Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-31
FULL OF SURPRISES
Dramatic incidents Mark Fight
for an Estate.
HEARING IN BROWN CASE
Statement by Dying Man Denies
knowledge Of Marriage.
EARLY ROMANCE IS RECALLED
Man Appears Who Says He Welded
Rachel Anne Brown Thirty
Six Years Ago.
HEARING IN BROWN CASE
EARLY ROMANCE IS RECALLED

fight for an estate is being waged in
A. Brown was read today. notwithstand-
ing spirited objection by the attorneys
representing Rachel Anne Brown. The
latter was sitting in the courtroom. She
listened to the words without a show of
feeling although it was deathbed decla-
ration of the man she married that his
memory showed no recollection of the
ceremony; that he did not love her: that
he did not want her for wife, and that
in his opinion if there had been a mar
rage it had no other purpose than to
obtain his property.
! Recognizing the Importance of the
statement. Attorney Solomon tried siren
uously to keep it from being read. but
while he was making the objection the
opposing attorney read it.
This Is serious matter" Mr.. SalO-
mon said. land I move, your honor. that
this jury be discharged from further con-
| sideratiOn Of the case, because of the
reading of that statement, to which OBJ
| jected.'
Justice Wright overruled the motion.
but reprimanded Attorney O'Shea for
| reading the deposition.
Recalls Romance Of Youth.
| AS dramatic as was this incident, it was
matched when r. r. B. Goodman stood
up in the courtroom and Rachel Anne
Brown denied that she saw in him any
| resemblance to the man she married in
| 1873 when she was a young girl.
Look at him closely" Mr.. Schwartz
| directed.
| Il see no resemblance to the man l
married., she declared.
! This was one Of the surprises of the
| day.
Mrs. Brown stepped to the stand quick
| ly when called. She Is a woman OF middle
| age. having given the year of her birth as
1853. She wore today black suit and
black hat.
The eyes of all in the courtroom was
| directed toward her, and every ear was
strained to hear her testimony. 1t was
| a surprise to all, for the attorneys who
are seeking to prove that the woman
married the oc .ogenarian while he was
| in condition of mind that left him with
| no knowledge of the affair produced Il
| man who claimed today to have been
| the husband of the woman when she was
| d girl of fifteen years. The lawyers
| asked her age.
II was born in 1855" she replied.
| Then she admitted she had sworn to
| the record now appearing in the clerks
office, and which sets forth that she was
| thirty-eight years old and that John A.
| Brown was sixty-two when the marriage
! license was procured.
Tells of Wedding Long Ago.
The attorney then drew from the wit
! ness the story Of that childhood ro-
nance thirty-six years ago-how she
had married her first cousin. Richard r.
| B. Goodman how he disappeared a few
ha,
! father, stepping In to protect her, had
| instituted divorce proceedings
She began to tell how on the last oc-
| casion she had seen her husband he was
on a Gamer, but there was an objec-
ton and the thread of the narrative
was broken. To cap the climax, a man
stood up in the courtroom.
There was hush.
do you recognize this man as your
husband?" the witness was asked.
Il do not" was the quick reply.
Look closely. madam" she was told.
| BE careful to observe his face we'll"
at do not recognize him as my husband.
| last saw my husband ten days or SO
| after my first marriage, In 1873.
Like Specter Of Past.
| Then Mrs Brown stepped aside and the
man who says that in his youth he
| courted and wed his cousin came forward.
His testimony was very brief.
| All he was asked after establishing his
identity was:
DO you recognize this woman?"
| II do"
| "Who is she?"
| Rachel Anne Goodman"
THAT is all.
There was much testimony as to the
feeble state of Mr.. Brown about the time
| the marriage in which he figured took
place. The lawyers for Mrs. Brown Cross
| questioned very closely. and succeeded in
keeping from the jury many of the ques-
tons which their opponents tried to draw
out.
Denial by Brown.
Toward the close of the morning session
the deposition made by the patient whi.e
In Sibley Hospital was produced. There
was a skirmish over it's admission. and
Justice Wright took the envelope in which
1t had been sealed since December %.
1907. when Brown talked to a stenogra-
pher in the presence of attorneys for all
sides of the controversy and In the pres
ence of the woman who bears his name.
AS it was being read by Attorney O'Shea
Mr. Solomon stood by him ready to make
objection to the reading OF any passage
in which he could find flaw. The docu-
ment was one of questions and answers.
and by reason Of the manner in which the
questions We're put It describes the scene
in the hospital room. 1t showed how Mrs.
| Brown objected to being called Miss Rich
ardson and how she was threatened with
| expulsion from the room. How the doc
tors cautioned every one to cease con-
versation that would excite the patient.
| Some of the questions were:
| did you ever promise to marry Rachel
Anne Richardson"
mo. not at any time The question of
marriage was never discussed"
| He was asked whether he had ever seen
j. Il. Mclaughlin the minister who per-
formed the marriage, and he said he had
no recollection of 1t. He claimed in the
deposition that ne had never instructed
he had never bought her ring or given
her one. and that he had absolutely no
remembrance of the ceremony which took
place at 81 l street November %. 1907.
| During the reading of the paper Mrs.
Brown sat stolidly within three feet Of
| Mr.. O'Shea. She made no motion. nor
did her face show any trace of emotion.
Produce Divorce Decree.
Shortly after the session This after
noon began Mrs. Browns attorneys pro-
Iduced what they said was a copy of a
decree of Virginia court in the case of
Goodman against Goodman. Immediate
ly there was clash between the attor-
| neys. Justice Wright glanced over the
| voluminous paper. and messengers sour
| ried from he courtroom to bring back
| many law books.
Veteran Philadelphia Editor Dies.
4 PHILADELPHIA, March 31.-Henry
Clay Lukens, for the last forty years an