Volume 15 , Issue 40

One Hundred Years Ago 9 November 1913

One hundred years ago today, 9 November 1913, Sunday morning, Ardmore, Oklahoma, The Ardmoreite reported, "Crazed By Opiates Barr Declares," where Barr was under influence of morphine when he made confession to murder of Miss Florence Brown, in Saturday's Dallas News the week earlier. Have you heard of the Florence Brown murder and Meade Barr?

The newspaper reported about Meade Barr's confession, "My confession to the grand jury last Saturday night that I killed Miss Florence Brown is not true. It was just the confession of a man under the influence of drug. I had had that day a grain tablet of morphine and nearly a pint of whisky, and when I got to thinking more about it on Monday, I realized that the confession was not true. I don't see how I could ever have had the heart to do such a thing as I had confessed to, and I never even slapped a woman in my life."

Such was the declaration of Meade Barr late afternoon, November, 1913 in the Dallas county jail, just one week after he had den brought to Dallas for an investigation into the Florence Brown murder. He made his statement in the course of a detailed narrative of his life, declaring emphatically that he had had nothing to do with the killing and was not even down town on the morning it occurred.

Barr further declared night's sleep. Surely they will turn me loose tomorrow.d that Mrs. Effie Lake, who had also been held since last Saturday under an affidavit charging her with complicity in the murder, had absolutely nothing to do with it, and that she had never even mentioned such a thing to him. He said he had implicated her simply because he had known her, and he thought it would connect up in some way with the rest of the things he had thought and told as a confession to the murder.

Standing in a corridor of the jail, just outside of his cell, Barr related the circumstances leading up to his return to Dallas upon the murder charge. A few minutes after he finished, Mrs. Effie Lake, sitting in the county jail office, was told the substance of Barr's statement.

Within a few minutes afterward, Bird & Bird, attorneys for Mrs. Lake, renewed their application for Habaes corpus in Judge Crawford's court. Judge Crawford granted the application for a hearing and set the case for that afternoon at 2 o'clock, ordering sheriff brandenburg to produce the relator in the criminal district court no. 2. The grand jury yesterday spent little time upon the Brown case and neither Barr nor Mrs. Lake was taken before that body. Two witnesses were examined, Lee I. Starling and a man named Truesdale.

The grand jury had taken no action, and it was known that county attorney Currie McCutcheon had asked Foreman Epps G. Knight to allow no bill to be returned in the present status of affairs. The grand jury discussed the case somewhat, and it was admitted that there was a possibility that the re solved.lease of Mrs. Lake may be ordered, or at least recommended, some time today.

Will Hold Barr For Two Months

On 10 November 1913, of The Daily Ardmoreite, we find an article entitled, "Will Hold Barr For Two Months." Attorney expresses belief that Brown murder mystery will be solved.

The Dallas news said, 10 November 1913, try, held in connection with his confession relative to the murder of Miss Florence Brown, being returned to the Indiana reformatory, from which he was brought to Dallas. This information was given out 9 November 1913 by county attorney Currie McCutcheon, who said that Barr would probably be in Dallas for the next two months.

John W. Ryan, chief of police, emphatically denied that Barr had been given any whisky or morphine, either while in Dallas or in Waxahacie. Chief Ryan said: "We are working as hard as ever now on the Brown murder case and will so continue toward a solution of the crime. We are still working on matters independent of the Barr business. It may take some time to work it out, but I believe we will solve it eventually."

County attorney McCutcheon also said that work on the case would be continued, regardless of recent developments, and that he believed the mystery of Miss Brown's murder would finally be solved.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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