USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Uniontown > A history of Uniontown : the county seat of Fayette County, Pennsylvania > Part 58
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At No. 1, September Sessions, 1834, he was convicted of assault and battery on Thomas Gaddis, a constable, of Georges township, for which he was sentenced to pay a fine of one hun- dred dollars and costs and to undergo an imprisonment in the county jail for one calendar month.
At No. 4, June Sessions, 1835, he was charged of perjury by Cuthbert Wiggins. The grand jury found a true bill, but upon trial the verdict was " not guilty," but pay the costs.
March 7, 1836, his farm of 380 acres in Union and Georges townships was sold at sheriff's sale.
At Nos. 17, 18 and 19 June Sessions, 1836, he was indicted with making and passing four counterfeit $50 promissory notes on the bank of Utica, purporting to be true and genuine notes. A true bill was found. George Washington Miller was the prosecutor, and the case was tried in January, 1837, and Braddee was acquitted, but directed to pay half the costs. An appeal
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was taken to the Supreme Court, and on November 18, 1837, that body reversed the finding of the lower court as to the costs. Accompanying this file paper are two of the counter- feit notes produced in evidence at the trial, of the denomination of $50 each. On the back of each is written the word " Coun- terfeit " in bold letters, and on one of them is written this verse:
" He that made this note a fool may be, But a bigger fool was the celebrated Braddee."
In anticipation of trouble with his money in the transaction with the above George W. Miller, Dr. Braddee caused the fol- lowing to be published in the Genius of Liberty of June 15, 1836 : "Notice to the public-I loaned, some days since, to Geo. W. Miller one thousand dollars which is now supposed to be bad or altered money, which was unknown to me. I received it in exchange, and gave good western paper for it, and if it should prove to be bad money I was swindled out of good money for it in the way of exchange. Bicknell's .Directory, my guide, gave no account of any counterfeit or altered notes on that bank. When Mr. Miller got the money he took the Detector and examined it, and compared the money by it, and was satis- fied that the money was good. I therefore wish it to be under- stood that I was innocent at the time of the above transaction, of the money being bad, if it should prove to be bad, it was pronounced good by the best judges in Uniontown." It ap- pears that the above publication did not satisfy Mr. Miller, hence the suit.
At No. 1 June Sessions, 1838, Dr. Braddee was indicted for perjury, his brother-in-law, Basil Brownfield, being the prose- cutor. A true bill was found, and on June 6th the defendant was arraigned and plead "not guilty." Same day tried and verdict " not guilty " and the county pay the costs.
At No. 9 September Sessions, 1840, Dr. Braddee was charged with uttering two $5 notes on the Exchange Bank of Pittsburgh. In this case Mike Dugan was the prosecutor. The witnesses were Mike Dugan, Andrew Byers and Judge James Veech. The bill was ignored on account, it was said of Dugan having a more infamous character than Braddee. Dugan was stabbed to death by Henry Abel in Uniontown, in 1861.
On January 26 1832, Dr. Braddee purchased from Judge Thomas Irwin the property since known as the National House,
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located on the northwest corner on Fayette and Morgantown streets, and finished the third story and erected a two-story brick wing to the north, extending to the stage yard. To this he moved his office and his family, and his medical practice in- creased to the extent that the streets were thronged for squares with the vehicles of his patrons. It was estimated that his practice produced him from $30 to $70 per day ; and his patron- age extended from Bedford and Somerset, and from as far as North Carolina and New Orleans.
Here he compounded a line of proprietory medicines for which he had great demands; such as "Elroy," " Female Cordial," " Camomile Cordial," " Rheumatic Cure," "Cancer Salve," "Cordial Balm of Health," "Tincture of Health," " Gravel Elixir," " Black Drops," etc.
Here the doctor bloomed out in a more pretentious manner. He kept a race horse he called " Squirrel " and another he called the " Pony;" but his favorite riding horse, which he named " Smearcase," was a large, dun pacer, with white flowing mane and tail, and although the doctor weighed over two hun- dred pounds, this horse would carry him over the mountains to Farmington, a distance of twelve miles, in an hour.
Notwithstanding the lucrative practice enjoyed by Dr. Braddee, it soon became apparent that he had designs in pur- chasing the Judge Irwin property and erecting the wing extend- ing to the stage yard, as the sequel will show.
It will be remembered that Uniontown is located on the great National Highway connecting the East with the West, and along this great thoroughfare thundered the traffic of a nation, and numerous stage coaches laden with passengers and the United States mails. At the stage yard where these coaches and teams were housed, and where the mails were transferred from incoming to outgoing coaches, all was rush and bustle, both by day and by night. The sheds and high board fence surrounding this yard, made this a favorable place for secret doings.
The country not enjoying the banking facilities of the present, thousands upon thousands of dollars in paper money passed through the mails daily in the transaction of business, and it will be remembered that the farther away from the bank of issue the money got the more it depreciated in value. This made it necessary to exchange western money for eastern
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money for the eastern markets and vice versa for the western markets. This exchange of money soon became a fruitful source of putting into circulation a vast flood of counterfeit money.
Here Dr. Braddee saw an opportunity to increase his al- ready handsome revenue; and although it was believed that he could neither read nor write, he could tell at a glance the de- nomination of a note, its bank of issue and whether it was a counterfeit. He could converse intelligently on almost any sub- ject, and it was always a mooted question as to his illiteracy. It soon became current that Braddee was "shoving the queer," and he always claimed that bad money had been imposed upon him in exchange for good.
The United States mails from St. Louis, Mo .; Nashville, Tenn .; Louisville, Ky., Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, and other western points, were made up at Wheeling, Va., and put into sacks that were not to be opened until they arrived at their destination in the eastern cities.
The stealing of trunks, baggage and money from the stage coaches progressing for some time and was growing more and more frequent and extensive, and toward the close of 1840 a series of deep laid and systematic mail robberies took place in rapid succession, as hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank notes, checks, drafts, bills, scrip, etc., passed over the National road to the eastern cities.
The mails made up at Wheeling for New York on the 13th 19th, 23rd, and 29th of November, and on the 5th, 12th, and 18th, of December, 1840 and due in New York three days later, never arrived at their destination.
This state of affairs claimed the attention and received the immediate and energetic action of the Post Office Department. Dr. Howard Kennedy, special agent of this division of the de- partment, and George Plitt, agent for the department for the state of New York, and L. W. Stockton, the mail contractor from Wheeling to Baltimore, were placed in charge of the mat- ter to ferret out the guilty parties, and these gentlemen lost no time nor spared any pains to locate the perpetrators of the crime.
William Corman, a stage driver living in Uniontown, was one of the suspected, as he drove the stage bearing the stolen mail. Detective Plitt mounted the stage with Corman going west and engaged him in conversation and at Washington, Pa.,
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caused his arrest. The information sworn and subscribed to the 6th day of January, 1841, charging Corman with robbing the United States mail, was made by George Plitt, and a war- rant was issued by Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, President Judge of the 14th Judicial District of Pennsylvania. On the following day Detective Plitt made information against Dr. John F. Braddee, William Purnell and Peter Mills Strayer, charging them with the same offense, and a warrant was issued by Judge Ewing to George Meason, Esq., High Sheriff of Fayette county. The warrants were duly executed. On the arrest of Braddee the whole town was thrown into a fever of excitement. Guards were placed over the house, and a systematic search of the premises instituted. Lights were seen flitting through the house and grounds as every room and cranny were being searched. Several articles were found about the house, and mail sacks were found hidden in a deserted vault in the yard, and $10,398.60 in cash were found tied in a handkerchief and hidden among the hay in the stable.
A hearing was held before Judge Ewing on the 8th, at which Corman told the whole story, implicating Braddee as the instigator and himself and Strayer as accessories. Braddee declared his innocence, and Strayer went so far as to say that he hoped God would strike him dead if he had any knowledge whatever of the crime of which he was accused. Judge Ewing ordered that John F. Braddee enter into security himself in the sum of $50,000, and two sufficient sureties in $25,000 each, and that the prisoner be remanded until Monday, the 11th inst. at 10 o'clock a. m., to afford time to procure bail.
The same vs. Peter Mills Strayer, January 8th, 1841, ordered that he enter into security himself in $15,000, and two sufficient sureties at $7,500 each, and the prisoner remanded until Monday, the 11th inst. at 10 o'clock, to afford time to procure bail.
The same vs. William Purnell, January 8, 1841, ordered that he enter into security himself in the sum of $10,000, and two sufficient sureties at $5,000 each, and the prisoner was re- manded. January 11, 1841, Monday, 10, a. m., the prisoners state that they were unable to procure bail and are committed to the custody of the Marshal of the Western District of Penn- sylvania.
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Dr. Howard Kennedy estimated that the amount of the mails stolen would aggregate $120,000 in cash and nearly half a million in valuable papers.
At a habeas corpus awarded by Judge Thomas Irwin at Pittsburgh, January 13, 1841, Braddee was admitted to bail under the following bondsmen, viz .: Hugh Graham, Benjamin Brownfield, Isaac Hague, Henry Smith, Robert Laughlin, Emanuel Brown, Daniel S. Diamond, B. Brown, Thomas Mox- ley, Isaac Brown, Abraham White, Jacob Humbert, Andrew McClelland, Peter Humbert, Lewis Williams, James McLean, David Chipps, James Douglass, John Hague, Abraham Brown, Daniel Franks, Samuel Hatfield, John McClelland and William Hague, bound in the sum of $60,000 each that John F. Braddee be and appear at a session of the Circuit Court of the United States to be held at the city of Pittsburgh the third Monday of May (17th) next, to answer to such charges as shall be pre- ferred against him, and that he shall not depart the Court with- out leave. On May 24th John F. Braddee by his bail, Hugh Graham, is surrendered into Court and Hugh Graham dis- charged from his recognizance. This action on the part of Mr. Graham was instigated by the fact, it was said, that he had learned of the transaction between Braddee and Costolo, and he was convinced that Braddee would be convicted beyond a doubt.
In the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania at No. 3 May Sessions, 1841, held before the Honorables Justice Baldwin and Judge Irwin, a bill of indictment was presented against Dr. John F. Braddee, in- cluding four counts, viz .: 1st, stealing the mails of the United States on the 13th of November, 1840, in progress of transmis- sion from Wheeling to New York; 2nd, stealing the mail of the United States on the 23rd of November, 1840, in progress of transmission from Wheeling to New York; 3rd, stealing the mail of the United States on December 5th, 1840, while in transmission from Wheeling to New York; and 4th, stealing the mail of the United States on the 18th, of December, 1840, while in progress of transmission from Wheeling to New York.
The parties engaged in the case on the part of the United States were C. Darragh, district attorney, A W. Loomis, Samuel W. Black, Joshua B. Howell, Moses Hampton. For the de- fense, John M. Austin, R. Biddle, Walter Forward, Wilson
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McCandless, William M. Austin, Samuel S. Austin and William P. Wells.
May 24, 1840-The grand inquest of the United States of America, inquiring for the Western District of Pennsylvania, upon their oaths and affirmations respectfully do present and say: That John F. Braddee, late of said Western District of Pennsylvania, a practitioner of medicine did on the 13th of November, 1840, at Uniontown, in the Western District of Pennsylvania, procure, advise and assist Peter Mills Strayer to steal, take and carry away the mail of the United States, then in transmission from the post office at Wheeling, in the Western District of Virginia to the post office at New York.
The trial began Tuesday, May 25, 1840, and evidence was taken until Monday, the 31st, which was followed by the ad- dresses of counsel.
Corman's evidence was that Braddee had repeatedly urged him to let him (Braddee) have some of the mail bags from the mail coach, stating that he would divide the money with Cor- man, and stating that such had frequently been done without detection, and that he, at the suggestion of Braddee, had left mail pouches in the coach to be taken by Braddee, and to which Braddee acknowledged to have taken, and that one contained considerable money. Corman had seen Braddee take three or four mails from the coach when in Stockton's stage yard, and take them to his house after six o'clock at night. Braddee told Corman and Strayer that the mails between Lexington and Maysville, Kentucky, had been robbed of large sums of money and the persons perpetrating the robberies had never been ap- prehended.
Strayer could not be persuaded to turn states evidence until he was convinced that Braddee would be convicted with- out his evidence,-he not wishing Braddee to be convicted on his evidence alone-and by turning states evidence he, himself, would escape conviction.
The most damaging evidence against Braddee was that of Samuel Costolo of Evansville, Va., from whom Braddee had purchased a farm one and a half miles from Morgantown.
Braddee owed Costolo on this farm a balance of over $1400, . and Costolo sent Amos Jolliffe, a neighbor, to receive the money. Jolliffe went to Braddee's office and the money, to the
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amount of $1,395 was counted out to him by Mrs. Braddee and her mother, Mrs. Margaret Collins. The money was delivered to Mr. Costolo with Braddee's request that the money be not passed at Morgantown, as it would raise a disturbance if any of his money was circulated there, as the word would be in Uniontown in less than a day. The package of money was placed in the care of W. Wagner, cashier of the Morgantown bank, but was not placed on deposit; this was evidently a pre- cautionary move on the part of Mr. Costolo. This package of money was produced in evidence, and Eldert T. Van Alstine, engaged in the exchange business in St. Louis, identified posi- tively among this money a $50 note on the Farmers' Bank of West Virginia ; another of $50 on the Farmers' Bank of Virginia, payable at Lynchburg; another of $100 on the bank of Virginia, payable at Richmond; and another of $50 on the Farmers' Bank of Virginia, payable at Richmond. These had been placed in the mails by Mr. Van Alstine and had never reached their destination.
On June 3rd, Justice Baldwin charged the jury. They re- tired about 2 o'clock and the Court took a recess until 4 o'clock, when the jury came into court and rendered a verdict of guilty on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th counts in the indictment, and "not guilty " on the 3rd count. The jury were polled at the instance of counsel for the defense. Motion was made for arrest of sen- tence, and a motion for a new trial was warmly and skilfully argued. Court then adjourned until May 7th, when Justice Baldwin delivered the opinion of the Court, overruled the mo- tion for a new trial and passed the following sentence :
"John F. Braddee, stand up:" The prisoner hesitated a moment, then leisurely arose and stood erect, then leaned for- ward on the front of the box. " If you are unwell or unable to stand, you may sit down. You have been indicted on four charges of stealing the mails and found guilty on three of them after a full and fair trial, being defended by the zeal and talent of able counsel. The Court entirely approve of the verdict, both as regards the law and the fact. The Court therefore sentence you on the first count in this indictment, charging you with stealing a mail on the 13th of November, 1840, to undergo an imprisonment in the Western Penitentiary, in the city of Alle- gheny, during the term of ten years from this time, there to be kept under the charge and control of the proper officers, and in
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such manner as is provided by the laws of Pennsylvania ; to pay the costs of prosecution and stand committed until the sentence is complied with." " Marshal, take charge of your prisoner."- District Attorney Darragh-" We ask the Court to hold over sentence on the remainder of the indictment."-The Court,- " Certainly we will unless a motion is made to sentence him."
On June 5th, the Court occupied itself in disposing of the stolen money found in the haymow of Dr. Braddee's stable. The amount found tied in a handkerchief and concealed in the hay was $10,398.60. Of this there was refunded to individuals who established their claims to the stolen money, $7,156.60, leaving $3,244 undistributed which was deposited in the Bank of Pittsburgh subject to the order of the Court. Braddee's whole estate, both personal and real, as well as the balance of the stolen money, was soon seized upon and absorbed by real or pretended creditors.
It is known that Dr. Braddee's wife clung to him during his trial, and by her presence and signs of affection, rendered him all the comfort within her power, and for the first few years of his imprisonment he was fond of an opportunity to talk about his wife and children. He spoke of them in terms of warm af- fection, and undoubtedly his desire to recover his liberty was stimulated by his attachment for them. When the trial was called, Mrs. Braddee walked to Pittsburgh, carrying a child in her arms. After her husband's incarceration, Mrs. Braddee re- moved with her children to the southern part of Fayette county and spent the remainder of her long life in the seclusion of the forests. In her latter days she confessed that she had burned quite a lot of the stolen money in order to hide the evidence it might produce. She was born April 12, 1810, and died near Cheat river at a place known as Garner's Hollow, just across the line in West Virginia, August 16, 1884, and was buried in the Basil Brownfield lot in Oak Grove cemetery, Uniontown.
Dr. Braddee assisted in planting a row of trees outside the prison walls, and while incarcerated, learned to read in mono- syllables.
Shortly after his incarceration Dr. Braddee conceived the idea of procuring his liberation by stimulating a decline of health. For this purpose he would prick his gums with an awl, which had been supplied to him in the vocation he had chosen
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while in prison, that of a shoemaker, and, having saturated his towel with blood, was always prepared for the stated visits of the physician or chaplain, with this evidence of a very dangerous hemorrhage of the lungs, to which he was always careful to add a difficult and painful respiration. Preferring, as he stated, to have his liberty and to die in a barn rather than die a prisoner. His physician was able sometimes to engage the suffering doc- tor in conversation in which he would become sufficiently ani- mated to forget his painful breathing, but on the instant that he would recollect himself the difficulty would return. These practices, it is believed, brought on the disease which termi- nated his life, and he died of pulmonary affection on Friday night, February 20, 1846, having served 4 years, 8 months and 21 days of his prison sentence.
Until two weeks before his death Dr. Braddee's disease had not assumed a formidable type, but then he began to sink rapidly. Up to this period he had steadily and vehemently as- serted his innocence of the crime imputed to him, but so soon as he became convinced that his recovery was impossible, he confessed his guilt, acknowledged his punishment just, and furthermore implicated several persons who had not been sus- pected of participating in his crimes.
The body of Dr. Braddee was interred in the prison bury- ing grounds just outside the prison walls, and a guard was kept over his grave at night until the earth was frozen so solid that body snatching would be too laborious to be profitable. This burying ground was since taken into the enclosure.
A letter from J. M. Johnston, Warden of the Western Peni- tentiary, dated August 23, 1907, gives the following information as to the death of Dr. Braddee. "Dr. John F. Braddee was registered in this prison as No. 796, June 7, 1841. Sentenced from Allegheny county to a term of ten years for stealing United States mail." He gave his age at the time of incarcera- tion as twenty-nine years, and the place of his nativity, Paris, Kentucky, not France; occupation, doctor, and first conviction. His complexion was sallow; eyes, gray; hair, brown; stature, six feet and one inch.
The physician's report for the year 1846, gives the follow- ing information : "No. 796, white male, died February 20, 1846, of laryngeal phthisis caused by violent efforts on his part to
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cough, made voluntary when he supposed anyone would be within hearing, hoping thereby to establish for himself the character of an invalid, and thus excite sympathy, and possibly obtain pardon."
Signed by T. F. Dale, M. D., Col. James Anderson, Presi- dent of Board of Inspectors; R. F. Morehead, Treasurer, and Wilson McCandless, Wm. Leckey and William Robinson the other members. Maj. A. Beckham was warden, A. W. Black, moral instructor, and James Alexander, clerk.
It has always been a subject of disquisition whether Dr. Braddee was actually illiterate, or was his claim to ignorance a matter of design. It seems inconceivable that one making pre- tense to practice medicine should boast of or even admit his inability to read and write. It may be that the doctor made the excuse that he was too busy, or from some other cause he
avoided writing his name, but always made his mark to papers where his signature was necessary; and no paper can be pro- duced to evidence that he ever signed by any other way. He and his brother-in-law, Basil Brownfield, had considerable deal- ings in money matters, requiring the signature of Braddee, yet with all his shrewdness and intimate acquaintance, he would loan Braddee money on his mark alone. His lawyers, who de- fended him when on trial, took his obligations after his im- prisonment, over his mark alone.
On the other hand, he appeared to understand the nature of the medicines and drugs he used in his extensive practice. He was never known to injure a patient by a wrong dose or an over-dose of medicine. He knew the nature and use of drugs that were unknown, or at least unused by the medical prac- titioners of this community, and had them ordered by mer- chants of this town from pharmacists of Baltimore, who either kept them in stock or procured them for Braddee's practice, proving them to be regular pharmaceutical preparations. As stated elsewhere, Dr. Braddee could tell at a glance the de- nomination of a bank note, its bank of issue, and whether it was a counterfeit or an altered note.
While many denounced Braddee as a quack and a scoun- drel, there were scores who gave their testimonials that he had cured after others had failed, and believed him to be a scholar in disguise. His remedies were called for, and sought after at the local drug stores for many years after the Doctor's death.
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After the case of Dr. Braddee was disposed of his mother- in-law, Margaret Collins, was indicted for stealing from the United States mails. The witnesses before the grand jury were E. S. Harris, William Ebert, John P. Sturgis, H. H. Bee- son, Abraham Alexander and Dr. Howard Kennedy, who repre- sented the Post Office Department. At the same term she was charged with a $500 treasury note, stolen from the mail, knowing the same to have been stolen. On November 17th the grand jury came into court and presented two bills of indictment against Margaret Collins, and on November 22nd, the defendant pleaded " not guilty." At the trial the jury could not agree and were discharged. It was claimed that Mrs. Collins handled too much of Dr. Braddee's money to be ignorant of how the doc- tor came by it, and the handling of the $1,395 of the Costolo money would indicate that she had considerable knowledge of the doctor's business.
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