THE END OF PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER TWO

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 24, 28 July 1934, Page 19

THE END OF PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER TWO

"Bonnie". .Parker,, the notorious cigar-smoking woman outlaw, of America, and her highwayman lover, Clyde Barroiv, known as. Public Enemy No. 2, who since January had terrorised Texas with a record series of crimes, were shot at sight by T,exas police, who had tracked .them to their hidingplace near Gibson, Texas,' says an Amorican paper. ''~■"■.. :-

Barrow and his gunwoman friend ■were shot in. their motor-car; They-saw a group of police officers concealed: behind a clump of trees and. drew- their -guns. Before" they cojild pull the triggers a. burst of gunfire put an end for ever to their careers. •■ .;

The pair- were known as "wild human ratsj" and their murderous exploits equal,,if they do not exceed for desperate daring and.ruthlessness, those of Dillinger in the Middle West, whose life of crime, robbing banks and passing motorists in : remote towns' of ;Minneand :the-,adjacent JStates, came to an! end.this •weeli;?.."; :' ■ ~;v ■-:■'■ • ■

The'extinction of the Texas "human rodents" was regarded by the police as an omen, foreshadowing the fate which they hoped would shortly overtake Dillinger.

Barrow was known, as Public Enemy No. 2,_Dillinger being No. 1. Barrow and his gunwoman companion were driving at 85-miles an hour when they were shot down. Both of them crumpled ..up In "their.-seats as, the car turned over in a ditch.

The officers found Barrow's body twisted behind the steering wheel with a revolver still clutched in his right hand. In the lap of "Bonnie" Parker was a machine-gun. Both bodies, as well, as the. car, were riddled with bullets:; ~'.'"'.'; :■■■-■ :/• '.■; :-: '- ;

The- official report of Mr. ' JTiank Hamer, the officer in charge, known as "Dead.Shot," states that the highwaj's frequented by the vcouple had been watched 'for weeks. The trail was picked up one morning. The outlaws' car was reported at ai. early hour in Bossier parish, where Barrow is supposed to have relatives.

The officers waited behind some trees. Soon'afterwards they saw a motor-car break over the horizon'racing at a ter:

rifle speed. They greeted it with a fusillade from machine-guns and continued to fire after it, was wrecked in a ditch. . ■ . . . ■

Many Victims of the couple describe "Bonnie" Parker as a marvellously: expert marfcsworna-n. " SHe liked corn whisky as much as her cigars and was adept with a machine-gun, with whichshe invariably covered Barrow's retreat when his anns '-waxa full of loot. In the house, which the police surrounded after the couple had shot their way put some weeks ago they found a poem in the gunwoman's handwriting, entitled "Suicide Girl," and which testified to her exultant pride in her life of crime. "Bonnie V boast was, "They'll never take me alive." ' She made good her boast. . •

Barrow and five companions, escaped from ;i Texas gaol five months ago. After that they have roanie'd the Texas and Oklahoma prairies committing' a succession of crimes the like of Which has not been seen, since "the bad man" days of the famous James' Gang. Their car was equipped with three machine-guns, three shotgun's; and a quantity of ammunition.. ■

"Bonnie? 5. Parker,, shortly after the escape, joined her lover. Sho was a waitress in Dallas, where -he; was born, hnd had been the wife of Eaymoud Hamilton, the murderer condemned to life imprisonment for killing a deputy: sheriff. ' ' ; , ' ; ■

.;" Bonnie "was. a- "chain-smoker,''. invariably lighting 'one- ;cigar fro.m ;the butt-end of the one: she, had finished. She, puffed big cigars; -while '.-,her; male companions' perpetrated their ruthless acts of outlawry. ;.. : , . , ..'■

A few weeks, previously they murdered Police Constable' Cainpbeli, of Miami, Oklahoma, and kidnapped the local chief of police, Mr. Percy Boyd. •

v The outlaws swooped down on the two officers as they were following.a trail which they supposed led to the outlaws' place of refuge, firing a fusillade which instantly killed Campbell.

This crime, was preceded by the murder of two highway patrolmen near Grape Vine, Texas. Dozens of holdups marked their career, which the Texas ' rangers and deputy-sheriffs brought to a sudden and appropriate end.