Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-03-24
MURDERER JETHRo MARTIN.

urain county, MISSOURI, was III INT
city yesterday with a requisitior
upon Governor Chase for a prisoner
at the work-house named Harry
Brown, alias Jethro Martin. A
warrant was issued authorizing the
transportation of Martin out of the
State. He is under indictment fol
the murder of his father, Rev.
Thomas Martin, Jan. 26, with a
blunt instrument. Brown, alias
Martin, was arrested Feb. 4 by
detectives Kinney and Page on a
charge of vagrancy. He was sem
fenced to pay a fine of 800, and
was sent to the work-house in de-
fault of payment. About a month
ago haanade a break for liberty one
evening as the prisoners were being
taken in line to supper. He dashed
through a glass window, and but for
the ability and perseverance of Su-
p~erintendent Anderson he would
have escaped. His conduct at this
time led to the suspicion hat he is a
bad man of bad character and of a
bad record.
At the time of the reformatory fire
it became necessary to remove the
prisoners from the work-house to
the jail, and Martin has since been
confined in the latter place. He
was seen last night by a Journal re-
porter. In appearance he resembles
the species tramp. His hair is a
dark red, and his head and face are
small and laterally punched. His
forehead is low and retreating. AL
together, his countenance is for
bidding, with a ~hang-dog look. In
reply to pointed questions he told
the following story, in substance.
Il don't know anything about the
death of my father except what my
cousin told me when he was here, a
week ago. l left my father at our
house in Martinsburg, twelve miles
from Mexico, Mo-, Jan. 26 1.-THE
date of the murder], in the evening.
He gave me his watch and We trad
ed ~overcoats, and we parted without
words. Isuppose | am accused be-
cause he was killed so soon after |
left the house. His wife was away
from home visiting some neighbors
when | left"
"Were you and your fathers
wife on good terms?" was asked.
Good as need be fora step-moth-
en-" was the reply.
"Where did you go after leaving
home?"
II went on the Wabash road to
st. Louis and then to Cincinnati. l
lost my money in a hotel under my
pillow. l came here and one night
was begging for some money for a
nights lodging, when l was arrest
ed. 1 had my fathers watch, but L
did not want to put that up for Sc
curity. l expected to get a job at
braking the next day, and was in
tending to make my way to Green
county, Pennsylvania, where my
sister lives. What made me change
my name? Well, I was travelling
around, and l thought [ might as
well go by another name L am
thirty-one years of age, and have
generally worked on a farm"
When asked if he was married
| Martin made no ineligible reply.
He will be taken before Judge Cox
this morning to be identified as the
man wanted. The clew which led
to the present legal process was
a letter, written while in jail, to his
sister in Pennsylvania. She INFORM
ed the Audrain authorities, and the
cousin, James J. Martin, came on
to identify him. 1t is supposed
that Martin quarreled with his
father about his wife, who is only
twenty-three years of age. She had
married her husband in st. Louis,
He was a minister in the Baptisi
Church, and was sixty-three years
of age. The assault was committed
with a stick of stove wood, which
cut the scalp to the bone and crushed
the skull. Death was instantaneous
The deceased was discovered deat
upon the floor by his young wife
The murder has all the accessorlei
of brutality. Another lynching /
not improbable in Missouri.