Bonnie & Clyde Barrow and the Meade City Park

On the evening of Monday, September 4, 1933, a strange car came into Meade and got stuck on the dirt road just east of the Meade City Park. There were several picnickers nearby from Fowler and the park was full of people picnicking and playing crochet. I will let the following newspaper accounts describe what happened...

Henry Massingill, Bandit, Was Captured in Meade 

From the Meade Globe News, September 7, 1933

Bold attempt Monday night to steal Prather auto at City Park frustrated by the Prathers, Hornings and Dewey Barns--Mrs. Horning struck bandit with croquet mallet--is ex-convict

BANDIT IDENTIFIED

County Attorney Wilson received a wire this afternoon that the bandit giving his name as D.E. Potter, is really Henry Massingill, and has done two stretches in Texas. Also a wire from Kansas City this afternoon stated that the fingerprints of Potter proved to be Henry Massingill.

Mr. Wilson filed charges against Massingill, alias Potter for kidnapping, assault with deadly weapon first degree robbery.

Governor Murray, of Oklahoma, has issued a requisition for Massingill on charge of stolen car. The action of Mr. Wilson will mean a hearing in Governor Landon's office. Unless Oklahoma has more serious charge against Massingill it is likely that Kansas will get the bandit.

Massingill served two years at one time and five years another time. His home is in Oklahoma. Both sentences were served in the Texas penitentiary. He was released last February. Massingill offered to plead guilty to car theft, but the Meade County officers refused to listen.

It was a woman who put a pad bandit temporarily out of commission in Meade City Park Monday, when he attempted to steal the Chevrolet coach of T.E. Prather, principal of Meade High School, it was Mrs. Horning's mallet that induced the bandit to release his gun.

Mrs. Prather was sitting in her car in the park when she noticed a man approach the car and immediately started to roll up the car window as she seemed to sense that he was going to make an attempt to steal her car. The bandit was able to get his hand through the window and commanded Mrs. Prather to get out of the car. But it was the only car the Prather's had and she had visions of walking if she got out.

Instead of getting out of the car, Mrs. Prather bore down on the horn and screamed for help. The bandit became rough and caught her by the throat, but even that did not dislodge Mrs. Prather who "sat" on the horn calling for help. Just as the bandit pulled her out of the car, Mr. Prather and Mr. and Mrs. Anson Horning, and Dewey Barns, who were playing croquet nearby, ran to the car.

Prather Tackled High

Mrs. Dewey Barns in her car nearby called to Mr. Prather the man had a gun. Mr. Prather not only saw the gun, but saw the man was manhandling Mrs. Prather. Luck favored Mr. Prather for as the bandit pulled Mrs. Prather out of the car, his back was partly turned to Mr. Prather who made a football rush, and tackled high enough to throw the bandit's hand up holding the gun. In doing it Prather was struck on the forehead by the gun and sustained a cut.

Barns Caught Gun
Dewey Barns rushed in at this point and reached for the gun, the hammer of which came down on the fleshy part of Dewey's hand between the thumb and forefinger, and Dewey held on.

Horning Tackled Low
Anson Horning made his tackle low and the bandit was thrown to the ground with all three men wrapped around him. the bandit refused to give up the gun. Mrs. Horning, who had carried her croquet mallet with her, ordered him to release the gun and tapped him on the head. But as the bandit held to his weapon, Mrs. Horning put more power behind the next tap and left an imprint on the right temple. Finally Mrs. Horning said: "If you don't let go that gun I'll brain you." She started to swing and the bandit rolled his eyes toward her and released his hold.

Kids Got In Fight
During the fighting, Master Wendell Prather hung on to his father's leg and Dickey Horning grabbed his farther by the leg. They all went down in a pile. After the bandit had been subdued, Dickey Horning saw what his mother hand done with the croquet mallet and told her to "Smash him Mamma, smash him good."

Wanted Men To Fire Gun
After the bandit released the gun, he told the men that it was not any good and would not fire. He tried to get the men to fire the gun, but they refused to do so, and it would not be necessary to do that unless he made a move to freedom.

Thought Had Hitch Hiker
None of the participants knew that they had a dangerous man. The man said he was hitch hiker and was attempting to seal a car. As Sheriff Drinnen was leaving the park, Bill Brock came to him and stated that he, Alvin Gerber and Waldo Sargent had been held up in the road just east of the bath house, and they there were two men and a woman in a wrecked car, but has escaped in Mr. Gerber's car. Mr. Sargent followed them up town in his car, but lost them in the traffic.

Kidnapped Wilmore Man
A.E. Trummell, who was with the bandits threw additional light on the gang. He was on his way home from Sun City at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and was ordered to stop. The bandits car was stalled and they took possession of his car, driving it to Meade and it was his car that was run into the ditch at Meade. Mr. Trummell says the men talked about having a clash with some officers that day, but did not say where the fight took place. In fact, they talked but very little. 

Woman Was Wounded
The blonde headed woman in the car was shot through the right leg just below the knee. She was also wounded in the shoulder.

Mr. Trummell is of the opinion that the men were lost and thought they were traveling northwest, but instead got on No 54 and did not realize their mistake until they came into Meade. They sought to circle the city, and turned east thinking they were going west. they turned at the city park south to go around the city where their car stalled.

The woman was lying with her head on the lap of the driver, her head against his gun. In trying to make her more comfortable, he shifted her position and as he did so lost control of the car and into the ditch it went.

Wanted Fast Car
A rather small man ordered the driver, the man who was captured, to go down the road and get some one to pull them out. The driver approached Sargent, Gerber and Brock, all of Fowler, who with their young ladies, were having a picnic lunch on the highway south of the park. The young fellows did not realize they were held up until they came to the car in the ditch. They made two attempts to get the car out, and finally the little fellow in the bunch ordered Potter into the park to get an auto, preferably a V-8.

After Potter had been gone several minutes, one of the bandits said he heard a woman screaming, but the little fellow thought it was a baby. They finally recognized a woman's voice--it was Mrs. Prather calling for help--and they immediately transferred the woman from the stalled car into the Gerber Chevrolet and come west by the park. The Fowler young ladies left their coats in the car, and they were carried away.

Waited for his Chance
Allie Barker came from the John Stalder home at the time the bandits had the Fowler young men pulling out their car. As unconcerned as you please, Allie walked up to the stalled car, looked in and saw the young woman. Made some remark about her illness and when told to stand near the car, Allie continued to talk and ask some questions. Allie says he was waiting for a chance to lay out the men. When he leaned against the car, he got some blood on his clothes which came from the wounded woman.

Bandits May Have Been in Liberal
Some think he bandit car went west, but Mr. Dickey, 18 miles south of Meade, says that a car came up the gate across the road from his house. The car hit the gate, then discovered the cattle gate and went over it. It is possible the bunch struck No. 64 in Oklahoma and then circled back into Kansas as a Liberal Man says he heard men in a car ask for a doctor as they had a woman in the car that needed medical attention.

Bandit Massingill Alias Potter
The captured bandit gave his name as D.E. (Doc) Potter. He is 26 years of age; is 6 ft. 2 inches and weighs about 140 lbs. He claims to be from Cincinnati, but speaks with a distinct southern drawl. During the questioning he denied being with anyone and refused to be hooked up with the two men and woman. Potter has a cool calculating look about him. He was not surly and yielded to having his picture taken several times.

Sheriff Zurbucken and his deputy E.M. Olson came down from Dodge City Tuesday morning, but were unable to identify Potter. The car contained fingerprints and they were taken as well as Potter's and sent to Washington for identification.

In the afternoon, Sheriff Drinnen and the officers took Potter to Dodge City for Safe keeping. The jail was guarded Monday night by several deputies.

These people were in a running gun fight near Ardmore, later at Enid and again at Alva where they held up a man and took his car. The man was unable to identify Potter from a picture taken after his capture, but went on to Dodge City and positively identified the bandit. The Oklahoma men were positive the bunch did not contain Pretty Boy, Underhill or Kelley, three desperate men.

ALVA, OKLA., MEN IDENTIFY BANDIT CAUGHT IN MEADE

Sheriff Ken W. Greer, Undersheriff Dewey Randall, Deputy Sheriff, Nels Nelson, Constable Bill Deaton, and C. W. Herold, all of Alva, Okla., were in Meade Tuesday afternoon to identify Doc Potter, who was captured at the City Park Monday evening. Mr. Herold was on of the fourteen men who were held up Monday morning by the bandit gang north of Alva. The bandits had wrecked their car (the third one they had stolen that day and were trying to get another. The car went off a washed out bridge and the men who were working a short distance were called by the bandits to assist in getting the car out. When they discovered that it was impossible to get the car out one of the bandits asked where he could get a car to take his wife to a doctor. The lady bandit had been stretched out on the ground and was apparently unconscious. Some of the men and one of the bandits went for a car about a quarter of a mile away. The car was a Ford roadster which was abandoned near Wilmore when A.E. Trummell was held up. When the car arrived the leader of the gang went to the wrecked car and got a machine gun which no one had noticed and told all the men to stand back. The woman then came to life very suddenly and the bandits drove off with the car.

Mr. Harold, when shown the pictures of the bandit captured here, said that he could not positively say that he was one of the bandits, but that it looked like one of them. The men from Alva went on to Dodge City to look at Potter, who had been taken there earlier in the day for safe keeping. According to reports in the Dodge City Globe of Wednesday, Mr. Herold picked Potter out of several prisoners as being one of the men who held him up the day before.

Meade People Capture Man, May be Reward

The follow is from the Meade County Press, Sept. 7, 1933

Identified Thursday Afternoon as Henry Massingill, Texas Convict

Meade's notorious criminal has been identified as Henry Massingill. In '26 he was sentenced to two years and in '29 he was sentenced to five years both terms were served in Texas and were for burglary.

Monday night, what has since been proven to be a part of Harve Bailey gang, invaded Meade and created a commotion which resulted in the capture of one of the desperados, when he pushed a gun into Mrs. T.E. Prather's face and told her to be quiet, that he wanted to take her car. Mrs. Prather started to scream and honk the horn. Mr. Prather who was playing croquet nearby came to her aid and grabbed the man who swung on him with the gun, cutting a large gas over Prathers left eye. Dewey Barns and Anson Horning rushed to Prathers aid when they saw the gun and the three downed the man who still refused the gun. Mrs. Anson Horning came running up with a croquet mallet and struck the desperado on the head twice with the mallet, after which he meekly released the gun and submitted to capture.

During the commotion the three companions of the one man, who called him Underhill, took Alin Gerber's car and fled west out of town.

Earlier in the day the four had kidnapped A.E. Trummel of Wilmore, near Coldwater, and forced him to accompany them in the Trummel Chevrolet sedan. They ran into the ditch near the city park in an effort to dodge around Meade after coming in on highway No. 54.

Alvin Gerber of Fowler tried to pull their car out of the ditch with his car and was unsuccessful. They all then went to the city park to get another car after transferring two machine guns from the car in the ditch to the Gerber car. When the commotion at the park started the three released Gerber and Trummel and fled.

Mr. Trummel said that on his ride they told him they would pay for any damage to his car. Other members of the gang called the one captured here, Underhill; but Mr. Trummel said he thought that the name was used only used as a blind. The woman was wounded in the leg and it is thought that she was struck by a bullet in the fight the party had with officers near Enid,.

The gang transferred two machine guns from the Trummel car to the Gerber car and also two small boxes, thought to contain part of the $200,000 Bailey loot to the car. The Boxes were wrapped in blankets.

Although the woman was wounded no further trace of the car or gang has been received. Daily Papers carried Mrs. Horning's picture and have been loud in praise of her work in swinging the mallet. The stories were sent out to both the Associated Press and the United Press.

POLICE OFFICER WROTE POEM ABOUT MALLET TAMING BANDIT

From The Meade Globe News; September 14, 1933

Below is a short poem written by Frank Caldwell, desk Sargent of the El Dorado Police force:

To Mrs. Anson Horning:

How shall we talk of the thief and the thug,
To the vicious scoundrel with ugly mug,
Who lies in wait for the passer-by
Demanding his purse on pain that he die?
Say It With The Croquet Mallet!

What answer give to the bank robbing Klan,
Who respect not the rights of woman or man,
But, cursing and swearing, yell "Stick 'em up High,"
And into the Vault or all of you die?
Say It With The Croquet Mallet!

What language used to the whole vicious crew—
Robbers, Killers and Kidnappers too,
What to the whole bunch of Sewer Rats—
Whose working tools are machine guns and Gats?
Say it With The Croquet Mallet!

Now that a woman has shown us the plan
To subdue the gangster—the famous bad-man,
Let's practice up on the good old game
And not let the woman thus put us to shame—
Say It With The Croquet Mallet!

—Frank Caldwell, Desk Sergeant
El Dorado Police Dept.

COURT WILL SET MONDAY AT MEADE

From the Meade County Press, November 15, 1933

Croquet Bandits Trial Is First on the Docket With Convection Virtually Certain
District court will convene in Meade Monday morning, Nov. 20th with the first case set to come before the court as that of Henry Massengill, the croquet bandit who was so rudely treated b the diminutive Mrs. Anson Horning who gained national recognition by accomplishing what machine guns in the hands of Oklahoma officers failed to do.

Massengill faces the charge of assault with a deadly weapon and will face a Meade county jury and try to prove that facts are not facts in the hands of criminals.

ONE CASE UP IN DISTRICT COURT HERE

From Meade County Press, November 23, 1933

Massengill Pleads Guilty, Draws Up to Twenty Year Limit

With court convening in Meade this week only one jury case was heard, that of State vs. Lawson Snyder charged with statutory rape. The jury took the case at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning and returned a verdict of not guilty at the opening of court Thursday morning.

The other five cases were continued or settled out of court.

In the case of State vs. Henry Massengill, Massengill pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in the penitentiary.

Excerpt from a letter from Monna Lee Barns to Irene Lemaster in 1989:

Dear Irene,

Thank you so much for your letter and the newspaper clippings. It has been a long time since I had thought much about that incident. There is one error in the clipping. The women who were threatened by the gunman were Mrs. Prather and my mother and me. Mrs. Horning (with the mallet) was over playing croquet with the others. We were setting in our car.
The thing I remember best is after the man came up between our two cars, my mom pushed me down on our car floor and put her feet on me to keep me there (HaHa)

The reason our names aren't mentioned or there are no pictures of us is because Mom was scared the others would come back and kill us all. She was mad at Dad because he did.

The ties with Bonnie & Clyde:

Like Pages From a Novel Reads Record of Sheriff Drinnen

The following excerpt is from the Meade County Press Thursday, January 7, 1937.

Murder Robbery, Torture Cattle Rustling, Kidnapping, All fill Four Years Service of Local Sheriff with Big Time Criminals Such as Clyde Barrow, Cigar Smoking Bonnie Parker and Leonardo Juliano Involved in Nation Wide Criminal Activities.

...About this time the County Commissioners purchased a machine gun for use in the sheriff's office. this new gun is still on hand and is capable of firing 600 shots per minute. The magazines with the gun carry 20 and 40 shells and are readily clipped to the gun when necessary.

In August two persons were found dead in bed at Plains and there were the usual investigations to be made by the sheriff's office.

September third, late in the evening another big case broke in Meade when Mrs. Anson Horning diminutive wife of a local school teacher smashed a gunman in the head with a croquet mallet, a feat that placed Meade on the front page of newspapers throughout the nation.

A man, identified as Henry Massingill, was captured and held in the local jail. Massingill had attempted to steal a car in the city park and was brandishing a 45 trying to take the T.E. Prather car. Mr. and Mrs. Horning and Mr. and Mrs. Prather and Dewey Barns were playing croquet in the park. Mrs. Prather was in the car when the gunman pushed a gun in her face and told her to keep quiet and to get out of the car. Mrs. Prather screamed and Mrs. Horning came running up swinging a croquet mallet. She struck the gunman over the left temple and he went down.

The men of the group took the gun away from the man and held him until officers arrived. Meanwhile two men and a woman in a car which had bogged down in the ditch east of the city ark forced Alvin Gerber of Fowler who stopped to help them from the ditch, from his car, transferred two machine guns from the bogged car and escaped in the Gerber car. At the same time they released another man, A.E. Trummel, whom they had kidnapped near Wilmore that afternoon.

Later developments disclosed that one of the men who escaped in the Gerber car was Clyde Barrow and the woman was the cigar smoking Bonnie Parker; both big time gangster leaders with a trail of robbery and murder behind them. In transferring cars here the gang had two small boxes thought to contain $200,000 in loot taken in a robbery.

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were riddled with machine gun fire in Arkansas a few months ago.
Another monument to the adage—Crime does not pay.

Massingill pleaded guilty to attempted robbery with firearms and drew a sentence of 20 years. He is now in Lansing penitentiary. He had a long list of crimes behind him.

Gerber's car was later found at Wichita Falls, Texas. Texas was the main stomping ground for Clyde Barrow and his cigar smoking moll, Bonnie Parker. Massingill was held till the next term of court before he entered his guilty plea.

The week Massingill pled guilty and received his sentence was another week that started things in Meade County for sheriff Ross Drinnen. He had been looking for a man by the name of Jack Wisdom, wanted on a cattle theft charge...