San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-03-20


tried to secure. His friend waited
outside for him to return with the
Jewels. He entered the house with
out arousing suspicion, and finding
the aged woman alone, seized hel
by the throat and strangled her tC
death. He left the house with the
precious stones, joined his com.
panion, and together they contin.
ued their wild debauch, which was
only cut short by the arrest oil
young Brown on charge OF muir
der.
An indictment for murder in the
first degree was brought against
the prisoner, who languished in
Jail for months. During the pre-
paration of his defense the family
skeleton was barred and the entire
community received a second
shock such as nothing but the
murder itself could have produced.
1t developed that the young man
was afflicted with dipsomania,
which he had inherited from his
old grandmother, whom he had
slain, and that the taste for liquor
had been inherent in the family on
his mothers side for generations.
Then it was that the whispered
speculations that old Mrs. Doris
had been a slave to liquor all her
life became certainty, and the in
dignation OF the highly incensed
public turned to pity for the poor
unfortunate who had become
branded as felon through a
weakness he had inherited from
his victim. Not until after the
murder did it become generally
known that Mrs. Doris had been
a drunkard for years.
Russell Brown was brought to
trial, and the original defense
that of insa nifty, which it was the
intention Of his attorney, Charles
p. Johnson, to prove by reference
TO the fate OF number OF his ante
;edents, who had either died the
victims of tremens or been sent to
the mad house-so Mortified the
members of the family that they
preferred that the prisoner should
suffer the penalty for murder in
the second degree to such a dread
full exposure. AS result Of this
decision and through the indefati-
gable efforts Of his counsel, Russell
Brown was sentenced to ten years.
mprisonment in the peniientiary.
After serving few years, however,
he escaped and fled to Canada. He
was never recaptured, and lived a
miserable life in the Diminion, a
slave to drink and in a state of al
most perpetual fear Of apprehen-
sion and consequent return to his
prison cell. OFT TIMES racked with
delirium tremens and haunted by
the horrible nightmare of his I'M
natural crime, he suffered the tor.
lures Of the damned. At last a
lOnged-for death came to his relief
while he was yet in the prime Of
life.
AS a sequel to the awful crime
of the son and his death in a for
eign land as fugitive from JUS
tice in his own, the father, Judge
Joseph Brown, for years bowed
down with grief and humbled be-
fore his fellowmen, died Of brok-
en- heart.
And yet the dread nemesis that
lurked in the pathway Of this once
happy family had not been satiat-
ed. The mother of this misguided
son was doomed to a fate so ter.
rible that it makes one shudder to
hear the mere recital Of it in it's
barest outlines. A lovely young
woman she was when her father
| had reached the zenith of his fame
as a successful man OF bust ness
and was preparing to enjoy the
fortune he had accumulated. She
was reigning belle in st. Louis
society, and as popular as she was
beautiful and accomplished. She
was wooed and won by Judge
Joseph Brown, and they founded
the happy home over which the
darkening hand Of fate was des-
tined to cast its gloomy shadow
in years to come. Ere long a son
was born to them, in whom their
most cherished hopes We're cen.
tered. 1t was this boy, Russell
Brown, whose hands were stained
with the blood Of his own grand.
mother.
But the demon that pursued the
son had long before taken firm
hold on the still beautiful mother
had robbed her rosy cheeks Of thei
bloom and her beautiful ewes n