On May 6, 1934, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met with their families for what would be the last time. She gave her mother a poem called The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, and asked that her mother not say anything "ugly" about Clyde after the outlaw couple had gone to their violent deaths.

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An examination of the history of dueling — a primarily, perhaps almost exclusively, male activity in every culture in which it has existed — the rules, the forms, historic duels and famous winners and losers.

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As chief inquisitor of the infamous Spanish Inquisition, Torquemada was responsible for the torture and execution of thousands.

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On February 1, 1959, police found August Norry’ s car at the end of a “lover’s lane.” The vehicle was ominously bloody and riddled with bullet holes with spent bullets inside it. Officers’ fears that Norry had been killed were confirmed the next day when his bullet-riddled corpse was found in the San Bruno Hills.

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A weary traveler in the desolate Old West is relieved to see an inn. He is invited in and the owner’s beautiful young daughter makes conversation with him as he relaxes. Suddenly, he’s hit on the head with a hammer and his body is dumped through a trap door. This is how the Benders–the quintessential demented family of murderers seen so often in horror movies–operated.

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Desperate men with nothing to lose — these are the most famous fugitives.

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The Phantom Killer, a serial killer known for killing when the moon was full, is believed to have murdered five people in Texarkana, the last victim on May 4, 1946. The case remains unsolved.

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If it’s 1888 and your name is John Swarthout, that is. The recipient of this invitation was granted access to the November 15, 1888, hanging of Charles Johnson, convicted of killing John Walters in January 1887. Walters, who worked as a maintenance man at the jail in Seneca County, N.Y., died from blows to the head when some prisoners–Johnson among them–tried to escape.

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On January 26, 1996, eccentric, crazed and paranoid millionaire John du Pont drove to the home of Olympic gold medalist David Schultz, who lived on du Pont’s estate, and killed him while his horrified wife watched. Armed to the teeth du Pont was able to hold off police for days. Even so his insanity defense failed.

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People who knew the portly and bespectacled Catherine Cassler were unlikely to guess that this woman, who seemed so ordinary, would twice live in the shadow of execution – and twice escape with her life.

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