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Blanche Barrow

January 22, 2023

Blanche Barrow (born Bennie Iva Caldwell; January 1, 1911 – December 24, 1988) was the wife of the elder brother of Clyde Barrow, known as Buck. He became her second husband after his release from prison after a pardon. To her dismay, Buck joined his brother's gang. Blanche was present at the shootout which resulted in the Barrow Gang becoming nationally recognized fugitives. She only spent four months with the gang. Although she never used a gun, Blanche was blinded in one eye during a getaway. In the same incident, she rescued her husband under heavy police gunfire. She was caught along with her fatally wounded husband by a posse of local men in Iowa. She served six years in prison for assault with intent to kill the sheriff of Platte County, Missouri, but, he treated her sympathetically. Upon her release, she remarried and lived quietly thereafter. Barrow was extensively consulted for the fictionalized 1967 film about the Barrow gang, but disliked her portrayal in it, despite Estelle Parsons winning an Oscar for the role.

Blanche Barrow
Blanche and Buck Barrow in 1931
Born
Bennie Iva Caldwell

(1911-01-01)January 1, 1911
Garvin, Oklahoma
DiedDecember 24, 1988(1988-12-24) (aged 77)
Dallas, Texas
Criminal statusDeceased
Spouse(s)
John Calloway
​
​
(m. 1928; div. 1931)​

​
​
(m. 1931; died 1933)​

Eddie Frasure
​
​
(m. 1940; died 1969)​

Biography

Early life

Blanche Barrow was born Bennie Iva Caldwell in Garvin, Oklahoma, the only child of Matthew Fontain Caldwell (June 23, 1871 – September 19, 1947) and Lillian Bell Pond (August 25, 1895 – February 24, 1995). At the time of her birth, her father was 39 years old and her mother was 15 years old. Her parents divorced while she was still a young child. She was raised by her father, a logger and farmer. A devoutly religious man, he occasionally preached as a lay minister. Barrow had a poor relationship with her mother, who arranged for her to be married to John Calloway, a much older man, at age 17.

Marriage to Buck Barrow

On November 11, 1929, while hiding in Dallas County from her husband, Blanche met Buck Barrow, a twice-divorced criminal with children from a previous marriage, who was eight years her senior. Several days after they met, Buck was shot and captured following a burglary in Denton, Texas. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in the Texas State Prison System. On March 8, 1930, however, he escaped from the Ferguson Prison Farm near Midway, Texas and Blanche hid with him.[1] She and Buck were married, and she convinced him to surrender and serve out the remainder of his prison sentence. Two years later, he was not only released but granted a pardon which wiped out his conviction. A few days after Buck's release, Bonnie and Clyde came to visit with him and Blanche. Bonnie was visibly drunk, and Buck, who had been talking with Clyde in the car and also appeared to have been drinking, made a promise to his brother that he would join him in his gang. This went contrary to Blanche's wishes to keep her husband out of further trouble with the law. Buck tried to convince Blanche to accompany him on a vacation trip to Joplin, Missouri with Bonnie and Clyde. He explained that his intention was to persuade his brother to keep out of trouble, but still she refused to hear of it. Only when Buck threatened to leave her behind did she finally agree, saying that she was afraid that Clyde would drive a wedge between them.[2]

Barrow Gang

While visiting home Clyde invited Buck to vacation with the gang. Blanche resisted, then gave in as Buck was going whether she went along or not. Her husband hoped to convince his younger brother to turn himself in while they vacationed together. Buck had done so, served some time, and ended up receiving a full pardon wiping out his convictions only a few months earlier from the Texas governor. Blanche and Buck rented a hideout for the vacation in Joplin, MO using the pseudonym 'Callahan'.

Blanche and Buck spent three weeks relaxing in the two garage apartments with the gang of Bonnie, Clyde, and Clyde's seventeen year old sidekick William Daniel "W.D." Jones. The apartment building exists today at 3347+1⁄2 Oak Ridge Drive in Joplin, Newton County, Missouri, though it actually fronts on 34th Street, and is registered on the National Register of Historic Places.[3] While Blanche agreed to travel with Bonnie and Clyde, she was not overly fond of them.[4] The group passed time playing cards, doing puzzles, and drinking newly legalized beer. Clyde Barrow parked his stolen car in the left side of the double garage beneath the two apartments while Blanche and Buck had to rent space at a nearby house for their car as a neighbor had the right-side spot already. Blanche and Bonnie would go to the movies or shop for knick-knacks at Kress' store, but, to her chagrin, she ended up doing much of the cooking and washing for the others.[5]

Bickering steadily increased during the four months Blanche and Buck spent with Bonnie and Clyde. Since Buck was accustomed to deference from his younger brother, he had difficulty accepting Clyde as the group's leader. It also stemmed from the enforced proximity and Blanche's resentment at being used as the gang's factotum.[6][7]

The gang's loud, drunken card games and an accidental discharge of a Browning Automatic Rifle by Clyde led to neighbors reporting suspicious men to law enforcement and local police began watching the apt. After awhile, a raid was organized for April 13, 1933. Two armed carloads of local police pulled up to confront what was suspected of just being a group of bootleggers. Ironically, the gang had been on the verge of leaving that day. Clyde responded to the police by instantly opening fire; two of the policemen were killed while others took cover from the automatic weapons wielded by the gang. Blanche was pulled into the getaway car, having run down the street after her dog. She later wrote that when being driven away, she felt "all my hopes and dreams tumbling down around me".[2] Buck had gone from accompanying the gang to being part of its illegal activity when he, W.D. and Clyde stole cars and committed stick ups to replenish their cash. Left behind were documents that identified her and Buck, including their marriage license. They were now publicly exposed as being part of "The Barrow Gang," and associated with the killing of two police officers.

Also left behind were unexposed rolls of film. The police had the local newspaper develop them and photos of Bonnie pointing a gun at Clyde and other provocative poses caused a sensation. One picture showed Bonnie sticking her leg up on a car fender, clutching a pistol, and clenching one of W.D.'s cigars in her teeth as she glared into the camera. Failing to understand this and the other photos were taken as satirical fun, the pictures were sent out over the wires and widely printed, creating an shocking image of a violent gangster and his cigar-chomping moll that made national celebrities of them.[8][9][10][11][12]

 
Two-unit Red Crown Tourist Court. Using his cabin's internal connecting door, Clyde entered the garage from where he fired with a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). 39°18′43″N 94°41′11″W / 39.31194°N 94.68639°W / 39.31194; -94.68639 (1933 Site of Red Crown Tourist Court Platte City, Missouri)

On July 18, 1933, the gang stopped for the night at the Red Crown Tourist Court, attached to the Red Crown Tavern in Platte County, Missouri. The tavern, unknown to them, was a popular daytime meeting place for local law enforcement of various agencies to eat and compare notes on local crime. They quickly attracted attention. N.D. Houser, proprietor of the tavern and cabins which Blanche rented, became suspicious of Blanche because of her jodhpur pants, unusually tight and provocative when any pants were considered daring for women of that era, and because she paid the $4 rental in coins. He also saw Clyde back his car into the Court's garage, a habit associated with criminals preparing for fast getaways. His suspicions were heightened over the night and next day by the fact that Blanche had said she was renting the apartments for three people, but repeatedly ordered five servings of food when buying takeout meals at his tavern. Houser eventually informed police of his guests and the license plate number of Clyde's stolen car: Oklahoma plate 75-782. By midday, the license plate had identified them and enabled Sheriff Holt Coffey to get assistance from Kansas City Sheriff Tom Bash as well as the Platte City police chief and local prosecutor David Clevenger. Clyde, having taped newspapers across his cabin windows to keep hidden, was unable to see the growing police activity around the tavern as various agencies formed an assault team.[13]

At 1:00 am on July 20, 1933, Sheriff Coffey, leading the posse and bearing a steel, bullet-proof shield, knocked on one of the gang's two cabin doors, announced he was law enforcement and said he needed to speak to them. Blanche's response of "just a minute" was a prearranged code which alerted Clyde, who went into the garage, where he could see Coffey through a glass panel in the door. Clyde fired a Browning Automatic Rifle M1918, a military-grade automatic rifle, at Coffey, who dove away amid a barrage of gunfire from the BAR in front and responding fire from the posse behind him, which wounded him. Clyde also directed rounds from the Browning at an armored sedan parked to block their cars in at the garage doors. The bullets penetrated and wounded the officer behind the wheel, George Highfill, in both knees, forcing him to back away from the front of the garage doors, thereby freeing an escape route for the gang's car. Blanche and Buck had to leave the cover of their cabin as it had no interior door leading into the garage as did the cabin occupied by Clyde. Exposed, they were targeted by the posse's gunfire. Buck fell with a through-and-through wound entering his left temple, the bullet traveling the inner surface of the front portion of his skull, and out of his right temple. Bonnie and Clyde stopped, and while under fire, helped Blanche drag Buck into the car and drove away under a barrage of fire, which shattered the car windows. Glass splinters penetrated and blinded Blanche's left eye and damaged her right.[7] The apartments and tavern location is now covered by highway lanes approaching the Kansas City airport. The exact apartment site in on an entrance ramp.[14] At 12118 N Ambassador Dr, Kansas City, MO 64163 a plaque memorializes the nearby incident.

The fleeing criminals eventually acquired another car, one without bullet holes, and they camped near an overgrown dead-end road near the abandoned Dexfield amusement park in Dexter, Iowa. Buck's injuries were too severe to permit them to leave.[2][11] Within four days they were spotted and identified. With the road covered, a 50-member posse (mainly townspeople armed with shotguns and hunting rifles) approached the camp soon after dawn. Clyde and Jones opened fire, but were quickly outgunned and wounded.[15] With their cars wrecked, they abandoned the heavy BARs and ran.[15]

Capture

Buck collapsed due to his previous wound. He traded fire but was shot by the posse. Blanche, who by this time had been wounded by shotgun pellets in the abdomen, stayed with him and was arrested.[15] A photograph shows a distraught Blanche moments after she was pulled away from Buck, who is lying yards to the right.[15]

 
Blanche Barrow (not long after her capture)

Due to her impaired vision, she thought the camera taking her picture was a gun, and screamed, expecting that she and Buck were about to be summarily shot.[7][11] Blanche and Buck were taken to a doctor, who asked Buck where he was wanted by the law. Buck, whose brain was protruding from the infected wound that would soon kill him, replied, "Everywhere I've been".[15][16][11]

Jones, carrying the disabled Bonnie and accompanied by Clyde, who had an arm wound, crawled into thick brush, where the posse was unwilling to follow.[17] The capture of Blanche and Buck distracted the posse, allowing the three remaining fugitives to cross the river, where they stole a car and made their escape.[15][16][11]

Blanche, who later testified that she accompanied the gang solely to be with her husband, apparently gave the authorities no useful information. It was only in 1935 that she and other family members of Bonnie and Clyde were tried for "harboring".[15] Sent to Platte County, Missouri, she was charged with attempting to murder Sheriff Holt Coffey during the Platte City shootout, despite the fact he was wounded by the posse, not the Barrow gang.[15] Blanche found Coffey remarkably sympathetic, but later claimed that while interrogating her, J. Edgar Hoover had threatened to gouge out her remaining good eye.[16][11][15]

Imprisonment

 
July 27, 1933 — She was in prison until 1939.

While in prison, Blanche spent much of her time in her prison camp and the prison hospital. She quickly befriended other inmates, including Irene McCann and Edna Murray, the "kissing bandit." Blanche used her time in prison to practice her photography skills, pen her memoir, and start her scrapbooks. However, much of her sentence was also marred by severe difficulties with her eye, which required extensive treatment from the prison doctor. She would eventually lose all sight in her eye, which she blamed on Harry S. Truman, claiming he would not allow her to see another specialist about her injured eye.[18]

Blanche also maintained correspondence with several young men while in prison. She saved many of their letters in her scrapbooks, most relationships with these boyfriends being relatively short-lived.[18]

During her time in prison and after her parole, she remained in close contact with Coffey and his family and Platte County prosecutor David Clevenger. She was paroled after six years, the same time served by Jones, who had killed more than once.[19]

Life after release

Immediately after her release in 1939, Blanche moved to Oklahoma to help take care of her father.[20] On the other hand, her relationship with her mother had quickly deteriorated, eventually leading to a complete break.[18] However, Blanche only stayed briefly in Oklahoma, moving to Dallas, Texas, working various jobs later that same year. In 1940, at 29, she married 27 year old Eddie Frasure.[clarification needed] One year later, she completed her parole; however, police continued to monitor her whereabouts and she often was contacted when arriving in a new city. In later life, she said Bonnie and Clyde seemed like characters in a book she had read.[20]

Blanche and her husband wanted children, but suffered a number of miscarriages. In 1965, they adopted a 12-year-old boy named Rickey. Blanche would have a complicated relationship with him as he grew older, especially after her husband died of cancer on November 5, 1969. After her third husband's passing Blanche did not remarry, and she eventually died of lung cancer on December 24, 1988.[20] She was aged 77, and survived by her 93-year-old mother. She was buried in Dallas' Grove Hill Memorial Park as Blanche B. Frasure.[2][21] Her memoir, My Life with Bonnie and Clyde (ISBN 0-8061-3715-0), was published in 2004.

Reaction to the film Bonnie and Clyde

Although she was consulted by the makers of Bonnie and Clyde, especially actor Warren Beatty, with whom she became friendly, the film's characterization of Blanche was not the slim, bravely devoted wife in her early twenties that Blanche had actually been during her time with the gang. Her character was altered to be heavily inspired by Mary O'Dare (Raymond Hamilton's girlfriend at the time). On April 10, 1968, Estelle Parsons won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche, who remarked "That movie made me look like a screaming horse's ass."[22] In a 2013 mini-series, she was portrayed by Sarah Hyland.

References

  1. ^ Interview. John Neal Phillips
  2. ^ a b c d Barrow, Blanche Caldwell; Phillips, John Neal (2004). My Life with Bonnie and Clyde. Norman, Oklahoma & London: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 24–35, 56, 109–22, 150, 271–78. ISBN 0-8061-3625-1.
  3. ^ https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/SearchResults?view=list
  4. ^ Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 140-85
  5. ^ Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, p. 165
  6. ^ "Lifetime's 'Bonnie & Clyde' Costume Designer Reveals Secrets to Movie's Killer Fashion". June 19, 2014. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Guinn, Jeff (May 8, 2009). "'Go Down Together'". The New York Times. from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  8. ^ Red River Plunge of Bonnie and Clyde: Collingsworth Pioneers Park, US 83 north side of Salt Fork of the Red River: Texas marker #4218 – Texas Historical Commission November 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Knight, James R.. "Incident at Alma: The Barrow Gang in Northwest Arkansas", The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4 (Arkansas Historical Association Winter, 1997), p. 401; JSTOR 40027888.
  10. ^ Jones, W.D. "Riding with Bonnie and Clyde" March 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Playboy, November 1968; reprinted at Cinetropic.com
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Lonely Roads: The Story of Bonnie & Clyde". from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  12. ^ "Lonely Roads: The Story of Bonnie & Clyde". from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  13. ^ Guinn, Jeff (May 8, 2009). "'Go Down Together'". The New York Times. from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  14. ^ Coordinates: 39.3123659°N 94.6825828°W
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, pp. 254-57
  16. ^ a b c Phillips, John Neal. Running with Bonnie and Clyde, the Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults. Norman, London: University of Oklahoma Press, pp. 140-45, 1996/2002; ISBN 0-8061-2810-0.
  17. ^ Running With Bonnie and Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults By John Neal Phillips
  18. ^ a b c Barrow, Blanche Caldwell (2004). My life with Bonnie & Clyde. John Neal Phillips. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3625-1. OCLC 54767408.
  19. ^ Barrow, Blanche My Life With Bonnie and Clyde, p. 150
  20. ^ a b c Blanche Barrow's Life After Prison May 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ^ "Blanche Caldwell Barrow". Find a Grave. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  22. ^ interview. John Neal Phillips. 3 November 1984.

Further reading

  • Barrow, Blanche Caldwell and John Neal Phillips. My Life with Bonnie and Clyde. Norman, London: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004; ISBN 0-8061-3625-1
  • Phillips, John Neal. Running with Bonnie and Clyde, the Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults. Norman, London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, 2002; ISBN 0-8061-2810-0

External links

  • Blanche Barrow page at the "Bonnie and Clyde Hideout" website
  • Blanche Barrow at Find a Grave
  • Blanche Caldwell Barrow genealogy site

January 22, 2023
blanche, barrow, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, august, 20. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Blanche Barrow news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Blanche Barrow born Bennie Iva Caldwell January 1 1911 December 24 1988 was the wife of the elder brother of Clyde Barrow known as Buck He became her second husband after his release from prison after a pardon To her dismay Buck joined his brother s gang Blanche was present at the shootout which resulted in the Barrow Gang becoming nationally recognized fugitives She only spent four months with the gang Although she never used a gun Blanche was blinded in one eye during a getaway In the same incident she rescued her husband under heavy police gunfire She was caught along with her fatally wounded husband by a posse of local men in Iowa She served six years in prison for assault with intent to kill the sheriff of Platte County Missouri but he treated her sympathetically Upon her release she remarried and lived quietly thereafter Barrow was extensively consulted for the fictionalized 1967 film about the Barrow gang but disliked her portrayal in it despite Estelle Parsons winning an Oscar for the role Blanche BarrowBlanche and Buck Barrow in 1931BornBennie Iva Caldwell 1911 01 01 January 1 1911Garvin OklahomaDiedDecember 24 1988 1988 12 24 aged 77 Dallas TexasCriminal statusDeceasedSpouse s John Calloway m 1928 div 1931 wbr Buck Barrow m 1931 died 1933 wbr Eddie Frasure m 1940 died 1969 wbr Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early life 1 2 Marriage to Buck Barrow 1 3 Barrow Gang 1 4 Capture 1 5 Imprisonment 1 6 Life after release 2 Reaction to the film Bonnie and Clyde 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External linksBiography EditEarly life Edit Blanche Barrow was born Bennie Iva Caldwell in Garvin Oklahoma the only child of Matthew Fontain Caldwell June 23 1871 September 19 1947 and Lillian Bell Pond August 25 1895 February 24 1995 At the time of her birth her father was 39 years old and her mother was 15 years old Her parents divorced while she was still a young child She was raised by her father a logger and farmer A devoutly religious man he occasionally preached as a lay minister Barrow had a poor relationship with her mother who arranged for her to be married to John Calloway a much older man at age 17 Marriage to Buck Barrow Edit On November 11 1929 while hiding in Dallas County from her husband Blanche met Buck Barrow a twice divorced criminal with children from a previous marriage who was eight years her senior Several days after they met Buck was shot and captured following a burglary in Denton Texas He was tried convicted and sentenced to five years in the Texas State Prison System On March 8 1930 however he escaped from the Ferguson Prison Farm near Midway Texas and Blanche hid with him 1 She and Buck were married and she convinced him to surrender and serve out the remainder of his prison sentence Two years later he was not only released but granted a pardon which wiped out his conviction A few days after Buck s release Bonnie and Clyde came to visit with him and Blanche Bonnie was visibly drunk and Buck who had been talking with Clyde in the car and also appeared to have been drinking made a promise to his brother that he would join him in his gang This went contrary to Blanche s wishes to keep her husband out of further trouble with the law Buck tried to convince Blanche to accompany him on a vacation trip to Joplin Missouri with Bonnie and Clyde He explained that his intention was to persuade his brother to keep out of trouble but still she refused to hear of it Only when Buck threatened to leave her behind did she finally agree saying that she was afraid that Clyde would drive a wedge between them 2 Barrow Gang Edit While visiting home Clyde invited Buck to vacation with the gang Blanche resisted then gave in as Buck was going whether she went along or not Her husband hoped to convince his younger brother to turn himself in while they vacationed together Buck had done so served some time and ended up receiving a full pardon wiping out his convictions only a few months earlier from the Texas governor Blanche and Buck rented a hideout for the vacation in Joplin MO using the pseudonym Callahan Blanche and Buck spent three weeks relaxing in the two garage apartments with the gang of Bonnie Clyde and Clyde s seventeen year old sidekick William Daniel W D Jones The apartment building exists today at 3347 1 2 Oak Ridge Drive in Joplin Newton County Missouri though it actually fronts on 34th Street and is registered on the National Register of Historic Places 3 While Blanche agreed to travel with Bonnie and Clyde she was not overly fond of them 4 The group passed time playing cards doing puzzles and drinking newly legalized beer Clyde Barrow parked his stolen car in the left side of the double garage beneath the two apartments while Blanche and Buck had to rent space at a nearby house for their car as a neighbor had the right side spot already Blanche and Bonnie would go to the movies or shop for knick knacks at Kress store but to her chagrin she ended up doing much of the cooking and washing for the others 5 Bickering steadily increased during the four months Blanche and Buck spent with Bonnie and Clyde Since Buck was accustomed to deference from his younger brother he had difficulty accepting Clyde as the group s leader It also stemmed from the enforced proximity and Blanche s resentment at being used as the gang s factotum 6 7 The gang s loud drunken card games and an accidental discharge of a Browning Automatic Rifle by Clyde led to neighbors reporting suspicious men to law enforcement and local police began watching the apt After awhile a raid was organized for April 13 1933 Two armed carloads of local police pulled up to confront what was suspected of just being a group of bootleggers Ironically the gang had been on the verge of leaving that day Clyde responded to the police by instantly opening fire two of the policemen were killed while others took cover from the automatic weapons wielded by the gang Blanche was pulled into the getaway car having run down the street after her dog She later wrote that when being driven away she felt all my hopes and dreams tumbling down around me 2 Buck had gone from accompanying the gang to being part of its illegal activity when he W D and Clyde stole cars and committed stick ups to replenish their cash Left behind were documents that identified her and Buck including their marriage license They were now publicly exposed as being part of The Barrow Gang and associated with the killing of two police officers Also left behind were unexposed rolls of film The police had the local newspaper develop them and photos of Bonnie pointing a gun at Clyde and other provocative poses caused a sensation One picture showed Bonnie sticking her leg up on a car fender clutching a pistol and clenching one of W D s cigars in her teeth as she glared into the camera Failing to understand this and the other photos were taken as satirical fun the pictures were sent out over the wires and widely printed creating an shocking image of a violent gangster and his cigar chomping moll that made national celebrities of them 8 9 10 11 12 Two unit Red Crown Tourist Court Using his cabin s internal connecting door Clyde entered the garage from where he fired with a Browning Automatic Rifle BAR 39 18 43 N 94 41 11 W 39 31194 N 94 68639 W 39 31194 94 68639 1933 Site of Red Crown Tourist Court Platte City Missouri On July 18 1933 the gang stopped for the night at the Red Crown Tourist Court attached to the Red Crown Tavern in Platte County Missouri The tavern unknown to them was a popular daytime meeting place for local law enforcement of various agencies to eat and compare notes on local crime They quickly attracted attention N D Houser proprietor of the tavern and cabins which Blanche rented became suspicious of Blanche because of her jodhpur pants unusually tight and provocative when any pants were considered daring for women of that era and because she paid the 4 rental in coins He also saw Clyde back his car into the Court s garage a habit associated with criminals preparing for fast getaways His suspicions were heightened over the night and next day by the fact that Blanche had said she was renting the apartments for three people but repeatedly ordered five servings of food when buying takeout meals at his tavern Houser eventually informed police of his guests and the license plate number of Clyde s stolen car Oklahoma plate 75 782 By midday the license plate had identified them and enabled Sheriff Holt Coffey to get assistance from Kansas City Sheriff Tom Bash as well as the Platte City police chief and local prosecutor David Clevenger Clyde having taped newspapers across his cabin windows to keep hidden was unable to see the growing police activity around the tavern as various agencies formed an assault team 13 At 1 00 am on July 20 1933 Sheriff Coffey leading the posse and bearing a steel bullet proof shield knocked on one of the gang s two cabin doors announced he was law enforcement and said he needed to speak to them Blanche s response of just a minute was a prearranged code which alerted Clyde who went into the garage where he could see Coffey through a glass panel in the door Clyde fired a Browning Automatic Rifle M1918 a military grade automatic rifle at Coffey who dove away amid a barrage of gunfire from the BAR in front and responding fire from the posse behind him which wounded him Clyde also directed rounds from the Browning at an armored sedan parked to block their cars in at the garage doors The bullets penetrated and wounded the officer behind the wheel George Highfill in both knees forcing him to back away from the front of the garage doors thereby freeing an escape route for the gang s car Blanche and Buck had to leave the cover of their cabin as it had no interior door leading into the garage as did the cabin occupied by Clyde Exposed they were targeted by the posse s gunfire Buck fell with a through and through wound entering his left temple the bullet traveling the inner surface of the front portion of his skull and out of his right temple Bonnie and Clyde stopped and while under fire helped Blanche drag Buck into the car and drove away under a barrage of fire which shattered the car windows Glass splinters penetrated and blinded Blanche s left eye and damaged her right 7 The apartments and tavern location is now covered by highway lanes approaching the Kansas City airport The exact apartment site in on an entrance ramp 14 At 12118 N Ambassador Dr Kansas City MO 64163 a plaque memorializes the nearby incident The fleeing criminals eventually acquired another car one without bullet holes and they camped near an overgrown dead end road near the abandoned Dexfield amusement park in Dexter Iowa Buck s injuries were too severe to permit them to leave 2 11 Within four days they were spotted and identified With the road covered a 50 member posse mainly townspeople armed with shotguns and hunting rifles approached the camp soon after dawn Clyde and Jones opened fire but were quickly outgunned and wounded 15 With their cars wrecked they abandoned the heavy BARs and ran 15 Capture EditBuck collapsed due to his previous wound He traded fire but was shot by the posse Blanche who by this time had been wounded by shotgun pellets in the abdomen stayed with him and was arrested 15 A photograph shows a distraught Blanche moments after she was pulled away from Buck who is lying yards to the right 15 Blanche Barrow not long after her capture Due to her impaired vision she thought the camera taking her picture was a gun and screamed expecting that she and Buck were about to be summarily shot 7 11 Blanche and Buck were taken to a doctor who asked Buck where he was wanted by the law Buck whose brain was protruding from the infected wound that would soon kill him replied Everywhere I ve been 15 16 11 Jones carrying the disabled Bonnie and accompanied by Clyde who had an arm wound crawled into thick brush where the posse was unwilling to follow 17 The capture of Blanche and Buck distracted the posse allowing the three remaining fugitives to cross the river where they stole a car and made their escape 15 16 11 Blanche who later testified that she accompanied the gang solely to be with her husband apparently gave the authorities no useful information It was only in 1935 that she and other family members of Bonnie and Clyde were tried for harboring 15 Sent to Platte County Missouri she was charged with attempting to murder Sheriff Holt Coffey during the Platte City shootout despite the fact he was wounded by the posse not the Barrow gang 15 Blanche found Coffey remarkably sympathetic but later claimed that while interrogating her J Edgar Hoover had threatened to gouge out her remaining good eye 16 11 15 Imprisonment Edit July 27 1933 She was in prison until 1939 While in prison Blanche spent much of her time in her prison camp and the prison hospital She quickly befriended other inmates including Irene McCann and Edna Murray the kissing bandit Blanche used her time in prison to practice her photography skills pen her memoir and start her scrapbooks However much of her sentence was also marred by severe difficulties with her eye which required extensive treatment from the prison doctor She would eventually lose all sight in her eye which she blamed on Harry S Truman claiming he would not allow her to see another specialist about her injured eye 18 Blanche also maintained correspondence with several young men while in prison She saved many of their letters in her scrapbooks most relationships with these boyfriends being relatively short lived 18 During her time in prison and after her parole she remained in close contact with Coffey and his family and Platte County prosecutor David Clevenger She was paroled after six years the same time served by Jones who had killed more than once 19 Life after release Edit Immediately after her release in 1939 Blanche moved to Oklahoma to help take care of her father 20 On the other hand her relationship with her mother had quickly deteriorated eventually leading to a complete break 18 However Blanche only stayed briefly in Oklahoma moving to Dallas Texas working various jobs later that same year In 1940 at 29 she married 27 year old Eddie Frasure clarification needed One year later she completed her parole however police continued to monitor her whereabouts and she often was contacted when arriving in a new city In later life she said Bonnie and Clyde seemed like characters in a book she had read 20 Blanche and her husband wanted children but suffered a number of miscarriages In 1965 they adopted a 12 year old boy named Rickey Blanche would have a complicated relationship with him as he grew older especially after her husband died of cancer on November 5 1969 After her third husband s passing Blanche did not remarry and she eventually died of lung cancer on December 24 1988 20 She was aged 77 and survived by her 93 year old mother She was buried in Dallas Grove Hill Memorial Park as Blanche B Frasure 2 21 Her memoir My Life with Bonnie and Clyde ISBN 0 8061 3715 0 was published in 2004 Reaction to the film Bonnie and Clyde EditAlthough she was consulted by the makers of Bonnie and Clyde especially actor Warren Beatty with whom she became friendly the film s characterization of Blanche was not the slim bravely devoted wife in her early twenties that Blanche had actually been during her time with the gang Her character was altered to be heavily inspired by Mary O Dare Raymond Hamilton s girlfriend at the time On April 10 1968 Estelle Parsons won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche who remarked That movie made me look like a screaming horse s ass 22 In a 2013 mini series she was portrayed by Sarah Hyland References Edit Interview John Neal Phillips a b c d Barrow Blanche Caldwell Phillips John Neal 2004 My Life with Bonnie and Clyde Norman Oklahoma amp London University of Oklahoma Press pp 24 35 56 109 22 150 271 78 ISBN 0 8061 3625 1 https npgallery nps gov NRHP SearchResults view list Go Down Together The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde pp 140 85 Go Down Together The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde p 165 Lifetime s Bonnie amp Clyde Costume Designer Reveals Secrets to Movie s Killer Fashion June 19 2014 Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved June 20 2014 a b c Guinn Jeff May 8 2009 Go Down Together The New York Times Archived from the original on August 11 2014 Retrieved June 20 2014 Red River Plunge of Bonnie and Clyde Collingsworth Pioneers Park US 83 north side of Salt Fork of the Red River Texas marker 4218 Texas Historical Commission Archived November 28 2016 at the Wayback Machine Knight James R Incident at Alma The Barrow Gang in Northwest Arkansas The Arkansas Historical Quarterly Vol 56 No 4 Arkansas Historical Association Winter 1997 p 401 JSTOR 40027888 Jones W D Riding with Bonnie and Clyde Archived March 9 2016 at the Wayback Machine Playboy November 1968 reprinted at Cinetropic com a b c d e f Lonely Roads The Story of Bonnie amp Clyde Archived from the original on March 16 2016 Retrieved June 20 2014 Lonely Roads The Story of Bonnie amp Clyde Archived from the original on March 16 2016 Retrieved June 20 2014 Guinn Jeff May 8 2009 Go Down Together The New York Times Archived from the original on August 11 2014 Retrieved June 20 2014 Coordinates 39 3123659 N 94 6825828 W a b c d e f g h i Go Down Together The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde pp 254 57 a b c Phillips John Neal Running with Bonnie and Clyde the Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults Norman London University of Oklahoma Press pp 140 45 1996 2002 ISBN 0 8061 2810 0 Running With Bonnie and Clyde The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults By John Neal Phillips a b c Barrow Blanche Caldwell 2004 My life with Bonnie amp Clyde John Neal Phillips Norman University of Oklahoma Press ISBN 0 8061 3625 1 OCLC 54767408 Barrow Blanche My Life With Bonnie and Clyde p 150 a b c Blanche Barrow s Life After Prison Archived May 20 2016 at the Wayback Machine Blanche Caldwell Barrow Find a Grave Retrieved October 24 2010 interview John Neal Phillips 3 November 1984 Further reading EditBarrow Blanche Caldwell and John Neal Phillips My Life with Bonnie and Clyde Norman London University of Oklahoma Press 2004 ISBN 0 8061 3625 1 Phillips John Neal Running with Bonnie and Clyde the Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults Norman London University of Oklahoma Press 1996 2002 ISBN 0 8061 2810 0External links Edit Biography portalBlanche Barrow page at the Bonnie and Clyde Hideout website Blanche Barrow at Find a Grave Blanche Caldwell Barrow genealogy site Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Blanche Barrow amp oldid 1132477408, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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