I discovered an article from an old Baltimore German newspaper at Chronicling America that mentioned a Johann Epple. My 3rd great-grandfather was named Johan Epple. This may not be him, but I do have the fact that there were not many Epple folks in Baltimore in the 1870s on my side.
Here is the original article courtesy of Chronicling America:
I was able to view the page as text and I copied and pasted the article into Google Translate and got the following translation:
Hmmmm, I’m missing some important parts I think. Was Johann the victim or the one arrested?
I’m sure that the issue is in reading the original German script.
So, if anyone out there can help with the translation or has another resource to get the full translation, I would greatly appreciate the help.
Aunt Barb's Papers 
Charles Brown set upon (herfallen) Johann Epple and struck him with a brick … and gave him a serious head wound. Yes, Johann was the one who got the bad end of the deal.
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