History Daily - The Death of Bonnie and Clyde

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

May 23, 1934. The notorious American outlaws, Bonnie and Clyde, are killed in a police shoot-out in Louisiana. This episode originally aired in 2022. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more.History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

It's early evening on April 13, 1933, in a garage apartment in Joplin, Missouri. 22-year-old Bonnie Parker lays on a mattress on the floor, listening to music and waiting for her boyfriend to get back. Clyde Barrow in his outfit, which will come to be known as the Barrow gang, spend their days traveling around, robbing, looting, and sometimes killing. But lately, Bonnie and Clyde have been hauled up in this rented apartment with several other gang members. Tonight, Bonnie is bored because Clyde is outrunning errands with one of his cohorts. So Bonnie decides to pass the time with one of her favorite activities, writing poetry. As she scribbles away, Bonnie's eyes light up when she hears a car pull into the driveway.

Clyde is back, so she heads for the door, anxious for her lover to walk in the room. But instead, she hears a shout coming from the streets, and then the crack of gunshots. Inside, other gang members take cover. Bonnie leaps to her feet and sprints to the window. She sees Clyde and another member of the gang, making it be a be-lawful. for the garage as police cars swoop in and block the driveway. Bonnie grabs a machine gun propped up against the wall and throws open the window. She leans out and takes aim. A squeeze of the trigger sends a torrent of lead into the street.

Bonnie grabs a spare magazine to reload. She looks out into the driveway, sees Clyde dragging a dead cop across the pavement. Bonnie knows there are still officers outside and likely reinforcements on the way. So she slams the fresh magazine into place. and empties the gun again. Then she drops the weapon, and runs for the door. Outside, she jumps straight into the passenger seat of a waiting Ford V-8 sedan. Clides behind the wheel, and the rest of the gang hops in the back.

And with the scream of tires, the couple is in the wind. When the police sweep the apartment, they find a stagger in cash of weapons, military rifles, and machine guns. But it's the poetry notebooks, the camera, and the roles of undeveloped film that are the real find. By morning, those photographs will be on the front page of newspapers across America, and the country will get its first glimpse at one of the most infamous couples of all time. Two wild lovers who lived by their own rules and answered to no one. But in reality, the bloody crime spree they enacted was violent and deadly.

It came to an equally lethal end when the couple went down in a hail of gunfire on May 23rd, 1934. From Noisor and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is May 23rd, 1934, the death of Bonnie and Clyde. It's January 5th, 1930, in the neighborhood of West Dallas, Texas. In the kitchen of a simple house at 105 Herbert Street, 19-year-old Bonnie Parker makes a cup of hot chocolate. Bonnie's currently staying here at her friend's home. She's been out of work for some time and needed a place to stay.

say. Her friend is recovering from a bad injury, so Bonnie decided to move in and help her heal. But right now, Bonnie's not thinking about being a caregiver. She's thinking about how she can't stop staring at her friend's handsome guest, who stands across from her in the kitchen. Twenty-year-old Clyde Barrow is a good-looking man, and he seems to be thinking that Bonnie is a good-looking woman. The two strangers can't stop galking at each other. They're both experiencing a similar suspicion that this encounter feels like love at first sight. And from this moment, moment forward, Bonnie and Clyde are inseparable. They spend every waking moment together. They swoon in dark corners and call each other pet names. But their whirlwinds romance doesn't

last. Not long after they meet, Clyde is arrested and put behind bars for auto theft. Bonnie can't stand being apart from her new beau, even for a moment, so she smuggles him a gun inside the jail. Clyde uses it to break out, and for a brief time the lovebirds are reunited. But one week later, Clyde is arrested again. This time the judge sentences Clyde took 14 years at the Texas state penitentiary at Huntsville. From there, he sent off to Easton to do manual labor on a prison farm. By January of 1932, two years after meeting Bonnie, Clyde is despondent and desperate for a reprie from the back-breaking work. One day, while out on work duty, a hopeless Clyde takes an axe and chops off his big toe in an attempt to secure a place in a softer prison. But the self-mutilation

turns out to be unnecessary. Unknown to Clyde, his mother has already successfully petitioned for his release. Six days later, Clyde limps out of Easton. But Clyde is scarred in other ways, too. A family member will later remark, something awful sure must have happened to him in prison, because he wasn't the same person when he got out. As Clyde walks through the outer gate and takes his first breath of fresh air as a free man, he makes a vow to himself. He'll never again set foot in a prison, and he'll exact revenge on the system that you'll exact revenge on the system that tried to break him. His girlfriend, Bonnie, is all too eager to join him on his quest for vengeance. And eventually Clyde forms a gang with Bonnie, his brother Buck and wife Blanche, and a slew of other

unsavory characters. They robbed small town stores, gas stations, and banks. They staged jail breaks and gun down, cops, and civilians. And as they try to stay one step ahead of the authorities, they have several close calls with the law, including the bloody shootout in that garage apartment in Joplin, Missouri in April of 1933. The gang makes that of Joplin alive, thanks to their shoot-first style. But they leave two dead officers in their wake, and they also leave behind evidence,

including Bonnie's notebooks and a role of film. By morning, the pictures of the Barrow Gang are splashed over front pages all across the country. There are several photos, but the image that will captivate America is that of Bonnie, all four-foot-11 of her in a black dress with a beret pushback on her head. She has one foot resting on the bumper of Clyde's Ford, and her left hand hangs casually over the headlight, and her right hand holds a revolver.

The stub of a cigar is clamped between her lips. Throughout the spring of 1933, the Barrow Gang continues to roam the countryside, stealing and looting. And by the time Bonnie and Clyde's crime spree is over, they will have killed at least nine officers of the law and four civilians. Soon, their notoriety will capture the attention of powerful politicians and public officials. who decide the violence needs to stop. One of these officials will enlist the services of a retired Texas ranger named Frank Hamer. Frank will be deputized and made a special investigator charged with a single task to find Bonnie and Clyde and bring them to justice.

It's February 10, 1934, on a stretch of road in the heart of Texas. Frank Hamer, a tall man and wide-brimmed hat, sits in the driver's seat behind the wheel of his black four-door sedan. He's driving from Austin to Dallas on a mission. to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde. In Dallas, Frank's first stop is at the local sheriff's office. There, Frank sits down with the sheriff and starts asking questions. He wants to know everything about the duo, what they like to eat and drink, the color, size,

and texture of their clothes. Soon Frank has the information he needs, but he needs something else, too. In their meeting, the sheriff pledges his support to the hunt and loans Frank one of his deputies, Bob Alcorn, a good cop who knows the Barrow Gang well. When Frank and Bob leave Dallas, Frank knows exactly where they're headed. As he will later explain, Barrow was hot in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa, because the long trail of murder he and Bonnie and the gang had spread over those states. Louisiana was the one spot where he wasn't hot.

But there's another reason Frank suspects Bonnie and Clyde are in the Pelican state. One of the members of the Barrow gang is from a town there called Arcadia. He's a bank robber and outlaw named Henry Methven. By 1934, most of the Barrow gang is either dead or scattered, but Henry Methven still rides with Bonnie and Clyde. Frank suspects Bonnie and Clyde use Henry's parents' place near Acadia as a safe house, and eventually Frank will put the word out to local, state, and national law enforcement to keep an eye on the Methfin family. Not long after his meeting in Dallas, Frank and Bob hit the road eastbound. Frank will spend the next few months traveling back and forth between

Austin, Dallas, and Louisiana, chasing down any lead that might bring him closer to Bonnie and Clyde. But the pair remain elusive until April of 1934, when Frank gets a break. He learns that Bonnie and Clyde recently surfaced at Henry Methven's parents' place. Soon, local law enforcement makes contact with Henry's father, Ivy Methfin. Under pressure, Ivy says he's willing to make a deal. He'll help the lawman catch Bonnie and Clyde if they agree not to prosecute his son. So on April 28, Frank and Bob drive to Acadia. There they meet with Henry's father, Ivy, and other members of the family in a remote, wooded area. Frank hands Ivy, a letter, authorizing him to make any deal that will help bring Bonnie and Clyde to justice. Ivy says he just wants his son Henry's criminal record wiped clean.

Frank gives Ivy his word, but on the condition that the Methven family give Frank their full cooperation. Ivy swears he will cooperate, and he promises that if his son ever resurfaces, Henry will cooperate too. Frank gives Ivy and the Methvens their marching orders. Keep quiet and lay low until Bonnie and Clyde pop up again. But Frank won't have to wait long. About two weeks later, he gets a call from a sheriff in Louisiana, telling him that Bonnie and Clyde are back in the area and that Henry is with them. Hearing this, Frank immediately drives to Acadia and checks into a motel. There, he waits. On the evening of May 22nd, Frank gets another call. This time, the sheriff informs him that Henry is spending the night at the house where his parents are staying, and that Bonnie and Clyde are scheduled

to meet Henry at the Methfin House tomorrow morning. Frank feels it's time for him to move, but he wants to take the duo alive, especially young Bonnie. He has no desire to kill a woman. But he also knows the bloodthirsty couple has a reputation for shooting their way out of capture. So instead of storming in guns blazing, Frank decides to lay a trap. The plan is simple. Prior to the 9 a.m. rendezvous, Ivy will park his truck on the side of the road that leaves to the house where the meth fins are staying. Ivy will pretend he's changing a tire, while Frank, his posse and members of local law enforcement, conceal themselves nearby. When Clyde pulls over to help, Frank will step forward, call out to him, and give the pair a chance to

surrender. But on the morning of May 23rd, Frank's plan will go horribly wrong. Shots will ring out, and when the smoke clears, the murderous crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde will be over. It's just before 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 23rd, 1934, in Gippsland, Louisiana, a town 12 miles west of Arcadia. Bonnie Parker sits in the passenger seat of Clyde's Ford V8 as it tears down a barren dusty road. They're on their way to meet with a fellow gang member, Henry Methfin, at his parents' home. But Bonnie is starving, so Clyde pulls the Ford into the parking lot of a local diner. As he goes inside for food, Bonnie stares out the window and does her best to keep her mind off the pain. Last summer, Bonnie and Clyde were in a terrible car accident, and her leg still hasn't healed properly.

When Clyde returns, he hands Bonnie a sandwich and pulls the car out of the parking lot and get back on their way. Soon Clyde turns on a quiet rural road that leads to the Methfin house. But as they near their destination, Bonnie sees something in the distance. A broken-down truck parked on the shoulder. Standing next to it is Henry's father, Ivy Methfin. Clyde slows the Ford to a crawl to lend his friend's father a help. helping hand. He is just able to put the car in park when suddenly a gunshot rings out. It passes through the open driver-side window of Clyde's car and strikes him in the head,

killing him instantly. Bonnie lets out a blood-curdling scream, a sound that will stay with Frank Hamer for the rest of his life. Frank will later learn that one of the local law officers got trigger-happy and fired on Clyde prematurely. The officer will claim that Clyde spotted him and went for his gun. But in the heat of the moment, Frank barely has time to process what's happening. Frank will claim he never intended to kill Bonnie, but after the first shot rings out, his instinct takes over. Frank joins his fellow lawman in unleashing a torrent of gunfire into the still-moving car. Once the forward rolls to a complete stop, Frank walks up and fires a final round of shots into Bonnie's lifeless body, still clutching the sandwich Clyde bought her.

Bonnie and Clyde lived by their own rules. But when back to him, back into a corner, they were cold-blooded killers who never hesitated to pull the trigger. In the wake of their lawlessness, they left countless widows, orphans, and heartbroken families. It seems inevitable that the infamous couple would meet such a violent end. Bonnie seemed to think so. Just weeks before the couple was gunned down, she handed her mother a poem. Someday they'll go down together, and they'll bury them side by side. To few it will be grief, to the law, a relief, but it's death for Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie's foreboding words came true when the pair was gunned down on the Louisiana backroads on May 23rd, 1934.

Next on History Daily, May 26, 1896. In the aftermath of a financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal begins printing the Dow Jones Industrial Average. From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Molly Bach, sound designed by Misha Stanton. music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written in research by Danny Marshall. Executive producers are Stephen Walters for airship, Pascal Hughes for Noiser.