The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1920-04-14
YOUNG GIRL FACES
SERIOUS CHARGE
MISS ELIZABETH BRANDON
CHARGED WITH IN.
FANTICIDE.
PLACED IN JAIL
Charged With Throwing Her
Own Baby In River Near
Columbus; Hearing Set
For This Afternoon.

l. VI IiIS [1lIClliOOAi'
Facing a charge of infanticide Mis-
Elizabeth Brandon, comely younl
girl of 20, was brought to Columbus
Monday morning from her home nea
Gordo, Ala, by Officer Morton ant
placed in Jail to await a preliminar,
hearing.
Miss Brandon is charged with tht
murder of her own child, the body o.
which, if it was her own, was foun'
in the Tombigbee river at the foot o
South Second avenue more than /
week ago by Boy Scouts.
A collection of circumstances baset
on the statements of nearly a hal
dozen persons pointed to Miss Bran
don, and connected her with the af
fair. The finding Of the body of th'
child in the river Mortified the people
OF InlS enllFc community.
The police, under the direction o.
Chief Of Police NJ. F. Cook, began al
investigation of the case which Lee
to the arrest of Miss Brandon at he
home six miles from Gordo, Alabama
last Sunday.
She will be given hearing before
Mayor McClanahan, 2 o'clock this aft
ernoon having been set as the time
for the trial.
A maze of circumstances, which
when unraveled and followed ou
pointed conclusively to Miss Bran
don's connection with the case anC
the police followed out the lines o.
data which they had collected.
The police give the story leading
up to the horrible affair and the ar
rest of Miss Brandon charged witt
the crime as follows:
1t was ascertained on the state
ments of reputable parties that Miss
Brandon came to Columbus on Jan
uary Is and registered at loca
hotel from Gordo, Alabama. She came
in on morning train and returned
to Alabama in the afternoon, so thu
hotel records show
Again she came to Columbus OF
April 3rd and registered at the same
hotel, registering from Cordova, Ala
bama. This time she had newl!
born baby with her. She arrived OF
a belated Southern train and did no
reach the hotel until about II o'clock
it having been a stormy and rain!
night and she spent sometime in thu
waiting room at the Southern station
Next morning she arose about
o'clock and checked out from th'
hotel. This was Easter morning. Sh'
wandered about the city during tn,
day and late in the evening about
o'clock she made her way to the hom
of Sarah Saples, negress on Eas
College Street near the car barns
She was seeking nourishment for he
starving and sick baby, and aske
Sarah to get some sweet milk. Tn
negro woman out of sheer sympath.
for the mother and the child borrow
ed some milk from neighbor. Sara
Saples stated that the child was in
very weakened condition and did no
retain the ncurishment. Miss Bran
don left the woman's house about
o'clock with the child She was mex
seen on College street by several par
ties going in the direction of tn
river. She was seen to disappear a
Third street. A short while later
probably a half hour or more, thes
same parties saw her coming bac
from the direction Of the river witt
out the child. This arouses thei
suspicious but nothing more wa
thought of the incident until the bod
of the child was found in the rive
the following Thursday.
So, it is supposed that the littI
body was either thrown or placed
the waters of the river in the ever
ing of Easter Sunday, the day Of tt
resurrection of the Christ. Three day
later, seemingly in consolance wit
the story of the resurrection, the Ii
tie body was found, 1t was carrie
to the funeral parlors of Guntt
Bros. undertaking parlors where
has remained pending final dispos
tion of the case.
Chief Of Police Cook sent Office
John Morton to Cordova last Satu
day when tins threads of the stol
had been gathered up, in an efo
to locate the girl. His visit the
availed nothing and Sunday he jour
eyed to Gordo and succeeded in loca