Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-01
TIE RRoWN mURpER CASE.


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THE BROWN MURDER CASE.
A peculiarly painful case is now
under trial in our Criminal Court.
Mr.. p. F. Bellamy is indicted for
murder in the first degree on the
person of James Brown, colored.
Whoever is the author of the crime,
it was perpetrated about three miles
beyond Wiley's Chapel, in District
No. 9of this county. The peculiarly
distressing feature of the case is
that, from the position taken by the
counsel for the defense, it becomes
manifest that the alternative of
guilt lies between the defendant
now at the bar and the gentleman
who had been most active in pro-
noting the prosecution, Mr.. Keats,
so that the acquittal of one will go
far to inculpate the other, and in
that case thedefendant and princi-
pal witness against him will change
places and Mr.. Keats be placed on
trial.
As the evidence has not as yet
been nearly exhausted we are Of
course incompetent to form an opin-
ion as to the guilt or innocence of
either, and even had we formed one
it would be indefensible in us to
give public expression to it. We
will simply give, so far as we could
understand it, the drift of the evil
dence so far as it had been given
when we went TO press.
The counsel for the prosecution
were Messrs. Burney, Quarles, Dan
ieI, Goodpasture and Rudolph; for
the defense, Messrs. Lurton, Smith,
Henry, Johnson, Scales and Rhodes,
and it will be observed that the
counsel on both sides combined the
duties of attack and defense, Messrs.
Burney, Quarles, ETC., defending
Keats while they prosecuted Bella
my, and Messrs. LurtOn, Smith,
ETC., attacking Keats while they de-
Tended Bellamy. The two first and
most important witnesses were Ag-
nes Brown, colored, widow Of the
deceased, and Mr.. Yates.
Agnes Browns testimony showed
as follows: She, as we'll as the other
parties alluded to, all lived at or
near the old Blooming Grove Fur
mace. She, the witness, lived in q
cabin adjoining the largest building
there, which had been the boarding
house of the furnace. 1t contained
five good-sized rooms. Mr.. Keats
had the control of this building and
witness occupied under him, cook
ing for the hands employed at the
/ furnace and for Mr.. Keats also, who
slept at the office of the still-hOuse
place. DIR. Bellamy, the defendant,
lived on hill about three hundred
yards from the clearinghouse, but
had rented the clearinghouse for
the year following (lS78, the murder
having taken place Nov. 7, 1870.
DIR. b. had several times tried to get
the keys of the house before the
termination Of 1877, and had eX-
pressed some irritation at their not
being given to him. On the morn
ing of Nov. Z, 1877, deceased started
to cut wood in the hollow two or
three hundred yards distant from
the house, but took some meal with
him in a bag to carry to DR.. Bella
my's house and pay back meal he
had borrowed of him before. He
| then went to work in the hollow.
After he was gone witness saw DIR.
and Mrs. Bellamy leave their house
on two mules and ride in the direc-
| ton of the hollow where Brown
was working. \ young cOlOred
boy, a nephew of Browns, came in
]
and soon left in the direction OF
where Brown was at work. Witness
soon commenced cooking dinner,
and when it was ready she rang the
bell and called for her husband, but
got no reply. After some time her
daughter Minerva came in. Wit
ness became alarmed, having heard
pistol shots in the direction of the
hollow at s or 9 O'Clock, and, lock
ing the house, proceeded with Min
erVa to look for her husband, and
after some search Minerva saw the
body burning up, as she said, and
she, the witness, returned to the
house, not being able to look at it,
On cross examination it was clio
tied that DIR. Bellarny had wanted
the keys of the clearinghouse, but
witness had refused to give them
up, on the ground that deceased
could not fulfill his agreement to
work for Mr.. Keats if she did, and
would so lose his years wages.
She said distinctly, however, that
she knew of no i'll blood between
her husband and DIR. Bellamy. She
also told strange tale of something
being put in the milk several times
and of Keats refusing to drink it on
account of the bad taste. She also
said that she saw nothing of Keats
between breakfast and night.
Mr.. Keats knew deceased eight oil
ten years. He lived with me in
1877, working on the farm while his
wife did cooking and washing and
attended to the garden. The killing
was done Nov. I, 1877. DIR. BIS
house is about 200 yards from the
big house (boarding-hOuse). DR.,
BelIamy told me shortly before that
he had been for the keys. [ told
him he could not get them till
| Christmas. He wanted to move in
and for me to have Brown at the
still-house. / did not consent, as
| that would take Brown too far from