Recently found information confirms a long-held local legend - that Oil City was once visited by outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, known to the public simply as "Bonnie and Clyde." In a 1989 newspaper interview where she recapped events in her life, Susan "Sudie" Thacker (1899-1990) stated that while she and husband George Washington Thacker (1891-1970) operated a local mercantile store, she once waited on the infamous couple.
Per information about their travels provided to authorities by convicted criminal and former companion Hilton Bybee (1911-1937), this would have occurred in January 1934.
"Beginning on Tuesday January 16th, The Barrow Gang visited Hillsboro, traveling country roads-- then onto Rhome via Grapevine. While in Rhome, Clyde, Raymond and Bonnie went into Dallas. The gang spent the night on a country road near Wichita Falls. Next, traveled into Oklahoma. Then turned back and got a car that night (Wednesday)-- at Vernon. Drove all day (Thursday) in Oklahoma and decided to come back to Texas and rob a bank. Then returned on Thursday night, staying near a river. It was onto Frisco on Friday. Next they visited McKinney for groceries. Friday night Palmer and Methvin went to Hugo to case stores and rob a filling station. Clyde was upset about the small haul ($7.00)-- and drove country roads to DeQueen, Arkansas on Saturday. Then the gang hit Fort Smith. Got a paper at a Fort Smith drug store Sunday morning, and headed back to Oklahoma. 'Stayed Monday night on country roads in Oklahoma.
Next reportedly they went up into Joplin, Missouri-- staying around Joplin and that country due to the good gravel roads. 'Got $400. in a small town nearby. Bonnie cut the money. Then it was onto Texarkana Tuesday night-- and Shreveport on Wednesday. 'Came through Fulton-- then to Caddo Lake, Oil City, Marshall and Terrall (sic). Clyde, Bonnie and Hamilton then went back to Dallas."
From the end notes to “My Life with Bonnie & Clyde”, autobiography of Blanche Caldwell Barrow, who was the wife of Clyde’s brother and fellow gang member, Buck Barrow:
“North of Shreveport, in the swamps of Black Lake Bayou east of Oil City and Vivian, there was a rather elaborate hideout known to the underworld simply as the camp. Operated by a family named Chapman, “the camp” was reputedly used by such notorious outlaws as Pretty Boy Floyd, the Barker brothers, Alvin Karpis, and Bonnie and Clyde. Although it doesn’t appear they used the location when Blanche was with them, there’s evidence that Bonnie and Clyde hid there, or near there in 1934.”
It should be pointed out that Black Bayou Lake, formed by a dam on Black Bayou, is located northeast of Vivian (near Hosston). The bayou itself begins in Cass County, Texas and flows into north Caddo Parish near Rodessa where the lake begins. It continues south below the lake (lying east of Oil City and cutting through the Pine Island area) to connect with Twelve-Mile Bayou (downstream from the Caddo Lake Dam); which empties into Red River.
Black Lake Bayou is a completely different body of water farther east that runs through Claiborne, Webster, Bienville, Red River, and Natchitoches Parishes before flowing into Black Lake, which overflows into Saline Bayou, and like Black Bayou, ultimately into Red River. This waterway runs close to the town of Gibsland, and the site of where Bonnie and Clyde met their end.
So the author identified the area in which "the camp" was located to be near Oil City and Vivian, but then used the name of the other bayou near their death scene. While the duo definitely came through the North Caddo area, and may have even had friendly connections there (see below), given this discrepancy, without additional information, the geographical location of "the camp" can't be confirmed.
Black Lake Bayou is a completely different body of water farther east that runs through Claiborne, Webster, Bienville, Red River, and Natchitoches Parishes before flowing into Black Lake, which overflows into Saline Bayou, and like Black Bayou, ultimately into Red River. This waterway runs close to the town of Gibsland, and the site of where Bonnie and Clyde met their end.
So the author identified the area in which "the camp" was located to be near Oil City and Vivian, but then used the name of the other bayou near their death scene. While the duo definitely came through the North Caddo area, and may have even had friendly connections there (see below), given this discrepancy, without additional information, the geographical location of "the camp" can't be confirmed.
Other Local Connections
When one-time FBI Public Enemy Number 1 Floyd Hamilton, once a member of the Barrow Gang, was arrested by deputies at the Shreveport bus terminal in February 1935, he had in his possession a bus ticket to Vivian. Under questioning about his then fugitive and later to-be executed brother Raymond it was revealed he had been working at the same place in Lewis, LA as his father until just two weeks earlier.
John Henry "Pop" Hamilton lived in a boarding house in Vivian and worked at the Shoreline oil refinery located a few miles south on the highway to Oil City. The elder Hamilton died in 1935 in a strange incident at a tourist court between Vivian and Rodessa where he (aged 55+/-) and a 20 year-old woman were found dead in a cabin where the heat had been turned up full blast in the sealed room and ran for several hours. Death was attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning and no foul play was suspected.
Times 27-Dec-1935, Pages 1 and 2
The article further mentioned John Henry brooding frequently over the actions of Floyd and another son Raymond, who like Floyd had once been a Public Enemy Number One. Earlier in 1935 Raymond, who had also been part of the Barrow gang (and himself also once a Public Enemy Number One), was executed for killing a police officer.
The dead woman, originally reported to be the elder Hamilton's second wife Dorothy (Chambless), turned out to be Virgie Hobson, a 20 year-old Vivian woman.
Interment:
Clyde Barrow - Western Heights Cemetery; Dallas, TX
Bonnie Parker - Crown Hill Memorial Park; Dallas
Hamiltons:
John Henry (father) - Elmwood Memorial Park; Dallas
Floyd (son) - Old Kit Cemetery, Dallas
Raymond (son) - Elmwood Memorial Park
Virgie Hobson - Vivian Cemetery (per obituary); her father and mother are also buried there
Clyde Barrow - Western Heights Cemetery; Dallas, TX
Bonnie Parker - Crown Hill Memorial Park; Dallas
Hamiltons:
John Henry (father) - Elmwood Memorial Park; Dallas
Floyd (son) - Old Kit Cemetery, Dallas
Raymond (son) - Elmwood Memorial Park
Virgie Hobson - Vivian Cemetery (per obituary); her father and mother are also buried there
