(George W. Cook Collection, DeGolyer Library, SMU)
Written by Paula Bos
SMU transcribed the full account below, which was made by me with a few additions/corrections. The entirety of this handwritten four-page document can be viewed on the University Central SMU’s website libraries. This little odd historical document comes from the absolutely fantastic George W. Cook Collection in SMU’s DeGolyer Library, housed in Dallas/Texas. This amazingly (and amazingly gruesome) firsthand account from an unnamed undertaker at McKamy-Campbell Funeral Home provides incredible details of the incredible amount of work required to prepare Bonnie Parker’s bullet-ridden body for burial.
Could you please tear this into pieces? Could you please tear this
The revised English sentence:Over all her pellets, a full load of buckshot was blown off her hand-triggered shotgun. Her body was torn and mutilated, with numerous bullet holes covering her. The left side of her face was badly damaged, with three large holes in her scalp, grazing her head but penetrating her skull. One bullet passed through her brain, making it difficult to ascertain the details. Her right side was permanently disfigured, with her face and hand waving goodbye. Just a month ago, her perfect toenails were beautifully polished in a deep coral shade, with neatly pushed back cuticles. Her fingers also had the same beautiful nails. Her skin was somewhat tanned and very pretty, but her weight of 100 pounds put her in the same size range as Grace Rose. As Bonnie, she had joined Clyde on their first-hand expedition.
Page 2. The vault was incorrect, there was no vault with $1000.00. It might be paperless, maybe around $600. The casket was made of metal, steel, and she was buried in it. The funeral was held to come and get her out of jail. Billy’s sister had to keep her in order for her to stay with us, so we smelt the entire house. Then, she went by herself to the room where the casket was and sat there. She thought it was awful, the odor was so rotten. The day before was the worst smelling day. The next morning, the smell was even worse, with the fluid leaking. It was so bad that her skin slipped off when we tried to remove the most dust and scrape some gold off it. After bathing for several hours, her dried and caked blood was like a mass. The undertaker used fluid to remove it. Now, you should know that Roy Thornton is her husband. Bonnie is the other person with a tattoo on her right leg. She waved and washed it off with rocks, dirt, and other things. It took two hours to pick everything up outside. About 25,000 people lined up to say their last goodbye. They said that it took three afternoons until they sewed her body. Joe and I received her body after nine minutes.
Officers. The Funeral House had a Rubber mat that was about ½ inch thick. Our new Porch Furniture was damaged. We went to see Clyde, and then we went to see more people to see Bonnie. For two nights and days, the phones rang every minute with operators on the line. We had a total of 4 officers in the front and back yards, keeping the crowd in order. We had 38 officers in total. The woman next door turned on the hose to keep flowers away from her. The windows did not tear. The damages to the Funeral Home were about $2.50. The Paper said the damages were $1,500.00. About 40,000 people came to view the burial in an expensive Blue Neglegee dress buried in ice.
Foolish individuals. Such lunches they brought. The judge now looked at the park, seeing a fair and far-lined crowd. Example talk paper was scattered all over. I didn’t steal anything to take home from the crowd that was showing. She looked swell without any disfigurations. If I say so myself, it was good. My work was highly praised in every other line of papers. I worked on it first hand with Joes & her as my assistant. Now, she stated as though slightly ill. She stated that she did not become a mother. The stories in their paper were exaggerated. The movie Big Star (shown in theaters) was not as popular as it could have been because people didn’t want to wear the rug on it to keep it clean. Page 4 was stationed for people to keep in their hands.
Below, two pictures of the McKamy-Campbell Funeral Home, situated at 1921 Forest Avenue in South Dallas, surrounded by inquisitive onlookers.
I’m not sure who the “Rose Grace” mentioned on the initial page was.
The Wikipedia article mentions that “all-purpose cleaning agents” commercially available are popular. It is mentioned in the account that Dust Gold or Powder Washing Dust Gold was actually used to remove Bonnie’s body, which was caked with blood.
Sources & Notes
The reversed version of the input sentence can be seen here, in the Dallas/Texas Image Collection of DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University’s Central University Libraries. The aforementioned George W. Cook has provided a handwritten account on Adolphus Hotel stationery, which is visible in the top image.
The second photo of the Dallas Police Department’s files is sourced from the Municipal Archives of the University of North Texas, via the Texas History Database. The initial image of McKamy-Campbell Funeral Home is replicated across the internet.
Was “Joe” his colleague? I could never find out who he was. In the clip from the newsreel, Clyde and Bonnie’s burials and funerals are mentioned at Mark 2:34, and it is a wild guess that he can be seen in this longer clip. Even though the identity of the person who wrote this account is unknown (probably a man), it is mentioned that he saw footage of Bonnie’s funeral in the newsreel.
Is this the person we see placing flowers on Bonnies casket?
They can easily be found through your preferred search engine if you are truly interested in viewing the condition of Bonnie (and Clyde)’s bodies before and after they were handled by their undertakers.
Find more articles about Bonnie & Clyde on Flashback Dallas here.
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© 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.