Podcast: Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd among outlaws active in Missouri in 1933

A crime spree across Missouri in the summer of 1933 is the focus of a State Historical Society of Missouri podcast series.

In the Our Missouri podcast series, co-hosts historian Sean Rost and archivist Kathleen Seale examine the outlaws active in the state 90 years ago during the Great Depression.

"There was a lot going on in Missouri and not just the large cities, but in the small towns," Seale said in the introduction to episode one.

Episode one

Episode one deals with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and events leading up to an April 13, 1933, shootout in Joplin.

The pair with others in the Barrow gang had attempted a bank robbery in Oronogo in the fall of 1932. The teller had a gun and shot at them, leaving them with a take of $110 from a countertop. Townspeople took shots at them as they fled in their car.

They kidnaped Springfield motorcycle cop Tom Persell on Jan., 26, 1933. He had attempted a vehicle stop on a viaduct near the Shrine Mosque. They pulled guns on him and forced him to ride with them.

There's a YouTube video by Madame Morbid of Persell's kidnapping by the Barrow gang.

Persell helps carry a car battery they stole in Oronogo, to replace the dead battery in their car.

"They kind of dump him off outside of Joplin," Seale said in the podcast.

His description to Joplin police of the Barrow gang increases their visibility in the region among law enforcement.

So when the gang decides to take a break from robbery, they find an apartment above a two-car garage at 3347 1/2 34th St.

They take a lot of photographs of themselves there.

Rost warns of graphic content as he describes what happened on April 13, 1933.

Barrow and W.D. Jones are returning to the apartment after picking up supplies, but they have been followed by police, seeking only to question them.

Barrow and Jones pull into the garage and try to shut the garage door before police can enter.

Wes Harryman, a Newton County constable, was shot and killed. Joplin police detective Harry McGinnis also died from gunshot wounds in the shootout.

Jones is wounded and makes his way to the upstairs apartment. A bullet that hits Barrow in the chest is partly deflected by a shirt button.

"Now they have to find a way to get out," Seale said in the podcast.

They get in their car and barrel out of the garage, escaping.

They left behind a roll of film and other stuff.

"It's kind of one of the unique parts I think of their stories is that we've actually got photos of them with some of the contraband," Seale said in an interview.

In a famous photo, Parker is pointing a sawed-off shotgun at Barrow and reaching for a pistol in Barrow's waistband. It was the pistol they took from Persell, the Springfield officer.

Bonnie and Clyde's Joplin hideout is on airbnb, where one can stay for $221 a night.

Episode two

Episode two looks at June 14, 1933, starting with a daytime bank robbery in Mexico, Mo.

Road blocks were set up to intercept the getaway vehicle, a Buick.

Boone County Sheriff Roger Wilson and Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Booth were at a roadblock at Highway 40 and 63 in Columbia.

Booth had been in the first class of highway patrol officers. Wilson was grandfather of former Missouri Gov. Roger B. Wilson.

Rost again issues a warning about graphic content.

When a 1932 Ford V8 Coupe rolled up, they sought to question the occupants.

Booth approaches the car door and opens it, when an occupant shoots him in the leg. Wilson approached the vehicle from the other side and is shot in the head, dying instantly.

Booth struggled with the car's occupants, but is shot twice more in the process. He dies on the way to the hospital, the first Missouri State Highway Patrolman to die in the line of duty.

There are markers dedicated to Booth and Wilson on sections of Interstate 70 in Columbia.

Lucy Clark, a woman who witnessed the incident, identified a photo of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd as one of those involved.

The investigation ruled Floyd out. He was committing crimes elsewhere at the time.

A 17-month highway patrol investigation implicated Francis McNeely and George McKeever.

McNeely was released after serving a prison term, but McKeever was hanged on Dec. 18, 1936, the final Missouri inmate to be executed by hanging.

Neither was involved in the Mexico bank robbery, which remains unsolved.

The first two episodes are available now.

Episode three

Episode three will track Floyd and crime partner Adam Richetti from Bolivar, where they kidnap Polk County Sheriff Jack Killingsworth, toward Kansas City. They're in Kansas City on the eve of the Union Station Massacre, on June 17, 1933.

They were part of a plot to free Frank Nash, who was in federal custody on a train arriving in Kansas City.

"So you have several officers killed, including FBI agents," Rost said in an interview. "So this is only the second time in the history of the U.S. where FBI agents have been killed in the line of duty.

Episode four

Episode four picks up with the search for suspects in the Union Station Massacre.

"We kind of pick back up with Bonnie and Clyde where we left at the end of episode one," Rost said. "We pick them back up in July of 1933 as they roll into Platte City, just north of Kansas City for a very infamous stay at the Red Crown Tavern in Platte City."

Spoiler: There was a gunfight. They escaped.

"There's a lot of things going on," Seale said. "Just in Missouri in the early 30s, I mean there's a lot of just connections with the Great Depression that goes on as a backdrop of a lot of the stuff we're talking about.

Route 66 Centennial in 2026

Looking ahead, Seale said she is beginning planning for the centennial of Route 66 in 2026.

"That's kind of a big focus that I've been looking at," Seale said.

She has begun collecting materials related to the Mother Road's history, she said.

"But just any stories from along the road, we're trying to collect and preserve those to hopefully kind of make it a bit more of a to-do in 2026 as we celebrate the centennial of the road that had a huge impact on the history of Missouri," Seale said.

Anyone with Route 66 information can contact her by email at sealek@shsmo.org.

Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia, Springfield, Joplin, Kansas City have notable events