My Life with Bonnie and Clyde

Blanche Caldwell Barrow

University of Oklahoma Press, Aug 1, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 325 pages

Bonnie and Clyde were responsible for multiple murders and countless robberies. But they did not act alone. In 1933, during their infamous run from the law, Bonnie and Clyde were joined by Clyde’s brother Buck Barrow and his wife Blanche. Of these four accomplices, only one—Blanche Caldwell Barrow—lived beyond early adulthood and only Blanche left behind a written account of their escapades. Edited by outlaw expert John Neal Phillips, Blanche’s previously unknown memoir is here available for the first time.

Blanche wrote her memoir between 1933 and 1939, while serving time at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Following her death, Blanche’s good friend and the executor of her will, Esther L. Weiser, found the memoir wrapped in a large unused Christmas card. Later she entrusted it to Phillips, who had interviewed Blanche several times before her death. Drawing from these interviews, and from extensive research into Depression-era outlaw history, Phillips supplements the memoir with helpful notes and with biographical information about Blanche and her accomplices.

Contents

• View from a Cell: 3
• Marriage: 5
• Buck Makes a Pardon: 14
• Joplin: 36
• Ruston: 58
• Friction: 64
• Mothers Day: 72
• Florida: 81
• A Visit with My Father: 88
• Wellington: 94
• Fort Smith: 98
• Platte City: 105
• Dexfield Park: 122
• Mob: 137
• Court: 144
• Afterword: 147
• Editors Conclusion: 149
• Reproduction of Two Pages from the Original Manuscript: 199
• Blanches Letter to Her Father November 11 1933: 202
• Bucks Letter Home January 16 1930: 204
• The Barrow Gangs Victims: 206
• Blanches Preliminary Parole Report: 224
• Notes: 225
• Bibliography: 299
• Index: 309

Popular passages

Page 300 - State of Texas, Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Standard certificate of birth, Betty Sue Hill, November 22, 1944.‎

Page xviii - ... Health Report 25 years ago. From that review I can see that, even at this early stage of discussion, there are already similarities of behavior. And that's a shame. I think we'd all prefer that these industries — and their chosen leaders— would heed the oft-quoted wisdom of George Santayana, who wrote Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.‎

About the author

Blanche Caldwell Barrow was the wife of Marvin "Buck" Barrow and the sister-in-law of Clyde Barrow. Buck and Blanche were part of the Barrow Gang from late March 1933 until their capture on July 24, 1933. John Neal Phillips is a writer-photographer living in Dallas, Texas.

Bibliographic information

• Title: My Life with Bonnie and Clyde
• Author: Blanche Caldwell Barrow
• Editor: John Neal Phillips
• Contributor: Esther L. Weiser
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005
• ISBN: 0806137150, 9780806137155
• Length: 325 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Criminals & Outlaws; Biography & Autobiography / Women; History / United States / 20th Century