On the bus tour I previously mentioned, we got the chance to go into some normally-closed areas around town. This is one of them, the final resting place of Buck and Clyde Barrow. (Update – Here’s the location on Google maps).
As you can see, the graveyard sits right off of a busy road, I was completely surprised to find out that these two were there. It’s a busy road in a part of town that still feels a bit wild and lawless, and most of all forgotten. Dallas is notorious for demolishing the old to make way for the new, regardless of the history or value of that old.
If you’re not familiar with Buck, he was Clyde’s older brother who was killed in a firefight nearly a year before Bonnie and Clyde were killed in their ambush. Buck had been in jail for much of his younger brother’s run, and was paroled in March of 1933. He reunited with his wife, Blanche, and then was paid a visit from his younger brother.
According to Blanche, Buck reluctantly agreed to go with Clyde because he thought he could keep him under control or out of trouble. The infamous pictures of Bonnie smoking the cigar and holding the guns was taken during the first couple of weeks the two couples were together, having a great time living in Joplin Missouri.
Of course, the law caught up with them there, and then again a few months later. Blanche was blinded for life in one eye in the shootout that killed her husband. She served several years in prison, and commented that the Barrow family never reached out to her.