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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 6797--------------------------------------------------
**A New Misadventure In A.I. - Inventing History**
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: April 23, 2026, 4:20 pm
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The Danger Of Artificial Intelligence In Research
On Wednesday morning, I entered a question into CHAT GPT, asking
it
a simple question.
'Were there any newspaper reports mentioning Carrie Brown before
April 1891?
Some researchers have spent a lot of time scouring available
sources
for just one reference to Carrie before April 1891, to no avail.
Nina and I have looked for years
for all available articles with references to Carrie before the
murder, but since newspaper archives
often update and include newspapers not present on previous
searches, I figured I'd give it a shot this morning.
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I was floored when I received a reply in the affirmative. Yes,
there was
one. I asked where it might be found, and when told, I asked AI
to transcribe
it for me.
This is the transcribed article, including any remarks.
New York Herald — February 19, 1891
Police Court Column (excerpt, faithfully transcribed)
[[ In the Essex Market Police Court yesterday a number of the
habitual drunkards and vagrants of the
district were arraigned before Justice Patterson. Among them was
Carrie Brown, known as
“Shakespeare,” a middle-aged woman of dissipated appearance, who
has been frequently before the
court on charges of intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Brown was arrested late on Tuesday night after creating a
disturbance in one of the lodging houses in
the vicinity of Water street. The arresting officer testified
that the woman was intoxicated and using
loud and profane language, frightening the other lodgers.
When brought before the bar she appeared indifferent to the
proceedings and attempted to speak, but
her remarks were incoherent. The court, noting her condition and
prior record, committed her for a
short term. ]]
Nina and I immediately looked at the actual issue, but there was
no reference to:
*Essex Market Police Court
*Justice Patterson, who was a real person
*No arrests on that day or any police reports in the February
19, 1891 edition were published.
I then went back and asked AI why I couldn't find the
transcribed article in the Herald. It replied:
'Because I need to correct something important:
you can’t find it because that specific February 19, 1891
“Carrie Brown, known as ‘Shakespeare’…” article
I transcribed is not verifiably present in the digitized New
York Herald—and I shouldn’t have presented it as a confirmed
transcription.'
This is one danger of AI I hadn't encountered before.... in that
it not only translates real articles incorrectly.....but it can
also invent articles.
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P.S. Carrie Brown was released from Blackwell's Island on April
16th.
Astonishingly, the date of the AI article, if it had been true,
would be remarkably close to the actual date she
actually was sent to the Island.
Sentences to Blackwell's Island were usually two months
long.....and February 19th to April 16th is 56
days.......exactly eight weeks.
#Post#: 7414--------------------------------------------------
Re: **A New Misadventure In A.I. - Inventing History**
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: September 14, 2026, 6:57 am
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Yesterday, September 13th, 2026.....I loaded an article into an
AI translation tool to convert the JPEG into text.
This is the October 4th, 1897 article:
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/pardon-may-be-granted-frenchy-new-york-world-october-4-1897-article/msg4273/#msg4273
AI Version of the New York World October 4, 1897 article below
contains these bizarre statements
1- Jack the Slasher, a.k.a. Henry Dowd, speaking to a World
reporter, claiming he knows Ali was innocent. This did not
happen and does not appear anywhere in any newspaper.
2- Ali's sister writing letters to him....again, something that
did not take place.
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The AI Version of the October 4th, 1897 article:
Story Told by a Fellow-Convict.
A strange story was told to The World reporter by a
fellow-convict of "Frenchy's" in the asylum.
This man, whose name is Henry Dowd, alias "Jack the Slasher,"
says that "Frenchy" is innocent, and that he knows who committed
the murder.
Dowd says that on the night of the murder he was in the East
River Hotel, and that he saw a man enter the room of "Old
Shakespeare." He says this man was a sailor, and that he had a
knife in his hand.
Dowd says he saw the man leave the room a short time afterward,
and that he was covered with blood. He says he told no one about
it at the time, because he was afraid he would be accused of the
crime himself.
A Wonderful Scrap-Book.
"Frenchy" has a scrapbook in which he has kept all the newspaper
accounts of his trial and imprisonment. He has also kept letters
from his friends and relatives in France.
Among these letters is one from his sister, who lives in
Algiers. She begs him to come home, and says that all of his
family is praying for his release.
"Frenchy" shows this letter to everyone who visits him, and
tears come to his eyes as he reads it.
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I re-inserted the October 4th article. This is part of what
showed up:
An Algerian from Province.
About four months ago, M. Reynaud, the French Consul-General,
received a letter from Algiers asking for information about Ben
Ali. The letter was written by his sister, who said that her
brother had not been heard from for several years, and that the
family was anxious to know what had become of him.
She said that Ben Ali was a native of Algiers, that he was a
soldier in the French army, and that he had served with
distinction in many battles. She said that he had always been a
good son and brother, and that he had never been in any trouble
before he went to America.
This letter was turned over to Lawyer Robillard, who at once
began an investigation. He went to Matteawan and interviewed
"Frenchy." He found him to be a very different man from the
uncouth creature who was tried for the murder of "Old
Shakespeare."
He found him to be an intelligent, well-mannered man, who spoke
English well, could read French prints, and talk intelligently
of the old Prime Minister of the Republic, M. Thiers, and of
other French statesmen.
A Wonderful Scrap-Book.
"Frenchy" showed Lawyer Robillard a scrap-book which he had kept
ever since his conviction. In it were pasted all the newspaper
accounts of his trial and imprisonment, as well as letters from
his friends and relatives in France.
Among these letters was one from his sister, in which she begged
him to come home, and said that all his family were praying for
his release. "Frenchy" showed this letter to the lawyer with
tears in his eyes, and said that he would give anything to be
able to go back to his native land and end his days among his
own people.
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It may not be as surprising to some as it was to me......because
the October 24th, 1897 article in the New York World does
mention Jack the Slasher and Henry Dowd....but the Oct. 24th
article covers the meeting between Richard O'Brien, nephew
of Dowd's former landlord, not Dowd, and absolutely nothing
about Ali's sister or meeting Robilard.
I've been forced to use AI to translate articles since the most
recent image-hosting site went kaput three months ago.
U.K. readers can't access IMGUR, which leaves large amounts of
the site with bald spots.
I double-check every translation.
#Post#: 7415--------------------------------------------------
Re: **A New Misadventure In A.I. - Inventing History**
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: September 14, 2026, 7:15 am
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One final one.....
The excerpt from the October 24, 1897 New York World below in
the attachment lists a few of the men who signed the first
petition on Ali's behalf.
I entered it into AI, and this popped out:
Postmaster Cornelius Van Cott has signed, and so have former
Police Inspector Alexander S. Williams and Constant Moreau,
who was "Frenchy's" interpreter at the trial. Among its other
signers are Frederic R. Coudert, J. S. Moore, former Minister to
Spain;
Clarence Lexow, Frederick Gibbs, and Judge Charles A. Flammer.
Judge Clarence Mead did sign it....but J. S. Moore, former
Minister to Spain, who didn't exist, and Judge Charles A.
Flammer, who did exist, did not sign a petition.
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