The two just like many people do. Through a friend or well in their case a friend's house. Clyde stopped by the house where Bonnie was staying in early 1930 and the two were smitten immediately. Many historians believe that her love for him is what made her join him in their crime spree.
She a typical girl of the time period. She grew up in Texas in a stable family. She went to school but dropped out to marry Roy Thornton in September 1926. However, it was a short-lived marriage. The two last crossed paths in January 1929. They never divorced and Bonnie was wearing her wedding ring when she died. Roy was in prison at the time of her death when he said, "I'm glad they went out as they did. It's much better than being caught."
He was also from Texas but lived a very different life. His family was poor and it took some time for them to get on their feet. Clyde was arrested several times before meeting Bonnie. However, he was never in prison for very long and fellow inmates helped to get him out of trouble. However, he had turned into a hardened and bitter criminal upon another release in 1932. A fellow inmate, Ralph Fults, said he watched Clyde "change from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake."
Following his release, Clyde and Fults formed their own core of associates. They began a series of small robberies in order to collect enough money and firepower to perform a liberation of Eastham prison, where they had both been imprisoned. After a botched job, Bonnie and Fults were captured and imprisoned. Bonnie was released a few months later but Fults was convicted and served time, never to return to the group.
Bonnie and Clyde would continue their series of robberies with some leading to shootings and murders. However, in the spring of 1934, their carefree life would turn upside down as the cops closed in on them.
On April 1, 1934, Clyde and fellow group member Henry Methvin killed two young highway patrolmen, H.D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler near Grapevine, Texas. At the time of the murders, it was reported that Bonnie and Clyde had pulled the fatal shots, which got widespread news coverage. However, Methvin later admitted he fired the first shot after assuming Clyde wanted the two men killed. He also stated that Bonnie went to the dying men intending to help them and not to give them the final death blow or coup de grace. Clyde had joined in on the shooting, while it has long been believed that Bonnie was asleep in the backseat of their car during the incident, and did not part take in the assault.
After these murders, a bounty was put out for the duo. There were rising fear and anger toward the pair who seemed to be running from state to state in the Central United States looking for something to destroy. People were living in fear enough as it was during the Great Depression and they didn't need or want to walk their streets in fear. Their prayers were to be answered.
May 23, 1934 - Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Bonnie and Clyde appeared in the daylight in their car when they were ambushed by a posse of Texas and Louisiana officers on a rural road. The couple had been taking a drive when Clyde stopped to talk to Methvin's father. Methvin's father and his truck were planted that morning in order to distract Clyde and force him to park his car closer to the posse. The lawmen opened fire, emptying a total of 130 rounds. Clyde was killed by an initial headshot. It is reported that Bonnie screamed when she realized Clyde was dead before all the shooting turned to her. The officers emptied all their arms. Anyone of the wounds suffered by the duo would have been fatal. Researchers say the pair had been shot more than fifty times each.
Bonnie and Clyde wished to be buried together side by side. However, Bonnie's family did not allow it. Her mother wanted to honor her daughter's wishes to be brought home however mobs of people surrounding them made it impossible. Bonnie's funeral was attended by 20,000 people and her family had difficulty reaching her gravesite. Clyde was buried next to his brother, where they share a single gravestone. Thousands of people surrounded the two funeral homes used for their services, hoping to catch a glimpse of their bodies. They were not buried together and they were separated during their services.
The ambush of Bonnie and Clyde seemed to put an end to the "public enemy era" of the 1930s. They were the ultimate couple. One couple that would literally die for each other. In their case, they died for and with each other. Now that was an interesting love story. Not your typical romance.
