Edited by Winston G.
Ramsey
'MORE FANTASTIC THAN
FICTION AND MORE AMAZING THAN THE HISTORY OF ANY DESPERADO OF THE EARLY WEST.'
So
wrote one newspaper editor of the period when reflecting on the career of
America's notorious crime duo - Bonnie and Clyde.
To be more accurate
we should refer to Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker; for Bonnie met and latched
onto Clyde after he had already begun his career in crime. They soon became
inseparable lovers yet no gangster's moll ever became as famous as Bonnie
Parker.
They were a product of the Depression years when a
crime-wave, fuelled by Prohibition, gripped the United States. The Barrow gang,
whose hangers-on changed frequently, lived by robbing banks, stealing cars and
holding up stores and filling stations. Clyde personally participated in ten of
the twelve murders of which the gang is accused, and he most probably personally
pulled the trigger on seven people.
Once Clyde had blood on his
hands there was no going back, yet his miraculous escapes from police
road-blocks and at least nine pitched gun-battles earned him a reputation of
invincibility. Only through the betrayal of a former gang member were he and his
lover gunned down in a carefully staged ambush to bring to an end their two-year
crime spree.
Separating fact from fiction, this is the first
publication which revisits the scenes of all their known and proven crimes
across 500,000 miles of the American Midwest and Southwest. Presented in After
the Battle's usual 'then and now' format, 70 years on we picture the
locations of the robberies and shoot-outs . . . and seek out graves of those who
died . . . lest their victims be overshadowed and forgotton by the legendary
exploits of Bonnie and Clyde.
INCIDENTS COVERED INCLUDE . . .
INTRODUCTION
TO THE BARROW GANG.
1929 . . .
THE
ROARING TWENTIES
November 29 - DENTON, TEXAS: Robbery of the
Motor Mark Garage — Buck Barrow sentenced to 5 years in the State
Penitentiary at Huntsville. Clyde Barrow meets Bonnie Parker.
1930 . . .
March 11 - McLennan County Jail, Waco,
Texas: Clyde, in prison following robberies in Waco, escapes from jail
and travels to Ohio.
March 17-18 - Middletown, Ohio: Robberies
and wild chase to escape police ends in Clyde's capture.
1931 . . .
October 29 - Eastham Camp 1, Weldon,
Texas: Clyde in the notorious Texas jail, allegedly kills his first
victim.
GANGLAND AMERICA: Jack 'Legs' Diamond killed.
1932 . . .
March 25 - Dallas, Texas: Break
in at the Simms Oil Refinery.
April 18 - Mabank, Texas: Attempted
break in and gun-battle — Bonnie captured, imprisoned at Kemp and Kaufman.
April
20 - Celina, Texas: Burglary of local stores.
April 25 -
Lufkin, Texas: Robbery of gas stations.
April 30 - Hillsboro,
Texas: Robbery and murder of storekeeper John Bucher.
July 29 -
Grand Prairie, Texas: Robbery of interurban station.
August
1 - Dallas, Texas: Robbery of the Neuhoff Packin Company.
August
5 - Stringtown, Oklahoma: Murder of Deputy Sheriff Eugen Moore.
August
13-14 - Carlsbad, New Mexico: Kidnapping of Sheriff Joe Johns.
August
15 - Victoria/Wharton, Texas: Vehicle theft and gun-battle with
police.
October 11 - Sherman, Texas: Murder of shopkeeper
Howard Hall.
November 30 - Oronogo, Missouri: Bank hold-up
and gun-battle.
December 25 - Temple, Texas: Attempted vehicle theft
and murder of Doyle Johnson.
1933 . . .
The
Depression — Hill County Jail — Charles Lindbergh.
January 6 -
Dallas, Texas: Murder of Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis.
January
26 - Springfield, Missouri: Kidnap of police motorcyclist Tom
Persell.
March 11 and 18 - Baxter Springs, Kansas: Robbery
of local store.
March - Marshall, Texas: Theft of Robert
Rosborough's car which features in the well-known series of photographs of
Bonnie and Clyde and W. D. Jones.
March 31-April 13 - Joplin,
Missouri: Gun-battle — murder of Detective Harry McGinnis and
Constable John Harryman — the photographs recovered by police at Joplin.
April
27 - Ruston, Louisiana: Vehicle theft and kidnapping of Dillard
Darby and Sophia Stone.
May 12 - Lucerne, Indiana: Bank
robbery in which the town is shot-up.
May 19 - Okabena, Minnesota:
Bank robbery with the town being machine-gunned during the getaway.
June
10/11 - Wellington, Texas: Car crash in which Bonnie is injured and
subsequent kidnapping of Marshal Paul Hardy and Sheriff George Corry.
June
- Foray into Arkansas: Robbery of store — gun-battle with
police and murder of Marshal Henry Humphrey.
July 7 - Enid,
Oklahoma: Theft of weapons from National Guard Armory.
July 18 -
Fort Dodge, Iowa: Hold-up of three gas stations.
July 18-19
- Platte City, Missouri: Gun-battle with police. Buck Barrow
greviously wounded.
July 20-24 -
Dexfield Park, Iowa: Gun-battle with police. Buck and Blanche Barrow
captured.
Theft of weapons from National Guard Armory.
November
8 - Overton, Texas: Robbery of McMurrey Oil Refinery.
Texas
Interlude: Clyde's mother's birthday party — intimate family
photographs.
November 22 - Sowers, Texas: Ambush by police
and gun-battle — W. D. Jones arrested — the Kansas City massacre —
the banks they did not rob — Alcatraz.
1934
. . .
January 16 - Huntsville, Texas: Prison
break-out and murder of Major Joseph Crowson.
January 23 - Rembrandt,
Iowa: Bank robbery.
January 26 -
Poteau, Oklahoma: Bank robbery.
February 1 - Knierim,
Iowa: Bank robbery.
February 12 - Reeds Spring, Missouri:
Gun-battle with police.
February 20 - Ranger, Texas: Theft
of weapons from National Guard Armory.
February 27 -
Lancaster, Texas: Bank robbery.
April 1 - Grapevine,
Texas: Murder of Highway Patrolmen H. D. Murphy and Edward Wheeler.
April
6 - Commerce, Oklahoma: Gun-battle with police and murder of
Constable Calvin Campbell.
March 19 - Grand Prairie, Texas: Bank
robbery.
April 16 - Stuart, Iowa: Bank robbery.
April
29 - Topeka, Kansas: Theft of the 'Death Car'.
May 3 - Everly,
Iowa: Bank robbery.
May 23 - Ambush at Gibsland, Louisiana:
The death of Bonnie and Clyde.
The Funerals of Bonnie Parker and
Clyde Barrow.
POSTSCRIPT- The
Death Car - The Weapons - The Artefacts - The deaths of John Dillinger, 'Pretty
Boy' Floyd and 'Baby Face' Nelson - The 'Harboring' Trial - The Films - The
Annual Re-enactment with the movie car - The Graves.
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information on this book, E-mail us
ISBN 1 870067 51 7 — SIZE 12"×8¼" — 304 PAGES — OVER 850 ILLUSTRATIONS
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