Madeleine Brown's Son was not Lyndon Johnson's Son

[Adele Edisen]

http://dperry1943.com/ragsdale.html

The Case of Steven Brown (Johnson) Ragsdale
Dave Perry

Excerpt from article


Over the years as I looked at the timeline I became curious about two things. Why didn't Madeleine Brown mention Johnson's paternity in November of 1982? Why did Steven Brown file the lawsuit and then fail to appear in court?

Years ago, in 2002, I tried to get court records of the 1987 lawsuit. After several unsuccessful attempts I could do nothing but wait for technology to improve. I thought as time went by I might be able to recover the documents through Internet searches.

Several months ago I was able to obtain a court record which shed new light on the whole affair. The reason I could find nothing in 2002 was because in 1979 Steven and Madeleine had filed a different paternity lawsuit in Dallas County only to have it dismissed and moved to Bastrop County.

Why Bastrop County? Eight years before Steven filed suit against Lady Bird and three years before Madeleine claimed the affair with LBJ they both were contending Steven's father was Jerome Ragsdale! This was the same Jerome Ragsdale who Madeleine would later claim wanted to profess paternity "to shield Lyndon Baines Johnson from any adverse publicity." Ragsdale died on July 17, 1978 at Smithville, Texas. Smithville is located about 240 miles south of Dallas in Bastrop County hence the reason the Bastrop County court system handled the case.

To quote from Brown v. Crockett 601 S.W.2d 188 (1980):

"On March 29, 1979, appellant, Steven Mark Brown, filed a "Petition for Determination and Declaration of Heirship" in the Probate Court of Dallas County, where administration of the Estate of Jerome Thorn Ragsdale was pending. Appellant alleged that Jerome Thorn Ragsdale, son of Jesse Thorn Ragsdale and brother of appellee and Paul C. Ragsdale, was his biological father."

"After receiving notice of the contest filed in the Dallas County Probate Court, appellee filed an "Amended Application to Declare Heirship" in the Estate of Jesse Thorn Ragsdale. The amended application provided, in part, as follows:

"VI. Applicant (Steven Brown) was a party to a suit brought by Madeleine F. Brown claiming a `lost will' which suit was dismissed by the Proponent during trial on the merits in the Probate Court in and for Dallas County, Texas. Applicant believes that Madeleine F. Brown had a son, Steven Mark Brown, who is now asserting that he is the biological child of Jerome T. Ragsdale, Deceased, and Madeleine F. Brown. Attached to the original Application to Declare Heirship was the Application on which Madeleine F. Brown went to trial, reflecting the relationship claimed by Madeleine F. Brown of her son to Jerome T. Ragsdale. Therefore, Applicant moves the Court to determine who are the heirs to JESSE THORN RAGSDALE's Estate."

Source: Brown v. Crockett 601 S.W.2d 188 (1980)
Conclusion:

In March of 1979 Steven Mark Brown was in a Dallas County Court using his mother's claim of a "lost will" and her own assertion that she had Steven as a result of a tryst with Jerome Ragsdale. The suit was dismissed in Dallas County because the estate was being administrated in Bastrop County by Silky Ragsdale Crockett. Undeterred Madeleine and Steven pursued the paternity claim in Bastrop County.

In the end neither Madeleine nor Steven provided proof of paternity. What was their next step? It would seem they laid low for three years until November of 1982 when Madeleine announced she had an affair with Johnson. At that time she did not reveal Steven was Johnson's son. Steven and Madeleine waited until June of 1987 for Steven to step forward once again. Having failed to prove Jerome Ragsdale was his father, as his mother insisted and he believed, he decided to become Lyndon Johnson's illegitimate son and sue seventy-four year old presidential widow Lady Bird Johnson for 10.5 million for denying him his birthright.


Transcript - Brown v. Crockett

Addendum:

This would not be the last time Madeleine would have trouble with a will. In Brown v. Crockett it was a "lost will."

In January of 1989 Madeleine "acting through her attorney, filed wills purporting to be those of Guy and Jessie Duncan." The probate court subsequently discovered the true will was filed by Gary Dalton. The State then prosecuted Madeleine Brown for the offense of forgery. She was sentenced to confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections for 10 years and a fine of $500.00."

Possibly because of her advanced age (She was 67 at the time.) the sentence was modified to "a period of 10 years" probation.

Now there are some who I assume already know about this particular case. They realize that the case was appealed and they would no doubt claim Madeleine was found not guilty. That is not true. The appellate court merely reversed the decision of the lower court on a technicality.

Madeleine had an attorney file the will rather than doing it herself. Based on that fact, the appellate court reversed her conviction. But none of this discounts the reality that Madeleine Brown had Deborah Abbe prepare a forged instrument and then forged Guy Duncan's name for presentation to the probate court.

Copyright © 2012 by David B. Perry All rights reserved

Adele

[Keith Millea]

Somewhere in Texas,Robert Morrow is weeping in his corn flakes....:hitball:

[Charles Drago]

Somewhere in Texas,Robert Morrow is weeping in his corn flakes....:hitball:

Among other things he does in his corn flakes ...

[Peter Lemkin]

Ah, interesting and may contain some truths, but Dave Perry is one the side of other side of truth when it comes to JFK and a close friend of Mr. Dunkel, the Pope, soon to be God almighty [surrounded and protected next year by the DPD, CIA,FBI, and DHS] of DP!......I take whatever he writes with a ton of salt without proof and then more proof.Personally, I think MB has given us some truths and some twisted truths and untruths on the entire story....but she is not to be so lightly dismissed and especially by those who would have us believe the official lies of what happened. IMHO

[Greg Burnham]

Ah, interesting and may contain some truths, but Dave Perry is one the side of other side of truth when it comes to JFK and a close friend of Mr. Dunkel, the Pope, soon to be God almighty [surrounded and protected next year by the DPD, CIA,FBI, and DHS] of DP!......I take whatever he writes with a ton of salt without proof and then more proof.Personally, I think MB has given us some truths and some twisted truths and untruths on the entire story....but she is not to be so lightly dismissed and especially by those who would have us believe the official lies of what happened. IMHO

It is to be expected that the disingenuous hold themselves to a standard of moving goal posts, while the genuine hold themselves to a much higher standard of truthfulness. Once
any portion of testimony is proved knowingly perjurious the witness is damaged goods along with the rest of their testimony. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"
is a standard we must embrace impeccably.

[Jim DiEugenio]

In a case like this, that is a very hard standard to support. Because its so politically charged.

The problem with Brown has always been the lack of any tangible evidence to support her claims. And this now pretty much wrecks her attempt to use her son as proof. Are there any pictures of her son? Who does he look like? Ragsdale or LBJ? I mean if he looked a lot like Johnson, one would think she would have placed his photo on the cover of her book.

The other thing is her lack of any real corroboration. This is why I try and stay away from people like this, and Judy Baker.

I agree. Morrow hung himself out to dry with this one.

That's what happens when you don't do due diligence. You leave yourself open for the likes of human fungus like Dave Perry.

[Adele Edisen]

Ah, interesting and may contain some truths, but Dave Perry is one the side of other side of truth when it comes to JFK and a close friend of Mr. Dunkel, the Pope, soon to be God almighty [surrounded and protected next year by the DPD, CIA,FBI, and DHS] of DP!......I take whatever he writes with a ton of salt without proof and then more proof.Personally, I think MB has given us some truths and some twisted truths and untruths on the entire story....but she is not to be so lightly dismissed and especially by those who would have us believe the official lies of what happened. IMHO

It is to be expected that the disingenuous hold themselves to a standard of moving goal posts, while the genuine hold themselves to a much higher standard of truthfulness. Once
any portion of testimony is proved knowingly perjurious the witness is damaged goods along with the rest of their testimony. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"
is a standard we must embrace impeccably.

Thanks, Greg.
Peter, I'd like to know what you think is truthful in Madeleine's accounts, particularly in reference to LBJ and even her son's paternity.

I know Dave Perry is persona non gratahere, but I posted his "Texas in the (Morning) Imagination" article on Madeleine Duncan Brown's story of her life and affair with Lyndon Johnson on this forum. Perry questioned her veracity, and provided newspaper and other documentary evidence contradicting much of what she had claimed.

Years ago on Rich Della Rosa's Forum, JFKresearch.com, I posted a review of Lyndon Johnson's whereabouts during the Presidential Texas trip. From my research I learned that LBJ was on Air Force II flying to Carswell Air Force Base 5 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the evening of Thursday, November 21, 1963. Air Force I and II landed about 11:15 pm, and the parties motorcaded to the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, arriving around 11:50 pm. LBJ and Ladybird went to their hotel suite with their staff and they soon retired, leaving the staff to stay up a while longer. Madeleine Brown made claims that she met LBJ at a party at a Murchison home at 10:30 PM that night. Impossible! He was on Air Force II flying from Houston to Carswell AFB at 10:30 pm. He and Ladybird were photographed near midnight at the Hotel Texas. His staff who stayed up late in the suite would have noticed if he had left to go to Dallas, 15 miles away, don't you think? She also claimed that Richard Nixon, Carlos Marcello , and J. Edgar Hoover also were there. Well, Richard Nixon was in Dallas that night, but at a night club with a group of friends; Carlos Marcello had an important date in a Federal Court in New Orleans the next morning so it would have been very unlikely that he would fly to Dallas and then fly back to New Orleans that night; and J. Edgar Hoover spent Thursday and Frtiday in Washington, D.C. where he was seen by any number of FBI agents. Also, she had three different "verbatim" quotes of the words supposedly spoken to her by Lyndon, captured on a single video I saw online from which I took careful notes on these three different versions.

Why would she lie? Well, she had hopes of having a movie made of her life - for money. She sued the estate of Jerome Bagswell on behalf of her son - for money . She sued Ladybird and the estate of LBJ on behalf of her son - for money. She even forged her own father's will - for money. I guess she thought no one would notice she was a con artist.

The most unfortunate part is that she muddied the waters in the search for truth about the Kennedy assassination, and led a number of researchers down the wrong paths. Even I had thought for a time that Steven might have been LBJ's son. Now that appears to be untrue.

Adele

[Greg Burnham]

In a case like this, that is a very hard standard to support. Because its so politically charged.

What standard would you support in its stead? The key word here is knowingly perjurious. I should add the qualifier and while not subject
to undue duress. Absent overwhelmingly serious mitigating circumstances, knowingly lying disqualifies one from the circle of trust. How
can it not?

In this case it doesn't appear that she lied in order to avoid harm, but rather she lied for personal gain.

[Adele Edisen]

In a case like this, that is a very hard standard to support. Because its so politically charged.

The problem with Brown has always been the lack of any tangible evidence to support her claims. And this now pretty much wrecks her attempt to use her son as proof. Are there any pictures of her son? Who does he look like? Ragsdale or LBJ? I mean if he looked a lot like Johnson, one would think she would have placed his photo on the cover of her book.

The other thing is her lack of any real corroboration. This is why I try and stay away from people like this, and Judy Baker.

I agree. Morrow hung himself out to dry with this one.

That's what happens when you don't do due diligence. You leave yourself open for the likes of human fungus like Dave Perry.

Jim, I haven't seen anyone checking out Dave Perry's references, and I'm not geographically in a position to do it. Wouldn't that have been the easiest thing for someone in Dallas and Bastrop County to do?

Perry has a picture of a young Steven with his mother at a party on his web site. I have seen pictures of an older Steven online on the past, and did think he looked a bit like Lyndon. I even considered the possibility that maybe Lyndon's brother, San Houston Johnson, could have been the possible father of Steven. Lyndon's brother looked very much like him and sometimes posed as his double when needed. But that was just my own supposing, and I have no evidence to use for backing that idea, so scratch that idea.

Incidentally, I first met Madeleine Brown in November, 1991, at the first ASK meeting. Dr. Jerry Rose, who had published my article, written under a pseudonym, in the November 1991 issue of THE THIRD DECADE, introduced me to her. He was the only person I knew there besides Mary Ferrell who had invited me there, so he was helping me meet some people. However, while we were still some distance away from her, he made mention of what he thought about her. I won't repeat it here, but I do recall that when she and I shook hands, Madeleine turned her face away from me, as if she was ashamed of herself (?). Her handshake was weak and limpid, and neither of us had much to say. I felt sorry for her; she seemed so lonely. I didn't know she had recently lost her son. All I knew was what Dr. Rose told me, that she was LBJ's mistrress, but I knew nothing else of her story then, only years later did I learn more about it from Mary Ferrell, and from online forums once I had a computer and figured out how to use it.

Adele

[Magda Hassan]

Somewhere in Texas,Robert Morrow is weeping in his corn flakes....:hitball:

Among other things he does in his corn flakes ...

Quite. And the mind boggles at what Mr. Kellogg would think of it all. hutup: