Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel

Pete:

Yes, he saw the body.

New York Sun
April 26, 1891
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What do you think of the story? Canard or factual?

About Eddie having epilepsy and the fact that he was now involved in the case, contributing to his collapse in the street?
I can believe it.  He either had similar spells and told those who took him to the hospital, or the hospital attendant diagnosed him as being an epileptic.
I had a classmate back in 1964, when I was in the fifth grade, who had an epileptic seizure in our school's playground. I remember how it scared the hell outta all of us.

He was taken here, Pete.....the old House of Relief ( Chambers Street Hospital, which lasted until 1894)
More information found here:

https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/08/engine-company-no-29-160-chambers-street.html

The former hospital was located on the west side of the city at 160 Chambers Street....1.3 miles from the Hotel.

The Chambers Street Hospital, formally known as the House of Relief and a branch of New York Hospital, operated
at 160 Chambers Street in Manhattan, treating over 280,000 people from 1875 until it closed in 1894. The building
later served as a firehouse for Engine Company 29 and was landmarked in 2016, with its history documented
in NYC architectural archives.






P.S. Clerk Rickets appears just once in Newspapers.Coms archive.

Thanks, I just hadn’t noticed, and it wasn’t mentioned in the A-Z. I was just surprised at the mention that he had a fit right after, seems noteworthy, I think.

In the same article, there’s mention of a Rickets, clerk at Bellevue, who saw the body in the morgue. I tried looking him up but difficult to find anything since Rickets is also a medical term.
What do you think of the story? Canard or factual?

Quick note:

  I found two articles from Manhattan referring to the key being brass back in October 2023. Both Pete and I
posted on the thread.  The New York Sun, the only paper in NYC to do so, did it twice. April 25th and April 26th.
It's so damn easy to forget things when you have so many things, ain't it?

https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/1901-9/the-issue-of-the-key-to-room-31/msg2262/#msg2262

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One of the arguments against the 1901 testimony of James Jennings is that he had little to do with the day to day operations at the
East River Hotel.
Another is that the amount of time that passed between the murder and his affidavit could or would affect his memory of events and
things and, as a result, create real concerns for researchers as to the accuracy of at least that part of his affidavit.
Furthermore, the discovery of a Manhattan newspaper article ( NY Sun, April 25th, replicated in a Western Pa. paper) in which the
key was said to have been brass as well as the tag being brass, likewise creates an air of doubt to Jennings' declaration that the keys
used on the fifth floor were made of iron ( cast-iron).

These arguments are sound and cannot be ignored.

That Jennings wasn't glued to the hotel, having at least one manager ( Thompson ) on the site, that the purchase of keys would be the responsibility
of Thompson, and that a newspaper article that stated the key and tag were brass, should be considered as counter arguments against
Jennings' recollection of the key and the metal it was made of.

So, with that in mind, lets look at the testimony of someone who spent virtually every hour of his day in the hotel, Eddie Fitzgerald.

Eddie was the utility man at the hotel and lived there. In fact, that was the first answer he provided when questioned about
his current residence at the Coroner's Inquest....he lived at the East River Hotel.

Eddie dispensed keys to Ali at least twice and perhaps a fair number of times to other would-be tenants ever since he started working at
the Hotel in late February or early March ( Fitzgerald testimony at the Inquest found him stating he began work there 'between 2
and 3 months' earlier. The Inquest was in mid-May.). Here's a person who handled the keys and apparently could distinguish between
cast iron and brass.

Eddie's testimony found below from the trial came 69 days after he handed Ali the key to room 33. It's a very detailed description.

I don't think we can dismiss his memory so easily.
He had several duties at the Hotel.  He, not Jennings, was in contact with Ali and it was he who handed Ali the key to room 33.
Furthermore, his memory can't be assailed, as it had only been 10 weeks since the murder when Eddie testified.
It was his job to dispense keys....not Jennings...and would obviously remember what type of key went where.

*A more recent recollection of the type of key than Jennings...a trial testimony from 1891 as opposed to an 1901 affidavit.
*An onsite employee who had more-to-do with the general, mundane operations of the hotel than its proprietor.
* The NY Sun article from April 25th stated that an alarm had been sent, providing the description given by Mary Miniter
   and that a brass door key with a brass tag might be found in his possession.
   Unfortunately, it does not state who told the Sun reporter that the key was brass and had a brass tag.
  The first seven days of the case's press reportage were and are notorious for its errors. Something to keep in mind, considering
  the April 26th edition of the New York Sun....which also mentioned the key being made of brass...falsely claimed Officers Doran and Griffin arrested Ali
  on the 24th.

So, for now.....unless someone feels it is arguable that the hotel used two different types of keys on the fifth floor...room 33, for one, which
opened with a cast-iron key, according to the person who dispensed the keys and worked there...and room 31, with a brass one according to a newspaper report.


Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony: June 30, 1891


Page 265
Q. And, between 12 and 1 o’clock, you opened the door for this man, when he rang the bell?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What conversation did you have with him?
A. He said “Give me a bed, John”.
Q. He called you by name ——John?
A. That ain’t my name.
Q. But that is what he said?
A. Yes, sir, and he paid me 25 pennies and I give him rooms —— the key and matches and a
green candle.
Q. And what is a green candle?
By the Court.
Q. A fresh candle?
A. Yes, sir, a whole, fresh candle.
By Mr. Wellman.
Q. And the key to 33?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, what sort of key have you those hotels —— how large a key?
A. Well, about that size (indicating) —— a cast iron key.
Q. What?
A. About that size ( indicating)---a cast iron key.
Q. It is a large key?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. About four inches?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And has it any ———.
A. It has a tag on it.
Q. Now, what sort of a tag has it got on it?
By the Court.
Q. Was it a paper or metal tag?
A. No, sir, a brass tag.


Page 266
Q. A brass tag?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. With a number on it?
A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. Wellman.
Q. What sort of tag on it?
A. A brass tag, with a number on it.
Q. Well, how large a brass tag and what shape ——— was it round or longer than it was round?
A. It was more square.
Q. It was more square?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And how large? Show with your fingers?
A. About that long (indicating)
Q. Two inches and a half?
A. Yes, sir; and that wide (indicating)
Q. And about that wide —— two inches and a half by an inch and a half?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And the key was four inches long?
A. Yes, sir.

Pete:

 We've had a reference to his epilepsy since 2022:

https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/the-murder-during-after/msg762/#msg762

You might be right about the disease leading to his early death.