By Jane Wilkerson, archival assistant
Many of
us who do genealogical research like to believe our ancestors were God-fearing
and law-abiding citizens. However, what if they … weren’t?
Most families are likely to have at
least one “black sheep” in the flock, but refrain from discussing the person in
polite company, usually out of embarrassment.[1]
Often, the status of these “sheep” has something to do with misdeeds of one
sort or another which have led to involvement with law enforcement, the courts
and the penal system — in short, criminal activity. This may be a source of
embarrassment for the contemporary family but a boon for family historians: Police,
court and penal records preserve much information about both the accused and
the convicted, not limited to name, age and prisoner number. Therefore, while
the term “criminal record” can be a stigma, the documents themselves are
extremely valuable to genealogists. They not only can tell us about the
criminal, but also his or her family dynamics. The hardest part may consist of
figuring out where to start, when your family is not forthcoming with the
details surrounding such sooty lambs.
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Indictment for Frank Browning
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I know this to be the case because
my family tree boasts of at least one such sheep. Within my family circle I had
long heard rumblings that my great grandfather’s brother, Frank Browning by
name, had killed someone; the when and the where of his rumored dastardly deed
were never mentioned. What I did know was Robert Franklin Browning died at the
age of 67 on Jan. 23, 1944, at McFadden in Jackson County, Arkansas. He was
survived by his wife Lilly and two daughters and had pretty much divorced
himself from his family in Sulphur Rock in Independence County. The towns were
only 45 miles apart, yet they might as well have been continents away from each
other. Yes, Frank might have killed someone, but were the facts in his case so bad
as to separate him from his entire family?
I set out to narrow my search a
little in hopes of finding traces of Frank. I knew, from family documents, that
Frank Browning was born Dec. 31, 1876, in Sulphur Rock. His father, George
Washington Browning, died in 1885 and his mother in 1893. He, along with his
five siblings, were left without their parents and had to raise themselves. By Aug.
19, 1922, at the mature age of 45, Frank married one Lilly Owens in Jackson
County. What was he up to in the intervening years, though? I decided to narrow
my search to the period between his mother’s death and his marriage. A search
of Jackson County Circuit court records proved fruitless, and I was afraid that
Independence County would turn out the same.
My next thought was, if Frank Browning
had killed someone and was convicted, he would be in the Arkansas Department of
Corrections records. The Arkansas State Archives, fortunately, has the penitentiary’s
inmate ledger books covering the years 1900 to 1955 on microfilm. I located a
Frank Browning, prisoner number 8293, from Sulphur Rock. I had struck pay dirt:
It was indeed my great grandfather’s brother, doing time?
According to the records, Frank was received at the State Penitentiary on Nov. 5, 1907, sentenced
for five and a half years for manslaughter. The register went on to report that
his trial took place on Dec. 10, 1906. The record included a physical description
which made me realize that my great uncle Frank had led a rough life. He was
described as having several scars on his head and face. The description also mentioned
vaccine scars and one long scar on this left arm. So, Uncle Frank looked like a
rough character; what other things would I uncover?
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Daily Arkansas Gazette,
Dec. 29, 1905
|
From the
prison record I turned to the newspapers of the day and court records to find
out what I could about the incident which led to his incarceration. In
newspapers from Hoxie to Fort Smith, I uncovered lurid
headlines: “Frank Browning kills Telegraph Operator at Hoxie” and “Killing at
Hoxie, Frisco Agent and Operator Shot to Death Yesterday by Frank Browning.”
[2]
So, I had a notorious desperado in my family tree! The infamous incident
happened on Dec. 28, 1905. Browning had gone into the Frisco and Iron Mountain
railroad office at the Hoxie crossing to send a telegraph to Dexter, Missouri, at
11:30 a.m. The operator, T.W. Midkiff, told Browning the answer would probably
arrive by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Browning then returned at 1:30 p.m. smelling of whiskey,
asking if he had received an answer. Midkiff informed him that none had come,
and the conversation became heated. Bystanders outside the office reported they
could hear the two men yelling. Midkiff ordered Browning out, and as they
walked towards the door, Browning pulled out a revolver and shot Midkiff. Browning
was quickly taken into custody. A lynching party consisting of townsmen from
both Walnut Ridge and Hoxie soon formed, bent on teaching the prisoner the “hemp
fandango.” Officers hastily took Browning to Jonesboro to await trial.
At some
point during January 1906, Browning was transferred to the jail at Powhatan,
the county seat. Visitors to our Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives or the
Powhatan Court House State Park may have noticed the solid stone structure that
still stands adjacent to the courthouse. A reporter in 1906 described
it as the “darkest dungeon in the county … The place is over-run with rats, the
only companion(s) to the man in the jail."
Continuing my search through newspapers and county
records, I learned Browning remained under these conditions until March when he
was indicted on a charge of first degree murder by a Lawrence County grand jury.
On Aug. 17, 1906, Browning was arraigned in front of Judge Humphreys of Walnut
Ridge, and the trial date was set for Oct. 19. There were concerns about whether or Browning could receive a fair trial
in Lawrence County. Tensions were still high; it had not been a year since the
townsmen of Hoxie and Walnut Ridge wanted to lynch him. Defense attorneys from
the firm Wright and Reeder successfully argued for and won a change of venue to
Independence County. The trial was heard in Judge F. D. Fulkerson’s court room
in November 1906. Browning was found guilty of manslaughter, after the jury
deliberated for 20 hours. A motion was then made for a new trial and Browning
was released on $1,500 bond, put up by his uncle, Dr. Clinton P. Meriwether, and
Dr. R.C. Dorr and Capt. John A. Hinkle.
So, here was the story that had
sundered this side of my family. On its face, it was bad enough so that I could
understand the family being a little embarrassed by Uncle Frank. As I would
learn through some more searching and sifting, there was more — a lot more — to his story. Next month we will discuss more of his past,
the outcome of his trial and why Frank was indeed the black sheep of our family.
