1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,639 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Bogelbaum here. This episode is a 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: little more violent than usual in terms of death and 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: bodily injury, so listener discretion is advised. It was a 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: spring morning in Louisiana, near its border with Texas and 6 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: the grimy heart of the Great Depression Mayo to be precise. 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: Clyde Champion Barrow, one of the most wanted men in America, 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,559 Speaker 1: casually parked his stolen Ford at mock Canfield's Cafe and 9 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: hobbled inside to order a breakfast of either burghers, b 10 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: lt s or fried bologna sandwiches, depending on which witness 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: testimony you choose to believe. There were a lot of witnesses, 12 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: and they all seem to have known perfectly well who 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: Clyde was. Had been lurking in the area for some 14 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: time by then. They watched him warily as he collected 15 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: the sandwiches limped back out to the car, handing one 16 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: of them over to his driving companion, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker, 17 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: one of the most wanted women in America. You'll note 18 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: that Bonnie didn't share Clyde's last name. This wasn't a 19 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: proto feminist statement of independence. It reflected the minor detail 20 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: that the two notorious fugitives weren't married, or at least 21 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: not to each other, and Bonnie was officially the wife 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: of a violently abusive crook who was serving time for robbery. 23 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: Bonnie hadn't taken his name, either, but she had married 24 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: him when she was only sixteen years old and soon 25 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: thought the better of it and separated from him a 26 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: few years later. Still, neither was divorced, so Bonnie and 27 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: Clyde were officially living in sin but that was the 28 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: least of their outlaw behavior. By May of four, the 29 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: couple was wanted on multiple charges of theft and murder 30 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: and had broken the lawn just about every way possible. 31 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: That also become popular criminal pin ups thanks to a 32 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: cash of glamorous photos discovered by the cops at one 33 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: of their previous hideouts, but there was little glamour in 34 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: their lives that spring morning. The reason Bonnie stayed in 35 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: the car while Clyde went inside the diner was because 36 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: Bonnie could barely walk at all. About nine months earlier, 37 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: Clyde had crashed a different stolen car into a river, 38 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: an acid from the battery had splashed all over one 39 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: of Bonnie's legs. They managed to save her leg from 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: complete ruin with the help of some baking soda, but 41 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: not before the acid ate it down to the bone 42 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: in some places, and things had deteriorated to the point 43 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: that Bonnie had to hop rather than walk to get around, 44 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: and as often as not, Clyde had to carry her. 45 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: And as we already mentioned, Clyde himself had a pronounced 46 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: limp some years earlier, while serving time in a penitentiary, 47 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: had cut off two of his own toes to avoid 48 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: the prison's brutal forced labor regime. All in all, lugging 49 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: Bonnie in to get some breakfast sandwiches would have been unnecessary, 50 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,799 Speaker 1: at least strenuous, and so she had waited in the car. 51 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: As Clyde pulled out of the parking lot. Bonnie ate 52 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: a few bites of her sandwich and wrapped the remainder 53 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: in the paper napkin it had come with. A Short 54 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: time later, the car was speeding down a back country 55 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: straightaway when they spotted a truck that looked like it 56 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: had broken down. The driver was standing next to the vehicle, 57 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: looking forlorn. They knew the truck and driver well. It 58 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: was Ivy meth Finn, whose son Henry, was part of 59 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde's small gang lately that spent many an 60 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: evening visiting the meth Finn's house. Clyde slowed the car 61 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: to see if he needed help. Ivy did not need help. 62 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: In fact, his truck wasn't even broken down. About two 63 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: months earlier, Henry, of violence prone hothead recently sprung from jail, 64 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: had mistaken Clyde's instructions to kidnap a police officer who 65 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: was getting too close. Henry had gunned him down instead. 66 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: Enraged by the unnecessary loss of life, Clyde reluctantly shot 67 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: down the second officer, twenty four year old about to 68 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: be married Novice out on his very first day of 69 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: motorcycle patrol. Bonnie and Clyde were already wanted for multiple crimes, 70 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: but it was this outrageous act that turned the tide 71 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: of public sentiment against them and stoked the efforts of 72 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:19,600 Speaker 1: law enforcement to bring them down by any means necessary. 73 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: Given the nature of the incident and his role in it, 74 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: Henry had a lot of gall to cut a deal 75 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: with the cops. But that's just what he did when 76 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: he agreed to help a posse of lawman ambush his 77 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: two former partners in crime. Henry's father Ivy, was recruited 78 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 1: to play a part, which he did convincingly enough. On 79 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: that morning in May, no sooner had Bonnie and Clyde 80 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: slowed down to see about Ivy's well being than six 81 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 1: men with guns appeared from the woods and opened fire 82 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: a blizzard of bullets. They fired a hundred and sixty 83 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: seven shots. The guy in charge of the carnage, a 84 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: Texas ranger by the name of Frank Haymer, was not 85 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: a subtle man. He's reputed to have personally killed sixty 86 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,600 Speaker 1: five people over the course of his career. And even 87 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: if it wasn't his gun that killed Bonnie or Clyde, 88 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: he was at the end of the run for the 89 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: most famous criminal couple in American history. The year four 90 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: was a faithful one for the eras famous gangsters. Over 91 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: the course of those twelve months, John Dillinger, Charles Author, 92 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: Pretty Boy, Floyd George, Baby Face Nelson, and Mob Barker 93 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: and her son Fred were all gunned down by law enforcement. 94 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article how did Bonnie 95 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: and Clyde Really Die? On how stuffworks dot Com written 96 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: by O'sheen Kuran. Brain Stuff is a production of I 97 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and 98 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Klang. Before more podcasts my heart Radio, 99 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 100 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.