Henry Methvin was an outlaw member of the Barrow Gang.

Methvin was born on April 8, 1912. He hooked up with the Barrow Gang and was one of the men freed by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in the Eastham Prison Raid in Texas in 1934. On the run with Bonnie and Clyde, Methvin went on a crime spree with the pair. Immediately following two highway patrolmen’s murders in Grapevine, Texas, the trio’s vehicle became stuck in the mud near Commerce, Oklahoma. When they attempted to flag down a passing motorist at gunpoint, the driver stepped on the gas and notified authorities. Police Chief Percy Boyd and Constable Cal Campbell went to the location to investigate, and in the gun battle that ensued, Campbell was killed, and Boyd was shot in the head but survived.

As the outlaws continued to run, Henry’s father made a deal with the police to help set up an ambush for Bonnie and Clyde if Henry were pardoned in Texas. The police agreed, and Bonnie and Clyde were killed on May 23, 1934. Henry likely knew or at least suspected the ambush, as his father specifically told him not to go with them that morning. The police kept their word, and Methvin was pardoned in Texas. However, he was not pardoned in Oklahoma for the death of Constable Cal Campbell. He was given the death sentence for the murder, but after an appeal in 1936, his sentence was reduced to life. After ten years, he was released and made his way to Sulphur, Louisiana. On April 19, 1948, he was cut in half by a railroad train. The circumstances of how he made his way to the railroad tracks are unknown. He was buried at the Social Springs Cemetery in Hall Summit, Louisiana.

© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2022.

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