639 Sheet – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

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Reading Time: 4 minutes [661 words]

Here is the translated text as follows:

ROBERT McCONAGHY

607

I had come together and saw the man in the mow from his breast to the top of his head. He had darkish clothes on, a clean shirt, and black hair. He had no hat on. To all appearances, it was Robert McConaghy. I saw his face; it was plain to me, and I knew him. I do not mind what I told Taylor. He asked me if I saw the man; I said I did. He asked me if I knew him; I told him I did and that it was Robert McConaghy. On the next Sunday, he was at my house; he had a Mexican eleven pence. He asked me if I had ever seen any of this kind of money. I told him I did not know, but thought I had a dollar of the same kind in my chest. I took the key down from the top of the clock, took out my purse, and opened it. A Mexican dollar, a ninety-five cent piece, and four half dollars fell out. He said it was the same kind of money. The two guns found in the mow were mine. I was not in the habit of lending my guns to anyone. I have owned it since last June. No person, to my knowledge, ever used this gun except at the time of the murder. I showed Lewis Carothers and Eli Wakefield how to use that lock, as well as Robert McConaghy. I could not tell how near the first bullet came to me; it was so near I did not hear it whistle. John was 21 years old on the 15th of last February; Elizabeth was 17 in January; George was 16 at the end of March; Jacob was 14 in June; David was 10 on the 15th of last March. One of my daughters is the prisoner's wife. I have 120 acres of land in Cromwell Township.

John Taylor, William Atherton, and I were working in an old field, about half a mile from Brown's house, on the day of the murder. Brown came about 5 o'clock and said there was a man in his barn who had shot at him twice from between the logs as he stood on the step of his house door. He said he shot his big gun first, for the ball came whistling by his head; the next took off a piece of his ear. He said his son was murdered and was lying in the house, and the rest of his family had cleared out. He asked one of us to go up to Bare’s, and the other to go with him to his house. William Atherton went to Bare’s, and I went to the house. The first thing I saw was that the floor had been washed; it was quite wet. There were two loaves of bread in the basket that seemed ready to be put in the oven, and two guns on the chest. Mr. Brown opened the door into the sleeping room, and I saw that that room was wetter than the other. John Brown was dead, lying on his back with his head toward the foot of the bed. The fall of his pants was unbuttoned, and his shirt was out. His left hand pocket was drawn about halfway out. He had his coat off, and his waistcoat was pulled over his head. It appeared as if he had been dragged out of the first room. We went and looked around the barn and McConaghy’s house but saw nothing wrong. We then went into the house again to look at young John. I said, "Brown, do you think there is anybody in that bed?" He said, "No, I guess not." I said, "Brown, you had better look in that bed." We drew the clothes down, and there was his old woman's head lying on the pillow. Brown began to cry.

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