National Republican., 1880-08-17
FIVE FIGHTING FEMALES.
The Way They Held the Fort Against a
Constable.
The Omccr Galiautly Charges, But is Re-
pulsed by tho Garrison - Two
Assailants wounded,

The life ofa constable is full Of peris and vi.
cissitudes. So thinks Constable Simon Joseph,
who now lies at his lodgings on PENNSYLVANIA
avenue near Third street, suffering from a bull
let wound in lis hip. Mr.. Joseph yesterday,
! armed with q writ Of restitution, besered a
house glrrsorcd by fyc women. and after
several repulscs made gallant charge, late
| in the evening, aud fell wounded at tho
| threshold. The house in question is n
modest little two.story frame dwelling
| No. % Ninth street northeast Mr.. John r.
| brown, tailor figures as master OF the house.
| but bis wife, Mrs. Adelaide Brown, claims TO
own tho property, aud asserted her claim YES.
/ terday in manner that will long be rsmem.
! bcrcd In the uclghbOrhood. The simple and
! uhadorrod statement Of the affair Ms made on
the blottcr at the eighth precinct station last
evening was as follows Between / and >
| o'clock p. nj. while Constable Simon Joseph
| was trying TO dispOssess John L. Brown
from No. % Ninth street between East
| Capitol aud streets northeast he was shot
| az by some party or parties inside through
the door aud wounded in tho hin. aud a boy.
| named Howard Snyder, was also shot in the
hnger. DIR. liazcn attended Mr.. Joseph aud
nrobed the wound, but failed to find the BALL"
| Inc particulars, so far as could be learned
are rs follows: Mrs. Brown has re.
| sided IN the house in question for over sew.
ehteen years. IL is understood that IL was
presented to her by her brother, gentleman
named Hamilton, but the formality of n legal
conveyance was dispensed with, so her brother
appeared until recently on the records as
| owner of the property. Some time ago he
gave decd Of trust on the propprty and
some other property in the neighborhood, be.
| lcVlng that the other property when sold
would covor the consideration for which the
| deed OF trust was given. so It would be
unnecessary to sell the house occupied by his
SISTER Ihls calculation, however, proved to
/ md 1uha L. n
was tackled upon Mrs Browns house and a
ruthless auctioneer sold 1t of. Mrs. Brown
viewed the proceedings with scoru.
heighbor kindly offered to 'buy in" the
property for her, but she disdaned the
oncf The property, which is worth
ABOUT $1,000, was knocked down to =
man named Shoemaker for $500. About
a week ago, a neghbor saws, the pur.
chaser appeared at the house and demanded
possession, but met with such a warm recep.
ton that he beat n hasty retreat. Affairs
were IN this condition when Constable Simon
| Joseph appeared on the scene at IL o'clock
yesterday morning armed with a writ of resti.
! tuition and demanded possession. Dame
Brown, when she learned his business, told
him he had better 90 away, and expressed her
| intention OF shooting any one who attempted
| TO enter the house. The constable after
| further parley, Mrs. Brown giving him
| curt replies through window, withdrew to
| consider the matter. He concluded that it
was best TO get reiniorcCmCnts and after quite
a long absence returned with posse comitahs
| in tho persons Of ex-BaiiG Edwards aud AL.
| ionso Menimon. Meanwhile Mrs Brown had
sent out ana obtained rcinforcemeuts in
| tile person Of two plump young ladies'
Misses Lizzie and Wealthy Hamilton,
nieccs to Dame Brown. The garrison
OF the house then numbered five women
Including two good-szed daughters of
Mrs. Brown. The women evidently con.
sidered themselves fully capable of defending
the house against all comers aud did not con-
| slider it necessary to send for the men attached
| 70 the family, who are Mr.. Brown and his SON
a young man employed in the bureau of Gu.
| craving and printing. BY common consent
! tho command of tho garrison was rendered TO
Miss Wealthy Hamilton, who proved herselrby
! her prompt action and military genius fully
qualified for the post assigned her.
| When Constable Simon Joseph returned
to the spot with his reinforcemcnts
he formally demanded the surrender of the
house. Miss Wealthy, who was on guard duty
at secondstory window with pistol in
her hand, thereupon defed him to DO his
worst. Mr.. Joseph notified her of his inten-
! tiOn to break the door in, whereupon she re-
marked, II dare you to break the door in" at
the same time leaning out of the window and
lingering the pistol in a way calculated to
make even brave constable like Mr.. joseph
quake. Mr. Joseph thereupon withdrew to
confer with the posse cOgsitduS, which
MS sensible posse c0mtdiUS should do,
was watching proceedings at safe distance
from the house The constable and his allies
| decided to call in the aid Of the police and
soon had halfa.dozen officers, including
Lieutenant Boteer, OH the field of battle.
The constable wanted to have the women ar
rested on a charge of assault, but as no yio-
lenco had been done him such a course was
deemed unwise. Lieutenant Boteer, going
to the house, held a parley with Dame
Brown and advised her to submit to
the law. She announced her determination
to hold the fort Upon that the whole gar
| rison joined in the song Hold the Fort" end
| ing with Il lOud declaration to shoot the first
man who attempted to effect an entrance.
This was not at all cheering to tho poor con-
stable, who stood outside scratching his head
with one hand and holding his writ in the
other The presence Of hundred or more
people who had gathered on the spot,
however, norved him to his duty,
and as he gritted his teeth together
those who saw him felt sure that the house
would he entered or Mr.. Joseph would die in
the attempt Several attempts were made to
persGade tho women to surrender, but every
limo they made a defiant reply. The com.
mander.in-chief Of the determined band of
women announced that there were five of them,
and all armed, and any man who ATTEMPTED
10 fool with them would be sorry for
! it, After many repulses Mr.. JOscph
about halfpast o'clock mado the last cal.
| liant charge on the front door, Hiss Wealthy,
| who was still at her post in tho window,
| yelled to tho rest of the garrison, who il
| appears were collected in the hallway
/ below: There is man trying 90 break
down the door. Defend your property."
| The word had hardly been spoken, when three
shots wcro fired through the door, aud Con.
stable Simon Joseph, reGlng back from the
| door, clutchcd at his rght.LreeGhos pocket, a
| ball having struck him in that region, Miss
| Wealthy screamed out Of the window You
got it, did you! | hope you did. Take him
away take the coward away The last in
junction was addressed to tho crowd Of neope
who had rushed up to the assistance Of tho
wounded constable. One of the bullets, ns
mentioned IN the police report above, struck a
lad named Snyder nipping Off The end Of his
! finger The wounded constable, still qrasp.
ing his writ WAS carried to tho rear, where
there was drug store, aud received attention
from Dr. lluHcn. The wound, though
very painful is not considered danger.
Gus, Joseph was altorward removed TO
his lodgings in carriage. Tho posse
cOmitdtiS rendered incstmuble service, after
the storminr Of the castle and repulse Of the
ohiceis Of the law, by procuring warrants for
tlc arrest of Mrs, Brown aud the Misses Ham.
iltOu on charge of assault and battery with
intent 10 Kill. This warrant WAS served about
Z o'clock by Officers Wagner and MOckabee
Tho garrison, though expressing great con.