Clyde Barrow

The Barrows farmed land they did not own, near Telico in Ellis County, Texas, and it did not keep them. Clyde was the fifth of seven children of Henry and Cumie Barrow, born on March 24, 1909, into a household with no margin at all. In the early 1920s the family joined the migration off the cotton land into West Dallas and arrived with nothing: they slept under their wagon on a campground until they had scraped together enough for a tent. He was arrested at 17 over a rental car he had not returned, and again with his brother Buck for stolen turkeys. By 20 he was breaking into stores and stealing cars.

A conviction for auto theft put him in the Texas prison system in 1930, and at 21 on the Eastham Prison Farm. Another inmate assaulted him there repeatedly. Barrow killed the man with a lead pipe, the first person he killed. In January 1932 he had two toes cut off to get out of the fields, six days before a parole his mother had won without telling him. Ralph Fults, inside with him, said he watched Clyde change from a schoolboy into a rattlesnake. BriefHistory carries the manhunt and the legend. This page is about what Eastham sent back out.

What followed was not the bank-robbing career the newsreels sold. He and the gang took grocery stores and filling stations far more often than banks, ran on stolen cars, and circled the edges of five states to exploit the rule that stopped officers at a state line. Deputy Eugene Moore died at Stringtown, Oklahoma in August 1932, the first of nine law officers. Doyle Johnson, a young father, was shot on Christmas Day over his car. John Neal Phillips, working from family and gang accounts, concluded that Barrow wanted neither money nor fame but revenge on the Texas prison system. On January 16, 1934 he engineered a breakout at Eastham that freed several prisoners. The guard Joe Crowson died of his wounds. Texas answered by hiring Frank Hamer to find him.

At about 9:15 on the morning of May 23, 1934, six officers under Hamer opened fire on his car on a rural road south of Gibsland, Louisiana. He died instantly. The coroner counted 17 entrance wounds on him. He was 25. Parker was 23. Before the bodies could be moved a man was reaching into the car with a pocket knife to cut off Clyde's ear. The crowd in Arcadia swelled from 2,000 to 12,000 within hours. Depression-era readers had made them folk figures set against the banks. What he actually left was at least nine dead law officers and three dead civilians, and a granite marker in Dallas carrying an epitaph he chose himself: gone but not forgotten.

Clyde Barrow's life against the full span of the corpus.

• The Barrow Gang other
  The rotating crew assembled after his parole, at various points including his brother Buck, Blanche Barrow, W.D. Jones, Raymond Hamilton and Henry Methvin. 1932
• The first plan to hit Eastham other
  Made with Ralph Fults in his first months out. It collapsed in April 1932 when Fults and Bonnie Parker were caught at Kaufman, Texas. 1932
• The Eastham breakout other
  Engineered on January 16, 1934. Several prisoners got out. The guard Joe Crowson was shot and died days later, and Texas hired Frank Hamer in response. 1934
• His own epitaph other
  He chose the line cut into the marker he shares with his brother in Dallas: gone but not forgotten. 1934

• March 24, 1909 aged 0 Born to tenant farmers near Telico, Ellis County, Texas The fifth of seven children of Henry and Cumie Barrow.
• 1922 aged ~13 The family gives up the land and moves to West Dallas They lived under their wagon on a campground until they could afford a tent.
• 1926 aged ~17 First arrest, at 17, over a rental car he did not return A second arrest followed soon after, with his brother Buck, for stolen turkeys.
• January 1930 aged 20 Meets Bonnie Parker in West Dallas Accounts differ, but the most credible puts the meeting on January 5 at a friend's house. He was 20 and she was 19.
• September 1930 aged 21 Sent to the Eastham Prison Farm at 21 Assaulted repeatedly by another inmate, he killed the man with a lead pipe. Another prisoner, already serving life, claimed responsibility.
• February 2, 1932 aged 22 Paroled from Eastham, six days after losing two toes His mother had petitioned successfully for his release. He did not know it was coming, and walked with a limp for the rest of his life.
• August 5, 1932 aged 23 Deputy Eugene Moore is killed at Stringtown, Oklahoma The first of nine law officers killed by Barrow and the gang. Sheriff C.G. Maxwell was gravely wounded.
• January 16, 1934 aged 24 Engineers the Eastham breakout Raymond Hamilton, Henry Methvin and others got out. The guard Joe Crowson died of his wounds, and the state turned the full weight of its machinery on Barrow.
• May 23, 1934 aged 25 Killed in an ambush south of Gibsland, Louisiana Six officers under Frank Hamer fired on the car at about 9:15 in the morning. Barrow was 25 and Parker 23.

• Bonnie Parker 1910–1934
  Barrow Gang member and the most photographed outlaw of the Depression partner
• J. Edgar Hoover 1895–1972
  Longtime FBI director who built a powerful national police institution while conducting extensive political surveillance and abuses. pursued by
• John Dillinger 1903–1934
  Depression-era bank robber whose 14-month run was used to build the modern FBI. rival for the headlines
• Jesse James 1847–1882
  Missouri bandit and ex-Confederate guerrilla whose Robin Hood legend was built for him in the press. succeeded the movement of