R. E. L. Brown may be one of
the most unique characters in the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park, both
for his colorful life--and the speed with which he was forgotten after his demise.
Born May 31, 1865, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Laurence and Martha Brown, he trained as a mining engineer, then went out west to locate promising mines.
In 1889, Brown was surveying potential mining claims in Washington state. During a violent labor strike in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 1892, he started a newspaper called The Barbarian, which took the side of the mine owners versus the unionized miners. This earned him the nickname “Barbarian Brown”. Threatened with death during the strike, he caused a cannon to be wheeled into the street outside his office.
Much as he enjoyed the furor his newspaper editorials provoked, Brown remained first and foremost a mining engineer. He speculated in mines and was well regarded internationally for his expertise. Seeking new adventures, Brown journeyed to South Africa in hopes of securing some promising claims during a land rush in Witfontein in 1895. Competition was fierce for the best claims, but Brown hit upon a method that could outrun the swiftest horse: a heliograph! He set up heliograph stations by which he could transmit confirmation almost instantaneously to his confederates in the field who were waiting to stake his claims.
On July 19, 1895, the day of the land rush, twelve thousand miners were gathered in Doornkoop to register their permits. But Brown had devised a plan to ensure that he would be first in line. A fan of American football, he recruited a group of rough men from local bars to form a “flying wedge” to cut through the crowd. The ruse worked; however, the Pretoria government initially refused to honor his claims. Brown sued the Boer government and eventually won a huge judgment, the exact value of which has never been ascertained.
Having worn out his welcome in South Africa, the brash engineer returned to North America where, on September 26, 1898, he wed Maud Higgins in Victoria, British Columbia.
Brown was in London in 1901 when he apparently contracted tuberculosis. In late 1902, he traveled to Phoenix in a private train car with his wife, his personal physician and a nurse. Unfortunately, he had left it too late; he died on October 3, 1902, scarcely a week after his arrival. Despite his fame and fortune, his death rated only a few lines in the local newspaper, and he was buried under a simple wooden headboard in Rosedale Cemetery.
One can only speculate as to why Brown’s remains were not shipped back East and why a more elaborate headstone was never erected over his grave.
-Donna Carr
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