The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-06-14
A MOMENT OF ANGER:
The History Of Mr.. and Mrs
3 Brownlow's Quarrel



so great, the newspapers were so constant
In their publication Ut sensational clews,
and editorials were hurled in such volume
upon the department as to compel it to take
every chance, no matter how chimerIcal it
might seem, to ferret out the truth of this
mystery. The general cry was: Let there
be the same law for the rich man as well as
for the poor" The widest sort of stories
were circulated and even published to the
effect that the wealthy friends of Mr..
Brownlow had bribed the police, from the
chief to the humblest patrolman, not to find
evidence in this case. Smarting under this
sort of criticism, therefore, and with asnat-
ural pride IN their work, the detectlvessput
8 sff most earnest. endeavors into the case
M studied and worked night and day to
e.sAt the TRUTH
SSf)ne of the detectives who had been au-
tborized to make special Investigations into
the family of Mrs. Brownlow reported one day
that the theory of sudden anger would real
~ not hold in this case; that there must be
some other satisfactory motive for the deed.
and that he believed that it would be found
by examination of the papers of Mrs.
BrownoW. Up to this time all the private
documents found in the Brownlow mansion,
fully kept without exanination. The de-
tective averred that the Champion family
felt so strongly that Mr.. Brownlow had
married their d aughter for the sake of her
money that he now believed that he had
been instrumental in putting her out of the
way for the sake of getting secure and
undivided hold upon it. Accordingly. all
examination was made of the property
which Mrs. BrOwnlow held 1t was found
that nothing had been touched by Mr..
Brownlow, and that the property which
stood in her name consisted almost entirely
of unregistered bonds, which, as every body
knows, are good for their face value on pre-
sentation.
Among the papers, however, was a will
made by Mrs. Brownlow, in which her hus
band was nominated as her sole heir, and
this will bore date six days previous to
the crime. The finding of this testament
created a sensation among the detectives,
but its discovery was for considerable
period kept from the public. They knew
now what interest the hus band had in the
death or disappearance Of his wife. There
was only one objection to this theory: In
order to inherit this property he must pro
Guce a certificate of death of his wife
But after her disappearance this was I'M
comparatively easy to overcome this, for "a
long as the death of Leonora was not regu
larly proven Mr.. BrOwnlow remained in
practicable possession Of the fortune as the
administrator, and 1T would have been very
difficult to GUST him from his position. If
later on, her death should become an estab
lished fact the will would then set aside
any adverse claim. 1t seemed to be a cev
erly executed scnemc.
CHAPTER Nv.
AS time wore on the situation Of the ac
cuSed became more serious. 1t was more
and more impossible to believe that Mrs.
Brownlow had left the house of her own
free will. After discussion of all the the
cries they could possibly evolve, the report
ers, in order to keep the matter well before
the public in an attractive shape, origin
ated this theory: That Mrs. B;sownlow had
simply gone with her husbands consent t.
take a journey, the object of which they die
not care to reveal. Although this theory
gained credit in the papers, especially be-
cause of efforts on the part of some of Mr..
Brownlow's friends to substantiate it, the
detectives paid little attention to it. 1t was
so evident that Mrs. Brownlow, had such
been the case, would have returned as soon
as she had heard the accusations directed
against her husband, that the theory seemed
to be of no Importance. Day after day, Of
course the detectives gave Mr.. BrownloW
every opportunity to talk and state his
side of the case, but he oDStinately re.
manned silent 1t was Disappointing to the
detectives engaged upon the case that they
could not get direct and incontrovertible
evidence of the fundamental fact in the
case, namely, that Mrs. Brownlow was
dead The fact of her disappearance need,
ed no proof; the object Of the accused in
committing the crime was established; he
had refused to account for the time passed
where and how no one knew, during the
evening and part of the night of Tuesday,
the 14th. And his attitude from the time
of his arrest had been compromising in the
extreme; but there was still no evidence
that seemed to justify conviction. One day
the detectives found jlst the clcw that they
seemed to have been waiting fer SO long.
1t came partly as chance ana partly as
the result of keen detective work Seth
Ketcham had reasoned with himself that 81
Mrs BrownlOw had left the house, or had
at all events been last seen in evening
dress, and as those garments were not
found in the house at the time of the search
she must have had them on whenever the
deed was committed. Next to the difficulty
OF hiding the body would be the difficulty of
disposng of this peculiar clothing. He had
made tireless searches among the second
hand clothing stores and pawn-shops of the
city TO seeif therein might not be found some
of the garments which Mrs. Brownlow had
worn, his idea being the vague one that
perhaps Mr.. Brownlow had taken that
means to disguise any trace of the crime
that might be found on the clothing. Hav-
that he went through, he thought over the
possible ways in which the crime might
have been committed. ANY noisy violence
in the city would be liable to attract atten-
ton; therefore ne concluded that the deed
must have been done some other way. In
the course of his Investigations he found that
the deck hand of ferry-boat that had been
crossing the North river upon that night
about ten o'clock had seen q man and WON.
an Quarreling in low tones upon the after
part of the boat
He had paid but little attention to them,
although he confessed that his post of duty
should have been at that end of the boat
He went forward to she engne-room for a
moment, and when he returned he saw the
man standing by the rail alone. AS he ap-
preached the stranger the man turned
abruptly and walked into the gentlemen s
cabin The deck hand had paid no atten-
ton to it, because circumstances of that
nature are 80 common where crowds Assem-
BILE, and had thought nothing further OF
it until the detectives had put their usual
inquiries to him as to whether he had seen
such people as Mr.. and Mrs. Brownlow
come over on his boat on the night in ques-
ton. Ketcham reasoned from this that the
murder had been done upon the ferry boat
and he stronC,v believed that there was a
clew to the crime. He was therefore watch