Bonnie Parker: A Gangster in Love
Born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas, Bonnie Parker had to struggle from the start. She was the second of three children born to low-income laborers. Her father, a bricklayer, died when Bonnie was four. A short time after his death her mother, Emma, moved with the children to West Dallas.
Bonnie grew into an intelligent and beautiful woman. Standing at 4'11" and weighing only 90 pounds, she was petite, yet strong willed. She was constantly on the honor role while in high school and excelled in creative writing. Her life seemed to be on the right course, but all that changed when she was sixteen.
It was then that Bonnie dropped out of school to marry Roy Thornton, her childhood sweetheart. Bonnie liked adventure and excitement, and Roy seemed to fill this need in her. It was a troubled marriage, but Bonnie stuck it out even after Roy was sentenced to prison for murder. However, playing the waiting game while waitressing for money soon became mundane to Bonnie.
A year later she met the man whose destiny would be forever entwined with hers. She was only nineteen when she was introduced to Clyde Barrow through a mutual friend. She was also still married to Roy. Still, the couple fell deeply in love. Clyde was jailed three months later, but managed to escape with the use of a pistol Bonnie smuggled past the guards. He was caught a month later and sent to Eastham Prison Farm where he would stay until his parole (largely due to the efforts of his mother) in 1932.
After his release, Bonnie and Clyde began what would be a two-year crime spree that would end in their gruesome deaths. They began robbing grocery stores, banks, and gas stations and quickly earned the reputation of being cold, unfeeling murderers. Bonnie, who came to love the thrill involved in committing crimes, was jailed after an attempt to rob a hardware store failed and imprisoned for three months. Once reunited, the couple resumed their deadly spree taking them through Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Missouri. Though a massive manhunt was on, the couple always managed to stay one step ahead.
Two days after Bonnie's release, she and Clyde robbed a store in Hillsboro, Texas, killing the owner. On October 11, 1932, Clyde murdered the owner of another grocery store during a robbery. On Christmas Day of the same year, they murdered Doyle Johnson in order to steal his car. Two weeks later, Malcolm Davis was shot to death after he tried to arrest the pair.
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