Both born in Texas, bonnie and Clyde grew up in the poverty of the Great Depression. At that time, many families were forced to migrate to heavy work – like Clyde’s father, who accepted a job on a cotton plantation.
Disgusted, the two blamed the government for the precarious conditions of the population. Clyde first came to the attention of the police around Christmas 1929, when he joined a gang of hoodlums, involved in vandalism and petty theft.
The sister of one of his accomplices had an accident – and, while visiting her for a coffee, Clyde ended up meeting bonnie. It was love at first sight: since then, they started to see each other almost every day.
Bonnie soon joined the group – took to driving the gang’s getaway cars. At Clyde’s first arrest, however, he was alone, on January 12, 1930, in Waco County. He even escaped, with a .32 revolver smuggled by his girlfriend… But he was arrested again when he tried to rob a train. A judge released him a few weeks later.
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Ray Hamilton and Ralph Fults joined the couple and assisted in a store robbery. The alarm was sounded, and despite the police’s attempt to form a secured perimeter, the gang narrowly escaped. Concerned, Clyde sent bonnie to another city.
On April 30, 1932, Hamilton accidentally killed a supermarket manager in another robbery, and was captured. With Hamilton and Fults arrested, the Valentines recruited a new member, 16-year-old WD Jones. But, on Christmas 1932, the boy got nervous trying to steal a Ford V-8 coupe – even with the key in the ignition, he couldn’t start it. The owner of the car attacked and Clyde killed the guy.
Life on the road has become commonplace. In an ambush in Dallas, Bonnie and Clyde killed another cop – it was already the third. In addition to robbing banks, they attacked an arsenal of military weapons in January 1933.
The relationship with the police, however, was not at all hostile. In Missouri, they captured and released a policeman who was following them. To the press, the cop said he was treated well and found the couple nice.
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In March 1933, Clyde’s brother Buck and his girlfriend Blanche Caldwell joined them. On a long stay in Joplin, Missouri, the quintet was identified and cornered in a house. They managed to get away by making their way into the machine gun base. What was left for the police at the criminal duo’s refuge was a set of photos of the couple, taken with a Kodak box camera.
An accident on road 203, heading to the city of Wellington, seriously injured bonnie – the others escape unharmed. Weakened, they proceeded to Platte City. On July 19, police surrounded the gang’s hideout. In the shootout, worse than Joplin’s, Buck died from a gunshot to the head. Blanche was blinded in one eye and captured.
Separated from bonnie and Clyde, WD Jones was arrested in Houston. He ended up telling the police everything about his family and the habits of his former partners.
It was enough for investigators to close the loop and create a profile of the couple’s behavior. A family picnic turns into an ambush, but thanks to Clyde’s aggression, the pair manage to escape once more.
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On 16 January 1934, Bonnie and Clyde released Ray Hamilton and another inmate, Henry Methvin, from Eastham Prison. They joined the gang, and after some time out of action (and regularly changing license plates on the cars they used), the bandits carried out one last robbery. Methvin killed an approaching police officer as the group exited the bank.
Authorities created a task force under the command of bounty hunter Frank Hamer, famous for his success against organized crime. The team brought together six experienced police officers, including Ted Hinton and Bob Alcorn, who had already participated in the previous ambush against the criminals. It was a strong team, which reflected the importance that the capture of the couple had gained for the police.
WHAT END DID THEY TAKE?
The last chapter of Bonnie and Clyde’s adventure took place on May 23, 1934, on a road near the Methvins’ property. Henry Methvin’s father, named Iverson, was in secret talks with the authorities, arranging an ambush in exchange for a reduction in his son’s sentence.
The police waited on the highway, in ambush. As soon as the 1934 Ford Sedan V-8, the last car stolen by the duo, appeared, the officers opened fire without giving an arrest order.
At 9:15 am, the police’s firepower ended the car and the life of bonnie and Clyde. The popular couple’s criminal career ends the way they lived it: quickly and violently.