Evening star., 1949-03-08
Suspect Seized,
Admits Staying
VirginiaFarner
| Man Recently PoroIed
Subdued by Trooper
In Fight After Capture
Pictures on Page A-3 and BIZ
BY q Star Stoff Correspondent

BY Star Sfoff Correspondent
CULPEPER, Va, Mar. 8.-Three
hours after his arrest. featured by
bloodhound chase and a strug-
gle in which he was subdued by
a policeman. recently paroled
convict pleaded guilty here today
to the murder of James Gilbert
Brown, 24-year-old tenant farmer.
The speedy hearing for Thomas
Brown, 81, colored, took place be-
fore Trial Justice c. E. Reams, jr.,
just 36 hours after the farmer was
shot to death and his wife injured
at his home miles east of here
early yesterday.
Refusing an offer of the court to
set bond, the defendant was held
for action of a special grand jury
to convene April Is. With the
Culpeper Jail under repair. he will
be removed to another county for
safekeeping.
Shortly after the prisoner was
put behind bars. the farmers wife,
Mrs. Elsie Brown. %, tearfully
identified him as the man who
raped her after her husband had
been slain. Brown said he could
not remember anything ABOUT it.
Object of Wide Search.
Regarded as a suspect since
walking off his job as a lumber
stacker at Lignum, IL miles east
of Culpeper. Brown had been the
object of widespread search.
Early today police learned he
had spent the night at a garage
in Brandy, Va. They took blood
hounds to Brandy at am. and
set them on the trail.
Three hours later. with the
bloodhounds about 2 miles away
from their quarry. State Trooper
B. c. Nicodemus encountered
Brown walking on the Southern
Railway tracks just north of Rem
ington. miles south of Brandy
and IL miles north of Culpeper.
He was walking toward Washing
ton.
Brown gave up quickly. sub
mitted. to handouts and climbed
into the police car with the trooper.
But while they were driving toward
Culpeper. the prisoner grabbed at
Trooper Nicodemas' revolver, the
policeman said.
Overpowered by Trooper.
The trooper stopped the car
and when Brown rolled out leaped
on top of him. They scuff1ed for
time on the ground before Brown
was overpowered and ordered back
into the car, and the remainder Of
the journey was without incident.
Brown told police he was passing
the farmhouse when two barking
dogs frightened him. He was
about to leave when he saw man
appear on the porch, and he shot
him. State Police Capt. R. c.
Barham quoted the defendant.
This point conflicts with the
wife's statement that the farmer
was shot inside the house by
somebody standing outside the
window.
After the crime, Capt. Barham
said Brown told him, he walked to
his home, 2 or 3 miles away, put
the death weapon under his mat
tress, and went to bed. He re-
ported for work at am. at the
lumber mill. but at II am. got
dizzy spells" and walked away.
leaving his lunchbox.
Three Shells in Weapon.
He wandered around until
nightfall when he went to the
Brandy garage where he was en-
ployed before the war. When ar
rested, he had a dozen packages
of cigarettes police said he took
from the garage.
Police said the gun was a five
shot .38 caliber weapon containing
three discharged shells but no
bullets. They sent the revolver
and three slugs to the FBI in
Washington for analysis.
One of the slugs was removed
from the victims body. a second
was found in the farmhouse bed
room where it had richocheted
off a bedpost and the third in the
stock of a shotgun standing in a
corner OF the room.
The prisoner told police he was
convicted in 1945 of raping a girl
Continued on Page A-3, Col. %