Clyde Barrow
Clyde Barrow was an infamous American criminal known for his role in the criminal exploits during the Great Depression, particularly as one half of the notorious duo "Bonnie and Clyde." Born into a poor farming family near Dallas, Texas, Barrow began his criminal activities early, teaming up with his brother for various thefts. His significant criminal career escalated after his release from prison, where he had been incarcerated for burglary and auto theft. It was during this time that he formed a partnership with Bonnie Parker, an unemployed waitress, which quickly evolved into a romantic and criminal alliance.
Barrow led a gang that committed a series of robberies across multiple states, often marked by violent confrontations with law enforcement. The media sensationalized their story, portraying them as romantic antiheroes despite the brutality of their actions. Their criminal spree came to a violent end in May 1934 when law enforcement ambushed them, resulting in their deaths in a hail of gunfire. This event marked a significant moment in the public enemy era and influenced the evolution of federal law enforcement in the United States, ultimately leading to the establishment of the FBI. The legacy of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker continues to resonate in popular culture, symbolizing both the allure and the dangers of a life of crime.
Subject Terms
Clyde Barrow
American serial robber, murderer, and gang leader
- Born: March 24, 1909
- Birthplace: Telico, Texas
- Died: May 23, 1934
- Place of death: Near Gibsland, Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Cause of notoriety: Although the bank robberies Barrow and his gang committed were typically small in monetary yield, the brutal murders that often accompanied them placed Barrow and his partner Bonnie Parker among the most notorious “public enemies” of the Depression era.
Active: 1931-1934
Locale: Southern and midwestern United States
Early Life
Born to a poor family on a farm south of Dallas, Texas, Clyde Barrow reportedly began his criminal career at a young age, collaborating with his brother Ivan “Buck” Barrow on numerous burglaries, armed robberies, and other crimes. After his first two arrests in 1926, Barrow briefly held several legitimate jobs in addition to his ongoing criminal pursuits, barely escaping another arrest in a high-speed police chase that resulted in the apprehension and imprisonment of his brother. Shortly afterward, Barrow met Bonnie Parker, an unemployed waitress married to a convicted murderer serving a ninety-nine-year prison sentence.
Criminal Career
Barrow and Parker immediately forged a relationship, reportedly cohabitating as Barrow made another brief, unsuccessful attempt to earn a legitimate living. Convicted of burglary and auto theft in 1930, Barrow was sentenced to two years in prison, and after a brief escape was sent to the Texas State Prison at Eastham Farm. The harsh, brutal conditions at Eastham transformed Barrow into a seasoned criminal; it was there that he reportedly committed his first homicide. Pardoned by the Texas governor in 1932 after serving twenty months at Eastham, Barrow allegedly vowed that he would rather die than return to prison.
Following his release from prison, Barrow committed a series of robberies in Texas, often accompanied by Parker, who was arrested following a botched auto theft and served three months in prison. She returned to Barrow upon her release, and the couple resumed their criminal activity, along with a rotating gang of accomplices. Barrow was the undisputed leader of the gang, his reputation as a skilled driver augmented by a growing penchant for violent confrontations that often resulted in the deaths of resisting victims and pursuing law enforcement officers. Although the robberies Barrow and his gang committed were typically small in monetary terms, the brutal murders that often accompanied them rendered Barrow and Parker dangerous fugitives, placing them among the most notorious “public enemies” of the Great Depression era.
As the gang expanded its crime spree into several midwestern states, news media nationwide began to report sensationalized accounts of their exploits, which frequently portrayed Barrow and Parker, known to the public simply as “Bonnie and Clyde,” as romantic antiheroes. Barrow and Parker actively exploited their public image: Parker submitted autobiographical poems to numerous newspapers, often with photographs showing the couple smoking cigars and brandishing firearms. Barrow is reputed to have sent a letter to Henry Ford praising a stolen Ford coupe, although the authenticity of the letter was never confirmed.
By mid-1933, the authorities were closing in on Barrow and his gang. After shoot-outs with police in Missouri and Iowa left Buck Barrow dead and Parker injured, members of the gang began to desert. Barrow and Parker remained on the run, alternating among several hiding places. In January of 1934 Barrow conducted a raid upon the Eastham prison farm, freeing several of his associates. The Texas Department of Corrections, embarrassed by the raid and exasperated by the failure of authorities to capture the Barrow gang, hired Frank Hamer, a former Texas Ranger with a reputation for engaging in shoot-outs with alleged criminals, to track down Barrow and Parker. On a tip from a former Barrow associate, Hamer and his assembled posse of Texas and Louisiana officers lay in wait for Barrow and Parker along a stretch of highway near Gibsland, Louisiana, on May 21, 1934. On the morning of May 23, Barrow and Parker, in a car, approached the decoy vehicle set by the posse and occupied by the father of the associate who tipped the authorities.
Legal Action and Outcome
What happened afterward is the source of controversy. As the car came to a stop, the officers apparently opened fire without attempting to apprehend the couple or ordering them to surrender. One officer later admitted to having fired the first shot into Barrow’s head at close range. The officers riddled the car and its occupants with bullets, firing more than 130 rounds.
Following the deaths of Barrow and Parker, Hamer publicly admitted that the posse had lain in wait for Barrow and Parker with the intent of ambushing them with deadly force. Newspapers continued to sensationalize the couple in death, publishing lurid accounts of the ambush and photographs of their bullet-riddled automobile. Barrow was buried in the Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas, Texas, next to his brother, Buck, but away from Parker, who was buried in another Dallas cemetery.
Impact
The crimes and violent deaths of Clyde Barrow and his accomplices occurred during the final wave of the “public enemy” era, contemporaneous with the careers of other famous criminal gang leaders such as John Dillinger (1903-1934) and Kate “Ma” Barker (c. 1871-1935). Popular media trumpeted the killing of “Bonnie and Clyde” as a victory for law enforcement and evidence of the devastating and inevitable consequences of a life of crime. Yet the romantic legend of the couple survived, spawning a multitude of books, articles, feature films, and other popular culture references.
The criminal exploits of Barrow and other high-profile criminals of the Great Depression era prompted the U.S. government to consolidate its chief federal law enforcement agencies into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935, leading to an expansion of the role of the federal government in combating organized crime and inspiring the federalization of a number of crimes whose enforcement was previously the primary responsibility of the states.
Bibliography
Barrow, Blanche, and John Neal Phillips. My Life with Bonnie and Clyde. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. Memoir by the sister-in-law of Clyde Barrow includes accounts of her experiences with the Barrow gang and previously unpublished photographs from the author’s personal collection.
Bruns, Roger. The Bandit Kings from Jesse James to Pretty Boy Floyd. New York: Crown, 1995. An examination of the outlaw as folk hero through case studies of prominent American criminals between 1850 and 1940.
Knight, James, and Jonathan Davis. Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-first-Century Update. Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 2003. A detailed biography of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, containing previously unpublished information and photographs.
Phillips, John Neal. “The Raid on Eastham.” American History 35, no. 4 (October 2000): 54. Recounts Barrow’s orchestration of the prison raid that eventually led to his ambush by the Hamer posse.