My Life with Bonnie and Clyde (55 page)

39.
Bronaugh, letter to Blanche Barrow, March 30, 1939. Raymond Hamilton, involved in Clyde Barrow’s raid on Eastham, was captured and sentenced to death in Texas in 1934. On July 22 of that year he and two others escaped from the death house in Huntsville, to date the only such break ever successfully staged in Texas penal history. He was captured again in April 1935 and executed on May 10 of that year. For the full story, see Phillips,
Running with Bonnie and Clyde
, 159–296. Floyd Hamilton, who had a good job as a truck driver and a respectable position in the community, was drawn into the underworld by his younger brother. The older brother helped plant the guns used in the raid on Eastham, a charge that was dismissed due to lack of evidence. He was then implicated in the murder of two Texas State Highway patrolmen. That charge was quickly proven to be an attempted frame-up and dropped. In 1935 Floyd Hamilton received the maximum sentence, two years, on federal charges of harboring Bonnie and Clyde. Blanche Barrow was among
the twenty-two defendants at the same trial. In 1938, after serving his time for harboring at the federal prison near Leavenworth, Kansas, Floyd Hamilton was habitually picked up and harassed by Dallas officers, both city and county. Consequently, like Clyde Barrow before him, he could not hold down a job. Desperate, he and another man named Ted Walters went on a crime spree, committing a number of robberies before both were captured. For his part, and mainly because of his last name, Hamilton was sentenced to a long stretch on “the Rock,” Alcatraz. For the full story, see Hamilton,
Public Enemy No. 1
.

40.
Sometime in the early 1980s, Blanche handed the original manuscript to Esther Weiser, asking her to see if “something” could be done with it. However, shortly thereafter Blanche fell ill and Weiser forgot completely about the manuscript until many years later. Weiser interview, May 13, 2003.

41.
Cumie Barrow wrote that Henry was born in Pensacola, Florida. Cumie Barrow, unpublished manuscript.

42.
That Clyde Barrow played saxophone is by now well known. His brother-in-law Leon Hale taught him to play. One of the items retrieved from the car in Louisiana immediately after he and Bonnie were killed was an alto saxophone. However, he also played guitar. His mother mentioned this in her memoir. Blanche remembered him playing guitar, and among the items found in the abandoned Joplin garage apartment was a guitar. Cumie Barrow, unpublished manuscript; Hinton,
Ambush
, 173; Weiser interview, October 5, 2002. Also, according to her sister, Bonnie Parker played piano. Moon and Huddleston, “Bonnie, Clyde, and Me,” unpublished manuscript.

43.
Weiser interview, October 5, 2002; Linder interview, October 5, 2002.

44.
Ibid.

45.
Blanche Barrow, letter to her mother, July 12, 1939; Blanche Barrow, letters to her mother, October 1933 and April 10, 1934, quoted in Baker,
Blanche Barrow
, 28, 43–44. On July 30, 1943, Blanche, by then married to Eddie Frasure, had her birth certificate reissued. Her mother appeared as the witness, signing under the name Lillian Caldwell Horton.

46.
Robert Edson, letter to Blanche Barrow, April 16, 1939, quoted in Baker,
Blanche Barrow
, 16.

47.
Frasure’s active service dates spanned October 7, 1942 to November 2, 1946. Odell B. Lamb, Chief Administrative Division, U.S. Navy, form FL 3–39, February 17, 1949.

48.
State of Texas, County of Dallas, certified copy certificate of birth, no. 15965, July 30, 1943.

49.
Weiser interview, October 5, 2002; Linder interview, October 5, 2002; Marie Barrow interview, September 15, 1993; Buddy Barrow interview, October 26, 2002. Bonnie’s sister and the Barrows received similar calls.

50.
When Esther Weiser lived for a while with the Frasures in 1951, Blanche referred to the relationship between her and her husband as that of newlyweds. According to Weiser, the implication was sexual. Weiser interview, September 8, 2001, October 5, 2002.

51.
Dallas Morning News
, September 19, 1947.

52.
Weiser interview, October 5, 2002.

53.
Ibid.

54.
Ibid.

55.
Weiser interview, October 5, 2002; September 8, 2001.

56.
Linder interview, October 5, 2002.

57.
Blanche Barrow interview, November 3, 1984.

58.
Cawelti,
Focus on Bonnie and Clyde
, 2.

59.
Blanche Barrow interview, November 18, 1984; Marie Barrow interview, September 25, 1993.

60.
Buddy Barrow interview, October 26, 2002.

61.
According to one source Blanche “was crazy about Warren.” Biffle, e-mail, May 27, 2003.

62.
Blanche Barrow interview, November 3, 1984.

63.
Simmons,
Assignment Huntsville
, 167. The disdain for Mary O’Dare extended elsewhere as well. In a conversation with Emma Parker, Cumie Barrow said, “I just saw that stool pigeon Mary O’Dare. She tried to get the kids [Bonnie and Clyde] caught when she was with them and finally got Raymond caught.” Emma responded that she would never speak to Cumie again if she let “that woman” in her house. Barrow assured her she had nothing to worry about, that she would assault O’Dare with one of her irons if she came too close. Dallas police department telephone wiretap transcript, April 28, 1934, 56. Even Hamilton’s brother Floyd hated Mary O’Dare. Floyd Hamilton interview, July 18, 1981.

64.
For the full story of this incident, see: Phillips,
Running with Bonnie and Clyde
, 173–78.

65.
Blanche Barrow interview, November 18, 1984.

66.
“Boots” Hinton interview, August 15, 2001.

67.
Marie Barrow interview, August 24, 1984; Buddy Barrow, e-mail, September 16, 2002.

68.
Linder interview, October 5, 2002.

69.
Ibid.

70.
Ibid.

71.
During a 1934 telephone conversation, Billie Jean explained why she had not gone to work that day, saying, “I don’t think they like me. They think I’m too hard-boiled. I can’t please the public. No need trying.” Later, in yet another telephone conversation, Emma Parker tells Cumie Barrow that her daughter, because of who she is [the sister of a wanted fugitive and the wife of convicted burglar Fred Mace], has been forced to leave Dallas to find a job. “I know she can find a job where she’s gone. She can’t find work in Dallas.” Dallas Police Department telephone wiretap transcript, April 18, 1934, 6; April 29, 1934, 59.

72.
Dallas Dispatch
, May 31, 1934.

73.
For the full story of this incident, see Phillips,
Running with Bonnie and Clyde
, 181–84.

74.
Marie Barrow interview, April 19, 1995; Buddy Barrow interview, October 26, 2002.

75.
Dallas Daily Times-Herald
, May 25, 1934. The three men were identified as Russell Mullins, Guy Thompson, and Jim Forrester.

76.
In 1954 Barrow was sentenced to two years for forging a six-dollar check.
Dallas Daily Times Herald
, October 14, 1954.

77.
Buddy Barrow interview, October 26, 2002.

78.
Linder interview, October 5, 2002.

79.
Blanche Barrow interviews, September 24, November 3, and November 18, 1984.

80.
Blanche Barrow interview, November 18, 1984. Marie Barrow added, “and he [Jones] had a bunch of good-looking brothers too!” Marie Barrow interview, September 25, 1993.

81.
Biffle, e-mails, December 24 and 27, 2002, January 15, 2003.

82.
Linder interview, October 5, 2002. Despite the rebuff, Lillian attended her daughter’s funeral.

83.
Blanche Barrow interview, November 3, 1984.

Bibliography

Public Documents

Dallas County Sheriff’s Department. W. D. Jones, Voluntary Statement #B-71, November 18, 1933. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

Dallas Police Department. Mug book. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

Dallas Police Department, File #6048. Clyde Chestnut Barrow. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

Dallas Police Department. Handwritten transcript of telephone wiretaps of the Barrow, Brown, Lefors, and Parker residences, April 18, 1934–April 30, 1934. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

Fort Worth Police Department. File #4316, Clyde Barrow. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

Louisiana State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. Certificate of Death, Clyde Chestnut Barrow, May 23, 1934.

Polk County (Iowa) Arrest Record. Blanche Barrow, July 24, 1933.

State of Missouri, Board of Probation and Parole. Letter from Robert C. Edson, director, to Mrs. Blanche Barrow, April 16, 1940.

State of Missouri. Conditional Pardon, Blanche Caldwell Barrow, March 22, 1939.

State of Oklahoma, McCurtain County, Marriage License and Certificate, issued July 2, 1931, recorded July 11, 1931, page 280, Marriage record 16.

State of Oklahoma,
Methvin v. State
, No. A9060, Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma, September 18, 1936. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, County of Dallas. Certified copy certificate of birth, no. 15965, July 30, 1943.

State of Texas, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Standard certificate of birth, Betty Sue Hill, November 22, 1944.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. “
Annual Report for the Year Ending December 31, 1929
.” Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. File #63527, Clyde Barrow. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. File #72718, Hilton Bybee. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. File #54953, Charlie Frazier. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. File #70383, Ralph Fults. Barker Texas Archives.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System, File #65949, Henry Methvin. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. File #61455, Joe Palmer. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. File #69384, Roy Thornton. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. Letter from William M. Thompson to Doug Walsh, May 17, 1932. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. Minutes of the Texas Prison Board, March 1 and August 3, 1930. F. L. Tiller, secretary. Barker Texas History Center.

State of Texas, Texas Prison System. Special Escape Report, Raymond Hamilton, January 16, 1934. Barker Texas History Center.

U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Identification Order No. 1211, October, 24, 1933. Dallas Historical Society.

U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Memo to Doug Walsh, May 4, 1933. Dallas Public Library, Texas/Dallas History Archives.

U. S. Department of the Navy. Odell B. Lamb, U. S. Navy, form FL 3-39, February 17, 1949.

Books

Andrist, Ralph K., ed.
The American Heritage History of the 20’s and 30’s
. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1970.

Baker, Eugene, ed.
Blanche Barrow, The Last Victim of Bonnie and Clyde: Prison Letters from 1933 to 1936. From the Collection of Mary Ann and Robert E. Davis
. Waco: Texian Press, 2001.

Boucher, Colleen, ed.
Jackson County (Minn.) History
. Vol. II. Jackson, Minn.: Jackson County Historical Society, 1979.

Cawelti, John G., ed.
Focus on Bonnie and Clyde
. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1973.

Cox, William.
Osborne Association Annual Report on U.S. Prisons, 1935. New York:
Osborne Association, 1935.

Dallas City Directory, 1921 through 1934-1935
. Dallas: Worley Publishing, 1921–1935.

Denison (Texas) City Directory, 1929 through, 1934
, Dallas: Worley Publishing, 1929–1934.

Fortune, Jan I.
Fugitives: The Story of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, as Told by Bonnie’s Mother (Emma Krause Parker) and Clyde’s Sister (Nell Barrow Cowan)
. Dallas: Ranger Press, 1934.

Frost, H. Gordon, and John H. Jenkins.
“I’m Frank Hamer”: The Life of a Texas Peace Officer
, Austin: State House Press, 1993.

Fulsom, Louise Adams.
Prison Stories: The Old Days
. Weldon: self published, 1998.

Gordon, Lois, and Alan Gordon.
American Chronicle, Year by Year through the Twentieth Century
. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999.

Halperin, Jerome A.
United States Pharmacopoeial Dispensing Information, 1991. 17th ed., Volume 1, Drug Information for the Health Care Professional
. Rockville, Md.: U.S. Pharmacopoeial Convention, 1997.

Hamby, Alonzo L.
Man of the People: A Life of Harry S Truman
, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Hamilton, Floyd.
Public Enemy #1
. Dallas: Acclaimed Books, 1978.

Harding, David.
Weapons
. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980.

Hinton, Ted, as told to Larry Grove.
Ambush: The Real Story of Bonnie and Clyde
. Austin, Tex.: Shoal Creek, 1979.

History of Audrain County, Missouri
. St. Louis: O. P. Williams and Co., 1986.

Hounschell, Jim.
Lawmen and Outlaws: 116 Years in Joplin History
. Joplin, Mo.: Joplin Historical Society, 1993.

Hulston, John K.
100 Years: Bank of Ash Grove, 1883–1983
. Springfield, Mo.: Fay Printing, 1983.

Kennedy, David M.
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

King, Evelyn Ball.
Collingsworth County, 1890–1984
. Dallas, Tex.: Taylor Publishing, 1985.

Knight, James R., with Jonathan Davis.
Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-First Century Update
. Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 2003.