As suggested in the lecture I followed the following link - http://foia.fbi.gov/bonclyd/bonclyd.pdf to the FBI file on Bonnie and Clyde. (Pictured is the car in which they were killed)
The first thing that struck me, was the names. Why were they not called Barrow & Parker? which got me thinking about other outlaws – Jessie James - not known as Jessie or only James, we only know him as both names, Billy the Kid, also known by his first name too, maybe the Americans get a little more familiar with their criminals? Here in the UK, if someone was to say Hindley or Shipman, or The Kray’s – we know exactly who you’re talking about. Hmm – I digress....
Yes, they seemed to have done quite a lot of crime, but something that also struck me was the company that they kept – Bonnie was married to a convict and all their close friends were criminals as well – must of been kind of hard for them to go straight! Maybe Bonnie was just following around a guy she loved?
Perhaps the two captured the public’s attention as it was quite rare to have a male and female criminal duo. The only other ones I can think of are Moyra Hindley and Ian Brady, or Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr?!!
By the way I have read that Bonnie Parker was a good student and an avid creative writer! And she wrote a poem about her and Clyde beginning.....
You've read the story of Jesse James -
Of how he lived and died.
If you're still in need of something to read,
Here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde.
And ending .......
Some day they'll go down together;
They'll bury them side by side;
To few it'll be grief - To the law a relief -
But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde.
(If you want to read the bits in between check out http://www.mysterynet.com/bonnie-and-clyde/mystery-poem.shtml)
