A revolver found with Bonnie and Clyde at the time of their deaths will be auctioned Feb. 2 A firearm retrieved from the stolen car driven by the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde after they were killed in a police ambush in 1934 will be sold to the highest bidder Saturday, Feb. 2, by Mayo Auction.
since the day Sheriff Hightower took it from that car on May 24, 1934. I still have the six bullets that were in it.” Dr. Rich has become something of a Bonnie and Clyde historian, authoring such articles as The Day They Shot Bonnie and Clyde and Clyde Barrow’s Last Ford.
In addition to the Bonnie and Clyde gun, the auction will also feature an array of pistols, revolvers, handguns, rifles, shotguns, hunting and sporting weapons. Some will be vintage, but many will be recent. One lot expected to attract a fair amount of attention is a World War II-era decommissioned machine gun. The vintage weapon has been welded so it is unable to be fired.
Bidders will also be amazed by a pair of Civil War-style cannons, recently built by Howard Christy of Elizabeth, Ind. Each cannon is 6 feet long by 4 feet high and is capable of shooting a 12-pound bowling ball a full mile downrange. The cannons are made in America and feature a 5-6-foot recoil and a hand-cranked elevation. They will be shown on the hit CMT series Guntucky. While they are able to be fired, the cannons might be better served as yard ornaments.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were notorious outlaws, robbers and criminals who, with their gang, traveled the central United States during the Great Depression, from 1931-1934. Though they were widely known for their bank robberies, Barrow actually preferred to rob small stores and gas stations. They killed as many as nine police officers, plus other innocent civilians.
Their luck ran out in May of 1934 when the Warrens’ Ford they’d been driving for three weeks (now sporting stolen Arkansas plates) was spotted in Bienville Parish, La. An ambush was planned and at midnight on Tuesday, May 22, six lawmen concealed their cars deep in the woods and waited behind a rise on the east side of the country road, rifles and automatic shotguns ready.
All night they waited, fighting off mosquitoes. Finally, at a little after 9 a.m., they saw a grey Ford approach from the north. Inside, Bonnie was eating a bacon and tomato sandwich, purchased earlier in Gibsland. There was a pack of cigarettes and a movie magazine in her lap. Clyde was driving in his shirtsleeves, shoes off. His tie was hanging from the rear view mirror.
As Barrow reached the crest of the hill, the officers opened fire. Repeated vollies pelted the car and its occupants. By the time it was over, Bonnie had been hit over 50 times and Clyde had 27 bullets in him. The car itself had been shot 107 times and has since become famous as the “Bonnie and Clyde Death Car.” It has been displayed at state fairs and at various other venues.
In 23 days, Bonnie and Clyde had logged over 7,500 miles on the vehicle. Inside the trunk were 15 other license plates from states all over the Midwest, West and South. There was also an arsenal of assorted
