April 1, 1934 -- Easter Sunday -- a fateful day for two highway patrolmen who stopped to check a car in rural Tarrant County.
But instead of helping a stranded motorist, they rode their motorcycles into a barrage of gunfire unleashed by the Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow gang.
There were different witness accounts of what happened that day on Highway Texas 114 and Dove Road, in present-day Southlake.
One states that gang member Henry Methvin did all the shooting, and another account says Bonnie wanted to help the fatally wounded officers.
Still another says she stepped out of the car and shot the two men again.
What is clear is that patrolmen Ed Wheeler (below) and H.D. Murphy were added to the gang's grim legacy of violence.
The gang was known for its stockpile of weapons: numerous handguns, several shotguns and rifles, and even a couple of Browning automatic rifles.
They robbed banks and other businesses with reckless abandon and fast getaways.
Clyde had already been arrested and jailed for a series of robberies before he met Bonnie in 1930. They fell in love, and a blazing legacy ensued.
The media got hold of pictures of the couple after police recovered rolls of undeveloped camera film left by gang members after one of their escapes.
The photos (like the one above) added to the romantic image of the young bandits, but that gradually faded as the body count grew.
Twelve people are known to have been killed by the gang in Texas and other states, and nine of them were law enforcement officers. Included was Tarrant County Deputy Malcolm Davis in 1933.
Five days after the shootings of Murphy and Wheeler, the gang would kill one more officer: Constable Cal Campbell in Commerce, Oklahoma.
But 1934 would also be a fateful year for the lover bandits.
In February, Frank Hamer, a retired Texas Ranger captain and renowned man hunter, was tasked with stopping the gang.
That's what happened on May 23, 1934 when Hamer's posse ambushed Bonnie and Clyde near Gibsland, La.
There are many other important dates in the Bonnie and Clyde time line. Be watching "Famous Crimes" for another installment.
-- Bill Miller
hi i love your story about bonnie and clyde.
Posted by: Na'Esha | March 06, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Bonnie and Clyde supposedly killed them selves in a car crash by driving there car over a riverbank and into a river. When they pulled the car out they were not inside. its is said that they were watching from the top of the hill as police investigated and never heard from again. They supposedly ran across the border to Canada but no one really knows what happened to them.
Posted by: Jenna | January 01, 2010 at 11:02 PM
i was reading an book about murders that had happend in the past and it said that they had 187 bullets shot at them. but we will never no..
in pictures they look like any couple but come face to face, you will no about it.
Posted by: beth | April 22, 2011 at 11:55 AM