Cyrus Brown

When Cyrus Brown became ill in late 1896, Daniel Cuthbert cared for him on his houseboat on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, in the Creek Nation south of Muskogee. When Brown was feeling better, he killed Cuthbert and stole his boat.

When Cuthbert’s body was found, attention focused on Brown. He was arrested in Fort Smith and returned to Muskogee for trial in federal court. The jurisdiction of the federal court for the Western District of Arkansas ended in 1896.

Cyrus Brown was found guilty of first-degree murder on July 23, 1897, and sentenced to hang on December 18. He was hanged in Muskogee on August 25, 1899.

Author: Bill Lofquist

I am a sociologist and death penalty scholar at the State University of New York at Geneseo. I am also a Pittsburgh native. My present research focuses on the history of the death penalty in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pa. This website is dedicated to collecting, analyzing, and sharing information about all Allegheny County cases in which a death sentence was imposed. Please share any questions or comments, errors or omissions, or other matters of interest related to these cases or to the broader history of the death penalty in Allegheny County. View all posts by Bill Lofquist