TH UR SDA Y , M A R C H 3 0 , 20 17
COUNTY WIDE YOUR HOME AND FAMILY NEWS FROM ALL OF KENDALL COUNTY
KendallCountyNow.com
LOCAL TIES TO CRIME SPREE Guns stolen from Plattville Armory were later found at Bonnie and Clyde shootout site in Missouri rifles that were standard equipment during those pre-World War II days. Both the BAR and the Springfield endall County law enforcerifles were chambered for the powerment officials were perplexed. ful .30-06 cartridge. Illinois National Guard ofThe question that concerned law ficers were alarmed. enforcement and military officials During the night of April 19, 1933, alike, was who, exactly, had taken the Illinois National Guard Armory the guns and why? in the unincorporated Kendall CounIn an entertaining historical non ty community of Plattville, south of sequitur, the editor of the Kendall Yorkville, was broken into. Taken County Record commented in the were four Browning Automatic Ripaper’s May 3 edition: “Hope the fles (nicknamed with its initials, the person who stole the four [BARs] BAR), along with 11 Colt Model 1911 from the armory is honest; we’d hate .45 cal. automatic pistols and several to face these guns in the hands of a hundred rounds of ammunition. crook.” Hopefully, he had prepared The pistols, the standard U.S. himself for disappointment, because Army sidearm, were heavy, rugged after a spectacular July 20 shootout and extremely dependable. The BARs between the notorious Barrow Gang were powerful, fully automatic weap- and law enforcement officers just ons that served the U.S. Army as well outside Kansas City, Missouri, some as the National Guard as their stanof the BARs and pistols were recovdard squad automatic weapon. Each ered from the motel rooms the gang squad was generally equipped with had occupied. one BAR to augment the firepower of the Springfield M1903 bolt-action See ARMORY THEFT, page 5
By ROGER MATILE
Tony Scott - tscott@shawmedia.com
news@kendallcountynow.com
K
Photos provided
Over a dozen guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition (including 100 20-round BAR magazines) were found in Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker’s car after they were shot by police while driving on a rural road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, in 1934.
The site of the former Illinois National Guard Armory in the unincorporated village of Plattville now serves as Veterans Community Hall. Back in April 1933, the armory was broken into and firearms and ammunition stolen. Months later the firearms were found to be in the possession of Barrow and Parker, seen here in March 1933 in a photo found by police at their Joplin, Missouri, hideout.