My Life with Bonnie and Clyde (10 page)

They could see no reason why I would not want to do this, and they thought we could help them out too. Buck also had another plan, which he did not mention just then. He thought more seriously about this plan after Clyde told him about wanting to go after Ray. Buck could not see how much trouble Clyde was in or how badly the law wanted him. Buck did not know Clyde's moves as well as I did.

While Buck was still in prison, Clyde told me most everything he had done since his own parole. What he had forgotten to tell Bonnie he'd told me. I had seen him at different times and talked to both of them when they would slip in to see Mrs. Barrow under cover of darkness, or in the early afternoon. And I realized Buck was in danger at any and all times with Clyde because the officers expected Buck to join Clyde as soon as he was released from prison and would watch his every move. I had heard an officer say this myself. But I could not make Buck or Clyde understand it.

Anyway, I refused to meet them in Joplin because I did not mean to risk losing Buck again or take the chance that Buck might want to get involved with what they called “easy money” without working for it. I wanted to keep him away from Clyde for that reason. I thought I would rather start out in our new life together without any chance that I might lose Buck again.

They argued and pleaded with me. They tried to show me how there wouldn't be any danger of Buck getting into trouble again if we went to Joplin and gave them a chance to rest up for a couple of weeks or more. But I refused to listen to any of it. Bonnie said she wished we would meet them in Joplin because she was so tired of eating in cafes or just any place they could get something to eat, and sleeping in cars most of the time, or in small tourist parks where they would not be noticed.

Bonnie did not cook and did not like to wash dishes. If they did prepare their own meals, it was Clyde who did most of the cooking.
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But she added that if I felt I would lose Buck again after all those long weary months of waiting for him to be free, she did not want me to go against my better judgment.

So they began gathering up their guns and getting ready to leave. It was nearly light enough for people to see them leaving the place, and they did not want that to happen. I bid them both goodbye. Buck went to the car
with them. W. D. had remained in the car while Buck and Clyde were talking to me about going to Joplin. As they were leaving, they said they hoped I would think it over and change my mind about meeting them in Joplin. But I did not think anything could change my mind about going. It was made up and the answer was no.

Buck was gone about twenty-five or thirty minutes. I was crying when he came back and got in bed. He began begging and pleading with me and trying to make me understand that there would be no harm done by us going to Joplin to help Clyde take a break from the life he was living. I told him I was sorry for them and would like to do something for Clyde but I could not and would not risk the chance of Buck getting in trouble again. Besides, I thought Clyde had his chance when he was released from prison, a much better one than Buck had. Clyde did not want to work or stay in one place too long. He would rather act tough and have a lot of publicity. No, he had his chance. So, let him take care of himself. Then Buck told me of his plan to try to persuade Clyde to give up the kind of life he was now living. He believed Clyde would listen to him if he could visit him for a few days.
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“And, Baby,” Buck said, “you know how much I worry about Clyde. He is so young and I may never see him alive again if we don't go. You know I have not been with him for a long time. I want to help him live as long as I can without getting into trouble myself. And Clyde says there isn't any danger of that. So I promised him before we came back up here to talk to you about it. And he gave me some money to make the trip. And I can trade in the two cars we have for a larger and better one, if I pay a little difference. I figure if we go we can keep him from getting killed trying to take Ray out of prison. And he promised me if we would go to Joplin, he would forget about going after him. So now I've promised him and you know I have always tried to keep a promise when I make one. I don't make them if I don't think I can keep them.”

I was still crying, clinging to him, begging him not to go. “Clyde isn't any younger than I am,” I said. “And his young life doesn't mean any more to him than yours does to me. You shouldn't have made that promise!”

I knew when Buck did make a promise to someone he would try to keep it. But I told him that by keeping this promise he was breaking many he had made to me, that he would never again place himself in danger of getting sent back to prison, or associate with those who were hiding from the law or doing something which would get them sent to jail or prison.

But I could not make him see my view of things. He still kept saying he must keep his promise to Clyde. He was convinced he could get Clyde to stop running around killing and robbing people.

“But, Daddy,” I cried, “I have talked to him like a sister should, even before he left prison. I had begged him to go straight when he was free again, but he had broken his promise that he would.”

Promises meant little to Clyde. So why did Buck have to keep this one to him?

“And, Daddy,” I said. “You don't realize how much trouble Clyde is in. He has already killed six or eight men
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and he can't afford to give up now, even if he wanted to. You should know that he will shoot to kill if the officers should run in on him. And if we were with him, he would not think of you. He would only think of getting away and saving his own life. Hasn't he run away and left you before, lying in the street shot down by officers, not knowing or stopping to see if you were still alive? Didn't he run away and leave Ralph Fults and Bonnie near Kaufman, Texas, once when they had a gun battle with officers? Ralph was shot in the arm. He and Bonnie were taken to jail. He didn't even try to get Ralph a lawyer, or do anything for him. Do you think he would stop to think of what a tight place he may have you in, especially if the officers should corner him and we were with him, considering the many murders he is wanted for now? No, he wouldn't!”
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“But, honey,” said Buck. “I am not going to break the promises I made to you. And if I thought I would get into trouble again and have to leave you, I would not think of going. But I know nothing will happen to us and we may keep Clyde from getting killed because I believe he will listen to me.”

By this time, Buck had begun crying too. As I have said before in this story, Buck loved his people very dearly and worried so much about Clyde. And it was true that if Buck did not try to help him this time Clyde may be killed before Buck saw him again. Then Buck would be sorry he had broken his promise to Clyde, especially since he may have been able to save him from himself. But still I refused to allow him to go with Clyde.

Then Buck became angry and told me if I would not go, he would go alone. He knew this would hurt me deeply. Buck had said before that he would give up any of his people for me. I fought a hard battle with myself, but lost. I could not bear to have him go alone and leave me. I thought I would die of a broken heart because I did not think I could go on living without him. And I knew I would go to him if he did get in trouble sooner or later, if he wanted me to.

Ralph Fults. “Didn't he [Clyde] run away and leave Ralph Fults and Bonnie near Kaufman, Texas, once when they had a gun battle with officers?” (Phillips Collection)

So when I saw he had his mind made up to go, I decided to go with him. If he went alone I was sure he would get into trouble. Then he could never come back to me free. If I went I may be able to keep him from doing something he shouldn't. Also I thought if Buck were alone with Clyde, Clyde would try to kill his love for me.
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So when he kept begging me to go with him, I finally promised him I would go.

He seemed very happy that I had decided to go with him. I learned later that he had been drinking. I knew we had never had a quarrel before unless he was drinking or drunk.
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Even after I promised to go I could not control my sobbing. I did not want my mother to hear me because she knew I had been so happy the evening before. Now, only a few hours later, I was crying and sobbing so much that I was sure I could be heard all over the house. But the thought of losing Buck seemed more than I could stand and so I told him I would go with him anywhere he should go.

Buck told me Clyde had said that if later on I still felt the same about visiting them in Joplin, to just forget about it. But Buck told him he was sure he could get me to go. Clyde said he would look for us the following Wednesday or Thursday at a place he had already picked out, a small town about twelve miles south of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Buck knew that if he told me he would go without me that I would change my mind and go. After I had said I would go, he said he did not think I would take it so hard, or that I would feel so unhappy about going. He said we would be back home in a couple of weeks, just as safe-and-sound as we were when we left. I wished I could have felt that way about it myself, but I could not. If I had held out a couple of hours longer, or all that day, our life may have been so different. He would not have gone without me, or at least he would not have gone very far without me. He would have turned around and come back before he had driven very far. But at the time I was too worried and brokenhearted about the thought of losing him. I did not stop to think before I promised to go.

We did not go back to sleep. I couldn't have slept anyway. It was daylight and time to get up. I could hear my mother in the kitchen downstairs preparing breakfast and she would soon call us.

So we got up and dressed. I washed my face in cold water from a pitcher of water mother had brought to the room the night before, when she had fixed the room for us and put extra quilts on the bed. I held a cold wet towel to my red swollen eyes and tried to act as gay and happy as I had been the evening before.

After we had eaten our breakfast, Buck asked where he could buy some liquor. He said he thought a good drink would make him feel better. My stepfather told him where he thought he might buy something to drink.
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So he and Buck went to get it. If Buck had not been drinking the night
before he would have never said he would go to Joplin without me. He told me so after we had gone to Joplin, but it was too late by then.

On the back of this photo, Blanche wrote to her father, “This was taken at Mr. Barrow's station in 1932. Me and my dog, the one I lost when we had to leave Joplin, MO. He sure was cute. I don't think you have one of these. If you do, it's ok anyway. Another won't hurt you. Ha. Ha. Your loving daughter and her dog, Snow Ball.” (Courtesy of Rhea Leen Linder)

When Buck came back from getting the liquor we started back to Dallas. He wanted to take the dog with us, but I told him to leave the dog with mother until we got back from Joplin. But he said he had not been with his wife and dog for a long time and he was going to take them both with him wherever he went. So we took the dog.

Snow Ball was the dog's name. Snow Ball seemed glad to go with us. When Buck got in the car he called the dog to get in up behind the seat. Snow Ball lay down and put both of his front feet on Buck's shoulder. Buck had taught him to ride that way when he was just a small puppy and he still remembered it. He seemed to be quite contented to be going places again.

We spent most of Sunday afternoon just driving around. Late that afternoon we drove back to Buck's mother's place. I told her what had happened the night before. She did not seem at all surprised. She said Clyde had come by to see her. He had heard about Buck being home and wanted to see him. Mrs. Barrow told him where to find Buck and me.

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Joplin

Editor’s Note: April 1933

April signaled the point of no return for Buck Barrow and by association his wife, Blanche. During an ill-advised visit to Joplin, Missouri, Barrow, along with his brother Clyde and W. D. Jones, was involved in a gun battle in which two officers were killed. Jones and the Barrow brothers were all wounded but escaped with Bonnie Parker and Blanche Barrow. Two weeks later to the day, they were in the news again, involved in a highly publicized abduction and escape in Louisiana
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