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Book
Review
Running
with
Bonnie and Clyde:
The 10 Fast Years
of Ralph
Fults
by John Neal Phillips
University of Oklahoma Press 1996
Reviewed
by John Troesser |
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The
title doesn't mean he spent ten years running with Bonnie and Clyde, it means
that Ralph had 10 fast years. Bonnie and Clyde only lasted about 27 months start
to finish. They lived fast, loved hard and died young, but the corpses they left
behind were far from beautiful. See what happens when you go to Louisiana. Bonnie
never saw her 25th birthday.
Ralph came from the same North Texas beginnings
as Ray Hamilton and Clyde Barrow. Mr. Phillips suggests that witnessing a hanging
at the Collin County Jail in his childhood might've had an affect on Ralph, since
he came from a solid family. Ralph was from tiny Anna (Collin County), while Ray
and Clyde were boyhood friends in West Dallas, an area so bad in the 30s they
tore it down and put in a slum.
Frankly, we thought we had had our fill
reading about the Barrow-Parker gang. We picked up this book to verify a robbery
in Cedar Hill and became entranced by the author's crisp and methodical storytelling.
It's easy to detect a sympathetic tone, but through his detailed accounts,
the reader cannot help but see that the clichés of reformatories being prep schools
and penitentiaries being finishing schools for criminals were facts of life in
the 1930s. Clichés, like generalizations, usually come from somewhere.
The brutality of the old prison system and the cheapness of life partially explain
the desperation of the male gang members. But it also raises the question of why,
after escaping, they wouldn't pull just one last job and move out of state rather
than risk returning to the barbaric, brutal conditions of Eastland or Huntsville.
Some of the myths are explained, while others are shattered.
Blanche Barrow, Clyde's sister-in-law, died of cancer in 1988 and Fults fell
to cancer in 1992. Fults (after his release) actually helped pass legislation
that drastically and humanely altered the way the system did business. His parole
became a contribution.
The reader is also introduced to characters that
could be the subjects of their own books. One of which was "Uncle Bud" Russell
who drove the Huntsville Prison Bus (actually a converted truck), transporting
over 115,000 men to jail during his career and logging more than 3,250,000 miles.
That's right, over 3 million.
What's left out of many histories is the
incredible array of wounds and injuries that the gang had received. When Clyde
drove the car over a bridge that was out, and into the Red River bank, Bonnie
sustained burns on her leg and back that required her to walk with a cane up until
the day of her death. In one particular firefight, both Bonnie and Clyde had bullets
through both knees and only learned of them when they attempted to walk. Buck's
head wound from Joplin left him with a hole that exposed his brain. Ironically
he died of pneumonia after an infection caused by removing a sliver of bullet
from his chest.
Fults survived 3 prison escapes, gunshots, numerous car
crashes (2 in a five day period), stabbings, and prison beatings yet lived until
1992. Hamilton experienced more of the same, except for the electrical charge
that he never got over. Only Gary Gilmore made a more sporting departure than
Ray Hamilton.
The book would interest the curious reader if only for
the weight of the story. The underlining social issues and psychological observations
are lagniappe. It should be required reading for those seeking careers in criminal
justice.
The Rabbit in Winter
Comic relief
is in short supply, but it is there. Bonnie was furious that the photo of her
smoking a cigar was taken for truth. Barrow did give kidnapping victims bus fare
home and Bonnie's Easter present to her mother was a rabbit named Sonny Boy. Now,
Clyde didn't like Sonny Boy's smell, so he bathed him and the rabbit seemingly
went into a coma from the cold. Bonnie was heartbroken, so Clyde pulled over,
built a fire and defrosted the limp lagamorph just a day before he was presented
to Mrs. Parker.
Family reunions were arranged by having a soda bottle
thrown into Mrs. Barrow's yard. She would tsk-tsk at the inconsiderate litterers
and then fish the message out. She would then call the Parkers and invite them
over for "Red Beans." Bonnie loved red beans and so that was the chosen code word
for a visit.
One of the details, which we've never seen in print, is
that the Bonnie and Clyde death car (on the local sheriff's request) was towed
in front of the local High School and the children were shown the corpses as an
example. Ringgold, Louisiana students had a good answer for "What did you learn
in school today?"
The reason for the fascination with the Barrow-Parker
gang is, of course, their highly condensed and volatile lives, the timeless themes
of good versus evil, instant gratification and youthful rebellion all set before
the backdrop of class distinction, hopeless futures and Modern Times. The subject
will continue to create interest and fifty years from now, this book will still
be quoted and referred to in bibliographies of lesser books.
August,
2000
© John Troesser
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Recommended
Book
My Life With Bonnie & Clyde by Blanche Caldwell Barrow |
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Recommended
Book
Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-First-Century Update |
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