Criminal
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Sunday, April 24, 1932
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Five Break from Jail With Guns
Son of Alexandria Jailer Shot in Abdomen as Prisoners Make Getaway
Alexandria, La., April 23
Five prisoners shot their way out of the Rapides parish jail here today, commandeered two automobiles and escaped after wounding one man. W. G. Penny, 50, the jailer, was attacked with an iron window weight and Luther, his 18 year old son, was shot in the abdomen. The men who escaped were Ivy Morgan, Dan Davis, Ernest Gray (husb of Dorothy Davis ), Earl Joyner, and Jimmy Dear.
They took two sawed off shot guns from the jail, commandeered automobiles belonging to O C Butler and I J Fowler and drove south towards Marksville. The jail break occurred shortly after 3 p.m. At the Baptist hospital, physicians said young Penny's condition was undetermined.
The men came down the front stairway of the jail from the second floor. Ada Jones, negro servant screamed. Another servant, Andrew Williams, said they turned their guns on him but he ducked and got out of their way.
Joiner, Gray, Dear and Davis were charged with robbing the Alexandria Steam Laundry of $323 in a hold up March 26. Their trial was scheduled for Monday.
After leaving the jail in Second street, the men ran down Lee to Third, near the center of the business district, where they seized the cars.
Officers Blalock, Baillio, Stiles, Jones and Bush sped after them in another car. The men were fleeing towards the Avoyelles parish line.
Both cars in which the prisoners escaped were found tonight. But whereabouts of the men was not known.
One car was located in a swamp
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about 12 miles south of Alexandria on the Latannier highway. It had been deserted by the men and they were believed to be hiding in the vast swamp area. Efforts have been made to locate them with bloodhounds.
The other car was found in the lower limits of the city, and a search of the neighborhood was instiuted but to no effect. The men were thought to be hiding in a culvert in Folay Avenue, but this idea was abandoned after tear gas had been used and several shots fired through the culvert.
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Thursday, November 17, 1932
State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 2
'Donald Douglas' Found Guilty on Robbery Charge
Alexandria, La, Nov 17
Found guilty on a robbery charge upon a verdict recommending him to the mercy of the court, Dan Davis, alias Donald Douglas alleged robber, jail breaker and automobile thief, was on trial here today jointly with a companion, Jimmy Dear, on the latter charge. (Dan Davis, brother of Estelle Davis, wife of Earl Joiner )
A jury yesterday convicted Davis of participating in the $300 robbery of the Alexandria steam laundry last March 26. Earl Joyner and Dear, similarly charged, pleaded guilty and were remanded for sentence.
The trial of the men on the charge of stealing an automobile after a jail break wass then undertaken. The stolen car belonged to O. G. Butler of Pineville. In their escape a member of the gang slugged the jailer here and shot and slightly wounded his son.
The three men along with Ivy Morgan were arrested recently in New Orleans night life and were returned here.
In the meantime, however, they had been recaptured and made a second escape from the Avoyelles parish jail at Marksville.
Morgan has been sent to the penitentiary for two years for injuring the jailer and his son.
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Date: Thursday, February 2, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Two Women, Said to Be Brains of Robbery Gang, Under Arrest
Liberty, Tex
Seven men and two women were under arrest today as suspected members of a Texas and Louisiana bank robbers gang, and two other suspects, a man and a woman, were sought.
The seven men held were indicted yesterday by the Liberty county grand jury in connection with two robberies of the First National bank of Cleveland, Texas. The two young women, Private Investigator Norman York said, were considered the actual "brains" of the organization.
George Hubbard, alias C W Wilson, Travis Moody; Paul Turner, alias Walter Wornwell; Dan T Davis, alias Douglas Davis, alias Jay Norton, alias L C Goble; and Gerald Cramer, alias George Carter, alias R C Lindsey, were indicted for the $1250 holdup of the bank on January 6. Ivy Morgan alias Albert Lee, and Earl Joyner, alias Robert Rhodes, were billed for the $1,705 robbery of the bank on September 14 last.
Meanwhile the county grand jury continued its investigation, reputedly having taken up the cases of the young women, who were in custody of officers.
York said the arrest of the man and woman still sought would "clean up the situation."
Information gathered by the women was given to the men, who, heavily armed, looted the bank and later picked up the women. York said the women usually drive the "getaway" cars and arrange for their disposal of the loot. They (black spot) the ones who changed large (spot) notes into money that can be handled more easily.
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Date: Friday, February 3, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 4
Continue Search For Girl Leader of Robber Gang
"Bandit Queens" Wanted for Jail Deliveries Louisiana
Liberty, Texas, Feb 3
A 17-year-old girl, one of two sisters charged by indictment as accessories to bank robbery, was sought today as officers continued their efforts to clear up two robberies of the First National Bank of Cleveland, Texas
Meanwhile, Sheriff L V Hightower revealed for the first time that the girl sought, Estelle Davis, and her 23 year old sister, Dorothy Davis, had been indicted in connection with one of the robberies. Dorothy Davis, he said, was held here.
As the situation stood nine persons had been indicted--the Davis sisters, and seven men, Hightower said. A tenth suspect Caesar Wells 19, of Aleandria, La., found wounded in a Houston hospital, was held here today under charges of robbery by fire arms in connection with the $1,239 robbery of the bank January 6. He denied any complicity.
An eleventh suspect had been brought into the case--a man arrested last week in Houston as a vagrant and later released--but it developed today he probably had no connection with it, officers said.
George Hubbard, Travis Moody, Paul Turner, Dan T. Davis, and Gerald Cramer stood indicted in the January holdup; Ivy Morgan and Earl Joiner in the $1,705 robbery of the same bank last September 14, the sheriff said.
Officers said one of the men indicted yesterday by a Pineville, La., banker as one of the bandits who invaded his bank on January 19. They also reported the two alleged "bandit queens" were wanted for two jail deliveries at Alexandria, La., one at Marksville, La., and another at Shreveport.
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Date: Saturday, September 23, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Hot Springs, Ark
The capture of Earl Joyner, 34, one of the leaders of the Angola, La prison farm break on September 10 which has cost eight lives, was announced by police here today. Four other men and three women, including Joyner's wife also are held.
Charles Chapman, much sought alleged bank robber eluded a trap set for him at Magnolia, Ark.
Chapman, former road contractor, wanted at varous places for bank robbery, failed to show up at Magnolia at the hour which police said they learned he planned to be there. Chapman's BROTHER, BREWER, is among those arrested here.
Others arrested: J E Wells alias James Curtis Wilson, 30, wanted in New Orleans for alleged counterfeiting, and as a fugitive from the Marksville, La prison where he escaped while serving a sentence for burglary.
Joe Robertson, 25, who recently completed a sentence at Angola, La prison farm, but said to be wanted in New Orleans for automobile theft.
BREWER CHAPMAN, 26, Philadelphia, Miss, and brother of Charles Chapman, alleged bank robber. He was brought here from Camden, Ark.
W R Robertson, alias Allen Harris, said to have admitted he escaped from Angola prison farm two months ago where he was serving a bank robbery sentence.
The three women held are said to be sisters.
Mrs Estelle Davis Joyner, 19, wife of Earl
Mrs Dorothy Davis Robertson, wife of Joe Robertson
Mrs Beryl Davis Kearns, 25, wife of Wells, wanted in New Orleans
Joyner came here to see his wife and was captured at an apartment where she was living with Harris and his wife. Others were seized when they circled the apartment in a car attempting to contact Joyner, Aikers said.
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Date: Sunday, December 31, 1933
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 1
Joiner, Fugitive Louisiana Felon, Escapes in Texas
Police of three states Satruday were on the lookout for Earl Joiner, desperate Louisiana gunman and bank robber, one of 11 prisoners in the sensational Angola prison break of September 10, who escaped from jail at Crockett, Tex., Saturday.
Joiner, also known as "Baby Face," was being held in the Houston county, Texas jail in connection with two bank robberies in that state. He escaped about 2 a.m.
He had been tried and convicted, and had been in the county jail about three months when he got free, apparently by filing a duplicate key in his cell.
Joiner originally was sentenced to Angola pententiary from Rapides parish to 27 to 46 years for shooting with intent to murder and robbery.
While held in jail in Alexandria in May, 1932, he made his escape with two companions, shooting his way to freedom. The jailer's son, a youth of 19, was left dangerously wounded by the three desperados in their flight.
He was recaptured in a New Orleans dance hall with his two companions a few months later and admitted that he had taken part in a series of Louisiana and Texas bank robberies that had netted $60,000.
Life of Pleasure
They had been living a life of pleasure in New Orleans before being captured. Joiner and Jimmy Dear, his companion in the Rapides parish case, met again in the Angola penitentiary. Together, they took part in the sensational break of September 10.
According to the confessions obtained from prisoners captured alive, among whom was Dear, Joiner wielded one of the pistols, and was one of those who shot to death Virgil Davis, trusty guard, a shooting that precipitated the murder of three men and the shooting of several others in the desperate dash of 11 convicts to freedom.
He was recaptured in Hot Springs, Ark., on September 23, and in those short 13 days of freedom admitted he had carried out two additional bank robberies.
He was taken to Crockett, Tex., and was lodged in jail to answer for crimes that would have carried with them sentences far longer than he faced in Louisiana.
Joiner, according to Saturday's dispatches, fashioned a key to the jail cell with a file and knife which were found there after his escape Friday night.
His escape was discovered Saturday morning, when the turnkey went to Joiner's cell and found the door open and the prisoner gone.
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Date: Sunday, March 18, 1934
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 17
Joyner and Wife Held in Surprise Texas Farm Raid
With the capture 10 miles from Houston, Tex., at daybreak Saturday morning of Earl Joyner, Arkansas desperado who, authorities charge, engineered the bloody September Sunday prison break in Angola last year, only one of the dozen convicts who made the break has yet to accounted for. The convict as yet unaccounted for is Walter T. Henderson, Shreveport, La., who was serving a sentence of from eight to 12 years at the time of his escape.
Joyner was captured Saturday morning by a Texas sheriff with several deputies and Norman York, a private detective, who went to the home of a farmer where Joyner and his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, were in hiding. The couple were trapped in bed. When the sheriff and his men entered they pulled the cover over their faces as if they were asleep.
"It's a tough break," Joyner is reported to have said when captured. It was the second time that Joyner has been captured since his break at Angola. He was captured in Texas several weeks after his successful break at Angola. During his period of freedom he was said to have conducted several bank robberies and was placed in jail at Crockett, Tex., to await trial, but escaped again. According to the dispatches received here, the sheriff and his men approached the farm house at daylight Saturday morning. A deputy knocked and the farmer came to the door with a lantern. As he opened the door, the sheriff yelled, "Put 'em up." The farmer reached downward. The officer shouted "Put 'em up or I'll cut you in two." The farmer surrendered and the posse rushed into the house, trapping the Joyners in bed. Mrs. Joyner pulled a dress over her night clothes, and she and her husband and the farmer were taken to the Harris county jail. Joyner is credited by officials with maneuvering the prison break at Angola. With him at the time of the prison break was Charlie Frazier, shot two weeks ago in a penitentiary break at Huntsville, Texas. When captured Saturday morning Joyner told authorities that he had been living at the farm house only a few days. The jail break at Angola was one of the bloodiest in the history of the institution. Twelve prisoners, John Anderson, James C Bird, William Bryant, Cleo Carlson, Jimmy Dear, Charles Frazier, Walter T Henderson, Dallas Hunter, James A Russell, Patrick J Ryan, Bill Stone and Joyner made a dash for freedom on Sunday, September 11, 1933. According to the records at Angola, Joyner was received at the penal farm November 18, 1932 from Rapides parish, Louisiana, under 27 to 46 years sentence for robbery and shooting with intent to murder.
Alexandria, La Mar 17
Earl Joyner, notorious bandit, who with his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, was captured in a farm house near Houston, Texas early today, began his career of crime in Rapides parish, and has been a source of annoyance to Louisiana officers for several years. Joyner was a member of a gang confined in the Rapides parish jail on a charge of robbing the office of the Alexandria Steam Laundry, who shot their way out of jail, April a year ago, after having slugged Jailer W. G. Penny with an iron window weight, and as they fled through the jail, shot Luther Penny, a 18-year-old son of the jailer, who attempted to block their passage.
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Saturday, June 23, 1934
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Blood Poison Proves Fatal to E Joiner
Desperado and Jail Breaker Succumbs in Texas Jail to Infection Caused by Carbuncle
Jail bars grating his last dawn, Earl Joiner, killer who boasted no cell could hold him, died of blood poisoning caused by a carbuncle, in the Liberty county, Texas, jail at sunup yesterday.
He had believed it would be that way, telling Sheriff T. A. Binford of Houston when he was recaptured the sixth time near that city on March 17, that the next time he left a jail he would wear a "wooden overcoat buttoned with nails."
In his 26 years of life he had robbed, slain, broken out of four jails and two penitentiaries, and fought a battle of wits with the law. He helped lead a murderous prison break at Angola in which Capt. John Singleton, a trusty, and three convicts were slain, and started a mad flight across several southwestern states. The break occurred on September 30, 1933.
The end came quietly at sunup as he lay in a Liberty county cell, where he had been held since he entered a plea of guilty to a $1,700 Cleveland, Texas bank robbery charge Tuesday and was sentenced to 10 more years in prison--a meaningless sentence to the desparado in the face of the array of sentences and charges lodged against him.
Sheriff L. V Hightower of Liberty said Joiner's body will be held until relatives arrive from Clarks, La, probably today.
The baby-faced bandit, serving a sentence on Retrieve prison farm, was removed last Saturday by Sheriff Hightower to face trial in the bank robbery, which occurred in 1932. At the time he had a high fever from the carbuncle and a physician was called to administer treatment, the sheriff said.
He rallied at first but following the hearing developed high fever again and died early yesterday, bringing a criminal career of nationwide reputation to a close.
In May, 1932 he was waiting in the Alexandria jail to be removed to Angola on a 27 to 46 years sentence for shooting with intent to kill in connection with a laundry holdup. He, with three others, crashed their way out of jail, slightly wounding Ruther Penny, son of Jailer A. W. Penny.
He remained at liberty until November 2 of the same year when Chief of Detectives Drosch and Detective Sergeant Joseph Schwehm, spotted him with two others in a downtown New Orleans night club. While the detectives collared his two companions, Joiner slipped through their fingers, dancing to the nearest exit and slipping out, Police grabbed him at a rooming house an hour later, however.
Texas clamored to bring Joiner to trial for two robberies, one the First National Bank of Cleveland and the other the $1,500 robbery of the Merchants and Farmers bank of Grapeland, Texas in July, 1932. They said he was a Texas bad man, one of the Davis gang terrorizing east and south Texas.
Louisiana sent him to Angola. He remained at the prison faarm not quite a year when the famous jail break of September 10, 1933 took place. Lead by Joiner and Charlie Frazier, another bad man now in the Texas prison, a group of convicts shot down Captain Singletonand a trusty guard, and escaped, one of them being slain as they fled. Joiner was recaptured in Arkansas and both Louisiana and Texas sought his custody. Texas deputies got him and he was given a 40-year term and sent to Crockett, Tex, in the latter part of 1933. When the jailers walked into Joiner's cell on December 30, they found the door open and a hole through the adjoining brick wall. He had twisted a spoon into a key, kicked a hole in the wall, and fled.
He was retaken for the last time March 18, at a farm house 10 miles west of Houston, when a posse of deputies headed by Sheriff Binford assisted by Norman York, private detective, caught him.
Name: Earl Joiner
Event Type: Death blood poisioning
convict
Event Date: 22 Jun 1934
Event Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Texas, United States
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Birth Date: 06 Jan 1909
Birthplace: Clarks, Louisiana
Father's Name: R F Joiner
Mother's Name: Flossie Lanneir
Certificate Number: 28747
GS Film number: 2116192
Digital Folder Number: 005145454
Image Number: 01935
1910 d Ward 4, Caldwell, Louisiana
Household Gender Age Birthplace
SELF R F Joiner M 32y Louisiana
WIFE Lucy Joiner F 28y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joiner M 9y Louisiana
SON Earl Joiner M 2y Louisiana
1920 , Rapides, Louisiana
SELF Felder Joyner M 40y Louisiana
WIFE Flossie Joiner F 38y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joyner M 20y Louisiana
SON Earl Joyner M 12y Louisiana
SON Arvel Joyner M 10y Louisiana
John T Downs M 60y Louisiana
Name: Earl Joiner
Birth Date: 6 Jan 1909
Birth Place: Clarks, Louisiana
Gender: Male married
Race: White
occupation convict
Father: R F Joiner
Mother: Flossie Lannin
Age at Death: 25
Death Date: 22 Jun 1934
Death Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Liberty, Texas
informant E F Joiner, Beaumont, Texas
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Sunday, April 24, 1932
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Five Break from Jail With Guns
Son of Alexandria Jailer Shot in Abdomen as Prisoners Make Getaway
Alexandria, La., April 23
Five prisoners shot their way out of the Rapides parish jail here today, commandeered two automobiles and escaped after wounding one man. W. G. Penny, 50, the jailer, was attacked with an iron window weight and Luther, his 18 year old son, was shot in the abdomen. The men who escaped were Ivy Morgan, Dan Davis, Ernest Gray (husb of Dorothy Davis ), Earl Joyner, and Jimmy Dear.
They took two sawed off shot guns from the jail, commandeered automobiles belonging to O C Butler and I J Fowler and drove south towards Marksville. The jail break occurred shortly after 3 p.m. At the Baptist hospital, physicians said young Penny's condition was undetermined.
The men came down the front stairway of the jail from the second floor. Ada Jones, negro servant screamed. Another servant, Andrew Williams, said they turned their guns on him but he ducked and got out of their way.
Joiner, Gray, Dear and Davis were charged with robbing the Alexandria Steam Laundry of $323 in a hold up March 26. Their trial was scheduled for Monday.
After leaving the jail in Second street, the men ran down Lee to Third, near the center of the business district, where they seized the cars.
Officers Blalock, Baillio, Stiles, Jones and Bush sped after them in another car. The men were fleeing towards the Avoyelles parish line.
Both cars in which the prisoners escaped were found tonight. But whereabouts of the men was not known.
One car was located in a swamp
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about 12 miles south of Alexandria on the Latannier highway. It had been deserted by the men and they were believed to be hiding in the vast swamp area. Efforts have been made to locate them with bloodhounds.
The other car was found in the lower limits of the city, and a search of the neighborhood was instiuted but to no effect. The men were thought to be hiding in a culvert in Folay Avenue, but this idea was abandoned after tear gas had been used and several shots fired through the culvert.
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Thursday, November 17, 1932
State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 2
'Donald Douglas' Found Guilty on Robbery Charge
Alexandria, La, Nov 17
Found guilty on a robbery charge upon a verdict recommending him to the mercy of the court, Dan Davis, alias Donald Douglas alleged robber, jail breaker and automobile thief, was on trial here today jointly with a companion, Jimmy Dear, on the latter charge. (Dan Davis, brother of Estelle Davis, wife of Earl Joiner )
A jury yesterday convicted Davis of participating in the $300 robbery of the Alexandria steam laundry last March 26. Earl Joyner and Dear, similarly charged, pleaded guilty and were remanded for sentence.
The trial of the men on the charge of stealing an automobile after a jail break wass then undertaken. The stolen car belonged to O. G. Butler of Pineville. In their escape a member of the gang slugged the jailer here and shot and slightly wounded his son.
The three men along with Ivy Morgan were arrested recently in New Orleans night life and were returned here.
In the meantime, however, they had been recaptured and made a second escape from the Avoyelles parish jail at Marksville.
Morgan has been sent to the penitentiary for two years for injuring the jailer and his son.
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Date: Thursday, February 2, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Two Women, Said to Be Brains of Robbery Gang, Under Arrest
Liberty, Tex
Seven men and two women were under arrest today as suspected members of a Texas and Louisiana bank robbers gang, and two other suspects, a man and a woman, were sought.
The seven men held were indicted yesterday by the Liberty county grand jury in connection with two robberies of the First National bank of Cleveland, Texas. The two young women, Private Investigator Norman York said, were considered the actual "brains" of the organization.
George Hubbard, alias C W Wilson, Travis Moody; Paul Turner, alias Walter Wornwell; Dan T Davis, alias Douglas Davis, alias Jay Norton, alias L C Goble; and Gerald Cramer, alias George Carter, alias R C Lindsey, were indicted for the $1250 holdup of the bank on January 6. Ivy Morgan alias Albert Lee, and Earl Joyner, alias Robert Rhodes, were billed for the $1,705 robbery of the bank on September 14 last.
Meanwhile the county grand jury continued its investigation, reputedly having taken up the cases of the young women, who were in custody of officers.
York said the arrest of the man and woman still sought would "clean up the situation."
Information gathered by the women was given to the men, who, heavily armed, looted the bank and later picked up the women. York said the women usually drive the "getaway" cars and arrange for their disposal of the loot. They (black spot) the ones who changed large (spot) notes into money that can be handled more easily.
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Date: Friday, February 3, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 4
Continue Search For Girl Leader of Robber Gang
"Bandit Queens" Wanted for Jail Deliveries Louisiana
Liberty, Texas, Feb 3
A 17-year-old girl, one of two sisters charged by indictment as accessories to bank robbery, was sought today as officers continued their efforts to clear up two robberies of the First National Bank of Cleveland, Texas
Meanwhile, Sheriff L V Hightower revealed for the first time that the girl sought, Estelle Davis, and her 23 year old sister, Dorothy Davis, had been indicted in connection with one of the robberies. Dorothy Davis, he said, was held here.
As the situation stood nine persons had been indicted--the Davis sisters, and seven men, Hightower said. A tenth suspect Caesar Wells 19, of Aleandria, La., found wounded in a Houston hospital, was held here today under charges of robbery by fire arms in connection with the $1,239 robbery of the bank January 6. He denied any complicity.
An eleventh suspect had been brought into the case--a man arrested last week in Houston as a vagrant and later released--but it developed today he probably had no connection with it, officers said.
George Hubbard, Travis Moody, Paul Turner, Dan T. Davis, and Gerald Cramer stood indicted in the January holdup; Ivy Morgan and Earl Joiner in the $1,705 robbery of the same bank last September 14, the sheriff said.
Officers said one of the men indicted yesterday by a Pineville, La., banker as one of the bandits who invaded his bank on January 19. They also reported the two alleged "bandit queens" were wanted for two jail deliveries at Alexandria, La., one at Marksville, La., and another at Shreveport.
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Date: Saturday, September 23, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Hot Springs, Ark
The capture of Earl Joyner, 34, one of the leaders of the Angola, La prison farm break on September 10 which has cost eight lives, was announced by police here today. Four other men and three women, including Joyner's wife also are held.
Charles Chapman, much sought alleged bank robber eluded a trap set for him at Magnolia, Ark.
Chapman, former road contractor, wanted at varous places for bank robbery, failed to show up at Magnolia at the hour which police said they learned he planned to be there. Chapman's BROTHER, BREWER, is among those arrested here.
Others arrested: J E Wells alias James Curtis Wilson, 30, wanted in New Orleans for alleged counterfeiting, and as a fugitive from the Marksville, La prison where he escaped while serving a sentence for burglary.
Joe Robertson, 25, who recently completed a sentence at Angola, La prison farm, but said to be wanted in New Orleans for automobile theft.
BREWER CHAPMAN, 26, Philadelphia, Miss, and brother of Charles Chapman, alleged bank robber. He was brought here from Camden, Ark.
W R Robertson, alias Allen Harris, said to have admitted he escaped from Angola prison farm two months ago where he was serving a bank robbery sentence.
The three women held are said to be sisters.
Mrs Estelle Davis Joyner, 19, wife of Earl
Mrs Dorothy Davis Robertson, wife of Joe Robertson
Mrs Beryl Davis Kearns, 25, wife of Wells, wanted in New Orleans
Joyner came here to see his wife and was captured at an apartment where she was living with Harris and his wife. Others were seized when they circled the apartment in a car attempting to contact Joyner, Aikers said.
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Date: Sunday, December 31, 1933
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 1
Joiner, Fugitive Louisiana Felon, Escapes in Texas
Police of three states Satruday were on the lookout for Earl Joiner, desperate Louisiana gunman and bank robber, one of 11 prisoners in the sensational Angola prison break of September 10, who escaped from jail at Crockett, Tex., Saturday.
Joiner, also known as "Baby Face," was being held in the Houston county, Texas jail in connection with two bank robberies in that state. He escaped about 2 a.m.
He had been tried and convicted, and had been in the county jail about three months when he got free, apparently by filing a duplicate key in his cell.
Joiner originally was sentenced to Angola pententiary from Rapides parish to 27 to 46 years for shooting with intent to murder and robbery.
While held in jail in Alexandria in May, 1932, he made his escape with two companions, shooting his way to freedom. The jailer's son, a youth of 19, was left dangerously wounded by the three desperados in their flight.
He was recaptured in a New Orleans dance hall with his two companions a few months later and admitted that he had taken part in a series of Louisiana and Texas bank robberies that had netted $60,000.
Life of Pleasure
They had been living a life of pleasure in New Orleans before being captured. Joiner and Jimmy Dear, his companion in the Rapides parish case, met again in the Angola penitentiary. Together, they took part in the sensational break of September 10.
According to the confessions obtained from prisoners captured alive, among whom was Dear, Joiner wielded one of the pistols, and was one of those who shot to death Virgil Davis, trusty guard, a shooting that precipitated the murder of three men and the shooting of several others in the desperate dash of 11 convicts to freedom.
He was recaptured in Hot Springs, Ark., on September 23, and in those short 13 days of freedom admitted he had carried out two additional bank robberies.
He was taken to Crockett, Tex., and was lodged in jail to answer for crimes that would have carried with them sentences far longer than he faced in Louisiana.
Joiner, according to Saturday's dispatches, fashioned a key to the jail cell with a file and knife which were found there after his escape Friday night.
His escape was discovered Saturday morning, when the turnkey went to Joiner's cell and found the door open and the prisoner gone.
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Date: Sunday, March 18, 1934
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 17
Joyner and Wife Held in Surprise Texas Farm Raid
With the capture 10 miles from Houston, Tex., at daybreak Saturday morning of Earl Joyner, Arkansas desperado who, authorities charge, engineered the bloody September Sunday prison break in Angola last year, only one of the dozen convicts who made the break has yet to accounted for. The convict as yet unaccounted for is Walter T. Henderson, Shreveport, La., who was serving a sentence of from eight to 12 years at the time of his escape.
Joyner was captured Saturday morning by a Texas sheriff with several deputies and Norman York, a private detective, who went to the home of a farmer where Joyner and his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, were in hiding. The couple were trapped in bed. When the sheriff and his men entered they pulled the cover over their faces as if they were asleep.
"It's a tough break," Joyner is reported to have said when captured. It was the second time that Joyner has been captured since his break at Angola. He was captured in Texas several weeks after his successful break at Angola. During his period of freedom he was said to have conducted several bank robberies and was placed in jail at Crockett, Tex., to await trial, but escaped again. According to the dispatches received here, the sheriff and his men approached the farm house at daylight Saturday morning. A deputy knocked and the farmer came to the door with a lantern. As he opened the door, the sheriff yelled, "Put 'em up." The farmer reached downward. The officer shouted "Put 'em up or I'll cut you in two." The farmer surrendered and the posse rushed into the house, trapping the Joyners in bed. Mrs. Joyner pulled a dress over her night clothes, and she and her husband and the farmer were taken to the Harris county jail. Joyner is credited by officials with maneuvering the prison break at Angola. With him at the time of the prison break was Charlie Frazier, shot two weeks ago in a penitentiary break at Huntsville, Texas. When captured Saturday morning Joyner told authorities that he had been living at the farm house only a few days. The jail break at Angola was one of the bloodiest in the history of the institution. Twelve prisoners, John Anderson, James C Bird, William Bryant, Cleo Carlson, Jimmy Dear, Charles Frazier, Walter T Henderson, Dallas Hunter, James A Russell, Patrick J Ryan, Bill Stone and Joyner made a dash for freedom on Sunday, September 11, 1933. According to the records at Angola, Joyner was received at the penal farm November 18, 1932 from Rapides parish, Louisiana, under 27 to 46 years sentence for robbery and shooting with intent to murder.
Alexandria, La Mar 17
Earl Joyner, notorious bandit, who with his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, was captured in a farm house near Houston, Texas early today, began his career of crime in Rapides parish, and has been a source of annoyance to Louisiana officers for several years. Joyner was a member of a gang confined in the Rapides parish jail on a charge of robbing the office of the Alexandria Steam Laundry, who shot their way out of jail, April a year ago, after having slugged Jailer W. G. Penny with an iron window weight, and as they fled through the jail, shot Luther Penny, a 18-year-old son of the jailer, who attempted to block their passage.
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Saturday, June 23, 1934
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Blood Poison Proves Fatal to E Joiner
Desperado and Jail Breaker Succumbs in Texas Jail to Infection Caused by Carbuncle
Jail bars grating his last dawn, Earl Joiner, killer who boasted no cell could hold him, died of blood poisoning caused by a carbuncle, in the Liberty county, Texas, jail at sunup yesterday.
He had believed it would be that way, telling Sheriff T. A. Binford of Houston when he was recaptured the sixth time near that city on March 17, that the next time he left a jail he would wear a "wooden overcoat buttoned with nails."
In his 26 years of life he had robbed, slain, broken out of four jails and two penitentiaries, and fought a battle of wits with the law. He helped lead a murderous prison break at Angola in which Capt. John Singleton, a trusty, and three convicts were slain, and started a mad flight across several southwestern states. The break occurred on September 30, 1933.
The end came quietly at sunup as he lay in a Liberty county cell, where he had been held since he entered a plea of guilty to a $1,700 Cleveland, Texas bank robbery charge Tuesday and was sentenced to 10 more years in prison--a meaningless sentence to the desparado in the face of the array of sentences and charges lodged against him.
Sheriff L. V Hightower of Liberty said Joiner's body will be held until relatives arrive from Clarks, La, probably today.
The baby-faced bandit, serving a sentence on Retrieve prison farm, was removed last Saturday by Sheriff Hightower to face trial in the bank robbery, which occurred in 1932. At the time he had a high fever from the carbuncle and a physician was called to administer treatment, the sheriff said.
He rallied at first but following the hearing developed high fever again and died early yesterday, bringing a criminal career of nationwide reputation to a close.
In May, 1932 he was waiting in the Alexandria jail to be removed to Angola on a 27 to 46 years sentence for shooting with intent to kill in connection with a laundry holdup. He, with three others, crashed their way out of jail, slightly wounding Ruther Penny, son of Jailer A. W. Penny.
He remained at liberty until November 2 of the same year when Chief of Detectives Drosch and Detective Sergeant Joseph Schwehm, spotted him with two others in a downtown New Orleans night club. While the detectives collared his two companions, Joiner slipped through their fingers, dancing to the nearest exit and slipping out, Police grabbed him at a rooming house an hour later, however.
Texas clamored to bring Joiner to trial for two robberies, one the First National Bank of Cleveland and the other the $1,500 robbery of the Merchants and Farmers bank of Grapeland, Texas in July, 1932. They said he was a Texas bad man, one of the Davis gang terrorizing east and south Texas.
Louisiana sent him to Angola. He remained at the prison faarm not quite a year when the famous jail break of September 10, 1933 took place. Lead by Joiner and Charlie Frazier, another bad man now in the Texas prison, a group of convicts shot down Captain Singletonand a trusty guard, and escaped, one of them being slain as they fled. Joiner was recaptured in Arkansas and both Louisiana and Texas sought his custody. Texas deputies got him and he was given a 40-year term and sent to Crockett, Tex, in the latter part of 1933. When the jailers walked into Joiner's cell on December 30, they found the door open and a hole through the adjoining brick wall. He had twisted a spoon into a key, kicked a hole in the wall, and fled.
He was retaken for the last time March 18, at a farm house 10 miles west of Houston, when a posse of deputies headed by Sheriff Binford assisted by Norman York, private detective, caught him.
Name: Earl Joiner
Event Type: Death blood poisioning
convict
Event Date: 22 Jun 1934
Event Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Texas, United States
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Birth Date: 06 Jan 1909
Birthplace: Clarks, Louisiana
Father's Name: R F Joiner
Mother's Name: Flossie Lanneir
Certificate Number: 28747
GS Film number: 2116192
Digital Folder Number: 005145454
Image Number: 01935
1910 d Ward 4, Caldwell, Louisiana
Household Gender Age Birthplace
SELF R F Joiner M 32y Louisiana
WIFE Lucy Joiner F 28y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joiner M 9y Louisiana
SON Earl Joiner M 2y Louisiana
1920 , Rapides, Louisiana
SELF Felder Joyner M 40y Louisiana
WIFE Flossie Joiner F 38y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joyner M 20y Louisiana
SON Earl Joyner M 12y Louisiana
SON Arvel Joyner M 10y Louisiana
John T Downs M 60y Louisiana
Name: Earl Joiner
Birth Date: 6 Jan 1909
Birth Place: Clarks, Louisiana
Gender: Male married
Race: White
occupation convict
Father: R F Joiner
Mother: Flossie Lannin
Age at Death: 25
Death Date: 22 Jun 1934
Death Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Liberty, Texas
informant E F Joiner, Beaumont, Texas
Criminal
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Sunday, April 24, 1932
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Five Break from Jail With Guns
Son of Alexandria Jailer Shot in Abdomen as Prisoners Make Getaway
Alexandria, La., April 23
Five prisoners shot their way out of the Rapides parish jail here today, commandeered two automobiles and escaped after wounding one man. W. G. Penny, 50, the jailer, was attacked with an iron window weight and Luther, his 18 year old son, was shot in the abdomen. The men who escaped were Ivy Morgan, Dan Davis, Ernest Gray (husb of Dorothy Davis ), Earl Joyner, and Jimmy Dear.
They took two sawed off shot guns from the jail, commandeered automobiles belonging to O C Butler and I J Fowler and drove south towards Marksville. The jail break occurred shortly after 3 p.m. At the Baptist hospital, physicians said young Penny's condition was undetermined.
The men came down the front stairway of the jail from the second floor. Ada Jones, negro servant screamed. Another servant, Andrew Williams, said they turned their guns on him but he ducked and got out of their way.
Joiner, Gray, Dear and Davis were charged with robbing the Alexandria Steam Laundry of $323 in a hold up March 26. Their trial was scheduled for Monday.
After leaving the jail in Second street, the men ran down Lee to Third, near the center of the business district, where they seized the cars.
Officers Blalock, Baillio, Stiles, Jones and Bush sped after them in another car. The men were fleeing towards the Avoyelles parish line.
Both cars in which the prisoners escaped were found tonight. But whereabouts of the men was not known.
One car was located in a swamp
page 2
about 12 miles south of Alexandria on the Latannier highway. It had been deserted by the men and they were believed to be hiding in the vast swamp area. Efforts have been made to locate them with bloodhounds.
The other car was found in the lower limits of the city, and a search of the neighborhood was instiuted but to no effect. The men were thought to be hiding in a culvert in Folay Avenue, but this idea was abandoned after tear gas had been used and several shots fired through the culvert.
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Thursday, November 17, 1932
State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 2
'Donald Douglas' Found Guilty on Robbery Charge
Alexandria, La, Nov 17
Found guilty on a robbery charge upon a verdict recommending him to the mercy of the court, Dan Davis, alias Donald Douglas alleged robber, jail breaker and automobile thief, was on trial here today jointly with a companion, Jimmy Dear, on the latter charge. (Dan Davis, brother of Estelle Davis, wife of Earl Joiner )
A jury yesterday convicted Davis of participating in the $300 robbery of the Alexandria steam laundry last March 26. Earl Joyner and Dear, similarly charged, pleaded guilty and were remanded for sentence.
The trial of the men on the charge of stealing an automobile after a jail break wass then undertaken. The stolen car belonged to O. G. Butler of Pineville. In their escape a member of the gang slugged the jailer here and shot and slightly wounded his son.
The three men along with Ivy Morgan were arrested recently in New Orleans night life and were returned here.
In the meantime, however, they had been recaptured and made a second escape from the Avoyelles parish jail at Marksville.
Morgan has been sent to the penitentiary for two years for injuring the jailer and his son.
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Date: Thursday, February 2, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Two Women, Said to Be Brains of Robbery Gang, Under Arrest
Liberty, Tex
Seven men and two women were under arrest today as suspected members of a Texas and Louisiana bank robbers gang, and two other suspects, a man and a woman, were sought.
The seven men held were indicted yesterday by the Liberty county grand jury in connection with two robberies of the First National bank of Cleveland, Texas. The two young women, Private Investigator Norman York said, were considered the actual "brains" of the organization.
George Hubbard, alias C W Wilson, Travis Moody; Paul Turner, alias Walter Wornwell; Dan T Davis, alias Douglas Davis, alias Jay Norton, alias L C Goble; and Gerald Cramer, alias George Carter, alias R C Lindsey, were indicted for the $1250 holdup of the bank on January 6. Ivy Morgan alias Albert Lee, and Earl Joyner, alias Robert Rhodes, were billed for the $1,705 robbery of the bank on September 14 last.
Meanwhile the county grand jury continued its investigation, reputedly having taken up the cases of the young women, who were in custody of officers.
York said the arrest of the man and woman still sought would "clean up the situation."
Information gathered by the women was given to the men, who, heavily armed, looted the bank and later picked up the women. York said the women usually drive the "getaway" cars and arrange for their disposal of the loot. They (black spot) the ones who changed large (spot) notes into money that can be handled more easily.
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Date: Friday, February 3, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 4
Continue Search For Girl Leader of Robber Gang
"Bandit Queens" Wanted for Jail Deliveries Louisiana
Liberty, Texas, Feb 3
A 17-year-old girl, one of two sisters charged by indictment as accessories to bank robbery, was sought today as officers continued their efforts to clear up two robberies of the First National Bank of Cleveland, Texas
Meanwhile, Sheriff L V Hightower revealed for the first time that the girl sought, Estelle Davis, and her 23 year old sister, Dorothy Davis, had been indicted in connection with one of the robberies. Dorothy Davis, he said, was held here.
As the situation stood nine persons had been indicted--the Davis sisters, and seven men, Hightower said. A tenth suspect Caesar Wells 19, of Aleandria, La., found wounded in a Houston hospital, was held here today under charges of robbery by fire arms in connection with the $1,239 robbery of the bank January 6. He denied any complicity.
An eleventh suspect had been brought into the case--a man arrested last week in Houston as a vagrant and later released--but it developed today he probably had no connection with it, officers said.
George Hubbard, Travis Moody, Paul Turner, Dan T. Davis, and Gerald Cramer stood indicted in the January holdup; Ivy Morgan and Earl Joiner in the $1,705 robbery of the same bank last September 14, the sheriff said.
Officers said one of the men indicted yesterday by a Pineville, La., banker as one of the bandits who invaded his bank on January 19. They also reported the two alleged "bandit queens" were wanted for two jail deliveries at Alexandria, La., one at Marksville, La., and another at Shreveport.
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Date: Saturday, September 23, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Hot Springs, Ark
The capture of Earl Joyner, 34, one of the leaders of the Angola, La prison farm break on September 10 which has cost eight lives, was announced by police here today. Four other men and three women, including Joyner's wife also are held.
Charles Chapman, much sought alleged bank robber eluded a trap set for him at Magnolia, Ark.
Chapman, former road contractor, wanted at varous places for bank robbery, failed to show up at Magnolia at the hour which police said they learned he planned to be there. Chapman's BROTHER, BREWER, is among those arrested here.
Others arrested: J E Wells alias James Curtis Wilson, 30, wanted in New Orleans for alleged counterfeiting, and as a fugitive from the Marksville, La prison where he escaped while serving a sentence for burglary.
Joe Robertson, 25, who recently completed a sentence at Angola, La prison farm, but said to be wanted in New Orleans for automobile theft.
BREWER CHAPMAN, 26, Philadelphia, Miss, and brother of Charles Chapman, alleged bank robber. He was brought here from Camden, Ark.
W R Robertson, alias Allen Harris, said to have admitted he escaped from Angola prison farm two months ago where he was serving a bank robbery sentence.
The three women held are said to be sisters.
Mrs Estelle Davis Joyner, 19, wife of Earl
Mrs Dorothy Davis Robertson, wife of Joe Robertson
Mrs Beryl Davis Kearns, 25, wife of Wells, wanted in New Orleans
Joyner came here to see his wife and was captured at an apartment where she was living with Harris and his wife. Others were seized when they circled the apartment in a car attempting to contact Joyner, Aikers said.
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Date: Sunday, December 31, 1933
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 1
Joiner, Fugitive Louisiana Felon, Escapes in Texas
Police of three states Satruday were on the lookout for Earl Joiner, desperate Louisiana gunman and bank robber, one of 11 prisoners in the sensational Angola prison break of September 10, who escaped from jail at Crockett, Tex., Saturday.
Joiner, also known as "Baby Face," was being held in the Houston county, Texas jail in connection with two bank robberies in that state. He escaped about 2 a.m.
He had been tried and convicted, and had been in the county jail about three months when he got free, apparently by filing a duplicate key in his cell.
Joiner originally was sentenced to Angola pententiary from Rapides parish to 27 to 46 years for shooting with intent to murder and robbery.
While held in jail in Alexandria in May, 1932, he made his escape with two companions, shooting his way to freedom. The jailer's son, a youth of 19, was left dangerously wounded by the three desperados in their flight.
He was recaptured in a New Orleans dance hall with his two companions a few months later and admitted that he had taken part in a series of Louisiana and Texas bank robberies that had netted $60,000.
Life of Pleasure
They had been living a life of pleasure in New Orleans before being captured. Joiner and Jimmy Dear, his companion in the Rapides parish case, met again in the Angola penitentiary. Together, they took part in the sensational break of September 10.
According to the confessions obtained from prisoners captured alive, among whom was Dear, Joiner wielded one of the pistols, and was one of those who shot to death Virgil Davis, trusty guard, a shooting that precipitated the murder of three men and the shooting of several others in the desperate dash of 11 convicts to freedom.
He was recaptured in Hot Springs, Ark., on September 23, and in those short 13 days of freedom admitted he had carried out two additional bank robberies.
He was taken to Crockett, Tex., and was lodged in jail to answer for crimes that would have carried with them sentences far longer than he faced in Louisiana.
Joiner, according to Saturday's dispatches, fashioned a key to the jail cell with a file and knife which were found there after his escape Friday night.
His escape was discovered Saturday morning, when the turnkey went to Joiner's cell and found the door open and the prisoner gone.
**********
Date: Sunday, March 18, 1934
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 17
Joyner and Wife Held in Surprise Texas Farm Raid
With the capture 10 miles from Houston, Tex., at daybreak Saturday morning of Earl Joyner, Arkansas desperado who, authorities charge, engineered the bloody September Sunday prison break in Angola last year, only one of the dozen convicts who made the break has yet to accounted for. The convict as yet unaccounted for is Walter T. Henderson, Shreveport, La., who was serving a sentence of from eight to 12 years at the time of his escape.
Joyner was captured Saturday morning by a Texas sheriff with several deputies and Norman York, a private detective, who went to the home of a farmer where Joyner and his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, were in hiding. The couple were trapped in bed. When the sheriff and his men entered they pulled the cover over their faces as if they were asleep.
"It's a tough break," Joyner is reported to have said when captured. It was the second time that Joyner has been captured since his break at Angola. He was captured in Texas several weeks after his successful break at Angola. During his period of freedom he was said to have conducted several bank robberies and was placed in jail at Crockett, Tex., to await trial, but escaped again. According to the dispatches received here, the sheriff and his men approached the farm house at daylight Saturday morning. A deputy knocked and the farmer came to the door with a lantern. As he opened the door, the sheriff yelled, "Put 'em up." The farmer reached downward. The officer shouted "Put 'em up or I'll cut you in two." The farmer surrendered and the posse rushed into the house, trapping the Joyners in bed. Mrs. Joyner pulled a dress over her night clothes, and she and her husband and the farmer were taken to the Harris county jail. Joyner is credited by officials with maneuvering the prison break at Angola. With him at the time of the prison break was Charlie Frazier, shot two weeks ago in a penitentiary break at Huntsville, Texas. When captured Saturday morning Joyner told authorities that he had been living at the farm house only a few days. The jail break at Angola was one of the bloodiest in the history of the institution. Twelve prisoners, John Anderson, James C Bird, William Bryant, Cleo Carlson, Jimmy Dear, Charles Frazier, Walter T Henderson, Dallas Hunter, James A Russell, Patrick J Ryan, Bill Stone and Joyner made a dash for freedom on Sunday, September 11, 1933. According to the records at Angola, Joyner was received at the penal farm November 18, 1932 from Rapides parish, Louisiana, under 27 to 46 years sentence for robbery and shooting with intent to murder.
Alexandria, La Mar 17
Earl Joyner, notorious bandit, who with his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, was captured in a farm house near Houston, Texas early today, began his career of crime in Rapides parish, and has been a source of annoyance to Louisiana officers for several years. Joyner was a member of a gang confined in the Rapides parish jail on a charge of robbing the office of the Alexandria Steam Laundry, who shot their way out of jail, April a year ago, after having slugged Jailer W. G. Penny with an iron window weight, and as they fled through the jail, shot Luther Penny, a 18-year-old son of the jailer, who attempted to block their passage.
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Saturday, June 23, 1934
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Blood Poison Proves Fatal to E Joiner
Desperado and Jail Breaker Succumbs in Texas Jail to Infection Caused by Carbuncle
Jail bars grating his last dawn, Earl Joiner, killer who boasted no cell could hold him, died of blood poisoning caused by a carbuncle, in the Liberty county, Texas, jail at sunup yesterday.
He had believed it would be that way, telling Sheriff T. A. Binford of Houston when he was recaptured the sixth time near that city on March 17, that the next time he left a jail he would wear a "wooden overcoat buttoned with nails."
In his 26 years of life he had robbed, slain, broken out of four jails and two penitentiaries, and fought a battle of wits with the law. He helped lead a murderous prison break at Angola in which Capt. John Singleton, a trusty, and three convicts were slain, and started a mad flight across several southwestern states. The break occurred on September 30, 1933.
The end came quietly at sunup as he lay in a Liberty county cell, where he had been held since he entered a plea of guilty to a $1,700 Cleveland, Texas bank robbery charge Tuesday and was sentenced to 10 more years in prison--a meaningless sentence to the desparado in the face of the array of sentences and charges lodged against him.
Sheriff L. V Hightower of Liberty said Joiner's body will be held until relatives arrive from Clarks, La, probably today.
The baby-faced bandit, serving a sentence on Retrieve prison farm, was removed last Saturday by Sheriff Hightower to face trial in the bank robbery, which occurred in 1932. At the time he had a high fever from the carbuncle and a physician was called to administer treatment, the sheriff said.
He rallied at first but following the hearing developed high fever again and died early yesterday, bringing a criminal career of nationwide reputation to a close.
In May, 1932 he was waiting in the Alexandria jail to be removed to Angola on a 27 to 46 years sentence for shooting with intent to kill in connection with a laundry holdup. He, with three others, crashed their way out of jail, slightly wounding Ruther Penny, son of Jailer A. W. Penny.
He remained at liberty until November 2 of the same year when Chief of Detectives Drosch and Detective Sergeant Joseph Schwehm, spotted him with two others in a downtown New Orleans night club. While the detectives collared his two companions, Joiner slipped through their fingers, dancing to the nearest exit and slipping out, Police grabbed him at a rooming house an hour later, however.
Texas clamored to bring Joiner to trial for two robberies, one the First National Bank of Cleveland and the other the $1,500 robbery of the Merchants and Farmers bank of Grapeland, Texas in July, 1932. They said he was a Texas bad man, one of the Davis gang terrorizing east and south Texas.
Louisiana sent him to Angola. He remained at the prison faarm not quite a year when the famous jail break of September 10, 1933 took place. Lead by Joiner and Charlie Frazier, another bad man now in the Texas prison, a group of convicts shot down Captain Singletonand a trusty guard, and escaped, one of them being slain as they fled. Joiner was recaptured in Arkansas and both Louisiana and Texas sought his custody. Texas deputies got him and he was given a 40-year term and sent to Crockett, Tex, in the latter part of 1933. When the jailers walked into Joiner's cell on December 30, they found the door open and a hole through the adjoining brick wall. He had twisted a spoon into a key, kicked a hole in the wall, and fled.
He was retaken for the last time March 18, at a farm house 10 miles west of Houston, when a posse of deputies headed by Sheriff Binford assisted by Norman York, private detective, caught him.
Name: Earl Joiner
Event Type: Death blood poisioning
convict
Event Date: 22 Jun 1934
Event Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Texas, United States
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Birth Date: 06 Jan 1909
Birthplace: Clarks, Louisiana
Father's Name: R F Joiner
Mother's Name: Flossie Lanneir
Certificate Number: 28747
GS Film number: 2116192
Digital Folder Number: 005145454
Image Number: 01935
1910 d Ward 4, Caldwell, Louisiana
Household Gender Age Birthplace
SELF R F Joiner M 32y Louisiana
WIFE Lucy Joiner F 28y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joiner M 9y Louisiana
SON Earl Joiner M 2y Louisiana
1920 , Rapides, Louisiana
SELF Felder Joyner M 40y Louisiana
WIFE Flossie Joiner F 38y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joyner M 20y Louisiana
SON Earl Joyner M 12y Louisiana
SON Arvel Joyner M 10y Louisiana
John T Downs M 60y Louisiana
Name: Earl Joiner
Birth Date: 6 Jan 1909
Birth Place: Clarks, Louisiana
Gender: Male married
Race: White
occupation convict
Father: R F Joiner
Mother: Flossie Lannin
Age at Death: 25
Death Date: 22 Jun 1934
Death Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Liberty, Texas
informant E F Joiner, Beaumont, Texas
*********
Sunday, April 24, 1932
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Five Break from Jail With Guns
Son of Alexandria Jailer Shot in Abdomen as Prisoners Make Getaway
Alexandria, La., April 23
Five prisoners shot their way out of the Rapides parish jail here today, commandeered two automobiles and escaped after wounding one man. W. G. Penny, 50, the jailer, was attacked with an iron window weight and Luther, his 18 year old son, was shot in the abdomen. The men who escaped were Ivy Morgan, Dan Davis, Ernest Gray (husb of Dorothy Davis ), Earl Joyner, and Jimmy Dear.
They took two sawed off shot guns from the jail, commandeered automobiles belonging to O C Butler and I J Fowler and drove south towards Marksville. The jail break occurred shortly after 3 p.m. At the Baptist hospital, physicians said young Penny's condition was undetermined.
The men came down the front stairway of the jail from the second floor. Ada Jones, negro servant screamed. Another servant, Andrew Williams, said they turned their guns on him but he ducked and got out of their way.
Joiner, Gray, Dear and Davis were charged with robbing the Alexandria Steam Laundry of $323 in a hold up March 26. Their trial was scheduled for Monday.
After leaving the jail in Second street, the men ran down Lee to Third, near the center of the business district, where they seized the cars.
Officers Blalock, Baillio, Stiles, Jones and Bush sped after them in another car. The men were fleeing towards the Avoyelles parish line.
Both cars in which the prisoners escaped were found tonight. But whereabouts of the men was not known.
One car was located in a swamp
page 2
about 12 miles south of Alexandria on the Latannier highway. It had been deserted by the men and they were believed to be hiding in the vast swamp area. Efforts have been made to locate them with bloodhounds.
The other car was found in the lower limits of the city, and a search of the neighborhood was instiuted but to no effect. The men were thought to be hiding in a culvert in Folay Avenue, but this idea was abandoned after tear gas had been used and several shots fired through the culvert.
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Thursday, November 17, 1932
State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 2
'Donald Douglas' Found Guilty on Robbery Charge
Alexandria, La, Nov 17
Found guilty on a robbery charge upon a verdict recommending him to the mercy of the court, Dan Davis, alias Donald Douglas alleged robber, jail breaker and automobile thief, was on trial here today jointly with a companion, Jimmy Dear, on the latter charge. (Dan Davis, brother of Estelle Davis, wife of Earl Joiner )
A jury yesterday convicted Davis of participating in the $300 robbery of the Alexandria steam laundry last March 26. Earl Joyner and Dear, similarly charged, pleaded guilty and were remanded for sentence.
The trial of the men on the charge of stealing an automobile after a jail break wass then undertaken. The stolen car belonged to O. G. Butler of Pineville. In their escape a member of the gang slugged the jailer here and shot and slightly wounded his son.
The three men along with Ivy Morgan were arrested recently in New Orleans night life and were returned here.
In the meantime, however, they had been recaptured and made a second escape from the Avoyelles parish jail at Marksville.
Morgan has been sent to the penitentiary for two years for injuring the jailer and his son.
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Date: Thursday, February 2, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Two Women, Said to Be Brains of Robbery Gang, Under Arrest
Liberty, Tex
Seven men and two women were under arrest today as suspected members of a Texas and Louisiana bank robbers gang, and two other suspects, a man and a woman, were sought.
The seven men held were indicted yesterday by the Liberty county grand jury in connection with two robberies of the First National bank of Cleveland, Texas. The two young women, Private Investigator Norman York said, were considered the actual "brains" of the organization.
George Hubbard, alias C W Wilson, Travis Moody; Paul Turner, alias Walter Wornwell; Dan T Davis, alias Douglas Davis, alias Jay Norton, alias L C Goble; and Gerald Cramer, alias George Carter, alias R C Lindsey, were indicted for the $1250 holdup of the bank on January 6. Ivy Morgan alias Albert Lee, and Earl Joyner, alias Robert Rhodes, were billed for the $1,705 robbery of the bank on September 14 last.
Meanwhile the county grand jury continued its investigation, reputedly having taken up the cases of the young women, who were in custody of officers.
York said the arrest of the man and woman still sought would "clean up the situation."
Information gathered by the women was given to the men, who, heavily armed, looted the bank and later picked up the women. York said the women usually drive the "getaway" cars and arrange for their disposal of the loot. They (black spot) the ones who changed large (spot) notes into money that can be handled more easily.
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Date: Friday, February 3, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 4
Continue Search For Girl Leader of Robber Gang
"Bandit Queens" Wanted for Jail Deliveries Louisiana
Liberty, Texas, Feb 3
A 17-year-old girl, one of two sisters charged by indictment as accessories to bank robbery, was sought today as officers continued their efforts to clear up two robberies of the First National Bank of Cleveland, Texas
Meanwhile, Sheriff L V Hightower revealed for the first time that the girl sought, Estelle Davis, and her 23 year old sister, Dorothy Davis, had been indicted in connection with one of the robberies. Dorothy Davis, he said, was held here.
As the situation stood nine persons had been indicted--the Davis sisters, and seven men, Hightower said. A tenth suspect Caesar Wells 19, of Aleandria, La., found wounded in a Houston hospital, was held here today under charges of robbery by fire arms in connection with the $1,239 robbery of the bank January 6. He denied any complicity.
An eleventh suspect had been brought into the case--a man arrested last week in Houston as a vagrant and later released--but it developed today he probably had no connection with it, officers said.
George Hubbard, Travis Moody, Paul Turner, Dan T. Davis, and Gerald Cramer stood indicted in the January holdup; Ivy Morgan and Earl Joiner in the $1,705 robbery of the same bank last September 14, the sheriff said.
Officers said one of the men indicted yesterday by a Pineville, La., banker as one of the bandits who invaded his bank on January 19. They also reported the two alleged "bandit queens" were wanted for two jail deliveries at Alexandria, La., one at Marksville, La., and another at Shreveport.
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Date: Saturday, September 23, 1933
Paper: State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Hot Springs, Ark
The capture of Earl Joyner, 34, one of the leaders of the Angola, La prison farm break on September 10 which has cost eight lives, was announced by police here today. Four other men and three women, including Joyner's wife also are held.
Charles Chapman, much sought alleged bank robber eluded a trap set for him at Magnolia, Ark.
Chapman, former road contractor, wanted at varous places for bank robbery, failed to show up at Magnolia at the hour which police said they learned he planned to be there. Chapman's BROTHER, BREWER, is among those arrested here.
Others arrested: J E Wells alias James Curtis Wilson, 30, wanted in New Orleans for alleged counterfeiting, and as a fugitive from the Marksville, La prison where he escaped while serving a sentence for burglary.
Joe Robertson, 25, who recently completed a sentence at Angola, La prison farm, but said to be wanted in New Orleans for automobile theft.
BREWER CHAPMAN, 26, Philadelphia, Miss, and brother of Charles Chapman, alleged bank robber. He was brought here from Camden, Ark.
W R Robertson, alias Allen Harris, said to have admitted he escaped from Angola prison farm two months ago where he was serving a bank robbery sentence.
The three women held are said to be sisters.
Mrs Estelle Davis Joyner, 19, wife of Earl
Mrs Dorothy Davis Robertson, wife of Joe Robertson
Mrs Beryl Davis Kearns, 25, wife of Wells, wanted in New Orleans
Joyner came here to see his wife and was captured at an apartment where she was living with Harris and his wife. Others were seized when they circled the apartment in a car attempting to contact Joyner, Aikers said.
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Date: Sunday, December 31, 1933
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 1
Joiner, Fugitive Louisiana Felon, Escapes in Texas
Police of three states Satruday were on the lookout for Earl Joiner, desperate Louisiana gunman and bank robber, one of 11 prisoners in the sensational Angola prison break of September 10, who escaped from jail at Crockett, Tex., Saturday.
Joiner, also known as "Baby Face," was being held in the Houston county, Texas jail in connection with two bank robberies in that state. He escaped about 2 a.m.
He had been tried and convicted, and had been in the county jail about three months when he got free, apparently by filing a duplicate key in his cell.
Joiner originally was sentenced to Angola pententiary from Rapides parish to 27 to 46 years for shooting with intent to murder and robbery.
While held in jail in Alexandria in May, 1932, he made his escape with two companions, shooting his way to freedom. The jailer's son, a youth of 19, was left dangerously wounded by the three desperados in their flight.
He was recaptured in a New Orleans dance hall with his two companions a few months later and admitted that he had taken part in a series of Louisiana and Texas bank robberies that had netted $60,000.
Life of Pleasure
They had been living a life of pleasure in New Orleans before being captured. Joiner and Jimmy Dear, his companion in the Rapides parish case, met again in the Angola penitentiary. Together, they took part in the sensational break of September 10.
According to the confessions obtained from prisoners captured alive, among whom was Dear, Joiner wielded one of the pistols, and was one of those who shot to death Virgil Davis, trusty guard, a shooting that precipitated the murder of three men and the shooting of several others in the desperate dash of 11 convicts to freedom.
He was recaptured in Hot Springs, Ark., on September 23, and in those short 13 days of freedom admitted he had carried out two additional bank robberies.
He was taken to Crockett, Tex., and was lodged in jail to answer for crimes that would have carried with them sentences far longer than he faced in Louisiana.
Joiner, according to Saturday's dispatches, fashioned a key to the jail cell with a file and knife which were found there after his escape Friday night.
His escape was discovered Saturday morning, when the turnkey went to Joiner's cell and found the door open and the prisoner gone.
**********
Date: Sunday, March 18, 1934
Paper: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Page: 17
Joyner and Wife Held in Surprise Texas Farm Raid
With the capture 10 miles from Houston, Tex., at daybreak Saturday morning of Earl Joyner, Arkansas desperado who, authorities charge, engineered the bloody September Sunday prison break in Angola last year, only one of the dozen convicts who made the break has yet to accounted for. The convict as yet unaccounted for is Walter T. Henderson, Shreveport, La., who was serving a sentence of from eight to 12 years at the time of his escape.
Joyner was captured Saturday morning by a Texas sheriff with several deputies and Norman York, a private detective, who went to the home of a farmer where Joyner and his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, were in hiding. The couple were trapped in bed. When the sheriff and his men entered they pulled the cover over their faces as if they were asleep.
"It's a tough break," Joyner is reported to have said when captured. It was the second time that Joyner has been captured since his break at Angola. He was captured in Texas several weeks after his successful break at Angola. During his period of freedom he was said to have conducted several bank robberies and was placed in jail at Crockett, Tex., to await trial, but escaped again. According to the dispatches received here, the sheriff and his men approached the farm house at daylight Saturday morning. A deputy knocked and the farmer came to the door with a lantern. As he opened the door, the sheriff yelled, "Put 'em up." The farmer reached downward. The officer shouted "Put 'em up or I'll cut you in two." The farmer surrendered and the posse rushed into the house, trapping the Joyners in bed. Mrs. Joyner pulled a dress over her night clothes, and she and her husband and the farmer were taken to the Harris county jail. Joyner is credited by officials with maneuvering the prison break at Angola. With him at the time of the prison break was Charlie Frazier, shot two weeks ago in a penitentiary break at Huntsville, Texas. When captured Saturday morning Joyner told authorities that he had been living at the farm house only a few days. The jail break at Angola was one of the bloodiest in the history of the institution. Twelve prisoners, John Anderson, James C Bird, William Bryant, Cleo Carlson, Jimmy Dear, Charles Frazier, Walter T Henderson, Dallas Hunter, James A Russell, Patrick J Ryan, Bill Stone and Joyner made a dash for freedom on Sunday, September 11, 1933. According to the records at Angola, Joyner was received at the penal farm November 18, 1932 from Rapides parish, Louisiana, under 27 to 46 years sentence for robbery and shooting with intent to murder.
Alexandria, La Mar 17
Earl Joyner, notorious bandit, who with his wife, Estelle Davis Joyner, was captured in a farm house near Houston, Texas early today, began his career of crime in Rapides parish, and has been a source of annoyance to Louisiana officers for several years. Joyner was a member of a gang confined in the Rapides parish jail on a charge of robbing the office of the Alexandria Steam Laundry, who shot their way out of jail, April a year ago, after having slugged Jailer W. G. Penny with an iron window weight, and as they fled through the jail, shot Luther Penny, a 18-year-old son of the jailer, who attempted to block their passage.
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Saturday, June 23, 1934
Paper: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Page: 1
Blood Poison Proves Fatal to E Joiner
Desperado and Jail Breaker Succumbs in Texas Jail to Infection Caused by Carbuncle
Jail bars grating his last dawn, Earl Joiner, killer who boasted no cell could hold him, died of blood poisoning caused by a carbuncle, in the Liberty county, Texas, jail at sunup yesterday.
He had believed it would be that way, telling Sheriff T. A. Binford of Houston when he was recaptured the sixth time near that city on March 17, that the next time he left a jail he would wear a "wooden overcoat buttoned with nails."
In his 26 years of life he had robbed, slain, broken out of four jails and two penitentiaries, and fought a battle of wits with the law. He helped lead a murderous prison break at Angola in which Capt. John Singleton, a trusty, and three convicts were slain, and started a mad flight across several southwestern states. The break occurred on September 30, 1933.
The end came quietly at sunup as he lay in a Liberty county cell, where he had been held since he entered a plea of guilty to a $1,700 Cleveland, Texas bank robbery charge Tuesday and was sentenced to 10 more years in prison--a meaningless sentence to the desparado in the face of the array of sentences and charges lodged against him.
Sheriff L. V Hightower of Liberty said Joiner's body will be held until relatives arrive from Clarks, La, probably today.
The baby-faced bandit, serving a sentence on Retrieve prison farm, was removed last Saturday by Sheriff Hightower to face trial in the bank robbery, which occurred in 1932. At the time he had a high fever from the carbuncle and a physician was called to administer treatment, the sheriff said.
He rallied at first but following the hearing developed high fever again and died early yesterday, bringing a criminal career of nationwide reputation to a close.
In May, 1932 he was waiting in the Alexandria jail to be removed to Angola on a 27 to 46 years sentence for shooting with intent to kill in connection with a laundry holdup. He, with three others, crashed their way out of jail, slightly wounding Ruther Penny, son of Jailer A. W. Penny.
He remained at liberty until November 2 of the same year when Chief of Detectives Drosch and Detective Sergeant Joseph Schwehm, spotted him with two others in a downtown New Orleans night club. While the detectives collared his two companions, Joiner slipped through their fingers, dancing to the nearest exit and slipping out, Police grabbed him at a rooming house an hour later, however.
Texas clamored to bring Joiner to trial for two robberies, one the First National Bank of Cleveland and the other the $1,500 robbery of the Merchants and Farmers bank of Grapeland, Texas in July, 1932. They said he was a Texas bad man, one of the Davis gang terrorizing east and south Texas.
Louisiana sent him to Angola. He remained at the prison faarm not quite a year when the famous jail break of September 10, 1933 took place. Lead by Joiner and Charlie Frazier, another bad man now in the Texas prison, a group of convicts shot down Captain Singletonand a trusty guard, and escaped, one of them being slain as they fled. Joiner was recaptured in Arkansas and both Louisiana and Texas sought his custody. Texas deputies got him and he was given a 40-year term and sent to Crockett, Tex, in the latter part of 1933. When the jailers walked into Joiner's cell on December 30, they found the door open and a hole through the adjoining brick wall. He had twisted a spoon into a key, kicked a hole in the wall, and fled.
He was retaken for the last time March 18, at a farm house 10 miles west of Houston, when a posse of deputies headed by Sheriff Binford assisted by Norman York, private detective, caught him.
Name: Earl Joiner
Event Type: Death blood poisioning
convict
Event Date: 22 Jun 1934
Event Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Texas, United States
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Birth Date: 06 Jan 1909
Birthplace: Clarks, Louisiana
Father's Name: R F Joiner
Mother's Name: Flossie Lanneir
Certificate Number: 28747
GS Film number: 2116192
Digital Folder Number: 005145454
Image Number: 01935
1910 d Ward 4, Caldwell, Louisiana
Household Gender Age Birthplace
SELF R F Joiner M 32y Louisiana
WIFE Lucy Joiner F 28y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joiner M 9y Louisiana
SON Earl Joiner M 2y Louisiana
1920 , Rapides, Louisiana
SELF Felder Joyner M 40y Louisiana
WIFE Flossie Joiner F 38y Louisiana
SON Ellis Joyner M 20y Louisiana
SON Earl Joyner M 12y Louisiana
SON Arvel Joyner M 10y Louisiana
John T Downs M 60y Louisiana
Name: Earl Joiner
Birth Date: 6 Jan 1909
Birth Place: Clarks, Louisiana
Gender: Male married
Race: White
occupation convict
Father: R F Joiner
Mother: Flossie Lannin
Age at Death: 25
Death Date: 22 Jun 1934
Death Place: Liberty County Jail, Liberty, Liberty, Texas
informant E F Joiner, Beaumont, Texas
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