Testimony Offered at the Inquest Concerning the Death of Anna Brown
May 28, 1921
Ravine in which Anna Brown's body was found.
Testimony taken at the inquest of Anna Brown at Fairfax, Okla. May 28th 1921.
Byron Burkhart having been duly sworn testifies as follows:
Direct examination by Assistant County Attorney Mr. Jeffrey:
Q. State your name? A. Bryon Burkhart
Q. Do you live in Fairfax? A. Yes
Q. Do you know Anna Brown? A. Yes
Q. When did you see her last? A. Saturday afternoon.
Q. A week ago? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where was she? A. She was at Grayhorse. I brought her to town Saturday afternoon.
Q. What business are you engaged in? A. Well, not anything now. I drive a car.
Q. You have a car of your own? A. No, sir.
Q. What kind of a car was it that you drive? A. A Ford.
Q. When you brought her back, where did you go? A. Came to town.
Q. When was this? A. Last Saturday, about 5 or 4:30.
Q. You haven’t seen her since then? A. No, sir.
Q. Heard anything about her, or talked to anyone that knew anything about her? A. No, sir.
Q. What did the fellows about town say about her? A. Don’t know,
Q. Talked to any certain one? A. Just overheard, just heard every one talking about it and everybody wondering.
Q. Did you know that she was absent from her home for the past week? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who told you? A. Her mother and sister.
Q. Did they ask you where she was? A. No.
Q. Did you ask them where she was? A. No.
Q. The afternoon that you took her to her house who was there? A. I didn’t get out.
Q. She got out? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Positive you haven’t seen her since then? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Heard any talk around town, anything special as to who was guilty? A. No, sir.
Q. No one guessing at it? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you get out there where the body was found? A. Yes sir.
Q. Did you see some automobile tracks there? A. Yes, saw some; but there was lots of cars out there.
Q. Byron, was she intoxicated that day? A. Yes, she was.
Q. She had been at Grayhorse all day? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Had any whisky with her? A. Didn’t see any.
Q. She was still drunk that evening? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did she talk about? A. Didn’t talk much. She didn’t say anything much to me. Wanted to know where I could get some booze. I told her I don’t know and didn’t think I could find any.
Q. Did she say she was going to try and get some? A. She didn’t say.
Q. What else did she say? A. Said she was going to have a party that day.
Q. Where? A. At her house.
Q. Did she say who she was going to have there? A. No, sir, didn’t say a word about who was going to be there.
Q, Did you go? A. No, sir,
Q. Did she invite you? A. No, sir.
Q. Saturday evening as you brought her back, did she have a small satchel with her? A. I believe she did, I am not sure, I think she had it with her.
Q. Did you hear her say anything about her friends in Burbank? A. No, sir.
Q. Ever hear her mention any of them? A. No, sir.
Q. Did you notice how she was dressed? A. Well, I think she was in her stocking feet, might have been moccasins.
Q. Didn’t she have any shoes on? A. I don’t think she had shoes.
Q. You ought to remember whether she was in stocking feet. A. I think she was in her stocking feet.
Earnest Burkhart having been duly sworn testifies as follows:
Direct examination by Assistant County Attorney Mr. Jeffrey.
Q. State your name? A. Earnest Burkhart.
Q. Mr. Burkhart are you related in any form to Anna Brown? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What relation? A. Brother-in-law.
Q. Did you marry her sister? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where do you live? A. Grayhorse.
Q. And she lived in Fairfax? A. Yes, in Fairfax.
Q. How often did you see her? A. Some times every day and again a couple or three weeks, just off and on, a week at a time and some time a couple of weeks.
Q. Did she have any other person living with her? A. She had a girl from Pawnee: she stayed with her but I don’t know how long.
Q. When did you see Anna Brown last? A. A week ago.
Q. Did she have any one living with her at that time? A. She had a girl with her some time ago, a week or so ago.
Q, Did you go about her place since last Saturday? A. Been there twice.
Q. Was there any one there? A. No one. The house was locked.
Q. Did you make any inquiries about Anna? A. Yes, her neighbor.
Q. Did she know anything about her? A. She seen her __, she came and fixed breakfast for her.
Q. Did you know who Anna chummed with during her lifetime, who her friends were? A. She had several.
Q, Who are they? A. Well, I heard her speak of several and have seen her with some, there is Jim Moss and Wayne McFay and several others, and said she had a keen fellow in Burbank.
Q. What was the nature of the conversation about the gentlemen she spoke of? A. She told me one time that she was going to get married.
Q. Who to? A. Jim Moss.
Q. When did she say she was going to get married? A. Sometime in June, I think.
Q. Did you ever see her with Jim Moss? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How often, when? A. About a month ago, or something like that.
Q, Did you ever hear her speak of any enemies? A. Not that I remember of.
Q, What girls did she chum with or speak about? A. Well, there was Pearl McKinley.
Q. Did you ever see her with any other girl? A. Rosa Osage.
Q. Mr. Burkhart, were you in any way alarmed at her absence from home? A. I asked the neighbor lady and she said she fixed her breakfast for her __ morning but she didn’t know anything about her.
Q. She couldn’t give you any information as to when she went away or where or who with. A. No, sir.
Q. Mr. Burkhart, have you any information whatever that you could five this jury as to how Anna Brown met her death? A. No sir, I couldn’t.
Q. I ask for information, I am not asking for positive information? A. No. I don’t know of enemies she had or any one that disliked her.
Q. Who did she speak of when she got drunk or who did she drink with? A. Just anybody. I have been told that she has been drunk with Charlkey West.
Q. Have your heard anything since the discovery that she was dead as to how she dies? A. No, only what the conversation was out there.
Q. Or heard who she was with Saturday or Sunday night/ A. No, sir.
Q. Did Anna Brown wear a diamond ring? A. Three of them, that looked like diamonds, but they weren’t. She had a good diamond at one time. I think she sold it about a year ago.
Q. Did they have the appearance of good quality stone? A. I don’t know much about them if she hadn’t told me.
Q. Did she carry any money with her? A. Yes, seen her with quite a bit some times.
STATEMENT OF MRS. MARTHA BRROKSHIRE, BARTLESVILLE, OKLA.
Q. Where were you working on May 21st, 1923? A. On May 21st, 1923 I was employed at the home of Ernest Burkhart.
Q. Were you there during all the day: at home all that day? A. Yes, sir, I went to Greyhorse in the afternoon about one-half hour; then in the morning I was gone about one hour.
Q. Did you see Anna Brown at the home on this day? A. Yes sir.
Q. Who else was there at the Burkhart home besides the family, if any body? A. His aunt, uncle, two nephews, and one niece. Bryan and her were fussing first out in the summer house and then she came in and was fussing with her mother. Then Bryan and Ernest got up and went some place then they took the little girl to the horse race and brought her back, then they went some place else.
Q. What time did they return in the afternoon? A. Around 5:30 or 6:00.
Q. Did Anna Brown talk to you about Bryan? A. She said if she caught any one flirting with him she would kill them.
Q. What time did the family leave there that night, Bryan, Ernest, and the rest? A. About 7:30.
Q. Did you notice both cars when they left the house? A. Yes sir. They both left about the same time.
Q. Which car was ahead? A. The Ford car.
Q. You did not see who was driving the Ford did you? A. No sir.
Q. But Ernest Burkhart was driving the Buick when he left the house? A.Yes, sir.
Q. What statement, if any, did Bryan Burkhart make to you about Anna? A. He said that she was going to kill him if he did not marry her, and that he did not intend to marry her.
Q. Did Bryan Burkhart’s aunt talk to you about the Burkhart family affairs? A. Yes sir. That she did not like their company and she did not like to see her nephews mix up with such company.
Q. What else did she say? A. She said that she would rather see them dead than mix up with such family, that she did not think they were very nice.
Q. Did Mrs. Burkhart ask you anything about some clean clothes that she might get for Anna that afternoon? A. Yes, sir. She asked me where they were. I told her, and she went and go some clothes.
Q. Do you know what they consisted of? A. Well just an Indian shirt and Indian apron.
Q. About what time in the afternoon do you think this was? A. Right around 5:00. I left there that night about between 8:30 and 9:00 and did not return to the place any more.
The above statement is made of my own free will and is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
(Duly signed and acknowledged)
STATEMENT OF FRED WHEELER, Ralston, Okla.
Q. Were you in Ralston May 21st, 1923? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you see Anna Brown and Bryan Burkhart on this day? A. Yes, sir.
Q. State in your own way what you saw on that day. A. I and Joe McGuire and Ben Jones were setting in front of the Jones Hotel along about dusk when two persons, Anna Brown and Bryan Burkhart drove up in a car, and asked about getting something to eat and just as they left Ben Jones asked Joe McGuire if that was Anna Brown in the car; Joe McGuire turned around to me and –says “Shorty, wasn’t that Anna Brow in that car and I said Yes, it was.
They drove on down the street and stopped in front of Bob McSpadden’s restaurant and Ben Jones says I am going down and shake hands with her, haven’t seen her for a long time. And Ben Jones and McGuire both got up and stood there a minute and I walked down the street and stopped and sat down about 30 feet of the car, and Joe McGuire come on down that way and got in about twenty feet of the car when they left; then Anna Brown looked back and hollered something at Joe McGuire. Bryan Jones started down that way and he was in about the middle of the block when they left they went straight west from there right on through town and I don’t know where they went from there.
The above statement is made of my own free will and is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
(Duly signed and acknowledged)