The times., 1898-11-26
Sentenced TO ONE DAY
Fifteen More to Pay Il Fine
Will Free Morgan Brown.
HE KILLED EUGENE QUEEN
jury Returned "a Verdict of Gnilty-
Result of Misunderstsnding Over
Bowl of Soup-Dcfendnnt Claim
ed That He Was Only Playing.

For killing Eugene w. Queen in saloon
while engaged in a dispute over scent
bowl of soup Morgan Brown was SEN
fenced yesterday to serve one day in Jail
and to pay or work out fine of s..
The trial occurred in Criminal Court No.
. last week, Justice Bradley presiding,
and the jury, in returning its verdict Of
guilty. recommended the prisoner to the
courts mercy. The verdict was a sur
prise. but the sentence was not, and. Pc
culiar enough, Brown. the convicted dis
played less pleasure at the lightness OF
the penalty than his counsel.
The deed for which Morgan VIII serve
one day in Jail and work out sentence
OF IS occurred in a saloon in Southeast
Washington during last September. Queen
and Brown were eating soup. or wanted
TO eat soup. One had procured a bowl
of such restless concoction as is usually
served up in Southeast Washington sa-
looms, and whether the tasting of IL in
cited one man TO wrath or whether the
steam of it was so savory that the other
decided him upon violent means to partake
thereof is not clearly shown, but Brown
produced carving knife by way of en-
phasizing his side of the argument.
He averred afterward that it was only
in a spirit of playfulness that he had
fourished the weapon, bur they hauled
Queen away in an ambulance and later
he died.
Al the trial, which, as has been pre-
yiously stated, occurred last week, the
testimony was all to the effect that Brown
had really killed Queen and with knife,
but the depth of malice which had
prompted the deed was uncertain.
Counsel for the defense brought wit
nesses to testify that the accused had for
many years been IN the habit of flourish
ing carving knives mostly in fun, and
sometimes without serious provocation.
and that on this particular occasion ne
had merely attempted to frighten the
dead man, but miscalculated the force of
his lunge and inflicted the fatal wound by
accident.
The coroner, who had performed an au-
topsy. testified as to the manner in which
Queen had come 10 his death, and cor
roborsted the statements of Brown as
10 how the killing occurred.
The jury returned with a recommenda-
tion for clemency, having had but little
difficulty in finding n verdict Of guilty.
Yesterday. Brown and his counsel ap-
peared in the court room TO hear sem
teiIce pronounced. Justice Bradley said
the jury, in his opinion, would have been
justified in returning a verdict of not
guilty. He called attention 10 the fact
that in this case the line between acct
dent and criminal responsibility was very
indistinct. He reviewed the testimony in
the case splrerable length and finally
sentenced the accused to one day in Jail
and imposed a fine of five dollars.
Brown Rard himself thus summarily
dismissed, in q paragraph, as it wer-
without comment. and was led away to
his cell to serve the one day. On the
way thither some one asked him how he.
liked IT. but he was too much absorbed
in mathematical calculation TO answer.
His mental exertions found vent in au-
dibie words, which sounded something
like this:
''Thirty-iive cents off fer every day
makes bout three days to a dol!ar-littIe
less. but that's near enough. Three days
to dollar is fifteen days fer five dollars,
and one in Jail makes sixteen. That's
near enough
And when the warden locked him back
in his cell he was stiil saying:
Little less, but that's near inou h.
Fifteen fer the fine and one, that makes
sixteen