Assault with a Hatchet

I own the Buckingham Justice of the Peace Ledger which covers the years 1890-1914. T. Howard Atkinson was the Justice at the time. There are some interesting cases presented in these pages, including this viscous assault perpetrated in a home owned by a prominent citizen.

April 9, 1908 Record of warrant issued for the arrest of George Palmer

The complaint, in part, reads:

At hearing Mrs. Anna Yerkes affirmed and testified that the defendant George Palmer came into the room in the second story of her house in Buckingham township while she was alone, on the morning of April 7, 1908, and without provocation made a vicious attack on her with a hatchet, and beat her very seriously about the shoulders and head, and might have killed her if the head of the hatchet had not come off. The defendant said he did it because he was mad and believed that she had tried to poison him.

A few days after the assault, we find this article in the Newtown Enterprise.

While alone in the second-story of her home - "Elm Grove," the summer residence of Colonel Henry D. Paxon, in Buckingham township, on the pike between Holicong and Lahaska, Mrs. Jonathan Yerkes was early Tuesday morning murderously assaulted by George Palmer, a young negro on the place, and only escaped death through her desperate resistance and effectual defense against the blows rained upon her head with a hatched by the almost insanely drunken brute. Palmer was working in the garden when Jonathan Yerkes started for the station a short time before the attack. Mrs. Yerkes was at work upstairs when she suddenly became aware of Palmer's presence and was grasped by him by one arm as he attempted to strike her with a small hatched. Being a big, strong woman, Mrs. Yerkes made a desperate defense. Time after time blows fell upon her head, face and back, but fortunately the cutting edge of the weapon did not come into play. Her head was covered with contusions, her face with bruises and scratches and one eye was scratched. Suddenly, as the negro sought to bring his weapon down upon her head again, the hatchet flew from the handle. Up to this time, Mrs. Yerkes had been so desperately occupied with her defense that she was unable to call for help, but now she called and the negro left her, bleeding and about ready to collapse from the awful strain she had been under. 

Palmer returned to the garden and resumed his work. Christian Kepler and other neighbors who heard the woman's cried soon arrived. When Kepler approached the negro, the latter pulled a revolver and threatened to shoot him. Intimidated by the revolver, the unarmed men stood by and saw the negro take to his heels and disappear. As soon as possible a warrant was sworn out before Justice T. Howard Atkinson and placed in the hands of Constable Peters. This official finally found Palmer in a sand hole near the sheds on the Buckingham Friends' Meeting property, where he surrendered without resistance.

When arraigned before Squire Atkinson, the negro said he was "mad at Mrs. Yerkes because she tried to poison me." That was his only excuse. Mrs. Yerkes is convinced that he sought to commit criminal assault, but it is believed by many that the condition of Palmer, who is not strong mentally, was aggravated by indulgence in strong drink. He did not deny that he intended to grievously would, if not murder Mrs. Yerkes. The woman's injuries are not believed to be serious, but they are of a very painful and disfiguring character. Heretofore, Palmer, while a heavy drinker, has not been considered particularly dangerous. He was lodged in the county jail to await trial. The negro had lived about Buckingham for a number of years. 

George Palmer Sentenced

Next month we see that George Palmer was convicted and sentenced to a fine and 4 years in the Eastern Penitentiary.