Bonnie and Clyde Browning automatic rifle.

Bonnie and Clyde Shootout Souvenirs

Jefferson City, Missouri

After accidentally driving their stolen car into a ravine in Texas, the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde stole another car, then rented a couple of cabins at the Red Crown motel north of Kansas City, where they met the rest of their gang and settled in to nurse their wounds. A posse -- including several members of the Missouri Highway Patrol -- tracked them down and surrounded the cabins on July 19, 1933, but in a hail of gunfire Bonnie, Clyde, and the rest of their gang somehow piled into two cars and escaped.

Clyde Barrow.

In the cleanup that followed, the police found a discarded arsenal of six Browning automatic rifles and 47 Colt .45 pistols. A showcase in the Highway Patrol's museum displays a Bonnie and Clyde rifle from a shootout in Joplin, a Missouri license plate that they stole, and gruesome photos of the outlaw couple after they had been shot to shreds in an ambush in Louisiana.

Note: crime does not pay.

When you visit the Highway Patrol'sSafety and Education Center, keep an eye out for this attraction (unrelated to Bonnie and Clyde but still noteworthy): Otto the Talking Car, a 1931 Ford Model A roadster outfitted in 1969 with a giant cartoon State Trooper head. Otto was active for many years, making appearances on behalf of the Missouri Highway Patrol at schools, fairs and other events to inform the public about good safety practices.