Welcome back! Thanks for being on the Bonnie & Clyde Road Trip Tour. I am your host and I will be guiding you on their adventures in the Show-Me State. If you missed the previous post on their first trip to Springfield you can check it out here.
This time we are fast-forwarding a few months from their visit in January 1933 to their visit in April 1933. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to lovely Joplin, Missouri!
April 1933 finds the Bonnie & Clyde, along with W.D. Jones in a reunion with Clyde’s older brother Buck and his wife Blanche. Buck has recently been pardoned by the state of Texas and he sets out to see Clyde. It is speculation on what Buck’s intentions are for this trip. Does he want to try to set Clyde straight or is he looking to join the gang? According to his sister Nell’s account in the book The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde, she believes Buck just wanted to see his brother. Buck knew the risks of running from the law and wanted to just see his brother. One thing was certain his wife, Blanche, did not want him to go.
I (Nell) didn’t blame Blanche for kicking about going to find Clyde. I told Buck so. I said: “You fool around with Clyde, and you’ll land back in the pen with a life sentence. You haven’t got the nerve and daring to do the things that Clyde does and get by. You’d get caught right off.” Buck laughed. “Listen, Sis,” he said, “I’m no fool. I wouldn’t ride a block with Clyde. I know what it would mean. But I haven’t seen him in two years and I want to visit with him. Now don’t you worry, Sis. I’ll be back safe and sound.”
The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Emma Parker and Nell Barrow Cowan (pg 112)
One can speculate that Buck truly did want to just see his brother. So he and Blanche left Texas and met with Bonnie, Clyde, and W.D in Fort Smith, Arkansas and together they all arrived in Joplin.
Part 2: April 1933- Joplin Missouri
The group rented an above garage apartment in the suburbs of Joplin, under a fake name. Clyde rented it for one month for $20 plus $1 extra for the neighborhood watch program, something he should have kept in mind.
The apartment had double garages below and two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom above. Joplin was a convenient place to rest because of its position in the state. It was minutes from the Kansas and Oklahoma borders, with Arkansas also not far away. In those days, law enforcement could not cross state lines and this was a strategic location.
The group enjoyed a bit of rest from the road and did all the usual vacation type things. They slept, read, cooked, mended and darned clothing, and just enjoyed being together. Bonnie wrote poems and was able to cook her favorite foods; beans, cabbage, and cornbread. Even Blanche, who was nervous about the visit, began to enjoy herself. She had brought along her small white dog and it was all going well.
All in all, it was just the usual family reunion, with the exception that Clyde was wanted for three or four murders, which, of course, sounds incongruous.
The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde (pg 112)
The only problem with the Joplin location was that Joplin was a hot-bed for bootleggers, neighbors and police were suspicious of outsiders and the Barrow gang was soon noticed. Most likely thanks to the helpful neighborhood watch program.
Within a few days the Joplin police became suspicious of the group. Neighbors reported seeing different cars with various license plates as well as occasional glimpses of guns… (Police) also learned the suspects had registered with the power company under one name, with the gas company in another, and applied for a telephone hookup under still another.
The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde by E.R. Milner (pg 63)
It appears that Clyde forgot about the active area neighborhood watch and was more casual than he should have been. Money was getting low for the group and on the night of April 12, 1933, a robbery was committed in Neosho, a neighboring town, by three men. By this time the local authorities had started an around-the-clock watch on the apartment. The descriptions of the robbers match the men in the apartment. It was time for the police to take action. Unfortunately, the police underestimated just who it was that was living in the apartment. They thought they were going to bust bootleggers and came armed with pistols. The Barrow gang had an arsenal.
In the apartment, it was a lazy afternoon. Buck was asleep on the couch. Bonnie was cooking beans and cornbread. Blanche was playing a game of solitaire. Even the small white dog was sleeping. Imagine the panic and chaos that happened next when Clyde, from an upper window, saw the police outside.
This is the account from the perspective of the Barrow gang.
Bonnie said afterward, the thing that stood out clearest in her memory concerning this gun battle was the fact that she could smell her precious red beans burning, hear Blanche screaming and running, and the dog barking wildly. Then the guns began roaring all around her. Bonnie grabbed a gun, ran to the window and fired. “But I know I didn’t hit him,” she insisted. “He ran off down the street. Then before I could fire again a slug came through the top of the window and glass shattered all around me. Buck shoved me down, yelling, “Get back, for God’s sake.”
“Down in the garage W.D. and Clyde were spraying the landscape with their machine guns and Clyde was yelling commands to be above the awful racket: “Get down into the car- you and Blanche- get in the back of the car!” he called, never stopping with that deadly machine gun…
I ran, but there was no Blanche to go with me. Frightened to death, she had jerked the door open at the first shot and gone down the stairs, screaming with terror and fear, the little dog behind her. They were both a half a block away…
The firing had never let up an instant. It was hell. I’d never lived through such hell. Every minute seemed like it would be our last. Clyde was wounded, W.D.’s head was spouting blood, Blanche was gone, and shells were still spatting and snarling at us. Still firing with one hand, Clyde slipped under the wheel and we roared down the driveway.
Passages from The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde (pgs 113-115)
They found Blanche two blocks away from the house, still running, terrified, and holding her little dog. Whatever Buck’s intention was with his reunion with Clyde, it no longer mattered, they were all now wanted by the police and were all on the run.
The aftermath in Joplin was terrible. A thousand rounds were fired between the police and the Barrow gang. Two officers were killed in the gunfight, one at the scene and one later of injuries. Two others were badly injured but survived their wounds. In the fire, officers were able to notice the car and quickly an APB was broadcast. What the police found in the apartment was a treasure trove of evidence.
A preliminary inventory produced a large number of firearms, stolen property, and evidence clearly indicating the Barrows. Weapons included a Browning automatic rifle, four regular rifles, a sawed-off shotgun, and a revolver.
Officers discovered five diamonds that were part of a robbery commited the previous day at Neosho, Missouri. Blanche Barrow’s purse was found and contained both her marriage license and the papers signed by Texas Governon Mirian Ferguson granting a full pardon to Buck on 20 March 1933, only three weeks before…
Further investigation revealed two rolls of exposed photographic film. Strangely, several posters of wanted criminals, including Bonnie and Clyde, were scattered around the apartment.
Passages from The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde by E.R. Milner (pg 65)
It is this photographic film that gave the nation its first look at the faces of Bonnie and Clyde. Until then, Clyde was only known from an old mug shot and Bonnie only had a general description. Now law enforcement had actual evidence of what the outlaws looked like. Interestingly enough, one photo shows Bonnie posing with a gun and a cigar. This led to her being known as a Barrow’s “cigar-smoking gun moll”, which she hated. She smoked cigarettes but not cigars and tried to correct it as often as she could.
The Barrow gang fled from Missouri and drove to Amarillo where they bought medicine for wounds they obtained in the gunfight. They were now wanted across the southwest.
I have to wonder here what Buck and Blanche were thinking in that eight hour trip to Amarillo. All their hopes of going straight were dashed, if that was ever a desire for Buck. Blanche, who was never in trouble with the law, now was wanted as an accomplice in the Joplin shootings. Just being with Bonnie and Clyde, at this point, was a criminal act.
I find myself feeling sorry for Blanche, I am certain she was terrified and absolutely out of her depths. Bonnie, Clyde, W.D., and even Buck all had chosen crime as a life. Yes, you can say that she married into a life of crime but here is a fun sidenote. When Blanche found out about her husband’s criminal past and his escape from his jail sentence, she convinced him to go back and make it right. Now that the time was served, Blanche was looking forward, excited about her husband’s full pardon and a fresh chance to live straight.
Buck Barrow was paroled from Huntsville State Prison on 22 March 1933. His family was hoped that he would not return to his criminal ways. Heeding the pleas of Blanche, his wife, Buck had willingly surrendered to prison officials after an escape and had completed the sentence recieved in Denton; he had never cared for guns and primarily had commited only petty thefts.
The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde by E.R. Milner (pg 62)
I can’t imagine how she felt, all the promise of the future and a fresh start now torn to bits. It makes me sad. One wrong decision. One bad choice. I have to wonder if she felt stuck. If she left would Buck follow? Was leaving even an option? This is one of my favorite parts of studying history, trying to put yourself in those situations and wondering it out.
Blanche and Buck were with Bonnie and Clyde for another three months, constantly on the run. On July 19, 1933, outside of Platte City, Missouri they were involved in yet another gunfight with police. This time, they were not so lucky. Buck was bleeding profusely from two head wounds, Blanche was hit in the eyes by glass shards from a broken window. Clyde drove like a madman with his injured group of outlaws. Clyde found a spot to rest and to try to help the injured in Dexfield Park, Iowa. Again, luck was not on his side and a posse of officers found them and opened fire on July 24th. Buck received more gunshot wounds in the fight and was unable to continue. Both Buck and Blanche were captured and Buck died from his wounds on July 29, 1933. Blanche, who was wanted on several charges, spent 15 years in the Missouri State Prison.
Blanche and Buck’s part of the story stopped in 1933 but Bonnie and Clyde kept moving. Coming soon, Part 3 of 3 and their next visit to Missouri and another gunfight with law enforcement.
Till next time,
Kimberly
I want to know what you think about Blanche Barrow. Was she caught up in unfortunate circumstances without a choice or could she have done more to get away from the danger? What would you have done? What would you have said? Please leave me a note in the comments.
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to buy Kimberly a cup of coffee.