In the fall of 1939, a string of robberies were happening through Butte, Montana. In just under a week someone had robbed the Currie Service Station, the Parkway Bar, and the YMCA. A man named Joe Stewart was accused and arrested for the robberies but continued to argue that he was innocent. Stewart was still awaiting a trial date when James Brown was arrested just before he was about to rob the P. H. Fallon Service Station. He was found with a white handkerchief he was going to use as a mask, a paper bag, and a toy pistol which was his choice weapon for every robbery he committed. Brown was identified as the robber of the YMCA and admitted to robbing the Currie Service Station, but waited until his trial to confess about the Parkway Bar, leaving Stewart to sit in the county jail for over another week before being cleared of any involvement. When asked why he did this, Brown said he intended to send the money he had stolen to his ailing sister-in-law.
Just another one of the many faces behind a stone wall.