The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-10-22
HAVE FOUND NO CLUE
MYSTERY STILL Wells HEART
LESS TEXAN MURDER.

1lLA~A~N ~ O~sA0
Working Girl, Slain in Office, is Still
Cnayenged by Law Although Three
Months Have Passed.
One hundred clues have been run
down and all found worthless in the
Florence Brown mystery, according
to a statement Sunday by Chief Of
Detectives Henry Tanner Of Dallas,
Texas. Miss Brown, a choir singer
and prominent Association worker,
was found dead, with her throat cut,
in her uncle's real estate Office there
at 9 a. M, July % last. The circum-
stances of her death have ever since
remained well-nigh incredible.
MisS Brown, 26 years old, rather
handsome, was stenographer and con-
fdential agent for her uncle, JEFF D.
Robinson. Rer uncle was in Colora-
do. On the morning OF her death
Shadrack B. Cuthbertson, an en-
ployee, called as was customary, at
her home in one of the firms auto
mobiles Together they drove direct
to the Office, opening it about eight
o'clock. Fifteen minutes later cuth-
bertson drove away in the automo-
bile on business, leaving Miss Brown
alone. She stood in the street door
way and waved goodbye to him, sew
eral persons a1terward testisying they
saw her do this.
Cuthbertson returned just before 9
o'clock, finding the Office apparently
vacant. AS the officials were not due
until this was not unsual. The Of
fee door on the ground floor was en-
tirely visible from the sidewalk, ex-
cept two small rooms, Robinson's pri-
vate office and a hat room just be-
hind it. The hat room had two en-
frances, one from the private Office
and one from the main Office. Hun
dreds Of persons had passed this Of
fee, at one of the city's busiest cor
ners, during Cuthbertson's absence.
He entered, sat at his desk moment,
and then W. R. Styron, Of the firm,
and G. ". Swor, an employee, enter
ed together. Swor went directly to
the hat room and Immediately cried
out for Styron and Cuthbertson to
come quickly "that something had
happened to Miss Brown.
The three found her lying IN her
face, throat cut and arms and should
ers bearing marks said she had not
been dead more than ten minutes.
Miss Brown was a small woman,
but whoever killed her had to fight
hard. A deep bite on the outer side
of one wrist showed where the slay-
er had held one arm with his teeth.
Her face, arms and breast were
scratched in a manner which led de-
tectives to believe a woman had at
tackled her. A heavy blow had been
struck on her forehead and one on
the bank of the head, these probably
stunning her. Then apparently as
she lay face down the assassin had
drawn back her head and cut her
throat. Again there was the sugges-
ton that the slayer was not muscu-
lar, because the knife had been
drawn three times through the
wound. A wash bowl in the hat room
was half full of bloody water, the in
side knob of the door opening into
the main office was bloody, indicating
the killer first looked out to see if
the Office was empty, and then wash
ed his hands.
Detectives said the girls position
made it possible for the slayer to
avoid blood except on his hands.
There was no exit from the Office,
neither doors nor windows, except
front street door. No knife was
found, although sewers were search
ed and floors raised. The only thing
approaching weapon was hammer,
which belonged in the hat room.
There was a tiny bloody spot on its
handle, but the iron head was clean.
These are all the material facts about
the acutla death that eleven weeks
search has revealed.
Patrolman J. R. Brown, the girls
father, had the beat passing her office
door, and was a short distance away
when she was killed. Neither he nor
other officers reached the place until
after an over-zealous undertaken had
removed the body. Of the hundreds
that passed the Office, some within
80 feet of the murder, only three
were found to throw any light on it.
A woman acquaintance of Miss Brown
had looked in about $50, noting the
office apparently empty. A man not
ed the same thing. Another man
thought he heard a scream.
Cuthbertson's story was verified to
the last detail. Styron and Swor
have undergone literal third degree
examinations, some of them by pri-
Yates detectives, but not the slightest
ground for arresting them or any
one else has been discovered. Even
the wives Of some Of the men con-
nected with the methods. Miss
Browns reputation so far has come
through a long ordeal unsullied.
Very Queer Damage Suit.
The Charleston Evening Post