Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Bonnie and Clyde Guns Fetch $210K

From the Jan. 23rd Chicago Sun-Times.

Two guns believed to have been used by the famous bank-robbing, cop-shooting Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow sold at the Mayo Auction in Kansas City, Mo., for $210,000.

The Joplin Globe reported that an online bidder from the East Coast bought the weapons believed to have been seized at their hideout in Joplin, Missouri in 1933. They were a .45-caliber, fully automatic Thompson submachine gun, better known as a Tommy Gun and a 1897 Winchester 12-gauge shotgun.

Until recently, the two guns had been on display at the Springfield, Missouri, Police Museum since 1973. They had been seized in an April 1933 shootout with law enforcement at an apartment in Joplin which left two police dead (I've seen the apartment).

In a related story, in January 1933, Springfield, Mo., police officer Tom Persell pulled over a suspicious car. he got off his motorcycle, went to the car where Clyde leveled a shotgun at him and ordered him to get in and show them how to get out of town and avoid the police.

They drove back roads at night for six hours before getting to Joplin where the pair released him unharmed.

Too bad I'd never heard of that police museum in Springfield as I sure would have liked to have visited it.

Interesting Story. --DaCoot

No comments: