THE WELLINGTON INCIDENT

BRIDGE OUT



NEW YORK TIMES - JUNE 1933











BONNIE IS BURNED IN WRECK
June 10, 1933 




Bonnie, Clyde and W.D. Jones were traveling at a high rate of speed. Seven miles north of
Wellington Clyde had realized too late that the bridge was out and flipped the car into the ravine
below. Clyde and W.D. were uninjured and retrieved the weapons from the wreckage. A spark ignited
the leaking fuel and started to burn Bonnie, who was pinned underneath the car. W.D. and Clyde
heard Bonnie's screams and tried in vain to lift the car up enough to free her. Her face, arms
and legs were badly burned, Steve Pritchard and Lonso Carter who both witnessed the accident
helped lift the car off of Bonnie.


SIDE NOTE
Reports also have it that acid from the car's battery had leaked onto Bonnie's leg, which was
why Mrs. Pritchard found the need to apply bicarbonite of soda, which would have neutralized
the effects of the acid. Considering other factors, it is my belief that the car also burst into
flames simultaneously which had then resulted in (two) different types of burns. In either case,
she had by this time become accustomed to living in the cramped confines of their car and
without the much needed therapy, her leg had become permanently stiff and basically useless.


BONNIE WAS ALWAYS SEEN BEING CARRIED AROUND BY CLYDE
AFTER HER LEG WAS BADLY BURNED IN THEIR CAR WRECK








Bonnie's glove recovered from the wreck (top and bottom view)









Hideout Note: After her death, examination of Bonnie's nose by the coroner disproved the above news story. 



They had noticed the pile of guns near the wreck and suspected the group to be outlaws.
They all went to the Pritchard home, where Mrs. Pritchard tended to Bonnie's burns with
bicarbonite of soda and bandages. Lonso Carter ran to the nearest neighbor to telephone
the sheriff. When Clyde returned from the ravine with the guns, he asked what had happened
to the other fellow. Pritchard had lied and said that he was out fetchin' a doctor.
Clyde told W.D. to remain outside with the shotgun, while he went to check on Bonnie.

W.D. was trembling at the thought of the laws coming and when Mrs. Pritchard reached for
the door latch, he instinctively pulled the trigger. The blast struck Mrs. Pritchard's hand,
destroying it. At the sound of the shotgun going off, Bonnie jumped out of the bed and Clyde
ran to see what happened. Expecting the laws to be showing up at any minute, Clyde and W.D.
lay in wait outside for them. When Sheriff Corey and Marshal Hardy approached the house,
the two desperados overtook them and shackled them with their own handcuffs.

Clyde loaded the two lawmen in the back of the sheriff's car and had Bonnie lie across
their laps. They drove until they were just outside of Erick Oklahoma. Here they met up with
Buck and Blanche. Buck seeing the cops, asked Clyde if he was going to kill them. But Clyde
had said that he had grown fond of them, especially at the kindness and comfort that they had
shown toward the injured Bonnie. Buck pulled them from the car and tied them to a tree using
barbed wire from a nearby fence. Clyde got behind the wheel of Buck's V8 and headed to Fort
Smith, Arkansas.




UNGUENTINE TO THE RESCUE!

A 1928 advertisement for Unguentine cream featured the bold headline "I heard my child scream!"
The text recounts the case of a child scalded on the face and chest by boiling water, who nonetheless, was
immediately made comfortable by the application of Unguentine, which also miraculously prevented scarring.
Above piece from the book "Going Broke" by Stuart Vyse

At a cost of $9 a day, Huge amounts of Unguentine salve was used on Bonnie's burns.






PRITCHARD FARM HOUSE (later years)


photo courtesy of Joe Watson






photo credit of Henry Bargas





REAR OF PRITCHARD FARM HOUSE (older photo)






MORE...


THE RED RIVER PLUNGE