The Barrow Gang

The 1930’s were a time of hope, despair and vulnerability for the United States of America. The Great Depression destroyed the American economy and left millions of people without homes, money, or food. Americans deserted their foreclosed homes and found themselves living in Hoovervilles, or shanty insufficient neighborhoods built in the suburbs of big cities. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the two most recognized members of The Barrow Gang, took advantage of the tanking economy by stealing cars, kidnapping, robbing banks, and killing a total of thirteen people. The Barrow Gang captured the attention of many Americans during the Great Depression, both young and old, after becoming one of the most notorious larcenous gangs in the country, through …show more content…
“One evening, Clyde received news that his sister had fallen and broken her arm. When he arrived home, he found his sister’s friend, Bonnie Parker, making hot chocolate in the kitchen. They spent the whole night talking, arguably love at first sight. After that evening, they spent almost every day together for the next few months” (Bonnie & Clyde). Bonnie was nineteen and already married, and Clyde was twenty-one, but had never been married. Shortly after their meeting, Barrow was arrested for stealing in February of 1930; However, Bonnie had fallen in love with Clyde and had decided to help free him. Barrow had it all planned out - he and his cellmate, Frank Turner, were going to escape. Clyde drew out a map of his family home and directed Bonnie to the precise location of a gun. She retrieved the gun from his home and discreetly slid him the gun during a visit. Both Turner and Barrow escaped. Despite their bold attempt to be free, they had failed. Turner and Barrow were recaptured and sentenced to fourteen years in the Eastham Prison Farm, a hard labor camp on the Texas plains. While Clyde Barrow was there, only immediate family and spouses could send mail to him, so he claimed Bonnie as his wife. “At the same time, unbeknownst to Clyde, his mother was able to work out a deal with the judge on his case, making him eligible for parole in two years if he exhibited good behavior. Unaware of his mother’s machinations, he devised a …show more content…
The government's role in the Great Depression era angered Barrow, so he put together a new group of thieves, but he did not want to leave Bonnie behind. Parker joined the new gang on their first joy ride. They decided to rob a hardware store across from the Kauffman Town Courthouse, unfortunately not leaving with many goods. Still in desperate need of cash, Clyde arranged a new proposal to rob the grocery store. One night, after being camped out in hiding, Barrow, Parker, and a man by the name of Ray Hamilton - one of Clyde’s best friends who was also the prisoner that chopped off his toes while in prison - drove up to the grocery store and held the owner and his wife at gunpoint, demanding them to open the stores safe. “Sometime during the unlocking of the safe, a gun was fired and the grocery store owner fell dead to the ground. The men grabbed the money and fled. Unlike the previous robbery, this one involved murder.” (Bonnie & Clyde) Everything changed after that night at the grocery store. Bonnie and Clyde would have to run for the rest of their lives in fear of getting caught. Not only did their first murder change their lives, but it changed them as well. “On August 5, while Parker was visiting her mother in Dallas, Barrow, Raymond Hamilton and Ross Dyer were drinking alcohol at a country dance in Stringtown, Oklahoma, when Sheriff C.G. Maxwell and