Bonnie and Clyde
I've been playing poker in Ponca City, OK the last few nights and it's about 100 mile round trip through the Oklahaoma countryside so I've been listening to various books on tape.
The one I was listening to last night was Bonnie and Clyde and Me by Floyd Hamilton. Floyd Hamilton was a bank robber who knew Bonnie and Clyde, ran with them some, and was the brother of Raymond Hamilton who was a more active member of the Barrow Gang.
Floyd ended up doing a lot of time in Alcatraz for bank robbery and Raymond ended up in an electric chair for the killing of a prison guard during a jail break orchastraded by Bonnie and Clyde along with his brother Floyd. Floyd was never convicted of being part of that prison break.
One of the interesting things about it is that it seems Bonnie and Clyde weren't really much in the way of bank robbers. Floyd talks about one bank robbery he arranged that Clyde backed out of at the last minute -- Clyde much preferred just robbing small country grocery stores/gas stations. Essentially Clyde was a small time 7/11 stick up artist.
I'd heard that before, that Bonnie and Clyde are often described as bank robbers but the realilty was that they mostly robbed small stores.
He says the reason his brother broke from Bonnie and Clyde and went off on his own was two fold -- he thought Bonnie and Clyde were trigger happy and also that they were small time and he wanted to just concentrate on banks.
The tapes have some interesting stories about country boy bank robbers.
The one I was listening to last night was Bonnie and Clyde and Me by Floyd Hamilton. Floyd Hamilton was a bank robber who knew Bonnie and Clyde, ran with them some, and was the brother of Raymond Hamilton who was a more active member of the Barrow Gang.
Floyd ended up doing a lot of time in Alcatraz for bank robbery and Raymond ended up in an electric chair for the killing of a prison guard during a jail break orchastraded by Bonnie and Clyde along with his brother Floyd. Floyd was never convicted of being part of that prison break.
One of the interesting things about it is that it seems Bonnie and Clyde weren't really much in the way of bank robbers. Floyd talks about one bank robbery he arranged that Clyde backed out of at the last minute -- Clyde much preferred just robbing small country grocery stores/gas stations. Essentially Clyde was a small time 7/11 stick up artist.
I'd heard that before, that Bonnie and Clyde are often described as bank robbers but the realilty was that they mostly robbed small stores.
He says the reason his brother broke from Bonnie and Clyde and went off on his own was two fold -- he thought Bonnie and Clyde were trigger happy and also that they were small time and he wanted to just concentrate on banks.
The tapes have some interesting stories about country boy bank robbers.
posted by Gary Carson at 10:46 AM
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