Bonnie & Clyde

On my frequent business trips from Dallas, headed east on I-20 through Lousisana, I would see a small marker on the interstate marking the exit to the Bonnie & Clyde ambush scene. On one such trip, accompanied by Cindy, we decided to stop and view the actual death site.

Near Gibsland, Lousisana, thirty miles or so east of Shreveport, we exited the superhighway and drove about six miles through the countryside. The ambush site is on a rural---almost deserted--- road. We stopped and took some pictures. We noticed how the marker was chipped from all the souvenir hunters.

About a year later, we were driving north into Oklahoma. At Stringtown, OK, I noticed a historic marker beside the road. We stopped to investigate, and were amazed to find that Clyde Barrow had killed a police officer at that site in 1932. The guy obviously got around.

To refresh your memory, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were the cause of a severe crime wave in the central U.S. between 1931 and 1934. At the time of their death, Bonnie was 23 years old and Clyde was 24. They were responsible for over 100 felonies and the murders of 9 police officers and several civilians.

Their exploits were sensationalized in the press, and the American public, reeling from the depression, ate it up.

The law enforcement community was enraged, and they laid a deadly trap for the two young killers. With Clyde at the wheel, the pair approached the ambush site. Lawmen were waiting, their weapons ready. The barrage of lead from rifles and shotguns made a sieve of the cruiser they drove.

Although they had previously expressed a desire to be buried together, this was not permitted. They are buried in Dallas, Texas, in separate cemeteries.

In 1967, the movie, "Bonnie & Clyde" was released starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.