...Now make a wish... Weird thing about birthdays - today being mine: I don't really feel any older than I did 15yrs previous, inpsite of things obviously being different. And the sentiment persists. Other people seem to make more of a big deal about aging than I do so I guess it's about their perspective on maturing. On a whole, this hang-up about getting older in life probably says more about society & our view on change. A few days after the birthday, I ran into an old friend who asked me if I STILL listen to heavy music & she was quite surprised when I told her 'hell yes' like somehow I should have given up on this indulgence long ago. So now I'm looking at birthdays from a music point-of-view -- it's not surprising to see an attitude in place of 'x amount of time requiring one to be put out to pasture'. While some things need to come to proper end, the idea of outside consignment which says it's time for personal involvement in our preferences (whether through action or appreciation) to diminish & be put to rest is straight-up bullshit & yet let's admit, subject to hypocrisy (how many times do we criticize anything that has grown tiresome from having run its due course)? The bigger picture seems to ask what happens when pissed off *gasp* placates into mellow? Is the ultimate example parenthood & responsible familial duty? Looks like that really is growing up but does a mortgage, good job, wife n' kids preclude you from a part of your life that you grew up with & shaped you? Should we dismiss & abandon because of OTHER people's perceptions? Fuck no. And yet I understand 2 opposing sentiments which seem to be indicative of reaching middle age but birthday or not, I've never gotten into the mindset of reaching a number that signifies 'it's over'. Age is but a piece of cake - another slice gone by & more every year whether we like it or not. Certainly nothing wrong with celebrating but frankly I can do without the sense of being rushed as a result of an existing notion of 'getting up in years' - too much fuss. (But hey, 'and many more', as the saying goes).
75yrs ago today, notorious wanted criminals, 23yr old ex-waitress Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and 25yr old sharecropper's son Clyde Chestnut Barrow were shot to death in an ambush by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen V-8 Ford Deluxe near Sailes, Louisiana (in Bienville Parish), attemptiong to escape apprehension. Bonnie Parker met the charismatic Clyde Barrow in Texas when she was 19 years old and her husband, Roy Thornton, (whom she married at 16 in Sept 1926 and never divorced) was serving time in jail for burglary. As he was often absent for weeks at a time due to frequent police troubles & stretches in jail, she left him for good in Jan 1929. Shortly after she met Clyde in Jan 1930, he was imprisoned in Feb for robbery in Waco. Bonnie visited him every day and in Mar, smuggled a gun into prison to help him escape but after a week on the run, he was soon caught in Ohio & sent back to jail for a 2yr stretch. When Clyde was paroled, he immediately hooked up with Bonnie & the gruesome twosome began shooting their way into a life of crime together; criss-crossing up n' down the Midwest and Southern USA during the Great Depression. Some historians believe that Bonnie & Clyde were more so each other's sidekick than they ever were lovers, let alone boyfriend & girlfriend. And debate about Clyde's sexuality continues to range from bisexual to homosexual to having no sex drive at all (any which of the speculations may possibly stem back to his stints in prison & the nature of his contact with other inmates -- being sexually assaulted -- or his relationship with various male cohorts he later teamed up with).
After they stole a car and committed several robberies, Parker was caught by police for burglary & sent to jail for 2 months. Released in mid-1932, she rejoined Barrow and they both embarked on a 2-year rural killing spree orgy, all the while evading police as they robbed a string of banks & stores across 5 states - Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico and Louisiana before eventually drawing the attention and attention of federal authorities - the FBI. As law enforcement agents stepped up the pressure to catch the now heavily armed Barrow Gang -- including Clyde's childhood friend, Raymond Hamilton (a convicted killer); William Daniel 'WD' Jones; Henry Methvin; Clyde's brother Marvin Ivan 'Buck' Barrow and his wife Blanche (among others) -- what repulsed them were how cold-blooded & indiscriminate these criminals were. From the couple killed their first victim (a grocery owner), they didn't hesitate to fatally gun down anyone who got in their way, especially police or sheriff's deputies. To the public however, the truth was very skewered and Bonnie & Clyde's reputation as dangerous thieving murderers was mixed with a romantic view of the couple (which they helped fabricate) as Robin Hood-like folk heroes. The harsh reality was quite the opposite with many an echoing sentiment/epithet describing the famous pair as 2-bit punks & even more negatively as white trash. Though the couple were believed to have been responsible for 13 murders (9 of whom were police) by the time they were killed, the only charge the FBI could chase them on was a violation of the National Motor Vehicle Act which gave federal agents the authority to pursue suspects accused of interstate transportation of a stolen automobile, across state lines. Having stolen a car in Illinois which was found abandoned in Oklahoma, when agents located the vehicle, they found a prescription bottle later traced to the Texas home of the Barrows' aunt.
Their fame was increased by the fact that Bonnie was a woman (not entirely unusual but still an unlikely criminal) and by the fact that the couple posed for playful Kodak photographs together, which were later found by police & released to the newspapers for publication (along with some of Bonnie's poetry detailing their exploits). Police almost captured the duo twice in 1933 with surprise raids on their hideouts in Joplin (Apr) and Platte City (Jul), both in Missouri. In the second raid, Buck was killed & Blanche was arrested, but Bonnie & Clyde escaped once again. The tide of opinion would turn against them by Summer as paltry n' petty hold-ups & lower hauls from bank jobs produced sheer callousness in what was increasingly more-evident desperation. In Dec, they again eluded police. In Jan 1934, they attacked a Texas prison farm near Huntsville to help Hamilton break out of jail, shooting several guards with machine guns and killing one. Crucially, this proved to be a final straw with their soon-to-be last days laying not far off on the horizon. Frustrated & fed-up Texan prison officials having had enough, hired retired legendary Texas Ranger, Captain Frank Hamer, as a special investigator to track down Bonnie & Clyde and get them once n' for all - dead or alive. In Spring 1934 after a 3-month search, Hamer traced the gang to a remote county in Louisiana where the Methvin family lived & was said to have been helping the criminals for over a year. The gang along with some of the Methvins had staged a party in Black Lake on the night of May 21.
Before dawn on May 23, a posse composed of Texas & Louisiana lawmen (including Hamer) laid an ambush along a desolate stretch of dirt gravel country road close to the highway. They hid in the nearby bushes and when Bonnie & Clyde approached (speeding at nearly 85mph), the officers opened fire & riddled the couple in a hail of bullets - emptying some 167 rounds into the suspects & their vehicle. (Bonnie sustained more than 50 wounds & Clyde was hit some 27 times). Despite the small arsenal they had with them, the doomed pair stood absolutely no chance of survival in the automatic shower and they were killed instantly (with Bonnie still wearing her wedding ring). Some likened their finality to being put down like mad dogs while others raised questions about the conduct of the shootout & the deliberate failure to warn the fugutives of impending death. When their bodies were put on public display at a funeral home, nearly 55,000 people came to gawk among whom were ravenous souvenir hunters: one ghoul had tried to cut off Clyde's ear, while another attempted to sever his trigger finger. Bloodstained cuttings from Bonnie's dress were scissored away, as was a lock of her hair. Fellow bank robber John Dillinger had loathed the duo, denouncing them as "a couple of kids stealing grocery money" and saying the 2 gave 'the profession' a bad name. Upon hearing they had been killed, Dillinger was said to be pleased, remarking: "I ain't sad to see them go." (Another unimpressed gangster was Charles 'Pretty Boy' Floyd who had been furious to learn that his sister Bessie once provided the couple with medical supplies, bedsheets & cans of food). The bullet-ridden car (originally owned by a Kansas woman) was later exhibited at carnivals & fairs before being sold as a collectors item. In 1988, a Las Vegas resort casino bought it for $250,000. The funerals for both of the desperadoes were jam-packed with onlookers; 16,000 for Clyde with one attender saying of him, "he was nothing but a little bitty fart!" The pair's infamy was further cemented in Americana, mythology & pop culture, especially after the success of the 1967 film starring Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty - which still had them very much portrayed as star-crossed, proto-hippie sweethearts destined to go down together in a blaze of glory. In 1968, Hamer's widow and son, Frank Jr. sued the producers of the movie for defamation of character - particulary for their portrayal in a scene of the lawman being captured, teased & humiliated. The family was awarded an out-of-court settlement in 1971. Blanche Barrow was also unhappy with the film & in a later interview with author/historian John Neal Phillips, she said: "That movie made me look like a screaming horse's ass." Clyde's enthusiasm for cars was notably evident not just in posed pictures but in his sometimes wreckless driving & a letter he wrote in Apr 1934 to Henry Ford himself which read in part: "While I still have got breath in my lungs, I will tell you what a dandy car you make. I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed & freedom from trouble, the Ford has got every other car skinned and even if my business hasn't been strictly legal, it don't hurt anything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V-8." In Jul 2012, 2 rare revolvers belonging to the duo (as well as a gold pocket watch, cosmetics case, brown leatherette box, a 1921 silver dollar and a letter on the back of a photo Clyde wrote to his brother LC) were announced to be auctioned in New Hampshire in Sept. The guns were originally given to Hamer as part of his compensation for the posse operation and eventually made their way to a seperate private estate. After their deaths, Bonnie's weapon was recovered strapped to her inner thigh with white medical tape while Clyde's had been tucked into his waistband. Estimates for the pistols were expected to fetch between $100,000 to $200,000. That Sept, the 2 guns were bought by an anonymous bidder for $504,000. In total, the auction held 134 sold artifacts that belonged to Bonnie & Clyde that raked in a final price tag of $1.1 million.
The Dallas Dispatch
Thursday, May 24, 1934 EDITORIAL
The Trail's End
The Tale is ended. The story is told. The sordid, blood-flecked romance of Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker is finished by the bullets of an ambushed posse. The prophecy that was penned by Bonnie as finis to her limping ballad on the life of the notorious pair comes true ---
Some day they will go down together,
And they will bury them side by side,
To a few it means grief,
To the law it's relief,
But it's death to Bonnie and Clyde.
To the law it's relief to know that the couple which has been responsible for the most daring depredations, the most heartless murders in the southwest will roam recklessly no more. To a public which has come to fear their presence in any neighborhood, their death is a relief. Long ago, Clyde & Bonnie abandoned and forfeited the hope of facing a court, of trading surrender for life in confinement. A price was on their heads and officers knew that the one way to take them without further shedding of blood of the law's representatives was to shoot them down. "Shoot first!" was the order. Just a few years ago, Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker were West Dallas kids. Bad environment, bad company, petty thieving on Barrow's part, a strange infatuation for him on the part of Bonnie, and they were on their way to their dizzy career of slaughter & robbery, of perpetual hide-and-seek with the law. If the career of Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker is on any use at all, it is as a warning to other youth who are beginning to flaunt the rights of society, to live by preying upon others. There is not romance in living a hand-to-mouth existence, always ago in a dirty car, always hiding, fearing to stop among decent people, fearing to sleep for fear of awakening in manacles. There is not joy in such an existence. And there is no glory in dying, body riddled by the bullets of society's protectors & avengers. To the sheriff's men who ended this bloody chapter of southwestern history goes all the acclaim that attends the final battle of Bonnie & Clyde. The one lesson in their sorry lives is that crime doesn't pay. "You couldn't hear any one shot. It was just a roar, a continuous roar, and it kept up for several minutes. We emptied our guns, reloaded & kept shooting. No chances with Clyde & Bonnie."
TOOK NO CHANCES, HINTON AND ALCORN TELL NEWSPAPERMEN
by Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton
Deputy Sheriffs
(Story Held from Wednesday Night's Extra)
The 2 Dallas Sheriffs who, with 4 other officers killed Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker near Gibsland,LA., Wednesday, told their story to a staff man of the Dallas Dispatch. It is carried herewith in their own words ---
We had been on the trail of Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker for weeks before we actually came upon the hot lead which ended in the death of the pair Wednesday. It was more than a month ago that Sheriff Schmid assigned us, with Frank Hamer and N.T. Galt, to "get Clyde & Bonnie." We were told to spare no expense and to take the time necessary. "Smoot" wanted only one result - the death or capture of Barrow & his girl. We were out more than a month and the trail led us thru 4 states. We had leads in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana & Texas. Ordered to get Barrow & the Parker woman, we lived almost as they did for those long weeks. We slept and ate and lived in a car. We spent night after night waiting for them to appear.
Many Hot Tips
We had tip after tip and followed this bit of information and that. Time after time we thought we had them but they always managed to slip away. Most of the time we were following a pretty well defined circle of kinfolk & hideouts. We figured that if we sat on one spot on that route long enough, Barrow & Bonnie would finally come by, and they did. Naturally, we picked the Louisiana vicinity because we felt Clyde would be most likely to be there. Henry Methvin's father had a farm down there, and we knew that Methvin would lead Clyde to his home. But we weren't sitting on one spot all the time. We've traveled thousands of miles on the route we knew Clyde was taking. We watched many nights, just like we did yesterday, on the roads between Shreveport and Texarkana, and between Texarkana and Fort Smith, and other places.
Up All Night
We couldn't count the number of times we sat up all night watching a spot in the road, thinking they would come along. Whenever we thought we were actually "hot," we enlisted the aid of local officers and got all the reinforcements we could. We had waited at this spot on the graveled road near Gibsland for 2 days & nights. We hadn't slept. We hadn't eaten much. We were too anxious to eat and our nerves wouldn't let us sleep, even had we dared. We hadn't shaved for days, and we looked like 4 wild men. As usual, we called in aid. We wanted all the men we could get, and Sheriff Jordan & Deputy Oakley were right with us.
Death Car Is Sighted
It was about 9AM when we finally sighted the car. It was a gray V-8 coach, and that was the car we were looking for. We had been waiting at the top of a steep hill and the car had to slow down as it neared the top. There wasn't any time to think. We didn't have a minute to wonder if we were coming out alive. The name Clyde Barrow and all the terror & danger it involved didn't mean a thing. There were 2 people in that car and they probably were Clyde & Bonnie. And that car was getting nearer. The land there is swampy and the forest on each side of the road was so dense you couldn't see anyone 15 feet from the highway. The ground was soft and the country is wild - full of alligators and snakes and bugs and mosquitos. That car kept coming. It was near enough now that we could distinguish the people in the car. They looked like Clyde & Bonnie. They were Clyde & Bonnie.
All Yelled "Halt!"
There must have been a signal given, but who it came from is another thing. We just all acted together, stepped out into the road and raised our guns. We all yelled "Halt!" at once. They didn't halt. The car was going slowly and Clyde let go of the wheel. We could see him grab at a gun in his lap. Bonnie was going for something on the other side. Then all hell broke loose. There were 6 men shooting at once. Machine guns? No, thank God. We had shotguns & Browning automatics. We had tried machine guns once before {referring to the time Barrow escaped from a trap at Sowers, near Dallas}. You couldn't hear any one shot. It was just a roar, a continuous roar, and it kept up for several minutes. We emptied our guns, reloaded and kept shooting. No chances with Clyde & Bonnie. As we jumped into sight, I could see Clyde reaching as if to get his gun. But he never had a chance to fire a shot. Neither did Bonnie, though we learned a few minutes later that they both were carrying rifles across their laps. Each of us 6 officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns. Ted's was the shotgun given him by Toy Woolley after his trial in Dallas for the death of his wife. It was the gun Wooleley was cleaning when the thing went off & killed the girl. Ted had the barrel sawed off.
Empty Pistols Then
After shooting the shotguns, we emptied the pistols at the car, which had passed us and ran into a ditch about 50 yards on down the road. It almost turned over. We kept shooting at the car even after it stopped. We weren't taking any chances. There was smoke coming from the car and it looked like it was on fire. I guess this was caused when one of the shotguns Clyde or Bonnie had across their laps went off. They did not have time to raise their guns, but the tightening of their muscles as they were filled with lead might have pressed the trigger. The blast at close range almost tore out the {??} of the door. We all ran up to the car. Ted opened the door on Bonnie's side and she almost fell out.
40 Bullet Holes
She was sitting with her head down between her knees, bent over the gun that was in her lap. Her right hand had been shot away. She was also shot in the mouth and I learned later that there were about 40 other bullet holes in her. The door on Clyde's side would not open. His head was hanging out the window. He too had a shotgun across his lap & a pistol in his hand. The back of his head was shot off. Bob knew right away that we had at last got the right ones. He knew Clyde when the punk was stealing automobiles. He also knew Bonnie, who used to be a waitress near the courthouse. You can imagine how we felt. Our first thought was to tell the boss, Sheriff Smoot Schmid so we got to the nearest town as quickly as we could and telephoned. "Did you sleep good last night?" Ted asked Smoot. "No, I didn't." he answered. "Well, you can go on home and sleep now." Ted told him. "We just killed em both." Smoot dropped the phone. Oakley meanwhile went back to Arcadia for the coroner. In the back of the car we found 3 machine rifles, 2 automatic shotguns, 10 automatic pistols and 1500 rounds of ammunition. There were a couple of magazines, a detective and a love story. In the seat beside Clyde & Bonnie was a bacon n' lettuce sandwich. Before we got back to the car, however, people just sprang up from everywhere. Without removing the bodies, we hitched the car onto the back of a truck and towed it into Arcadia, where the bodies were taken to the undertakers. That little town was filled with cars & people.
Tell Story
From then on until we came to Shreveport late last night, we had no rest or peace. We had to tell the story a thousand times & pose for a hundred photographers. But that's nothing to the explaining Ted will have to do to his wife. He hasn't seen her for a month and 10 days
TRAGEDY-MARKED PAIR PLAYED AS KIDS TOGETHER
Bonnie and Clyde Grew Up in West Dallas, Along With Ray Hamilton
PRISONED FOR AUTO THEFT
After Escape and Recapture, Won Parole From Gov. Sterling in 1932
From a sneak thief who stole automobiles to the most notorious killer in the history of southwest outlaws was the road traveled by Clyde Barrow before he met death ignominiously today in Louisiana. Barrow, as a boy, was never the sort of boy who was content to play baseball on the corner lot or fly kites with the other kids. Long before he had reached his 20's he was already sneaking from the beat cop and looking for something he could pick up & sell. He grew up in West Dallas. One of his neighbors was a kid known as Bonnie Parker, who later grew up to join Clyde in a campaign of murder & robbery such as Texas had never before witnessed. Their story proper began in 1929 when Barrow met Bonnie, then a waitress in a cafe. Although they had grown up as neighbors in West Dallas, they had not been closely connected. Barrow & his pal, Ray Hamilton, at that time had already been engaged in a good deal of petty theft. In the spring of 1930, Clyde was arrested in Waco for automobile theft. He was sentenced to prison, escaped jail & was captured 4 days later in Middletown, Ohio. He was promptly returned to the state penitentiary at Huntsville to serve his term. At that time Clyde's brother, Buck, later shot & killed, with a criminal record longer than Clyde's. So while Clyde was locked up in prison, Buck Barrow & his wife, Blanche, teamed up with Bonnie Parker and Ray Hamilton, continued their career of crime. It was while this quartet was roaming the highways that Clyde's gray-haired mother, Mrs. Cumie F. Barrow, appealed to Gov. Sterling for clemency. Clyde's record at the time was not so bad. On Feb 2, 1932, Gov. Sterling gave Clyde a parole. Right from their, trouble started almost immediately. Clyde joined Bonnie & Hamilton and on April 30 they robbed J.N. Bucher's store in Hillsboro. Bucher was shot to death.
In quick succession there followed the robbery of a Dallas store & the robbery of a packing house here. In mid-summer, having completely evaded officers, the trio turned up at a dance in Atoka,OK. They wanted to do a little dancing. Deputy Sheriff E. C. Moore tried to question them. He was shot to death. Sheriff C. G. Maxwell was badly wounded. The triumvirate got away. From that point on, the record reads like a bad dream. The trio kidnaped a deputy in Carlsbad, N.M., released him in San Antonio. A few days later they had gun battles with deputies in Wharton and Victoria,TX, wounding a deputy. They murdered Howard Hall, 67, a butcher, in a holdup. And Clyde is said to have fired three additional bullets into the body of the dead man. Then, temporarily, they parted. Clyde & Ray had a row over Bonnie's affections. Hamilton, sore, went off with another thug named Gene O'Dare. It was this friend's wife who Hamilton later traveled with. Meanwhile Clyde & Bonnie continued on their lawless way. They killed Doyle Johnson while stealing an auto. Surrounded by Dallas deputies in a house near Dallas, they shot their way out, killing Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis and making their escape. Then Buck Barrow, who had been sent to prison again, drew a pardon from Gov. Miriam Ferguson. Buck and his wife, Blanche, joined Clyde & Bonnie. The 4 were trapped in a house at Joplin,MO and shot their way out after apparently being hopelessly surrounded. In the gun battle they killed Constable J. W. Harryman & Detective Harry McGinnis. In the house afterward detectives found a poem Bonnie had written about herself. She called it "Suicide Sal". They found photos & cigars Bonnie had been smoking. From then on she was known as "Suicide Sal".
On Jan 16, 1934, Clyde & Bonnie effected the rescue of their friend Raymond Hamilton. Guards at the Huntsville prison farm took a group of prisoners out to cut wood. Clyde & Bonnie, armed with machine guns lay in ambush. Maj. Crawson, one of the guards, dropped to the ground, dead. Hamilton jumped into the Barrow car & sped away with his 2 confederates. A few days later they shot their way out of a trap at Reed Springs,MO. They were soon after blamed for 6 bank robberies in Texas, Kansas & Iowa. A total of $94,000 was taken in these robberies. They took to separating occasionally, Bonnie always going with Clyde and Hamilton being the lone wolf. In the end however, they always joined forces. The 4 continued roving. There was a bank robbery and kidnapping, another kidnaping and a bank robbery, then an encounter with officers at Alma,AR in which Marshall Elmer D. Humphrey was shot & killed. The 2 brothers beat and criminally assaulted Mrs. Harry F. Rogers, a farmer's wife, near Winslow,AR, shot their way out of a trap at Platt City,MO and got trapped again in the woods near Dexter,IA. Here a battle resulted. Clyde & Bonnie escaped but Buck and Blanche were captured with Buck dying an hour later from gunshot wounds. Blanche was sentenced to prison for 10 years. Following the killing of 2 state highway officers near Grapevine on Easter Sunday, the entire police & sheriff's forces of the state started an intensive hunt for the trio. Rewards for their capture - dead or alive - mounting rapidly. On April 6, a car got stuck in the mud near Commerce,OK. Police Chief Percy Boyd & Constable Cal Campbell went to the scene. Campbell was killed while Boyd was wounded and kidnapped, before being released near Fort Scott,KS. The trail was lost again. Then followed the capture of Hamilton near Lewisville about 3 weeks ago. Bonnie & Clyde wrote a letter to the district attorney's office here, absolving themselves of the Grapevine murders. For 2 months Sheriff Smoot Schmid had two deputies, Ted Hinton and Bob Alcorn, on the trail of Bonnie & Clyde. Early Wednesday the desperadoes went down in death, perforated with bullets... the same death they had ruthlessly dealt out to 12 victims.
MRS. PARKER HYSTERICAL AT NEWS OF DEATH
Mrs. Emma Parker, mother of the slain Bonnie, became highly hysterical at her residence, 232 W. Eighth St., when she heard the news of the killing of Bonnie & Clyde Barrow. She refused to see anyone and friends & neighbors helped keep curious and inquisitive persons from her. Mrs. Parker was advised by telephone of Bonnie's death and fainted. Although she knew what would be the end of her daughter - death - and though she had steeled herself against the tragedy that was sure to come, Mrs. Parker could not control the grief - that of a mother. The report that Bonnie had been killed was not a new one to Mrs. Parker. Often she had been called & informed her daughter was dead by those seeking information and hoping Mrs. Parker would break when told Bonnie had reached the end of her infamous career. But the Wednesday report bore a ring of truthfulness to it - Bonnie was this time indeed dead.
"Never Killed"
Mrs. Parker wanted Bonnie to come home & go straight. "Sure, I want her to come home," she said. "But she won't. She couldn't if she wanted to." Mrs. Parker is confident the little blonde who left here many months ago to lead one of the most spectacular lives in the history of southwestern crime, would not & did not ever kill a man. "Why, Bonnie wouldn't shoot anyone," she had said. "If she ever had a gun in her hands it was after she went with Clyde. We never had a gun in our house." Bonnie's father died when she was a small girl. She had a sister, Mrs. Fred Mace, Now under indictment with Floyd Hamilton for the killing of 2 highway officers.
Fort Worth, May 23 -- The death of her sister, Bonnie Parker, and Clyde Barrow was no surprise to Mrs. Billie Mace as she sobbed here today in her jail cell. "I had been expecting it," she told Sheriff C. D. Little when he broke the news to her. She gasped, hung her head & then broke into sobs. In a few minutes she gamely dried away her tears. Mrs. Mace is being held under charges of murder in the slaying of 2 highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Easter Sunday. Charged with her is Floyd Hamilton, brother of Raymond Hamilton, Barrow's former partner in crime.
GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIS SOUL, SOBS BARROW MOTHER
"I knew it was coming - I just felt it last night when I stayed on my knees & begged God to let me see my baby alive one more time - God, please have mercy on his soul..." Walking the floor of the bare living room in the rear of the little service station she and her aged husband operate on the Eagle Ford Rd., Mrs. Henry F. Barrow, mother of the southwest's No. 1 bad man, wrung her hands & wept bitterly when told the details of the slaying early Wednesday of Clyde and Bonnie Parker. Mrs. Barrow, frail, gray & heavily lined, said she "must go at once to my baby - don't care where he is - he's my baby - all I had."
"Just a Relief"
Outside, his gray head bowed & his eyes filled with tears, the old father of Clyde went about his duties of servicing cars that stopped in front of his station. "I guess it's a relief - I knew it was coming pretty soon," he said when a reporter for the Dallas Dispatch talked with him. "How long has it been since you & Mrs. Barrow talked with Clyde or Bonnie?" he was asked. "Oh, some time - a long time, I guess - seems longer, I suppose than it really is" he replied. The reporter started to ask about Clyde's mother and the old man told him, "That's the hard part of it - she's always believed in him - knew he was wrong but like me, she wanted to stick with her child." About that time a crippled boy in a Ford roadster drove up. "Heard the news?" he asked Barrow. "Yes, I guess it's so" Barrow replied. "It's him & her. The officers didn't give 'em a chance, I hear," the boy continued. "Shot 'em down without Clyde getting a chance to do a thing." In the house Mrs. Barrow continued her walking. On the table beside the little iron bed was a Bible and beside it a picture of Clyde & Buck, her other son shot down as a bandit by the law. "I wanted to see him one more time - wanted to kiss him & tell him mama loves him," Mrs. Barrow cried. "He was good - good to me n' pa - never abused us like some boys do."
Several Cars Stop
Several cars stopped at the station during the few minutes newspaper men were there. None seemed to know the sadness that had suddenly descended upon the little house. None seemed to know that old man Barrow's heart was heavy s he filled radiators & gas tanks, thanked purchasers courteusly for their patronage and welcomed them back. From the house came again the loud weeping of the mother. "What have I done, oh God, to deserve all this?" she cried. "They killed Buck and now they've killed my baby - oh did ever a mother suffer as I have!" Old man Barrow went about his work filling tanks. "When they bring him back, we want him buried like anybody else," Barrow said. "We don't want folks to crowd around & look at the boy like he was a show. He was just a human - went wrong, that's all."
TWO TEXAS KILLERS WILL BE BURIED IN SEPARATE SERVICES
The city of Dallas turned out to welcome Clyde & Bonnie Thursday but it was a morbidly curious crowd which stormed 2 funeral homes until guards had to be placed over the bodies. All that remained of Clyde Barrow after 6 officers shot him to death near Gibsland Wednesday was the Sparkman-Holtz-Brand undertaking parlors. The body arrived early Thursday and before 8AM, the curious began to arrive. By 10AM officials of the company were forced to lock the body up in an individual room and call the sheriff's office for help. 2 husky deputies were assigned and throughout the morning, watched at the door. Likewise sought out was the silent form of Clyde's girlfriend & murdering companion, Bonnie Parker. She lay in the McKamy-Campbell funeral parlor and when the crowds became more than officials of the company could handle, aid from the officers was sought. Bonnie was returned to Dallas after the body of Clyde had already reached the city. Relatives claimed each and sought to protect them from the prying eyes of a sensation-seeking public. It is probable the funerals will be held Friday. Ironically, they are buried in separate graves and even separate cemeteries - unlike the poem which Bonnie penned...
"Someday they’ll go down together
And they’ll bury them side by side
To few it’ll be grief, to the law a relief
But it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde."
The Seattle Daily Times
Monday, May 17, 1954 HIGH COURT RULES AGAINST SEGREGATION IN SCHOOLS
Separation by Races Prohibited
(by Associated Press)
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously today that segregation of Negro & white students in public schools is unconstitutional. But it said it will hear further arguments in the fall on how and when to end the practice. Thus it will be many months, or even longer, before the historic ruling actually wipes out the separate schools now in existence in many states. Chief Justice Warren read the court’s opinion, which declared: "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs (Negro parents) and others similarly situated for whom the action has been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. This disposition makes unnecessary any discussion whether such segregation also violates the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment."
Slaves Aided by Amendment
The 14th Amendment was adopted after the Civil War primarily for the benefit of slaves freed by President Lincoln. It says no state may deny any person due process & equal protection of the law, nor abridge their privileges or immunities. The cases decided today involved South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, Delaware & the District of Columbia. But lawyers said a ruling against segregation would affect a total of 17 states which have laws requiring separation of the races in schools, plus 3 [actually 4 —ed.] other states having laws which permit —but do not require— segregation. The court was told the 17 states and the District of Columbia have 70 percent of the nation’s Negro population, or 10,522,495 Negroes out of 15,042,692 total. States with permissive segregation have an additional 1 percent.
States Listed for Court
States whose laws require segregation were listed for the court as Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia & West Virginia. States with permissive segregation were listed as New Mexico, Wyoming and Kansas [and Arizona —ed.]. In an apparent effort to preclude any advance leak of today’s historic ruling, the court took the action —unprecedented in recent years— of withholding printed copies of the decision until it had been read in full from the bench. Ordinarily, pages distribute the printed opinions to reporters in the courtroom just before the justice who wrote the majority view begins to read. Thus several minutes went by today before it could be determined how the court had decided the cases.
Decisions Reviewed
After reviewing a long line of decisions bearing on the "separate but equal" doctrine, Chief Justice Warren wrote: "We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does." He also added, saying the court’s decision "cannot turn on merely a comparison of these tangible factors in the Negro and white schools involved. We must look instead to the effect of segregation itself on public education."
Clock Can’t Be Turned Back
In approaching the problem, Warren said: "We cannot turn the clock back to 1868 when the (14th) Amendment was adopted or even to 1896, when Plessy vs. Ferguson was written. [Plessy vs. Ferguson was the case which established the “separate but equal” doctrine]. We must consider public education in the light of its full development & its place in American life throughout the nation. Only in this way can it be determined if segregation in public schools deprives these plaintiffs (Negroes) of the equal protection of the laws. Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state & local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws & the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society..."
Education for All
"...In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." It was at this point in the opinion that Warren said the court believes segregation denies Negro children equal education opportunities. He then added that the decision announced in the case of the states would also apply to the District of Columbia, but under a different section of the Constitution, saying: "We hold that racial segregation in the public schools of the District of Columbia is a denial of the due process of law guaranteed by the 5th Amendment to the Constitution."
Federal Jurisdiction
The 5th Amendment applies to the federal government & Congress makes the laws for this federal district. In the District of Columbia case, Warren said: "Segregation in public education is not reasonably related to any proper governmental objective & thus it imposes on Negro children of the district a burden that constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of their liberty in violation of the due-process clause." Today’s historic decision overturned the segregation doctrine established by the Supreme Court 57yrs ago. And, if advance threats are carried out, today’s ruling will lead eventually to the abolition of public school systems as they exist in South Carolina, Georgia & Mississippi.
Decrees to Be Delayed
Chief Justice Warren said that because of the complex questions involved, the formulation of Supreme Court decrees backing up the ruling will be delayed. He went on to say that in order to have full assistance of all the parties concerned, the cases will be restored to the court’s docket & that new arguments will be heard on 2 questions asked by the tribunal before it heard its 2nd argument of the issues last December. One of these questions involved the time issue, that is, when to order schools in states which now require segregation to admit Negro children along with white children. The other question raised the issue of whether the court should appoint a special master to recommend specific terms for its decrees, or whether the cases should be sent back to lower Federal Courts to see that segregation practices are ended. Warren said that Attorney-Generals of the states involved may appear before the court to argue on the form of the decrees to be issued. The states were told to put in applications for such appearances by Sept 15 and to submit any briefs by Oct 1. The court’s new term begins Oct 4. The decision does not apply to private schools. Nor, on its face, does it affect the "separate but equal" doctrine as applied to travel on railroads and other public conveyances solely within states which have such laws.
55yrs ago todayin a major civil rights landmark, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin. (Brown originally had to ride the bus & then trudge through railway yards to an all-black school). Back in 1896, the Supreme Court had ruled earlier in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" accommodations in railroad cars conformed to the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. That Jim Crow declaration was used to justify a legal basis, institutionalizing laws for segregating all public facilities, including elementary schools thus denying equal oppurtunity & cementing subordinate status. However, in the case of Linda Brown, the white school she attempted to attend was far superior & vastly better-supplied to her black alternative and miles closer - just around the corner - to her home. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took up Linda's cause, with famed African American lawyer (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall leading Brown's formidable legal team. Upon the seminal victory (which saw a unanimous 9-0 decision) & in an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the nation's highest court ruled of the toppling that not only was the "separate but equal" doctrine unconstitutional in Linda's case, it was unconstitutional in all cases because educational segregation stamped an inherent badge of inferiority on black students. A year later in 1955, after hearing arguments on the implementation of their ruling, the Supreme Court published guidelines requiring public school systems to integrate "with all deliberate speed". The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a highly significant judicial turning point in the modern development of the USA and served to greatly motivate and pave the way of the burgeoning civil rights movement of the 1950s & 1960s and ultimately led to the further dismantling and abolishment of racial segregation (now ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution), ultimately allowing for integration in all public facilities & accommodations. In the huge task of tackling discrimination (while prejudice, bigotry & racism, unfortunately flourishes), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a high-water benchmark that laid the foundation for shaping future national & international policies regarding human rights, for the fight was not simply about children or education alone but more forwardly, the laws and policies struck down by the court decision were products of the human tendencies to prejudge, bias against, and stereotype other people by their ethnic, religious, physical, or cultural characteristics. Ending this behavior as a legal practice caused far reaching social & ideological implications which continue to reverberate. The court decision inspired and galvanized activist struggles still felt at home & around the world.
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