Ted Hinton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ted Hinton (1907-1977) was a Dallas County, Texas, Deputy Sheriff, the youngest of the posse that ambushed and killed Bonnie and Clyde in Louisiana in 1934.

1 History
2 Controversy
3 Aftermath
4 Books by Ted Hinton

[edit] History

Hinton, who was 27 at the time, was assigned to accompany Deputy Sheriff Bob Alcorn on the premise that Hinton knew Clyde Barrow and could identify him. Hinton and Alcorn were assigned by Dallas County Sheriff Richard "Smoot" Schmidt to assist Frank Hamer and his assistant Benjamin "Manny" Gault in a shoot to kill order against Bonnie and Clyde that originated with the Texas prison system chief Lee Simmons.

Hinton became a Sheriff's Deputy in 1932 following the election of Schmidt. An avid baseball player, Hinton passed up a chance to join the Cleveland Indians because he didn't want to spend time away from his wife and young son. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Dallas, he knew the Barrow family in his youth and became infatuated with Bonnie Parker while she worked as a waitress in Dallas.

Ted Hinton was also once acquainted with young Bonnie while she was working in Marco's Cafe in Dallas, Texas. Because of her good looks, many of the male customers would flirt with her. Hinton was always gentlemanly and treated Bonnie respectfully, saying good morning. Ted admitted in a later biography that he had a crush on Bonnie, which made it difficult for him as one of the men on the team sent to kill her and her lover, Clyde.

[edit] Controversy

Hinton wrote a book called Ambush in 1977, which was published in 1979, two years after his death, in which he maintaines that Ivy T. Methvin was forced to lure Bonnie and Clyde into the ambush site by Frank Hamer, claiming Methvin would plot the ambush if his son, Henry Methvin received a pardon. Hinton claimed that a deal was reached by the members of the Posse whereby the last surviving member would tell this version of events after all others had died. This member happened to be Hinton. His version of events is disputed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Aftermath

Hinton remained a Deputy until 1941. An accomplished pilot, he gave flying instructions to new recruits in the Army Air Corps just prior to World War II. Hinton went on to own a restaurant and died in 1977. Ted Hinton is buried in Sparkman-Hillcrest Cemetery, in Dallas, Texas, along with his wife. [[1]]