Inside The Bonnie and Clyde Hideout in Joplin - Retracing Their Oklahoma To Missouri Locations
Starting in Commerce Oklahoma and retracing the steps of Bonnie and Clyde to Missouri . Ending up with an inside tour of their Joplin hideout.
Transcript
0:29
welcome everyone Adam - whoo here it's
0:29
Cody what's the temperature at the
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moment last I looked it was like 30 but
0:36
I think it was dropping down it's around
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30 it's below freezing slightly you have
0:39
a piping hot warm beverage - hopefully
0:43
he's still cold still chilly I have to
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admit I am I'm a little brisk this
0:48
morning today we're going to be kind of
0:50
roaming around the Northwest region of
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Oklahoma right near the state line the
0:55
crossing over into Joplin a little
0:58
lighter checking out the some of the
0:59
spots stomping grounds and some of the
1:02
tragic places from Bonnie and Clyde when
1:05
you think of Victoria's couples they're
1:07
probably the number one right yeah I
1:09
would say so no that would be the most
1:12
famous so we're going to kind of retrace
1:15
some of their steps throw some events
1:17
and try to stay warm inviting you to
1:23
join me tell you I got a little confused
1:27
by the chill in the air it's actually
1:29
the Northeast region that I'm and the
1:32
extreme northeast Oklahoma starting in
1:35
commerce a little community I lived in
1:38
for a couple years as a child in fact
1:40
right here on this empty lot to the left
1:42
was the Church parsonage my family lived
1:45
in from the age of two to four is when I
1:49
resided there and then afterwards we
1:51
moved and my grandfather took over the
1:54
ministry here at this building now a
1:58
police station you see some remnants of
2:01
the sidewalk right here in order to go
2:05
into the front door we'd walk down to
2:08
this spot and directly into the tiny
2:11
home
2:13
I have a photo of me as a young lad
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standing right over there hard to
2:20
believe it's been about four decades
2:30
little old me standing right there
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pretty cool in front of this structure
2:33
is a memorial to William Cal Campbell an
2:39
officer a constable whose life was taken
2:43
by body and Clyde just on the outskirts
2:46
of commerce here's an etching of the man
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himself from the Commerce News the paper
2:56
released on April 12th 1934 announcing
3:00
the the events and the police chief was
3:08
also taken his life was spared dropped
3:12
off at another state happened at a point
3:15
about 300 feet from the railroad tracks
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on the new State Road she'll be able to
3:21
find that show beautified remnants of
3:23
those tracks
3:37
here's another news article I found this
3:37
is from the Miami Daily News here in
3:41
Oklahoma they pronounced it not Miami
3:43
but Miami
3:50
and then North Miami is where he is laid
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to rest there's a photo of him there mr.
3:56
Campbell twin towns with Commerce here's
3:59
another article back then the new state
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road opened about a mile that direction
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and everything I've read states that at
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the corner of that and the railroad
4:12
tracks is where it happened well here's
4:19
the railroad tracks if you follow them
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in the direction of where my camera was
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just pointing this would be the cross
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point just down the way just a bit it's
4:34
good that this old track still remains
4:36
because heading back down towards that
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way you can see how it just continues
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straight on down there
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for a bit I didn't think we were gonna
4:51
be able to find oh sorry sorry yeah I
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didn't think we're gonna be able to find
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these but after driving a bit they still
5:02
exist
5:02
I have my arms out still walking this
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tank I think I could do a tightrope
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horse is hot good job okay back on ya
5:21
okay
5:28
the next step is just continue on follow
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the path yep
5:30
see what we can find down there see if
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we can get some kind of location for it
5:37
I think we could do it
5:40
yes I'm cold continuing on a couple
5:46
blocks discovered something here as well
6:05
and part of me thinks that maybe it
6:05
split off as well or maybe they had a
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part for the cars the railroad cars to
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pull over
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I would like to separate them or
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whatever on the left side it was kind of
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like another berm and look like other
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tracks could have been as well right
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down here very unique looking driveway
6:24
oh yeah those are definitely some tracks
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here too
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meaning that the spot would have been
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right around in this section 300 feet or
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so west from where the tracks connected
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with the new State Road the new State
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Road is coming up here momentarily
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right there this cross point so if you
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take this shift 300 feet would have been
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right around that area off to the side
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where the old road was that would have
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been here this was a newer road since
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the since the happenings I'm seeing
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these these blocks that are put here and
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those things are old it makes me wonder
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if it could have been part of the
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railroad especially here at this
7:27
Junction yeah definitely has been there
7:31
for a while
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I would really be the only thing that
7:36
would kind of make sense and just
7:38
adjacent is where the old mining area
7:40
could have been which is also in close
7:43
proximity to the area and if you notice
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right off over that way there's some of
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that old block work that we saw in that
7:54
corner is the same so this probably
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could have been the old mine the old
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mine spot it also just so happens that
8:02
all that took place just a short stone's
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throw from Mickey Mantle's childhood
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home not only did I live here for a
8:13
short time but also Mickey who has a
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young boy used to play baseball with his
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dad stand right in front of this very
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shed
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okay moving on who said that those who
8:31
came to pay their respects to the
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constable
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was one of the biggest congregations of
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people to do so in commerce up to that
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point
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there wasn't a lot of information on
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where this headstone resided just a
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photograph it's located off the main
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road a couple hundred yards from the
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main thoroughfare
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continuing the commute noticing this
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roadside relic
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old-school Pepsi
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passing through the former community a
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pitcher which is more or less completely
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closed off honor day is passing through
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their team mascot were the gorillas see
10:27
it written up there on the water tower
10:40
the reason for this is due to those
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piles of those items you see off in the
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distance there from the old mines this
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has been spray-painted on the road and
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with that
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inside the Joplin history and mineral
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museum is supposed to be some artifacts
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that pertain to the subject matter this
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area is known for very strong tornadoes
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on occasion and this kind of proves the
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point of a damage they can do this
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so the remnants of a tree liquor flowed
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freely until 1920 when the city was
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forced to comply he was during that time
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that many infamous folks arrived some of
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which are pictured might recognize them
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here you have to make your way kind of
11:46
to the back area of the museum just
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follow the halls and across from this
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fire truck
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and ask the glass cases and next to the
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emergency exit door just a few little
12:02
displays of what happened here in
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regards to Bonnie and Clyde
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there's a book that kind of shares some
12:12
of the info of the hideout they had here
12:15
in town with some pretty good old school
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photos and not only that originally they
12:21
were going to rent this particular
12:23
homestead in fact they made a deposit on
12:26
it but then the deposit was returned and
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the next day they opted for this
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necklace is recovered by the police from
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apartment at 34th and Oak Ridge side of
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Barrow gang shootout April 13th 1933
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these were given by a policeman on the
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scene to noir roe pig robic stepmother
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of Betty Birdwell Adams who in turn
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graciously donated these necklaces to
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the museum here this is at the top of
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the stairs at the hideout you open the
13:02
bottom door and go up the stairwell
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towards the top this is the door
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pictured here
13:14
quite a few of them
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there's one
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so another down here
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newspaper clipping of the neighborhood
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back then
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as well as this will want it
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advertisement
13:52
also confiscated from the scene was
13:52
their camera with some undeveloped film
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and all the all the photos that you know
13:58
of them were in that in that role to be
14:02
developed some you might have seen some
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you might not be familiar with even a
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little section on what took place back
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in commerce this was a V constables home
14:16
they're in town but a whole different
14:20
experience also took place here in
14:22
Joplin here's a newspaper article about
14:25
that as well
14:27
amazing the door was salvaged we're
14:31
still here for all to see those that
14:35
choose to
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but something that happens so very long
14:42
ago
14:52
decided to head over to the spot of what
14:52
would have been the hideout here on
14:54
Virginia Virginia Avenue and you can see
14:59
completely gone
15:01
a tornado destroyed it many years ago
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that's where it would have been before
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they decided on the second hideout
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location
15:40
John Harryman one of the two officers
15:40
who perished at the hideout and the only
15:47
that is very close proximity to Joplin
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this is it the Joplin hideout still
16:31
looks the same all these years later
16:32
from those historical photos I've seen
16:35
and this time I get to go inside I've
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been here before but never had access
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until now the garage on the bottom floor
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those two doors and then the far left is
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a enough for a person to walk up the
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stairs up to the residence with windows
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on all sides perfect place for a hideout
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start with the upstairs at the top is
17:11
where the original door was the one from
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the museum we saw earlier that had the
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holes in it
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and then a little remodel later in its
17:22
existence they shifted the door to the
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right
18:09
and now that former doorway are some
18:09
shelves but right over here you can see
18:12
where the brackets were from the door
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they clamped onto there to open down the
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floor here you see some some carvings
18:28
from a knife and they were here maybe
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out of boredom
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sitting there from their time spent when
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not playing cards someone grabbed the
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blade chiseled they were to the
18:46
floorboard same floorboards fascinating
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thing also as there is a see carved
18:55
right there some say that Clyde starting
19:00
to put his name there and then didn't
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complete it never know for certain but
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there is a see on the ground also plenty
19:11
of access to see who's out there when it
19:14
comes to the floorboard however he could
19:17
have just been part of one of the boards
19:19
popping up that resembled let's see you
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just never really know that's what some
19:27
say there's also a few other remnants
19:33
around the premises from that day and
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check this out tucked away in the top
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corner of the closet right there a
19:45
little relic in the wall in the very
19:49
same closet where they discovered some
19:52
of their weapons after they hightailed
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it and from what I've also heard is that
20:01
the camera was right around in here
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there was like a table the camera was
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found in this section where all the film
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that was developed of every photo that
20:13
you see in all the all the news clips
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the body and cly so they let
20:18
that here too because they didn't have
20:19
time to to take it with them because
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they were in an awful rush I can
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certainly see why they picked this spot
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got windows in the front windows on the
20:31
side windows on this side and windows
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behind us as well you can get a view
20:41
from every angle or just windows so you
20:44
can peek out see if there's any commerce
20:46
out there I headed to the restroom where
20:51
there are some original fixtures
20:53
obviously that come out and the sink is
20:58
not but this light up here is and there
21:04
was no shower in those days but there
21:07
was a tub and this porcelain item is the
21:12
same tub that they utilized now I have
21:18
no expert on tubs just going off of what
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I've read and seen either in
21:23
documentaries order what others have
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mentioned you can just imagine body in
21:29
there take it a nice warm bath what
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could you see with a magnifying glass
21:34
there it's really cool yeah they got the
21:36
article from the Joplin globe here and
21:39
the prints really small but with the
21:41
magnifying glass you can see it I mean
21:43
check it out two different bedrooms the
21:47
first Cody's over there still reading
21:51
the first here looking out towards the
21:57
road and then back in here
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is where Clyde and Bonnie slumbered this
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was their room obviously the furniture
22:13
is not original and has changed but this
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is where they spent many a night resting
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once again windows on every side it's
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pretty comfy it's not bad actually
22:30
that's not bad this is the this is the
22:35
view they have right here the ceiling
22:47
this book written by Blanche states when
22:47
they moved in and shows a photo and some
22:51
information of some of the events that
22:53
transpired you've read the story of
22:55
Jesse James of how he lived and died if
22:58
he's if you're still in need of
23:00
something to read here's a story of
23:03
Bonnie and Clyde some more familiar
23:06
photos there which the photos themselves
23:10
have kind of become very popular over
23:12
the years and the roll of film and the
23:16
camera it was found on was discovered
23:20
right there against that wall if you
23:26
were to look here this is like really
23:29
really old so we're kind of starting to
23:32
think that there were two doors they
23:34
didn't build a new door on the side but
23:38
perhaps this door or at least the the
23:41
hole for the door the door might have
23:44
been replaced but the the hinge here
23:47
looks to be pretty much an antique so
23:51
they might have had a door here and
23:53
everyone could be correct about this
23:56
being a secondary or but this was the
23:59
door that was shot and is that the
24:02
museum that make sense one of their cars
24:07
was parked here in this section
24:11
and as they return backing the vehicle
24:13
in easier to back it in that way if they
24:17
need to exit quickly take off straight
24:20
through that's when the officers arrived
24:22
and everything went down there was
24:26
another vehicle around the back of the
24:27
premises buck that's where his car was
24:32
Clyde's brother so not only was the
24:34
upstairs above the garage apartment
24:37
rented but also this out back well
24:45
hidden from the road you would never
24:48
know there was anything back here they
24:53
rented a house in Joplin Missouri all of
24:55
them it's been several peaceful weeks of
24:57
just snapping pictures playing cards and
24:59
talking family then local police
25:02
thinking they were Brewers of the legal
25:04
gin the stove
25:06
definitely definitely newer but little
25:10
archway there above it that's seen some
25:15
years as well as because wow that's a
25:25
wall that was built here because it goes
25:27
all the way down you can see the foam
25:29
you can see it how it's going all the
25:30
way down there that whole entire piece
25:33
going across there was something this
25:35
was like another another room like it
25:37
was closed off yeah it could have been
25:39
like a pantry or something like a
25:41
walk-in that walk-in pantry something
25:43
like that now that I look at it say
25:48
maybe the tile the floor tile is
25:50
original I mean that's that's some
25:54
antique stuff there so tile and tub
25:58
I'm voting tile and tub tile and tub you
26:02
know and that fixture
26:05
I wonder if it works
26:22
nope Oh oh yes look at that dude that's
26:22
cool that's awesome
26:53
current-day pulled down but at that time
26:53
they slid across from left to right or
26:55
right to left and as they had backed the
26:57
vehicle in started to close it and the
27:01
officers pulled up to the driveway and
27:07
from inside the garage is where the
27:13
shots were fired two officers by the end
27:19
laid here one closer to the door and
27:25
another closer to the edge of the road
27:32
there are some remnants that still
27:32
remain on the outside as well including
27:36
this one up here
27:51
looking at
27:51
but a perspective similar to this as
27:55
would have been Clyde's
28:11
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28:11
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