Bonnie & Clyde - Little Known Facts

The Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland, LA.
The building is the site of the former Canfield's Cafe
where Bonnie & Clyde stopped for sandwiches 45
minutes before their death. The museum is owned
and managed by "Boots" Hinton, the grandson of one
of the lawmen who ambushed and killed the outlaws.  

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born in Rowena, Texas on October 1, 1910. When she was just 4 years old, her father died so her mother moved herself and her 3 children to Cement City, an industrial suburb of Dallas. By the time she was in high school, Bonnie was a top student, winning contests in writing, spelling, and public speaking. In her junior year though, she met Roy Thornton, also a high school junior, and fell deeply in love with him.  She had grown up wanting to be a famous actress, but the love-birds dropped out of school and married on September 25, 1926 just six days shy of her 16th birthday. Roy soon proved to be a womanizer and small time crook, often leaving Bonnie alone for weeks at a time while off with another woman or serving short stretches of time in jail for petty crimes. In January, 1929, he was sentenced to a term of 5 - 8 years for robbery and Bonnie moved back in with her mother. She found a job as a waitress in a local cafe, but she often complained of the boring and lonely life she was leading. At the cafe, one of her regular customers was Ted Hinton, a postal worker who would later join the Dallas sheriff's office and become a member of the 6-man posse who would have a meeting of a totally different kind with Bonnie on May 23, 1934.

Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909 in Ellis County near the town of Telico a few miles southeast of Dallas.  Clyde, his parents and 6 brothers and sisters moved to the slums of West Dallas in the early 1920's, sleeping at night under their wagon until their father earned enough to buy a tent large enough for them to all sleep in. Clyde's first passion was music. He became a good guitar player and taught himself the saxophone. He wanted to make his living playing in a traveling band. In 1926 though, Clyde rented a car to go see a girl who had broken up with him. He failed to return the car on time and he was arrested for theft of an auto. He gave the car back and the charges were dropped, but he was soon arrested again when found riding in a truck with his older brother Buck. The back of the truck just happened to contain a number of stolen turkeys. After a short stint behind bars for the stolen turkeys, Clyde decided to join the navy. He went to the recruiting station but before arriving there, he stopped and got a tattoo on his left arm which said, "USN." During his military physical, it was found he still had some lingering effects from his boyhood bout with yellow fever which resulted in his medical rejection for naval service. 

On January 5, 1930, Bonnie had lost her waitress job and with her husband still in jail, was staying in West Dallas helping out a female friend who had broken her arm. She was making hot chocolate in the kitchen when Clyde and a friend stopped off at the house for the friend to visit the girl with the broken arm. Clyde walked into the kitchen and it was love at first sight for both of them. The crime spree began soon after and "the legend of Bonnie & Clyde" slowly became entrenched across America over the next four years.

Marker at the ambush site. Some
people shoot it, some leave
flowers, some deface it with
graffiti, others leave bullets
and shotgun shells. 

At about 8:45 on the morning of May 23, 1934, Bonnie & Clyde stopped at Ma Canfield's Cafe in Gibsland, Louisiana for breakfast. They ordered 2 sandwiches and 2 coffee's to go. At 9:15, they were driving down Louisiana Highway 154 about 8 miles south of Gibsland when they slowed down because they saw the car of someone they knew pulled off to the side of the road like it was broken down. With no warning and before the car even came to a stop, six law enforcement officers, including Ted Hinton, one of Bonnie's regular customers when she was working as a waitress, opened fire with shotguns, automatic rifles and hand guns. The shooting stopped only when the officers had used all of their ammunition. There were over 150 bullet holes in the car. Clyde had been hit with 17 shots; Bonnie 26. When the officers got to the car, Bonnie was found leaning against Clyde, her head on his shoulder, a half-eaten sandwich clutched in her right hand. She was still wearing her wedding ring given to her by Roy Thornton when she married him at age 15. Visible on the inside of her right thigh was a tattoo, two interconnected hearts labeled "Bonnie" and "Roy." On the floor behind Clyde, officers found his saxophone. 

Word of the ambush quickly circulated when 4 of the officers went into town to telephone their respective bosses. Before the undertaker could get to the site, a large crowd of people had gathered around the death car and the two officers who had remained behind to guard the scene couldn't control them. Individuals began reaching in the car and cutting off pieces of bloody clothing to take for souvenirs. Broken glass from the shattered windows was taken, several guns were taken from the car and when the coroner finally showed up, he found people cutting patches of hair from the bodies. He had to chase away one man who was trying to cut off Clyde's left ear with his pocket knife and another man who was trying to cut off Clyde's trigger finger. Additional police finally arrived and pushed back the growing throng of onlookers and souvenir hunters.

The side of the remote road where Bonnie & Clyde's
car came to a stop after being shot over 150 times
with rifles, shotguns, and pistols. 

The coroner had the car with the bodies still inside towed to the Conger Furniture Store and Funeral Parlor in downtown Arcadia. He called H.D. Darby, a young undertaker in nearby Ruston to assist him with the bodies. Just 13 months earlier, Darby and a lady friend had been kidnapped by Bonnie and Clyde during a robbery. They were both later released unharmed about 50 miles from Ruston. He said the outlaw pair had treated them kindly and had even given them some money so they could get back home. He also reported that Bonnie had asked him what kind of work he did. When he told her he was an undertaker, she laughed and replied, "Maybe someday you'll work on me." He did.

The side of the road where the lawmen hid in a stand
of trees when they ambushed Bonnie & Clyde. 

The 6 lawmen who took part in the ambush were each promised 1/6 of the reward money. At that time, rewards totaled over $150,000. After the deed though, most of the state, county and other organizations reneged and never paid. In the end, each of the 6 lawmen received $200.23 and a few souvenirs.

Bonnie & Clyde wanted to be buried together, but Bonnie's mother refused to allow it. She hated Clyde, blaming him for her daughter's life of crime and death. Clyde is buried next to his brother Marvin with a double headstone marking their graves. It is inscribed with the phrase, "Gone but not forgotten." Bonnie's grave, also in Dallas but in a different cemetery, is marked with a simple stone inscribed with her name, birth and death dates, and a poem - "As the flowers are all made sweeter by the sunshine and the dew, so this old world is made brighter by the lives of folks like you."

Faithfully Waiting

High atop Crowley's Ridge in Maple Hill Cemetery north of Helena, Arkansas is the grave of Dr. Emile Moore. In early 1883, Dr. Moore got into an argument with Dr. C. R. Shimault because Shimault had treated one of Dr. Moore's patients who had suffered a broken leg. The argument took place when the two men happened to meet in the middle of town. As their words grew more heated, Dr. Shimault pulled his gun and shot Dr. Moore in the head, killing him instantly. 

The deceased was the owner of an Irish Setter dog named Pedro. Dr. Moore was reputedly a hard man to like when he was drunk and he was drunk pretty often, but by all accounts, he was a good doctor when sober and he loved Pedro so much that the dog was often seen beside him as the doctor called upon the sick and injured of the community. Dr. Moore was not married and had few relatives or friends. When he was laid to rest, Pedro was in attendance at the sparsely attended ceremony. After the funeral, one of the attendants tried to take Pedro away, but the dog ran off into the woods and nobody cared enough to go after him.

Late that evening, there was only a sliver of a moon and as the darkness grew complete, residents of the few homes around the cemetery heard the mournful sound of a lonely dog up on Crowley's Ridge baying in the night. Through rain, heat, cold and snow, night after night, season after season, people would hear Pedro howling in his loneliness. Sometimes a kind-hearted person would try to take him away, but Pedro would growl at anyone who came near the grave of his beloved master and offers of food and water were not enough to coax him from his solitary vigil. He must have drank from dirty ponds or licked the morning mist from tree leaves for water and he evidently caught rabbits or squirrels in the woods for his meals. Sometimes if the cemetery caretaker had some lunch leftover, he would leave it where Pedro was sure to fine it. Over time though, people saw him grow skinny until his ribs seemed to poke out of his skin and eventually, the elements and a broken heart took their toll and the nightly baying ceased. After 2 nights of silence, several men made the trek up to Dr. Moore's grave and there they found the body of Pedro laying across it, still waiting for his master's return. 

Waiting

People in the community were so touched by the dog's devotion and loyalty that after burying Pedro in Dr. Moore's grave, a collection was taken up and a monument to Pedro was placed on top of Dr. Moore's stone. Below the statue of a dog written in stone on one side is the single word "Fidelity." And on the front side - "Waiting." Even in death, Pedro remains forever faithful, keeping watch over his master.

Rest Stops in Texas

Jessie Wilder Jones

In the quiet middle of Abilene's Elmwood Cemetery, eternally resting in a pretty, tree-shaded plot lies Jessie Wilder Jones. Surrounded by other members of her family who have also departed mortal life on earth, with the birds chirping and singing in the trees that protect her resting place from the hot Texas sun, one can imagine Jessie is very much at peace. No historical plaque or marker designates her burial ground and other than the occasional living relative, few visitors come to pay their respects. A good number of Texas travelers though should be offering up a thankful thought to her memory.

Jessie Kenan Wilder was born August 11, 1882 in Graham, Texas to financially blessed parents. She had a privileged, but unremarkable youth and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in music from Weatherford College. After post-graduate studies in music at the Sherwood School of Music, the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and the Bush Temple Conservatory of Music in Dallas, she established her own music school in Seymour, Texas. While operating her successful school, she met Morgan C. Jones, the nephew of a wealthy railroad builder. The two were married in October, 1902 and a few years later, the happy couple moved to Abilene. With their combined wealth, Jessie soon embarked on her subsequent life as a civic leader and during the Great Depression, was the founder of several charities which provided free milk to needy children and free child-care services for working Black parents.


As a civic leader in Abilene, Jessie served as chairman of the Home Service Committee for the Taylor County Red Cross during World War II. Then over the next 20 years, she served as president of the Abilene Museum of Fine Arts, the Abilene Garden Club, the City Federation of Women's Clubs, the Abilene Women's Club, the Abilene Parks and Recreation Board, and the Rosenfeld Music Club. She also served as the state treasurer of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs and served on the committee that wrote the city charter for Abilene.

So what does any of that have to do with travelers on the highways of Texas? Directly, not really anything, but in the early 1930's while driving alone with her five children for a vacation in Colorado, she found there was no shady spot along the road to spread out the picnic lunch they wanted to have. With her children hot, hungry, tired of riding in the car and clamoring with their lack of patience, in desperation, Jessie pulled over in the small shade under a train trestle. With cars passing on the road close by and with the stench and dirt of a train which passed overhead, the unpleasant memory was etched deep in her mind.

Upon returning to Abilene from their Colorado vacation, Jessie attended a highway beautification meeting and proposed an idea for roadside parks. With her credentials and with all of the influential people she knew due to her civic activities, she was able to get an audience with the Governor of Texas, Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, who liked her idea and began actively advocating for it.

Today, the Texas Department of Transportation maintains and operates 101 rest area's and 743 picnic area's along the highways and byways of Texas. Even in the vast empty expanse of west Texas, travelers are never more than 2 hours away from a designated stopping point along a paved Texas road. The next time you need a break from driving; the next time while traveling down a highway in the middle of nowhere and you need to re-leave yourself of that morning coffee; the next time you just can't keep your eyes open and need a safe place to get 40 winks, stop at one of those rest stops, take care of your needs and give a quick thought of thanks to a forgotten lady forever resting in Abilene and those five clamoring children.