#floyd hamilton

[westdallasgang]

Bonnie and Clyde + The Barrow Gang plan the Eastham Prison raid:

Bonnie and Clyde were back in Texas after an ambush attempt. Ray Hamilton was incarcerated at Eastham when word got around and he began to resurrect Clyde's revenge plan to raid the prison. Ralph Fults originally planned the raid with Clyde years ago before Ray. But Ralph couldn't be included because he was jailed outside of town. That's when an Eastham convict named James Mullens came into the picture. James was 48 and bunked next to Ray at Eastham. He was about to be released after serving a 21 year sentence for robbery. The downside was that Clyde knew him to be a drug addict—unpredictable and wholly unreliable. Nevertheless, because he was due for release, Ray promised him $1,000 if he could locate Clyde and arrange to have a number of weapons planted in the prison farm compound.

On January 12, 1934, James visited the house of Ray's brother, Floyd Hamilton, hoping to contact Clyde through him. James then accompanied Floyd to a deserted road near Irving, TX. After waiting several minutes, a black V-8 pulls up alongside them. Bonnie and Clyde were inside, staring intently at James Mullens. James was just about the last person on earth Clyde wanted to see. Floyd and James outlined the plan to him as Clyde sat in peeved silence, playing with the safety catch on his automatic rifle. 3 things bothered him: Ray's big mouth, the memory of Ray's refusal to help with the raid in 1932, and James Mullens. Convinced that James was setting a trap, Clyde wanted no part in it unless James took front row action and planted the guns himself. James went pale. He turned to Floyd and said, "I'm not doing that alone. You're coming with me!" Floyd reluctantly agreed.

Before dawn on January 14, Bonnie and Clyde dropped off Floyd and a trembling James half a mile from the main prison compound of Eastham Camp 1. Floyd and James made it through the thick pine forest and through the barbed wire perimeter surrounding the prison. Inside a bound rubber inner tube, a pair of Colt .45 automatics were concealed beneath the drainage culvert near the woodpile at the prison's Camp 1. They exited across the brightly lit prison yard crawling on their hands and knees to the main road. At one point the camp dogs started howling and barking in their kennels, but the guards paid no attention. Clyde then drove to Dallas and dropped off Floyd, but he kept James in the car so he could keep an eye on him. He still didn’t trust James.

Floyd Hamilton returned to Eastham the following day for his regular biweekly visit with his younger brother, Ray, who was serving 266 years in prison for auto theft, armed robbery, and murder. During that visit, Floyd filled Ray in on the details of the prison break. On Monday, an inmate named Aubrey Skelley set out to retrieve the weapons. Aubrey was a building tender, a trusty position that allowed him to move about the prison with a certain amount of freedom. He managed to smuggle the inner tube into the Camp 1 dormitory and deliver it to Joe Palmer. Joe, serving 25 years for robbery, hid the tube and its contents in his mattress. Word that the break would take place the following morning reached the two other prisoners who would take part—Henry Methvin, serving 10 years for robbery and attempted murder, and Hilton Bybee. Hilton was a killer who tried escaping from the Wichita County Jail with Ralph Fults. At Ralph's request, he was added to the list.

[westdallasgang]

A record found inside Bonnie and Clyde's abandoned Sowers Raid car:

The item is associated with the "Sowers Raid" attempted ambush conducted by a Dallas sheriff's posse on November 22, 1933. On November 21, 1933, the pair showed up at a pre-arranged rendezvous with their families on a lonely stretch of road, near the town of Sowers, Texas to celebrate Clyde's mother's birthday, but since he didn't have a gift for her, they planned on returning the following evening. With a tip from an informant, the sheriff's department set a trap for the pair. When Bonnie and Clyde returned the next day, family members Emma Parker and Cumie Barrow, L. C. Barrow, Billie Jean Parker, Marie Barrow, and Marie's fiancé Joe Bill Francis were present. Sheriffs had been tipped off and were lying in wait in a ditch about 75 feet away. As the criminal couple approached in a stolen 1933 Ford Model B, deputies Millard E. Sweatt, Smoot Schmidt, Ted Hinton, Ed Caster, and Bob Alcorn unleashed a hail of bullets. Unable to continue in the decimated vehicle, the gang was forced to abandon it and flee on foot, despite wounds to both Parker's and Barrow's legs from a bullet that passed through the car. The outlaws escaped, and Sweatt set about collecting relics from the bullet-riddled car, recovering a number of artifacts.

Present in the vehicle was a 12 in. dia. privately recorded LP with typed label: "CONFESSION" Ted Walters - Working Copy, made in Dallas, TX by Sellers Co. It is likely the first recorded confession ever made. The record is constructed of a thin black material laid upon silver coated shellac. The black coating is delaminating, therefore expert examination will be required to determine if the piece may still be played. In any event, Huron Ted "Terrible Ted" Walters (1912-1971) was also a notorious Texas outlaw and was said to have been associated with Bonnie and Clyde. He was apart of Raymond and Floyd Hamilton's gang and spent more than 20 years in Alcatraz and Leavenworth with Floyd. In the bottom right photo, Floyd is lighting Ted's cigarette while in police custody.

[westdallasgang]

Floyd Hamilton, brother of Raymond Hamilton:

Floyd Hamilton served 22 years in prison, 12 of those years were spent in Alcatraz, for armed robbery. He had been at one time denoted as FBI’s “Public Enemy No. 1” and he used this title as the name of a book recounting his life story. Floyd had met Bonnie when he was 12 and Clyde when he was 14. Because of their early friendship with the pair while living in the same neighborhood, Floyd and his brother became associated with them and participated in their criminal activities. He smuggled food to Clyde and Bonnie when they were on the run and arranged meetings between the notorious bank robbers and their families. Floyd wrote in his book that Dallas law officers once offered him $5,000 to arrange the arrest of Bonnie and Clyde. He refused the offer.

[westdallasgang]

Floyd Hamilton takes a lie detector test in 1968 about his association with Bonnie and Clyde.