B. J. Palmer - Questioned Involvement in Father's Death

Questioned Involvement in Father's Death

The allegations that B.J. had hit his father with a car during the homecoming parade followed B.J. Palmer for the better part of a generation had its beginnings on August 27, 1913. The 2008 book Trick or Treatment states that in 1913 B.J. Palmer ran over his father, D.D. Palmer, at a homecoming parade for the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Weeks later, D.D. Palmer died in Los Angeles. The official cause of death was recorded as typhoid. The book Trick or Treatment remarked "it seems more likely that his death was a direct result of injuries caused by his son." There was speculation it was not an accident, but rather a case of patricide. They had become bitter rivals over the leadership of chiropractic. B.J. Palmer resented his father for the way he treated his family, stating that his father beat three of his children with straps and was so much involved in chiropractic that "he hardly knew he had any children". D.D. claimed that his son B.J. struck him with his car. Chiropractic historian Joseph C. Keating, Jr. has described the "patricide" interpretation of the event as a myth and "absurd on its face" and cites an eyewitness who recalled that D.D. was not struck by B.J.'s car, but rather, had stumbled. He also says "Joy Loban, DC, executor of D.D.'s estate, voluntarily withdrew a civil suit claiming damages against B.J. Palmer, and that several grand juries repeatedly refused to bring criminal charges against the son." D.D. Palmer died October 20, 1913. One cause of the rumors was the competition between the schools (Palmers and Universals).