Red Crown Tourist Court
Encyclopedia
The Red Crown Tavern and Red Crown Tourist Court in Platte County, Missouri
was the site of the July 20, 1933 gun battle between lawmen and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde
and three members of their gang. The outlaws made their escape, but would be tracked down and cornered four days later near Dexter, Iowa
and engaged by another posse. The shootout was depicted in Arthur Penn's
1967 film Bonnie and Clyde
, though the sign on the motel in the movie reads "Platte City, Iowa," not Missouri.
Built in 1931 by Parkville, Missouri
banker and developer Emmett Breen at the junction of US 71 and Route 59 (now I-435), the red brick and tile Tavern included a popular restaurant
and ballroom
. Back behind the Tavern was the Tourist Court — just two small cabins connected by two garages. The site is just northeast of the main Kansas City International Airport
exit off I-29. Today it is within the city limits of Kansas City
, and an Interstate exit cloverleaf runs almost squarely through the property.
had left Bonnie Parker critically burned and near death. While the gang hid and tried to nurse Parker in a Ft. Smith, Arkansas tourist court, Buck Barrow
and W.D. Jones were sent to raise funds; they bungled the robbery and killed the town marshal of Alma, Arkansas
. The resultant police attention forced the gang to move on despite Parker's dire condition, and by mid-July, Barrow hoped they could put their feet up for several days in the same place.
To bankroll their stay, on July 18 the outlaws staged a freewheeling — if rather minor-league — crime rampage through the staid streets of Fort Dodge, Iowa
, stopping at one gas station after another, ransacking the cash registers and robbing and kidnapping the attendants, shoving them onto the backseat. They also broke open the vending and gumball machines and scooped out all the change, a move which would have unexpected consequences for them several days hence. After three such robberies in fifteen minutes they realized they had no more room for hostages, released everybody, and with a hundred fifty new dollars in their pockets, headed for Kansas City; it was 250 miles distant over 1933 roads, yet they were there in under four hours.
Brother Buck agreed in principle with the idea of a long rest, but disagreed with the choice of Kansas City because, only weeks before, the town had "hosted" the bloody Kansas City Massacre
at its Union Station and was still rife with federal, state and local police officers looking everywhere for gangsters. The brothers fought bitterly about the plan before lapsing into a toxic silence that enveloped the car. Late that night they pulled in to refuel at Slim's Castle, a service station, café and convenience store at the busy Platte City intersection known locally as "The Junction," and the Red Crown Tourist Court across the street caught Clyde Barrow's eye. What attracted him initially was the sturdy brick construction of the place, which made him feel secure, he would tell his family later. To his hot, dirty, cross passengers he said, "'This is where we stay the rest of the night, even if we all get killed before morning.' No one said anything."
went in to book the room, she could claim they were a party of three; this was not to save money off the room tab, but Clyde's attempt to disguise the size and makeup of the party if any prying officers inquired about them. What he couldn't have known was that there would be officers aplenty, since the Red Crown was a favorite gathering spot of the Missouri Highway Patrol in the days before two-way radio in Patrol cars, when "officers and supervisors would often meet somewhere at mealtimes to exchange messages and receive orders."
It was a shaky plan from the start, and things only went downhill from there. Red Crown manager Neal Houser was immediately suspicious when Blanche flounced into the office in tight, provocative jodhpurs
riding breeches, a get-up unheard of in stodgy Platte City and one much discussed at the time and still remembered by eyewitnesses forty years later. She booked both rooms out back for three guests, one night, then paid the $4.00 with a fistful of small change. Houser watched out his rear window as the driver of the car carefully backed it — nose out, "gangster style" — into the left garage and closed up the doors. A short time later, the young woman reappeared at the Tavern's restaurant and bought five chicken dinners and five beers for the party of three. She paid for them with more small change. Houser insisted on following Blanche back to the cabins to record the car's license plate number, but had to content himself with just peering into the garage for it when Clyde wouldn't let him into the cabin. After he left, the five settled in for supper; since the two brothers were still not speaking to each other, it was a silent, somber repast.
The gang slept late the following morning; overnight, Clyde had taped newspapers up inside the windows of the left cabin, revealing another flaw in his selection of the Red Crown: with only two units, there were no other guests with whom to blend in. This was apparent to everyone but the outlaws: even The Platte County Landmark noted "Windows curtained with newspapers, continually peeping out of windows by the gang, refusing to admit any of the station [tavern] employees to the cabins, hiding from view all of the members except one woman, created a suspicion on the part of Neal Houser..." The aforementioned woman appeared again, again in her jodhpurs, again buying five meals for her party of three, and once again paying in small change. This time, however, she felt the air of suspicion around her and when later she learned his identity, realized it had been the eyes of Platte County Sheriff Holt Coffey
boring into her as she completed her transaction.
Clyde had also instructed her to pay for another night's stay, but "to see how the people acted and what I thought about them, if I thought it would be safe to stay there another night." Blanche got a bad vibe off Houser as she dribbled more warm coins into his hands, but when she apprised Barrow of her fears, "Clyde said it was just my imagination, that everything would be all right. So I said no more."
It was not, however, just her imagination. Red Crown manager Houser had lawman restaurant patrons other than Sheriff Coffey — namely Captain William Baxter of the fledgling Missouri Highway Patrol. Houser had a word with Baxter about his suspicions concerning his motel guests, and Baxter spoke with Coffey. When the hotelier mentioned the Oklahoma plates on their car, the officers began wondering just who it might be in the cabins with the taped-over windows, which limited visibility in both directions.
Later that afternoon, Sheriff Coffey got a call from Louis Bernstein, the druggist at Platte City Drugs, about a stranger who had just left his store: "a good-looking gal in a slinky riding habit," the eager pharmacist reported. Both drug stores and law enforcement agencies had been alerted by Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas officials to be on the lookout for strangers seeking certain medical supplies. The stranger was, of course, Blanche, buying bandages and atropine
sulfate to treat Bonnie's leg burns. For Coffey and Baxter, Bernstein's call pushed the situation to critical mass: if the guests had indeed bought burn wound supplies, it may well be the scorched Bonnie Parker and the freeshooting Barrows within the brick cabins. Although "[m]ost of the general public had never heard of them" that afternoon, Coffey's son Clarence was on the scene as it dawned on his dad whom he would be going up against: "The look on my father's face," he told the papers then and later, "I'll never forget that!"
But Coffey's was just a county sheriff's operation — "no protective gear, no radios, no weapons to speak of other than 'squirrel rifles and a few pistols.'" Even with Baxter's help, both men knew they were seriously outgunned, and Platte County prosecutor David Clevenger suggested they confer with Jackson County Sheriff Tom Bash in nearby Kansas City, a big-city jurisdiction "whose available armaments included machine guns, steel bulletproof shields, tear gas launchers, and armored cars." Coffey headed over to Bash's Kansas City office, but did not get the response he had hoped for. "I'm getting pretty damn tired of every hick sheriff in the country coming in here and telling me they have a bunch of desperadoes holed up and wanting help. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you," Bash said. Coffey was tenacious, though, and eventually got Bash to agree to supply some men, some weaponry, bulletproof shields and "a bulletproof car."
Participants and spectators — word was getting around town that there might be a replay of the "Kansas City Depot job" out at The Junction — began gravitating to the Tavern and to Slim's Castle across the road as the sweltering July day led to a muggy July night. The assault force numbered thirteen: six from Platte County, four from Jackson County and three from the Missouri Highway patrol. Coffey and Baxter thought it best to wait until later to make their move, after the traffic of the intersection and its two busy establishments had thinned out. Everyone seemed to sense the impending action — except the outlaws, shrouded as they were by their newspaper curtains.
After dark, Blanche emerged and covered the short distance to the Tavern to get more soap and some fresh towels. As she entered,
She told her husband about the ominous behavior of the crowd in the Tavern, and he told her to go to the other cabin and tell Clyde (they apparently still were not speaking). Clyde, despite his often-cited "sixth sense" about impending danger, was unconcerned and told her not to worry about it. "'Okay,' I said. 'If we all get killed here tonight, you can't say I didn't warn you.'" She returned to her own cabin, followed shortly by Jones with a message from Clyde: he wanted her to fetch more food. This angered Blanche and she told Jones to tell Clyde that she wasn't going out any more that night, which in turn angered Clyde.
The lawmen watching the cabins were surprised when, at about 10:30, one of the doors opened and a young man emerged; up to this point, it had been the slender gal in the riding breeches who had done all the errand-running. 17 year-old W.D. Jones crossed the road, went into Slim's Castle and ordered five sandwiches and five bottles of soda pop. Clerk Kermit Crawford noticed the young man seemed nervous and kept peering over at the millers-about in the Red Crown parking lot. It could not have seemed too out-of-the-ordinary to the young outlaw; he did not mention it to the boss.
By 1 a.m., the revelers had mostly departed the Red Crown Tavern, so Sheriff Coffey, Captain Baxter and eleven patrolmen, county cops and Jackson County officers commenced their operation. Accounts differ in details, but Coffey certainly advanced on the cabins; he may have been accompanied by Baxter and possibly others, carrying one or more massive shields made out of thick boilerplate, "like medieval knights." Significantly, the two Jackson County officers pulled the armored car up to block the cabins' garage doors — so the gang was completely hemmed in. Coffey rapped sharply on the door of Buck and Blanche's cabin. Blanche called out that she wasn't dressed, to which Coffey replied, "Well put your trousers on and come out yourself." He then asked where the men were, and she told him, as loudly as she could so Clyde would hear it, that they were in the other cabin.
Clyde did indeed hear it — and he and Jones unleashed a mighty torrent of fire, joined almost immediately by Buck, all three shooting their BARs
right through the windows and doors of the cabins. Coffey's nineteen year-old son Clarence was watching from behind and later said his father "was pushed back like he was hit by a high-pressure hose." The boilerplate shield stood up to actual penetration, but the BARs' impact was literally staggering to the sturdily-built sheriff. The flying glass and wood chip debris abraded the officers, but they were able to fall back, miraculously without being hit by any outlaw gunfire. They returned the fire, but even their substantial, .45-caliber Thompson "sub-guns"
were no match for the bandits' thundering Browning output: one BAR slug exiting the cabin penetrated the rear wall of the kitchen in the Tavern, passed through both walls of a stove and wound up lodged in Coffey, Jr's arm; others penetrated Tavern walls at both ends of the place, and several ricocheted off the pavement of the Slim's Castle parking lot. People for miles around heard the gunfire on the quiet night air.
Inside their cabin, Clyde and Jones dashed through the internal door to the garage and prepared to get the car loaded and started, but when they peeked out the garage door, they saw the armored car blocking their exit. The vehicle outside was not a military or Brinks-truck style armored car, but a normal-appearing automobile with bulletproof glass and extra boilerplate embedded in its body for protection; the problem was, it was not all that bulletproof. The outlaws opened fire on it immediately and the armor-piercing rounds from their BARs found their way inside: driver George Highfill was hit in both knees and either the horn button or the horn itself was hit and it began blaring in an unyielding wail. The posse assumed this was a cease-fire signal and they did just that; many fell back. One headlight had been shot askew into a straight-up beam, and Highfill decided his machine was just not up to this particular challenge, so he backed it away from the action, and the cabins' garages were no longer barricaded. To add to the confusion, an officer back behind the cabins fired off a tear gas rocket that overshot (considerably) the cabins and came down across the road in the Slim's Castle parking lot — with the gas then blowing back over to fog the officers' eyes on the Red Crown side.
Clyde Barrow recognized a stroke of luck when he saw one — the main impediment to his escape just backed away — and he bundled Jones and Parker into the car, easily accomplished through the internal door. Buck and Blanche were not so lucky, though; there was no such door between their cabin and the garage — they had to come out into the open to get to the car. When they made their dash, the officers opened up again with their large caliber "Tommy" guns, and a bullet hit Buck in the left temple and exited out his forehead. He was firing his BAR at waist level when he was hit, and it continued to fire in an arc skyward as he was knocked off his feet. Eighty-one pound Blanche and her brother-in-law manhandled her limp husband into the car while Jones laid down cover fire.
His party all aboard, Clyde roared past Holt Coffey and the others, straight out of the Red Crown parking lot and onto Highway 71. The posse loosed one final, blistering volley at the car, many slugs finding their marks: one Thompson burst raked over the rear window and sent slivers of shattered glass into both eyes of Blanche Barrow, and a fragment of bullet into her head, right at the hairline.
The car disappeared into the night. One posseman, patrolman L.A. Ellis, tried to muster support for an expedition of pursuit, but got no takers.
As the smoke — and the tear gas — cleared, the lawmen took stock of their assault. Despite the large number of rounds expended by the outlaws (by far the most of any of their gunbattles), injuries to the officers were minimal. Sheriff Coffey had two scratches on his neck from buckshot, but he was so proud and "bragged about being shot by the Barrow Gang and living to tell about it, [that officers] Whitecotton and Ellis decided not to ruin the Platte County sheriff's story by revealing that he had been hit by friendly fire [Ellis's, in the darkness]." Coffey's son Clarence was abraded by debris dislodged by a bullet that penetrated the Tavern's kitchen, and Deputy Highfill had wounds in each knee from his duty as armored car driver.
In the cabin occupied by Parker, Jones and Clyde Barrow, they found all five of the sandwiches fetched by Jones from Slim's Castle uneaten, but all five soda bottles empty. There also was a syringe kit for giving injections, leading to short-lived speculation that the Barrow Gang were all junkies, but the kit was just a remnant of the medical bag
they stole from Dr. Fields several weeks before in Enid when they also stole his car. More impressive, though, was the arsenal the gang was forced to leave behind: as many as six BARs, forty-seven Colt .45 automatic pistols — it had been some successful burglary at the Enid armory on July 7 — and, sadly, the personal sidearm Buck and Jones had taken off the body of Marshall Humphrey, whom Buck had killed in Alma, Arkansas on June 23.
The following day, people came to the Red Crown from all over. In its July 21 issue, The Platte County Landmark described the day-after scene as "a large crowd of sightseers" converged to get a look:
, some 170 miles due north of the tourist court. For days, local citizens were running across bloody clothes and bandages carelessly jettisoned by the gang and on July 24, 1933, the Barrows found themselves under fire once again, surrounded by local lawmen and approximately one hundred spectators. Parker, Jones and Clyde Barrow all sustained significant injuries but escaped on foot. Buck was shot again and died five days later at Kings Daughters Hospital in Perry, Iowa
of pneumonia
after surgery. Blanche was captured and taken first to Adel, Iowa
, and then on to Des Moines
.
Coffey brought Blanche back to Platte City where she was held in the jail and questioned by law officers and FBI agents. Her selection of wardrobe was still under discussion upon her return, The Platte County Landmark asserting that she "gives evidence of careful rearing, being refined in speech and manner.... Properly attired and groomed she would be attractive...." Though she had not fired a weapon during the Platte City gunfight, she was charged with "assault with intent to kill" Sheriff Coffey. She pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary for Women
. Her sentence was commuted in 1939 and she was released. She died in 1988.
The Red Crown Tavern had been a popular attraction to locals "because the food was so good," and the place became even more popular after the shootout. The Landmarks unusual take on the carnage was:
In 1945, the Red Crown complex was purchased by former sheriff Coffey himself, who operated it successfully until 1950. "It was a honky tonk place," recalls George Ann Coffey, a cousin. "The women would get all dressed up and wear pretty dresses and white gloves. The men would drink beer; the women would not!"
After his turn in the hospitality business, Coffey went on to be elected a presiding judge of Platte County in 1956; today, that office is referred to as county commissioner. He died in 1964 at age 72, during his first elected term.
In 1957, an accident knocked down the forecourt awning and damaged the gasoline pumps, then ten years later a fire started in the kitchen and destroyed most of the Tavern. What was left standing at the site was stripped and carried off by souvenir hounds. Fueled by the renewed interest in the Barrows from the 1967 movie, merchants in Weston actually sold bricks from the building for $1 apiece on the street during the late 1960s. "[B]ut it was the alterations to the road junction which sounded the death knell," writes On The Trail of Bonnie and Clyde editor Winston Ramsey
. "New access roads from the interstate into Kansas City airport removed the last vestiges of both the Red Crown and Slim's Castle across the road."
Final demolition of the buildings occurred in 1968, but as recently as 2003, After The Battle Books investigator Marty Black was able to find chunks of brickwork deep in the thatch on the site, though "there is really no way of determining to which building they belonged."
Although numerous inquiries have been made to erect a memorial or provide some sort of museum at the site, no attempt or formal request to the Platte County Commission has ever been made.
The area was annexed by the city of Kansas City in 1967 when Kansas City International Airport
became the city's main airport.
In 1999 Farmland Industries
built its headquarters slightly northeast of the Red Crown site, in a spot that would have been back behind both the Tavern and the Tourist Court cabins; currently that building is occupied by WireCo WorldGroup
.
Platte County, Missouri
As of the census of 2000, there were 73,781 people, 29,278 households, and 20,231 families residing in the county. The population density was 176 people per square mile . There were 30,902 housing units at an average density of 74 per square mile...
was the site of the July 20, 1933 gun battle between lawmen and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...
and three members of their gang. The outlaws made their escape, but would be tracked down and cornered four days later near Dexter, Iowa
Dexter, Iowa
Dexter is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 689 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area...
and engaged by another posse. The shootout was depicted in Arthur Penn's
Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
1967 film Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
, though the sign on the motel in the movie reads "Platte City, Iowa," not Missouri.
Built in 1931 by Parkville, Missouri
Parkville, Missouri
Parkville is a city in Platte County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,059 at the 2000 census. Parkville is known for its antique shops, art galleries, and historic downtown. The city is home to Park University and English Landing Park....
banker and developer Emmett Breen at the junction of US 71 and Route 59 (now I-435), the red brick and tile Tavern included a popular restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
and ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
. Back behind the Tavern was the Tourist Court — just two small cabins connected by two garages. The site is just northeast of the main Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...
exit off I-29. Today it is within the city limits of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and an Interstate exit cloverleaf runs almost squarely through the property.
The gang seeks refuge
Uncharacteristically, Clyde Barrow was looking for a place the gang might hole up for several nights. It was his usual practice to keep moving and never spend more than one night in any given spot, but the previous weeks had been difficult. On June 10, a one-car wreck at Wellington, TexasWellington, Texas
Wellington is a city in Collingsworth County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,275 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Collingsworth County.-Geography:Wellington is located at ....
had left Bonnie Parker critically burned and near death. While the gang hid and tried to nurse Parker in a Ft. Smith, Arkansas tourist court, Buck Barrow
Buck Barrow
Marvin Ivan Barrow was a member of the Barrow Gang. He was the older brother of the gang's leader, Clyde Barrow. He and his wife Blanche were wounded in a gun battle with police four months after they joined up with Bonnie and Clyde...
and W.D. Jones were sent to raise funds; they bungled the robbery and killed the town marshal of Alma, Arkansas
Alma, Arkansas
Alma is a city in Crawford County located in the western part of U.S. state of Arkansas, along I-40 about 13 miles from the Oklahoma border. Alma's population is 4,734, making it the sixth largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. The resultant police attention forced the gang to move on despite Parker's dire condition, and by mid-July, Barrow hoped they could put their feet up for several days in the same place.
To bankroll their stay, on July 18 the outlaws staged a freewheeling — if rather minor-league — crime rampage through the staid streets of Fort Dodge, Iowa
Fort Dodge, Iowa
Fort Dodge is a city and county seat of Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 25,206 in the 2010 census, an increase from 25,136 in the 2000 census. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Central and Northwest Iowa. It is located on U.S...
, stopping at one gas station after another, ransacking the cash registers and robbing and kidnapping the attendants, shoving them onto the backseat. They also broke open the vending and gumball machines and scooped out all the change, a move which would have unexpected consequences for them several days hence. After three such robberies in fifteen minutes they realized they had no more room for hostages, released everybody, and with a hundred fifty new dollars in their pockets, headed for Kansas City; it was 250 miles distant over 1933 roads, yet they were there in under four hours.
Brother Buck agreed in principle with the idea of a long rest, but disagreed with the choice of Kansas City because, only weeks before, the town had "hosted" the bloody Kansas City Massacre
Kansas City Massacre
The Kansas City massacre was the shootout and murder of four law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive at the Union Station railroad depot in Kansas City, Missouri, on the morning of June 17, 1933. It occurred as part of the attempt by a gang led by Vernon Miller to free Frank "Jelly" Nash,...
at its Union Station and was still rife with federal, state and local police officers looking everywhere for gangsters. The brothers fought bitterly about the plan before lapsing into a toxic silence that enveloped the car. Late that night they pulled in to refuel at Slim's Castle, a service station, café and convenience store at the busy Platte City intersection known locally as "The Junction," and the Red Crown Tourist Court across the street caught Clyde Barrow's eye. What attracted him initially was the sturdy brick construction of the place, which made him feel secure, he would tell his family later. To his hot, dirty, cross passengers he said, "'This is where we stay the rest of the night, even if we all get killed before morning.' No one said anything."
At the Red Crown
The Slim's attendant directed Barrow to the Red Crown office in the Tavern building, but before they drove over, they covered Buck and Jones with blankets in the backseat so that when Blanche BarrowBlanche Barrow
Bennie Iva "Blanche" Frasure was the wife of Marvin "Buck" Barrow and the sister-in-law of Clyde Barrow. Buck and Blanche were part of the Barrow Gang from late March 1933 until their capture on July 24, 1933.-Early life:Blanche Barrow was born in Garvin, Oklahoma...
went in to book the room, she could claim they were a party of three; this was not to save money off the room tab, but Clyde's attempt to disguise the size and makeup of the party if any prying officers inquired about them. What he couldn't have known was that there would be officers aplenty, since the Red Crown was a favorite gathering spot of the Missouri Highway Patrol in the days before two-way radio in Patrol cars, when "officers and supervisors would often meet somewhere at mealtimes to exchange messages and receive orders."
It was a shaky plan from the start, and things only went downhill from there. Red Crown manager Neal Houser was immediately suspicious when Blanche flounced into the office in tight, provocative jodhpurs
Jodhpurs
Jodhpurs in their modern form are tight-fitting trousers that reach to the ankle, where they end in a snug cuff, and are worn primarily for horse riding. The term is also used incorrectly as slang for a type of short riding boot, also called a paddock boot or a jodhpur boot, because they are worn...
riding breeches, a get-up unheard of in stodgy Platte City and one much discussed at the time and still remembered by eyewitnesses forty years later. She booked both rooms out back for three guests, one night, then paid the $4.00 with a fistful of small change. Houser watched out his rear window as the driver of the car carefully backed it — nose out, "gangster style" — into the left garage and closed up the doors. A short time later, the young woman reappeared at the Tavern's restaurant and bought five chicken dinners and five beers for the party of three. She paid for them with more small change. Houser insisted on following Blanche back to the cabins to record the car's license plate number, but had to content himself with just peering into the garage for it when Clyde wouldn't let him into the cabin. After he left, the five settled in for supper; since the two brothers were still not speaking to each other, it was a silent, somber repast.
The gang slept late the following morning; overnight, Clyde had taped newspapers up inside the windows of the left cabin, revealing another flaw in his selection of the Red Crown: with only two units, there were no other guests with whom to blend in. This was apparent to everyone but the outlaws: even The Platte County Landmark noted "Windows curtained with newspapers, continually peeping out of windows by the gang, refusing to admit any of the station [tavern] employees to the cabins, hiding from view all of the members except one woman, created a suspicion on the part of Neal Houser..." The aforementioned woman appeared again, again in her jodhpurs, again buying five meals for her party of three, and once again paying in small change. This time, however, she felt the air of suspicion around her and when later she learned his identity, realized it had been the eyes of Platte County Sheriff Holt Coffey
Holt Coffey
Holt Coffey was the sheriff of Platte County, Missouri from 1933 until 1937 and again from 1941 until 1945. Coffey, along with newly elected Platte City Prosecutor David Clevenger, was responsible for cleaning up much of the small time crime around Platte County, a suburb of freewheeling Kansas...
boring into her as she completed her transaction.
Clyde had also instructed her to pay for another night's stay, but "to see how the people acted and what I thought about them, if I thought it would be safe to stay there another night." Blanche got a bad vibe off Houser as she dribbled more warm coins into his hands, but when she apprised Barrow of her fears, "Clyde said it was just my imagination, that everything would be all right. So I said no more."
It was not, however, just her imagination. Red Crown manager Houser had lawman restaurant patrons other than Sheriff Coffey — namely Captain William Baxter of the fledgling Missouri Highway Patrol. Houser had a word with Baxter about his suspicions concerning his motel guests, and Baxter spoke with Coffey. When the hotelier mentioned the Oklahoma plates on their car, the officers began wondering just who it might be in the cabins with the taped-over windows, which limited visibility in both directions.
Later that afternoon, Sheriff Coffey got a call from Louis Bernstein, the druggist at Platte City Drugs, about a stranger who had just left his store: "a good-looking gal in a slinky riding habit," the eager pharmacist reported. Both drug stores and law enforcement agencies had been alerted by Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas officials to be on the lookout for strangers seeking certain medical supplies. The stranger was, of course, Blanche, buying bandages and atropine
Atropine
Atropine is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade , Jimson weed , mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. It is a secondary metabolite of these plants and serves as a drug with a wide variety of effects...
sulfate to treat Bonnie's leg burns. For Coffey and Baxter, Bernstein's call pushed the situation to critical mass: if the guests had indeed bought burn wound supplies, it may well be the scorched Bonnie Parker and the freeshooting Barrows within the brick cabins. Although "[m]ost of the general public had never heard of them" that afternoon, Coffey's son Clarence was on the scene as it dawned on his dad whom he would be going up against: "The look on my father's face," he told the papers then and later, "I'll never forget that!"
But Coffey's was just a county sheriff's operation — "no protective gear, no radios, no weapons to speak of other than 'squirrel rifles and a few pistols.'" Even with Baxter's help, both men knew they were seriously outgunned, and Platte County prosecutor David Clevenger suggested they confer with Jackson County Sheriff Tom Bash in nearby Kansas City, a big-city jurisdiction "whose available armaments included machine guns, steel bulletproof shields, tear gas launchers, and armored cars." Coffey headed over to Bash's Kansas City office, but did not get the response he had hoped for. "I'm getting pretty damn tired of every hick sheriff in the country coming in here and telling me they have a bunch of desperadoes holed up and wanting help. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you," Bash said. Coffey was tenacious, though, and eventually got Bash to agree to supply some men, some weaponry, bulletproof shields and "a bulletproof car."
Participants and spectators — word was getting around town that there might be a replay of the "Kansas City Depot job" out at The Junction — began gravitating to the Tavern and to Slim's Castle across the road as the sweltering July day led to a muggy July night. The assault force numbered thirteen: six from Platte County, four from Jackson County and three from the Missouri Highway patrol. Coffey and Baxter thought it best to wait until later to make their move, after the traffic of the intersection and its two busy establishments had thinned out. Everyone seemed to sense the impending action — except the outlaws, shrouded as they were by their newspaper curtains.
After dark, Blanche emerged and covered the short distance to the Tavern to get more soap and some fresh towels. As she entered,
- "I noticed everyone in the place was doing a lot of talking. I could hear them and see several of them sitting around a table. But when I walked in everyone stopped talking. The place was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was just as quiet as a death chamber. I knew something must be wrong.... Everyone acted as though I might pull out a machine gun and turn it on them at any minute. As soon as I stepped outside, the talking started again...."
She told her husband about the ominous behavior of the crowd in the Tavern, and he told her to go to the other cabin and tell Clyde (they apparently still were not speaking). Clyde, despite his often-cited "sixth sense" about impending danger, was unconcerned and told her not to worry about it. "'Okay,' I said. 'If we all get killed here tonight, you can't say I didn't warn you.'" She returned to her own cabin, followed shortly by Jones with a message from Clyde: he wanted her to fetch more food. This angered Blanche and she told Jones to tell Clyde that she wasn't going out any more that night, which in turn angered Clyde.
The lawmen watching the cabins were surprised when, at about 10:30, one of the doors opened and a young man emerged; up to this point, it had been the slender gal in the riding breeches who had done all the errand-running. 17 year-old W.D. Jones crossed the road, went into Slim's Castle and ordered five sandwiches and five bottles of soda pop. Clerk Kermit Crawford noticed the young man seemed nervous and kept peering over at the millers-about in the Red Crown parking lot. It could not have seemed too out-of-the-ordinary to the young outlaw; he did not mention it to the boss.
The gun battle
All the preparations, reinforcements, and armaments made the Red Crown firefight something no other Barrow Gang gunbattle to date had been: a fairer fight. At Stringtown, Joplin and Alma, officers had wandered into encounters with the Barrows totally unaware that they were about to go up against gunmen with vastly superior weaponry — and with no compunction about using it quickly and ferociously. "The poorly armed cops expected to confront small-timers whose firepower was equally limited," writes Jeff Guinn of the earlier confrontations, but tonight's encounter would be "a coordinated assault by well-prepared, well-armed officers aware of exactly who they were up against."By 1 a.m., the revelers had mostly departed the Red Crown Tavern, so Sheriff Coffey, Captain Baxter and eleven patrolmen, county cops and Jackson County officers commenced their operation. Accounts differ in details, but Coffey certainly advanced on the cabins; he may have been accompanied by Baxter and possibly others, carrying one or more massive shields made out of thick boilerplate, "like medieval knights." Significantly, the two Jackson County officers pulled the armored car up to block the cabins' garage doors — so the gang was completely hemmed in. Coffey rapped sharply on the door of Buck and Blanche's cabin. Blanche called out that she wasn't dressed, to which Coffey replied, "Well put your trousers on and come out yourself." He then asked where the men were, and she told him, as loudly as she could so Clyde would hear it, that they were in the other cabin.
Clyde did indeed hear it — and he and Jones unleashed a mighty torrent of fire, joined almost immediately by Buck, all three shooting their BARs
Browning Automatic Rifle
The Browning Automatic Rifle was a family of United States automatic rifles and light machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed...
right through the windows and doors of the cabins. Coffey's nineteen year-old son Clarence was watching from behind and later said his father "was pushed back like he was hit by a high-pressure hose." The boilerplate shield stood up to actual penetration, but the BARs' impact was literally staggering to the sturdily-built sheriff. The flying glass and wood chip debris abraded the officers, but they were able to fall back, miraculously without being hit by any outlaw gunfire. They returned the fire, but even their substantial, .45-caliber Thompson "sub-guns"
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...
were no match for the bandits' thundering Browning output: one BAR slug exiting the cabin penetrated the rear wall of the kitchen in the Tavern, passed through both walls of a stove and wound up lodged in Coffey, Jr's arm; others penetrated Tavern walls at both ends of the place, and several ricocheted off the pavement of the Slim's Castle parking lot. People for miles around heard the gunfire on the quiet night air.
Inside their cabin, Clyde and Jones dashed through the internal door to the garage and prepared to get the car loaded and started, but when they peeked out the garage door, they saw the armored car blocking their exit. The vehicle outside was not a military or Brinks-truck style armored car, but a normal-appearing automobile with bulletproof glass and extra boilerplate embedded in its body for protection; the problem was, it was not all that bulletproof. The outlaws opened fire on it immediately and the armor-piercing rounds from their BARs found their way inside: driver George Highfill was hit in both knees and either the horn button or the horn itself was hit and it began blaring in an unyielding wail. The posse assumed this was a cease-fire signal and they did just that; many fell back. One headlight had been shot askew into a straight-up beam, and Highfill decided his machine was just not up to this particular challenge, so he backed it away from the action, and the cabins' garages were no longer barricaded. To add to the confusion, an officer back behind the cabins fired off a tear gas rocket that overshot (considerably) the cabins and came down across the road in the Slim's Castle parking lot — with the gas then blowing back over to fog the officers' eyes on the Red Crown side.
Clyde Barrow recognized a stroke of luck when he saw one — the main impediment to his escape just backed away — and he bundled Jones and Parker into the car, easily accomplished through the internal door. Buck and Blanche were not so lucky, though; there was no such door between their cabin and the garage — they had to come out into the open to get to the car. When they made their dash, the officers opened up again with their large caliber "Tommy" guns, and a bullet hit Buck in the left temple and exited out his forehead. He was firing his BAR at waist level when he was hit, and it continued to fire in an arc skyward as he was knocked off his feet. Eighty-one pound Blanche and her brother-in-law manhandled her limp husband into the car while Jones laid down cover fire.
His party all aboard, Clyde roared past Holt Coffey and the others, straight out of the Red Crown parking lot and onto Highway 71. The posse loosed one final, blistering volley at the car, many slugs finding their marks: one Thompson burst raked over the rear window and sent slivers of shattered glass into both eyes of Blanche Barrow, and a fragment of bullet into her head, right at the hairline.
The car disappeared into the night. One posseman, patrolman L.A. Ellis, tried to muster support for an expedition of pursuit, but got no takers.
As the smoke — and the tear gas — cleared, the lawmen took stock of their assault. Despite the large number of rounds expended by the outlaws (by far the most of any of their gunbattles), injuries to the officers were minimal. Sheriff Coffey had two scratches on his neck from buckshot, but he was so proud and "bragged about being shot by the Barrow Gang and living to tell about it, [that officers] Whitecotton and Ellis decided not to ruin the Platte County sheriff's story by revealing that he had been hit by friendly fire [Ellis's, in the darkness]." Coffey's son Clarence was abraded by debris dislodged by a bullet that penetrated the Tavern's kitchen, and Deputy Highfill had wounds in each knee from his duty as armored car driver.
In the cabin occupied by Parker, Jones and Clyde Barrow, they found all five of the sandwiches fetched by Jones from Slim's Castle uneaten, but all five soda bottles empty. There also was a syringe kit for giving injections, leading to short-lived speculation that the Barrow Gang were all junkies, but the kit was just a remnant of the medical bag
Medical bag
A medical bag is a portable bag used by a doctor or other medical professional to transport medical supplies and medicine....
they stole from Dr. Fields several weeks before in Enid when they also stole his car. More impressive, though, was the arsenal the gang was forced to leave behind: as many as six BARs, forty-seven Colt .45 automatic pistols — it had been some successful burglary at the Enid armory on July 7 — and, sadly, the personal sidearm Buck and Jones had taken off the body of Marshall Humphrey, whom Buck had killed in Alma, Arkansas on June 23.
The following day, people came to the Red Crown from all over. In its July 21 issue, The Platte County Landmark described the day-after scene as "a large crowd of sightseers" converged to get a look:
- "The cabins presented a torn up appearance Thursday morning, bearing many evidences of the terrible battle. Bullet holes were everywhere, through doors and windows, some from outside, some fired from inside. Mirrors and other articles in the cabins were shattered. Several bullets found their way through the station [tavern] proper but failed to hit any of the many visitors who had been warned of possible trouble and made to stay indoors."
Aftermath
The gang's flight from the Red Crown was a slow, grim affair, a wounded car filled with wounded fugitives. It ended in Iowa, at rural Dexfield Park, a recently abandoned amusement park outside DexterDexter, Iowa
Dexter is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 689 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, some 170 miles due north of the tourist court. For days, local citizens were running across bloody clothes and bandages carelessly jettisoned by the gang and on July 24, 1933, the Barrows found themselves under fire once again, surrounded by local lawmen and approximately one hundred spectators. Parker, Jones and Clyde Barrow all sustained significant injuries but escaped on foot. Buck was shot again and died five days later at Kings Daughters Hospital in Perry, Iowa
Perry, Iowa
Perry is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States, along the North Raccoon River. The population was 7,633 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area....
of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
after surgery. Blanche was captured and taken first to Adel, Iowa
Adel, Iowa
Adel is a city along the North Raccoon River in Dallas County in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 3,435 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dallas County and the birthplace of 1939 Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick....
, and then on to Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
.
Coffey brought Blanche back to Platte City where she was held in the jail and questioned by law officers and FBI agents. Her selection of wardrobe was still under discussion upon her return, The Platte County Landmark asserting that she "gives evidence of careful rearing, being refined in speech and manner.... Properly attired and groomed she would be attractive...." Though she had not fired a weapon during the Platte City gunfight, she was charged with "assault with intent to kill" Sheriff Coffey. She pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri State Penitentiary for Women
Missouri State Penitentiary
The Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as "The Walls", was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri that operated from 1836-2004. It was a prison of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Before its closure it was named the Jefferson City Correctional Center . Before its closure it was the oldest...
. Her sentence was commuted in 1939 and she was released. She died in 1988.
The Red Crown Tavern had been a popular attraction to locals "because the food was so good," and the place became even more popular after the shootout. The Landmarks unusual take on the carnage was:
- "The bandit battle was a great celebration for the Red Crown and came upon its second anniversary, being just two years ago that day the tavern opened for business. The cabins, with their bullet marks and shot-up interiors have been visited by thousands."
In 1945, the Red Crown complex was purchased by former sheriff Coffey himself, who operated it successfully until 1950. "It was a honky tonk place," recalls George Ann Coffey, a cousin. "The women would get all dressed up and wear pretty dresses and white gloves. The men would drink beer; the women would not!"
After his turn in the hospitality business, Coffey went on to be elected a presiding judge of Platte County in 1956; today, that office is referred to as county commissioner. He died in 1964 at age 72, during his first elected term.
In 1957, an accident knocked down the forecourt awning and damaged the gasoline pumps, then ten years later a fire started in the kitchen and destroyed most of the Tavern. What was left standing at the site was stripped and carried off by souvenir hounds. Fueled by the renewed interest in the Barrows from the 1967 movie, merchants in Weston actually sold bricks from the building for $1 apiece on the street during the late 1960s. "[B]ut it was the alterations to the road junction which sounded the death knell," writes On The Trail of Bonnie and Clyde editor Winston Ramsey
After The Battle
After the Battle is a military history magazine published quarterly in the United Kingdom by Battle of Britain International Limited.It was first published in 1973, and appears on the 15th of February, May, August and November each year...
. "New access roads from the interstate into Kansas City airport removed the last vestiges of both the Red Crown and Slim's Castle across the road."
Although numerous inquiries have been made to erect a memorial or provide some sort of museum at the site, no attempt or formal request to the Platte County Commission has ever been made.
The area was annexed by the city of Kansas City in 1967 when Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...
became the city's main airport.
In 1999 Farmland Industries
Farmland Industries
Farmland Industries was the largest agricultural cooperative in North America when it declared bankruptcy in 2002.The Farmland brand and its slogan "Good Food From the Heartland" is now owned by Smithfield Foods. While owned by Smithfield Foods, Farmland Foods, Inc...
built its headquarters slightly northeast of the Red Crown site, in a spot that would have been back behind both the Tavern and the Tourist Court cabins; currently that building is occupied by WireCo WorldGroup
WireCo WorldGroup
WireCo WorldGroup is a privately owned company that claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of wire rope.-History:...
.