In 1934 this site was the home of the 1st National Bank. Legend has it that on the morning of April 16th, 1934 two men purchased a Coca-Cola from the drugstore at 104 NE second street and then casually walked down the block to the First National Bank. A female accomplice waited in a stolen Oldsmobile sedan while the two unmasked men committed the robbery. Assistant cashier Harold Cronhite and bookkeeper Lucille Lyddon were ordered to sit down on the floor. Customers Frank Eckartd and Maurine Lydon were also witnesses to the crime.
These two men would later be identified as Clyde Barrow and Henry Methvin. Their accomplice was none other than Bonnie Parker.
Now, Bonnie and Clyde are household names as outlaws but many have never heard of Henry Methvin. In fact, his name is not even on the large plaque at the top of the building!
Methvin was born on April 8, 1912. He hooked up with the Barrow Gang and was one of the men freed by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in the Eastham Prison Raid in Texas in 1934. Methvin, on the run with Bonnie and Clyde, went on a crime spree with the pair, and immediately following the murders in Grapevine, Texas of two highway patrolmen, the trio’s vehicle became stuck in the mud near Commerce, Oklahoma. When they attempted to flag down a passing motorist at gunpoint, the driver stepped on the gas and notified authorities. Police Chief Percy Boyd and Constable Cal Campbell went to the location to investigate and in the gun battle that ensued, Campbell was killed and Boyd shot in the head, but survived.
As the outlaws continued to run, Henry’s father made a deal with the police that he would help set up an ambush for Bonnie and Clyde, if Henry would be pardoned in Texas. The police agreed and Bonnie and Clyde were killed on May 23, 1934. It is likely that Henry knew or at least suspected the ambush as his father specifically told him not to go with them that morning. The police kept their word and Methvin was pardoned in Texas. However, he was not pardoned in Oklahoma for the death of Constable Cal Campbell. He was given the death sentence for the murder but after an appeal in 1936, his sentence was reduced to life. After ten years he was released and made his way to Sulphur, Louisiana. On April 19, 1948, he was cut in half by a railroad train. The circumstances of how he made his way to the railroad tracks are unknown. He was buried at the Social Springs Cemetery in Hall Summit, Louisiana.
Please Use Lots Of Stealth and BYOP