State v. Brown

John Brown, the appellant, was convicted of murder in the first degree. His punishment was fixed at death.

The facts briefly stated are these: Appellant, a negro about thirty-two years of age, entered the Irish Tavern, at 919 E. Twenty-first Street, Kansas City, Missouri, on the evening of April 7, 1936, and at the point of a gun attempted to perpetrate a robbery. There were only five people in the place at the time. Among those present was William Cavanaugh, a motorcycle patrolman, who was off duty at the time and was dressed in civilian clothes. Cavanaugh drew his gun and began shooting at…