Editing Bonnie and Clyde (section)

=== 1934: Final run ===
[[File:FrankHamerEarly1920s.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Former [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Ranger]] [[Frank Hamer]], the Barrow Gang's relentless shadow after the notorious [[Eastham Unit|Eastham prison]] breakout]]
On January 16, 1934, Barrow orchestrated the escape of Hamilton, Methvin, and several others in the "Eastham Breakout."<ref name="eastham" /> The brazen raid generated negative publicity for Texas, and Barrow seemed to have achieved what historian Phillips suggests was his overriding goal: revenge on the [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice|Texas Department of Corrections]].<ref group=notes>Phillips writes that Barrow had been so focused on this for so long that, after the Eastham raid, "life for Clyde Barrow became anticlimactic…only death remained, and he knew it". Phillips, ''Running'', p. 217.</ref>

Barrow Gang member Joe Palmer shot Major Joe Crowson during his escape, and Crowson died a few days later in the hospital.<ref>{{cite web |title=Major Joe Crowson |url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/3663-major-joe-crowson |publisher=The Officer Down Memorial Page |access-date=November 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214084832/http://www.odmp.org/officer/3663-major-joe-crowson |archive-date=December 14, 2009 |url-status=dead }} "Major" was Crowson's first name, not a military or TDOC rank.</ref> This attack attracted the full power of the Texas and federal government to the [[Manhunt (law enforcement)|manhunt]] for Barrow and Parker. As Crowson struggled for life, prison chief Lee Simmons reportedly promised him that all persons involved in the breakout would be hunted down and killed.<ref name="eastham" /> All of them eventually were, except for Methvin, who preserved his life by turning on the gang and setting up the ambush of Barrow and Parker.<ref name="eastham" />

The Texas Department of Corrections contacted former [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Ranger]] Captain [[Frank Hamer]] and persuaded him to hunt down the Barrow Gang. He was retired, but his commission had not expired.<ref>[http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/law/index.html ''Frank Hamer and Bonnie & Clyde''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602164445/http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/law/index.html |date=June 2, 2008 }} [[Texas State Library and Archives Commission]].</ref> He accepted the assignment as a [[Texas Department of Public Safety|Texas Highway Patrol]] officer, secondarily assigned to the prison system as a special investigator, and was given the specific task of taking down the Barrow Gang.

Hamer was tall, burly, and taciturn, unimpressed by authority and driven by an "inflexible adherence to right, or what he thinks is right."<ref>Webb, p. 531.</ref> For twenty years, he had been feared and admired throughout Texas as "the walking embodiment of the '[[Texas Ranger Division#"One Riot, One Ranger"|One Riot, One Ranger]]' ethos".<ref>Burrough, p. 228.</ref> He "had acquired a formidable reputation as a result of several spectacular captures and the shooting of a number of Texas criminals".<ref>Treherne, p. 172</ref> He was officially credited with 53 kills, and suffered seventeen wounds.<ref>Guinn, p. 252</ref>

Prison boss Simmons always said publicly that Hamer had been his first choice, although there is evidence that he first approached two other Rangers, both of whom declined because they were reluctant to shoot a woman.<ref>Phillips, ''Running'', p.  354 n3</ref> Starting on February 10, Hamer became the constant shadow of Barrow and Parker, living out of his car, just a town or two behind them. Three of Hamer's four brothers were also Texas Rangers. Brother Harrison was the best shot of the four, but Frank was considered the most tenacious.<ref>Knight and Davis, p. 140</ref>

On [[Easter Sunday]], April 1, 1934, at the intersection of Route 114 and Dove Road, near [[Grapevine, Texas]], now [[Southlake, Texas|Southlake]], highway patrolmen H.D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler  stopped their motorcycles thinking a motorist needed assistance. Barrow and Methvin or Parker opened fire with a shotgun and handgun, killing both officers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Patrolman H.D. Murphy |url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/9770-patrolman-h.-d.-murphy |publisher=The Officer Down Memorial Page |access-date=November 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126004226/http://www.odmp.org/officer/9770-patrolman-h.-d.-murphy |archive-date=November 26, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/14044-patrolman-edward-bryan-wheeler|title=Patrolman Edward Bryan Wheeler|publisher=The Officer Down Memorial Page|access-date=November 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128204102/http://www.odmp.org/officer/14044-patrolman-edward-bryan-wheeler|archive-date=November 28, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> An eyewitness account said that Parker fired the fatal shots and this story received widespread coverage.<ref>Guinn, pp. 284–86</ref> Methvin later claimed that he fired the first shot  after mistakenly assuming that Barrow wanted the officers killed. Barrow joined in, firing at Patrolman Murphy.<ref name="dallasnews" />
[[File:B&CElecChairEditCartoon1934.jpg|thumb|upright|Public opinion turned against the couple after the Grapevine murders and resultant negative publicity.]]

During the spring season, the Grapevine killings were recounted in exaggerated detail, affecting public perception. All four Dallas daily papers seized on the story told by the eyewitness, a farmer who claimed to have seen Parker laugh at the way that Murphy's head "bounced like a rubber ball" on the ground as she shot him.<ref>Guinn, p. 284</ref> The stories claimed that police found a cigar butt "with tiny teeth marks", supposedly those of Parker.<ref>''Ft. Worth Star-Telegram'', April 2, 1934</ref> Several days later, Murphy's fiancée wore her intended wedding dress to his funeral, attracting photos and newspaper coverage.<ref>Guinn, p. 285</ref>

The eyewitness's ever-changing story was soon discredited, but the massive negative publicity increased the public clamor for the extermination of the Barrow Gang. The outcry galvanized the authorities into action, and Highway Patrol boss L.G. Phares offered a reward of $1,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|1000|1934|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) for "the dead bodies of the Grapevine slayers"—not their capture, just the bodies.<ref name="Knight and Davis, p 147">Knight and Davis, p. 147</ref> [[Governor of Texas|Texas Governor]] [[Ma Ferguson]] added another reward of $500 for each of the two killers, which meant that, 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".<ref>Guinn, p. 287</ref>

Public hostility increased five days later, when Barrow and Methvin murdered 60-year-old Constable William "Cal" Campbell, a widower and father, near [[Commerce, Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Constable William Calvin Campbell |url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/2735-constable-william-calvin-campbell |publisher=The Officer Down Memorial Page |access-date=November 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215121155/http://www.odmp.org/officer/2735-constable-william-calvin-campbell |archive-date=December 15, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They kidnapped Commerce police chief Percy Boyd, crossed the state line into [[Kansas]], then let him go, giving him a clean shirt, a few dollars, and a request from Parker to tell the world that she did not smoke cigars. Boyd identified both Barrow and Parker to authorities, but he never learned Methvin's name. The resultant arrest warrant for the Campbell murder specified "Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker and John Doe".<ref>Knight and Davis, p. 217 n12. Methvin's name was added to the warrant later in the summer, and he was eventually convicted and served time for the murder.</ref> Historian Knight writes: "For the first time, Bonnie was seen as a killer, actually pulling the trigger—just like Clyde. Whatever chance she had for [[clemency]] had just been reduced."<ref name="Knight and Davis, p 147" /> ''The Dallas Journal'' ran a [[editorial cartoon|cartoon]] on its editorial page, showing an empty [[electric chair]] with a sign on it saying "Reserved", adding the words "Clyde and Bonnie".<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Dallas Journal |date=May 16, 1934 |title=Cartoon online |url=http://texashideout.tripod.com/Reserved.html |access-date=January 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206124035/http://texashideout.tripod.com/Reserved.html |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>