Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Gladys Cartwright-- A Wellington Survivor

For all who have asked or wondered, this is a photo of Gladys Cartwright. Gladys was shot by W. D. Jones at the house owned by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Pritchard in Wellington, Texas-- after Clyde ran off the road and their car caught fire.

Here, Gladys is shown displaying her right hand, which sustained Jone's shotgun blast through a window. W. D. apparently thought Gladys was reaching for a rifle kept above the door. However, it's said Cartwright was only reaching to lock this door instead. 14 shotgun pellets entered the back door and 6 entered her right hand, severely injuring it.

All the shots seemingly passed through Glady's hand but 1-- which lodged just above her ring finger knuckle, permanently destroying the ligaments or tendons. That finger it's said would never bend again. Although many bones were broken via this shotgun blast, contrary to some accounts-- Gladys Cartwright's hand was not mangled, with fingers lost. This picture shows Gladys with her injuries in 1937. I had always envisioned Gladys being older than she was. But that too-- was not the case. Many thanks to my namesake Winston Ramsey, for this pic and info from his book.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

she needs a little comic book balloon saying, "ouch!.. dem danged hoodlems shot mah hand!"

Russ1934 said...

Thanks for this post Winston. I've always been amazed at how wrong I've been when I try to picture the folks who encountered the Barrow Gang. Gladys was a pleasant looking young woman.

Anonymous said...

Interesting find, I guess sensationalism even finds itself here with the bit about the "mangled" hand. Cool post as always!

Also my wishes for a speedy recovery!!!

Anonymous said...

I remember reading that her hand was shot "off" - obviously not exactly thre case. barb

BarefootOkieGal said...

I remember reading in the Jan Fortune book, I think it was (My first B&C book - I was 11 years old and found it in a used bookstore!) that her hand was "shot away." To me that implied a lot more damage than actually occurred. In the book I just read, "Go Down Together," at least the author clarified this woman's injury for me; in the Fortune book, Bonnie's right hand is also described as "shot away," but in Bonnie's case, the description is much more apt. Looking at this woman's hand, though, it DOES look rather strange - she appears to have two thumbs!!! (Not that my eyes are all that good anymore...)