Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-12-23
LOOKING FOR A
LOST FORTUNE
5rother of Poisoned Pittsburg
Mayor Comes West to Trace
His Property.
U TO MILLIONS
One Of the Items in the Estate Is a
Cattle Ranch Near Pierre, Where
AMOUNTS TO MILLIONS
One Of the Items in the Estate Is a
Cattle Ranch Near Pierre, Where
the Brother Has Gone to
Secure the Records.

City. The lost fortune belonged
to Joseph O. Brown, mayor OF Pitts
burg, at the time OF his death March
Is, 1903. The death occurred in the
house of his s~tenographer with whom
he lived in that city.
No evidence of any OF the lost for-
tune was found in Sioux City or Wood
bury county, but Mr.. Brown has gone
TO Pierre, S. D., where he hopes
to establish his claim to the Pierre
Ranch and Cattle company, which
he believes his brother owned at the
tirne OF his death. or at least owned
a large part of 1t. The ranch m
braces 1000 acres of grazing land UNI
der fence and 225, 900 acres of leased
Indian lands. George w. Lumley, is
president of the company, n is said
to own thousands OF cattle. Mr.. Brown
will also visit Chamberlain as his
bother frequently went there, presum-
ably to care for property.
The late mayor Joseph o. Brown,
was a politician and q ~financier. He
was associated with the late Senator
Matt Quay, Christopher Magee and
William Flynn. Together they formed
traction companies in all the principal
cities of Pennsylvania. They also die
tated the charter for Philadelphia,
Pittsburg and other cities. They di-
yided the spells and, j. TX. +. Brown
claims. were able to build up vast for
tunes through their combined efforts.
Handled Millions of Dollars.
Joseph O. Brown was known as the
Keeper of public safety III Pittsburg.
AS such he had the spending of So, 000,-
600 annually, while Senator Quay and
his associates had the disposing of 500
600, 00e in Philadelphia. In all their
financial operations Inc coterie was
secretive, and this is the thing that Is
L. -. g.. L., $1,000 So.
the lost millions. Being both a poll
tician and a inancier. the late mayor
had hard work to conceal his rapidly
growing millions.
ITO make a long story short"
said Mr.. Brown to a Tribune
representative, II think that Charles
Mckee of Pittsburg. n Net
tie w. Mclean, the brothers stenog-
rapher, know where the most of This
fortune is. i have traced some of 1t
and have located about 50, 600, 600 worth
of the property which these two peo-
pie now control. Upon completing my
work, suit will be brought TO have the
property awarded to my brothers
widow.
II was in Portlar-. Ore, when the
message of my Drother's death came.
1 hurried east and had the body ex-
hurred. Traces OF poisoning were
found. The eoroner's jury sat for a
long time, but failed to connect anyone
with the crime. Their verdict was that
the deceased came to his death by
poison at the hands OF parties UNI
known. Then / began my search for
the property. / found that all the pa
pers had been destroyed"
Ranch Mentioned in Will.
The will OF Joseph O. Brown gave the
clue to the cattle ranch I'm South Da-
- ~ TT xr-n q xre~rr sr0nnra1 B,.H .-.AA
one bequest to Annie McGeary, a
niece. of $1,000 worth of stock in the
Pierre Ranch and Cattle company. Mr..
Brown has letters from attorneys and
public officials at Pierre which seem to
bear out the theory that Joseph o.
Brown owns the land at Pierre.
Away back in 1875, the two brothers
bought 1000 acres of land at Dodge,
Neb. J.. r. F.. Brown lived on this land
for n number OF years as a ranchman.
IL lss! Iesest. -o-a, later the
mayor, sold his part of the land TO the
bsother. The two formerly had inten-
tons OF going to Pierre and buying gas
lands. Joseph O. Brown left his brother
for some years. 1t NJ now thought that
he vent to Pierre and purchased 400
acres OF land where Pierre now stands.
How much of this land. If any, can
be counted as belonging to the lost
estate. the brother does not know.
Mr.. Brown mas interesting letters
from Pierre regarding the lands there.
The following letter tends to show that
Joseph O. Brown owned the land in
question as late as the latter part of
1902. The letter is from William c..
Notmeyer. register OF deeds Mt Pierre,
and reads in part as follows:
Record Found at Pierre.
Pierre, S. D., Nov. %, 1865. r. p.
Brown, Pittsburg. Pat-Dear Sir: In re-
ply to your inquiry of the 18th will say
that Joseph o. Brown and WBl'-m Nc
Kee owned the land you mention to-
gether until December 6. 1902, when
Charles Fl. Mckee decided his interest
to Brown for the consideration of 81"
This would seem 70 indicate that Jo-
seph O. Brown owned the land at the
time of his death, as no subsequent
transfer is shown in the county records
at Pierre.
Another step was the lease of the
land to the Pierre Ranch and Cattle
December is, 1902, for a term
OF seven years at s1.8e0 a year, with the
right TO Purchase for $50. 600 at the end
OF that time.
one thing which Mr.. Brown calls at
tention to is the fact that this lease
was made December t6. 1902. but was
not filed until March q. 1903, or six
days after the death OF Joseph o.
Brown in Pittsburg-
Interested With George LImIey.
Another letter Mr.. Brown carries Is
from Attorney d. w. March at Pierre
1t was in reply to a letter from DIR.
Mr.. Brown regarding the standing OF
George w. Lumley. The reply says
that George w. Lumley was the head
OF fcur or live different cattle compan-
les.
II am reliably informed" runs the
letter, that Senator Quay and others
OF the PittsbIrg road are hackers or
one or more OF these cattle companies"
Another letter comes from George
w. Lurnley. president Of the cattle
company. IL was short. and said that
Charles H. Mckee OF Pittsburg knew
all the facts In connection with the
cattle deal. and could give them 10
Brown.
Perhaps Mr.. Mckee could ten VII.