In the quiet, early morning hours of June 22, 1933, in Alma, Arkansas, the newly elected town marshal, Henry Dallas Humphrey, was making his rounds. A 51-year-old farmer and handyman by trade, he had only been in his new role for two months, a position he took to help support his wife and three children. His patrol that night would tragically be his last, as he crossed paths with members of the infamous Barrow gang.
Earlier, two men had ambushed Humphrey outside the Commercial Bank in downtown Alma. They bound his hands with baling wire, stole his service pistol and flashlight, and proceeded to break into the bank. The following day, law enforcement received reports that a Ford sedan, matching the description of a vehicle used in a grocery store robbery in Fayetteville by Buck Barrow and W.D. Jones, members of Bonnie and Clyde's notorious gang, was heading towards Alma. Humphrey, armed with a borrowed revolver, joined Crawford County Deputy Sheriff A.M. Salyers to intercept the vehicle on U.S. Highway 71.
As they headed out of town, they spotted the suspect's car after it was involved in a minor collision. When Humphrey and Salyers approached the vehicle, a gunfight erupted. Humphrey was immediately struck by gunfire. The assailants, identified as Buck Barrow and W.D. Jones, continued to exchange fire with Deputy Salyers before stealing his patrol car and fleeing the scene. The outlaws later abandoned the deputy's vehicle and continued their escape.
Henry Dallas Humphrey was rushed to a hospital in Fort Smith, where he lingered for several days before succumbing to his wounds on June 26, 1933. While hospitalized, Humphrey was able to identify photos of the Barrow brothers as his assailants. A month later, following a shootout in Iowa, a mortally wounded Buck Barrow confessed to shooting Marshal Humphrey. The notorious crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde, along with their gang, ultimately came to a violent end when they were ambushed and killed by law enforcement in Louisiana.
