My Life with Bonnie and Clyde
Read My Life with Bonnie and Clyde Online
Authors: Blanche Caldwell Barrow,John Neal Phillips
M
Y
L
IFE WITH
Bonnie & Clyde
Blanche Caldwell Barrow
E
DITED BY
J
OHN
N
EAL
P
HILLIPS
F
OREWORD BY
E
STHER
L. W
EISER
U
NIVERSITY OF
O
KLAHOMA
P
RESS
: N
ORMAN
2800 Venture Drive
Norman, Oklahoma 73069
Copyright © 1939 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. Assigned 1954 to the University of Oklahoma Press, Publishing Division of the University, Norman. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A. New edition, 1955.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act— without the prior permission of the University of Oklahoma Press.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, University of Oklahoma Press, 2800 Venture Drive, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 or email
[email protected]
.
ISBN 978-0-8061-3715-5 (paperback : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8061-8677-1 (ebook : mobipocket)
ISBN 978-0-8061-8676-4 (ebook : epub)
This eBook was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at
[email protected]
.
Contents
Appendix A: Reproduction of Two Pages from the Original Manuscript
Appendix B: Blanche’s Letter to Her Father, November 11, 1933
Appendix C: Buck’s Letter Home, January 16, 1930
Appendix D: The Barrow Gang’s Victims
Appendix E: Blanche’s Preliminary Parole Report
Illustrations
Blanche in the Missouri State Penitentiary for Women, 1933
Texas State Penitentiary, Huntsville, Texas, prior to remodeling
Cinderella Beauty Shoppe, Denison, Texas, 1932
3347½ Oak Ridge, Joplin, Missouri, 1933
Blanche drinking from a flask, 1931
Constable Wes Harryman and family
First State Bank in Okabena, Minnesota, 1933
Rear of the old First State Bank building, Okabena, Minnesota, 2003
Nell Barrow Cowan, Clyde Barrow, Artie Barrow Winkler, 1933
Barrow-Parker family visit, 1934
Blanche in Pensacola, Florida, 1931
Blanche and Buck near Nashville, Tennessee, 1930
Blanche in Mobile, Alabama, 1931
Matthew Caldwell, Blanche’s father
Wrecked car near Wellington, Texas, 1933
Twin Cities Tourist Camp, Fort Smith, Arkansas
Marshal Henry D. Humphrey, 1933
Spectators examining bullet holes, Red Crown Cabins, 1933
“Noah’s Ark,” a covered bridge, 1933
Six-man posse at Dexfield Park, 1933
Buck Barrow lying amid his captors, 1933
Weapons recovered in Dexfield Park, 1933
Blanche after fingerprinting, 1933
Blanche being transferred to Missouri, 1933
Missouri State Penitentiary for Women
Female defendants, “Barrow-Parker harboring trial,” February 22, 1935
Camp 1, Missouri State Penitentiary for Women
Handwritten lyrics to
“Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”
Lillian Pond Horton, Blanche Barrow, and Cumie Barrow
Blanche’s half-sister, Lucinda, 1934
A page from one of Blanche’s scrapbooks
Matt Caldwell logging near Idabel, Oklahoma, 1906
Advertisement for
Bonnie and Clyde
Blanche riding her favorite horse
Blanche and Esther L. Weiser, 1984
Maps
Blanche Barrow in the United States
Red Crown Tavern and Cabins, Platte City, Missouri
Foreword
I
T WAS
D
ECEMBER
1951, just before Christmas. I was having lunch with my friend Ferne at the Federal Square Grill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We were talking about a doctor’s recent recommendation that my four-year-old son, Jon, who suffered from asthma and was quite frail, might benefit from a move to a dry, warm climate. Ferne had lived in Mexico and recommended the Southwest, specifically Dallas. It was large enough to provide employment, had good medical facilities, and was not “big city,” like Chicago.
However, neither one of us knew anyone in Texas, certainly no one who could provide some kind of emergency support system. I wondered what I should do. I realized I would probably have to wing it on my own and simply trust in the good Lord to provide. I felt like I was about to take a so-called leap of faith. However, the good Lord was not about to wait until I arrived in Dallas before intervening.
At that moment the cafe hostess, Tex, came by the table and said in a lovely, soft, Texas drawl, “Honey, couldn’t help but overhear ya’ll talkin’ ’bout Dallas. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but that’s ma hometown. Kin I help?”
After we told her what we planned to do and why, Tex took my hand and led me to a phone near the cash register. Then she placed a call.
“Blanchehoney,” she said, making the two words sound as one. “I have a friend here who needs a friend and a place to stay until she kin get settled in Dallas. She doesn’t know a soul thar. She has a little boy with asthma. The doc wants her to try a dryer, warmer climate. What do you think?” Tex listened a moment, then turned to me.
“Honey, this is Blanche,” she said, nodding toward the phone. “Blanche, this is Esther,” she said. Tex handed me the receiver and stepped aside. That was my introduction to Blanche Barrow. I had no idea who the person was on the other end of the line, just somebody with a big heart named Blanche living in Texas.
Blanche gave me her address and phone number and then said, “Get on that Super Chief and head fer Dallas. Just tell the taxi driver I live in Pleasant Grove.”
Jon and I stayed in Grand Rapids until after Christmas and then left for Texas. In Dallas we took a taxi, just as Blanche suggested. However, finding Pleasant Grove was another story. The driver finally stopped and asked for directions. It was way out in the country at that time. Finally, we found a neat, small white house with flowers around the front stoop and a short concrete walk from the dirt road. It was Blanche’s place.
The change proved beneficial for Jon. He gained ten pounds the first month and suddenly had a lot more energy. I soon found a job and was actually planning to move to Texas permanently later in the year. However, such a move would prove unnecessary. Back in Michigan, Jon’s doctor had become aware of a new drug developed for the treatment of asthma as part of a study by the University of Michigan Hospital. Jon was included in that study and his asthma was brought under control. He could finally tolerate Michigan’s changing weather. So we stayed there.
Blanche and I stayed in touch over the years. Then, when economic circumstances brought me back to Dallas in the 1970s, we renewed our friendship. Initially, however, I had a little trouble locating Blanche because she had moved, apparently rather suddenly, from the Dallas area just about the time I arrived there. I kept calling her, but no one ever answered. Finally, one weekend I decided to find Blanche once and for all. With my trusty Mapsco and a listing from the phone book, I took off in search of her. However, all I found was a vacant lot in a mobile home development. I felt like Sam Spade looking for Brigid O’Shaughnessy in
The Maltese Falcon
. Lucky for me, however, the lady next door happened to come out on her porch to shake some rugs. I went over to talk to her, hoping she might be able to help.
“Blanche moved over a month ago,” the lady said. “But I have her phone number. Come in and we’ll call her.” Those words were music to my ears.
The next thing I knew I was talking to dear Blanche and had directions to her new address near the town of Mabank, southeast of Dallas. With that I was “on the road again.” Soon I was hugging Blanche in the flesh. It was a wonderful day. I found out that Bonnie Parker’s niece, Rhea Leen Linder, had moved both Blanche and Bonnie’s sister, Billie Jean, near Mabank so they could be near her and she could watch over them.