Sam Brown

Sam Brown. Tried, Convicted and Hung at Old Greenville. , In the spring of 1900, Sam Brown was living with his wife Annabel, their two sons, and her younger brother, Will Grant, in a shanty in the woods two miles southwest of Hiram. Sam Brown (30) and Will Grant (21) had been working together for about two months as tie-hackers, making railroad ties for the Holladay-Klotz Land and Lumber Co. Living nearby were several other tie-hackers, including George T. Richardson (42) and his young wife (18)., On the evening of March 20, 1900, after collecting his pay and buying some supplies at the Holladay-Klotz company store in Hiram, George Richardson disappeared during his walk home from the store. Two days later, in a burned cabin about one mile south of Hiram, searchers found charred bits of Richardson's clothing along with the remains of the supplies he had bought and some burned human bones. Bloodstains and a footprint were also found and a wider search soon revealed the fragmentary remains of Richardson's burned body., Sam Brown and Will Grant were immediate suspect. Under questioning, Grant made a deal with the prosecutors. In exchange for complete immunity, Grant revealed that Brown was the killer. At Sam Brown's trial in Old Greenville in 1901, Grant reported that he and Brown had learned from Richardson's wife that George Richardson carried a large sum of money ($700), which he kept hidden in a leather money belt. Will Grant testified that he was coerced by Brown into helping kill Richardson and steal the money., Grant described how Brown shot Richardson, took the money belt, and then dragged the body to a nearby abandoned cabin. After covering the body with bark and pine knots, Brown then torched the body, hoping to destroy the body. The next day, when he found that Richardson's body had not been completely consumed in the blaze, Brown moved it to a more remote location and tried once again to burn it., Based on Will Grant's testimony, and other circumstantial evidence, Sam Brown was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to hang. The death sentence was carried out beside the Old Greenville Jail on Friday, June 27, 1902. A crowd of over 1,500 people gathered in Old Greenville to witness the event., Soon after Brown's trial, doubts began to surface about Will Grant's motivation and truthfulness. Sam Brown never admitted to killing George Richardson and on the eve of his execution, Brown told his jailers that Will Grant and Mrs. Richardson had plotted the murder. The stolen money was never recovered and Grant was later heard offering to take Richardson's young widow "anywhere in the world" that she wanted to go. Sam Carter, the prosecuting attorney who won the conviction, quit his law practice after Brown was hung and avoided courtrooms for the rest of his life., (Sidebar): , Sam Brown, shown here in 1902 during his incarceration in the Wayne County Jail at Old Greenville. Brown was arrested on March 22, 1900, and remained here during his 1901 trial before Judge Frank R. Dearing and during his 1902 appeal. On May 13, 1902 the Missouri Supreme Court completed a review of Brown's case and denied him a new trial, To screen the hanging from public view, a stockade was built beside the jail and the gallows was erected inside it. The death sentence was carried out on June 27, 1902, at 11:50 A.M. Brown suffered from tuberculoses and by the appointed day of his hanging, he was so weak from his illness that he had to be carried to the gallows and held up while the noose was fitted around his neck. Despite his frail condition, it took more than five minutes for Same Brown to die. ,