Volume 18 , Issue 32

1934, Great Crowds See Bodies of Bonnie And Clyde

In the Abilene Reporter News, out of Abilene, Texas, dated 25 May 1934, Friday, page 1, we find an associated press article from Dallas, dated May 24 (1934), "Great Crowds See Bodies of Clyde, Bonnie."

Found on Newspapers.com

Dallas, May 24 (1934) -- Crowds of morbidly curious clamoring for a look at the bodies of Clyde Barrow, southwestern bad man, and his gun "Moll" Bonnie Parker, were shut out and cordons of policemen guarded the two undertaking parlors where the bodies lay.

Chocked and pained by the demonstration, surviving relatives at first permitted several thousand to view the bodies, marching in single file under the prodding of policemen, after the mutilated bodies of the fallen killers were brought from Arcadia, La. Finally, at the insistence of the families, undertakers shut the doors.

Members of the two families had not revealed definite funeral plans. It was known only that a private funeral service for Barrow would be held tomorrow afternoon. Two songs - "Does Jesus Care?" and "He's the One" - would be sung, and a short prayer and message would terminate the ceremony.

Two graves, one carved out of the chalky, rocky hillside soil of west Dallas and the other in a sandy river valley a mile distant, were set aside for the couple. They would be buried apart, according to the wishes of the families.

Mrs. Emma Parker, mother of the 23 year old girl whose name was long a byword on the lips of southwest officers, did not want a double funeral.

Emma was quoted as saying, "I have said that I will not permit Bonnie and Clyde to be buried side by side. I feel that that is asking too much of me. However, I have not talked to Mrs. Barrow and our plans may be changed."

Mrs. Henry Barrow, the mother who watched closely the movements of a wayward son, was in seclusion in the home of friends but the family went ahead with plans to bury Clyde in the family plot in the Western Heights cemetery. The spot probably would be quite close to the grave of his brother, Marvin "Buck" Barrow, who was slain in a gun fight with officers in Iowa a year before. The cemetery was one of the oldest in Dallas and French colonists were buried there many years ago.

Bonnie would be buried in the Fishtrap cemetery. Her relatives busied themselves with selecting a plot. The Rev. Clifford Andrews, pastor of the Oak Cliff Full Gospel church, who offered his services to Mrs. Parker, would be in charge of both services.

The criminals whose record was without parallel in the southwest, were slain near Arcadia, Louisiana, the day before by Texas and Louisiana officers who had guarded a hideout for six weeks. The manhunters filled them and their speeding automobile full of lead before either could use a pistol or rifle.

Clyde's body, almost torn to pieces, bore 40 bullet marks and attendants embalmed it by sections. The back of his head was torn away, his left shoulder was blown to bits and his body was pictured by slugs. Bonnie's trigger hand was shot off and one bullet entered her mouth, knocking out her teeth. Another missile imbedded itself in a tattoo mark on her right thigh a heart with the name "Roy" lettered across it. Roy Thornton, her husband, was serving a term in prison for robbery. The bodies arrived in Dallas from arcadia early in the morning but Mrs. Barrow and Mrs. Parker did not go to the undertaking establishments until several hours later.

Leon Hale, Bonnie's cousin, John Bullock, a driver, and Henry Barrow, Clyde's father, brought his body back to Dallas. As funeral plans went forward, attempts were made to have as many members of the two families present as possible. An Attorney obtained the release on bond of L. C. Barrow, Clyde's brother, who had been held for months on a highway robbery charge. And, two relatives of Mrs. Parker went to Fort Worth to try to effect the release of Billie Mace, 21, Bonnie's sister, charged with he Easter Sunday slaying of two Texas highway patrolmen 20 miles northwest of Dallas.

Four Texas officers who were instrumental in killing the couple remained in Louisiana, resting from their long ordeal. They were Frank Hamer, man-hunting captain of the ranger force in Texas for years; B. M. Gault, special officer of the Texas highway patrol; and Ted Hinton and Bob Alcorn special deputies from eh Dallas sheriff's office assigned the task of running down the couple, dead or alive.

They and the other officers who waited in a wooded sector for Clyde and Bonnie to speed by on a dirt road apparently were in line for at least a small portion of the $3,000 rewards for the capture or slaying of the young desperadoes. Some funds had been raised in hope that they would be captured, tried and convicted while others were assembled to reward anyone who captured them "dead or alive."

City, county and federal officers here had offered a total of $700 or the desperadoes' capture dead or alive and business men were working on another fund.

Mrs. Parker went into detail to explain why she did not want a double funeral, "Clyde had her for two years. Look what he did to her. Now, she's mine. Nobody else has a right to her." Sobs shook her slender frame as she remarked that she hadn't seen Bonnie for more than a year and lashed out against the killing officers for the manner in which they stopped Bonnie and Clyde. And she termed the man she blamed for the ambush a "dirty double-crosser."

She said Bonnie became acquainted with Barrow after he was pardoned from the state penitentiary where he was serving a sentence for theft.

Mrs. Parker was quoted as saying, "I didn't see her again for a yer, then, he was getting deeper and deeper into trouble and of course that involved her. She wrote me time and again and said: 'Mother, I'd give anything in the world if I could come home but I can't. I've gone too far. I'd be glad to live on bread and water the rest of my life if I could come home and be like I always was'."

"But, they were hot. She didn't kill anybody or hurt anybody but she couldn't come home. I know she couldn't."

"What," she asked, "do you think of a bunch of men that would shoot them up like that? Shot from ambush, that's what they did. Didn't even try to take them alive."
  |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---