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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 5717--------------------------------------------------
Case Related Individuals and the Spanish-American War
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: November 6, 2025, 6:47 am
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[URL=
HTML https://imgbox.com/TEfgApGD][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/3c/76/TEfgApGD_t.jpg[/img][/URL]
The man in the center of the photo on the left is the future
Governor of New York, Teddy Roosevelt, with the Roughriders at
San Juan Hill in 1898.
The man seated is Jules Cambon, the French ambassador to the
United States, signing the memorandum of ratification on behalf
of Spain, 1898.
The man at the far right is John Hay, U.S. Secretary of State.
He served under President McKinley ( shown directly behind
Cambon) and Roosevelt
in 1901, after the assassination of President McKinley.
Cambon would send Hay the following in 1901:
Embassy Of The French Republic
In The United States
Washington D.C. June 27, 1901
Mr. Secretary of State:
Referring to the conversation which I had the honor to have with
you, I think proper to give you the following information
relative to the case of Amer-ben-Ali, commonly known as
"Frenchy", who was sentenced July 10th, 1891, in New York, to
imprisonment for life, for murder in the second degree, he being
charged with killing a woman of bad reputation, who bore the
sobriquet of "Shakespeare".
The unfortunate man had always protested his innocence, and I
have twice addressed the Governor of the State of New York,
though unsuccessfully, with a view to securing his pardon.
The evidence of his innocence now seems, at last to be
indisputable. Several depositions have been collected to this
effect. In the first place, Mr. George Damon, of New York, has
declared, under oath, that, at the time when the crime was
committed, he had in his service a man who looked like a sailor,
and that said person disappeared on the day following the
commission of the crime, leaving behind him a shirt covered with
blood, and a key bearing the number '31', which was the number
of the room occupied by 'Shakespeare' in the hotel where she was
murdered. Mr. Damon went that same day, with Mr. Breman (sic). a
friend of his, to the hotel in question, and there ascertained
that the key which had been found in his servant's room was
really that of the room occupied by "Shakespeare".
Mr. Breman declares, under oath, that these statements are true,
and Mr. John A. Lee likewise declares that Mr. Damon related
these facts to him ten years ago.
The fear of the vengeance of the real murderer, and the desire
not to see an honorable name connected with a case of this
nature, are the avowed explanation of the silence of these
witnesses.
Furthermore, several witnesses connected with the press, Messrs.
Jacob Reis, (Riis?), Frederick Barbour( sic), and Robert Butler,
editors of the Evening Sun, testify, under oath. that
immediately after the crime was committed, there was no trace of
blood in 'Frenchy's' room. Nevertheless, the presence of traces
of this nature in the aforesaid room was one of the causes of
the conviction of this French subject.
Mr. Henry Berbenich swears that on the day following that on
which the crime was committed, he heard several reporters who
were dining in a restaurant in which he was, boast of having
smeared the walls of "Frenchy's" room with blood, so that they
might base a "sensational article" on this circumstance.
Finally, Mr. Francis Coleman declares that, according to the
statement of Dr. Jenkins, the autopsy of the woman known as
"Shakespeare" showed that she had been killed at the time when
she was taking a meal, an hour and a half previously. Now, that
woman entered the house with a man who was not '"Frenchy". She
took a meal with that man before returning to the hotel, and
"Frenchy', himself did not return there until several hours
afterward. The death of the woman took place, therefore, before
'Frenchy" returned to the hotel.
It cannot be too deeply regretted that personal considerations
on the character of which it is useless to insist here,
prevented these witnesses from telling what they knew ten years
ago. The absolute ignorance of the English language of this
Algerian, who contented himself with asserting that he was a
Frenchman, calling himself "Frenchy, a common expression in
Algeria, did not permit him to defend himself. It is also to be
regretted that the local authorities did not take more care to
understand the language of this ill-fated Algerian. It is true
that this man had no social importance, as was remarked by
several witnesses, and that London was then terrorized by crimes
similar to that which the woman "Shakespeare" was a victim,
these crimes being known as the 'Whitechapel Murders. "The New
York police doubtless desired," says Mr. Robillard,
Amer-ben-Ali's lawyer, to display greater activity than the
police of London, and it is possible that its desire to satisfy
public opinion was the cause of its precipitation." Be this as
it may, the unfortunate "Frenchy" had not been able to bear the
regime to which he was condemned, and has become insane. I do
not think it any less desirable that justice should be done to
an insane person than to one of sound mind, and I feel convinced
that it will seem to you, as it does to me, morally necessary to
make good the judicial error of which this French subject has
been a victim in America.
Governor Odell, of the State of New York, whose province it it
to pardon Amer-ben-Ali, has in his hands the various papers of
which I have given a summary above.
I should be glad if you would kindly call his attention to this
sad case, and join the intervention of the Federal Government to
mine, with a view to securing a pardon for Amer-ben-Ali.
Be pleased to accept, etc.
Jules Cambon
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