My Grandpa and Bonnie & Clyde

A few months ago I was writing down stories about the monster that lived in my grandparent's woods. I reached out to my brother and a couple of cousins to see if they had memories/stories about the monster. 

My cousin, B, didn't remember anything about the monster. But, he asked me if I knew the story about our grandpa getting picked up by Bonnie & Clyde while hitchhiking during the time our grandpa was a traveling bible salesman in Texas.WHAT?! This couldn't be true! My grandpa: a bible salesman? In Texas? Bonnie & Clyde? Pfft. Couldn't be true. I checked with other relatives and my dad confirmed the story.

Let me give a little background. A few years ago I became interested in family history and whenever I had time I'd do research. Ancestry.com had an update not long ago and a lot of census records became available. One record intrigued me. A listing for my grandpa in New Orleans in 1930. It didn't make sense to me. My grandpa was the last person I could imagine living in New Orleans. But, I did further research and found he was a student at the Baptist Bible Institute in New Orleans at the time. This fits my knowledge of my grandpa. He later studied theology at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Grandpa did a little preaching and helped establish First Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Georgia.

The Baptist Bible Institute would provide students with a bus ticket and a suitcase full of bibles to sell. This helped raise funds for the student and the Institute. Once the students arrived at their destination they had to figure out their own transportation, lodging, etc. My grandpa got a bus ticket to Texas. He hitchhiked wherever he needed to get to. One day a nice, young couple picked him up. They were having a pleasant conversation and my grandpa realized the back of the car was full of guns. Grandpa remained calm, pretended not to see the guns, and continued talking to the couple. Soon the couple dropped my grandpa off. Bonnie & Clyde were active in the area at the time and were known to pick up hitchhikers. So, until his dying day, my grandpa believed the young couple was Bonnie and Clyde, and I'm sure he believed if he talked to them a little longer he could have saved their souls and averted all the mayhem that ensued. 

I have no idea how I didn't hear this story until I was 55 years old. But, I'm very glad my grandpa was unflappable and remained calm in a tense situation. He was a good man with a kind heart and I'm very glad he survived his time as a traveling bible salesman.