Bonnie Parker was born in 1910 in Texas, the second of three children. She has been described as an attractive, blonde and blue-eyed girl of short stature. She was very intelligent and of strong personality, loved poetry and used to collect verses in a notebook that she always kept with her.
After her father's death, she moved with her mother to Dallas where she worked as a waitress. Despite the precarious economic conditions, he decided to enroll in high school, but dropped out shortly afterwards. He married Roy Thorton, a local criminal who lived on petty theft, at the age of 16. The marriage lasted a few years, followed only by consensual separation; when she was killed, in fact, she still wore her wedding ring. Following the separation, Bonnie suffered greatly from the monotony of the small town, the routine and the lack of someone or something that made her enjoy.
Clyde Barrow was born in 1909 in Texas, the fifth of eight children of a family of farmers. He soon began committing petty crimes, the first for not returning a rental car. He was then indicted along with his brother on a turkey theft and then specialized in snatches, car jackings and store robberies.
The meeting between the two young men took place thanks to a mutual friend: the woman had a broken arm, Bonnie was helping her prepare hot chocolate when Clyde entered the house. It was a love at first sight. Since that day, Clyde has been unable to do without Bonnie's eyes, so much so that he nicknames her "Blue eyed baby", a blue-eyed doll.
They began dating but the couple really joined when she helped him escape from the prison where he had been locked up for a burglary.
After that escape began the series of blows and robberies that somehow strengthened the link between Bonnie and Clyde.
They became wanted after both of them escaped from prison: she for being an accomplice in the theft of a car and him for a murder:
Clyde was charged with the murder of John Bucher, a shopkeeper, after being recognised by his wife in a mugshot.Clyde always claimed to be innocent, that he was not the one who exploded the fatal blow. Knowing Mrs. Bucher in person, he was forced to stay in the car that would later drive the robbers away. Despite his defense, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Between life imprisonment and escape, he chose the latter and Bonnie did not hesitate to follow Clyde on the escape from the police.
The two became real fugitives: they never stayed for more than a few days in the same city, stole cars to which they changed the license plate so as not to be recognized and formed a real gang, consisting of local robbers.
Often the police came very close to arresting them:
once they identified the apartment where the two were staying and a special team was organized: the couple still managed to leave the house shortly before the police arrived. Weapons, a notebook of poems and a roll of undeveloped photographic film were found in the house.The photos were published in the newspapers and the couple increased their celebrity.
The two young men often risked being caught and, during an escape, the car driven by Clyde ended up in a ravine and exploded (probably due to the load of bullets in the trunk). As a result of this incident, the criminal lost the use of his right leg.
It's 1934 when the FBI decided to set up a special team to catch the two criminals.The occasion came with the tip of one of the gangs bonnie and clyde were part of: Henry Methvin.
On May 23, 1934, hiding along a small Louisiana street, Henry Methvin and the cops waited for Bonnie and Clyde's car. As bait Henry's father had pulled over his van along the road and when Clyde, who had recognized the vehicle, slowed down to see what had happened the cops opened fire. Bonnie and Clyde were killed: she was 23, he was 25. Fifteen registration plates, numerous automatic and semi-automatic rifles, pistols and over three thousand cartridges were found inside the car.
Bonnie and Clyde were both buried in Dallas, but in two different cemeteries due to the disputes of their families.
A poem signed by herself was engraved on Bonnie's grave:
"How flowers are made more fragrant
from sunlight and dew
so this old world is brighter
Thanks to the existence of people like you".
What made them renowned were not the infallible robberies, many of which turned out to be false and concocted by newspapers and the police, but their love in all circumstances, sheltered in a shelter or in the middle of a shootout. The car riddled with blows, a Ford, is now on display at whiskey pete casino
