What happened during the shootout with Bonnie and Clyde
May 26—A mix of reporting from the Joplin Globe at the time and research from Jim Hounschell, a former assistant chief of the Joplin Police Department, gives a fairly clear picture of what happened during the shootout in 1933.
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were well known in Oklahoma and Texas at the time, but not as well in Missouri. The Barrows decided to have a reunion after the release of Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow's brother, from jail.
Buck Barrow arrived in Joplin first and rented an apartment on Oak Ridge Drive under a false name. Things went well for the gang for about two weeks until they started running low on money, Hounschell said. Members of the gang started to burglarize houses in the evenings for cash. Suspicious activity caught the neighbors' attention, especially when they saw the gang changing license plates on their cars.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol unit, based at 20th and Main streets, was called to investigate. Troopers checked around the property and found Buck Barrow's car, Hounschell said. They realized the car was registered to a Barrow, which didn't match the false name on the apartment rental. This raised their suspicion, and they thought possibly the group was composed of bootleggers.
The patrol then got Joplin police involved, Hounschell said. They obtained a search warrant through Wes Harryman, the constable in Newton County. Law enforcement decided to go out and serve the warrant at 4 p.m. April 13, 1933. Harryman, Joplin police Detective Harry McGinnis, two troopers and another Joplin officer approached the apartment by car.
Clyde Barrow was closing the garage door as the officers approached. One police car parked to block off the driveway. Harryman jumped out of the car to keep him from closing the door and was met by a blast from Clyde's sawed-off shotgun. He fell just inside the garage door, according to Joplin Globe reports.
McGinnis next came out of the car and was hit in the chest. As he returned fire, his arm was nearly severed by automatic rifle fire from the apartment windows above. Falling to one knee, he tumbled to the ground next to the driveway, according to Globe reports.
The remaining officers exchanged fire with the gang. The Barrow gang rammed their stolen 1932 Ford into the barricading police car until the driveway was clear. They fled south on Main Street to the highway, according to eyewitnesses quoted in the Globe.
About 60 shots were fired, with numerous bullet holes scattered in the apartment and nearby trees, according to an eyewitness account. Harryman died on the way to the hospital. McGinnis died at St. John's Hospital about seven hours after.
According to the FBI, Bonnie and Clyde killed a total of 13 people, including nine officers, during their travels. That includes Commerce, Oklahoma, police Officer William Calvin Campbell, killed by the gang April 6, 1934.
Bonnie and Clyde died in a task force ambush near Sailes, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934.
