Clyde Barrow biography

Synopsis

Soon after Clyde Barrow met Bonnie Parker, he was sent to jail for burglary, and she smuggled him a gun and aided his escape. During the height of the Great Depression, he and Bonnie robbed banks and store owners in a rural America ravaged by farm foreclosures and bankruptcies. At the time of their death, their gang was also believed responsible for murders, kidnappings, abductions, and woundings.

Early Life

Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909, Ellis County, Texas. The fifth of seven children born to a poor farming family in Texas, Clyde and his brother, Buck, supported themselves as petty thieves. When Clyde met Bonnie Parker in January 1930, he was 21 and single. Soon after their meeting, he was sent to jail for burglary, and Bonnie smuggled him a gun and aided his escape. Upon his re-capture, he was jailed for two years. He was eventually paroled in February 1932 and reacquainted himself with Bonnie.

Bonnie and Clyde

Over a two-year period during the height of the Great Depression, from 1932 to 1934, Bonnie and Clyde evolved from petty thieves to nationally known bank robbers and murderers. Their robbery of banks and store owners in a rural America ravaged by farm foreclosures and bankruptcies, led to their exploits and relationship being romanticized by a burgeoning "yellow" press. In reality, at the time of their death, their gang was believed responsible for at least 13 murders, including 2 policemen, several robberies and burglaries and assorted kidnappings, abductions and woundings.

The gang's evasion from the authorities didn't last long. Their cold-hearted killing, particularly of civil servants, toughened the authority's view of bringing the gang to justice, dead or alive. On April 1, 1934, Clyde Barrow's reputation for ruthlessness was cemented when he and fellow gang member Henry Methvin turned their guns on two highway patrolmen in Grapevine, Texas.

Death

On May 23, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were driving down a back road near their hideout at Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Unbeknownst to them, a posse of four Texas and two Louisiana officers led by ranger captain Frank Hamer were lying low, waiting. Within seconds, the rangers opened fire, delivering more than 100 bullets into the notorious pair.