Hcmsforcl: Mental Defectives in County H., Indiana 55 
fourth child of William and Sallie Stevens Brown. James 
and Laura were both feeble-minded and alcoholic. He usually 
cut wood for their living. It is said that none of the family 
ever had enough ahead to keep them 2 days. At one time 
they and all their children were committed to the County Pool 
Asylum. Stella, born in 1866, the oldest child of James 
and Laura, married Nick Williams, a feeble-minded tramp, 
by whom she had 4 children, 2 of whom were born in a cave 
northwest of Stonetown. Some old furniture is still to be seen 
there. It was there that Nick finally died. Many of the older 
people can remember them as they tramped from one part of 
the country to the other. They owned an old pushcart in 
which they carried all their earthly possessions, including the 
babies when they were small. Their relatives when asked 
about them all say that they were “crazy’’. The Williams 
family claims that altho Nick was “silly”, the boys “took after 
their mother”. The Jones-Brown faction say that the boys 
are like their father; they even shamble over the ground 
“bear fashion” as he did. 
Bob, the first child of Nick and Stella, born in 1882, is an 
insane imbecile. He has always been a nuisance to the com- 
munity and to every institution in which they have tried to 
keep him. To begin with, he does not look like a human and 
does not act like one. He shambles over the ground like a 
bear, never standing upright. He has never had a home and 
does not want one; it is too confining. He has the annoying 
habit of crawling into people’s woodsheds and barns without 
consulting the owners. He can often be found sound asleep 
curled up like a dog in the middle of the street or road. He will 
lie down anywhere at any time. He eats out of garbage cans or 
what folks give him; it is all the same to Bob. He is fre- 
quently arrested, but of late years the police, realizing that 
it is of no use, pay no attention to him unless he is destroy- 
ing property. He is often sent to the Poor Asylum where he 
never remains long. On the first warm day Bob starts back 
to Stonetown. In 1905 he was committed to the Central In- 
sane Hospital and 5 months later was discharged as “im- 
proved”. He has since been in the Southeastern Hospital, 
from which place he escaped. He has been placed in several 
institutions but always leaves unknown to the authorities. 
The time he left Southeastern Hospital he walked through a 
