Old hat to some, but in need of clearing up once and for all.
First, researchers who were or are dependent almost solely on newspaper articles will be relying on often incorrect information. Make that quite often.
When I look back on posts that I made three years ago ( not here ) I cringe.
The New York Herald may have had the worst track record of any newspaper in New York for mistakes. This has been shown on several occasions.
On May 10th, 1891, one of the Herald reporters chatted with Jenalli, his wife, and Bozieb at Ali's home in Brooklyn. At that time, the reporter
characterized Jenalli as a little old man. He claimed he was a man of high morals.
Two days later, the Herald published an article claiming that Jenalli was Frenchy#2 and also his cousin.
Let's look at this for a final time...hopefully.
* Not only was Jenalli not Ali's cousin, but he was positively not Frenchy#2.
In one paper in which Ali was interviewed, he requested that his friend(s) come see him. At no time in
any newspaper article or interview conducted with Ali
does he refer to
anyone as his cousin. Only the nitwits at the New York Herald did on May 12th, 1891.
* Ali's whereabouts were unknown to both Jenalli and his Irish-American wife. They had to be told that he had been arrested. He had not seen the Jenallis for a while.
* Mary Harrington went into some detail about Frenchy#2 and what he looked like. She had every opportunity to point him out since both Jenalli (and Bozieb) attended the trial as spectators. Harrington could not have overlooked seeing him from the witness stand or when they sat in the same courtroom.
* Read the description of Frenchy #2 which Harrington gave. Frenchy #2 is described as being a light-skinned and tall man. Again, Jenalli was described by the NY Herald
as a
little old man.
* The Herald reporter described Jenalli as a man of high morals. It's very unlikely that Frenchy#2, as described by Harrington, was a man of many morals.
A few clippings for your perusal.
New York Herald
May 10, 1891
*************
New York Evening World
April 27, 1891
*************
New York Evening World
May 12, 1891
***********
New York Herald
May 10, 1891
**************
New York Herald
May ,12, 1891
************
Who, then, was Frenchy#2 Who was this tall, light-skinned fellow? Most likely someone who, on occasion, walked the streets of the Lower
East Side with Ali visiting places like Harrington's and Mrs. Finnegan's.
Ali had no known family in the United States. Nothing he ever claimed, said, or intimated points in that direction. He had no cousin in New York.
Was he John Smith, a man who lived in the neighborhood?
New York World
December 18, 1893
****************
Possibly, but there's no way to determine that conclusively.
We'll keep at it.
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