Welcome back! Thanks for being on the final leg of the Bonnie & Clyde Road Trip Tour. I am your host and, once again, I will be guiding you on their adventures in the Show-Me State. If you missed the previous posts on their trip to Springfield you can check it out here and you can read about their adventures in Joplin here.
We have visited January 1933, April 1933 and this time we are fast-forwarding even further to February 1934. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Springfield, Missouri!
Bonnie & Clyde found themselves in Springfield once again. This time they didn’t kidnap a police officer, but rather stole a car. They stole a black 1934 Pontiac 4- door sedan from a Springfield neighborhood and then left town. The car they stole belonged to George Thompson, owner of Thompson Sales, a local car dealership. Barrow, presumably, rolled the car down the driveway with the idea of starting it out of earshot. He was seen and later identified by mugshots, by George Thompson. The car was later recovered in Galena, with no damage.
I spent a Saturday recently, following in the footsteps of this chase, using the same roads and bridges mentioned in the accounts.
Bonnie, Clyde, and their newly stolen Pontiac, plus one other car traveled to Galena, Missouri, intending to leave the state via Arkansas. Authorities had been notified about the stolen car and were now on the lookout for the Barrow gang. Officers spotted the car near Galena and began to give chase.
The above picture on the left shows the route from Springfield to Reeds Spring taken by Barrow. Bonnie and Clyde went south from Springfield towards Galena and crossed the Pine Run Bridge. This bridge is closed now to car traffic but remains open as a footbridge. They went over the bridge and then abandoned the car stolen from Springfield.
A brief pause to talk about the stolen car. The car was recovered with no signs of damage and returned to Thompson, who sold it off his lot. Oddly enough, that customer was not told of the amazing “test drive” Clyde Barrow had given it. I would have loved to see the expression on the new owner’s face when he found out. In the hurry to abandon the car, they outlaws left items behind.
The stolen machine was returned to Galena and was turned over to the owner Monday night. In the car that was abandoned, Sherriff Tuttle found two suede jackets presumably belonging to Barrow and his woman companion.
Article from Stone County News Oracle, Wednesday February 14, 1934
Now in one car, they kept going and turned towards Reeds Spring. Once they got to the junction they realized the underpass was blocked by officers.
At this point, Clyde had no choice but to turn the car around. They couldn’t go back to Galena, they were being pursued, so they took a side road, which in 1934 was called Bear Den Road. I believe today this road is called Yocum Pond Road, it is the only side road that would lead Bonnie and Clyde to the Cape Fair Farm to Market Road, today Hwy 76. It is at some point on this side road that they kidnapped a man named Joe Gunn, who was walking to a local market. This is Joe Gunn’s own account of the incident.
They were being chased by Stone County officers. Raymond Hamilton and another man were with them. They turned off on a country road west of Reeds Spring. They stopped me near Fred Tolbert’s farm. They said they were lost and ordered me to get in the car with them and show them how to get into Arkansas. The car was full of guns. I got in the back seat between Hamilton and the other man they called “Gibbons.” Clyde was driving. Bonnie was with him with an automatic rifle in her lap. They were all pretty calm. They didn’t seem nervous or scared. I had them drive to the Cape Fair Road and turn toward Highway 13, south of Reeds Spring. Just before we got to the junction in a low gap by Yocum Pond, we saw a load of armed officers blocking the road ahead. They were Galena men.
An interview with Joe Gunn in the Springfield News & Leader
Barrow and his gang were able to outshoot the officers and get away once the police had run out of ammunition. They simply drove around the officers’ car and headed south out of town. Amazingly nobody on either side was harmed in this shootout.
And their kidnapped man? Joe Gunn was with the Barrow Gang until they got to Berryville, Arkansas where they told him to get out, miles from his home. Not to be completely heartless, they did give Gunn $10 and let him go without harm.
My husband, Caleb, and I spent the afternoon, retracing the path of Bonnie and Clyde and trying to pinpoint the exact location of this shootout with the officers. We think we found it.
Joe Gunn describes a “low point near Yocum Pond”. The picture on the left is traveling East on Hwy 76, the direction Bonnie & Clyde were driving. It is right before that low point in the road and would have given a clear line of sight to the officers ahead. The trees in the photo would not have been there in 1934.
This is the other side of the low point in the road, traveling West on the highway, from the vantage point of the Galena men that Joe Gunn referred to in his account. This picture was taken with my phone while driving, please forgive the dirty windshield.
We brought along a metal detector and wanted to dig around the area to see if there was anything to be found from the shootout. Upon getting permission from landowners, we started looking. First, this is a scary stretch of road. It is near curves and cars travel quite fast along it. Second, we quickly realized we forgot a shovel so we went armed with the jack from the car. It wasn’t ideal but it worked. Caleb was a hero and even dug in the dirt with his hands.
The photos above show the search. I would love to say we found relics from this encounter, bullets or casings, but we didn’t. We did have fun and we walked in the footsteps of history. We went exploring. We came up empty-handed but we still had an adventure. There is something special and sort of amazing about being in a place that was featured in history books.
Ok, we didn’t really come up completely empty-handed. We did find something. Ready to see it?
I know. It’s pretty wonderful, right? It won’t get us on the cover of Treasure Hunters Weekly if that is even a real magazine, but we found it. It was our treasure. I am not sure what it even is exactly. If you know please leave me a note in the comments.
We spent a Saturday following Bonnie and Clyde through Missouri, starting in Springfield, to Joplin and Reeds Spring. Up until then I hadn’t really known of them or their history. I was able to read about them, learn about them through the voices of family and fellow outlaws, and read FBI accounts. I am not sure what I think of them exactly but I loved this project and am thrilled I was able to walk into history for a while. I think history is more fun up close, being able to see it and touch it. It was an adventure and I am eager to find more. Maybe even next time I will have a better find to show you.
Bonus, we stopped at a fast-food place to wash out hands after digging in the dirt and in the parking lot was this beauty. I am not sure what year it is but it was almost surreal after walking in the history of the 1930s for a day and it was a Ford, Clyde’s favorite brand. I had to get a picture for you!
Have you walked in the footsteps of history? What did you think? Do you have a favorite monument or place you’ve visited? I would love to hear your story in the comments. Let me know what you think.
Till next time,
Kimberly
P.S. I have found my next adventure. Stay tuned to the blog or follow me on Instagram (@kimberly_rankin) for the latest updates on this new project. I can’t wait to tell you more about it!!
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to buy Kimberly a cup of coffee.