Thursday, May 24, 1934, front page: Bonnie and Clyde killed by police

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GANGSTER, MOLL GET NO CHANCE TO SHOOT BACK

Bodies Riddled By Bullets As Car Speeds Past at 85-Mile Clip

OLD RANGER LEADS

Relative of Convict Had Promised Protection To Couple

By Associated Press

ARCADIA, La., May 23. ─ Clyde Barrow, notorious Texas outlaw, and his cigar-smoking gunwoman, Bonnie Parker, were ambushed and shot to death near here today in a sensational encounter with a posse led by an old-time Texas ranger.

The law-mocking desperado, whizzing along the Jamestown-Sailes road, a little used highway, at 85 miles an hour, ran right into a trap set for him, after having been lured into the state by a relative of an ex-convict who promised protection.

Before he or Bonnie Parker could get their guns into action, the officers riddled them with bullets.

Barrow's car, running wild, careened from the road and smashed into an embankment. As the wheels spun, the posse continued to fire until the car was almost shot to pieces.

The body of the gunman, who four years ago was a minor hoodlum scarcely known outside of Dallas, was found slumped behind the steering wheel, a revolver in one hand.

Bonnie Parker died with her head between her knees. She still was clutching the machine gun.

"We killed Clyde and Bonnie at 9:15 this morning," reported Ted Hinton, one of the Texas officers, to the sheriff's office in Dallas. "They were at Black Lake, a hideout we had been watching for weeks."

Never Fired a Shot

Fred Hamer, former captain of the Texas rangers, who had been waiting in the brush for days for Barrow to come by on his regular run, added:

"Clyde and Bonnie did not get to fire a shot. Their car was full of guns and ammunition, but they did not get a chance to use them."

Barrow had been lured into northwest Louisiana, through arrangement with officers, for what he thought was a rendezvous with an underworld friend near Ringgold. A relative of an escaped convict and former member of Barrow's southwest gang, working with the authorities, had promised him protection at his home.

As the officers fired, Barrow opened a door of his small gray sedan and attempted to raise his gun. So did Bonnie Parker, but both were shot before they could pull the trigger.