Joseph F. "Joe" Wilkerson

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division — Huntsville, TX

Accident

End of Watch April 23, 1906

Age 51

The Vigil Panel 20 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 123

Incident

The Texas Prison System operated a railroad between an iron ore bed and the furnace at the prison in Rusk in Cherokee County. The train left the prison with 24 guards and 149 convicts at about 6:30 a.m. Shortly after leaving the prison one of the convicts uncoupled the two rear railroad cars which quickly started dropping behind the rest of the train. The engineer was ordered to stop the train. Two convicts jumped from the train and ran towards the woods. Fifteen to twenty guards opened fire on them. When the smoke cleared they discovered that Officer Joe Wilkerson, was killed and another officer, Will Lloyd, was slightly wounded. One convict was killed and one wounded. The officers were accidentally shot in the confusion.

Justice T. H. Findley conducted an inquest. The judge concluded that: “I find from the evidence that deceased, Joe Wilkerson, came to his death from a pistol shot wound from a pistol in the hands of Jim Bell, a guard at the prison, while trying to prevent the escape of a State convict, and that the killing was purely accidental.” Guard Bell was discharged by the prison system.

Wilkerson was survived by his wife and four small children. He is buried in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Rusk, Texas

Survivors

Wilkerson was survived by his wife and four small children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-TX-AA2D55B6
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Correction Officer Wilkerson served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Thank you for your service to the Huntsville community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Correction Officer Wilkerson.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division

Location Huntsville, TX

Platform Identity tdcjcidcorr.walker.tx.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 23, 1906

Age 51

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Correction Officer Joseph F. "Joe" Wilkerson is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In TX, 653 of 2,421 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 27% of this state's fallen. That is 4 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.

At Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division, 32 of 124 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 25.8% of this agency's fallen.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division

of 124 officers

25.8% Accident

TX — Statewide

653

of 2,421 officers

27% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident