Palmer v. State, 81 S.W.2d 76, 128 Tex. Crim. 293 (Tex. Crim. App. 1934; on the merits 1935)

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals opinion in Joe Palmer's appeal from his conviction for killing a guard during the 16 January 1934 break from the Eastham State Farm. The testimony it recites says Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker and others brought weapons to the farm.

Date: 1934-10-10
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: 17260
Rights: Opinion of a state court. Under the government edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020) judicial opinions are not copyrightable. The text is served by CourtListener.

Joe Palmer appealed his conviction for the killing of a guard, Major Crowson, during the break from the Eastham State Farm on January 16, 1934. The opinion summarizes the State’s “uncontroverted testimony”: that James Mullins, after his discharge, “went to Dallas, where he procured several automatic pistols, some shotguns and Browning high-powered rifles, which he, Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker and Floyd Hamilton, brother of Raymond, carried to Eastham farm in Barrow’s V-8 Ford coupe.”

CourtListener gives the opinion as delivered October 10, 1934, decided on the merits March 6, 1935, with rehearing denied April 3, 1935. It is a state case; Barrow and Parker were not parties to it. The FBI’s history page gives its own account of the same break.

itemBonnie and Clyde: FBI history pageThe FBI's history essay on Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker: the stolen-car evidence that gave the Bureau jurisdiction, the 20 May 1933 federal warrant, the January 1934 Eastham prison farm break, and the ambush near Sailes, Louisiana on 23 May 1934.itemMethvin v. State, 60 P.2d 1062, 60 Okla. Crim. 1 (Okla. Crim. App. 1936)Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals opinion in Henry Methvin's appeal from his conviction for the 6 April 1934 killing of Cal Campbell at Commerce, Ottawa County, "while acting conjointly with Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker." Conviction affirmed; death sentence modified to life.item8008: United States v. Raymond Hamilton, et al. (theft of weapons from a Texas National Guard armory)Federal criminal case file from the Northern District of Texas against Raymond Hamilton, Clyde C. Barrow, Bonnie Parker, Henry Methvin, Joe Palmer and Hilton Bybee, accused of stealing weapons from a Texas National Guard armory.