(photo by Kaye Slover)

Old Palestine Cemetery is about four miles east of Alto, Texas, in the Linnwood Community and is south of the highway. The church nearby, was once called Mount Olive. The cemetery was originally called Palestine but the "Old" was added later when there was some confusion when speaking of it and the town of Palestine which is in the adjacent county of Anderson. Old Palestine has the gravesite of Holloway Daniel Murphy who was shot to death during his first day on the job as a Texas Highway Patrolman by Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow. H.D. Murphy and another patrolman thought Bonnie & Clyde were two stranded motorist and stopped to render aid to the two gangsters. Both patrolmen were gunned down as they dismounted their motorcycles by the infamous pair. A farmer who saw the incident said Bonnie and Clyde then walked up to the dying officers and shot both of them in the head. To this day H.D. Murphy holds the record for being the youngest Texas Highway Patrolman killed in the line of duty and also had the shortest tenure as a Texas Highway Patrolman that was killed in the line of duty. This cemetery was catalogued in the Spring 1974.


 

Revised March 18, 2007 by  Kaye Slover