Bonnie & Clyde / Johns Connection


Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Johns
 


Bonnie & Clyde / Johns Connection?

Johns Connection ?: This is a story from an actual 1932 news article that belongs to Richard, entitled “KIDNAPPED BY BANDITS,” by Joe Johns ( a possible distant relative ). Joe Johns was a deputy sheriff in Eddy County, New Mexico which somehow has been lost in the shuffle of Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia. Excerpt from story

By nature, Clyde was a fast driver. Whether being pursued by police or on his way to a picnic, he gunned his autos full throttle to the maximum of 70 miles-per- hour. Outside Carlsbad , the speeding car caught the attention of policeman Joe Johns. Noticing that its fender bore an out of state license plate - a rare thing these days when no one had the money to vacation – Johns decided not to pursue but trace the license number through the Division of Highways. As he suspected, he learned that that number had been reported stolen days earlier.

Johns spent the afternoon scouting the area. At last, he drove onto the Stamps property where he indeed spotted the vehicle-in-question idle outside Nettie's home. Odd, he thought. He knew the lady who lived here and had always regarded her as law-abiding. When tapping at her door to inquire, Johns was greeted by the steely blue barrel of Clyde Barrow's .38.

When Nettie had seen Clyde reach under his jacket to withdraw the revolver before answering the door, it was then she realized that Bonnie's visit was more than a social call. Now, from her window, she watched perplexed as niece Bonnie along with those fellas, forced patrolman Johns into their auto and drove off. She hurriedly telephoned the constabulary.

Days later, Johns still could not be found; the law figured he had been murdered. But, the state rejoiced when he finally called headquarters from San Antonio , Texas , where his kidnappers had released him unharmed

 


A personal letter from Donica Wheeler to Richard with regards to an incident on April 1, 1934, an Easter morning. Her husband's Uncle E.B (Edward Bryan) Wheeler, a Highway Motorcycle Patrolman, was killed when a shotgun blast blew him off his cycle. The shot was fired by Clyde !!

Donica Wheeler and Boots Hinton are also friend




Ted Hinton 1904-1977 --Ted wrote the book just as he
and the other members agreed the last of them would do.
They wanted to tell the true story, one that only
the six of them knew. Ted died just a few
weeks after finishing the book. He never
got to see the first copy. Ted had one child,
a son J.L (Boots) Hinton. This book was personally
signed for Richard by Boots Hinton



Dallas Deputy Sheriff Ted Hinton (3rd from left)...seen here
with Sheriff Smoot Schmid (dark suit), Deputies Ed Caster
and Bob Alcorn (far right), after the Sowers ambush attempt.

 

L.J. " Boots " Hinton, former Dallas Deputy Sheriff and
the son of one of the lawmen who gunned down Bonnie
Parker and Clyde Barrow, poses in the Bonnie &
Clyde Ambush Museum Sunday,
May 17, 2009 in Gibsland , La.


A small piece of brick from the Red Crown Tourist Cabin near Platte City , MO where Bonnie & Clyde and the gang checked in on July 18, 1933, where law enforcement located them, but from where they escaped and eluded the police despite coming under machine gun fire from the law enforcement obtained by Richard