The B. G. Palmer Story

B. G. Palmer (58), a long-time Southwick resident, once conducted a combined store and post office, something quite common back in the day. Later, he worked as a grocery clerk at C. A. Reed's store in Southwick (where Country Colonial Gift Shop is today).

Several years back, B.G., or Goodman as he was sometimes known, found himself in poor health and, in great dismay, could no longer work.

He lived with his two unmarried sisters, Dora and Laura Palmer, on what was then Main Street in the center of town. His sisters frequently checked on him as they did their best to care for their younger brother.

Goodman's condition worsened. Following an operation sometime around 1898, he became despondent and could barely, if ever, leave the house.

Around 3:00 a.m., on August 25, 1900, one of his sisters woke, and when she went to check on him, she found his room vacant. She noticed the doors leading from the passageway to the shed were open, so she went to investigate.

She stepped outside into the darkness and onto the grass. She only went a short distance when she found her brother's body. His throat had been slit with a razor; his jugular vein wholly severed. 

Footprints leading to and from a brook behind the house led authorities to believe Goodman tried to drown himself, but the water proved too shallow, so he returned home, got a razor, and finished the deadly deed.

Beman Goodman Palmer: Oct. 11, 1841 - Aug. 25, 1900.

Laura Ann Palmer: Jul. 10, 1834 - Dec. 23, 1907. (La grippe, senile)

Dora A. Palmer: Jul. 6, 1836 - Jan. 9, 1908. (Dementia paralytica, exhaustion)

Charles A. Reed:  May 22, 1848 - Dec. 23, 1915.

"The B.G. Palmer Story" was published
in the September 2022 edition of Southwoods