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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 6064--------------------------------------------------
Cranford Historical Society 2022 : Vic Bary & Luke Kummer
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: January 2, 2026, 6:10 am
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Vic Bary is a local ( Cranford, NJ ) historian, whose 2022
presentation before the CHS
included the following, at bottom, about Cranford's connection
to the crime.
Luke Kummer wrote the script to 'Takers Mad', his 2021
audiobook; organized the trial
transcription for John Jay Univ. in New York, back in 2019; and
took a photo of the key
turned in by George Damon, the photo available to see on this
site and in our two books
covering the crime.
Both made presentations before the CHS in 2022.
Unfortunately, Luke's presentation was not recorded. If you've
heard any of the podcasts
he was in during 2022, his presentation was probably very
similar to any of them.
Bary's presentation wasn't recorded either.
The two presentations weren't included in the Media Guide.
Photo of Luke from the April 23rd, 2022 presentation:
[URL=
HTML https://imgbox.com/ROKVkLAv][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/d1/70/ROKVkLAv_t.jpg[/img][/URL]
Weird and Whimsical Cranford-
Victor Bary, Curator
Cranford Historical Society
November 14, 2022
Case # 3: Did Jack the Ripper Actually
live in Cranford?
 As strange as it may seem, if not Jack the Ripper,
someone
very much like him did live here.
 The case began with the strangulation murder and
mutilation by knife of a prostitute/actress nicknamed “Old
Shakespeare” in a lower East Side hotel in 1891.
Carrie Brown – “Old Shakespeare”
Jack the Ripper
 Jack the Ripper murdered at least five prostitutes in
London, England between August and November 1888.
 He cut their throats and then mutilated their bodies.
Some
investigators thought he might have had some medical
training.
 After November, 1888, the “Ripper murders” simply
stopped.
East River Hotel Room 31
 On the morning of April 24, 1891, a staff member gained
entrance to the locked room 31 of the East River Hotel.
 Inside lay the body of Carrie Brown, straggled, with
knifecut symbols carved into her body and her clothes pushed up
over her head.
 The key to room 31 was missing.
New York City’s Ripper
 City newspapers wasted no time in comparing the murder
to those by Jack the Ripper.
 Even the sedate New York Times trumpeted “CHOKED,
THEN MUTILATED – A Murder Like One of ‘Jack the
Ripper’s’ Deeds.”
 A hotel employee remembered Carrie Brown going
upstairs the night before with an Arabic-looking man.
The Arrest of “Frenchy”
 An Algerian named Ameer Ben Ali , and referred to as
“Frenchy”, was known to live in the neighborhood.
 “Frenchy” was arrested, even though the evidence
against
him was very weak, and convicted. He would spend the
next 10 years in Sing-Sing and then Mateawan Hospital
for the Criminally Insane.
George Damon of Cranford
 In 1901, ten years after Carrie Brown’s murder, George
Damon, a New York City dealer in printers materials, and
owner of a home at 3 Madison Avenue in Cranford, came
forward.
 He said in 1891 he had hired a temporary farm hand, a
large man named “Frank” who looked Swedish. The
morning after the Carrie Brown murder, he went to rouse
Frank but was told by another farm employee not to, that
Frank had had a “very ugly” night.
3 Madison Avenue
The Key to Room 31
 Five days later Frank moved on, and while cleaning out
his
room at George Damon’s farm, a brass key marked “31”
was found.
 Damon was aware of the Carrie Brown murder, and he and
an employee went to the East River Hotel and matched the
print style of the “31” of their key with those hanging on a
board. The type style and font size were the same.
“Frenchy” is Released
 Based on George Damon’s 1901 affidavit, “Frenchy” was
released.
 The real murderer of Carrie Brown was never found.
 Why George Damon waited ten (10) years to come forward
was
never fully explained.
Definitely Weird
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