tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699209633460837182.post8907578320865435400..comments2023-11-23T03:26:19.410-05:00Comments on Bonnie and Clyde History: A B&CHB Exclusive: "Pistol" Pete Storey-- An Unknown B&C Hostage??A. Winston Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18305418204334632255noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699209633460837182.post-78235206921004324512010-05-20T11:33:15.697-04:002010-05-20T11:33:15.697-04:00I'm sorry that I don't remember exactly wh...I'm sorry that I don't remember exactly which book I read it in over the last week, but there is an account of a postmaster (who apparently had to drive his own car to deliver the mail, and whose car was really just a piece of junk) who was carjacked by Bonnie and Clyde and taken for a ride, and when they dropped him off far away, he asked what they were going to do with his car. They assured him not to worry, he'd get it back - they'd leave it somewhere easy for the police to find with the keys in it. He asked them to do him a favor - he told them that if they burned it up, he'd be able to get a new vehicle. Apparently the idea tickled Clyde, and so they took the vehicle and poured gasoline over it and set it on fire, and then ran (car fires can be seen quite awhile away!)... it sounds like an urban legend, almost, but it does sound like something Clyde would have done!<br /><br />It seems to me that in most accounts of kidnappings by Bonnie and Clyde, whether the victims describe them as calm and friendly or nervous and rather abusive, they are more friendly when they are saying goodbye - there are numerous accounts of them offering some money to someone so they could get back into town, and even when they tied folks up, they tied them in a way that would enable them to eventually work free.<br /><br />They did not seem to feel any personal animosity toward the people they "took for a ride" - just part of their way of doing business, I guess!BarefootOkieGalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07482009763166882520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699209633460837182.post-1961574009931422002010-02-04T03:45:16.212-05:002010-02-04T03:45:16.212-05:00"Glowing and positive" light??!? No, no,..."Glowing and positive" light??!? No, no, no - I prefer to think of it more as "fair and balanced"!<br /><br />But let us not quibble over semantics here. "Pistol" Pete reported that B&C were "friendly and polite" or however he phrased it - and I was just agreeing with what you said he said! That's the same as what I've often read, and that is also what I've heard first-hand from many others now with family stories to relate.<br /><br />OF COURSE B&C were outlaws and villains. That is undisputed fact. We would never have heard of them if this were not so. They did lots of bad things, and paid the ultimate price for their crimes.<br /><br />I don't believe I give them that "fine sugar coating", I just think it's important to examine ALL the aspects to their story. Unlike many other notorious young killers (Leopold & Loeb; Starkweather & Fugate, for example)-- B&C actually did have some redeeming qualities. Killing was not their objective; it was more of an unfortunate by-product of their other crimes, I believe. <br /><br />I DO have an empathetic attitude towards B&C - and for this, I make absolutely no apologies. I'm sure my views are probably rooted in the fact that I read "Fugitives" over and over as a kid. Years later, those views were reinforced through reading "Running with B&C", the only other book to really illuminate the human aspect to their story.<br /><br />I agree completely with you when you say it "just came down to circumstance." That's really the bottom line here. Clyde and Bonnie had good days and bad days just like the rest of us - except their "bad days" were decidedly worse!Shelleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699209633460837182.post-11771594765910582242010-01-27T15:05:06.563-05:002010-01-27T15:05:06.563-05:00Hi Shelley-- I would think with tags and a registr...Hi Shelley-- I would think with tags and a registration, it would be easy to track down the owner of a stolen car. But of course as with many of these stories, we may never know all the facts.<br /><br />Now here we go-- with the framing of B&C within the rays of a glowing and positive light. I'm not sure a fine sugar coating of B&C, can objectively stand up to more than enough eyewitness evidence documented now-- to suggest that B&C and the Barrow Gang were not always the cool operators, and school boys and girls some make them out to be.<br /><br />With all respect to those who support them more than those who don't, a number of witnesses to B&C under pressure-- noted them to be abusive, nervous and rough in their demeanor and actions toward others. In fairness, there are accounts of B&C being polite and nice as pie-- to offset these other stories of a much more crude and reactive B&C. Perhaps it just came down to circumstance, as being hunted while enduring the harshness of the road for so long-- likely took it's toll on everything to do with them, including their patience and tolerance of those around them.<br /><br />Bailey Tynes who got closer to B&C than most, made the interesting observation of calling them paranoid-- and noted actions to match. Clyde it seems tended to talk too much, to the point of perhaps giving away their movements. And Buck was known to be in favor of killing hostages. Now in your mind a well as within the minds of many, McNabb doesn't count. In my mind he does. I believe McNabb was killed by Joe Palmer, while in the company of Clyde Barrow and Henry Methvin. We can all agree to disagree, but if the Wade McNabb account is true-- The Barrow Gang did kill a hostage, along with at least 12 other people.A. Winston Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18305418204334632255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699209633460837182.post-74081910923015340502010-01-26T03:44:09.368-05:002010-01-26T03:44:09.368-05:00"Pistol" Pete's recollection certain..."Pistol" Pete's recollection certainly does have all the earmarks of an "authentic" B&C encounter. They must have passed through just about every rinky-dink, one-horse Texas town along the way - they were everywhere! And B&C must have come in contact with hundreds - if not thousands - of unsuspecting citizens throughout their life on the lam. The vast majority of them lived to tell the tale.<br /><br />The best part of my job is having the opportunity to meet so many people with B&C stories to tell. I've spoken with more than a few who had aunts, uncles, grandparents, who passed down to their offspring tales of meetings with the gang. Interestingly, not ONE single person I've met has told me their older relative had anything bad to say about them. Without exception, they all give a similar account: they were friendly, polite, well-dressed, etc. One older woman told me her mother always told her that "Clyde was real good-looking and had a great personality."<br /><br />Although I'm sure they could be quite intimidating when they thought they needed to be, they never harmed a hostage (McNabb doesn't count!). But according to Sophie Stone, Bonnie did rough her up pretty good, and used a great deal of profanity while doing it. From what I saw of Ms. Stone years later on that Hamer video, I can see why her attitude may have rubbed Bonnie the wrong way!<br /><br />But for the most part, I think Clyde and Bonnie were caring people - once the threat to their own safety was removed. <br /><br />Perhaps my favorite "hostage story" pertaining to B&C can be found within the pages of "Running with B&C". In it, Clyde, Bonnie, and Henry flee the Commerce, Okla. area with City Marshall Percy Boyd, after Henry has killed the town's Constable, Cal Campbell. <br /><br />It says, "Barrow was impressed by the lawman's demeanor. He would later say that Boyd displayed "more real guts" than anyone he had ever met. Of Barrow, the officer said, "He is the coolest operator I ever saw."<br /><br />The paradox of them being ruthless outlaws - who happened to possess many fine qualities - I think, is one of the main reasons why we find them so endlessly intriguing. <br /><br />BTW, how did "Pistol" Pete ever manage to recover his car, if he never reported it stolen in the first place?Shelleynoreply@blogger.com