13 Facts Most People Never Knew About Bonnie And Clyde

Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909, in Telico, Texas.

As you can see in reports from the FBI, he decided to go by the more masculine middle name "Champion" later in life.

The East Dallas diner where Bonnie earned a living before robbing banks was a functioning restaurant up until it closed down in 2015, according to the Lakewood Advocate.

Bonnie started working there in 1928 and stayed for a little over a year.

According to research by John Guinn, a reporter for the New York Times and author of Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie stood at only 4'11, while Clyde was 5'3.

At just 15-years-old, Bonnie married her high school sweetheart Roy Thornton. She even got their names tattooed on her thigh to commemorate the union.

Unfortunately, Roy soon began to physically abuse his wife. He eventually went to prison in 1929 (for robbery, ironically enough). Bonnie left him to live with her grandmother, then met Clyde the following year — though she never legally divorced Roy.

In fact, Bonnie was still wearing the ring he gave her on the day she died.

He didn't lose them during his infamously grisly demise. Rather, they came off while he served time in Eastham State Prison Farm from 1930 to 1932.

Clyde, shown above with Barrow Gang member WD Jones, was so desperate to break out of his 14-year sentence and escape the abuse he was suffering from his cellmate that he cut off his own big toe and some of the second. He claimed it was an accident and hoped for parole, but he was unaware that his mother had already successfully convinced the judge to release him just two weeks after the deed was done.

As a result, he had a distinct limp and had to drive cars in just his socks.

Bonnie joined Clyde in walking with a limp after a particularly terrible car accident in 1934 that burned one of her legs. It's also likely that this is the reason he's seen carrying her in several photos.

They actually preferred to hit up smaller grocery stores and gas stations. Of course, that meant their pockets weren't all that full, usually only taking home only $5.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, they even resorted to robbing the occasional gum-ball machine.

The would-be hoodlum was a bright student in her youth and earned honors for her studies in literature and poetry.

Later, while serving a two-month prison sentence in 1932, Bonnie channeled her frustrations into poems with titles like "The Story of Suicide Sal" and "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde."

The second example ended with the morbidly prophetic lines, "Some day they'll go down together / And they'll bury them side by side / To few it'll be grief / To the law a relief / But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde."

She made one error, however: the pair were not buried side by side following their death. Instead, her mother insisted on a separate lot for Bonnie since she never approved of Clyde.

Two officers raided the Barrow Gang's apartment (pictured above) in Joplin, Missouri, but they were only looking for bootleggers selling spirits due to the town's lingering Prohibition laws.

A gunfight broke out, with both of the officers dying and WD suffering a side wound that eventually healed. Clyde drove the five-member crew all the way to Shamrock, Texas, to avoid authorities.

The Barrow Gang wouldn't always resort to taking the lives of those who got in their way — instead, they would kidnap someone and drive them far enough away that they could be released without fear of getting to the authorities in time to follow after them.

She also never shot a gun, but that didn't stop the iconic photo of her featuring both items from warping the public conception of her role in the gang following the couple's death.

The photos were found undeveloped in the gang's hideout along with the cigarettes both Bonnie and Clyde preferred to cigars.

In January 1934, Bonnie and Clyde help bust Henry Methvin and four other inmates out from Clyde's old residence: the Eastham State Prison Farm.

According to records from the FBI, just a few months later in April, it was Henry's family who tipped off Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, who gathered the posse that ultimately gunned down the notorious couple.

After being shot multiple times — some claim over 100 bullets between them — passersby near the death scene attempted to take parts of the couple's body, notably trying to snag Clyde's trigger finger.

Authorities were able to fend the grim spectators off, but not before one especially persistent man cut off a few locks of Bonnie's hair, swatches from her dress, and one of Clyde's ears.

Bonnie was 23 at the time of their death, while Clyde was 25.

Did you know all of these surprising facts about the criminal couple?

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