A ROMANTIC CASE IN COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1277, 13 January 1883, Page 4

A ROMANTIC CASE IN COURT.

A Norwich (Conn.) dispatch to the New York Sun, says: "A romantic case has been brought to the attention of thn Superior Court in this coun- . .A year or two previous to the Mexican war, Benjamin P. Brown, a competent schoolmaster, 21 years old, soil of a well-to-do farmer—John Brown, of North Stonington—ran away from home, His parents never received any tidings of him, He went to Mexico, and in the war that began soon afterwards served in a regiment of United States dragoons. As he spoke Spanish fluently liu ni' i: became interpreter on tluiicral 'iVylo. 's staff, After the close of hostilities he went to Corpus Christi, and married a beautiful Spanish girl, Innocence Castillo, The couple* went to Laredo, Tex,, and there lived happily until 1866, when Brown, who had changed his name after tho close of the Mexican, war to Benjamin F. Wrowan, was murdered by brigands. He left a wife and four children—Frank, Benjamin, Juan, and Isabella.. During his married life he had Bpoken only Spanish in his household, and his family, who knew nothing'of-English, were unacquainted with his real, name or his, history prior to his marriage.. At about the, time that Wrowan was killed, his aged father at North Stonington died, leaves farm, worth 10,000 dols. or 15,000 dbli,, to his six heirs, including the missing Benjamin and his brother John, the latter of whom had settled in Stonington, 111, In 1873 the heirs to the North Stonington property had it sold by order of the Superior Court, and the portion due to each was properly assigned, with the exception of Benjamin's share. That was deposited in the Chelsea Savings Bank of this city in the name of Jeremiah Halsey, trustee.- At'the same time a.copy:of the Court order was sent' to the latest known, address of Benjamin. As the family of the dead man were living under a false name, tho order never reached them. In 1881, {Frank, the oldest son Of Benjamin's widow, determined to learn English, so as to understand the ' contents! of - his father's papers.' After getting a smattering of [English he found smong his father's private documents a letter from his Illinois,...brother that furnished the first clue to Wrowan's early history, The letter was dated Stonington, 111, November 18, 1858, and Was signed' Your Brother John.' It spoke of the writers aged parents in the county, and of their life-long sorrow oyer Benjamin's early disappearance. The boy, Frank, at once wrote the Illinois Postmaster, asking about John The reply was that there was no such person, but that a man had lived and died in Stonington, 111,, 'named John Brown, and that lie came ' from North Stonington,' Conn. The . bpy 'then wrote'to, the Postmaster, in North. Stonington, and established in his own opinion that his father , was ' B. I. Brown. Though MrHalsey. the .trustee of Benjamin's share in the Brown estate, a hearing was had .last week before Chief Justice Park, of the Superior Court, and a petition in equity ; grafted. It is probable, that the heirs of the late B. F. Wrowan will soon icome into, possession of their: share ,of tie Brown Estate.