FBI report shows Barrow gang stole suits in Fort Smith

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — Clyde Barrow and W.D. Jones most likely were wearing suits stolen from a Fort Smith tailor in those photographs that became known as the "Joplin rolls," capturing the nation's attention on the front pages of newspapers following a deadly April 1933 shootout with police in Joplin, Missouri.

Jeff Hill, a Fort Smith-based truck driver, saw two mentions of the stolen suits in extensive Federal Bureau of Investigation digital files on Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow while doing volunteer research for the Fort Smith Museum of History. Hill recently approached the Times Record with information on the suits after seeing an article last month that recalled the tragic June 1933 death of Alma City Marshal Henry Humphrey on U.S. 71 at the hands of "Buck" Barrow with Jones riding "shotgun."

The Times Record reports that William Daniel Jones, Bonnie and Clyde's 17-year-old sidekick, had been captured by police in the fall of 1933 after nearly a year on the run with the infamous duo. While speaking to FBI Special Agents E.J. Dowd and C.B. Winstead at the Dallas Division Office from Dec. 6-7, 1933, about the automobiles he and the Barrows had stolen, Jones made an off-the-cuff remark that he and Clyde Barrow "'stuck up' a tailor shop early in the morning at Ft. Smith."

"Clyde took a blue suit which he used himself and gave Jones the suit with the wide stripe throwing the other six suits away," the FBI report states. "The negatives of the photographs in question, according to Jones, were left behind together with his striped suit at Joplin, Missouri, after Clyde Barrow, Buck Barrow (deceased) and himself got into a shooting match with the officers at Joplin."

Jones identified himself to the FBI agents in photographs with Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker that were taken with a camera Jones said was bought "at the edge of North Carolina" on a trip to Durham, North Carolina.

Whether the photos were taken on the trip to North Carolina, or in Oklahoma, or Missouri, remains in question. The terrain in the background ranges from wooded flatland to rocky, mountainous terrain.

James R. Knight, an Alma native and author of "Bonnie and Clyde: A 21st Century Update," is cautious on the Fort Smith connection to the suits and pointed out that not all of the information in the FBI files, including Jones' testimony, is completely credible.

"Maybe they did steal the suits in Fort Smith," Knight wrote in an email. "Certainly wouldn't be out of character. Both Clyde and Bonnie liked to dress up and have nice clothes."

Brad Belk, executive director of the Joplin Historical & Mineral Museum, said he certainly wouldn't put it past them.

"That's how they made their life," Belk said. "They stole everything and paid for little. They liked to be well-dressed."

Belk said a good resource for him on the Bonnie and Clyde saga has been Jeff Guinn's book "Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde." Guinn writes about the outlaws' connection to Fort Smith in several pages of the book, Belk noted.

As for the trip to North Carolina to see the Camel plant — again, maybe so or maybe not, Knight says. The car in the famous photographs, however, was a V8 sport sedan with leather upholstery and a khaki top with the 1933 Texas plate 587956. It was in their possession for about 30 days, mid-March to just after the Joplin shootout on April 13, 1933. According to the car's owner, Bob Roseborough of Marshall, Texas, Bonnie and Clyde put about 3,000 miles on it, Knight added.

"Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker and Jones traveled in this sport Sedan to Durham, North Carolina, where Clyde Barrow said he was going to see the Camel Cigarette Factory," the FBI report states. "In the meantime (sic) Clyde Barrow had bought a Brownie Camera for Bonnie Parker and just at the edge of North Carolina, Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker and himself took pictures. Jones identified a photograph of himself sitting at the wheel of this sport Sedan, smoking a cigarette."