Red Crown Incident

RED CROWN HIDEOUT
JULY 20, 1933 SHOOT-OUT

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

Sheriff Coffey 1934 As Sheriff Coffey (below left) approached the gang's door, he had protected himself with a shield similar to the one shown (below right).

Sheriff Holt Coffey and Capt. William J. Baxter Missouri Highway Patrol pose in front of the Red Crown cabins following the shootout.

Holt Coffey was the Sheriff of Platte County from years 1933 thru 1936. Holt Coffey was then re-elected to be Sheriff from years 1941 thru 1944. Coffey owned the Red Crown Tavern & Service Station from 1945 to 1950. From 1950 To 1954 he served as Night Marshal of Platte City. In 1956 he was a presiding Judge and then elected to office in 1958. His term was to expire in 1965. Judge Holt Coffey died of heart failure on January 9, 1964 at age 72.

Coffey Wooden Nickel Not sure at this point if this is related to Sheriff Coffey's Service Station business

Vintage Red Crown Menu

"Fuel up the Ford Clyde"
Station attendants wait to pump gas in front of the Red Crown Tavern circa 1933

Hideout collection photo It's unfortunate that I had to cover more of the above photo with text, but an ebay seller cropped off the lower part of the photo I had marked, near the bottom and is selling the top of the photo for profit.

Meanwhile at another Red Crown service station in 1933
Still waitin' on the Barrow Gang

Barrow Gang's Cabins

Following the incident

BETHANY HOSPITAL KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI The injured lawmen were taken to this hospital

Rare close-up of the Barrow gang cabins.
We passed a place that had two brick cabins. Clyde said, "this is where we stay the rest of the night, even if we all get killed before morning." No one said anything. Blanche Barrow's memoirs.

One of the recovered bricks offered on eBay

Actual slug that was recovered from Clarence Coffey, the Sheriff's son!

Two stills from Lifetime's Bonnie and Clyde movie

Photograpy of Ron Berchin

Plaque where the Red Crown once stood. Courtesy of Hideout friend Kristy Hull

Click on the images to view larger images

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 Warner Bros. "Bonnie and Clyde"

Satellite Aerial View
Color Aerial View (present day)

B&W USGS photo courtesy of Scott Cox

The above photo was taken from a USG Satellite 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.

1964 aerial view

Red Crown Location Map
View Map Here

THE ALL NEW "RED CROWN CAFE"

Located on the Ambassador Building's sixth floor. The space once served as the test kitchens for the former Farmland Industry. Before that, it was the site of the old Red Crown Tavern & Cabins where the Bonnie and Clyde gang had their famous shoot-out. There you can order up "Clyde's Breakfast Special" for $5.79 which consists of 2 eggs to order, choice of breakfast meats and toast. Or try their "Sheriff's Pork Tenderloin Sandwich" for $5.99 which consists of freshly pounded pork tenderloin, hand-breaded and served on a toasted bun. Horseradish sauce available. Perhaps you'd also care for some "Tommy Gun Fries" or "Bonnie's Salad".

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

RETURN TO JOPLIN PAGE

RETURN TO CIGAR POSE PAGE