local crime. They quickly attracted attention. N.D. Houser, proprietor of the tavern and cabins which Blanche rented, became suspicious of Blanche because of her jodhpur pants, unusually tight and provocative when any pants were considered daring for women of that era, and because she paid the $4 rental in coins. He also saw Clyde back his car into the Court's garage, a habit associated with criminals preparing for fast getaways. His suspicions were heightened over the night and next day by the fact that Blanche had said she was renting the apartments for three people, but repeatedly ordered five servings of food when buying takeout meals at his tavern. Houser eventually informed police of his guests and the license plate number of Clyde's stolen car: Oklahoma plate 75-782. By midday, the license plate had identified them and enabled Sheriff Holt Coffey to get assistance from Kansas City Sheriff Tom Bash as well as the Platte City police chief and local prosecutor David Clevenger. Clyde, having taped newspapers across his cabin windows to keep hidden, was unable to see the growing police activity around the tavern as various agencies formed an assault team. At 1:00 am on July 20, 1933, Sheriff Coffey, leading the posse and bearing a steel, bullet-proof shield, knocked on one of the gang's two cabin doors, announced he was law enforcement and said he needed to speak to them. Blanche's response of "just a minute" was a prearranged code which alerted Clyde, who went into the garage, where he could see Coffey through a glass panel in the door. Clyde fired a Browning Automatic Rifle M1918, a military-grade automatic rifle, at Coffey, who dove away amid a barrage of gunfire from the BAR in front and responding fire from the posse behind him, which wounded him. Clyde also directed rounds from the Browning at an armored sedan parked to block their cars in at the garage doors. The bullets penetrated and wounded the officer behind the wheel, George Highfill, in both knees, forcing him to back away from the front of the garage doors, thereby freeing an escape route for the gang's car. Blanche and Buck had to leave the cover of their cabin as it had no interior door leading into the garage as did the cabin occupied by Clyde. Exposed, they were targeted by the posse's gunfire. Buck fell with a through-and-through wound entering his