Felon Forest Gibson: Limestone County’s Houdini Hopeful

Forest Gibson of Oletha, first escaped prison near Huntsville in 1933 and was recaptured by Limestone County officers after a gun battle in the Old Union Community on Dec. 16, 1933. He was serving a sentence of four years for car thefts taking place in Limestone and McLennan Counties. After his recapture, he spent some time in the Limestone County jail serving out the remaining two years of his original four-year sentence while awaiting trial for the additional charge of car theft from the escape.
On March 23, 1936, he was sentenced to an additional ten years after pleading guilty to the theft of a traveling salesman’s car in Mexia, presumably in the midst of his escape from Huntsville. While still in the county jail, a second escape attempt was thwarted when Gibson was caught on March 31, 1936, trying to saw through the jail bars with several other prisoners.
Gibson again escaped, this time from the Retrieve Prison Farm, on June 19, 1936, in Brazoria County. During this escape attempt, 44-year-old guard Felix Smith was murdered by Luke Trammell, a convicted murderer and co-escapee to Gibson. They were able to steal a horse or mule (there are conflicting accounts), another guard's weapons, and Smith’s pistols before escaping. The Limestone County sheriff’s office was warned that they had stolen a car and were most likely on their way here.
The stolen car was spotted at the McKenzie Crossing of the Navasota River by Sheriff Will Adams, who turned around to give chase, firing shots before realizing the escapees had abandoned the car and taken off into the woods on foot. On June 24, they stole a horse from Oletha farmer C.E. Shields, only 30 minutes ahead of bloodhounds brought in from Huntsville to hunt them. As of the paper released June 26, 1936, the pair had still not been found, but their location had been narrowed down to the thickly wooded area of the southeastern part of the county. When they were found and recaptured is unclear, but they were, and Trammell was sentenced to death for the murder of the guard, while Gibson received an additional 60 years for the same.
On Oct. 2, 1937, Gibson made his fourth and final escape attempt. This prison break attempt occurred at Eastham Prison Camp, where Gibson was shot in the abdomen during the attempt, two other convicts were killed, and another was severely wounded while the prisoners attempted to rush the prison’s arsenal. Gibson died on Oct. 15, 1937, of his injuries, finally escaping prison successfully.

Reporter’s Note: As usual, this article was researched and written with information from the archives of the Journal, however, some information was corroborated by the book “Texas Lawmen, 1900-1940: More of the Good and the Bad” By Clifford R. Caldwell, Ron DeLord.