Joseph Mackey Brown

Early life

Brown was born in Canton, Georgia and was the son of Georgia's Civil War Governor Joseph E. Brown. The family nickname of the younger Brown was "Little Joe Brown".

After graduating from Oglethorpe University in 1872 (where he joined Chi Phi fraternity), Brown attended Harvard University for a time to study law. He continued his studies at his brother's Georgia law practice and passed the bar in 1873; however, he never practiced law due to failing eyesight. He continued his studies at an Atlanta, Georgia business college and became a clerk with the Western and Atlantic Railroad. During his career at the railroad he rose to the position of traffic manager for the company, and he married Cora Annie McCord.

Career

In 1904, Brown was appointed to the Georgia State Railroad Commission by then-Governor Joseph M. Terrell. That appointment was rescinded in 1907 when the new Governor, Hoke Smith, removed Brown over disagreements about passenger fares.

Brown exacted revenge by running against Smith in the 1908 gubernatorial election and winning. Smith again won the governorship in the election of 1910 by beating Brown in the Democratic primary and in the general election in which Brown ran as an independent. Smith left before the end of his second term to assume the United States Senate seat that became vacant upon the death of Alexander S. Clay, and Brown ran unopposed to become Governor again for the rest of Smith's original term.

Brown faced Smith once again in the 1914 election for the Senate seat previously filled by Smith. Smith won that election.

Brown also wrote two books, The Mountain Campaigns in Georgia (1886) and Astyanax (1907), served as director and vice president of the First National Bank of Marietta, and owned and operated Cherokee Mills in Marietta.

On August 17, 1915, Brown was involved in the lynching of Jewish factory manager, Leo Frank. Frank was accused of murdering his coworker Mary Phagan. The lynching occurred after Frank's sentence was commuted from the death penalty to life in prison. Prior to the lynching, Brown played a key role in instigating violence towards Frank in the Augusta Chronicle and the Macon Telegraph. Commenting on the commutation of Frank, Brown stated: "the necessity will be upon the people to form mobs and execute them properly."

Death

Brown died in 1932 in Marietta, Georgia and is buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.

References

References

1. (June 20, 2000). "A Lynching, a List and Reopened Wounds; Jewish Businessman's Murder Still Haunts Georgia Town". Washington Post.
2. (Winter 2013). "Who Was the Real Gus Coggins?: Social Struggle and Criminal Mystery in Cherokee County, 1912-1927". Georgia Historical Quarterly.
3. Alphin, Elaine Marie ''An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank'' Carolrhoda Books, 2010, p. 117
4. Oney, Steve (2004), And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank, New York and Toronto: Pantheon Books, {{ISBN. 978-0-679-42147-4
5. "A Lynching, a List and Reopened Wounds - The Washington Post". [[The Washington Post]].
6. Goldfarb, Stephen J.. (September 3, 2000). "The Slaton Memorandum: A Governor Looks Back At His Decision to Commute the Death Sentence of Leo Frank". American Jewish History.
7. "Joseph M. Brown".
8. "Aug 08, 1915, page 5 - The Macon Telegraph at Newspapers.com™".