Inquest Of Carrie Brown

The "Ripper" Case.

NEW YORK, May 13. - Coroner Schultz begun the inquest on the body of Carrie Brown, the victim of "Jack the Ripper." The three parlors of the coroner's office were crowded, and the array of Water street habitues was something startling. The eight females who are held as witnesses were also present. Amer Ben Ali, or "Frenchy No. 1," was also there under guard. On the jury were ex-Charity Commissioner Brennan; L.K. Merkie, maltster; Harry Miner, of theatrical fame; Geo. T. Putney and George Brockway, the hotel-keepers; Richard M. Walters, the piano manufacturer; Jacob Ruppert, Jr., the brewer, and F. Slaughter, the clothier.
The first witness was Mary Corcoran, the housekeeper of the East River hotel. Her testimony in regard to the occurrences of that night did not differ from that she has already given.
Police Captain Richard O'Connor of the Oak street station testified that he found drops of blood in the hallway leading from room 31, where the woman was murdered, to room 33, where "Frenchy No. 1" slept that night; also to blood on the panel of the door of room 33; also near the handle of the door. On the inside of the door there was a small spot of blood. He also referred to the other blood spots found on the bed, etc., in room 33. He then identified the shirt that "Frenchy No. 1" had on when arrested. The blood marks on the shirt had been carefully cut out by the district attorney.
Detective Crowley then testified regarding the condition of room 31 and 33, and the cuts on the body of the woman, the finding of the knife in room 31, etc.
At 2:30 the inquest was resumed. An architect's plan of the scene of the butchery was presented to the jury.
Bell-boy Eddie Fitzgerald, who discovered the body, was the first witness. He said that on the night of the murder he let a man have room 33. He identified "Frenchy" as the man who took the room. At 5 o'clock in the morning the prisoner came down in a stealthy manner as if to avoid detection. He did not see "Shakespeare" or her companion enter the hotel.
Dr. Cyrus Edson was the next witness, and exhibited several envelopes containing pieces of clothing, the dirt from beneath "Frenchy's" nails and wallpaper from the East River hotel, stained with blood. The doctor would not swear positively that the stains were human blood corpuscles, but only that they resembled such corpuscles.
The jury then visited the scene of the murder. Great crowds were congregated in the vicinity of the building to catch a sight of the alleged ripper. The inquest will be resumed tomorrow.

Source: The Decatur Daily Republican (Decatur, Illinois), Thursday evening, May 14, 1891

"FRENCHY" IN THE DOCK.

THE CORONER'S JURY HEARS THE TALE OF BLOOD SPOTS.

Lawyer Friend Tries to Make a Point on the Police Who Cut the Crimson Stains Out of the Floor of the East River Hotel - "First Broom" Fitzgerald's Bright Answers - His Keen Eye's Work.

Coroner Schultze and a jury of well-known New Yorkers yesterday began an inquest into the death of Carrie Brown, alias "Shakespeare," the victim of the East River Hotel murder. Ben Ali, better known as Frenchy No. 1, who is held for the murder, spent the day in the court-room in charge of a Tombs keeper. He showed no signs of worriment, and once or twice laughed heartily at the bright retorts of witnesses. During the recess he complacently puffed a big, strong cigar.
At 11 o'clock when Coroner Schultze mounted his little wooden throne and prepared for business, Big "Tom" Brennan, ex-Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, occupied the foreman's seat in the jury box, and Harry Miner was put behind him. James Trainor, the hotel man, and young Jacob Ruppert, the brewer, sat side by side in line with Mr. Miner. George T. Putney, of the Hotel Metropole, was another juror. The others were George Brockway, Charles Iden, Alexander F.S. Slaughter, Louis J. Merkel, August Strassburg and Dr. Louis L. Seaman.
Ben Ali sat in the prisoner's pen and beside him within the narrow inclosure were all three members of the law firm of Levy, Friend & House, who are defending him. An interpreter was also squeezed into the prisoner's dock.
In a room adjacent to the court were six or eight of the women who had known "Shakespeare" in her lifetime and who are held as witnesses. One of Inspector Byrnes's men guarded the door.
Mary Corcoran, the housekeeper at the East River Hotel, was the first witness to testify. The night of the murder she was in the little drinking room in the East River Hotel, known as the "box," when Shakespeare was there drinking with another woman. The witness had seen Shakespeare in the hotel the day before. She saw the body on the morning after the murder before the police arrived.
Police Capt. Richard Connor, of the Fourth Precinct said he saw the knife lying beside the body the first time he looked at the remains, and one of his ward detectives took charge of it. He said there was blood on the knife.
"Was it wet or dry?" asked Lawyer House.
"It was wet."
"Well, was it wet enough to drip and leave marks when it was being taken away?"
Capt. Connor said it was not. He explained how and where the blood spots were found. About 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the day the body was discovered, and after the Coroner and reporters had left the hotel, Capt. Connor, Capt. McLaughlin and Detective-Sergt. Crowley made a careful survey of the premises. It was then that the blood was found. Capt. McLaughlin was the first to notice it and called the attention of the others to it. In the hallway between room 31, where the dead woman lay, and room 33, which it was later learned was occupied by Ben Ali, there were several spots of blood. The distance between the two doors was less than four feet. The first spot of blood was a foot from the door of room 31. Two feet further there was another single spot, and then three spots in a group. On the outer side of the door of room 33, about a foot from the knob, were three or four spots of blood. One of them had trickled down, making a red line about a foot long. There was another blood stain on the inside of the door. Capt. Connor said that Capt. McLaughlin cut out all the blood stains and took them away with him, with the exception of the stain made by the drop of blood trickling down the door of room 33.
The witness also testified to stripping Frenchy of his blood-stained shirt in the station-house, and identified the shirt. Mr. House cross-examined the witness to bring it clearly before the jury's mind that several hours had elapsed between the discovery of the body and the finding of the bloodstains leading to room 33, and that in the meantime the Coroner and several reporters had been about the place.
Ward Detective Griffin, of the Fourth Precinct, told of taking the knife from beside the dead body to the Oak street police station.
"Did you see the blood marks testified to by the previous witness?" he was asked.
"Yes, but not till the next day," was the reply.
"That's all," said Mr. Howe, emphatically, nodding to the jury to remind them that the previous witness had sworn that Capt. McLaughlin took the blood-stains away with him the first day.
Eddie Fitzgerald, a red-headed youth of twenty years, was introduced to the jury by Assistant District-Attorney Wellman as the "bell boy" of the East River Hotel. He said his principal duty was to give guests keys, candles and matches, and "leave 'em go upstairs by themselves." He swept out the barroom and once in a while tended bar. On the night of the murder, he said, Frenchy, the prisoner, came to the side door and rang the bell. Eddie admitted him and gave him the key to room 33 and a whole candle in return for twenty-five pennies. The candle was afterwards found burned down to the socket.
"Between 5 and 5:30 in the morning," Eddie continued, "I was near the end of the bar, sweeping, when I see the man sneak out of the hall and go out through the "box" and the side door. He kept close to the partition, as if to keep me from seeing him. I saw him in the hotel once before the night of the murder. It was either one or two days before and he brought a woman with him.
"Will you tell the jury," began Mr. House, "what your position was at the East River Hotel?"
"I was first broom," was the answer.
"And who was second broom?"
"There was no second."
"Then when the District-Attorney called you a "bell boy" he was mistaken. There isn't a single bell in the house, is there?"
"Yes, sir. The door-bell," replied Eddie.
"There's no use talking. That's a corkin' good boy," said Commissioner Brennan.
It transpired that Frenchy was not registered the night he stopped at the hotel.
Dr. Cyrus Edson, who analyzed all the blood-stains furnished by the police, testified that he found "corpuscles corresponding to the corpuscles of human blood in size."
The Coroner invited the jury to go to the East River Hotel and look over the scene of the murder. He had carriages waiting for them. Lawyer House demanded that the prisoner be taken too, and he was handcuffed to his keeper and driven away with the rest of the party.
The inquest will be continued this morning.

Source: The World, Thursday May 14, 1891

NEW YORK'S WOMAN KILLER.
The Atrocious East Side Murder Continues to Excite Great Interest.

METROPOLITAN POLICE CHALLENGED.
Will the Detectives of New York Discover the Man Whom Scotland Yard Failed to Run to Earth?

NEW YORK, April 26. - The police are disposed to believe that the East River Hotel murder mystery is a challenge to test their abilities made by the terror of Whitechapel, Jack the Ripper. They have worked with great vigor upon the case, but though several arrests have been made, they can not yet declare they have the right man in custody. No certain traces of the murderer after he left the body of his victim have been found.
The murdered woman has been fully identified as Carrie Brown, who went by the name of "Shakespeare." Her murderer is said to be an Algerian named Francois.
Inspector Byrnes made the following statement to the newspapers last evening:
"I'll just say this to put you in an intelligent position to understand the statement that Mr. McLaughlin will read to you. There is a mystery about this case and there isn't a mystery. We know very well who the murderer is, but we don't know where he is. We know the murderer, and we have a man locked up who is a relative of his. The relative and the murderer were companions of the vile women who frequent the places around where the murder occurred, and they did all sorts of disreputable things. They liked old women for companions better than young. They were vicious and desperate fellows. The man we have arrested is identified by two women as the man who went to the room with the murdered woman, but another witness positively denies this, and says that the man who occupied the room with the murdered woman was the relative of the man we have arrested, and we believe her. Now Captain McLaughlin will read to you the statement we have prepared."
Captain McLaughlin then read his statement, which, after giving the story of the crime up to Friday evening, continues:
House Detectives Doran and Griffin on the evening of the 24th, about 10 o'clock, arrested a man named Francois, otherwise known as Frenchy. He had on the night of the murder occupied room 33 on the opposite side of the hall from the room in which the murder occurred. He had been running about with old women for some time, and seemed to have a passion for that sort of thing. Since he was arrested he has refused to give any information whatever about himself except to admit that he occupied room 33 the night of the murder. Mary Ann Lopez and Lizzie Sullivan identified him positively as the man who had gone to room 31 the night of the murder in company with the woman who was murdered. Mary Miniter, the housekeeper, says just as positively that he is not the man - that the man who went to the room with the woman was of the same build, but was fair, not dark.
It is learned that the man we have arrested has a cousin who is exactly the build of this man and who is fair. He answers in every way the description of the man who went to the room with the old woman. These men have been seen together in the locality often and on several occasions they asked for each other in the different saloons.
"The way we fixed the relationship is this," said Inspector Byrnes, interrupting; "when one was around the place alone he would ask the women if they had seen his cousin. Both did this, and all the women understood they were cousins and of the same name. It is supposed both were nicknamed Frenchy."

The Murderer's Victim.

"Now as to the murdered woman. About 15 years ago there appeared in the Fourth ward, an intelligent, middle aged woman much addicted to the use of intoxicating liquor. She soon became known to the frequenters of the low places which she visited as "Shakespeare" and "Jeff Davis." She was well liked by her boon companions because of her liberality when she had money, as well as on account of her superior intelligence. A woman has been found by Detective Sergeant Crowley, who knew her well.
"This woman informed the detective that Shakespeare's maiden name was Caroline Montgomery, and that early in life she had married a sea captain named James Brown. They lived together in Salem, Ore., for a number of years, where Brown died and left a good deal of money to her. With this she came to this city, to the Fourth ward, where she spent it freely. She has two daughters, Ellen and Anna, who live in Salem now. When not on Blackwell's Island for drunkenness, the woman was most of the time in institutions in the city where she went to recuperate from her debauches. At these institutions her board was paid by a relative named Lawson, who is a resident of Salem. It is said by several who know her well that the woman was discharged from Blackwell's Island only a few days before her death."

The Autopsy.

The autopsy upon the body of the murdered woman was made by Dr. Jenkins in the Coroner's office. It showed that the old woman was strangled and butchered almost simultaneously. The brain and lungs gave evidence of strangulation, and so did the marks on the throat, and the rupture of a few small blood vessels in the neck. It appeared, however, that the knife was used before the heart stopped, for there had been copious arterial hemorrhage.
The murderer's work with the knife gave evidence only of blood-thirsty anger and not of any definite object. The mutilation was rougly done and evidently accomplished with considerable difficulty, for the knife was not the sharpest. The murderer cut out the left ovary, but did not carry it away, as was the custom of the London "Jack the Ripper." The remaining organs were not mutilated. Dr. Jenkins thought the woman was fully 60 years old. He did not examine the stomach to ascertain if she had been drugged, for the manner in which the murderer had done his work indicated that the victim had struggled at first, which would not have been the case if she had been unconscious.

The Murdered Woman Positively Identified.

A later dispatch says there seems at least to be no doubt that the old woman killed by the supposed "Jack the Ripper" was Carrie Brown. John F. Flower, a retail grocer, in whose family the woman worked years ago, identified the body today. Carrie told him she was born in Canada and married a sea captain named Chas. Brown.
Two women employed in Bellevue hospital also identified the body as that of Carrie Brown.

Two More Arrests Made.

Another arrest has been made that tallies with the description of the supposed "Jack the Ripper." The Park police found the man in City Hall Park today. He wore a sand-colored coat and blue trousers, and if anything was scarcely shabby enough for the companion of the degraded victim at the slum lodging house that fatal night, the Ripper is said to have worn a shabby blue coat. The man whose name is said to be Henry Young was at the Oak street station with "Frenchy," the cousin, and later taken to police headquarters.
At 3 o'clock this afternoon Inspector Byrnes arrested the second engineer of the Red "D" line steamer Philadelphia, lying at her pier on the East river, and turning him over to his men had him taken to police headquarters. The name of the man could not be learned, but he answers almost perfectly to the description as given by Miniter, the housekeeper of the East River Hotel.

Source: The Bradford Era, Monday Morning, April 27, 1891