The Hotel was around for only about the first 20 year period of photography before being demolished. As you said, Howard, no one was going to lug the heavy equipment up the four flights of stairs to photograph the murder scene. Neither that nor would they lug the camera equipment to Catherine Slip and Water St just to photograph the Hotel. So this is probably about as good as it's going to get. Thanks to the "Panorama" guy.
We're lucky that he had the foresight to capture the east coast of Manhattan, that's for sure. On the other hand, I've never seen a panorama of the west side of Manhattan.
It's likely that the decision to not lug the equipment upstairs was based on the victim's class more so than the equipment's weight, IMO.. A frigging photo with a Kodak would have valuable. It is also very possible since the NYPD weren't in a regular routine of using photography as a tool in their work in the early 1890s, that this is the reason it wasn't utilized.
I've posted a link to NYC photos from the 1870s to the 1910s in the Photograph section.