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East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on Today at 06:42:46 am »
CHAPTER 5, continued


The Last Will and Testament of Charles E, Brown of Salem

 

I, Charles E. Brown of Salem, do make and publish this my last will and testament in the manner following.

 

1. I appoint my friend Capt. Peter Lassen of Salem, to be the executor of this will.

2. I give and bequeath Magdalena S. Liebsch of Salem the sum of one thousand dollars.

3. I give, devise, and bequeath all the rest and residue of my estate, real, personal, and mixed, to my said executor and his
 successors to this trust, in and upon the following trusts.

      1- To keep the same security invested and to use the income thereof, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for the
 support, maintenance, and education of my youngest daughter, until she shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years, should she live so long.

      2- Upon the arrival of my said youngest daughter at the age of twenty-one years to divide said principal sum including
 such income as may not have been expanded as aforesaid, between my daughters Mary Ellen Brown and Anna W. Brown, equally, share and share alike.

      3- If my said daughter Anna should decease before arriving at the age of twenty-one years, then to terminate this trust
 and pay over said residue to her sister, said Mary Ellen.

       In witness whereof, I, the said Charles E. Brown have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of September in the
 year eighteen hundred seventy-two.

      Charles E. Brown

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Charles E. Brown as and for his last will and testament, in our presence,
 who in his presence and that of each other, and at his request, have subscribed our names as witnesses hereto. (the words " or upon her" having been first erased)

 

Stephen B. Ives, C. W. Richardson, K. W. Handy – A true record - Attested – A. C. Goodell

Register. Prob. NS 261-415

 

                                                  Final Resting Place:

Harmony Grove Cemetery, 30 Grove Street, Salem, Massachusetts

Number of Interment: 8589

Proprietor of the plot: Peter Lassen. Lassen died in 1872.

Carrie Brown - AKA Ellen Caroline Brown.

Date of Death: April 24, 1891

Date of Interment: April 30, 1891

Lot 810 Pine Path

Born: England, lived in Salem, Mass. and New York City, Died: New York City

Father: last name Montgomery, first name unknown

Mother: first name Mary, last name Montgomery, maiden name unknown

Married to Charles E. Brown (he died off the coast of Africa in 1878)

Children: Anna W. Brown, Mary Ella Brown (married Frank Allen), Charles E. Brown. (1)

Son Charles died May 25, 1859, Interment number 4048, two rows above his mother's grave. (Note: Brown was 56 years old in 1891,
 which indicates her being born in either 1835 or 1834. She would have been 24 or 25 at the time of her only son's death.)

Carrie Brown is buried in the same plot as Carol Taglieri (died February 5, 1995). Brown's grave is listed as number 16, while
 Taglieri's is number 33, both buried in numerical order according to their deaths.

There's no headstone for Carrie Brown at present. Her resting place is directly behind the headstone with the name Ryan.
 She shares this spot with a woman who passed away in 1995.

-Information courtesy of Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts.

Photograph courtesy of Jose Oranto. Family information by Nina Brown.

 

Will located in genealogical sources by Nina Brown

The will written by Carrie Brown's former husband on September 17th, 1872, in Salem list

Mary Ellen and Anna W. Brown as his two daughters.  Mary Ellen was the eldest daughter. 

Anna Brown would go on to marry sheet music publisher Fernando de Anguera in the years ahead. After Fernando died, Anna
 developed a romantic relationship with her former brother-in-law, Edward. This resulted in Mrs. Edward De Anguera filing
divorce papers and stating publicly that Annie Brown had engaged in improper relations with her husband which irreparably
 affected de Anguera's marriage.  Anna was living in Malden, Massachusetts at the time of this turmoil (1906) and is subsequently
 found in the 1930 US Census listed as being married to Edward de Anguera.

 

1- Coroner's Inquest May 13-14, 1891

     Coroner Lewis Schultze: How old a woman would you judge she was from the body?

     Dr. Jenkins:   I judge she was a woman sixty years of age, she was subsequently identified as fifty-six

     In contrast, the Boston Globe stated she was born in 1832, which, if correct, places her age at either 58 or 59 in 1891.

2- His first name was Charles, not James. Her first name was Ellen, not Caroline. Charles Brown's last will and testament
 not only didn't provide her with any money, but it also didn't even mention her. Information from Nina Brown.

3- That other nickname Brown was known by, Jeff Davis, may have been derived from the fact that she somewhat resembles
 Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy, in their facial features. There was another explanation for the Jeff Davis nickname:

    [[ She speedily became known as Shakespeare and also Jeff Davis. The latter name was given to her as she never lost
 a chance to argue upon the merits of the "Lost Cause", always siding with the Confederacy.]- New York Press, April 26, 1891.

 

4- Bellevue Hospital. Alice Sullivan, who bought Brown her last meal, had been in Bellevue herself shortly before Brown's murder.

5- It was Lassen, not Lawson. 

6- April 16th, from Blackwell's Island, originally sent there for public drunkenness.

7- A mobcap is a bonnet. 

8- Technically, it had only been five days.

9- 'Guns and Roses': The Untold Story of Dion O'Banion' - Rose Keefe, 2003



             
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East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on Today at 06:40:30 am »
CHAPTER 5, continued.


A: I judge she was a woman sixty years of age, she was subsequently identified as fifty-six. I found the body on the dissecting table
at the Morgue, and an incised wound of the abdomen extending into the abdominal cavity, the lower portion of the body, and a small
 sac filled with fluid and one of the ovaries which was afterward found to be the left ovary lying on the body; I also found a portion of
the intestines on the table, the lower portion of the smaller intestines, they were with the body on the table and they were a part of
 the body as far as we can tell, and corresponding with the missing portion of the body; the face was livid and there were three small
 bruise spots on the left side of the windpipe on the neck, one above the other; they were about half an inch in diameter, one having
 a crescent shape as if made by a fingernail; the tongue protruded from the mouth partly. On the left side of the abdomen, there was
 a superficial wound beginning one level with the naval here about in this position, extending down to the thigh, beginning about here
 and ending down to the thigh, and it was simply a scratch fifteen inches in length, and superficial, made by the nail or it might be
made by the point of a dull knife; there was a second wound superficial in character resembling this which was twelve inches in length,
 the lower seven inches not well marked or very indistinct; also two parallel and superficial wounds or scratches on the right side of the
 abdomen and extending from about here ( illustrating) and running up here; the upper portion was at the upper end of the incised
 wound of the abdomen and that hid a part of it or gave the appearance of being a portion of the incised wound.  But afterward, I found
 them to be separate; one of the parallel scratches (the outer) was nine inches in length, and the inner eight and a half inches, and less
 than half an inch apart. There was an incision in the abdomen penetrating the abdominal cavity to the right and extending down to the
 right side of the external genitals, making button-hole cuts in the skin. The weapon had cut out two portions of the intestines and
mesentery, a portion of the intestines was attached to mesentery and the edges were ragged and seemed to have been made with a dull
instrument, and it had required two efforts at least- two efforts to cut; on the left buttock a horizontal wound passing across the lower
portion of the back two inches to the right of the median line, it extends from this side some ten and three-fourths of an inch in length
and a cresentic scratch wound across this horizontal scratch is seven and three-fourths in length, making a rude cross; on the back, posterior
 portion of the body is a wound six and three quarters inches in length, commencing in the ****, a portion of the generative organs, and
 extending through the perineum, the portion between the **** and the rectum, passing to the left of the anus, and terminating one inch
 above and to the right on the small bones which terminate the spinal column, between the buttock and the junction of the spinal column.
 Its depth was four and a half inches and passed into the pelvic cavity and back, but had not passed into the lining membrane, which covers
the intestine and cavity. Two superficial cuts, extending from this termination of the spinal column into the ****, showing there had been
 at least three efforts to cut; they formed an X.  There was a cut sixteen inches in length on the mesentery in one place, and a cut nine inches
and a half in length in another place; a portion of the intestines was gone and some still attached; in the mesentery; a small wound in
mesentery which was made by the point of a knife. The uterus and ovary were atrophied. The hyoid bone had been sufficiently compressed
to fracture and rupture small vessels producing slight hemorrhage. The brain and meninges were congested, and there were some small
spots that indicated asphyxiation. The tongue protruding from the mouth itself does not indicate asphyxiation; the cause of death in this
ase was asphyxiation or strangulation. You could not determine definitely whether the incisions were made just before or just after death;
 it would be impossible to determine that positively; if we had seen any evidence of arterial spurting upon examining the rooms, we might
have been able to determine it.

By the Coroner: -

Q: She died of asphyxiation, in other words strangulation?

A: Yes, sir; I would not say the other injuries or wounds did not contribute.

By Mr. Wellman:-

Q: Possibly choked and possibly killed with a knife?

A: Yes, sir.

By A Juror:-

Q; Might not both have occurred together?

A: Yes; it would be very difficult to determine which was the principal cause, but all evidence from autopsy points to strangulation.

By Mr. Wellman:-

Q: The wounds appeared to be made with a dull knife such as the knife shown to you there? 

A: They might have been done with a knife of that character.

Cross-Examination By Mr. House:-

Q: You don't mean to say that the wounds which you discovered were made with that knife but a knife similar?

A: They could have been made with that.

Q: They could have been made with that knife?

A: Yes, sir; there were at least three or four cuts indicating a dull knife.

By A Juror: -

Q: Was there very much congestion of the vessels of the brain?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: And both of the lungs- evidence in both lungs?

A: Yes, sir: but not so marked as in some cases of asphyxiation.

Q: What was the condition of the heart? 

A: Contracted down, containing some fluid blood in the right auricle.

3
East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on Today at 06:38:56 am »
CHAPTER 5, continued

A relative of Capt. Brown in conversation with the Globe correspondent, this evening, stated that Mrs. Brown became an actress
 after she left her husband, which accounts for her sobriquet Shakespeare. 

Some 15 months ago, she visited this city, and for some months was employed as a domestic in the family of a well-known sea
 captain. Strenuous efforts were made at that time by her old friends to have her lead a better life, but all influences for good
 proved futile. She shamed all that once known her by unsavory behavior, and it was a pleasure that they learned of her sudden exit
from Salem to her old haunts in New York.

For years she led a riotous life and was frequently heard from by her former friends in Salem.

Some five years ago she was seen by a relative in a Bowery theatre in New York, her role at that time being an actress in a
 minor part.

Soon after, the announcement was made that she was dead, but this was not credited, especially by her relatives here, and
 since then they daily expected to hear of her demise in some sad way.

Wretched as she was, no one dreamed that her end would be so horrible as it is supposed to have been. No one, however, who knew her
 is surprised at the atrocious ending of her career, as it is in keeping with her fearful life for the past 25 years.

She leaves several relatives in Salem whom she has made wretched for years.

Her horrible butchery is the principal topic of conversation among all classes, and it is the unanimous wish that the murderer may be
 at once identified and punished.]]

 

 

New York Evening World April 25th, 1891

(from the April 28th edition of the Boston Globe):

 

 [[ Denied The Tomb 'Old Shakespeare' Still In the Morgue. Authorities Keep Body from Potter's Field, So That Salem Relatives May Bury Her.

 

The body of Carrie Brown, alias 'Shakespeare' the victim of the East River Hotel tragedy, was to be sent to Hart's Island for burial
 in the potter's field today.

The box containing the body was placed on the little boat that leaves the morgue for Harts Island every morning, along with a dozen
 others that were being removed from the morgue for pauper burial.

Warden Fallon, however, decided it would be best to keep the body at the morgue for 24 hours longer, in case any of the relatives of
the dead woman should come to town and desire to give it a decent burial. So the box was carried back to the dead room, where it will remain until tomorrow morning.

If none of the Salem relatives are heard from today, the body will be sent to the potter's field.]]

 

From the April 29th edition of the Boston Globe:

 

[[Burial of Unfortunate Carrie Brown Provided for.

Relatives from Salem, Mass., Arrive at the Morgue.

[[At 8:30, the Inspector (Byrnes) sent a message to Capt. White, the keeper of the morgue, directs him not to bury the body of
Carrie Brown, alias “Shakespeare,” the ripper's victim, who has been lying there for the past six days. (8) The action was said to be
 due to the arrival of two relatives of Carrie Brown, who came from Salem, Mass., and who, it is expected, will provide for the proper interment of the body]]

 

The issue of which two people came to take her back to Salem was resolved by the New York Evening World on April 30th:

[[ The body of 'Shakespeare', or Carrie Brown, will be decently interred in Salem, Mass. Mrs. Ellen Allen, the dead woman's
 daughter, accompanied by an undertaker from Salem, yesterday called upon Undertaker Thomas F. Murray, of 154 East Twenty-Ninth Street,
 and engaged him to look after the shipment of the body.

This morning the common box containing the old woman's body was placed in a hermetically sealed casket by Undertaker Murray and
shipped on the 9 o'clock New York, New Haven, and Hartford train.

Mrs. Allen arrived in the city Tuesday night (April 28th) and immediately had an interview with Inspector Byrnes, which resulted in the
 order yesterday to defer sending the body to Hart's Island.]]

 

Several newspapers mentioned a man named John F. Flower, a retail grocer, who was reported in the Fall River (Mass) Globe on April 27
 claiming Carrie Brown had worked for his family some years in the past.

A newspaper published in Kansas reported Flower stating Brown had worked for the family only two years earlier. Both papers made the
 claim Brown told Flower that she was from Canada.  Yet another, shown here, had more details:

 

New York World

April 28, 1891

************

[[John T. Flomer, of No. 849 East One Hundred and Sixty-first Street, who, on Sunday, recognized 'Old Shakespeare' as

a former servant, called again yesterday at the Morgue and expressed some solicitude at the fact that she was likely to be buried in
 Potter's Field. He said he would assist in providing a grave for her in one of the cemeteries. He believed her to have been a woman of
 good impulses. As no other person has expressed a wish similar to that of Flomer. it is not at all likely that 'Shakespeare' will be buried in any other place than Hart's Island]]

 

Fortunately, Carrie Brown wasn't buried in Potter's Field on Hart's Island.  The report also spells the man's last name as Flomer, at first considered a typo.

However, it was Flomer and not Flower.  Nina Brown found the correct name and some background about the 26-year-old

in September 2023. 

He was John Frederick Flomer

Born in Germany, 1865

Came to the United States in 1880

Married June 28th, 1885 - Wife’s name Lena Keller 

Naturalized citizen in October 1886

Lived at 870 Forest and listed as a grocer in 1889

Lived at 849 E. 161st Street in 1891

Lived in The Bronx in the 1900 census - 812 Trinity Ave. -wife Lena - five children- one servant-two boarders.

If Carrie Brown had worked for the Flomer family, it would have been sometime between the years 1880 and 1890 at one of the
 two addresses located in the city archives.  Flomer's Forest Avenue address was in Queens while the 161st Street address is
 located in The Bronx. Trinity Avenue, the address listed in 1900, likewise is in The Bronx.

   

Another address where Carrie Brown once lived was 86 James Street, a once notorious street in the Lower East Side. 

One of the inhabitants who lived at 86 James Street at or around the same time as Brown was a young immigrant boy from Naples
 who grew up to be the mentor to Al Capone. 

His name was Johnny Torrio, who, by the age of four, lived there with his mother and stepfather, Salvatore Caputo. His stepfather
operated a 'blind pig' (illegal drinking place) in the building. Torrio was born in 1882. (9)

Brown had once lived there with an Italian man named 'One-Eyed Tony'

This New York Herald article from April 26th gives a little more information about them while still a couple.

[[ One of the important facts that the police learned yesterday was that Carrie Brown had lived at different times with an Italian. She
passed as his wife and their abode some time ago was at a lodging house at No. 86 James Street, kept by an Italian known as 'One-Eyed Tony' .
 The house is now a negro resort and Tony's present residence is not known to the occupants.

In this connection, the police learned that Carrie Brown had a dispute with an Italian near the East River Hotel on Thursday night, several hours
 before she entered the hotel with the man who killed her.]]

 

 

 

In 2023, I located a photograph and address of a third house in which Carrie Brown once resided, the address being 92-94 Cherry Street, run by

a woman known as 'Mother Olson' a sexagenarian who ran 'boarding houses', a polite euphemism for bordello.

To date, we have only one photograph of Carrie Brown, the same photo that was on the tintype that Inspector Thomas Byrnes held in his
hands while at that briefing with the press back in late April 1891.  Almost all we know about Carrie Brown has come directly from newspaper
accounts, a few factual and most others based on speculation. Sadly, the most important person in this case is the one we do not know quite enough about.

 

   Additional Information Related to Carrie Brown:

  Coroner’s Report

  Coroner's Office, New York County.

 In the Matter of the Inquest into the Death

                 Of   

 CARRIE BROWN, deceased.

 New York, May 13th, 1891,

10.30, A. M. Before

 Hon. Louis W. Schultze, And A Jury

*****************************************

Autopsy Report of Dr. William T. Jenkins

Dr. William T. Jenkins, being called as a witness by the coroner, was duly sworn, and testified as follows:

By Mr. Wellman: - 

Q: You made the autopsy on the body of this woman, Shakespeare?

A: Yes

Q When did you make the autopsy?

A: On Saturday (April 25th)

Q: Where?

A: At the Morgue at the foot of 28th Street.

Q: How old a woman would you judge she was from the body?
4
East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on Today at 06:37:29 am »
                                       
CHAPTER 5

                                                 
CARRIE BROWN

FIFTEEN DAYS IN APRIL 1891 – A Timeline of The Last Days of Carrie Brown

 
On April 16th, Carrie Brown is released from Blackwell's Island (public drunkenness). On the night of April 20th, a Monday, it is very
 likely that Ameer Ben Ali and Carrie Brown spent the night at the East River Hotel.

In the afternoon of April 23rd, the day of the murder, Alice Sullivan sees Brown and Ali standing together near the corner of Oak & Oliver
 Street. During the same afternoon, Sullivan treats Brown to lunch at 'George's' located near the intersection of Roosevelt & Water Streets between 4:30-5:00 p.m.

On the evening of April 23rd, Brown is seen with a man whose description matches that provided on the 24th by Mary Miniter and Mike Kelly. 

Brown first entered (John) Speckman's saloon on the corner of Oak and Oliver Streets, soon to be joined by this man.

This information was given to the police by a barber named Henry Decenwether whose barber shop was close to Spekeman's.

On the night of April 23rd, Carrie Brown entered the hotel with a man who would be forever known as "C. Kniclo" at approx. 11:00 p.m.
 The man gave Mary Miniter a dollar piece for the fifty-cent room. He also gave Miniter a dime for a pail of ale. Miniter gave them a new
 candle and the key to room 31 on the fifth floor at the far end of the hallway.

Carrie Brown was murdered either late on April 23rd or early on the 24th. The exact time is unknown. 

Mary Corcoran and Eddie Fitzgerald discovered Carrie Brown's corpse on the 24th at approximately 10 a.m.

Police learned that the victim's name was Carrie Brown on April 25th, with identification provided by Catherine McGovern and repeated at the trial.   

On April 28th, Mary Brown, her daughter, arrives in Manhattan with a Salem undertaker and makes plans to transport Carrie Brown to her final resting place.

On April 29th, Brown's body is on its way to Salem by train.

On April 30th, Carrie Brown is lowered into the ground at Harmony Grove Cemetery

At the Coroner's Inquest on May 13th, Dr. William Jenkins stated that Brown was 56 years old. (1)

He had been under the impression that she was a few years older, quite likely an estimate on his or someone else's part. However, he
 amended his original estimate having been supplied with the correct age by her daughter or the undertaker who accompanied her when the
 came to New York City to take her body back to Salem on April 29th. She fortunately avoided being buried on Hart's Island (Potter's Field), New York.

The problem that researchers have faced in this case are inaccuracies in 19th-century census reports leaving us with fewer cold hard facts
 than we hoped for. No one knows exactly when Carrie Brown was born although a Boston Globe claimed it was 1832. Likewise, her place of
 birth claimed by the same paper as Liverpool isn't guaranteed since we lack a copy of her birth certificate for verification purposes.

 The best newspaper accounts from 1891 that brought up aspects from her past before the murder are found in the Boston Globe. While some
Manhattan papers gave credible accounts, they lacked certain items that flesh out her story, which these Boston articles contain. 

 

From the April 26th edition of the Boston Globe:

[[ Fifteen years ago, there appeared in the Fourth Ward a middle-aged woman addicted to drink and who soon became known by the
 names of “Shakespeare" and "Jeff Davis". (2) She was well-liked by her companions on account of her liberality when she had money, as well as for her superior intelligence. 

 Her maiden name was Caroline Montgomery, and in early life, she married a sea captain named James Brown. She lived with him in
 Salem, Mass., for a number of years. Brown died and left her quite an amount of money. (3)

Some time afterwards she came to New York and entered upon this fast life. She left behind her two daughters, Ellen and Annie, who reside at present in Salem, Mass.

This woman, when not on the (Blackwell's) island, was in the 4th Ward. Sometimes she became an inmate of some institution where she would recuperate. (4)

Her board bills were paid by a relative named Lawson, also a resident of Salem. (5) It has been learned that she has only recently been discharged from the island. (6)

The statement from the Inspector (Byrnes) was typewritten, and at this point, he requested Captain McLaughlin to stop reading.

No explanation was made by either of the officials for not continuing the reading of the remainder of the document, which was very much longer.

The Inspector said that he had in his possession a tintype of the deceased taken some few years ago. In it she appeared neatly dressed, wearing
a large white apron and a mob cab (sic), apparently the dress of a nurse. (7) ]]

 

From the April 27th edition of the Boston Globe:

[[ Carrie Brown's Career. Ripper's Victim Known In Salem. Once She was a Pretty and Happy Bride and Lived in That Ancient City.
 She Took to Drink and Her Downfall was Speedy and Certain.

 

(Salem, Mass., April 26.- Carrie Brown, alias 'Old Shakespeare', who is supposed to have been murdered by 'Jack the Ripper', or his double,
n the East River Hotel, New York City, Thursday night, is well-known to the older citizens of Salem, and sadly remembered by many.

She was born in Liverpool, Eng., in 1832, her maiden name being Caroline Montgomery. When quite young she came to this country with her
 parents, who were of English blood, and settled in Brooklyn, N.Y.

As a girl, she was very vivacious and prepossessing, and before she was sweet 16 had won the heart and hand of a gay sailor named
 James Brown, about one year her senior.

The acquaintance which ripened into intimacy was made in Brooklyn, and after a few months of wooing the marriage took place in that city, and a short time
after the then-happy couple came to Salem and established a home on Becket Street.

Brown had quite a large number of relatives here, and during his absence at sea, everything was done to make her life happy.

At that time, she was handsome, of superior intelligence and untarnished character, and as a result, scores of friends rallied about her and made
 the life and home of the sailor's wife blissful indeed.

Although noted for vivaciousness, she was religiously inclined and was admitted as a member of the Central Baptist Church. For a time, she was
 an indefatigable worker in the church and was deemed a most estimable member.

As the years rolled on her husband prospered until he became master of a clipper ship and acquired considerable property. He was a man of
 sterling integrity, of generous disposition, and of more than ordinary liberality in providing comforts for his home.

He was in the employ for many years of the late Charles Hoffman, one of Salem's best-known merchants, who was engaged in the African and
East India trade and owned five or six vessels, with headquarters on Derby Wharf.

Capt. Brown was a great favorite of Mr. Hoffman and commanded several vessels owned by the great merchant, including the brig 'Potomac' bark 'Gem', brig 'Elizabeth', and brig 'Tigress'.

At the close of five years of married life Capt. Brown was made a happy father by the birth of a little girl, who has now grown into womanhood
 and is respected by all who know her. Some two years later another girl was born, and subsequently a son, the latter dying in infancy. The second child is now living in Montana.

After some 10 years of matrimony, the wife took to strong drink, and although urged by relatives and friends to abstain from such a habit, she
 heeded no advice and went from bad to worse until she became a notorious drunkard, and a very cruel wife and mother.

In 1863, Capt, Brown moved with his family to New York, but it was not long after the establishment of his home in that city before he was
obliged to take his children away from their mother and bring them back to Salem, where they were cared for and educated by his relatives.
 One of the girls continues to make her home in Salem, while the other is in the West, as previously stated.

Capt. Brown served in the Navy during the Civil War, and upon his discharge re-entered the marine service. Some 12 years ago, while in
command of the brig, Elizabeth, off the coast of Africa, he was stricken with the terrible fever so common on that continent and died.

To his dissolute wife, whom he had left several years before, he bequeathed $1, the balance of his fortune being given to his daughters and
 those who had cared for them while they were young.

A New York dispatch, in referring to the murder, says: The board bills of the murdered woman were paid by a man named Lawson of Salem, Mass.”
5
East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on March 15, 2026, 06:49:30 pm »
CHAPTER 4 continued


 New York Times
April 26, 1891

 

[[ "The most important clue that came to the police yesterday was from the Glenmore Hotel, a Chatham Square cheap lodging house. The morning of the murder, about three hours
 after the murderer and his victim went to their room in the East River Hotel, a man went into the Glenmore and asked for a room. Kelly, the night clerk of the house, noticed that the
 man's hands, face, and clothing were smeared with blood. The fellow spoke with a pronounced German accent. Kelly describes the man as about five feet nine inches in height, light
 complexion, a long nose and a light mustache. He says he wore a shabby cutaway coat and a shabby old derby hat. He had no money to pay for a room and therefore was not permitted
 to remain. The Glenmore is not more than five minutes in a straight line from the scene of the murder.

The murderer and his victim at the East River Hotel went to their room at 11 PM. It was more than two and less than three hours afterward that the bloody man went to the Glenmore.
Where he went next is a problem. Without money, it is hard to see how he can escape the law.

 Night clerk Kelly has been closely questioned in regard to this call of the man with blood on his hands and clothing. Kelly says the man was very nervous and agitated. "His hat was
 pulled down over his eyes," Kelly explained, "and he acted queer. He asked me in broken English if I could give him a room for the night. At the time, his right hand rested
 on my desk, and I noticed it was all bloody. I noticed it looked as though he had tried to wipe the blood off, but it was smeared all over. There were also two blotches of blood on his
 right cheek, as though he had put the bloody hand to his face. There was also blood on his right coat sleeve, and it was splattered on his collar. Altogether the fellow looked very bad.
 I asked him what price room he wanted. He answered nervously that he wanted me to give him a room as he did not have a cent. I told him that I could not give him a room as the house
 was full. He turned to go away, but instead of going down the stairs to the street, he started for the washroom. I came out from behind my desk and told him we only allowed the guests
 of the house the use of that room. He turned then without a word and went down into the street. As he did, I turned to Tiernan, our night watchman, who was in the office at the time, and said,
"That man looks as though he had murdered somebody."
Kelly tells his story in a straightforward way and the detectives place great credence in it. His description of the blood-stained man who asked him for a room tallies so closely with
 Mary Miniter's description of the man who took the murdered woman into Room 31 of the East River Hotel that there does not seem to be much doubt that they were one and the same."]]

 The story above contains the once-stated reference to the Glenmore having no available rooms. I've yet to find it anywhere else and it is unlikely that this part, at least, is correct.
Why would Kelly first ask him what price room he wanted instead of flat out telling him there were no rooms available?
Other reports:
The New York World on April 26th, the same day as the Times article, refers to the night watchman by the name of Concilio.
Kelly's tone in the NY World article is a little more aggressive than the more even-tempered discussion in the Times piece.
The NY Herald, from the same date, has the night watchman making the statement about the visitor to the hotel looking as if he had just murdered someone, not Kelly.
The Herald also states that while Kelly was accustomed to men with blood on their person entering the Glenmore for a room, this man's actions, on top of his appearance, was what caught Kelly's attention.
One out-of-town paper, the San Bernardino (Cal.) Courier from May 2nd wrote that the visitor was around 5'2" and quotes Kelly as saying the visitor looked as if he'd just come
 back from butchering hogs. So much for out-of-town papers as being reputable sources. 

 Miniter mentions his build as being slim and that he was between 32 and 35 years of age. She did not mention anything unusual in how he walked, and neither did Kelly.
Both or at least one would have mentioned noticing it while giving their descriptions. This also comes into play later.
It's easy to understand why those who have studied the case usually link C. Kniclo to Glenmore Man.
We also should keep in mind a comment that was published in the New York Herald about Kelly being accustomed to men with blood on their persons going into the Glenmore
 Hotel This hotel was a cut above the East River Hotel but was also a seedy establishment in its own right. Chatham Square was situated near the elevated train close to The Bowery
 and had its share of disturbances, often resulting in violence. It was also theorized in the New York World that 'Glenmore Man' may have simply been a local man who was beaten up
 and went to the hotel in order to clean himself up, which may have been what actually took place.
An example of a man found loitering in the vicinity of the Glenmore Hotel was reported in the New York Evening World on April 25th.  The paper contained a paragraph on the arrest
 of a man of German background named Adolph Kallenberg arrested at 1:00 a.m. on the 25th.
[[Kallenberg Set Free
This arrest was made about 1 o'clock this morning by Officer Mitchell, of the Elizabeth Street police. He found a German, about 35 years old, who said his name
 was Adolph Kallenberg, and that he had no home, loitering in Chatham Square. He was sent down to Oak Street Station at about 2 o'clock this morning. Capt. O'Connor
 says he discharged him because he was evidently not the man whom he wanted.]]

 Glenmore Man remains a possible connection to C. Kniclo and a good one at that.

A Missed Opportunity?
Professor Dekle has suggested that perhaps Kelly would have been a bad witness for the defense. Nothing else is known about Kelly other than his employment at the Glenmore Hotel. 

 His eye-witness account of the man whose description had been considered relevant by the police and which matched Mary Miniter's in numerous ways is persuasive
 enough to seriously consider 'Glenmore Man' as having been C. Kniclo. On the other hand, that 'Glenmore Man' acted somewhat out of the ordinary was probably
 not such a big thing for that area of the Lower East Side.  Disheveled men were dime-a-dozen in the Chatham Square area. After all, Adolph Kallenberg was picked
 up in the general vicinity on the 25th and bore some similarity to C. Kniclo. 

Had a jury heard of the physical similarities between C. Kniclo and Glenmore Man if Kelly had been put on the witness stand, could this have worked in Ali's favor?

So, did the defense team waste an opportunity by not handing a subpoena to Kelly?

Nothing in the available contemporary accounts suggests that any of the three defense attorneys even spoke to him.

I, for one, find it very unlikely that his story would not have been known by the defense team.
6
East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on March 15, 2026, 06:48:06 pm »
CHAPTER 4

                                                 
GLENMORE MAN

 
Brown's client, who came to be known by the fictitious name of C. Kniclo, has been at one time or the other theorized as having morphed into two, possibly three, other entities. 
The other anonymous entities, connected or not, were known as 'Glenmore Man' and 'The Danish Farmhand', with 'Train Man' being an overlooked theory at one time brought
back to the fore in 2023.

Glenmore Man was the name given to the fellow spotted in that hotel on the morning of April 24th.  He was first designated by this name in 2022 by British researcher Michael Banks.
It is suggested that after leaving, or worse, after murdering Brown, C. Kniclo went up the street to the Glenmore Hotel at 4 Chatham Square. 

 At the Glenmore, he attempted to rent a room from the night clerk, a man named Kelly. The man told Kelly, whose first name was probably Michael or possibly Thomas, that he had no
 money for a room. Naturally, Kelly told him that unless he had money, he would not be given a room.  This didn't discourage the man as he then attempted to enter the first-floor lobby
 washroom. Kelly, in the presence of another Glenmore employee named Tiernan, escorted him out of the hotel.
This incident occurred at roughly 2 AM on the 24th, just a short while after Brown was murdered.
Because of the similarities between their physical descriptions provided by two independent witnesses, he's been theorized as being the same man last seen with Carrie Brown, or who
 murdered her.
C..Kniclo description provided by Mary Miniter and Glenmore Man's features matched on several key points.

 1. Height ranging from 5'8 1/2 to 5' 9" tall.
2. A heavy mustache, light in color in most, but not all, reports. 
3. Germanic inflection to his voice: spoke 'broken English' (Kelly); possibly of German ethnicity (Miniter)
4. Shabby cutaway coat
5. Derby hat: Miniter says it was battered while Kelly described it as shabby.
6. Light complexion
7. A long nose

 The description of the man and his reported bloodied and disheveled condition impressed the NYPD so much so that when an all-points bulletin was issued, signed by Inspector
Byrnes, it included a comment not found in Mary Miniter's description of the man she had described for police in that he spoke in 'broken English'. This latter information came from Kelly. 
Miniter described C. Kniclo for the New York Evening World on April 24th as having a blonde mustache, as she would do at the Coroner's Inquest, and at the trial on June 30th.   

The April 24th edition also reported that C. Kniclo was described as either a Greek or Italian, and that had brown hair and was fairly well-dressed.

On the 25th, the same paper reported that he wore dusty, well-worn clothes and that his mustache was rather long with the ends of the mustache sticking straight out like the
 'whiskers of a cat' that the mustache was heavy and brown, with a long nose that came to a sharp point and sharp features. 
This exemplifies the issues researchers have had for over a century with the newspaper reports.
Despite the dissimilarities in these two very early reports, Miniter described him having a mustache in both reports.  Kelly's story, when brought up in the papers, always included
 a mustache in the description. 
Almost every report in which his description would be given from this point on would state that it was a blonde mustache.
At the trial, Miniter testified that it was light, which undoubtedly meant that it was blonde.

 I've transcribed the article that, in my opinion after reading probably every article ever written on the incident, is the best in as far as providing details of the incident at the
 Glenmore Hotel. Some articles are a little different from each other and cause confusion, which is further evidence of the less-than-stellar reporting found in this case.
 Of course, the occasional reticence of Fourth Ward residents in their dealing with the authorities when related to a crime such as murder was also a factor in the quality of the
 reports published. The one I selected was the leper with the most fingers.
 I will also include the reference to the arrest of an early 'suspect' who was released shortly afterward on April 25th near the Glenmore Hotel.  The reader will get a good idea
of how difficult it was and still is to provide a clear and precise representation of people and events not only in this facet of the case but in many other areas as well.
7
East Side Story / Re: ***East Side Story: The Book On-Site***
« Last post by Howard Brown on March 15, 2026, 06:45:08 pm »

CHAPTER 3

THE EAST RIVER HOTEL

A compilation of stories detailing events that took place in the East River Hotel over the years.
Prior to the building also referred to by locals as the 'House of All Drinks', and the  'Fourth Ward Hotel', it had served as the site of the first German-language theater in Manhattan  dating back to 1843 according to the New York Herald (1)

 The hotel's sordid history makes the bars and lodging houses of the far more publicized East End of London look tame by comparison. Water Street was also well-known for
 rough dives such as John Allen's Tavern at 304 Water; Tommy Hadden's 'Shanghai Hotel' at 374 Water Street: Kit Burns' 'Rat Pit' at 273 Water, and situated next door at 18 Catherine Slip, The Glass House.

 Civil engineer Frederick Reinert, an employee of the Frank E. Towle company at 25 Chambers Street, was called upon to provide the dimensions of room 31 at the Coroner's Inquest and Trial.  Room 31 was measured at 12 ft, 8 inches by 7 ft., 6 inches.

Edward Fitzgerald stated at the Coroner's Inquest that there were 15 or 16 rooms for guests on the fifth floor.  Two corridors with four rooms on each side of the hallways.

First-hand accounts from two New York social reformers during their excursions to the hotel can be found in books by Dr. Samuel Parkhurst (2) and Rev Alexander Irvine(3).
A lengthy article was published in the New York Herald five weeks before the Brown murder detailing the experiences of Salvation Army members Ballington and Maud Booth as they made their ways up and down Water Street, in slum attire, chronicling the sordid state of affairs. (4)

An affray took place at the hotel in 1871 when a young woman, upon learning the nature of the hotel, demanded her wages after two weeks of work. The request unleashed the fury of proprietor Herman Jaeger ( typical of newspaper accounts, his surname is spelled in several ways), his wife, and the bartender. All three beat her severely. She managed to make her escape and immediately went to the police station. Mrs. Yeager, who was one tough nut, blackened the policeman's eye sent to arrest her and her husband. (5)

A chronology of the subsequent events from January 1871 to its closure :

6- Jaeger shoots his wife Eva point blank in the face. Is found after running off and hiding next door ( Possibly the saloon known as The Glass House) but does not appear to have been punished for the shooting.
7- A domestic, Ann Wilson, after being sharply reprimanded by Eva Jaeger, stabs Eva and receives 2 years in the state penitentiary for women.
8- Jaeger serves a 'notice' to Police Superintendent Walling 'warning' him to remove the policemen who were posted in front of the hotel
9- Tommy Thompson assaults Morris Slattery in the bar downstairs at the hotel, which leads to Slattery's death the following day.
10-Thompson committed for trial for murder in the first degree. He is acquitted.
11- In 1887, an ex-convict named Coffee took a woman to the hotel. She would be found dead in Room 31. Two days later at the Coroner's Inquest, he was released as it was proven he was not involved with her death.
12- One rumor or possible fact was that down in the bar room in the basement, it was possible to throw bodies directly into the East River after they died or perhaps were murdered.
 That section of the Lower East Side had been a land reclamation project extending all the way up to Pearl and Cherry Streets.
13- A 44-year-old woman, Ann Foley, is found dead in the hotel in Room 37 on the fifth floor of the hotel. She and a man named Patrick Cleary had been living there since November 12th.  Cleary was held until he was eventually cleared of any involvement in her death which was attributed to over-indulging in drink.

According to his June 10th, 1901 affidavit, James Jennings was no longer the proprietor of the East River Hotel. Tommy Thompson would also leave the hotel sometime afterward.
14- The hotel is declared closed
15- Heinrich Stiehler wants a license to sell liquor at the hotel, now renamed The Cambridge Hotel.
16- Albert T. Wheeler applies and is denied a license by the Excise Board
17- Property foreclosure sale announced

The hotel is re-opened

18. Owner William Keyes, who had been the latest proprietor for the past 18 months, is murdered while sitting out front of the hotel. James Breen, his killer, was executed in Sing Sing in December 1903.
19- Hotel condemned by the City. All furniture emptied from the building
20- Inspectors sent to the hotel to make a final report are roughly treated by residents
21- The rear of the building had settled over 13 inches. Over 100 people were living in the hotel at the time of its final closure in November 1907.



1- New York Herald  June 28, 1891
2- The Doctor And The Devil or  Midnight Adventures of Dr. Parkhurst   Chas.W. Gardner  1894
3. From The Bottom Up, Alexander Irvine 1910
4. New York Herald  March 15, 1891
5- New York Sun   January 9, 1871
6- New York Daily Herald  March 28, 1872
7- New York Herald   August 9, 1879
8- New York Sun  June 26, 1883
9- New York Times     April 11, 1886
10- New York Times    April 28, 1886
11- New York Sun   April 25, 1891
12- Low Life  1991 Luc Sante
   All the land, including Water Street, situated below
   Cherry St.& Pearl St., was man-made and
   as the result of  a series of land reclamations
   by the City of New York.
   Water Street came into being in the 1730s.
13- New York Evening World  December 10, 1891
14- New York Times  February 19, 1894
15- New York Evening World  November 24, 1894
16- New York Tribune  November 17, 1895
17- New York Times  February 1, 1899
18- Brooklyn Daily Eagle  September 16, 1903
19- New York Tribune   November 7, 1907
20- New York Tribune  November 10, 1907
21- New York Sun  November 11, 1907
8
General Discussion / Re: At The Glenmore
« Last post by Howard Brown on March 15, 2026, 07:02:13 am »
Maybe Kelly was nervous, himself, when he told reporters that
1. Glenmore Man asked for a room
2. Kelly asked him what priced room he would like. ( which indicates there was a vacancy)
3. G.M. tells him he had no money.
4. Finally, Kelly tells him the hotel is all full.

Why go through all that when all he needed to do was tell GM that there weren't any vacancies
in the first place?

The article with the most coverage:

New York Times
April 26, 1891
************



Finally....an alternative to GM being connected to the murder:


New York World
April 26, 1891
*************












More links:

https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/glenmore-man/
https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/tiernan-of-the-glenmore-hotel/msg4052/#msg4052


9
General Discussion / At The Glenmore
« Last post by Howard Brown on March 15, 2026, 06:42:51 am »

Keep in mind that all of these Manhattan papers sent their own reporters to the Glenmore.
The reports didn't emanate from a wire service.


NY Times April 26th
The Times has Glenmore Man initially asking Kelly for a room.
Then, Kelly asked him what priced room he wanted.



NY Sun April 26th
The Sun has Glenmore Man initially asking for a room.
Then, Kelly asking him for money for the room.



NY Tribune on April 26th
The Tribune has Glenmore man initially asking for a room.
Then, Kelly telling him the house was all full.



NY World April 26th
The World on April 26th  has Glenmore Man with a heavy dark mustache.
We also learn that a man named Concilio, not Tiernan, was at the scene when Glenmore
Man paid a visit.





NY Tribune April 27th
Lastly, the NY Tribune stated that Glenmore Man was traced to Brooklyn




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Philadelphia Times April 26th
The Philadelphia Times on April 26th claimed that Glenmore Man did not seem to be intoxicated. The NY Times, from
the same day, referred to him as being shaky and nervous.






10
Unsolved 19th Century & Gilded Age American Crimes & Murders / Four For The River
« Last post by Howard Brown on March 14, 2026, 02:18:02 pm »
Mini-compilation of stories concerning four women who were found in the East River, 1877-1893, that
are already on the site but listed separately.



ONE:

Found this yesterday while looking for articles about Ann or Annie Campbell.
I do not know whether it's her.

If it were Ann, she would have been 36 or 37 at the time.

One clip has her living at 338 Water Street and another at 336. One article
refers to the missing friend as Lizzie Crossman and another as Lizzie Rushmore.
no surprise that the papers effed this up.
The star on the map designates 336 and 338 Water Street.

I can't find any follow-ups to the case. No idea if it was Campbell's friend.
No idea if a trial took place. No idea whether the case was resolved, which it
doesn't appear to have been.

I'm sure some will notice the similarity with the Lizzie Elliott incident in April 1891.



New York Herald
January 24, 1877
***************



New York Herald
January 25, 1877
**************


New York Tribune
April 26, 1877
*************



New York Herald
April 27, 1877
************



TWO:

........featuring a name most will be familiar with.
So far, Nina and i have been unable to determine what happened to the Norwegian sailor, Charles Rossmissell, after April 27th.
We know what happened with Mary Ann Lopez. ;)

Lizzie's body, according to the NY Press article of April 7, was eventually recovered.
She fell from a height of 15 feet into the East River.


The Brooklyn paper has Rossmissell as a Swede, while the Manhattan papers state he was a Norwegian.
Mary Ann Lopez fudged a little on her age, too.

Brooklyn Citizen
April 6, 1891
***********




New York Evening World
April 6, 1891
************


New York Evening World
April 6, 1891
************


New York Sun
April 7, 1891
**********




New York Press
April 7, 1891
************





This article states Lopez was the widow of a Cuban and was born in Ireland.
Her 'husband' was a man she once lived with named Alphonso Lopez at 133 Clinton Place ( at one time ), a sugar make and alive at the time of the Elliott drowning.
Again, it's claimed she was 28. She said the same at the Coroner's Inquest a mere 5 weeks later.
She was born in Albany in 1854 and was 37 years old at this point.


Fort Worth ( Texas ) Daily Gazette
April 7, 1891
**********



THREE:





This report covers the brutal murder of the woman found floating in the East River in August 1891, just three weeks after
Ali was sent to Sing Sing.

The dock on Market Slip...not Market Street... was one block east of the East River Hotel.





Memphis Commercial
August 4, 1891
************



FOUR:




New York Evening World
November 17, 1893
******************



'Pug-Nose Mary- theorized as victim.
New York Herald
November 17, 1893
******************
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