Red Crown Incident

RED CROWN HIDEOUT

Hideout collection photo

Clyde chose the Red Crown Tavern as an ideal "hideout." It's location between two intersecting highways provided an easy escape route if needed. They rented two single-story brick cabins. Between them were two wide garages - a convenient place to stash their stolen car. The raid on the cabins started at eleven o'clock. The officers ordered the group out. Blanche told them to wait while they got dressed. Clyde responded by firing on them with his powerful Browning automatic rifle. Sheriff Coffey was hit in the neck and the steel- jacketed bullets sliced through the armored police car. Buck ran outside and began spraying the area with bullets from his automatic rifle. Buck, hit by Captain William Baxter and severely wounded, was dragged into the back of the car. The police opened fire on Barrow's getaway car, blinding Blanche with flying glass. The gang made their getaway, but at a heavy cost to all. Bonnie and Clyde had escaped the barrage of bullets, leaving Sheriff Holt Coffey, son Clarence and a Jackson County Deputy Sheriff all wounded.

Holt Coffey

Clint Cockrill photo Holt Coffey's term as Sheriff
Jan. 1, 1933 - Dec. 31, 1936 and again Jan. 1, 1941 - Dec. 31, 1944

Holt Coffey was owner of the Red Crown Tavern from 1945 to 1950

Barrow Gang's Cabins

Following the incident

Coleman's Gateway Cabins 1930's

Although not patronized by Bonnie and Clyde,
the Gateway Cabins, seen above, are reminiscent
of the type of tourist cabins that they had
regularly seeked out. The cabins were located
on Highway 71 just 3 miles south of Joplin, Mo.

Movie Still from "The Barrow Gang"

Movie Still from "Bonnie and Clyde"

Satelite Aerial View

photo courtesy of Scott Cox

The above photo, was taken from a USG Satelite on March 1, 1990,
at about 157 miles in outer space. It shows several things. Left center
you can see the exit ramp off of I-29 going to Kansas City International
Airport, which is just off the picture to the left. The narrow northernmost
road is Roanridge Rd., the wider road just south of it, is Highway 291. 

The faint cross in the upper left portion of the picture is just
northwest of the Red Crown Tourist Camp, which can be seen as a dark
spot just east of Roanridge Road.  You can see in the picture, that the
farmer working that land, has been plowing around the site. You can't
tell from the picture, but the dark spot, is actually a stand of trees.
Contained in that stand of trees, are several small piles of bricks from
the demolished cabins.

The following directions were obtained by:
Captain Ernest M. Raub, Missouri State Highway Patrol (MOSTA) website.

On July 18, 1933, about an hour before midnight, as the last minutes of
that hot Tuesday ticked away, the Barrow Gang turned off U.S. Highway 71
at the junction of Missouri Highway 59. There they pulled into the Red
Crown Cabin Camp about seven miles southeast of Platte City, Missouri.

Local people referred to the area as "The Junction". The Red Crown was
near the present site of the Kansas City International Airport interchange
on Interstate 29. It is now a pile of bricks and rubble located in a small
grove of trees along the east side of the outer road, Roanridge Road, about
200 yards north of Missouri 291.

Red Crown Location Map
View Map Here

Emmett Breen's "Red Crown Tavern"

PLATTE COUNTY LANDMARK In Search Of Bonnie & Clyde

The battle of Platte County Part one

Local lawmen shoot it out with notorious bandits Part two

In Part, Three "Further on up the road", you'll read the following... Special thanks to Scott Cox
Clyde figured that the lawmen would give chase or at least attempt to blockade nearby roads, but he had a plan. He always made a point of driving through the towns extensively, plotting getaway routes in every town he visited and Platte City was no exception. Foot to the floor, Clyde coaxed his shot up Ford V-8 sedan to speeds in excess of 70 miles-per-hour, heading north on what was then Hwy. 71 toward Platte City. He turned on Hwy. 92 and drove north on Bethel to County Road HH. As his tires began to peel away from the wheels and Blanche began to beg him to stop, he pulled over at the corner of Farmers Lane and Winan Road.
MAP AND AERIAL VIEW RELATING TO THE ABOVE ESCAPE ROUTE
MAP OF ROUTE TAKEN
SATELITE AERIAL VIEW (OVERVIEW)
SATELITE AERIAL VIEW (CLOSE-UP)

Further on up the road Part three

Holt Coffey: Platte County Hero Part four

PLATTE COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Where Blanche Barrow was tried and convicted back in 1933

Red Crown Symposium and Road Tour
According to Jim Spawn, editor of "The Restorer" magazine, the official publication of the Model A Ford Club of America, the event that commemorated the shootout at the Red Crown cabins this past September, was as expected, a huge success! Hopefully the Hideout can report about a repeat of it next July - on the 75th anniversary of the shootout - July 19.

HERE'S WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT...

Heart of America Model A Ford Club

Courtesy of Hideout friend & contributor Rick Mattix

BUCK BARROW - FAMILY MAN Marvin Ivan Barrow AKA "Ivy" or "Buck" - Clyde's older brother

Marvin Ivan Barrow's marriages

Buck and Margaret Elizabeth Henegar Quick had two sons together. One died. The other was Marvin Ivan Jr.

Buck's other wife was Pearl Churchley.
They had a daughter together!

Blanche, Buck and his daughter seen above

Buck's third wife, was Blanche Caldwell. They had no children together.
To continue "click" on photo below of Buck & Blanche

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