Ghost stories from where I grew up, Part VII
Lead Summary
By
Steve Roush-
Ladies and gentlemen, in the summer of 1889, nearly a year after John Brown was fatally shot at the Parker House in uptown Hillsboro, a jury of 12 men found Marion DeCalb Britton, Brown’s brother-in-law, guilty of second-degree murder.
Following the verdict, defense attorney Alphonso Hart, who had served as 11th lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1874-76 and later had served as a U.S. representative, filed a motion for a new trial on 11 grounds.
A hearing was held before Common Pleas Court Judge Henry M. Huggins on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 9-10, at the Highland County Courthouse. Affidavits were filed and witnesses were called and examined orally.
Judge Huggins, who was 47 years old at the time, served for two terms as Common Pleas Court Judge for Highland, Ross and Fayette counties from 1882 to 1892.
During the hearing for the application for a new trial, testimony was heard that one of the 12 jurors, Wesley Gall, might have been bribed.
Affidavits were also filed in reference to another juror, John Duncan. Several witnesses, including Charley Miner, Elijah Lafferty, Simpson Oldaker and Franklin Cailey, signed affidavits that basically said that Duncan frequently said that Britton should be hung or that Duncan had said he had made up his mind before any of the proceedings.
After reading the affidavits, Duncan told the court that the parties who had made the statements either misunderstood or willfully misrepresented him, adding that he entered into the trial of the case free from any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant on trial, that he never had formed or expressed an opinion, and that his opinion was formed from the hearing of the testimony.
Others gave testimony that someone in the audience in the courtroom had said “hang him” right before Britton jumped out of his chair during the trial and tried to force his way through the courtroom door.
After the hearing was finished, Judge Huggins issued his decision. The judge disposed of 10 of the 11 grounds, but declared a mistrial, threw out the guilty verdict and ordered a new trial upon the ground of the misconduct of a juror, John Duncan.
From there, the legal wrangling would continue. The case was reassigned for a hearing, and an effort was made to impanel a jury. During this process, a motion for a change of venue was made by the defense.
That motion was sustained, and the case was sent to the Ross County Court of Common Pleas for trial.
But before Marion Britton would get another day in court, another Brown would meet a tragic end.
A dozen days into November of 1889, Jeanette Brown, age 74, perished in the home that she and her husband built years earlier – the home where I grew up.
Her obituary appeared on Nov. 21: Mrs. Jeanette Inskeep Brown was born in Brown County, Ohio, January 5th, 1815, and died at her home November 12th, 1889. She was married to Joshua Brown, March 10th, 1839. He died in 1867. Of their nine children, all living at the death of Mr. Brown, five survive their mother – Wm. and James Brown, Mrs. G.W. Barrere, Mrs. W.T. Roush and Miss Mary Brown.
Mrs. Brown was a woman of native force of character. Her judgment was clear and her insight acute. As the wise woman of Scripture, she “looked well to the ways of her household,” and their large family was raised in thrift and competence. The home was known to the “stranger in the gate,” and a generous hospitality was extended to a large circle of friends.
Mrs. Brown was a consistent member of the M.E. Church for 40 years. Until age, with its limitation was upon her, her feet were familiar with the courts of Zion, and her home afforded a pleasant rest to the weary itinerant. Her mother-heart was largely bound up in her children, and the death of those who preceded her a severe trial; but the tragic fate of her youngest son, John, in August 1888, precipitated the feeble condition that made her the easy prey of one of death’s most painful emissaries.
Despite the tender care and constant watchfulness of her daughters, on Monday evening, November 11th, her clothing ignited, and although help was immediate, she survived the accident but 22 hours.
Thus passes away another of the older citizens whose knowledge of the early settlers of the county and its history will remain in but meager record. The battle fought, the victory won, they rest.
I was told that Jeannette Brown was most likely tending to the fire in a fireplace in the parlor, which today is a dining room in the place where I grew up, when her clothing caught on fire.
She was buried in the Hillsboro Cemetery beside her husband, Joshua, and her son, Joel, and just a few feet away from her youngest son, John.
Years had passed since the Brown family posed for a portrait on a bright, warm day in front of the brick homestead with the tall oaks and the white picket fence. As the 1880s were nearing an end, only five of the nine siblings were still living, and the matriarch and patriarch who built the two-story home had seen their years come to an end.
As another tale ends, we’ll delve into more ghost stories from the place where I grew up next week.
Steve Roush is a vice president of an international media company and a columnist and contributing writer for The Highland County Press.