Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 110

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 110

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COMMITTED TO THE FRANKLIN COUNTY JAIL .- Brown's earlier hold upon the confidence of responsible parties having become- lessened by lapse of time and change of circumstances, he was unable to procure so large an amount of bail, and was accordingly committed to the jail of Franklin County, at Columbus. Subse- quently, however, on the application of Judge Spalding, one of the judges of the U. S. District Court reduced the bail to $5,000, which was secured, and the distinguished defendant was released from custody.

The trial commenced at Columbus, on Saturday, August 1, 1846, Justice John McLean, of the United States Court, presiding,. assisted by Judge Humphrey H. Leavitt of the U. S. District Court of Ohio. The indictment charged Brown with "making and uttering and assisting to make and utter counterfeit gold and silver coin, and counterfeit notes in the similitude of bank notes." Hon. Thomas W. Bartley, U. S. District Attorney for Ohio, and William S. C. Otis, Prosecuting Attorney for Summit County, conducted the case on the part of the Government, and Hon. Noah M. Swayne (afterwards one of the Judges of the U. S. Supreme Court) and Hon. Rufus P. Spalding represented the defense. The trial lasted six days and was most exciting throughout, the Court, towards the end, on an intimation that if the trial should be likely to go against him the defendant would abscond, issuing a Bench warrant, ordering Brown into custody. A large number of wit- nesses were in attendance, the main effort of the defense being to. impeach the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution, which was largely in the nature of State's evidence, by implicated parties, to clear themselves from similar accusations.

The principal witness was the son of a highly respectable. farmer in a neighboring town, who had been inveigled into the business by the blandishments of Brown, and to whom Brown had from time to time sold counterfeit money in exchange for a horse, yoke of oxen, etc., at the rate of 20 cents on the dollar for paper money and 33 1-3 for coin, the latter mostly quarter eagles. Sheriff Lewis M. Janes testified that on the same day that Brown was arrested by Deputy United States Marshal Ithiel Mills, he (Janes) searched Brown's house, in Northampton, where he found, under the garret floor, and in the boxing of the cornice, several parts of a copper-plate press; in a barrel in the garret a large- number of zinc and copper cups, parts of two galvanic batteries; in a trunk in the store-room, a large quantity of bank-note paper, one ream entire and unbroken, and in the secretary sundry letters and other evidence of crookedness.

IN THE PENITENTIARY AT LAST .- The trial, including the arguments of counsel and the charge of Judge McLean, occupied six full days, the court-room being crowded throughout. Not- withstanding the powerful defense and able and eloquent arguments of his counsel, Messrs. Swayne and Spalding, the jury disposed of the case in just two hours, returning a verdict of

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IN THE PENITENTIARY AT LAST.

guilty of uttering counterfeit United States coin, as charged in the indictment, and Brown was immediately sentenced by Judge McLean to ten years' penal servitude in the Ohio Penitentiary, in which institution he was duly installed on the 10th day of August, 1846.

This was his first actual imprisonment, under sentence, during more than a quarter of a century of continuous crime, owing to the skill of himself and the gang in suborning and spiriting away witnesses. Indeed, he seemed to have had, from the beginning, a sort of premonition of the final result, often remarking to his friends, between his arrest and his conviction, that while he had always been successful in dodging the pains and penalties of State law, and could generally manage to worry out a county, he was fearful that " Uncle Sam " would prove too much for him.

DASTARDLY ACT OF RETALIATION .- On the night of Sunday, August 16, 1846, just one week after the conviction of Brown, as above narrated, the large barn of the father of the principal witness against him (the old gentleman also having been an important wit- ness in the case), was destroyed by an incendiary fire, with its con- tents, hay, oats, wheat, two horses and other property, together with ' several stacks of wheat upon the outside, the loss being from $1,000 to $1,200, with no insurance. Though there was no tangible proof to that effect, it was generally believed that the barn was fired by some member of the gang in retaliation for what was regarded as an act of treachery against the chief officer of the fraternity, by one of his subordinates, and well illustrates the risks that testify- ing against the gang involved in those early times.

HIS DEMEANOR IN PRISON .- His incarceration was a heavy blow to his pride and manhood, and though he outwardly maintained his usual serenity and dignity, his spirits were evidently severely crushed thereby. Yet by his correct deportment, as well as by his commanding presence, he soon won the confidence, and even the respect, of both the officers of the prison, and of his fellow-convicts, for the writer, only a few months after his first incarceration, on visiting the prison, found him already installed as " file leader" of the foremost platoon, in the lock-step march of the convicts between the shops and the dining hall, cells, etc., and a magnifi- cent leader he made, too. It was, indeed, a sorrowful sight, even to the writer who had labored so hard, in connection with the offi- cers of justice, and subjected himself to such imminent risks of personal injury, in his efforts (through his paper) to break up the gang, to see even this "chief of sinners," in such a humiliating position.

A PARDON FAIRLY WON .- It was not long, however, before Mr. Brown was taken from the ranks, and from the shops, and assigned to lighter and more congenial duties, and finally given special charge of the prison hospital. While thus serving, the cholera broke out in the prison, making fearful havoc among the inmates. In this emergency, Brown was ever cool-headed and calm, and by his example, encouragement and unfaltering attention to the sick, undoubtedly carried many a poor fellow through, who would otherwise have succumbed to the fell destroyer.

This heroism and devotion was so highly appreciated by the officers of the prison, that they heartily seconded the efforts that were soon afterwards inaugurated by his friends, under the

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

leadership of his ever-faithful and only daughter, Laura M. Brown (the late Mrs. Prof. Bronson) for his pardon, which was granted by President Zachary Taylor, just four months and a half after his inauguration, the pardon reaching Columbus, and Brown being set at liberty, on the 22nd day of July, 1849; two years, eleven months and twelve days from the date of his incarceration.

FROM BAD TO WORSE .- The free pardon from President Tay- lor, and the restoration of Brown to liberty and citizenship, was not followed by that reform of his associations and habits that his family and friends had anticipated. His prestige, as the greatest "financier" of the age, had gone from him, and his scepter, as the great captain of the gang, had departed. He now, more than ever, began to consort with both men and women of the baser sort, and to indulge to excess in strong drinks and other degrading habits, while correspondingly lowering himself in his chosen profession.

MRS. BROWN SEEKS A DIVORCE .- To such an extent did his evil habits, and his consequent immoral conduct, prevail, that the wife of his youth and early manhood-she, who had, for so many long years, faithfully clung to him, in both "evil and good report;" she, who, while personal purity and conjugal loyalty remained, was ever ready to fly to his side, whenever he was in trouble, was finally compelled to appeal to the court for a decree of separation. Her petition was filed in the Court of Common Pleas, of Suminit county, April 16, 1851. After setting forth the date of their mar- riage, and of her faithful performance of all her wifely duties, she says:

" Your petitioner further represents that during the last ten years, and longer, the said James Brown hath been unmindful of, and hath wholly refused to discharge, the duties and obligations resting on him as the husband of your petitioner; that during all that time he hath entirely neglected to provide food or clothing, or the bare necessaries of life for your petitioner, and that but for the care and protection of her children, who supported her, your petitioner would have been in a state of utter destitution. Your petitioner further represents, that the said James Brown hath been an habitual drunkard for the last three years and more. Your petitioner further represents, that on or about the 8th day of October, 1850, the said James Brown, by threats of personal violence, and by putting your petitioner in extreme fear of her life, drove her from his house in the night time, and compelled her to seek refuge and protection from a neighbor, since which time she hath not lived or cohabited with him, etc."

The case was heard before President Judge, George Bliss, and Associate Judges, Sylvester H. Thompson, John Hoy and Peter Voris, at the December term, 1851, the prayer of the petitioner being granted, and a decree of divorce entered accordingly; there being thenceforth absolutely no intercourse between Brown and his family during the remainder of his life.

IN THE MICHIGAN PENITENTIARY .- From this time on his course was rapidly downward, his habits of dissipation not only increas- ing, but rendering him less cautious in the handling of the "goods" in which he dealt. In February, 1855, Brown, with several of his pupils and confederates, were arrested by Marshal Dryden, of Co- lumbus, and taken to that city, for manufacturing and handling spurious coin, but finally released without prosecution; though a

889

BROWN AGAIN UNDER ARREST.

few years later (March, 1859) a large quantity of bogus quarters were plowed up in the garden formerly. occupied by the family with whom Brown for several years resided. In the, Winter of 1859-60, Brown visited a former pupil of his in this county, Elihu Chilson, then a resident of Kent county, Mich. Here, either through his own imprudence, or Chilson's treachery, the officials of that county got "onto" his operations, and "run him in." He was indicted, tried and convicted "for having in his possession, with intent to pass, a counterfeit bill," and sentenced to three . years' imprisonment in the penitentiary of that state. He was received at the prison March 17, 1860, and served his full term.

A PROPOSED LITERARY VENTURE .- While he was thus incarcer- ated, the writer and the late Sherman Blocker opened negotiations with Mr. Brown for the publication of his auto-biography, in book form, the profits to be equally divided between the three. Mr. Blocker visited him in prison, and supposed that the arrangements had been fully consummated, the warden offering him every facility for the prosecution of the work, when he get ready to com- mence operations. Returning home to make the necessary prepa- rations, Mr. Blocker soon afterwards received a letter from Brown, demanding, as a pre-requisite to performance, on his part, that we should first secure his pardon from the penitentiary. This, of course, we could not undertake to do, and the project fell through.

STILL THE "VICTIM OF PERSECUTION."-Returning to Ohio, after his discharge from the Michigan penitentiary, Brown was almost immediately again placed under surveillance by the minions of the law, being on the the 23rd day of May, 1863, arrested in Cleveland by a deputy U. S. Marshal, for having altered treasury notes in his possession, with the purpose of passing them. Nothing of the kind being found upon his person, and other evidence promised failing to materialize, after being kept in jail a few days, he was released from custody.

LARGE FIND OF POSTAL AND OTHER CURRENCY .- About the mid- dle of February, 1865, some school children found an old oyster can in a stack of hay, near the "Yellow Creek" headquarters of the gang, in which were packed from $3,000 to $4,000 of counterfeit scrip and bank notes, but the ownership of said wealth was never fully ascertained, though the conjecture was that, as Brown had recently returned from the east, it belonged to him. Though the boys who found the scrip in question, supposing it to be good, (and acting under the too prevalent impression that whatever a person finds belongs to him) had divided it up among themselves, and their comrades. Mr. William Hardy, township trustee, and Justice James R. Brown, succeeded in recovering the most of it, and handing it over to the proper authorities.

SHERIFF BURLISON TAKES A HAND IN .- June 17, 1865, Sheriff Burlison arrested, in Akron, a man by the name of Leonard Hill, with a large amount of spurious money in his possession. Becom- ing satisfied that Hill had got his funds from that distinguished " financier," Brown was taken into custody also, together with one Thaddeus Nighman, of Canton, the entire haul of postal scrip, treasury notes and miscellaneous bank bills, being between $10,000 and $12,000. A few days later, as a part of the same gang, Burlison arrested a man named Hunter, at Apple Creek, and three men named Daugherty, Rapp and Eshelbaum, at West Salem, while

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Marshal Bill's deputies gathered in some eight or ten others who had been spotted by Burlison, 'at Crestline and Cardington, together with a press, plates, burglars' tool, etc. These were all transferred to the jail in Cleveland. The most, if not all, were held to bail to answer to the U. S. District Court, and, on giving bond, Brown was released from custody.

BEFORE A HIGHER TRIBUNAL .- On returning from Cleveland -whither he had been to look after his case -- upon a coal boat, on Saturday evening, December 9th, 1865, while passing through the Peninsula lock, in attempting to walk from the stern to the bow, either by the unsteadiness of his step, or by a sudden jar, he was precipitated from the running board to the bottom of the boat, breaking his shoulder and fracturing his skull. He was conveyed, in an insensible condition, to his boarding place, near Yellow Creek Basin, where he died on Sunday evening, December 10th, 1865, at the age of 67 years and 5 months.

The remains of the deceased were, by his neighbors and associates, taken to the cemetery, at the village of Boston, where, without any special ceremony, they were laid beside those of his honored parents, whose memory he had so signally disgraced. Thus miserably ended the ignoble life of one of the most extensive and accomplished criminals of the Nineteenth Century,-a man who, by both nature and education, was well qualified to shine in the counsels of the nation, but who, by his blandishments, and wrongly directed talents and energy, did more to corrupt the youth of the Western country who were brought within the scope of his baleful influence, than any score of his compeers in crime, as shrewd and dextrous, in the management of men and money, as many of them in reality were.

Of course, so brief a sketch as this, though more comprehen- sive than any hitherto written, is utterly inadequate to a full and perfect biography of "Jim" Brown and the mischief he has wrought. Though pleasant in manner, sympathetic and benevo- lent in his impulses, and liberal to a fault, in cases of suffering and want, the fact still remains that he led hundreds of young men to ruin, disgrace, imprisonment and, possibly, death- thereby bringing hundreds of families to grief and despair; his own household not even being exempt, as evidenced by what has been written, and by what is yet to follow.

MR. BROWN'S FAMILY .- Of Mr. Brown's family, the following may properly be said in conclusion: The eldest son, Daniel M., died in Northanipton, January 21, 1851, aged 31 years and 8 months. The devoted but divorced wife, Lucy Mather Brown, died in Akron August 21, 1884, aged 84 years and 6 months. Their only daughter, Laura M., a very accomplished lady, and talented artist, and who so faithfully remained steadfast to the erring father, so long as any hope of his reformation remained, was, in the early fifties, married to Mr. John Frankenstein, of the city of Springfield, a portrait and landscape painter of considerable celebrity in Southern Ohio. Mr. Frankenstein's habits and conduct proving uncongenial and offensive, she returned to Summit county a few years later, and in 1859 obtained a decree of divorce from him. She soon afterwards married Prof. C. P. Bronson, of New York, eminent as a teacher of, and lecturer upon, physiology, elocution, etc., with whom she happily lived until his death, April 25, 1868,

891

"LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON."

at the age of 64 years and 5 months, his remains being brought to Akron for interment. Mrs. Bronson also died in New York, September 25, 1885, at the age of 61, her remains now reposing beside those of her husband in Glendale Cemetery. The early impression-somewhat prevalent even to this day-that Laura did the filling in of her father's counterfeit money, though she wrote a most beautiful hand, had no foundation whatever, her abhor- rence of the business being outspoken and unequivocal.

The younger son, James R. Brown, Esq., always a thoroughly · upright, intelligent and courteous gentleman, lived upon his large and well cultivated farm, in the township of Northampton, until his death, March 20, 1889, his family still remaining upon the old homestead.

"DAN" BROWN NUMBER TWO.

As a proper companion-piece for, and a fitting sequel to, the career of the greatest illicit "financier" of his time, "Jim" Brown, herein above narrated, a brief sketch of the exploits of his eldest son, Daniel M. Brown, will right here be in order.

"Dan" was, in many respects, entirely unlike his father, being of fair complexion, with light blue or gray eyes and light brown hair, and though nearly or quite six feet in height, somewhat effeminate and extremely gentle in his appearance and manner. But, notwithstanding his gentle ways, and in spite of the better counsels of his intelligent and faithful mother and only sister, he seemed to take spontaneously to the evil courses of his father, except in the matter of excessive drink-though it is said that that father, while alluring the cherished sons of other fathers to their ruin, earnestly sought to have him engage in some more honor- able calling.

"TREADING IN THE FOOTSTEPS."-Just how early "Dan" com- menced to dabble in contraband money, is not now ascertainable. As early, however, as February, 1838, the following, under the above heading, was copied from the Cleveland Advertiser into one of the local papers of Akron:

" A young man by the name of Brown, a son of the notorious James Brown, of Akron, was brought from Elyria, yesterday, to our jail. He was taken up as a counterfeiter, some $20,000 in counterfeit money having been found on or about his person. There was also a man with him passing by the name of Rathbun, with several aliases. Why they were brought to this county we do not know, unless it is that the facility with which Brown frees himself from his irons has somewhat alarmed the officers of our neighbor- ing county. It is said that he sawed his irons apart three times while he was in Elyria. 'Train up a child in the way he goes.'"

LORAIN OFFICERS OUTWITTED .- Young Brown, at this time, was under 18 years of age, and yet, young as he was, he was altogether too old for the Lorain county officials. It seems that he and his companion were arrested in the saddle, somewhere in Medina county, and, under guard, taken immediately to Elyria. Before being searched, however, he was permitted to go into the hotel stable and rub down his horse, and instruct his hostler as to its care while he was in custody. On finally being searched, no counterfeit money, or other evidence of crookedness, was found on his person. But there was found, among the straw bedding of his horse's stall, a large amount of counterfeit money. For lack of conclusive evidence, however, that he put it there, or had ever

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

had it in his possession, though held to bail by the examining magistrate, and committed to jail as above stated, no bill was found against him by the Grand Jury, and "Dan," in this, his initial wrestle with the law, was discharged from custody. His companion, Rathbun, was indicted, escaped from jail, was re- captured, his case continued for several terms, and finally released from custody without being brought to trial.

HIS SUBSEQUENT CAREER .- Perhaps for the reason that the course he was pursuing was disapproved of by his father, as it was most certainly distressing to his mother and the rest of the family, young Brown kept entirely aloof from his native hills and valleys, in his crooked operations, for a number of years devoting himself to "business" in the Maumee and Black Swamp country, in northwestern Ohio, and in southern Michigan, northern Indiana, and other portions of the then Great West. Yet "Dan" often visited his old haunts, and doubtless regarded this as his home, the 300-acre farm ever since occupied by the family having been purchased by him in the early forties, and he being united in marriage to his cousin, Minerva A. Darrow, of this county, in 1845.

SOME OF HIS WESTERN OPERATIONS .- While undoubtedly con- tinuing to deal more or less extensively in paper "money," his attention seems to have been early turned more especially towards promoting the "resumption of specie payments"-by the produc- tion of bogus coin of such an excellent quality as to almost defy detection. In 1842, George C. Bates, Esq., now of Denver, Colorado, was United States District Attorney for the State of Michigan. Through a deputy in Oakland county, in the southeast portion of the State, Mr. Bates learned that finely executed dollars, halves and quarters, were being largely circulated all over that region of the country, and planned a trip to the neighborhood to reconnoiter.

AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY .- Before starting, however, his attention was called to a suspicious cask, or puncheon, filled with some heavy substance, which, by its tendency to change its center of gravity, when being handled, had attracted the notice of the parties in Detroit with whom it had been left for shipment to " Daniel West," at Portsmouth, the southern terminus of the Ohio canal, via steamer to Cleveland. Calling to his aid a deputy U. S. Marshal, Mr. Bates proceeded to open the huge cask, and found therin a splendidly constructed screw press for cutting, stamping and milling coin, with its immense levers and weights, together with a full paraphernalia of coiners' tools, of most perfect finish, and quite a large supply of plate metal ready for the mint, a quan- tity of unfinished coins, etc.

Carefully replacing this apparatus and material, Mr. Bates permitted it to be shipped to its destination, as per consignment, at the same time sending a Deputy Marshal along, incog., to ap- prehend the man, or men, who should call to get it.

AGAIN TOO SHARP FOR 'EM .- But though as vigilant, probably, as the average U. S. official, Mr. " Daniel West," was altogether too sharp for the Michigan Deputy Marshal, for, almost under his very nose, while passing from the steamer into a warehouse, in Cleve- land, to be transferred to a "through" boat for Portsmouth, the puncheon, with its precious contents, mysteriously disappeared, and the discomfited Michigander was compelled to return to

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ALTOGETHER TOO SHARP FOR 'EM.

Detroit with the humiliating confession to the District Attorney, that he had been outwitted by wily Dan, or some of his satellites.

OAKLAND COUNTY DISCLOSURES .- The District Attorney then visited the neighborhood where he had been informed so large a product of this mill was in circulation. Taking his wife and the young son of U. S. Marshal Howard, of Detroit, with him, as a blind, Mr. Bates, in the disguise of a hunter, traveled over the en- tire region named, and soon found that some $40,000 or $50,000 of the bogus coin had been manufactured by Dan Brown and his ac- complices, most of whom were ignorant but honest farmers, who had, by Dan, been inveigled into the business under the pretense that, as it could not be distinguished from the genuine, it was no . crime, or even sin, to pass it. Nine of these men were arrested and taken to Detroit, and the United States Court being then in session, they were indicted, tried and sentenced to the peni- tentiary. Two of these deluded farmers soon died of grief in prison, and a few years later several of them were pardoned by the President on the recommendation of the District Attorney.

MORE " SHARP" OFFICERS OUTWITTED .- " Dan" Brown was also indicted by the same Grand Jury, but, previous to this, finding that the atmosphere of Michigan was too ," sultry" for either com- fort or safety, after shipping his machinery, as above stated, he had taken some $40,000 of his product to other markets, out of which, at wholesale rates, it is supposed that he realized from $15,- 000 to $20,000. The District Attorney now turned his attention to tracing the whereabouts of Dan Brown, alias "Dan West." Learning, through an intercepted letter, passing through the De- troit postoffice, that his man would be at a certain hotel in St. Louis, on Christmas eve, Mr. Bates sent his deputy marshal and a detective thither, armed with the necessary documents, to secure his arrest and return to Michigan. On their arrival at the hotel in question, the sharp detectives not only entered their own names and places of residence on the hotel register, but, seeing the name of "Daniel West" on the same page, they innocently inquired of the supposed clerk, standing behind the counter, if Mr. West was in, saying that they would like to speak with him. Now it so hap- pened that the office clerk had temporarily stepped out, and the party of whom the inquiry had been made, was the veritable " Dan West," otherwise Dan Brown, himself. Coolly and politely saying to the newcomers that he would call Mr. West, Mr. Brown passed out through the kitchen, and a few minutes later was on board a Mississippi steamer, en route for Little Rock, Arkansas, a point often visited by him about those days.

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228