Guard John R. Greer

Guard John R. Greer

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division, Texas

End of Watch Saturday, August 27, 1938

Add to My Heroes

John R. Greer

Guard John Greer succumbed to stab wounds sustained 11 days earlier during an escape attempt at the Eastham State Prison Farm in Houston County, Texas.

Guard Greer was stabbed in the stomach by one of the eight prisoners who attempted to escape. Other guards who were at the prison farm opened fire on the prisoners during the escape, killing two of them.

Six felons escaped; two men were shot by guards by the river, two were drowned, one was recaptured, and one was apprehended in 1939.

Guard Greer was a U.S. Army veteran of WWI and served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division for 13 years. He was survived by his wife, son, four daughters, and parents.

Bio

Age 41
Tour 13 years
Badge Not available
Military Veteran

Incident Details

Cause Stabbed
Incident Date Tuesday, August 16, 1938
Weapon Edged weapon; Knife
Offender Shot and killed

escape attempt

LODD Mapping FAQs

Most Recent Reflection

View all 19 Reflections

John Greer was my grandfather, and I was raised on stories of his challenging life, and his ferocious protection of his family. Family stories have him guarding Clyde Barrow during his time in Eastham in 1932. His wife, my grandmother (Daisy Greer), told of petitioning the judge to not apply the death penalty to one of the surviving escapees, because “Every man is some mother’s son.”

Johnnie Driessner
grandson

June 2, 2022