Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1895-05-16

- - 1st1ss "s8sA~ t4~ M10Nnk8tn-uht&'
was thronged with people. 9Th,
news had spread quickly and man,
were attracted by it.
/ The body, with I'll the evidences
was taken from the place where il
was found and removed TO the vii
lage, where they we're viewed by
hundreds Of curious persons. The
head was found next day, hid away
under ledge Of rock, less than &c
feet away from where the body was
found. The skull was cut almost
in two by some instrument. while O
diagonal wound from the right
temple to point under the left
temple laid bare the nose and mouth
in horrible manner.
The only way in which the body
was identified VIA by the dress. III
was the one which Matte Brown
son wore when she started from
home the fatal day after hucklo-
berries. The spot where the body
was found was not a hundred yards
from where the calored girl, Becky,
had left the murdered girl sitting,
and the murder could not have been
committed far from there. Moss
and the spongy earth in a forest
leave few traces, and none were
found.
A coroner's jury was summoned,
and brought in a verdict that the
girl had come to her death at the
hands of some person unknown.
There was no clue whatever to the
perpetrator, and, though the au-
thorities offered reward, the mur-
derer could not DO found. 1t was
decided that the wounds inflicted
on the girl must have been, done
with an axe, but whose axe was
another question which was not
answered.
DIVINE AID INVOKED.
The murder and the mystery sur
rounding it was more than nine
days wonder in the country. It
lasted asmany months. The preach
era offered mp prayers that the mur-
those who listened surely had to say
"Amen!" to them. One old preach
er went further than the rest. He
prayed that the direst af1iiction
might fall upon the murderer, and
not only him, but those who har-
bored him, and that in this way the
man might be discovered. Those
who heard the prayer said that it
was one Of the most terrible invo-
cations for maledictions to descend
upon the head of an evil-doer ever
listened to, and that it was fearful
in its intensity. Matte Brownaon
had been warm friend of the
preacher and had been an attendant
at his church. This was the reason
OF his fervency. The prayer shocked
some of the members of the congre-
CATION, but the preacher had the
nerve to assert afterward he meant
every word he said.
Winter came, and when the
spring returned the preachers pray
er seemed in some way to be an
swered. There was q prosperous
farmer living near .Fordham who
was known as one of the most sue
cessful farmers in the county. 1t
is not necessary to give his name,
for it would>be like reopening an
old wound. As successful as he
had previously been, that year every
thing went wrong with him. One
Of the great features Of his farm was
a fine peach orchard Though it
was an unusually good peach year,
his trees refused TO bear. II was
4
the same way with his apple trees
and others. His wheat was blight
ed, his cattle died, his poultry did
not thrive, and so marked was the
difference between the crops and
the prosperity of the farm that year
compared with former years, that
the change was most palpable. Peo-
pie began to whisper. and finally to
talk outright. The outcome was
that the farmer had to prove IN
alibi on the day of Matte Brown
sons murder.
lie was q highly-esteemed man,
and well liked, but the affairs ON
his farm looked like direct vista
tion of Providence, AID comment
ran so high he gave himself up.
His alibi was easily proven, and he
was entirely exonerated.
| Suspicion then rested Or his son,
a young man Of about 25. He wai