Bonnie
Parker and Clyde Barrow were partners in crime and love. Nearly 80
years after the lives of history’s most famous gangster couple ended in
a hailstorm of bullets, it has been announced that their personal
handguns found on the bodies will be sold to the highest bidder this
September.
Bonnie Parker’s gun, found taped to her thigh after her death. (RR Auction)
On the morning of May 23, 1934, a stolen Ford V-8 automobile sped down a dirt road near Sailes, Louisiana in a cloud of dust.
Inside was America’s most infamous duo—Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
For nearly two years, the outlaws and lovers captured headlines as
they eluded authorities on one of the most notorious crime sprees in
history. With the “Barrow Gang,” Bonnie and Clyde had gone on a
binge of kidnappings, murders and robberies, knocking off banks, country
stores and gas stations throughout the South and Midwest. While there
are conflicting accounts as to whether Bonnie ever fired a shot,
according to the FBI the couple is believed to have committed 13 murders.
The 1934 Ford driven by Clyde through the Louisiana pines that
morning was a veritable arsenal on wheels. Inside were three Browning
Automatic Rifles, two sawed-off shotguns, almost a dozen handguns and
thousands of rounds of ammunition. In case that wasn’t enough, tucked
inside Clyde’s waistband was a Colt .45 Army pistol, believed to have
been stolen from the federal arsenal in Beaumont, Texas. Concealed
beneath Bonnie’s red dress was a Colt .38 revolver taped to her inner
thigh with white medical adhesive tape.
Clyde Barrow’s gun, found inside his waistband after his death. (RR Auction)
“Seldom did anyone ever live when Clyde got the first shot,” warned a
newsreel of the day. On this day, however, Clyde never even had a
chance to grab for his Colt. A six-man posse led by retired Texas Ranger
captain Frank Hamer, hiding in the bushes on the side of the dirt
byway, unleashed a fatal blizzard of gunshots into the vehicle carrying
Bonnie and Clyde. The lawmen emptied their automatic rifles, then their
shotguns and then their pistols. They pumped more than 130 rounds of
steel-jacketed bullets into the car. The duo was killed almost
instantly. When the authorities opened the doors of the automobile after
the ambush, they found Bonnie’s body leaning on Clyde’s.
As part of his bounty, Hamer was given the Colt Model 1911 U.S. Army
pistol recovered from Clyde’s waistband and the snub-nose detective
special revolver found on Bonnie’s leg. The guns were passed down to
Hamer’s son and then sold to a private collector. A New
Hampshire-based RR Auction announced that the guns, along with other
personal effects recovered from Bonnie and Clyde’s perforated car, will
be sold to the highest bidder during a live auction.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in a photograph from the early 1930s. (Library of Congress)
Bobby Livingston of RR Auction said he expects each gun to go for at
least $100,000. “As far as handguns connected to Bonnie and Clyde, these
are the finest you can have as a collector,” he said. “They were on the
market last in 1986, so we are obviously getting intense interest.
These items are as close to Bonnie and Clyde as you can get.”
Other items for sale include Bonnie’s light brown leatherette
cosmetic case—minus the lipstick, box of face powder and powder puff
that were found inside after the ambush. Another item for bid is
Clyde’s Elgin pocket watch, which has a 10-karat gold-filled screw-back
case. The watch was among the personal effects returned to Clyde’s
father, along with his body. Clyde’s father wore the watch in memory of
his son for more than 20 years until his death.
More than 100 other lots that are part of RR Auction’s “Gangsters,
Outlaws and Lawmen” collection will be for bid,
including a letter written by John Dillinger from prison and a
handwritten score of “Madonna Mia,” a song composed by Al Capone while
he was incarcerated at Alcatraz.
http://www.history.com/news/guns-found-on-outlaws-bonnie-and-clyde-for-sale?cmpid=Social_Google_Hith_07162012_1
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