The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-12
DECIDEDLY DRAMATIC.
REVEREND BROWN AND MISS OVER
MAN MEET AGAIN.
Memory of the Sensational Church
Trial in san Francisco Revived
by Chance Meeting of the Princi-
pals at IA Salvation Army Meeting
In Chicago.

Chicago, Dec. 11.-An evening paper
prints the following:
The Lord saves-he has saved me-of
all sinners. the lowest"
Uttered with devout fervor these
words rang from the lips of a young
woman at Salvation Army meeting
in Willard hall last Tuesday noon. The
face of her who thus cried aloud was
beautiful, was evidently that of a
person of culture and refinement, but
there was a sadness in it's expression
that was in pitiful harmony with the
pathos of her words. As she spoke her
eyes wandered over the little sea of
heads bowling in prayer.
At the sound of her voice one of the
heads turned involuntarily toward her.
A man with a pallid face started as
though to rise. The eyes of the two
flash of mutual recognition. Then the
man recovered control of himself. He
resumed mis- seat and through the re-
malnder of the services sat with bowed
head and shame-faced mien. Few in
the audience saw the little scene, but
in the brief glance the years of two
eventful lives were rehearsed.
the shame-faced man-weTe the princi-
pals in the notorious Overman- Brown
church trial in San Francisco, the
sensational charges in which attracted
so much attention at the time.
The Rev Charles O. Brown was the
pastor Of a church in San Francisco.
Miss Matte Overman was a member
of his household. The clergyman and
his wife frequently quarreled Then q
al rn no ~,
pastor got a letter from a member of
his congregation. who claimed to be a
confident of Miss Oyerman. The writer
asked for $1,000, and said if this were
rot forthcoming she would make
charges against the pastor to his
church. The Rev. Brown was unable
to get the $4,000. but he scraped to-
gether $500 and gave his note for the
balance. Later he learned from Miss
Overman that he had been duped-
that the writer of the letter was no
confident of hers Then the pastor re-
fused to honor his note, and the
charges were brought before the
church. In the trial that resulted,
Miss Overman nohly stood by the
man in whose home she had been liv-
ing. She denied everything.
At the close of the trial, Miss Over
man went to New Mexico. Here, hard
pressed and among strangers, she
wrote DR.. Brown. asking for q little
assistance. In return came an impu-
dent reply. Not knowing what to dc
or where TO go. she returned to San
Francisco. Then she became penitent
and corroborated the charges made
against the pastor Wandering into a
mission one night by chance, she fell
among the Crittendon workers. and
seeking forgiveness through repent
ence. was taken in and made one %
the little army of workers for fallen
humanity. Henceforth, she was known
as Sister Martha.
II was while on her way 70 Wash
ington, where she goes to assist Mrs
Emily Waller Barrett in rescue work
that Sister Martha happened into
Willard hall. When the meeting was
over. she went out and went straight
to the Anchorage Mission, there tC
address an audience of young women
The Rev. DR.. Brown. when the meet
ing was over, went his own way. anC
/ that brief glance during the services
was their only meeting. What the
clergyman is doing in Chicago. no one
seems to know. Shortly after the trial
he left San Francisco and drifted east
TO be lost sight of until his dramatic
meeting with the woman whose name
was once linked with his own.