Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-12-14
DIVINE R~GfAlHufIuR
fhs Awful Plea Which viii be Sci
Up 10 Save Russell Brown.
Defense aud Prosecution
Promising 20 be Unpreee-
dentedly Dramatie.
81 Louis Republican.

Endorsed by ali the boys surviving
relations except his father and his
mother, Mrs. Van Wisker, who alone
are interesting themselves in his de-
tense The ease will almost un.
.doubtedly come to trial during the
January term OF tho Criminal Court,
as the de tense, represented by ex
Governor Charles z. johnson, nov
expects to be ready at that time
and the prosecution. which will be
conducted by Circuit Attorney Harris.
will scarcely ask delay. The idea
which was at first entertained of re.
tanning Senator George Vest for the
prosecution has been abandoned, and
Mr., Harris will thus be given the op
portunity oil exhibiting his power as a
prosecutor even to a greater extent
than be has done all ready in several
important murder cases. The trial
bids fair to be one of the most dramat,
ic aver had in st. Louis. The eyi
dence itself is painfully dramatic with
its story Of the approach Of the two
young men, Brown and McGlew, 10
the house, their waiting for Browns
old grandmother to 60 to sleep. the
entrance through the window, etrafe-
gem used to deeoy the old lady to her
death, the cruel strugglein which her
was torn from her and she was
left lying ifeless with
TIE MARKS or HER GRANDsON's
FINGERS
on her throat-these things an
others like them, with which columns
after columns have b-en filed, are
themselves more sensational than
anything brought out in the Malley
case or any other Of the great trials
with which Eastern papers have been
filed. But In addition there will be
other elements which will make the
sc ne In the courtroom more interest
ingly dramatic. The spectacle will be
presented of q mother taking the
stand aud testii5iDg against herself,
her mother and her father to save her
son-testifying against herself aud her
nearest kin, not 40 particeps criminis
under the human law. but under that
divine stone written statute in the
terrible language Of which THE sins
of the fathers shall be visited
upon the children to the third snc
fourth generation Of them that bate
Me" The testimOnyfor the prosecu
ton is so strong that at first blush
any defense except a plea for mercy
seems p%reposterous. A defense, how
ever, has been devised which, though
not without example in criminal
annals, still has about il many of the
elements Of novelty. Whether it will
win in the face of the awful facts on
the side Of the prosecution is 4 puzzle
which cannot be even guessed at uatil
he who is anxious to solve it sees the
trial in prcgrels and watches the jury
which must determine. In its details
II has not, of course, been revealed.
but its outline, which came 10 The
knowledge OF a Republican reporter.
is enough to show il. 1t will be recol
lected that Immediately after the
murder there was a side difference Of
opinion among the best lawyers as to
whether there still prevailed in Mis-
sour the common IA doctrine making
an accidental homicide happening
a.
an INCIDENT OF A FELONY
ehArgeabls against the person who
was the cause, willing or q unwilling. As
a capital oHense. OF this doubt The
defense will take ADVANTAGE. but II
viii plead also that the boz VS. no.
engaged in the commission of q r. oay.
but Of . trespass, which be had fire.
quently committed before. and for
which he had as frequently been for.
siven By his ihdulgent grandparents.
They will claim that be entered the
house not to do murder, but to Dor
row his grandmother watch and
rings from her By stratagem, to payD
them afterEard, and TO let her re-.
deem them As had frequently been
done they will claim that the boy vas
10 do this by a force which II
was impossible for hin 10 resist. the
thirst for drink, and here will come In
the most sensational part of the de
tense. The defense will be. 10 /.
word, that the crime was the acct
dental result oil hereditary alcoholism:
that the death Of the unfortunate old
lady was retributive justice, of which
the grandson was the irresponsible
agenti that he took in the love OF
alcohol with his mothers milk; that
It descended to him through her from
his grandmother and his Grandfather.
his great grandparents and their 0.
rents for even more than the third ana
fourth generations back; that
THE THIRST ToR ALCOHOL
which be commenced to show IN his
earliest youth, vas more than a wild.
irresistible passion = more dreadful
than this in being an Inherited dis
ease, which warped the boys moral
nature making him think that The
robberyo Of It's grandparents and parents
was no $40 so long as the qualification
OF the diseased appetite mas minister
ed to. 10 the testimony adduced I,
substaptlate such q defense. there musl
necessarily be an uneoyering Of plague
spots, q making public Of family ee
crets, 10 which only such an emergen.
cy as this could Induce the bow
mother to consent. However uuyil
ing she may have been, it vas only on
such 3 sacrifice that she could base a
hope OF seeing him escape the Rallow,
IL Is one Of the saddest phases Of the
whole sad affair that the defense will
md at hand abundant evidence 10
support It's theory. It has been
stated 10 the newspapers that the de.
tense would be insanity: this boveys,
Is a mistake, for Ex-Governor johnson
yesterday informed a Republican no.
porter that they did NOT exnect y
mention insanity in the defense Al ali
he would touch on hereditary Alec
nolism, however. What an arTumen,
Tor prohibition this case is,' he ala
The ALEXANDRA Theatre in Lopdon
Just destroyed by FIRE, stood on M
east side Of Leicester Square, a local
lty, but long since fell from that bigb