My Life with Bonnie and Clyde (31 page)

It is not known what Blanche Barrow thought of the proposal, or whether she accepted the offer. She probably did not accept, but she evidently thought enough of the letter to keep it for the rest of her life. She certainly had more than enough material compiled in her own memoir, but only one person—Esther Weiser—was aware of its existence, and that was not until years later.
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From passages in the manuscript, as well as actions later in life, it is apparent that Blanche Barrow considered her memoir much more than a cathartic experience. She wanted it published. However, as we have seen, there is much about her story that is wholly unflattering to a number of people who were still living in 1939. She may not have wanted to deal with those dynamics. Also, she was interested in distancing herself from her past, not only in compliance with her conditional commutation, but for another reason as well—a man.

It probably came as no surprise to anyone who knew her that Blanche remarried little more than a year after her release from prison. At twenty-eight years old, she was quite an attractive woman who, despite her past, still loved to laugh and apparently looked forward to what the rest of her life might hold. It was well known she had received numerous letters from prospective suitors throughout her time behind bars. That she narrowed the playing field so quickly may have startled some though, considering her feelings for her dead husband. But to others, Blanche’s final choice seemed logical, even predictable.

Edwin Bert Frasure was born March 23, 1912, in Dawson, Texas, about seventy miles south of Dallas in Navarro County. Throughout his life, he was known simply as Eddie. Frasure’s father was also from Navarro County but his mother was born in Alabama. Although admittedly obscure, a few correlations, or rather coincidences, can be drawn between the Frasures and the Barrows. First, two of Buck Barrow’s uncles lived in Navarro County, and second, though contradicted by some members of the family, the elder Barrow men—Henry, Buck’s father, and Henry’s brothers James, and Frank—were all born in Alabama.
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Of course, none of this really points to anything
substantial, but more than one person observed other apparent similarities between Eddie Frasure and Buck Barrow, with respect to personality and, to a lesser extent, physical appearance.

Apart from Buck Barrow’s penchant for crime and a notably violent temper, for which there can be no comparison, Eddie Frasure otherwise appeared very similar to his predecessor. By all accounts, he was very gregarious, friendly, and outgoing, as some have described Buck. Frasure also loved to joke and laugh a lot and, again like Barrow, was quite mechanically inclined. A master carpenter, both rough and finish, he eventually became supervisor of a Dallas architectural and engineering firm. He was also a talented singer and guitarist, something Buck Barrow did not have in common with him. However, another of the Barrows sang and played not only the guitar but the saxophone as well—Clyde.
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Although Frasure was evidently more handsome than Buck Barrow, both men nevertheless were remembered as possessing the same earthy, swarthy, almost animal attractiveness.
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It may be hard to imagine such traits in a killer like Barrow, but people are a lot more complex than their criminal profiles would have us believe. Still, regardless of any real or supposed resemblance between the two men, Blanche became deeply attached to Frasure within months of her release from prison.

Apparently from the very beginning of his relationship with Blanche Caldwell, Eddie Frasure was, for a number of reasons, extremely wary of her association with the name of Barrow. The foremost consideration was no doubt the very real possibility of being dragged into some unsavory situation because of past associations. There was also the stigma of being an ex-convict, of which Blanche wrote, almost as a postscript to her own memoir:

But that was not the end. The story of the parolee has yet to be told. It’s a story that magazines, parole officials, and news reporters seldom mention—the story of the great obstacles faced by the ex-convict who tries to find a job, and then to merely hold on to that job once they are lucky enough to find employment. It’s the story of walking until the soles of their shoes have worn through and blisters and calluses cover their feet. It’s the story of looking for a job, any job, only to be told there is no room for ex-convicts, or for those whose names are so well known to the public.

Add to this the problem faced by Frasure, that of a man in love with a woman whose deep and utterly emotional past he could never be a part of
nor hope to understand. Not a little bit of jealousy was combined with Frasure’s genuine fear of Blanche’s past.
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For that reason, Blanche herself tried as best she could to close the door to her past. However, as we shall see, she never let go completely. Nevertheless, Eddie Frasure never knew it, or never let it be known that he knew it. And for his benefit, Blanche kept her past to herself and made sure others around her did the same. It was the latter task that eventually led to a complete break between Blanche and her mother.

Eddie Frasure in the navy, 1943. (Courtesy of Rhea Leen Linder)

In a 1939 letter, Blanche expressed extreme displeasure with her mother’s behavior during an Oklahoma visit that included Eddie Frasure. Apparently, Lillian could not stop mentioning Buck Barrow and her daughter’s misadventures with the dead outlaw. Blanche, trying to avoid straining a blossoming relationship, evidently tried, rather unsuccessfully, to get her mother to abandon the topic. In her letter, written after the fact, Blanche admonished her mother for callously dredging up such “sour onions and dirty shirts” in front of her new boyfriend. Indeed at least twice before, while in prison as early as October 1933 and again the following year, she asked her mother to refrain from mentioning the past, although Blanche herself never seemed averse to writing about Buck often. Nevertheless, the incident in Oklahoma in 1939 began a serious deterioration in the relationship between Blanche and her mother. They evidently had some contact during the following three years, but after that there appears to have been a complete break.
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“Scarecrow.” (Courtesy of Rhea Leen Linder)

In a letter dated April 16, 1940, the director of the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole granted permission for Blanche to marry Eddie Frasure.
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Three days later, on April 19, the couple was married in Rockwall, Texas. The newlyweds moved to 1601 Durant in nearby Dallas and began their lives together as man and wife. Blanche’s father, Matt Caldwell, moved in with the Frasures. On October 7, 1942, ten months to the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Eddie Frasure joined the Navy Seabees as a construction engineer. He was thirty years old at the time. He trained in Virginia and shipped out to the Pacific as a third-class petty officer in the 64th Battalion, Company C, Third Platoon. Although his primary function was that of a construction engineer, Frasure and the others in his battalion were trained as combatants as well. Ironically, Frasure was the BAR man for his platoon, carrying the same weapon Buck Barrow used in Platte City.

Blanche jokingly referred to another weapon in a note on the back of a photograph of herself she once sent to Frasure while he was stationed overseas. “Daddy, Remember you ask[ed] for this scar[e] crow [the photograph of herself]. Just put it between you and the Japanese and you’ll have
the war won all by yourself—this will frighten them too [sic]
Death
.” The salutation is particularly interesting. Blanche referred to Frasure with the same term of endearment she used with Buck. Frasure island-hopped all across the Pacific throughout World War II. He was discharged in 1946.
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During that time, Blanche went to work in Dallas as a dispatcher for the Yellow Cab Company. Her employment there may have been the reason behind her obtaining a reissue of her birth certificate on July 30, 1943, a document witnessed and signed by her mother.
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Whether she faced the ex-convict’s challenge in looking for a job that she cited at the end of her memoir cannot be known. What is known, however, is that for the rest of her life, Blanche remained under surveillance. Federal, state, and local authorities kept track of her movements and made their presence known to her in a variety of ways. The Dallas police department, in particular, liked to call Blanche periodically, especially if she moved, just to let her know they were aware of where she lived. Sometimes the callers were very arrogant and ill mannered.
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Blanche was never known to be angered by the calls. To the contrary, she usually made jokes about them. Eddie Frasure did not think it was quite as funny. Regardless, during Frasure’s years in the service, Blanche evidently worked for the cab company without incident, despite the spectral omnipresence of the authorities.

On November 2, 1946, Eddie Frasure returned to Durant Street in Dallas and the wife he had known for only three years before shipping out. His wife described the reunion like that of being newlyweds all over again, something that apparently remained so for years.
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She retired from the Yellow Cab Company and as far as anyone knows, lived the rest of her life as a housewife, never again having to deal with being an ex-convict in search of a job.

On September 19, 1947, Blanche’s father died. Besides his only child, Matt Caldwell was survived by one sister, two brothers, and a number of nieces and nephews.
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Caldwell had lived most of his life as a farmer and logger. He was also a deeply religious man who occasionally during his long life felt the calling to bear witness to his faith. These episodes would result in brief periods of preaching as a lay minister. Over the years, these “times of calling”, as he referred to them, were misunderstood by some who had the notion that Matt Caldwell was a professional preacher. He was not. He was a farmer who occasionally “testified” to small gatherings about his faith.

Eventually her father’s religious convictions came to influence Blanche and her husband. Although they would never give up their love of the
occasional beer, dancing, and general “honky-tonking,” as they called it, Blanche and Eddie began attending church regularly and volunteering their services there as well. Eddie, who sang in a very good barbershop quartet at the time, began singing in the church choir as well. And Blanche began teaching Sunday school.

Blanche Barrow in downtown Dallas, Texas. (Courtesy of Rhea Leen Linder)

By then, in the early 1950s, Blanche and Eddie were living in what was then a rural part of Dallas County called Pleasant Grove, at 222 Bridges. They had spent some time moving from place to place in various states because of the nature of Eddie’s job as a construction engineer, but by 1951 they appear to have settled for good in the Dallas area. Prior to that time, whenever her husband’s work had taken him to a new location, Blanche had gone with him. Some have said, jokingly, that she did so “to keep her good eye on him.” However, those making the quip were just as quick to add that Blanche always traveled with Eddie for much the same reason she
traveled with Buck, “because she was a homemaker and wherever Eddie went she was going to make a home!”
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She also no doubt had more than a little fun seeing if those keeping her under surveillance could find her. They always did.