Government Records Stolen ... Again

UPDATE 5:17 PM EST: Howard's court records are not the only Branham that has been torn out of the record books ...

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Yesterday in the Clark County Courthouse in Jeffersonville Indiana, following up on some unfinished research for a few key individuals in William Branham's ministry, there was a startling discovery.  Files in the courthouse record books were torn out, similar to what we found in other archives in Jeffersonville related to William Branham.  

At least one of these records was not torn out during the last visit.

This time, in particular, Howard Branham was the subject of research.  Howard toured with William Branham during the height of Branham's Latter Rain version of the stage persona.  Yet while Branham was preaching very harshly against drinking and the alcohol industry, Howard ran a bar back home in Jeffersonville.  This bar operated during the height of Jeffersonville's casino and speakeasy years and got Howard in some trouble.  

The missing pages for Howard start during a divorce trial in 1945, the same year that William Branham re-invented his stage persona with the "I Was Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision" version of his "healing commission" and went on tour. (Also the same year that the Billie Branham Pentecostal Tabernacle was renamed "Branham Tabernacle").

The book lists Howard's divorce from Aline Branham at index 415 in the 1945 book of court proceedings.

That page is torn out of the book!

This was the case with the 1946 book of court records. Howard is involved in a court case with Edith Grace Branham and "ETC" at index 510.

The 1946 document is also torn out of the book!

Aline's suit either continued or she sued Howard again the next year. Howard is listed at index 579.

It, too, has been torn out!

According to the gentleman at the front desk, who graciously helped me with finding these records and explaining the system, there are no cameras in the room that would identify who, exactly, tore these records out of the book.  He admitted that it was very odd that the same person's record would be ripped out across multiple years.  Destroying and stealing court documents is a criminal act.  Branham cult leader Pearry Green also stole government property and was arrested.  (read more)  When I explained to him that we are seeing the same thing with records related to William Branham in other Jeffersonville archives, he did raise an eyebrow.  He informed me of another location to look for these records, which I will be doing very soon.

Meanwhile, we did find some interesting facts that were overlooked before.  We'd noticed that after divorcing Aline, Howard married one "Grace WathenS".  I'd noted how similar this name was to "Wathen", the liquor kingpin from Jeffersonville Branham mentioned his father being involved with, Otto H. Wathen.  Otto had a liquor operation supplying the Chicago mob and Al Capone with liquor, and posted bail money for Charles when Charles (and William) were producing whiskey with an illegal whiskey still.

It turns out that the newspaper article had a typo.  Howard was married to Edith Grace WATHEN.