In 1995, Browne pleaded guilty to the 1991 murder in Colorado of thirteen-year-old Heather Dawn Church. Five years later, he initiated a correspondence of cryptic notes to Texas prosecutors that suggested more victims: "The score is you 1, the other team, 48." He dropped a few clues, but seemed to want them to figure it out. A cold case squad got involved, and eventually Browne declared he'd been killing since 1970, in nine different states: on a crude map he showed 17 in Louisiana, 9 in Colorado, 7 in Texas, 5 in Arkansas, 3 in Mississippi, 2 in New Mexico, 2 in Oklahoma, 2 in California, and 1 in Washington state. He'd used a knife, a screwdriver, an ice pick and just his hands. He'd dumped victims everywhere, in lakes, rivers, and gullies; some he'd even cut up.

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire  You or one of the others in Cologne may get a letter from Hess about communist affairs. I would urgently ask that none of you should answer until I have provided you with documents and letters through W [probably Georg Weerth or Joseph Weydemeyer]. At all events, I must again urgently request you to come here. I have some important things to tell you which cannot be communicated by post. If you can’t come, then H. Bürgers must spend a few days here. You or your representative will stay with me .... [remainder of the letter is missing, save for the next sentences, which are written in the margin. After the words ‘with me’ Marx added ‘see above']

So either you or H. Bürgers come to Malines as soon as possible.

Forward the enclosed letter to Zulauff,^[145] Grünstrasse, Elberfeld.

Do not come to Brussels but to Malines and write the day before to say when you or Bürgers are coming.

You can neglect your bourgeois affairs for a day or two.  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Besides this it would be desirable to have another 100 fr. for incidental expenses, for without it you can be very bored here. You needn’t stay here more than a month. Only those with broken backs, or who are complete and utter wrecks both inside and out, stay any longer. But you must so arrange the rent that, should you stay beyond the month, the additional period is paid à tant par jour, otherwise they will charge you for a full half month if you stay two days longer.

For the rest, life is very sluggish here. During the first few days a boring philistine from Barmen, la bête des bêtes [a monumental ass], was, with the exception of my family and imposed upon me by the same, my one and only companion. Yesterday Blank, whom you know, arrived from London and through him I at last made the acquaintance of a Frenchman qui a beaucoup d'esprit [who has a very lively mind] and who is an altogether excellent fellow, although he has spent 15 years in Elberfeld and speaks German par conséquent [as a result]. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

‘Finally I would touch on’ the Mrs Hess affair. It’s bad, but one cannot possibly let her suffer for the stupidities of the aforementioned Hess; I shall therefore try to smuggle her across the border if, that is, I get enough money from my old man for the journey to Paris, which is still not sure. Send the enclosed scribble to the beloved man of God [Moses Hess] in Cologne, to cheer him up. So the woman is in Brussels already?

Great men there are none here. They don’t arrive till August. No one has yet divulged the identity of the great Germans who are due to arrive. For the time being, therefore, I must content myself with the Prussian Bank project.^[63] It’s farcical that the gents should imagine they're going to make a lot of money out of it. A few of these big bankers, who want to become ‘major stockholders’ and conclude their secret agreements with the bureaucrats, e.g. to the effect that their shares are not redeemable, that they are introduced by stealth onto the main board, etc., may perhaps allow themselves to be persuaded. But no one else. Delightful that neither the subscribers nor the amounts subscribed are to be made known. This means that they're expecting damned little money and are seeking, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire  in true bureaucratic fashion, to cover themselves to some extent in case of failure.

Write soon and let me know whether you're coming and when.^[64]