McBroom boys - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

The case against the McBroom boys of Fountain County is openly charged by many prominent citizens of the community to be blackmail, pure and simple. The Davis girl, it develops, had been an inmate of the state reform school for girls for nine years and was of a questionable character. The story she told at the preliminary trial is said to have been exceedingly gauzy and very inconsistent. The McBrooms were bound over to the circuit court and claim that they will have no difficulty in clearing themselves if their case ever comes to trial.  News comes from Fountain County of the commission of a foul crime and if reports are true a lynching is not out of the range of possibility. The details are unfit for publication and the fact that the people are thoroughly aroused is not surprising. The victim in the case is a Miss Davis, a girl who had always borne a good reputation in the vicinity of Hillsboro. It is alleged that some days ago a young married man named McBroom called on her and engaged her to go to his home to assist in housework. She got in a buggy with him and started. At an obscure place in the woods it is charged that they were joined by McBroom’s cousin. Some hours later the girl was found unconscious. Action in the matter was delayed from day to day and the McBrooms have only been arrested within the last day or so. A. B. Anderson went to Covington Tuesday on their request and will probably represent their case. The men indignantly deny the charge and the matter is causing no end of excitement in darkest Fountain.

Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 29 July 1898

The case against the McBroom boys of Fountain County is openly charged by many prominent citizens of the community to be blackmail, pure and simple. The Davis girl, it develops, had been an inmate of the state reform school for girls for nine years and was of a questionable character. The story she told at the preliminary trial is said to have been exceedingly gauzy and very inconsistent. The McBrooms were bound over to the circuit court and claim that they will have no difficulty in clearing themselves if their case ever comes to trial.

Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 29 July 1898

News comes from Fountain County of the commission of a foul crime and if reports are true a lynching is not out of the range of possibility. The details are unfit for publication and the fact that the people are thoroughly aroused is not surprising. The victim in the case is a Miss Davis, a girl who had always borne a good reputation in the vicinity of Hillsboro. It is alleged that some days ago a young married man named McBroom called on her and engaged her to go to his home to assist in housework. She got in a buggy with him and started. At an obscure place in the woods it is charged that they were joined by McBroom’s cousin. Some hours later the girl was found unconscious. Action in the matter was delayed from day to day and the McBrooms have only been arrested within the last day or so. A. B. Anderson went to Covington Tuesday on their request and will probably represent their case. The men indignantly deny the charge and the matter is causing no end of excitement in darkest Fountain.

Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 5 August 1898

The Covington papers state that the preliminary trail of Claude and Harry McBroom for an alleged assault on Fannie Davis was an exciting one. The Friend in its write-up of the girl’s testimony says: “On cross examination she said that she had recently been released from the reform school on a ticket of leave. Said she had been in that institution since she was ten years old. Mr. Anderson tried hard to get her to contradict her story, but his efforts were all in vain. The court called him down three times, on account of his rigid examination. Anderson protested and said he was only doing his duty as a sworn attorney in defending the boys.”

Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 22 December 1899

Covington Friend: Yesterday morning the McBroom case, which is familiar to all our readers, was called for trial. The defense made a motion that the case be continued on account of the sickness of a witness and the absence of Attorney A. B. Anderson. The court sustained the motion and then stated that from the evidence adduced at the two former trials he did not believe the boys guilty as charged, and that if they had been found guilty he would have set the verdict aside. This practically settles the case and in all probability it will be stricken from the docket. The defendants and their friends are highly pleased with the turn of affairs.