Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-08
Laurel Murderer Thought to Be Bill
Brown.
WAS BROUGHT TO THIS CITY
Witnesses Who Saw Him With
His Wife.
THE DOGS IMPORTANT
special From a STAFF Correspondent.

L NNAN$i<' 1hN-s stptttilptT - 1881.
A sort of X-ray was today thrown on
| Laurers great murder mystery. through
the unaided efforts of Washington news
| paper reporters.
Unless strong chain OF clues. with very
closely connecting links. unearthed by the
reporters, prove to be miraculously weak,
the murderer of the woman, whose decom-
posed remains were discovered Sunday
morning In kellogg's woods bore the name
whether real or assumed. Of Bill or Jim
| lSrown The woman, according TO the
statement of Brown, was his wife She
was about thirty-hve years Of age and
both had seen better days.
Furthermore. in all probability. the mur-
aerer Is now In Washington. He was driven
| INTO Washington Tuesday. August lo. by
Ut orse w. Stansfield, a farmer, who resides
about three miles northeast of Laurel Mr.
| Stansheld was proceeding along the road
rear Beltsville about six miles from Laurel
| and thirteen miles from Washington, when
| man who tallies in every detail with the
description of the supposed murderer ask
| ed for a lift. Mr.. Stansfeld accommodated
the stranger, who was OF at all communi-
cative. On his face was expression OF
worry and fear. Just irside the city linn
| IT'S OF Washington the stranger thanked
Mr. Stansfeld for the ride and left the
wagon, making some indistinct remark
| about looking up relatives.
Seen Better Days.
The alleged murderer and his wife the
supposed victim. were If the evidence
gathered by the reporters is not entirely
unworthy of belief, at one time weIl-to-do
| residents and property owners in Balti-
| more. Brown, according to his own claim.
once owned considerable property on Little
Stockholm street, a small narrow thor
oughfare in South Baltimore west Of
Charles street. 1t is in the poorer section
OF the city, and the houses are occupi ID
| Tor the most part by colored people. There
was law suit over the property so Brown
said, and he reduced TO pov. rtv
through the rascality of dishonest law
yer. Brown mentioned the name of this
iawyer TO the man who repeated the story
To-Day 10 The Star reporter, but the name
f.as shpped from the memory of the man
brown and his wife were by no m, ans
strangers in the vicinity of Laurel The
latter part OF last June they were employed
ior week to pick peas by Nathaniel and
John w neeler farmers, on the farm of the
latter. IN Howard county. Maryland about
Two and one-half miles north of Laurel
The same man who talked with Brown and
his wife In June saw Brown Friday Au-
gust D. sitting on the steps leading to the
pcrch or Fairall's store in Laurel He IS
prepared to make oath that the man he
conversed with in June and the man he
saw August were one and the same per-
son.
The descriptions heretofore furnished of
the murderer contair.ed a peculianty of the
eyes The man VINO spent some time in
close quarters with Brown says that at a
distance the latter has what is termed n
squint eye" Close scrutiny, however de-
veloped the fact that the left eye of Brown
Was entirely missing.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of
the case is IN connection with the finding
in the woods near the body of a piece Of
an old Washington newspaper, on the mar
gin OF which was written in lead pencil a
word On this clue the New York news
papers particularly have been laying great
stress. The word as they read IL was
Leeme. Directories have been searched
in the possibility of DEVELOPMENTS In that
direction. The Washington reporters, how
ever. today established a reasonable degree
OF certainty that the word written on the
margin of the newspaper was Brown" in
German script. The German capital b was
Until today mistaken for the English cam
ital l.. This is believed to be a most i'm
portant point in the case. 1t tends TO
prove that the couple who were employed
I'm picking peas near Laurel i'm June last
We're the same who were seen In the Kel-
logg woods August q. 1t naturally follows
that the murdered woman was the one
Brown stated to be his wife. The word on
the margin OF the piece of newspaper, IL is
believed was written by the woman.
His Identification.
Sylvester Smith. a young white man, is
the person from whom perhaps the most
valuable information was obtained today
by The Star reporter. He is a well-known
young man, who resides near Laurel
Il was reading The Star last evening"
said Mr.. Smith, and in the story about
the Laurel murder 1 perusei that portion
containing a description of the supposed
murderer. L Immediately said to myself
that 1 had seen such man. and then IL
suddenly occurred to me that " hile working
on the pike several miles from Laurel the
latter part of last June with Lewis Haislett
We were forced to take shelter from a
heavy storm In an old shed in one of the
fields near the road. About the same time
entered II and also
refuge there in order to escape the rain
The mar was about forty-five years of age
He wore a oaIk coat and had on a pair OF
corduroy trousers that had a large patch
over the seat. The man wore his hair POM
padour, and had a reddish brown mus
:ache sprinkled with gray. His mustache
was long on the ends and stutby in front.
''On his face was a growth of beard a
week or two old. lie had hooked nose
and squinted badly. This was due. l think
To the fact that the left eye was missing.
The woman was about thirty-fve years
old. She was fairly we'll dressed. with hair
that fell just to her neck. The man car
r;ed an cilcloth satchel and the woman a
small bundle. l sat directly opposite the
woman while we were in the she'd and my -
attention was directed to her hands which
were crossed upon her lap. They were
small and shapely, and showed every evil
dence of care and refinement. 1 am salts
fled that the woman had never done hard
work. Her teeth were also even and were
clean, apparently as though cared for.
Property In Baltimore.
The man was very talkative while we
were there" continued Mr.. Smith. He
told me, voluntarily, that he and his wife
had been better on until a short time
before. He owned quite a little properly
located on Little Stockholm street. Baltf-
nore he said, but law suit had arisen
and he and his wife had been reduced to
poverty by a dishonest lawyer. He men,
toned the name of the lawyer, but I can't
recall II The said his
either Jim or Bill Brown. I an not certain
which. He added that he AMI his wife had
been employed at Wheelers farm for a
week picking peas, but there was no money
in that sort OF business and they were On
their way back to Baltimore. They were
about TO set forth while IL was raining
hard. but persuaded them not TO venture
forth In the storm. They spent that night
In the shed and left the following MORN
ing. walking up the Savage pike in the
direction OF Relay.
"As near / can remember, the MORN
ing of August g." Mr.. Smith went on to
say. II was passing through Laurel and