Face to Face with Bonnie and Clyde
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WEATHER | 16A 84|65 Partly sunny, East-northeast winds, 5-15 mph. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009 104th year Issue 27, 110 pages METRO B-1 CRIME Face to face with Bonnie and Clyde 75 years after infamous duo was gunned down, Ellis County man recalls his brush with history On May 23, 1934, lawmen gunned down Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in an ambush on a lonely road outside Gibsland, La. As a boy, Ray Cavender says he encountered Ameri- Online exclusive ca’s best-known criminal duo in rural Ellis County. Listen to Cavender talk He recounts how he once filled Barrow’s car with about his encounter gas and on another occasion presented Parker with with Bonnie and Clyde dinner—a rabbit he had shot while hunting. in a video at star- telegram.com/extras “They were nice people as far as I was concerned,” says Cavender, 89, who lives outside Midlothian, near his childhood home. They hadn’t bothered“ me. And I dang sure wasn’t going to rough up either one of them.” Ray Cavender, amused by the idea of him single-handedly trying to apprehend America’s best known fugitives Ray Cavender, 89, recalls filling up Clyde Barrow’s gas tank as a boy and hearing him say: “Enjoy yourself, but keep Staff writer your nose clean.” STAR-TELEGRAM BEN FRIEDBURG David Casstevens reports TO SUBSCRIBE: When Bonnie and Clyde were killed in a hail of gunfire in 1934, the Star-Telegram’s headline 800-776-STAR read: “BODIES OF BANDIT COUPLE PIERCED BY 50 BULLETS.” ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES When he was 12 or 13, Ray "BODIES OF BANDIT COUPLE Midlothian resident fell silent as Cavender offered Bonnie Par- PIERCED BY 50 BULLETS" he went back, back in time to the ker one of his swamp rab- Multideck headlines provided early 1930s. Seated in his worn living room chair, Cavender can bits—which she accepted. grisly details. still picture them, not the celebrat- MIDLOTHIAN — Seventy-five "Clyde Barrow Kicked Door of ed figures posing in black-and- years ago, a posse of six lawmen Car Open in Last Feeble Effort to white photos but rather two plain- armed with automatic rifles shot Beat 'Law' " spoken young people he claims he and killed Bonnie and Clyde on a "Fingers of Bonnie Parker's saw up close—and talked with as desolate gravel road in rural Loui- Trigger Hand Blown Off; Saxo- a boy—in Depression-era rural siana. phone, Music Found" Ellis County. The Star-Telegram front page Ray Cavender found no joy in "It's the way they [law enforce- shouted the story like a street- the violent deaths. ment] done it," he said unhappily, corner newsboy. Asked why, the 89-year-old FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009 referring to the ambush. firearm, what Cavender, using his I dang sure wasn't going to rough On May 23, 1934, lawmen hands, described as a "Tommy" - a up either one of them," Cavender pumped 167 rounds into the stolen Thompson submachine gun. said. He grinned at the idea of him tan Ford sedan Clyde was driving. The boy sometimes worked at single-handedly trying to appre- The dispassionate coroner's report his stepfather's gas station in Ce- hend America's best-known fugi- simply read: dar Hill. He said he once filled the tives. "Found dead in a car V-8" tank for Clyde and his companion. Cavender said he bid goodbye Clyde Barrow was 25; The driver later gave him a $20 bill and "eased on out," one rabbit still Bonnie Parker, 23. and some advice. hanging from his belt. "I ain't saying they didn't take "Enjoy yourself," Clyde said what they wanted," Cavender before speeding off. "But keep Left with memories said, spitting tobacco juice into a your nose clean." Decades later, his story told, the tin can. "But they didn't ever both- So the young hunter recognized retired welder pulled himself up er me . ." the woman immediately. and walked out to the front porch. "She was a purty blonde—I He wanted to show the visitor Guns and swamp rabbits ain’t lying," Cavender said. something. Cavender fashioned a Clyde was born in Ellis County. As Bonnie watched in silence, patio table from the black-and- After he met Bonnie in 1930 in Ray broke down his shotgun, re- white metal sign that he said hung Dallas, the pair committed a series moved the shell, held it up for the above the Cedar Hill gas station of violent crimes in Texas and sev- woman to see and placed it in his where he pumped fuel so long eral other states. Clyde was want- pants pocket. Cavender then rest- ago. ed for auto theft, kidnapping, bur- ed the weapon on his shoulder, The Cavenders live near the site glary and robbery and was be- like a soldier on parade, the sawed of Onward School, which Ray lieved responsible for at least a -off single barrel pointing behind attended, and the area where he dozen killings, including nine po- him. He approached the vehicle. once hunted. lice officers, when he and his para- "Mornin', Bonnie," Cavender "I don't see 'em anymore," mour were gunned down on said cheerfully, re-creating the Cavender said, swamp rabbits on Highway 154 outside Gibsland, exchange. his mind. La. About two years before their "Where do you get all your in- But he and his wife, who mar- deaths, Cavender, then 12 or 13, formation?" Bonnie asked. ried as teens, have everything they went hunting one morning near Cavender looked at Georgia, want here, in the country, out on where he lived. his wife of 72 years. Even though Ovilla Road. "Ever had swamp rabbit?" he she has heard the tale countless They have each other. They asked. times, she indulges her husband have their garden—cabbage, can- The blank look on his visitor's because she knows how much he taloupe, squash, tomatoes—and face appeared to amuse him. enjoys retelling it. the quiet company of Shorty, a "They're good eatin'." Clyde, Cavender said, was black dachshund, and two cats. Cavender said he shot two rab- asleep in the car. Named, of course, Bonnie and bits that day and was planning to The boy offered Bonnie one of Clyde. deliver dinner to his uncle Bob his swamp rabbits, which she ac- Mitchell and his wife, Johnnie, cepted. DAVID CASSTEVENS, when the farmboy spotted a Ford "I can skin and gut it for you," 817-390-7436 parked off a county road. he told her. © The Star-Telegram 2009 He stopped in his tracks. Bonnie told him that Clyde, Copyright © 2009 Fort Worth Star- His eyes—a pale blue now— whom she didn't want to wake, Telegram locked on a young female standing would handle that chore. Record Number: outside the sedan. She clutched a "They hadn't bothered me. And MERLIN_17155711 .