Search results
Nov 7, 2016 · On a rural road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by police officers on May 23, 1934. The couple were out during daylight and shot by four Texas officers, B.M. “Manny” Gault, Ted Hinton, Bob Alcorn, and Frank Hamer, and two Texas officers, Prentiss Morel Oakley and Henderson Jordan.
May 29, 2020 · The infamy of outlawed duo Bonnie and Clyde has endured, but history has largely forgotten the men who ended their crime and murder spree. So who were Frank Hamer and Maney Gault?
- Production
- Early years
- Quotes
- Legacy
- Criticism
- Controversy
- Reactions
- Prelude
- Background
- Style
- Aftermath
- Results
- Death and legacy
- Later life
Director John Lee Hancock is the latest auteur to take a shot at notorious criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde but this time the focus of the film is on the policemen who caught them. Frank Hamer (played by Kevin Costner) and his goofy counterpart Maney Gault (played by Woody Harrelson) are the heroes of \"The Highwaymen,\" currently streaming on Net...
The son of a Texas blacksmith, Hamer was born in 1886. He become an officer of the law after catching a horse thief in 1905. Hamer then joined the Texas Rangers (three of his brothers had, too) at the age of 21, according to the book \"The Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense\" by Walter Prescott Webb.
\"The criminal is a coyote, always taking a look over his shoulder; a cornered political schemer is a 'crawfish about three days from water'; a [man moving carefully] reminds him of a sandhill crane walking up a river-bed,\" he once said, according to Webb. \"An officer must know the habits of the outlaw, how he thinks and how he will act in differ...
Although he is framed as a hero in the film, Hamer often stretched the limits of his authority he sometimes brutally tortured suspects and was even found taking photos next to corpses of outlaws. Plus, the Rangers stoked racial fears to convince authorities of the necessity of their work. A 1919 investigation into their abuses is considered a prec...
Some, including \"Highwaymen\" screenwriter John Fusco, continue to extoll Hamer's virtues and resent his villainous depiction in historical accounts and popular culture. Fusco objected to the Washington Post's article on Hamer and The Rangers history.
\"After 16 years of research into the life and career of Frank Hamer, I am shocked by the outrageous inaccuracy in labeling Hamer as racist,\" Fusco told Oxygen.com. \"Clearly, the author [of the Washington Post article] did not read the recent Frank Hamer biography 'Texas Ranger' by John Boessenecker, a NY Times Bestseller that brings great clarit...
\"I am also beyond stunned to see any reference to Hamer enforcing Jim Crow laws. It was actually the opposite. Frank Hamer, who took on the KKK in Texas, also saved African-American men from lynch mobs on 15 documented occasions.\"
The public had turned on Barrow and Parker by 1934, after their group had taken the lives of several lawmen. And although Hamer preferred to work alone, his desperation and hatred of the duo led him to pair up with other law enforcement agencies and agents, including Maney Gault, also of the Texas Highway patrol.
Much less is known about Gault. Like Hamer, he was born in Texas in 1886, according to Biography.com. Prior to teaming with Hamer, he was involved in undercover investigations of moonshine sales, until he joined the Rangers in 1929. Gault was considered to have a \"knack for inserting himself into auto theft and bootlegging rings,\" according to th...
Gault's personality is said to have been similar to Hamer's: Both were considered quiet, honest, and reliable. The two may have argued (as shown in the film), but bonded over poker and guitar and were widely recognized as close friends.
Hamer would go on to lead an inter-jurisdictional group to Barrow and Parker that year, eventually tracing them to a party ground in Louisiana. They opened fire on what was left of the Barrow gang, launching at least 167 bullets at their vehicles. The explosions were so loud that nearby townspeople thought dynamite was being used, according to Guin...
Each member of Hamer and Gault's group received a paltry $200.23 for taking down the criminal lovers. Much more had been promised (approximately $26,000), but many who had placed bounties on the two reneged on their deal, according to Guinn.
Gault remained an active Ranger and died in relative obscurity in 1947. Hamer fondly eulogized his buddy at the funeral.
Hamer would go on to work for a private security company, according to Biography.com. His last brush with fame occurred in 1948, when he accompanied investigators looking into voter fraud pertaining to the election of Lyndon B. Johnson. He died in his sleep on the night of July 10, 1955.
- Eric Shorey
- 4 min
Mar 15, 2019 · Bonnie Parker is portrayed as particularly violent in The Highwaymen, from her use of an automatic rifle in that opening sequence to a murder in cold blood on the side of a highway.
Benjamin Maney Gault gained recognition for being the former Texas Ranger, who, with the assistance of his colleague, Frank Hamer and four other law enforcement officers, ended the notorious crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde on May 23, 1934.
Mar 22, 2019 · By April 14, 1934, Frank and Maney were back together—this time as Highway Patrol officers—sharing the cramped space of Hamer’s Ford and hunting down the notorious killers. Like their quarry, they slept in their car, drove 500 or more miles per day, and mostly lived on crackers and sardines.
Hamer was tracking the Barrow gang's murders as well as the bank robberies. The gang had killed two Texas Highway Patrol officers [27] at Grapevine, Texas on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1934 which inflamed public sentiment against Barrow and Parker.
