My Life with Bonnie and Clyde (20 page)

10

Wellington

O
N
J
UNE
9, C
LYDE
wanted to exchange cars with Buck and me. He wanted to drive ours to Dallas. So we moved our things to the roadster. We looked on a map and found a place to meet each other. We decided to meet at a bridge between Sayre and Erick, Oklahoma. Clyde said he and Bonnie and W. D. would be there no later than one the next morning. If we should have to leave there, or if we got any heat on us, we were to place a note under one corner of the bridge and tell them where to meet us. Clyde thought Bonnie and he could make it to the bridge by dark, but asked that we stay until one and wait.

We were just about broke again. We had about seventy-five dollars between us. We divided the money with Clyde and Bonnie, and then they left us.
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We drove to the spot we were to wait, then drove away. We did not want someone to see us stopping there for long. They may get curious. The next afternoon we drove to within about five miles of the place and stopped for a couple of hours. Then we drove closer. We wrote Clyde a note and put it under the agreed-to corner of the bridge. In the note, we told him where we would be parked if he should arrive before dark. Dark came, but not Clyde.

We drove past the bridge and parked so we could watch both roads. We waited until midnight. Still Clyde did not come. We began to wonder if something had happened to him. We moved closer to the bridge and parked on a little road beside the creek. We were parked so Clyde could call to us from the bridge if he did not see the car. While waiting, I fell
asleep. When I awoke, I heard a car honk. Buck had dozed off too, but he heard the horn first.

At first, we could not see any lights. Then we saw the lights from a car on the bridge flash on and off. Buck flashed his lights. Then we saw Clyde on the bridge, walking toward us and calling to Buck to come help him. They had turned the lights back on and we could see him plainly. He looked as if he had been in water. He was carrying his shotgun. He told us they had been in a wreck and that he thought Bonnie was dying. He also said he had two officers he had to get rid off. That really woke me up good!
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When Clyde got to the car he told me to find W. D. and him some clothes and then try to fix a place for Bonnie to ride in the car, one that would keep her from suffering so. I asked if I should help bring Bonnie to the car. Clyde said no, he didn’t want the officers to see me or our car.
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I gathered some of Buck’s clothes for Clyde and W. D. and found something to put over Bonnie. Then I fixed a place for her on the back seat as best I could. It looked like three of us would have to ride in the rumble seat.

Bonnie, Clyde, and W. D. were all hurt pretty bad. Clyde’s nose was broken and his face was all cut up. He was hurt several other places too, but not as bad as his face. He was suffering a lot. W. D.’s face wasn’t much better. He also had a large burned place on his leg, but he could still walk and drive. Bonnie was a mass of burns and cuts on her face, right arm, and leg. Her chin was cut to the bone. Her chest was caved in, although no ribs were broken. She was screaming and moaning like she was dying and appeared to be unconscious. All of us thought she would die before daybreak.
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All three of them should have been in a hospital. They really needed a lot of medical care, but they wouldn’t be able to get any. I thought they all might die. Each was injured internally, but Bonnie was in worse shape than the others.

Clyde told Buck he wanted him to help get the officers out of the way. He was undecided as to whether he should kill them or tie them up some place. Then he said they seemed to be pretty good fellows so he would let them live. But if anyone thought it best, then he would kill them. Buck told him he thought it best to tie them up. He said the officers had not been the cause of the wreck, so why hurt them?
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Buck and Clyde were gone about ten minutes. Clyde came back first. In a few minutes, Buck returned. W. D. drove the officer’s car away and left it two or three miles from the bridge, just as Clyde had told him too do. Buck told me he didn’t tie the officers very well. They would be able to get loose before they got hungry, that is, if someone didn’t find them first.
He left them with idea that he was coming back, saying he was going for more wire to tie them better.
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The wrecked car in which Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, and W. D. Jones were injured near Wellington, Texas, on June 10, 1993. “He [Clyde] told us they had been in a wreck and that he thought Bonnie was dying.” (Courtesy of Ken Holmes, Jr.)

It was nearly dawn when we left the bridge. By daybreak, we were not far away. Clyde drove for a while, then Buck took the wheel. Clyde held Bonnie so she could lay down with her head and shoulders in his lap. It made the ride easier for her. She wasn’t able to sit up at all. W. D. lay down in the rumble seat with his head in my lap.

When we pulled into a station to get gas at Canadian,
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Texas, I covered him with a blanket. Clyde tried to cover Bonnie up enough so no one could see she was hurt. He also tried to cover his own face as much as he could with his hand and handkerchief.

We filled up with gas and crossed the bridge over the Canadian River. We thought there might be a roadblock at that bridge, but there wasn’t. We were lucky. We were afraid someone had seen us pass through Canadian
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and called ahead.

We crossed the state line back into Oklahoma. I was sent into a smalltown drugstore to buy medicine, tape, and bandages. Then we drove until we found a schoolhouse located well away from the highway. We parked there for most of the day. After doctoring their cuts and burns as best we could, we gave them medicine to stop them from suffering so much, and tried to get them to sleep some. Clyde and W. D. managed to sleep, but Bonnie didn’t. She would only doze, then wake up groaning with pain.

From there, we drove to Pratt, Kansas. Buck and I left Clyde and W. D. outside of town, covered Bonnie up, and drove into Pratt to find a tourist camp. When we rented a cabin, the owner asked about the third party. We told him she was my sister and was asleep, that she didn’t feel so good. We told him we wanted to stop for a few days until she felt better. The owner seemed to be satisfied. It explained why she was all covered up and lying with her head and shoulder in my lap. After we put Bonnie to bed, Buck went back for Clyde and W. D. When he returned, Buck drove into the garage and closed the door. One of them was closed in the rumble seat and the other was down on the floorboard in front so no one could see either of them. W. D. was the first to recover, although one of the burns on his thigh was pretty bad. Still he didn’t suffer so much with it and it soon began to heal.

We were soon broke. Buck and W. D. had to go look for something to rob, so they left.
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I don’t know where they went or what they robbed, but they came back with enough money to do for a couple of days.
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It was taking plenty to buy medicine daily, but no one cared how much it took as long as Bonnie got well. She suffered so much.

After a few days, Clyde was feeling well enough to travel again. He sent Buck and W. D. to get a larger car.
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Bonnie didn’t feel like riding, but we were afraid to stay there any longer. Clyde said we could go to Fort Smith, Arkansas. He thought it was the best place for us to stay until Bonnie was well, if she got well. So we changed cars and left the roadster. Clyde said he would have loved to have kept it but we couldn’t have two cars until we got more money. And besides, he thought he had kept it longer than he should have after making several trips to Dallas in it. So he left the roadster.

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Fort Smith

W
HEN WE GOT TO
Fort Smith,
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Bonnie was worse. She had been calling for her mother and wanted to go home to her, but she knew she couldn’t do that. Clyde said he would go get her mother and bring her to Fort Smith to stay with her while she was sick.
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All of us had tried to make things as easy for her as we could, giving her as much care as possible, but we knew nothing would be as good as having her mother there to care for her. So Clyde got another car and went to Dallas for her mother, but returned instead with her sister Billie Mace.
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Clyde also got a doctor for Bonnie—twice!
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While we were in Ft. Smith, I laundered all our clothes. Then Buck and I went to Van Buren to buy food for all of us and medicine for Bonnie. Clyde found a place where he could buy dope for her, to give her some relief from her suffering. Her leg was getting much better but she still wanted Amytal, dope.
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One day, just before Clyde came back with Billie, I was sitting in the car in the garage playing the radio when I heard Bonnie and Buck cursing each other.
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Then I heard Bonnie tell Buck to call me in, that she could whip me. I didn’t know what it was all about, but I went in just the same. She jumped off the bed and began cursing me. I never found out why. All I ever learned was that she was just tired of us being with them. I had tried to be so good to her. There wasn’t anything else I could do for her that I hadn’t already done. I couldn’t understand her angry outburst. She wanted to fight, but she was a sick woman. I would take anything she said before I
would ever strike her. I told her if she still felt the same way when she got well then we could fight it out, but not now. It would be like taking advantage of a baby. Then she said she would have Billie do her fighting for her if she should come back with Clyde and her mother. And she would tell Clyde to whip Buck, then they would leave us.
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The cabin occupied by the Barrows at the Twin Cities Tourist Camp. “When we got to Fort Smith, Bonnie was worse.” (Phillips Collection)

Apparently, Bonnie and Buck were talking about W. D. Buck still thought Clyde should have never gone after him. Then Buck started talking about a certain officer in Texas. Buck knew him as a tough guy, not afraid of anyone. But he also knew him as someone who would play fair with those who played fair with him. Buck said he hoped Clyde would never run into that particular officer, that it would be just too bad for Clyde and anyone with him.

Bonnie got mad and said Clyde wouldn’t be afraid of that officer, or of any officer. Clyde wouldn’t care how tough and fast they were on the draw. He could beat them to it. Then she said she was glad W. D. was back again, that he had more nerve than both Buck and me together. Then Buck got mad when she had said I was afraid to shoot coppers and that I was just excess baggage and in the way.

If Bonnie had not been sick, Buck would have stopped her. He started to, then came to his senses. He told her that when she was well he would show her whether or not I was afraid of her. He said he would have her settle this and see to it that it was a fair fight. He would make sure there was no gun play.

“She may be afraid to shoot ‘coppers,’” Buck said. “But she isn’t afraid to fight fair. And just because she don’t shoot ‘coppers’ is no sign she is afraid. She just can’t bear the idea of taking a human life. She didn’t grow up to be a criminal and a no-good crook like you did! If I had listened to her, we would never have been in this mess. And if Clyde would have listened to her before he left prison, you and him wouldn’t be like this. I am proud of her because she don’t want to do the things I have to do. And even if she wanted to shoot ‘coppers’ and rob people, I wouldn’t let her. But she hates this kind of life, and so do I. And just because I don’t want to do a lot of things isn’t because I am afraid to do them. I try to use what few brains I have left. Blanche and I aren’t practically crazy like you and Clyde! You should see by now you can’t win. You’ll get caught some time, or killed. So just lay down and shut up! When you are well, Blanche will settle this.”

“Well, call her in here,” Bonnie said. “And don’t wait until I am well. I am well enough now!”

That’s when I came in. W. D. came in about that time too. He got Bonnie back in bed. She told him what Buck had said and that she was going tell Clyde how she had been treated while he was gone.
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She said she wouldn’t have anyone but W. D. to protect her if the cops should come in. She said Clyde knew she would get no protection from us and that’s why he left W. D., to take care of her.