Grandpa Brown In the News
88 Years Ago Today
By Don Taylor
Grandpa Brown found himself in the news again. He had abducted my 3-year-old mother from Illinois and brought her to Minnesota. There he was arrested and returned to Illinois to stand trial. Here is the result of the trial.
From the Brainerd Daily Dispatch, 29 Apr 1935 – Page 1, Column 3, 2nd article down.
Brown Gets Six Months on Charges
Chicago—Clifford Brown, of Brainerd, show trooper, today was fined $1 (without costs) and sentenced to six months in the house of correction. He was charged with a misdemeanor.
Brown was first charged with abducting the daughter of Mrs. Donna Clark, also in the show business.
Both Brown and Clark testified that while trooping they lived together as man and wife. Brown said Mrs. Clark’s daughter was his own child but this was denied by Mrs. Clark.
Subsequently, DNA testing has proved that the child (my mother) was Clifford Brown’s. His daughter by another woman has proved to be a half-sister to my mother. Also, many other descendants of Durwood and Mary (Manning) Brown have tested as close DNA matches to my mom. So, Mrs. Donna Clark either lied about the parentage or the newspaper got it wrong.
I’ve tried to find documents about Clifford’s time at the house of correction without success. If Clifford was released after six months, he had changed his name to Richard Durand and married Dorothy Wilhelm about four months after his release. I have no idea why he chose the name Richard Durand. If someone has any ideas where it might have come from, I’d love to hear about it.
