mass escape, which he intended to organize. To get money for it, the 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.
This outcome did not frighten Clyde, but only provoked him. August 5, 1932 Barrow, along with an accomplice Raymond Hamilton drinking in one of the bars in Stringtown. When the sheriff and his assistants appeared on the threshold of the establishment, the bandits shot them.
On October 11, Clyde cracked down on the owner of the store Howard Hall. The killer's prey was $28 and groceries.
Beginning of the legend
Bonnie was not afraid of the murders, but she told Clyde that these were all "toys", but 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 her from stealing.
Sixteen-year-old W.D. 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 known as the main "gangster hideout" in the United States. Three of them lived in a three-room apartment with a garage, and then five of them: Clyde's brother joined them Tank released from prison and his wife Blanche. They say 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 so happened that the legend of Bonnie and Clyde was born in Joplin. Creative nature haunted Bonnie, and she asked her accomplices to photograph her in various images. Clyde also got into the game.
The bandits did not take any precautions. The endless noisy fun began to annoy the neighbors. And when one day a shot rang out in the house (Clyde accidentally shot while cleaning weapons), they called the police.
Prohibition was in effect in the United States at that time, and the local police decided that we were talking about alcohol smugglers.
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 began at 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, clinging to which the newspapermen began to spin the story of a respectable gangster couple.
A decent woman doesn't wear pants.
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 badly.
Bonnie Parker posing with a revolver and a cigar. This is one of those photographs that created the wrong 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 sealed the windows with newspapers, bought food and alcohol for a large company. In addition, the owner did not like that Blanche Barrow, who was sent to deal with settlement issues, appeared before 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 at night the law enforcement officers attacked the motel. The criminals managed to escape, but Buck and Blanche Barrow were badly wounded.
The police were on their heels. They had to stop at an abandoned amusement park in Iowa, but they were spotted there as well. The police attacked the makeshift camp of bandits. Three managed to escape, and the Barrows 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, in Illinois, a criminal trio robbed a weapons store, replenishing their arsenal. After that, they went to visit relatives. In Houston, where Jones' mother lived, he was arrested.
In November, Bonnie and Clyde, who were left alone, came to Texas to visit their relatives, arranging a meeting for them in an abandoned village. The local sheriff, having learned about the date, prepared an ambush, but the criminals noticed the catch and again escaped from the trap.
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 of both the federal government and the authorities of Texas were thrown to put an end to the gang.
A man who caused no less amazement was called to fight against criminal "thugs". Retired Texas Ranger Frank A. Hamer was a real "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
Hamer and his henchmen followed the criminals on the heels. The same 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, killed in Commerce, Oklahoma.
Frank Hamer by that time had 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, the Hamer group, which consisted of six people, opened heavy fire on the Ford, in which the bandits were. 167 bullets hit the car, most went to the criminals. In the corpse of Clyde Barrow, forensic experts counted more than 50 bullets, in the corpse of Bonnie Parker - more than 60.
After the death of the criminals, they began to do business on them immediately: in order to look at the dead, it was necessary to pay a dollar, and there were many who wanted to. The personal belongings of the gangsters were taken by people from the Hamer group, who then auctioned them through third parties. Hamer took the gangster weapons and fishing gear with which the bandits got their livelihood in the worst days.
Bonnie and Clyde car. The shooting was so loud that Heimer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day. Photo: Public Domain
Child of vice
Bonnie and Clyde were not buried together, as they themselves wanted, but their graves almost immediately became tourist sites, 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, 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 given 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 getting caught." Three years later, Thornton would be killed while trying to escape from prison.
Historians have been wrestling with the question for years: 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 the puritanical mores of America of that era played a major role.
Staged photographs of Bonnie, absolutely harmless from the point of view of today, then seemed the height of depravity and debauchery. The challenge to society was not only the crimes of Bonnie and Clyde, but also their extramarital sex, which in many Americans, thanks to the efforts of the press, aroused secret desires.
The audience did not want to think that behind this beautiful picture there were ruined human lives, blood and dirt. As he does not want now.
The story of Bonnie and Clyde, perhaps the most famous criminal couple, is reminiscent of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, only with a bad ending. But how did the relationship of these dangerous people really develop?
The unfortunate fate of little Bonnie
Of course, it is very difficult to attribute the girl to the category of real seductresses, but she was not without charm. Even being inside a real monster.
Childhood
Miss Parker was born October 1, 1910 in one of the dull and unremarkable towns of Texas, Rowena. The girl's mother did not work, her father had the profession of a bricklayer and somehow supported the family. Trouble came to the house of little Bonnie with the death of her father. How exactly he died is unknown. However, according to some reports, one can understand that his life was interrupted by an accident at work.
A mother with three children did not linger in her hometown and moved to live in Simment City. Here began a sad story that led to the death and grief of many people.
When did it all go wrong?
As before, the Parker family lived very poorly. Making clothes was hardly enough for girls, especially when they reached school age. Despite this, Bonnie was almost an excellent student. She had the ability to theatrical art, loved to improvise. Her classmates noted the presence of restless fantasies, as they often listened to Bonnie's fictional stories.
While studying in high school (circa 1925), the girl met a certain Roy Thornton. He exuded danger, knew how to 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 of a happy marriage, prosperity, a beautiful life crumbled to 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 evaporated, and after a while Bonnie became unemployed. America was swallowed by the Great Depression, and the cafe went bankrupt. However, Bonnie never officially divorced her husband and wore an engagement ring until her death.
The ugly life of a boy with high hopes
Bonnie's future accomplice Clyde Barrow was also born in Texas. His parents earned a living by farming, and the boy was accustomed to hard work in agriculture from early childhood. However, Ellis County was considered not the most successful in terms of money, soon a large family went bankrupt and was forced to give land and a house to the bank.
In 1922, the Barrows moved to West Dallas with 7 children. My father got a job at a gas station. Clyde was placed in the nearest school to the house. The boy studied frankly poorly, conflicts with teachers became commonplace, and at the age of sixteen he left school.
Broken dreams
A beautiful life attracted Clyde with varnished cars, expensive suits and gourmet food. But what could a young, albeit handsome, illiterate guy count on?
At first, Clyde wanted to live like everyone else and enrolled in the US Navy, but they did not take him. A childhood illness crossed out the road to the military. The only memory left is the “USN” tattoo on the left arm.
How the story of Bonnie and Clyde began
The first steps in the gangster field
Then Mr. Barrow chose a different path. Lighter and full of dangers. In 1926 he stole his first car. Everything turned out to be very simple: to rent a car supposedly. Meanwhile, the police failed to prove anything, the firm dropped the lawsuit, and Clyde was released. Soon he joined one of the major Dallas gangs. The "little thing" didn't interest him anymore.
Oddly enough, Clyde's share of the raids didn't sit well either. Therefore, in 1928, he committed the first serious crime. He robbed the gambling hall on his own, although he did not even have a working weapon with him. The gun with which Clyde threatened the guards was broken. 
Start
The joint history of Bonnie and Clyde began in 1929. The real date of their acquaintance is unknown: some researchers, for example, even date it to 1932. However, they immediately liked each other and did not part until their deaths.
Also in 1932, Bonnie first went to jail 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 from ten odes.
Clyde Barrow received his first release a little earlier - in 1929. Then Bonnie brought a gun to the date, thus helping him escape. Only three weeks later the guy was caught and imprisoned for fourteen years already. Clyde was not at a loss: in protest (or simply unwillingness to work), he chopped off two of his toes. However, in vain: some time after the action of disobedience, he was released.
crimes
From that moment, the two-year saga of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow began. Together, and sometimes three (together with Raymond Hamilton - Bonnie's former lover), they robbed everything that came across the way. It wasn't always the banks. For the most part, the couple smashed gas stations and grocery stores. Sometimes they made as little as ten dollars. But glory went ahead of 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 aiming a gun at Clyde's chest. Although Bonnie has never smoked cigars, preferring regular Camel brand cigarettes. The same smoked and her accomplice. 
Soon Hamilton was caught and sentenced to 264 years. At the same time, Bonnie, in order to replace the retired shooter, taught herself how to use a weapon. And quite aptly, if you believe the testimony of eyewitnesses.
On the night of June 10, 1933, Bonnie was shot in the leg. Just not from a stray bullet. The culprit was Clyde himself, who was driving at top speed and lost control. The right leg of the girl was severely corroded by acid. Naturally, she did not go to the hospital, and remained crippled forever. Barrow blamed himself for this and supported Bonnie as much as 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 in the car, the engine was running. She waited while the men did their dirty work. As soon as they got into the car, scorched 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 is fickle, and committed more and more daring robberies. Soon the police managed to kill Buck, and Jones himself came to justice. This 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 again took up the "work". They just didn’t take into account that the former accomplice did not forget about the loot and soon demanded to return his share in full. Clyde, not wanting to share, expelled Hamilton from the gang.
One was quickly arrested. Under threat of the death penalty, he told everything about how the story of Bonnie and Clyde began, including the smallest details. Make of car, approximate number of weapons, places and people with whom the couple had contact. The ring around the elusive bandits narrowed.
Last adventure
Strangely, Clyde, having learned from the newspapers about his friend's case, wrote a detailed letter to the editor, and Bonnie handed over their photo. It seemed that the young people went crazy, since they actually give the police a confession of their own sins.
In the dead of night on May 23, 1934, Sheriff Frank Hammer, along with nine colleagues, set up an ambush on the road. Unsuspecting Parker and Barrow were driving another stolen car and did not even have time to take out their weapons when they began to shoot at them.
Later, the police considered that about 168 bullets were fired into the car of the criminals, more than half of them hit the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde. She was twenty-three and he was twenty-five.
Eyewitnesses almost tore apart the corpses, 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 the gravestone of Bonnie Parker it is written: "As from the dew and in the radiance of the sun only flowers are more beautiful, so this world, the old world, is brighter - by the rays of people like you."
