Family Finds Wedding Ring Of Clyde's 'Bonnie' In Grandpa's Closet

HOUSTON, TX — History has always held a fascination with people, and that is especially true when it has anything to do with our own backgrounds.

An heirloom, such as an old railroad pocket watch, a diary passed down for generations, a faded photograph, or even a wedding dress that is passed down from grandmother to granddaughter can hold a special meaning, and give that person a tiny glimpse into an often interesting past.

Debbie Daily and Diana Knowlton, of Houston, experienced that while cleaning out memorabilia from their grandfather’s old home.

What they found was astounding, and they shared their story on the latest episode of Strange Inheritance with Jamie Colby, which airs on the Fox Business Network on Monday, March 5, at 8:30 p.m.

The astounding prize was an unusual silver ring that had three snakes with red jeweled eyes, that had been stashed in the closet of the lat Dallas County Sheriff Richard Allen “Smoot” Schmid, who died in 1963.

While he may not be a household name in a lot of places, he holds a place in 20th century law enforcement annals as one of the Texas men who hunted iconic gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow during their crime spree in the early 1930s.

In November 1933, Schmid, who was the brand new Dallas County Sheriff, got wind that the couple were on their way to Fort Worth to see Clyde’s mother for her birthday.

Schmid and several of his deputies waited along an old farm road, and as the car approached the deputies started shooting, but the couple escaped with minor injuries and abandoned their bullet riddled car a short distance from the ambush.

Schmid apparently found the ring in the getaway car and it was stashed along with other law enforcement memorabilia in his Houston home.

Fifty-four years after Schmid died, his granddaughters were cleaning out the family home and sorting through the relics of their grandfather’s storied career.

They found his old badge, his service weapon, and then a collection of the unfamiliar items — a bag of costume jewelry and an unusual silver ring that documents Schmid had said the ring belonged to Bonnie Parker.

“That’s the first we had ever seen or heard anything about the ring,” Diana Knowlton, another Schmid granddaughter told FOX.

But there was more.

The family found other memorabilia such as mug shots of the criminals, and a letter purportedly written to one of the Barrow gang members by Clyde Barrow.

The items were sent to Boston, where they were auctioned off for the sum of $100,000.

You can see the program on Monday on the FOX Business Network at 8:30 p.m.Central/9:30 Eastern.

Image: Courtesy FOX Business Network: Debbie Daily and Diana Knowlton, of Houston share the story of their ‘strange inheritance’ with FOX Business Network’s Jamie Colby.

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