The Killing of Tom Browder

I am about to tell you a story I think is true. It's based on one fact that I discovered during my genealogy of research into the Browder line of my family. I’m a writer and a history major doing genealogy work on my family tree and things like this suck me in.

On December 10, 1911 Will Boswell fatally injured John Thomas Browder. That is the fact. It becomes a little sketchy after that. According to my grandfather, Willie Browder, his father Thomas was murdered (sic) in a fight over another woman. He was hit with a fence post. He never told me the name of the man who killed Thomas.

That's the bare bones of the story.

During my research, I discovered an obituary notice posted on Find A Grave that gave the name of the man who killed Tom. According to the obituary, Tom died when Will Bozell (sic) struck him in the head with a pole. This confirms the story my grandfather told me. The obit mentions no reason for the fight but they would not have mentioned a woman in this kind of story, at least not a decent woman. The obituary does not tell what happened to Will Boswell. More on that later.

To gather more information, I searched genealogy records for Will Boswell. In 1910 he lived in Crenshaw County in the same Precinct as Tom Browder, basically the same neighborhood. Pigeon Creek appears on a map in Butler County, next to Crenshaw County. The area they lived may have crossed county lines. I can’t be sure at this point. Remember, these were farms, so they were spread out a bit. Sometimes states also restructured counties.

Will was married to his second wife, Ellen Golden who was the same age as Tom Browder. Will and Ellen had been married about 13 years and had a bunch of children (some by Will's first wife).

Based on my family oral history Tom Browder was a womanizer. This from his own son and he never ever talked about his father but one time—that was the time I asked him directly what happened to his father. Based on the genetics of the Browder men I've known all my life, Tom probably was a very good looking man.

Now, here's what I think occurred. And remember, I write fiction.

Tom Browder was married with six children and his wife Alice was pregnant with a little girl who would be born in May, after his death.

At some point in time, Tom Browder became involved with Will Boswell's wife. Whether she was a participant, or he was just sniffing around the henhouse, we’ll never know. Either way, Boswell wasn’t having it. I suspect he went to Tom Browder’s home. It was a Thursday so Tom would probably have been working his farm. I can see Boswell demanding that Tom stop messing with his wife.

“If you don’t stop coming by and accosting her on the street, there’s going to be trouble. I know your reputation but that’s my wife and you are to leave her alone.”

Maybe Tom blew Will off. Or maybe he laughed at him and said “I’ll do what I please, Will Boswell. Get back to your farm before you get hurt.”

Let me just say here that Tom Browder was 33 years old. Will Boswell was 43, an old man by the standards of the day. I’m sure Tom thought he could handle him. He miscalculated. Tom Browder died of his wounds on Friday leaving his wife with 7 children.

There is no evidence or family history to any of that. But something happened that escalated into a fatal fight. At some point, Will Boswell picked up a post and struck Tom Browder in the back of the head. This suggest Tom was not facing him or he was moving away from Will. Maybe Boswell was on the ground and Tom figured it was over.

Perhaps Tom was working when Boswell arrived and Will saw his chance to kill the man he believed was messing with his wife. He picks up the post and strikes him. Was there actually a fight? My feeling is there was a fight. I think Browder was probably cocky and walked away and in a rage, Boswell picked up the nearest thing to hand and hit Browder.

But that’s just my writer’s imagination.

Will Boswell was alive and well in 1920, still with his wife and children. He died July 3rd, 1925 and is buried in Pleasant Home Baptist Church Cemetary in Butler County. I could not find any record of a trial or investigation. He obviously didn’t get a long stretch in prison. Was Tom Browder’s reputation so well known that they brought no charges? Perhaps.

We’ll never know what happened without more documentation. I’d have to research the newspapers in Crenshaw and Covington County and the court records to find out. Maybe I’ll have time on a trip future trip.

But in the meantime, it sure is an interesting story.

*Please note. I ascribe no blame to either Browder or Boswell. I don't know the circumstances or facts of the case other than those told by Tom Browder's son who was 2 at the time of the murder, and the obituary in the paper at that time. Browder may have deserved what he got. Boswell may have imagined the flirtation or it may have been true. I don't have enough data to make an assessment. But I can speculate. And I bet I'm close to the truth.