DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one brave enough to say it out loud. June 10, 1933. Mr. and Mrs.
Sam Pritchard and their family were at home on the bluff, the west side, overlooking the Red River. Just a quiet afternoon in Collingsworth County — right up until an automobile went plunging straight down into that river. Now the Pritchards didn't hesitate.
They went down and pulled the victims out, got them to safety, sent for help. Good neighbors doing what good neighbors do. What they did not know — could not have known — was that the people they'd just hauled out of the Red River were Bonnie Parker, and Clyde and Buck Barrow.
When the local sheriff and the police chief arrived to answer that call for help, Bonnie Parker disarmed them. Both of them. Just like that.
And while that was happening, Buck Barrow shot the Pritchard daughter, and crippled the family car to keep anyone from giving chase. Then the gangsters kidnapped those officers and fled. The Pritchard family had pulled outlaws out of a river, and this is what it got them.
As for Bonnie and Clyde — the marker doesn't leave you wondering long. They were fated to meet death in 1934. In this quiet region along the Red River, the escapade is now legend.
And after a story like that, you can understand why.
What the marker says
On June 10, 1933, Mr. & Mrs. Sam Pritchard and family saw from their home on the bluff (west) the plunge of an auto into Red River. Rescuing the victims, unrecognized as Bonnie Parker and Clyde and Buck Barrow, they sent for help. Upon their arrival, the local sheriff and police chief were disarmed by Bonnie Parker. Buck Barrow shot Pritchard's daughter while crippling the family car to halt pursuit. Kidnapping the officers, the gangsters fled. Bonnie & Clyde were fated to meet death in 1934. In this quiet region, the escapade is now legend. (1975)