My Life with Bonnie and Clyde (43 page)

13.
Much has been made about a supposed physical relationship between Clyde Barrow and W. D. Jones, largely because of the sleeping arrangements. But no one who knew them ever thought such a relationship existed. “If Clyde didn’t like girls,” said his sister Marie, “what the hell was he doing with Bonnie all that time?” Marie Barrow interview, September 25, 1993. The case of Jones sharing a room with Parker and Barrow was one of many ploys Barrow used to deceive potential eyewitnesses as to the exact number of people traveling with him. Other examples include Bonnie switching cars before entering a town, something Blanche has already mentioned, and instances where one or more of them would hide beneath blankets on the floorboard, or on the backseat of the car. Blanche describes the latter more than once later in the text.

14.
Jigsaw puzzles became very popular depression-era diversions because they were so inexpensive. Jigsaw-puzzle parties with people chatting and fitting pieces together were extremely common well into the 1940s. Andrist,
American Heritage History
, 212.

15.
S. H. Kress & Co. 1896–1980, a chain of Main Street five-and-dime stores.

16.
It was reported that five diamonds, taken from Harry Bacon by two men during the robbery of the Neosho Milling Company, were found hidden in several places in the apartment following the shoot-out of April 13, 1933.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 14, 1933;
Dallas Dispatch
, April 21, 1933. A money bag from McDaniel National Bank in Springfield, Missouri, was also found. According to Shauna Smith, curator of the History Museum for Springfield-Greene County, there was no robbery of that bank reported in that era. However, McDaniel National Bank had recently been purchased by the Union National Bank of Springfield (December 8, 1931) and no doubt transferred funds in its own bags to the parent institution as well as to other banks in the area, such as the Bank of Ash Grove, Missouri, twenty-two miles northwest of Springfield. The latter bank was robbed on January 12, 1933, by three unmasked men driving a Ford V-8. The take was reportedly $3,600.58. Initially Pretty Boy Floyd was blamed for the robbery, but that notion was soon dropped. Hulston, 100 Years, 44–45;
Ash Grove
(
Mo.
)
Commonwealth
, January 19, 1933. However, it is equally possible that Clyde Barrow, W. D. Jones, and some other man (or perhaps
Bonnie, incorrectly identified as a man, or maybe Frank Hardy or Hollis Hale who had helped Barrow rob a bank in Oronogo, Missouri, three months earlier) robbed the Bank of Ash Grove. Indeed, there is evidence to support this. Just a few days later, on January, 26, 1933, a Springfield, Missouri, motorcycle officer named Thomas Persell was abducted by Barrow, Parker, and Jones and taken for a ride to Joplin. During the journey Persell noted that he was sitting on sacks of money in the backseat of his abductors’ Ford V-8 and that all three fugitives spoke of “several recent bank robberies familiarly.” Persell specifically mentioned the bank at Ash Grove. The McDaniel National bank bag found in the Joplin garage apartment may have come from the Ash Grove Bank.
Springfield
(
Mo.
)
News-Leader
, April 14, 1933;
Dallas Morning News
, January 28, 1933.

17.
Among the movies in release that month were
She Done Him Wrong
, starring Mae West;
Tonight Is Ours
, with Frederick March and Claudette Colbert; and Edward G. Robinson in
Tiger Shark. Dallas Morning News
, April 1–30, 1933.

18.
The small town was Girard, Kansas, at the intersection of Highways 7 and 57, approximately thirty-five miles northwest of Joplin. No doubt the only reason for actually paying for a new set of plates was the fact that Buck’s car was legitimately owned and because it would be visible so much of the time. Clyde Barrow always stole his license plates. He was known to keep a dozen or more sets of plates from different states in his car. That way wherever he went he could become a local citizen by changing his plates. Very soon Buck would be doing the same.

19.
The owner of Snodgrass Grocery at 2226 Main Street, Clyde Snodgrass, Sr., remembered them as “nice customers who carried on like ordinary folks.”
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 13, 1975.

20.
Despite her earlier dislike for beer and whiskey, many years later Blanche became known for her love of a few beers, especially while fishing. Marie Barrow interview, August 24, 1984; Linder interview, October 5, 2002; Weiser, October 5, 2002.

21.
Herman H. Biggs, the delivery boy, remembered not being allowed to carry the groceries into the apartment. He also maintained that it was Bonnie who telephoned and then met him on the stairs.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 13, 1975.

22.
The watchman was a man by the name of Mack Parker.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 14, 1933.

23.
From other sources, it is known that a Harold Hill owned “the large home on the corner,” and Sam Lanford owned the house next door at 3339 Oak Ridge:
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 14, 1933; Hounschell,
Lawmen and Outlaws
, 45.

24.
According to Frank Hamer, former Texas Ranger, the group “drank heavily and were quite noisy. Several complaints were filed against them.” Quoted in Frost and Jenkins,
I’m Frank Hamer
, 191.

25.
This was probably one of Clyde Barrow’s favorite weapons, the Browning automatic rifle, or BAR. It was capable of firing a twenty-shot magazine of 30.06 ammunition in under three seconds. Harding,
Weapons
, 76.

26.
This was apparently the first attempt by Barrow to make what he later called his “scattergun,” a sawed-off Browning automatic rifle with three clips welded together, enabling it to fire fifty-six times without reloading, according to one source. Jones, “Riding with Bonnie and Clyde,” 162. A sawed-off Browning automatic rifle was recovered in Dexfield Park near Dexter, Iowa, after the shoot-out on July 24, 1933.

27.
The car was stolen on Wednesday, April 12, 1933 from Earl Stanton in Miami, Oklahoma.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 16, 1933. Some say Bonnie and Clyde were nearly always “agreeable” with each other, though they did have arguments. According to W. D., “I’ve seen them fall out over a can of sardines . . . but I never heard them call each other bad names.” Jones, “Riding with Bonnie and Clyde,” 164.

28.
Others saw it differently. “He [Clyde Barrow] didn’t mean to do Buck no harm. He just couldn’t see no further ahead,” Jones said. Jones, interview by Biffle, June 1969. And according to their mother, “Clyde tried to get him [Buck] to go home, or go out and get a tourist camp . . . the place was getting a little too warm for them and they might have trouble.” Cumie Barrow’s unpublished manuscript.

29.
Bonnie’s unfinished poem, “Suicide Sal,’ was found on a writing tablet with pen and ink nearby.
Springfield
(
Mo.
)
News-Leader
, April 14, 1933.

30.
Several days earlier Clyde had apparently fired one of the Browning automatic rifles in the apartment by accident. Cumie Barrow, unpublished manuscript.

31.
Some, like Cumie Barrow, say Buck was already upstairs. Cumie Barrow, unpublished manuscript. W. D. Jones said that Buck opened the garage door for Clyde and him and that the roadster had a flat tire. He then stated that while the three men were standing there looking at the tire, Buck suddenly yelled, “Law,” and that both Buck and Clyde began shooting. Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, Jones, Voluntary Statement B-71, November 18, 1933. Joplin City Detective Tom DeGraff testified that he saw only two gunmen in the garage and that the shorter of the two had a shotgun.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 15, 1933.

32.
This is contrary to Jones’s statement that “Bonnie never packed a gun . . . during the five big gun battles I was with them, she never fired a gun.” Jones, “Riding with Bonnie and Clyde,” 162. Parker once shot herself in the foot while handling one of Clyde’s guns. U.S. Department of Justice, memo to Doug Walsh, Dallas Police Department, May 4, 1933. She also reportedly held a sawed-off shotgun on Springfield officer Tom Persell on January 26, 1933.
Springfield
(
Mo.
)
News-Leader
, April 14, 1933. On May 12, 1933, someone firing wildly from the getaway car following an attempted bank robbery in Lucerne, Indiana, wounded two bystanders. Witnesses claimed at least one woman was shooting. Some said two women (which would have meant Bonnie and Blanche) opened fire from within the car. “[T]he women did a large part of the shooting and probably all of it,” the
Pharos-Tribune
reported on May 13, 1933. Later in the year Parker covered two men in Dallas County
while she and Barrow commandeered a fresh car following a gun battle.
Dallas Morning News
, November 23, 1933.

33.
The purse was left behind, along with all the papers therein. Among the other things left for authorities to sift through was a badge issued by the Police and Sheriff’s Association of North America, a bag containing clippings and assorted compositions, and a writing tablet with pen and ink lying nearby.
Springfield
(
Mo.
)
News-Leader
, April 14, 1933. There were also some rolls of unprocessed film. From the photographs that were later printed, a Springfield motorcycle officer named Tom Persell was able to identify the fugitives who abducted him on January 26, 1933, and drove him to Joplin before releasing him. Persell particularly noted the “peculiar radiator cap” of the V-8 seen in many of the shots. He said a woman in the group held a sawed-off shotgun on him, as did the driver of the car used to transport him. He also said that all three used a lot of profanity and spoke of “several recent bank robberies familiarly,”
Springfield
(
Mo.
)
News-Leader
, April 14 and 16, 1933; Edwards, “A Tale Tom Persell Lived to Tell”;
Dallas Morning News
, January 28, 1933.

34.
Blanche Barrow later said that she had trained the dog to run to the car on command in case of an emergency. However, when she got downstairs to the garage, Blanche realized the dog had run into the street instead of jumping into the car. Blanche Barrow interview, November 3, 1984.

35.
This was probably Newton County Constable Wes Harryman, who made it all the way to the west garage door, the one Buck was trying to close, when he was felled by a shotgun blast fired at point-blank range. It was determined that he died instantly. An examination of his weapon showed he had fired one shot. Harryman was actually a farmer by trade. He had taken the job of constable merely to make ends meet during the Great Depression. Because the apartment was in Newton County (Joplin occupies parts of two counties), Harryman was included in the raid for jurisdictional reasons. Only he could serve the search warrant. Harryman was forty-one.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 15, 1933.

36.
The five officers involved in the raid had arrived in two cars. One, occupied by Missouri State Patrolmen G. B. Kahler and W. E. Grammar, had stopped on 34th, just west of the apartment. The other, driven by Joplin City Detective Tom DeGraff, had turned onto the shallow driveway and rolled to a stop at an angle, blocking both garage doors. DeGraff later said he was trying to drive into the west garage to prevent the door from being closed but was too late. It was already nearly closed. Newton County Constable Wes Harryman and Joplin Motor Car Detective Harry McGinnis were riding with DeGraff. DeGraff told Harryman to get to the door before it was closed. Harryman jumped out of the car while it was still rolling and was shot when he reached the door. McGinnis then got out of the car and he too was shot, multiple times. DeGraff parked, got out, fired a few shots then sought cover behind a nearby corner.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 15, 1933. It was just after this that Blanche came downstairs. It was DeGraff’s car she saw. Also, the fact that she describes both Clyde
and
Buck outside the garage lends credence to Jones’s assertion that both brothers were shooting, especially since DeGraff only saw
two gunmen at any given time and both he and trooper Kahler described trading shots with “a man with a shotgun” when that man stepped out of the garage. Buck’s mother also said he was shooting, then contradicts herself on the next page by stating that Clyde and W. D. said Buck didn’t fire a weapon in Joplin. Cumie Barrow, unpublished manuscript; Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, Jones, Voluntary Statement B-71, November 18, 1933;
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 15, 1933.

37.
This was Joplin Motor Car Detective Harry McGinnis. He’d fired three shots before being struck multiple times. His right arm was nearly severed at the elbow, four No. 1 buckshot pellets penetrated his left side, and a bullet had struck him in the face.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 15, 1933. McGinnis was transported to a hospital where he died several hours later from shock and loss of blood. McGinnis, who was born in Nevada, Missouri, had been with the Joplin police for eight years. He was very popular and described as friendly and light-hearted. A widower, McGinnis was engaged to be married the following month. He was fifty-three.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 14, 1933.

38.
Blanche said her dress got caught on the car. Blanche Barrow interview, November 18, 1984. An eyewitness, Fred Pitman, described seeing the car rolling down the hill and “a girl running after it.” The car crashed into a tree, tearing off one of its doors. The eyewitness then heard a machine gun. He heard fifty to sixty shots. A man then called to the girl, “Come back here,” and she ran back inside the garage.
Joplin
(
Mo.
)
Globe
, April 15, 1933.