Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff Lauren Bogelbaum here. This episode is a little more violent than usual in terms of death and bodily injury, so listener discretion is advised. It was a spring morning in Louisiana, near its border with Texas and the grimy heart of the Great Depression Mayo to be precise.
Clyde Champion Barrow, one of the most wanted men in America, casually parked his stolen Ford at mock Canfield's Cafe and hobbled inside to order a breakfast of either burghers, b lt s or fried bologna sandwiches, depending on which witness testimony you choose to believe. There were a lot of witnesses, and they all seem to have known perfectly well who Clyde was. Had been lurking in the area for some
time by then. They watched him warily as he collected the sandwiches limped back out to the car, handing one of them over to his driving companion, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker, one of the most wanted women in America. You'll note that Bonnie didn't share Clyde's last name. This wasn't a
proto feminist statement of independence. It reflected the minor detail that the two notorious fugitives weren't married, or at least not to each other, and Bonnie was officially the wife of a violently abusive crook who was serving time for robbery. Bonnie hadn't taken his name, either, but she had married him when she was only sixteen years old and soon thought the better of it and separated from him a
few years later. Still, neither was divorced, so Bonnie and Clyde were officially living in sin but that was the least of their outlaw behavior. By May of four, the couple was wanted on multiple charges of theft and murder and had broken the lawn just about every way possible. That also become popular criminal pin ups thanks to a cash of glamorous photos discovered by the cops at one of their previous hideouts, but there was little glamour in
their lives that spring morning. The reason Bonnie stayed in the car while Clyde went inside the diner was because Bonnie could barely walk at all. About nine months earlier, Clyde had crashed a different stolen car into a river, an acid from the battery had splashed all over one
of Bonnie's legs. They managed to save her leg from complete ruin with the help of some baking soda, but not before the acid ate it down to the bone in some places, and things had deteriorated to the point that Bonnie had to hop rather than walk to get around, and as often as not, Clyde had to carry her. And as we already mentioned, Clyde himself had a pronounced limp some years earlier, while serving time in a penitentiary, had cut off two of his own toes to avoid
the prison's brutal forced labor regime. All in all, lugging Bonnie in to get some breakfast sandwiches would have been unnecessary, at least strenuous, and so she had waited in the car. As Clyde pulled out of the parking lot. Bonnie ate a few bites of her sandwich and wrapped the remainder in the paper napkin it had come with. A Short time later, the car was speeding down a back country straightaway when they spotted a truck that looked like it
had broken down. The driver was standing next to the vehicle, looking forlorn. They knew the truck and driver well. It was Ivy meth Finn, whose son Henry, was part of Bonnie and Clyde's small gang lately that spent many an evening visiting the meth Finn's house. Clyde slowed the car to see if he needed help. Ivy did not need help.
In fact, his truck wasn't even broken down. About two months earlier, Henry, of violence prone hothead recently sprung from jail, had mistaken Clyde's instructions to kidnap a police officer who was getting too close. Henry had gunned him down instead. Enraged by the unnecessary loss of life, Clyde reluctantly shot down the second officer, twenty four year old about to be married Novice out on his very first day of
motorcycle patrol. Bonnie and Clyde were already wanted for multiple crimes, but it was this outrageous act that turned the tide of public sentiment against them and stoked the efforts of law enforcement to bring them down by any means necessary. Given the nature of the incident and his role in it, Henry had a lot of gall to cut a deal with the cops. But that's just what he did when he agreed to help a posse of lawman ambush his two former partners in crime. Henry's father Ivy, was recruited
to play a part, which he did convincingly enough. On that morning in May, no sooner had Bonnie and Clyde slowed down to see about Ivy's well being than six men with guns appeared from the woods and opened fire a blizzard of bullets. They fired a hundred and sixty seven shots. The guy in charge of the carnage, a Texas ranger by the name of Frank Haymer, was not a subtle man. He's reputed to have personally killed sixty
five people over the course of his career. And even if it wasn't his gun that killed Bonnie or Clyde, he was at the end of the run for the most famous criminal couple in American history. The year four was a faithful one for the eras famous gangsters. Over the course of those twelve months, John Dillinger, Charles Author, Pretty Boy, Floyd George, Baby Face Nelson, and Mob Barker and her son Fred were all gunned down by law enforcement. Today's episode is based on the article how did Bonnie
and Clyde Really Die? On how stuffworks dot Com written by O'sheen Kuran. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Before more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.