Back in Texas, media coverage of the Barrow Gang reached new heights. While the national press also reported the murders of the motorcycle cops, papers in Texas and particularly in the Dallas area printed numerous follow-up stories focusing on H. D. Murphy. The unfortunate highway patrol rookie had not only been murdered on his first day on the job, he’d been about to marry twenty-year-old Marie Tullis on April 13. She wore her wedding gown to his funeral, providing the grist for several articles. Another described the “cozy, furnished apartment” the young couple had just rented in anticipation of their marriage. Bonnie’s coup de grâce shots into Murphy’s body—always presented as fact rather than allegation—were emphasized. These stories devastated Clyde’s mother, Cumie. Marie Barrow said later that “what went on” in the wake of the Grapevine murders “drove Momma crazy…it acted as a sword through my mother’s soul.” After ignoring or explaining away all the other murders involving her beloved child Clyde, the thought of a young bride-to-be attending her fiancé’s funeral in her wedding gown was what finally broke Cumie down. The woman who disdained sinful indulgence of any sort began drinking herself. She also stopped marking down the dates of Clyde’s visits. Cumie never disavowed her son. She continued meeting with Clyde when he came home after the Grapevine slayings, and prayed for him constantly. But she was crumbling under the weight of his guilt.
Bonnie was also victimized by the fresh wave of inaccurate publicity. Before, she’d been the sexy, cigar-smoking companion of a colorful killer. Now she was apparently a killer herself, and the destroyer of a loving young couple’s dreams at that. Besides the lawmen pursuing her, much of the public now believed Bonnie Parker had turned out to be every bit as vicious as Clyde Barrow. There was no chance now, even if she surrendered voluntarily, for Bonnie to get off with a light prison sentence. Previously, it had been her choice to stay with Clyde until death. After Grapevine, it was Bonnie’s unavoidable fate. L. G. Phares, superintendent of the highway patrol, immediately offered a $1,000 reward for “the dead bodies of the Grapevine slayers.” In Austin, Governor Ma Ferguson added another $500 reward for each of the two alleged killers. That meant for the first time there was a specific price on Bonnie’s head, since she was so widely believed to have shot H. D. Murphy. Clyde came in for special vituperation from Dallas County sheriff Smoot Schmid, who declared that Clyde was no longer a man but an animal.
Emma Parker wrote in her memoir: "They had not drawn their guns and were evidently not expecting any trouble. 'Let's take 'em,' Clyde said. Henry Methvin had been with Clyde only a short time and had never been in a situation where Clyde kidnapped officers before. To him, 'Let's take 'em,' meant only one thing. Of course, he was badly frightened. He was an escaped convict and wanted for a number of things. Also, he and Bonnie had been drinking. He seized the guns, whirled and fired a steady volley. Both men crumpled to the ground without a sound, their guns still in their holsters. Bonnie was petrified with fear and Clyde was white with rage. He was cursing furiously as he slid over the seat and under the wheel. 'Get in here, you damn fool!' he cried. 'Now you've done it.' 'But it was them or us,' Henry protested, looking at Clyde in amazement. 'Like hell!' Clyde exploded. 'They didn't know who we were. Tell me! There's not a pair of cops in the whole country with guts enough to come after Clyde Barrow alone. They'd never have turned in that lane if they'd known I was down here.' This may sound like bragging on Clyde's part, but bragging or not, he said it. When officers came to get Clyde, as newspapers told it, they came in droves with armored cars, machine guns, and shields. If Wheeler and Murphy had known that Clyde was up that country lane, they'd probably be alive today. Clyde ran for it. It was all they could do. Bonnie told me that Clyde swore at Henry for two days because of the blunder he had made. Not that Clyde was against killing policemen, but simply that he saw no sense in doing it unless it had to be done."
Bonnie pictured with Henry Methvin in early 1934. For Henry's birthday, Bonnie bought him a suit that was allegedly gray and pinstripe. In several photos of the Barrow Gang, Henry is believed to be wearing it.
At 6am on January 16, 1934, the gang slipped quietly in their black Ford V-8 through the dense fog rising from nearby the Trinity River. With lights extinguished, the Ford parked just beyond a narrow bridge. Clyde and James stepped out with loaded BARs tucked under their arms, capable of firing a 20-round clip of 30.06 armor-piercing shells in less than 3 seconds. The two men crouched along the creek bank and waited. At 7am Clyde detected movement beyond them. The ghost-like images of a line of prisoners slowly materialized in the distance. The white denim of their prison uniform glowed with an eerie radiance. Guards bearing weapons accompanied the line. Soon the field was covered with prison work crews, each preparing to clear the land for the spring planting and cutting wood to stoke the camp stoves. Guard Olan Bozeman had already noticed Ray moved from his own group and joined Joe Palmer, Henry Methvin, and Hilton Bybee.
The guard chose not to take action. Until they moved farther. He then called for a mounted guard to hold a gun on Ray so that he could be whipped with a trace chain, just as he had planned. At that point, the men were less than a 100 feet from the creek where Clyde and James were hiding. Major Joseph Crowson, who had repeatedly beaten Joe in the past, was called on by Bozeman. While the two guards conversed, Joe walked up as if to ask a question. He turned to Crowson, leveled his gun, and fired a single round into the guard's stomach, knocking him off his horse. Crowson died instantly. Shocked at what just occured, Bozeman pulled the trigger at Joe. Joe ducked just as a charge of buckshot sailed past his head, a lone pellet creasing his temple. Joe fired two shots. A bullet teared the shotgun from Bozeman's hands and another wounding him in the hip.
Ray fired one shot when the clip popped from its housing and tumbled to the muddy ground. Virtually disarmed, Ray searched for his clip in the mud as Joe helplessly fought it out alone. Clyde and James then reared up and fired shots above the heads of the startled men in the field. While guards and prisoners alike were diving on their stomachs, Ray, Joe, Henry, and Hilton ran for their life. Bonnie sounded the car horn from the getaway car, using it as a beacon for the fleeing men. 3 guards started running as fast as they could in the opposite direction, leaving the 4 of them unguarded. Taking advantage of this, a convict named J.B. French slipped quietly into the pines and made his way to the Trinity River on foot. He was captured the following day without ever meeting the men responsible for his brief taste of freedom.
"Nobody but Ray and Joe can get in the car," James called out. "Everybody else go back." Clyde snapped. "You shut your damned mouth, Mullens, this is my car! I'm handling this!" The fleeing men jumped in the vehicle. As the distant whine of prison sirens came closer, Clyde shifted to first and sped away. Roadblocks sprang up in nearly every town between Dallas and Crockett, but Clyde outflanked them all by driving cross-country through farm after farm. In Hillsboro, TX, Clyde stopped for gas. The attendant spoke excitedly as he serviced the getaway car. "Did you hear about Ray Hamilton escaping from prison?" he asked. "No, really?" Clyde said. "Yeah! Bonnie and Clyde just walked right into the dining room this morning and took Ray out while everybody was eating!" Bonnie and Clyde were amused. As they fled Texas, the gang switched vehicles often. They decided to rob a bank to pay James his $1,000. The gang eventually split and went their seperate ways until things cooled down. Hilton was the only one who got captured and was sent back to prison.
The Grapevine Easter Sunday Murders: April 1, 1934
At approximately half past three in the afternoon, Clyde, Bonnie, and Henry Methvin waited at an unpaved side road in Grapevine, TX for their family and friends to arrive for an Easter visit. Clyde was asleep in the backseat of their Ford V-8 while Bonnie and Henry were sat outside. Bonnie had purchased a white rabbit she was planning on gifting her mother and was feeding it blades of grass when up the road, she spotted two highway patrolmen heading their way. Acting fast, Bonnie picked up her rabbit and casually walked over to wake Clyde in the car. Henry, who was sat alone, noticed the patrolmen and reached for his gun. Clyde grabbed a sawed-off shotgun and hid behind his open car door with Henry as they observed patrolmen Wheeler and Murphy approaching on their motorcycles. Bonnie remained in the car.
Not wanting to harm the officers but to kidnap them for amusement, as it was common with the old gang, Clyde simply told Henry that they should "take them". Henry was a new recruit and mistakened what he meant, and to Clyde's surprise, opened fire at Wheeler right in the chest. Murphy, who serving his first day in the patrol force, watched in horror as he saw his partner fall lifeless on the ground from the seat of his bike. Bringing his motorcycle to a halt, the lone officer dismounted, fished two shotgun shells from his pocket, then reached for his shotgun that was strapped to his ride. Clyde was furious with Henry and was, at first, hesitant to kill off Murphy until he seen him reaching for his weapon. Before Murphy could pull the trigger, Clyde fired three rounds. When the smoke cleared, the two lawmen were laying in the dirt. The public was outraged when it came to be known that Murphy was soon to be married in 12 days. His fiance wore her wedding dress to the funeral.
Barrow Gang member: Henry Methvin (1912 - 1948) The friend who betrayed Bonnie and Clyde.
Henry Methvin, born in Louisiana, joined the Barrow Gang and was one of the men freed by Bonnie and Clyde during the "Eastham Prison Raid" in 1934. Methvin was among the last to go on a crime spree with them. His father, Ivy Methvin, made a deal with the police to help set up an ambush for Bonnie and Clyde if Henry were pardoned for the deaths of the two highway patrolmen in Texas. Henry likely knew, or at least suspected the ambush, as his father specifically told him not to go with them that very morning. The police kept their word, and Henry was pardoned in Texas. However, he was not pardoned in Oklahoma for the death of Constable Cal Campbell. He was given the death sentence for the murder, but after an appeal in 1936, his sentence was reduced to life. After serving 10 years, he was released and settled in Louisiana. Then on April 19, 1948, while in a drunken state, Henry either fell upon or was laid upon the train tracks where he was cut in half by a passing train. Many believe it was the latter. Earlier that same year, his father was on a bus from Shreveport after visiting him in the hospital. For some unknown reason, he got off at an earlier stop and was later found seriously injured by the side of the road. He died shortly after being taken to the hospital. It had been thought that he may have been struck by a car, but the family believed he was beaten to death because of his involvement with Bonnie and Clyde's deaths. Like Henry's death, Ivy's remains unsolved.
