History Mystery: Did Bonnie or Clyde Rob the Plattville Armory?

Part of the mystery behind whether Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde infamy robbed an armory in the small Kendall County village of Plattville may come down to typos and misspellings.

As reporter Tony Scott wrote in the the Countywide section of the Dec. 1 Kendall County Record, multiple books claim Barrow and his associate W.D. Jones stole guns from the Plattville armory on Aug. 20, 1933. The purported robbery happened nine months before authorities ambushed and killed Barrow, 25, and his companion Bonnie Parker, 23, on May 23, 1934, according to a Wikipedia article.

Skimming through United States Bureau of Investigation (as the FBI was then known) records in the online reading room, one finds a hodgepodge of dates and references to Plattsville and Flattsville.

The underlying story, though, is that authorities found two weapons reported stolen from an Illinois National Guard Armory in Plattville when they searched a cabin in Missouri after a shootout involving Barrow, Parker and three other fugitives.

Authorities searched the tourist camp near (ironically enough) Platte City, MO., on July 20, 1933, according to the Aug. 17, 1933, report of D.W. Brantley. The confusion over the date of the armory robbery may be linked to this report listing a date of Aug. 20, 1933, (rather than July 20) in a few places in what appears to be an error.

The gunfight happened the night before, on July 19, 1933, inflicting an ultimately fatal wound on Barrow’s brother Marvin/Buck. The gang fled.

When authorities searched the cabin, they found five Colt .45-caliber automatic pistols and a Browning automatic rifle, as well as 47 empty shells, according to the Aug. 17, 1933 report. Some of the weapons’ numbers matched those reported stolen from an armory in Enid, OK, on July 7, 1933, and from the “Company E, 129^th Infantry, Illinois National Guard” on April 19, 1933, at “Flattsville, Illinois.”

Apparently, this caused some confusion, as the report continues: “A search of the Postal Guide fails to show any Plattsville, Illinois.”

The confusion was short-lived, though. According to an Oct. 7, 1933, report by G.B. Norris, authorities at the Illinois National Guard Headquarters in Springfield indicated that five pistols and three automatic rifles were stolen from the Plattville armory on April 19, 1933, with two of the weapons’ numbers matching those recovered at the Missouri campsite. The matter of spelling and geography was clarified: “They state that their records show that Company E of the 129^th Infantry is located at Plattville, Illinois, and that mail received at Plattville goes through the Yorkville, Illinois, Post office.”

Officials at headquarters suggested talking with Captain Charles G. Howell, who was the armory’s commanding officer, about the theft.

As I clicked through the online FBI records for Barrow and Parker, I did not find any explanation of the theft or a report of an interview with Howell. However, I did find a tersely worded letter to the investigations division director at the U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Investigations Special Agent in Charge F. J. Blake stated in part:

“I am bringing this to the attention of the Division with the thought that it may desire to make some representations to the War Department whereby armories may be more securely protected from depredation, particularly those containing Browning automatic rifles.

“The number of rifles and automatic pistols found in possession of the Barrows, as well as the quantity of ammunition so found, indicates that the Government is furnishing ammunition and equipment to these outlaws.”

It is not clear from these records whether Barrow and Jones stole the weapons from the armory themselves or acquired them some other way after they were stolen. The group, as portrayed in Bryan Burrough’s Public Enemies: American’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, led a nomadic life mostly robbing gas stations or drug stores. Burrough wrote:

“Unlike Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, Clyde and Bonnie made no effort to establish a permanent base until the last weeks of their lives; for months the closest they came to a home was an abandoned barn outside the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie. As their notoriety grew, they would resort to living out of their car, which was littered with guns, license plates and food wrappers. They gave up bathing and normal hygiene. Their clothes were dirty. They smelled.”

Who knows how long the guns stolen from Plattville’s armory littered the bottom of the gang’s car before being discarded in the shootout that injured two police officers and a bystander?

About the Plattville armory: The Illinois National Guard armory was established on July 16, 1923, and burned down in January 1946, according to Scott's Countywide article. Charles G. Howell, of Plattville, was captain of the Company E, 129th Infantry, from 1925 to 1941, and died in June 1969, at age 83, according to Scott's article. The Veterans Community Hall at 6617 Plattville Road was built on the former armory site.