Bonnie and Clyde's reckless love affair and the bloody crimes that plagued the American Southwest during the Great Depression made them virtual folk heroes, the Romeo and Juliets of the 20th century.th century, with a passion for murder.
Ninety years after the fatal ambush by Louisiana law enforcement officers, two of Bonnie Parker's relatives are suing to finally reunite her with Clyde Barrow in a vacant lot next to them. ing.
Bonnie was 23 years old when she died on May 23, 1934, and was originally buried in Fishtrap Cemetery in Dallas, just a mile away from Clyde's 25-year-old grave in Western Heights.
But 11 years later, she was moved to Crown Hill Memorial Park and buried next to her mother, Emma, who died in 1945.
But that wasn't what Bonnie and Clyde wanted.
“Bonnie and Clyde's wish while on the run was to be buried together because they knew they would someday be captured and killed together,” a source close to two of the robbers' surviving descendants told the Post. Ta.
“But Bonnie's mother decided she didn't want to bury her daughter next to Clyde. That's because, 'Clyde gave birth to her while he was alive, but he can't give birth to her when he's dead.' It was a statement and Mom won.”
Officials said two of the outlaw's relatives, Bonnie's niece Leah Leanne Linder, who turned 89 in October, and Clyde's nephew, Buddy Barrow Williams, who is in his mid-70s, were “fighting.'' “However, so far it has been unsuccessful.” To reunite Bonnie with Clyde.
Ms. Williams published her memoir “Growing Up Barrow'' last year.
Historian Brad Disson, who interviewed Linder and Barrow and is writing a book about the deadly ambush of Bonnie and Clyde and the sheriff who led their group, told the Post:
“They haven't given up yet, but I think they're skeptical that it's going to happen anytime soon. They want to honor Bonnie's wishes to be buried next to Clyde.”
Crown Hill Cemetery official Dwayne Hughes confirmed to the Post that Bonnie is still buried there.
Several years ago, Hughes had talked with Linder and his attorney about reburying Bonnie next to Clyde in Western Heights.
But Hughes apparently did not accept Linder's claim that he was Bonnie's closest living relative, nor did he comply with Bonnie's mother's request that her daughter not be buried next to Clyde. is.
Additionally, members of the Western Heights Restoration Group recently claimed that Crown Hill does not want to relocate Bonnie “for fear of the loss of tourism that Bonnie's grave would cause.”
Tourists in Dallas continue to visit both cemeteries. When local officials visited last spring, Clyde's grave turned out to be a virtual shrine, littered with empty liquor bottles, marijuana joints, bullets and flowers left by tourists.
Ms. Linder was originally named Bonnie Ray Parker but changed her birth name when she was born to Bonnie's eldest brother, Hubert “Buster” Parker, five months after her infamous aunt's death. Changed to rare.
Leah Linder never claimed that Bonnie and Clyde were anything other than “outlaws.”
She once claimed this in an interview she gave to historian Disson.
“It was their wish to be buried together. They fell together. They knew what the ending would be.”
Once described as “America's most ruthless'' and “murderous outlaws,'' their exploits have inspired numerous books, songs, and films, and stars Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway have won Academy Awards. He played an outlaw in the 1967 film Bonnie. And Clyde. ”
The film glorified the violent duo and forever put them on the pop culture map.
When they met in January 1930, they both came from poor families and had little education. Bonnie was 19 years old and Clyde was 20 years old.
Bonnie was married to another criminal at the age of 15 and met Clyde when her husband was in prison. They were instantly infatuated with each other.
When her new lover is imprisoned, she smuggles a gun to help him escape. He was captured again, but by then the two had fallen in love with each other and were exchanging passionate letters.
He affectionately called her “little wife.” Although she was less than 5 feet tall and weighed more than 100 pounds, they never married.
Once released on parole, Clyde and Bonnie began a savage crime spree, and in April 1932 their gang first killed a store owner, then went on to rob nine law enforcement officers and at least three others in bank robberies and store robberies. He committed a series of killings, including four civilians. And a gas station.
In April 1934, the men and their gang, wanted all over the country, killed two patrolmen in Grapevine, Texas, and a few days later shot and killed a constable in Miami, Oklahoma, and abducted the police chief.
In May, former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer chased the suspect to Gibbsland, Louisiana, where he was ambushed by a group hiding on the side of a highway before dawn and opened fire as the couple's Ford V8 getaway car approached. They died instantly.
Despite widespread admiration for the pair, the court paraded their bodies and declared them “a pair of human rats with no more decent features than any other rat.”
But back in Dallas, thousands gathered for their own funerals, including private burials that may be canceled 90 years later.
