Bobby and clyde. Who are Bonnie and Clyde? What they looked like and what they are known for: a story of life, love and crime. Prison rape victim

In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a tendency in Russian culture to romanticize crime. Bandits and murderers were presented as victims of circumstances, unfortunate, rejected by society, in need of compassion and understanding. “We are not like that - life is like that” - this deceptive thesis became the leitmotif of an entire era.

However, it should be recognized that the romanticization of crime has a long history, not only in our country, but also in the world. Often real villains after years and decades appear in the images of "romantic Robin Hoods", causing sympathy, not rejection.

The classic example is the famous Bonnie and Clyde, American gangsters of the 1930s. Hundreds of books, dozens of songs have been written about them, a lot of films and television series have been shot.

1967 Hollywood film Bonnie and Clyde directed by Arthur Penn With Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in the lead roles has collected a large number of awards, including two statuettes "Oscar".

And what were Bonnie and Clyde really like before they became part of popular culture?

Good girl loves bad boys

Their history is directly linked to the Great Depression: a nearly decade-long economic crisis that bankrupted and plunged millions of Americans into poverty. The same period saw the heyday of the gangster era, when gangster groups in the country became the “second power”, sometimes more significant than the first.

However, this does not apply to Bonnie and Clyde. They were not part of a powerful mafia structure, but were what would be called “thugs” in Russia in the 1990s: criminals who did not obey anyone and sowed chaos and death around themselves.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were natives of Texas. She came from a working-class family, where her father worked as a bricklayer, and her mother worked as a seamstress. He grew up in a large but poor family of farmers.

Bonnie was one of the first students at school, had a rich imagination and, according to teachers, had good acting skills.

Good girls are often attracted to bad boys. And at the age of 15, Bonnie was drawn to Roy Thornton, a hooligan and a fighter, to whom those around him promised a place behind bars. Despite this, in September 1926 they got married. Bonnie got a job as a waitress.

The marriage bond lasted a year. Roy began to disappear from the house for whole weeks, and Bonnie, having endured this behavior of her husband for some time, decided to part with him. Thornton didn't mind. Soon he nevertheless ended up in prison, where he spent the time when his wife became a criminal legend.

Prison rape victim

Clyde Barrow, who was a year older than Bonnie, first went to jail at age 16 when he did not return a rented car on time. He was quickly released, but was soon detained again along with his brother when they were stealing turkeys. Clyde was not afraid of the first arrests: despite the fact that the young man, unlike many others, had a job, he continued to commit petty thefts and steal cars.

Finally, in April 1930, Clyde, who had just turned 21, was sent not to a local jail, but to Eastham prison.

Mary Barrow, Clyde's sister, later recalled: "Something terrible must have happened to him in prison, because he was never the same." The mischievous and bully turned into a gloomy, embittered person who hates the whole world around him. As those who sat in Eastham with Clyde later said, from a schoolboy he became a "rattlesnake."

Some biographers of the criminal couple believe that the reason was that Clyde was the victim of sexual abuse in prison. The young man liked one of the prisoners, who raped him several times. As a result, Clyde killed his offender.

However, in 1932 he was released.

Clyde Barrow. Photo: Public Domain

Kill for $28

In early 1932, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow first met at the home of a mutual friend. He was a 22-year-old criminal embittered by the whole world, she was a 21-year-old bored waitress with a rich imagination, a craving for "bad boys" and "dangerous adventures." Bonnie kept a diary and wrote poetry. She did not dream of a long life and a large family, she wanted to "have fun." Clyde Barrow liked Bonnie and could provide her with the "fun" she desired.

Contrary to subsequent legends, the Bonnie and Clyde gang, which included several other people, did not specialize in bank robberies. The main targets of the raiders were small shops and gas stations.

Clyde Barrow dreamed of taking revenge on the prison in which he had to endure terrible humiliation. Revenge was to be a mass escape, which he intended to organize. To get money for it, the gangsters began to rob small shops.

On April 30, 1932, during another raid on the store, in which Bonnie did not participate, the owner tried to resist, for which he was killed on the spot.

This outcome did not frighten Clyde, but only provoked him. August 5, 1932 Barrow, along with an accomplice Raymond Hamilton drinking in one of the bars in Stringtown. When the sheriff and his assistants appeared on the threshold of the establishment, the bandits shot them.

On October 11, Clyde cracked down on the owner of the store Howard Hall. The killer's prey was $28 and groceries.

Beginning of the legend

Bonnie was not afraid of the murders, but she told Clyde that these were all "toys", but that serious things needed to be done. After that, the bandits moved on to raids on banks.

Raymond Hamilton fell into the hands of the police and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. 16-year-old became the new accomplice W. D. Jones, who begged Clyde to accept him into the gang. The boy turned out to be a “worthy student”: the very next day he killed the owner of the car, who tried to prevent her from stealing.

Sixteen-year-old W.D. Jones committed two murders in the first two weeks after joining Clyde Barrow. Photo: Public Domain

The bandits set up their headquarters in Missouri, in the city of Joplin, which was known as the main "gangster hideout" in the United States. Three of them lived in a three-room apartment with a garage, and then five of them: Clyde's brother joined them Tank released from prison and his wife Blanche. They say that Buck came to his brother to convince him to "quit", but then decided that Clyde was "on the right track."

Bonnie and Clyde's apartment in Joplin. Photo: Public Domain

It so happened that the legend of Bonnie and Clyde was born in Joplin. Creative nature haunted Bonnie, and she asked her accomplices to photograph her in various images. Clyde also got into the game.

The bandits did not take any precautions. The endless noisy fun began to annoy the neighbors. And when one day a shot rang out in the house (Clyde accidentally shot while cleaning weapons), they called the police.

Prohibition was in effect in the United States at that time, and the local police decided that we were talking about alcohol smugglers.

In the early morning of April 13, 1933, the police arrived at the house of the criminals, blocking the entrance to the garage. The gangsters were not going to give up, and a fight began at the house. After killing one of the policemen and wounding the second, Bonnie, Clyde and their accomplices broke free. And the police got the photo archive of the gang, clinging to which the newspapermen began to spin the story of a respectable gangster couple.

A decent woman doesn't wear pants.

Fame created a lot of problems for the gang. They could be recognized, so it became impossible to appear in crowded places, hotels and restaurants. At best, we spent the night in roadside motels away from big cities, at worst, in the woods by the fire.

In June 1933, a car with bandits had an accident. Bonnie suffered more than others: due to damage to her right leg, she began to limp badly.

Bonnie Parker posing with a revolver and a cigar. This is one of those photographs that created the wrong image around Parker. Photo: Public Domain

A few days later, they stayed at the Red Crown Motel in Arkansas. The vigilant owner of the establishment suspected something was wrong: three people registered, and five got out of the car. The guests sealed the windows with newspapers, bought food and alcohol for a large company. In addition, the owner did not like that Blanche Barrow, who was sent to deal with settlement issues, appeared before him in trousers. In the patriarchal Arkansas of those times, it was believed that a woman in this form could only be a criminal.

The owner reported to the police, and at night the law enforcement officers attacked the motel. The criminals managed to escape, but Buck and Blanche Barrow were badly wounded.

The police were on their heels. They had to stop at an abandoned amusement park in Iowa, but they were spotted there as well. The police attacked the makeshift camp of bandits. Three managed to escape, and the Barrows fell into the hands of law enforcement officers. Clyde's brother died of his wounds a few days after his arrest.

dream come true

On August 20, in Illinois, a criminal trio robbed a weapons store, replenishing their arsenal. After that, they went to visit relatives. In Houston, where Jones' mother lived, he was arrested.

In November, Bonnie and Clyde, who were left alone, came to Texas to visit their relatives, arranging a meeting for them in an abandoned village. The local sheriff, having learned about the date, prepared an ambush, but the criminals noticed the catch and again escaped from the trap.

Clyde did not forget about his main goal, and on January 16, 1934, he implemented the plan: gangsters attacked Eastham prison, provoking a mass escape of prisoners, during which a security officer was killed.

It was a challenge to the system, so the best forces of both the federal government and the authorities of Texas were thrown to put an end to the gang.

A man who caused no less amazement was called to fight against criminal "thugs". Retired Texas Ranger Frank A. Hamer was a real "bounty hunter" who arrested dozens of criminals and personally killed more than 50 offenders.

Blanche's arrest. Photo: Public Domain

167 bullets from Mr. Heimer

Hamer and his henchmen followed the criminals on the heels. The same behaved like cornered animals: on April 1, 1934, they shot two patrol policemen. In response, the authorities announced a reward for the corpses of Bonnie and Clyde: they were no longer going to catch them alive after everything that had been done.

The last victim of the bandits was Constable William Campbell, killed in Commerce, Oklahoma.

Frank Hamer by that time had thoroughly studied the dossier of the bandits and prepared a trap. An ambush awaited Bonnie and Clyde on a rural road in Bienville, Louisiana.

Frank A. Hamer. Photo: Public Domain

On May 23, 1934, the Hamer group, which consisted of six people, opened heavy fire on the Ford, in which the bandits were. 167 bullets hit the car, most went to the criminals. In the corpse of Clyde Barrow, forensic experts counted more than 50 bullets, in the corpse of Bonnie Parker - more than 60.

After the death of the criminals, they began to do business on them immediately: in order to look at the dead, it was necessary to pay a dollar, and there were many who wanted to. The personal belongings of the gangsters were taken by people from the Hamer group, who then auctioned them through third parties. Hamer took the gangster weapons and fishing gear with which the bandits got their livelihood in the worst days.

Bonnie and Clyde car. The shooting was so loud that Heimer's squad suffered from temporary deafness all day. Photo: Public Domain

Child of vice

Bonnie and Clyde were not buried together, as they themselves wanted, but their graves almost immediately became tourist sites, which they remain to this day.

Bonnie and Clyde forced an overhaul of the US insurance system. The fact is that at that time life insurance guaranteed payments to relatives even if the insured were criminals and were killed by the police. When the Parker and Barrow families received the money, the system was rushed to change.

In 1934, twenty friends and relatives of Bonnie and Clyde were convicted of harboring criminals. Even Clyde's underage sister Mary Barrow was given a symbolic hour of arrest.

Bonnie's husband Roy Thornton, with whom she did not have time to officially divorce, after learning about the death of his wife, said: “I'm glad they had so much fun. It's much better than getting caught." Three years later, Thornton would be killed while trying to escape from prison.

Historians have been wrestling with the question for years: why did Bonnie and Clyde gain popularity from the mass of criminals of the Great Depression era? Most agree that Bonnie's artistic nature, the press, and the puritanical mores of America of that era played a major role.

Staged photographs of Bonnie, absolutely harmless from the point of view of today, then seemed the height of depravity and debauchery. The challenge to society was not only the crimes of Bonnie and Clyde, but also their extramarital sex, which in many Americans, thanks to the efforts of the press, aroused secret desires.

The audience did not want to think that behind this beautiful picture there were ruined human lives, blood and dirt. As he does not want now.

The story of Bonnie and Clyde, perhaps the most famous criminal couple, is reminiscent of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, only with a bad ending. But how did the relationship of these dangerous people really develop?

The unfortunate fate of little Bonnie

Of course, it is very difficult to attribute the girl to the category of real seductresses, but she was not without charm. Even being inside a real monster.

Childhood

Miss Parker was born October 1, 1910 in one of the dull and unremarkable towns of Texas, Rowena. The girl's mother did not work, her father had the profession of a bricklayer and somehow supported the family. Trouble came to the house of little Bonnie with the death of her father. How exactly he died is unknown. However, according to some reports, one can understand that his life was interrupted by an accident at work.

A mother with three children did not linger in her hometown and moved to live in Simment City. Here began a sad story that led to the death and grief of many people.

When did it all go wrong?

As before, the Parker family lived very poorly. Making clothes was hardly enough for girls, especially when they reached school age. Despite this, Bonnie was almost an excellent student. She had the ability to theatrical art, loved to improvise. Her classmates noted the presence of restless fantasies, as they often listened to Bonnie's fictional stories.

While studying in high school (circa 1925), the girl met a certain Roy Thornton. He exuded danger, knew how to dance and dressed beautifully. Which, probably, turned the inexperienced quiet head.

They married on September 25, 1926. Neither mother nor sisters were present at the wedding. Bonnie was left without family support, dropped out of school and soon went to work as a waitress at Marco's Cafe in Dallas. Her dreams of a happy marriage, prosperity, a beautiful life crumbled to ashes. The cruel and merciless reality crushed everything that the girl had fantasized about for so long.

Roy almost immediately stopped paying attention to his young wife, preferring other women to her. Soon he completely evaporated, and after a while Bonnie became unemployed. America was swallowed by the Great Depression, and the cafe went bankrupt. However, Bonnie never officially divorced her husband and wore an engagement ring until her death.

The ugly life of a boy with high hopes

Bonnie's future accomplice Clyde Barrow was also born in Texas. His parents earned a living by farming, and the boy was accustomed to hard work in agriculture from early childhood. However, Ellis County was considered not the most successful in terms of money, soon a large family went bankrupt and was forced to give land and a house to the bank.

In 1922, the Barrows moved to West Dallas with 7 children. My father got a job at a gas station. Clyde was placed in the nearest school to the house. The boy studied frankly poorly, conflicts with teachers became commonplace, and at the age of sixteen he left school.

Broken dreams

A beautiful life attracted Clyde with varnished cars, expensive suits and gourmet food. But what could a young, albeit handsome, illiterate guy count on?

At first, Clyde wanted to live like everyone else and enrolled in the US Navy, but they did not take him. A childhood illness crossed out the road to the military. The only memory left is the “USN” tattoo on the left arm.

How the story of Bonnie and Clyde began

The first steps in the gangster field

Then Mr. Barrow chose a different path. Lighter and full of dangers. In 1926 he stole his first car. Everything turned out to be very simple: to rent a car supposedly. Meanwhile, the police failed to prove anything, the firm dropped the lawsuit, and Clyde was released. Soon he joined one of the major Dallas gangs. The "little thing" didn't interest him anymore.

Oddly enough, Clyde's share of the raids didn't sit well either. Therefore, in 1928, he committed the first serious crime. He robbed the gambling hall on his own, although he did not even have a working weapon with him. The gun with which Clyde threatened the guards was broken.

Start

The joint history of Bonnie and Clyde began in 1929. The real date of their acquaintance is unknown: some researchers, for example, even date it to 1932. However, they immediately liked each other and did not part until their deaths.
Also in 1932, Bonnie first went to jail for attempting to rob a store. Only for three months, but the girl did not waste time there. In addition to letters to Clyde, she managed to write a collection of poetry from ten odes.

Clyde Barrow received his first release a little earlier - in 1929. Then Bonnie brought a gun to the date, thus helping him escape. Only three weeks later the guy was caught and imprisoned for fourteen years already. Clyde was not at a loss: in protest (or simply unwillingness to work), he chopped off two of his toes. However, in vain: some time after the action of disobedience, he was released.

crimes

From that moment, the two-year saga of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow began. Together, and sometimes three (together with Raymond Hamilton - Bonnie's former lover), they robbed everything that came across the way. It wasn't always the banks. For the most part, the couple smashed gas stations and grocery stores. Sometimes they made as little as ten dollars. But glory went ahead of them.

In many ways, Bonnie and Clyde became famous thanks to rumors and staged photos taken by the bandits themselves, in which Parker stands near an expensive car with a cigar in his hand. Or aiming a gun at Clyde's chest. Although Bonnie has never smoked cigars, preferring regular Camel brand cigarettes. The same smoked and her accomplice.

Soon Hamilton was caught and sentenced to 264 years. At the same time, Bonnie, in order to replace the retired shooter, taught herself how to use a weapon. And quite aptly, if you believe the testimony of eyewitnesses.

On the night of June 10, 1933, Bonnie was shot in the leg. Just not from a stray bullet. The culprit was Clyde himself, who was driving at top speed and lost control. The right leg of the girl was severely corroded by acid. Naturally, she did not go to the hospital, and remained crippled forever. Barrow blamed himself for this and supported Bonnie as much as he could. During periods of severe pain, she walked leaning on Clyde.

When Buck Barrow and his friend William Jones were released from prison, the life of the gang began to sparkle with new colors.

fatal contradictions

Bonnie was in the car, the engine was running. She waited while the men did their dirty work. As soon as they got into the car, scorched Parker took off. The police could only bite their elbows - no one could catch up with Bonnie.

The couple flew as if on wings. They forgot that luck is fickle, and committed more and more daring robberies. Soon the police managed to kill Buck, and Jones himself came to justice. This life was not for him. However, these events not only did not stop Bonnie and Clyde, but also spurred them on even more.

Together, they released Hamilton from custody and again took up the "work". They just didn’t take into account that the former accomplice did not forget about the loot and soon demanded to return his share in full. Clyde, not wanting to share, expelled Hamilton from the gang.
One was quickly arrested. Under threat of the death penalty, he told everything about how the story of Bonnie and Clyde began, including the smallest details. Make of car, approximate number of weapons, places and people with whom the couple had contact. The ring around the elusive bandits narrowed.

Last adventure

Strangely, Clyde, having learned from the newspapers about his friend's case, wrote a detailed letter to the editor, and Bonnie handed over their photo. It seemed that the young people went crazy, since they actually give the police a confession of their own sins.

In the dead of night on May 23, 1934, Sheriff Frank Hammer, along with nine colleagues, set up an ambush on the road. Unsuspecting Parker and Barrow were driving another stolen car and did not even have time to take out their weapons when they began to shoot at them.

Later, the police considered that about 168 bullets were fired into the car of the criminals, more than half of them hit the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde. She was twenty-three and he was twenty-five.

Eyewitnesses almost tore apart the corpses, some even managed to cut off strands of Bonnie's hair.

Despite the girl's desire to be buried with Clyde, her mother acted differently. She could not, and did not want to, forgive the man who broke the fate of her daughter. On the gravestone of Bonnie Parker it is written: "As from the dew and in the radiance of the sun only flowers are more beautiful, so this world, the old world, is brighter - by the rays of people like you."

Bonnie Parker was born in 1910 in the small Texas town of Rowina. When the girl was 4 years old, her father (a bricklayer by profession) died, and her mother with three children moved to relatives in Ciment City. At school, Bonnie was an excellent student, with a rich imagination, a penchant for acting and improvisation. And she was also a dandy - as far as family wealth allowed. She graduated from elementary school at the age of 14, then entered secondary school, showed literary abilities, but dropped out of school two years later. She suddenly became cramped world of textbooks, school desks, calls to the lesson. I wanted a beautiful adult life. And at the age of 16, having fallen in love with a certain Roy Thornton, Bonnie married him.

Alas, family happiness did not work out. The husband disappeared all the time. I had to say goodbye to dreams of a sweet life. In 1927, Bonnie got a job as a waitress in a cafe, but two years later the great economic depression began and the cafe closed.

Clyde Chestnut Barrow is also a native of Texas. He was born in 1909 to an illiterate farmer with seven children and lived on the farm until the age of 13. He rarely appeared at school, preferring to play with wooden pistols, wander around the district, enviously looking at the cars of wealthy citizens. In 1922, the Barrow family went bankrupt and Clyde's father moved to West Dallas. He took a job at a gas station and forced Clyde to attend school regularly. But, like Bonnie, having reached the age of 16, Clyde dropped out of school and went to work. Another Bonnie analogy is that Clyde also liked to dress elegantly.

Clyde worked diligently, but did not stay long in one place. In 1926, the police suspected him of stealing a car, but could not prove anything. Meanwhile, along with his younger brother Buck, Clyde joined the ranks of the teenage gang "Ruth Square", stripping cars. In 1928, Clyde ran away from home and led his first independent criminal operation. With a broken gun, he broke into the gambling hall, disarmed the guards and seized the proceeds. The next time he tried to commit a night burglary, he nearly got caught.

One day at the end of 1929, a fateful meeting took place. The little red-haired girl struck Clyde at first sight. Love. Big, immeasurable, romantic. And if you love, how not to share the views of your beloved? And when Clyde is arrested for an armed raid, Bonnie helps him escape from prison by handing over weapons during a date. A week later, the police again seized Clyde, and the court “sold” him 14 years in prison. In protest, Clyde cuts off two of his toes, but it doesn't help. Then, on the contrary, he turns into a model prisoner and in 1932 earns parole.

Once free, Clyde continued petty robberies and thefts. The catches are negligible, and Bonnie is indignant. She is a supporter of large-scale actions. Therefore, Bonnie introduced Clyde to her former lover, Raymond Hamilton. On April 27, 1932, they go on a joint business - a robbery of a music store. However, the seller refused to open the cash register, resisted, and had to be shot.

This was the first murder of Clyde Barrow. The extraction was only 40 dollars. But now he is not afraid of anything, since he has already earned the death penalty in case of capture. Five months later, when Clyde and Hamilton were drinking whiskey at a dance hall in Atoka, Oklahoma, the local sheriff and his deputy demanded that they remove the bottle and received bullets instead of answering. The assistant died, the sheriff was wounded.

After that, Bonnie told the guys that it was enough to play with toys, it was time to get down to real business. And went carjacking, robbery of banks, gas stations and shops. But the work of the three did not last long. Soon Hamilton was arrested and sentenced to 264 years in prison.

Best of the day

“After the arrest of Hamilton, Bonnie learned to shoot,” writes the biographer of the criminal couple John Chevy, “showing a real passion for firearms. Their car turned into an excellent arsenal: several machine guns, rifles and hunting rifles, a dozen revolvers and pistols, thousands of rounds of ammunition. With the help of Bonnie Clyde masters the art of drawing a rifle from a specially sewn pocket along the leg in a matter of seconds.This kind of virtuosity is very entertaining for both. They develop their own elegant style of killing.

In all this, Bonnie is attracted primarily by the romantic-heroic side of the matter. She understands that she chose death. But this is more pleasant for her than the boredom experienced earlier. The monotony of the measured life of those around her is finished forever. She will be famous in her own way. At least they'll talk about it."

From now on, the murders of Bonnie and Clyde are committed with extraordinary ease. Together with a new member of the gang, 17-year-old William Jones, they steal a car and shoot at point blank range the owner who was trying to block their way. Clyde's next victim is Fort Wood Sheriff Malcolm Davis, who wanted to check the car's documents. Clyde literally cut him in half with machine gun fire. This is his principle - to shoot without hesitation, at the slightest sense of danger.

In 1933, Buck Barrow was released from prison and also joined the gang.

The method of "work" is the same. Bonnie is sitting in the car with the engine running, and the guys break into the bank and shout loudly: "Robbery!" In most cases, weapons do not even have to be used. Sometimes the police are nearby, but the gang's cars are always more powerful and more reliable than police carts.

It makes no sense to retell in detail all the numerous adventures of the gang, the incredible luck of Bonnie and Clyde, who many times got out of the most seemingly hopeless situations. Once, when the police almost caught the criminals, an unfinished poem "Dirty Murder" was found in their temporary shelter. Bonnie was the author. Her other hobby is photography.

During the endless skirmishes and chases, Buck Barrow died, and Jones, unable to withstand the stress, deserted and surrendered to the police. Then in January 1934, Clyde launched a daring attack on the prison farm, where Hamilton was taken to work, and after a shootout with the guards, released him and several other prisoners. Among them was the shy peasant boy Henry Methvin, who, along with Hamilton, joined the gang. Soon, however, after a quarrel in the division of the loot, Hamilton leaves his colleagues. At the end of February, Clyde kills two policemen, in April another one. Thus, the total number of his victims approached a dozen and a half.

At this time, Hamilton was detained in Texas, and in order to avoid the death penalty, he attributes all the crimes to Bonnie and Clyde. Having learned about this from the newspapers, Clyde writes a mocking letter to the judge, fully confirming Hamilton's testimony. Bonnie, by the way, also periodically sent letters to newspapers - including with her poems.

In May of that year, after many failures, Sheriff Frank Hamer, who had sworn to find and neutralize Bonnie and Clyde, managed to organize an ambush on a country road. The sheriff used the old farmer Methvin, father of Henry Methvin, as a decoy, promising him leniency towards his son, the couple's accomplice. On May 22, 1934, Clyde and Bonnie's Ford was ambushed by six police officers. 167 bullets pierced the car, of which 50 hit the bandits.

Frank Hamer told reporters: "It's a pity that I killed the girl. But it was like this: we them, or they us."

Among the "creative legacy" of Bonnie Parker is the poem "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde", which ends like this:

And if ever

will have to die

To lie to us, of course,

in one grave.

And mother will cry

and the bastards laugh.

For Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are the most famous gangster couple in history. Between 1932 and 1934, at the height of the Great Depression, they went from petty thieves to world-famous bank robbers and murderers. Despite the romanticization of their image, the couple committed at least 13 murders, including two policemen, as well as a series of robberies and kidnappings. How did it happen that they embarked on such a dangerous path?

Bonnie or Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. She had an older brother and a younger sister. When Bonnie was only four years old, her father passed away, and her mother moved with her children to her parents in the suburbs of Dallas. The girl went to a local school and made progress in her studies, especially being interested in poetry and literature. Petite, graceful and attractive, Bonnie dreamed of becoming an actress. In her youth, nothing foreshadowed her criminal future.

While in high school, she started dating a classmate named Roy Thornton. In September 1926, shortly before her sixteenth birthday, they married. As a sign of their love, the girl got a tattoo with their names on her right thigh. However, this marriage could not be called happy: Thornton did not hesitate to use physical violence against his young wife. Their union broke up, although they never officially divorced. In 1929, Roy was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery, and Bonnie moved in with her grandmother. They never saw each other again.

Who is Clyde Barrow

Clyde was born on March 24, 1909 in Telico, Texas. He was the fifth of seven children in a low-income, but very close-knit family. The family farm was devastated by the drought and they had to move to Dallas. Clyde was a modest and unpretentious boy. He attended school until the age of 16 and cherished the dream of becoming a musician, so he learned to play the guitar and saxophone.

However, under the influence of his older brother Buck, Clyde soon embarked on a criminal path. It all started with petty theft, then he began stealing cars and, finally, he degenerated into armed robberies. In 1929, when he was 20 years old, Clyde was already a fugitive from the law and was wanted for several robberies.

Acquaintance

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met for the first time in January 1930. She was 19 years old, and he was 20. The girl worked as a waitress, and they met through a mutual friend. Clyde, who was wanted by the authorities at the time, made a vow to himself that he would never return to prison. The young people quickly became friends. They spent a lot of time together, and mutual affection began to grow between them, which soon developed into a romantic relationship. The idyll was broken just a few weeks later, when Clyde was arrested and charged with several car thefts.

As soon as the young man found himself in prison, his thoughts immediately turned to escape. By this point, he and Bonnie were already in love with each other. The girl shared her feelings with her mother, but faced horror and disgust from her side. However, Bonnie was determined to help the man she called her soul mate. Soon after the arrest, the girl managed to transfer a loaded pistol to him in prison.

The hardships of imprisonment

On March 11, 1930, Clyde used a weapon given to him by a friend to escape prison with his cellmates. However, just a week later they were caught again. The young man was sentenced to 14 years of hard labor and transferred to Eastham Prison, where he was repeatedly sexually abused by another prisoner. During Clyde's time behind bars, he and Bonnie maintained a stormy and passionate correspondence, discussing plans for his escape. It was in Eastham Prison that he committed his first murder.

In February 1932, Clyde was released from prison when his mother managed to persuade the judges in his pardon case. However, the young man, not knowing about his imminent release, made a desperate attempt to soften the harsh prison regime for himself and allegedly cut off his big toe as a result of an accident. This led him to a subsequent lameness.

reunion

Despite the fact that two years had passed since the conclusion of Clyde, he and Bonnie remained true to their feelings. The couple reunited and Clyde began committing crimes again with a group of accomplices. They robbed banks and small private businesses.

In April, Bonnie joined the gang, but was caught in a botched robbery attempt and spent two months in jail. While awaiting trial, she whiled away the time writing poetry, most of which focused on her relationship with Clyde. Among her poems there is one that seems to anticipate her future fate. There are lines: “One day they will fall together and be buried side by side. Few will mourn for them, least of all the law.”

Bonnie knew that the path she had chosen would lead to death. But she apparently liked the romantic aura of the criminal more than the boring life and work as a waitress.

life of crime

In June, Bonnie was released after a trial. There was not enough evidence against her, and after her statement that Clyde Barrow's gang forcibly kidnapped her, the girl was released. She immediately reunited with Clyde, and the pair continued their crimes with a different gang. Their activities spanned several states. By 1933, gang members were wanted for several murders, including government officials. The couple collaborated with Clyde's brother Buck and his wife Blanche.

In April of this year, when the gang fled their Missouri apartment, they found a film of photographs that immediately went into print.

In June, Bonnie was seriously injured in a road accident: the girl's leg was badly burned by battery acid. Because of this, she was later practically unable to walk.

Despite all attempts by the government to capture the criminals, the couple successfully managed to elude the police for two years. This elusiveness has made them the most notorious bandits in America.

The death of criminals

After one of the gang members named Henry Methvin killed a police officer in Oklahoma, the hunt flared up with renewed vigor. On the morning of May 23, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde finally got caught. They were ambushed by police on a highway in Louisiana. By the way, the initiator of the ambush was the father of Henry Metvin, who hoped to earn indulgence for his son. In a shootout, Clyde and Bonnie died under a hail of bullets: fifty charges hit each of them in the body.

By the time of their death, the criminal couple was so famous that souvenir lovers who visited the place of death left with tufts of their hair, pieces of clothing and even ... Clyde's ear. The bodies of the criminals were transported to Dallas. Despite their desire to be buried side by side, they were buried in different cemeteries. Thousands of people came to their funeral.

Heritage

Despite their violent crimes and the ugly details of their lives, Bonnie and Clyde are consistently romanticized in the entertainment media. Their story formed the basis of films and musicals. Their car, riddled with bullets, is on public display in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In early 2018, Netflix began filming a new work about the life of a famous criminal couple. Their story is told from the point of view of one of the representatives of the law and order, called upon to put an end to their illegal activities. Actors set to take part include Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson and Kathy Bates. What do you think about the history of this famous couple?

Who are these Bonnie and Clyde, about whom Alexander Vasiliev will write poignant words: “We are lying on the clouds, and a river runs below, our bullets were returned to us in full”?

The “dry” historical note states: “Bonnie and Clyde are American criminals who operated during the Great Depression. Between 1932 and 1934 12 people were killed.

But still, who are they? Ruthless killers, drunk with unlimited power over human lives, people fighting the system, or romantics with pure hearts? It is very difficult to answer this question, since both are ambiguous characters, but the story of their affection for each other deserves attention.

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (1910-1934) was born into a poor mason's family in Rowena. As a child, the girl studied remarkably, had a craving for versification, was a born actress and, despite the poverty of her family, was known as a famous fashionista.

Everything in her life happened rapidly: at the age of 16 she hurried to get married, at 17 she got a job as a waitress, and after 3 years she already divorced her lawful spouse. It was she who became the ideological center in the future criminal duet.

Clyde Chesnut Barrow (1909-1934) was born, like Bonnie, into a poor family. But he could not boast of either good studies or exemplary behavior. For stealing a car, he was arrested for the first time in 17 years. Some time later, Clyde stole the turkeys and was arrested a second time.

After that, he no longer returned from the criminal road: he began to rob stores, crack safes and steal cars. It is quite logical that after a while the robber ended up in prison, where he committed a more terrible crime: he killed one of the prisoners.

There are many versions of how the acquaintance of such different, but at the same time so strikingly similar to each other people took place. According to one of them, this happened in a restaurant where the girl worked as a waitress. However, the most plausible version indicates that Bonnie and Clyde met at Bonnie's friend's house in 1932.

Despite the fact that modern man perceives the story of Bonnie and Clyde as a story of absolute and crazy love, in fact it has not been truly established whether they were lovers. There are facts according to which Clyde was a homosexual.

But between these people there was a strong attachment and even devotion to each other. Most historians are sure that Bonnie has always been a faithful assistant to Clyde, because she was sincerely in love with him.

A series of robberies and murders

Shortly after the first meeting between Bonnie and Clyde, America was shaken by a whole series of terrible and, it seemed, completely senseless crimes. The couple imagined that they were real fighters for justice. Having robbed a warehouse in Texas, they stocked up on firearms well. Then they began to travel along the endless roads of America and rob roadside eateries, aimlessly killing people they met.

Bonnie and Clyde killed not only witnesses to crimes, but also police officers who got caught at the wrong time. It seemed that the criminals were waiting for a deadly ending, they were internally ready for it, and they had absolutely nothing to lose. After shooting at a policeman who wished to check their documents, they could no longer stop.

Young people led a free life of vagabonds, sleeping in the car and on the street, drinking alcohol and wasting the money they stole. But their production was extremely small: by killing the owner of a small grocery store and taking money from the cash register, Bonnie and Clyde enriched themselves by exactly $28. At $28 they valued a person's life.

At the same time, they were terribly fond of weapons (their car resembled a weapons arsenal) and fashionable cars. A special passion of criminals is photography. There are quite a few photographs of Bonnie and Clyde taken practically at the crime scenes.

Many of them are purely staged: flaunting rifles, casual movements, cool cars, cigars... The guys loved themselves and liked to look stylish - however, what to expect from young thugs who were not even 26 years old.

tragic ending

On Bonnie's grave there is an inscription made by her mother: "As flowers become more fragrant under the rays of the sun and the freshness of dew, so the world becomes brighter thanks to people like you."

This criminal courage could not continue indefinitely. The FBI forces joined in the pursuit of the criminals, and for the corpses of Bonnie and Clyde, the head of the patrol, L. Fairs, appointed a reward of $ 1,000.

The father of one of the gang members gave the police not only the location of the killers, but also the keys to the house where they were hiding. The couple fell into this ambush on May 23, 1934. When their Ford was spotted (stolen, of course), the police put 167 bullets into the car.

The criminals did not even have time to fire a single shot - their bodies were practically torn apart by bullets. Bonnie was hit by 60 bullets and Clyde by about 50.

Immediately after the death of young people, all things from the car were sold as souvenirs for a lot of money. And the bodies themselves were put on public display in the morgue for $ 1 per person. The gun that Bonnie posed with in the famous photo was sold at auction for $210,000.

Half a century later, the story of American wild robbers continues to interest people. The details of the crimes they committed were erased, the aimless cruelty and senseless robberies were forgotten. Bonnie and Clyde's relationship has turned into a romantic story of devoted love.

Their names became household names, based on those events of the 30s, songs were recorded and both documentaries and feature films were shot, among which the most significant is the 1967 film of the same name.

A memorial was erected at the site of the death of Bonnie and Clyde, which has become a place of pilgrimage for fans of the lifestyle of these criminals.

Despite the fact that young people wanted to be buried together, their graves are located in different cemeteries.