PALMER HEADSTONE DEDICATION



Joe Palmer was an associate of the Barrow Gang. He was convicted along with Raymond Hamilton
for the killing of Major Crowson during an escape from the Eastham Prison Farm on January 16, 1934.

A rise southeast of the old unit where the infamous Barrow Gang shot
it out with the prison guards, is today called "Bonnie & Clyde Hill."






Joe Palmer's new headstone dedication ceremony took place on May 16, 1999. 

For that crime, he paid the price. For on May 10th of 1935,
along with Raymond Hamilton, Joe Palmer was executed in the State's
electric chair. Joe Palmer was so well liked by his fellow inmates,
that they pitched in funds to have him buried in San Antonio, Texas
as opposed to the prison's drab cemetery.
 
More than six decades have passed since Joe Palmer was buried and his
grave has been without a headstone for all these years. That is...
until recently! Patrick McConal author of "Over the Wall-The Men
Behind the 1934 Death House Escape" published by Eakin Press had
decided to do something about it after his talks with Palmer's
niece Martha Palmer of Lubbock, Texas.
 
Martha Palmer had finally realized her longtime dream, through the
help of friends who saw fit, regardless of the life that Joe Palmer
led, to see him have a marker on his eternal resting spot.


Card to Hideout from Joe Palmer's niece





IN MEMORIAM
July 21, 2005


Patrick M. McConal
Author of "Over The Wall - The Men Behind The 1934 Death House Escape"




June 15, 1934










Photo taken at Paducah, Kentucky following his capture in August 1934









New Palmer Headstone
San Jose Historical Cemetery
San Antonio, Texas




Warden's return after execution document "click here"