Who Were The Other Members Of Bonnie And Clyde's Infamous Barrow Gang?

The crime spree of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow made national news during the early years of the Great Depression as the couple traveled the central United States, marking their bloody trail with a series of armed robberies and daring shootouts with law enforcement. Before being ambushed in a hail of fatal gunfire by law enforcement in 1934, the duo was wanted on a litany of charges that included kidnapping, robbery, burglary, and murder (via The FBI). Among the 13 people thought to have been murdered by the pair, several were members of law enforcement.

But Parker and Barrow did not work alone. The crime spree began in 1932 after Barrow's release from prison on a burglary conviction. He and Parker had met two years earlier, and she had even managed to help him escape from prison at one point before he was recaptured and returned. His 1932 parole would be the start of a brutal string of violent crimes that he, Parker, and assorted other members of what would become known as the Barrow Gang would commit. 

All told, there were seven other members of the gang. The revolving cast of characters that traveled with Parker and Barrow were family members, childhood friends, and associates Barrow had met while in prison. Though these outlaws were mostly in the background and overshadowed by their leaders, they each have unsettling stories and were perhaps as violent as the couple who were at the helm of their gang.

Marvin "Buck" Barrow was the elder brother of his more infamous brother Clyde, and he was no stranger to a life of crime. Before joining with family in the Barrow Gang, Buck had a rap sheet that included burglary and auto theft (per All That's Interesting). Buck was in prison for a robbery charge when his brother and Parker assembled their gang of robbers and murderers. He was released in 1933 and he and his wife Blanche joined up with Barrow in Joplin, Missouri. Within weeks, Buck was participating in robberies with Clyde and company. Their crimes reached new heights in this small southwestern Missouri community when they shot and killed two police officers during a raid.

Buck didn't last long with his brother's gang. He was shot in the head during a nighttime raid by police outside of Platte City, Missouri. Though severely wounded and losing a lot of blood, he survived his injury long enough to be shot six more times during another police raid in Dexter, Iowa, four days later. Blanche was also wounded in the shootout and lived. 

Buck would be taken to a hospital, where he would later die from pneumonia. Blanche was tried for various crimes and sent to prison, where she served six years before her 1939 release. She died from cancer in 1988.

Barrow's brother and sister-in-law weren't the only accomplices to the gang. Joining the group at various points during their two-year life on the run were W.D. Jones, Ralph Fults, Joe Palmer, Henry Methvin, and Raymond Hamilton.

Jones was an old friend of Clyde Barrow from their Texas childhood. He spent eight months with the Barrow gang, participating in a shootout that would kill a sheriff's deputy. Jones would try to persuade a court that he was an unwilling accomplice of Barrow's, the leader holding him prisoner. But this excuse didn't fly, and he was given a 15-year prison sentence (via Texas Hideout).

Fults became acquainted with Barrow while the two served time in prison in the early 1930s. He joined up with the gang and helped them rob banks and payroll stations. A year after the death of Parker and Barrow, Fults was apprehended and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was pardoned later and worked as a security guard at an orphanage. He was the last surviving member of the Barrow Gang. He died in 1993 (via The Los Angeles Times).

Hamilton was another childhood friend of Barrow's. Parker and Barrow helped Hamilton escape from prison, killing a guard in the process (via "My Life with Bonnie and Clyde"). Hamilton was eventually arrested and sent back to prison, this time the added charge of murder added to his list of offenses. He was executed in 1935 (via Legends of America).

Methvin and Palmer were freed during the prison break with Hamilton (via Legends of America). Methvin's father helped set up the ambush that killed Parker and Barrow, in exchange for Methvin's pardon. He died after being hit by a train in 1948. Palmer was executed for the death of the prison guard killed during the escape.