Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

By Ervine Brabham

Background:

  • Bonnie was born on (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) was born in Rowen, Texas. Clyde was born on (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) in Ellis County, Texas.
  • It was said that Bonnie met Clyde in January 1930 at a friend's house. Parker was out of work and was staying in West Dallas to assist a girl friend with a broken arm. Barrow dropped by the girl's house while Parker was supposedly in the kitchen making hot chocolate and they were together ever since.
  • Bonnie’s father passed away when she was four years old
  • Bonnie had not committed any crimes before she met Clyde. She was also married to Roy Thornton which was in jail at the time of her death.

Crimes accused of committing

  • It's impossible to know the number of robberies and market holdups in which Bonnie and Clyde participated. Often they were accused of committing crimes when they were actually hundreds of miles away at the time. Nonetheless, it is believed that Barrow's gang was responsible for committing some 13 homicides, nine of which involved officers of the law.
  • Clyde allegedly murdered a man at Hillsboro, Texas; committed robberies at Lufkin and Dallas, Texas; murdered one sheriff and wounded another at Stringtown, Oklahoma; kidnaped a deputy at Carlsbad, New Mexico; stole an automobile at Victoria, Texas; attempted to murder a deputy at Wharton, Texas; committed murder and robbery at Abilene and Sherman, Texas; committed murder at Dallas, Texas; abducted a sheriff and the chief of police at Wellington, Texas; and committed murder at Joplin and Columbia, Missouri.
  • Clyde was arrested for burglary and was put in jail soon after they met. While he was in jail, Clyde asked Bonnie to smuggle a gun into his cell, and that is exactly what she did. This was her first criminal act. With this gun Clyde robbed numerous stores in Illinois in 1930 but was soon caught again and was sentenced to 2 years.
  • Clyde was first arrested in late 1926,before he was 16, after running when police confronted him over a rental car he had failed to return on time. His second arrest, with brother Marvin Barrow, came soon after, this time for possession of stolen goods. Despite having legitimate jobs during the period 1927 through 1929, he also cracked safes, robbed stores, and stole cars. After sequential arrests in 1928 and 1929, he was sent to Eastham Prison Farm in April 1930. While in prison, Barrow beat to death another inmate who had repeatedly assaulted him sexually; this was his first time committing murder.
  • The first murder attributed to the gang occurred in April 1932, when a grocer was murdered during a robbery in Hillsboro.
  • The next murder occurred on Christmas day in 1932 when Clyde, along with the newest member of the gang, 16-year-old William Daniel, attempted to steal a Ford coupe off the street in Temple, Texas.

Evidence of the crimes they committed

  • The only evidence that they could find was that they could track their stolen cars.

Sentence:

  • Before dawn on May 23, 1934, a posse composed of police officers from Louisiana and Texas, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, concealed themselves in bushes along the highway near Sailes, Louisiana. In the early daylight, Bonnie and Clyde appeared in an automobile and when they attempted to drive away, the officers opened fire. Bonnie and Clyde were killed instantly.

I chose the anomie theory because Bonnie and Clyde both have a desire to reach a goal which from what I learned was to make as much money as possible. The place where both of them were from didn’t have any promise of becoming something great. They were from the “wrong side of the tracks” which didn’t seem like they were going to become something good. Since the drive to be wealthy couldn’t be satisfied through just hard work they found a get rich quick scheme by robbing banks and stores.

Bonnie also showed the Differential Association because she wasn’t committing crimes when she met Clyde. Bonnie had just gotten married and was starting to get her life on track until the met the bad apple Clyde. Bonnie’s criminal record largely depended on how she hung out with. I believe that if she didn’t meet Clyde she would have turned out kind of ok.