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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 7158--------------------------------------------------
Corcoran Reference To Carrie Going Off With A Man With A Dented
Derby & Light Moustache
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 15, 2026, 5:45 pm
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An Evening World account of Mary Corcoran's trek to the witness
stand.
Two sentences have been emboldened, and I'll explain why because
I think it's important.
Not only did C. Kniclo have a light-colored moustache and dented
derby hat, but so did the man seen with Carrie Brown
inside the Hotel, buying drinks in the 'Box'.
This man, however, was not C. Kniclo. Otherwise Mary Miniter,
who was drinking with
Corcoran, Jennie Lynch, Mary Healy, Mary Williams, and Lizzie
Carlton ( perhaps alternative names for two women
we've covered such as Lizzie Carter), would have said that the
man who left the Hotel with Carrie before Carrie was killed came
back with her and took a room in the hotel with her. They were
two different dudes.
Glenmore Man, whom Kelly at that hotel described for the
press/police, also had a dented derby hat and
moustache. The April 26, 1891 New York Tribune refers to the
dented derby and moustache, for one example.
The point I'm trying to make is that the perception or belief
that C. Kniclo was Glenmore Man is possibly just that, a
perception,
since within a few hours three men ( The man who bought drinks
for the girls at the hotel, C. Kniclo, and Glenmore Man) all
had light moustaches and a dented derby hat.
New York Evening World
June 29, 1891
************
MARY CORCORAN'S STORY.
Mary Corcoran, the housekeeper at the East River Hotel, was the
next witness.
She is an undersized, young woman, a type of the miserable class
of dissolutes who abound in that portion of the Fourth Ward,
preying upon drink-bewildered sailors and consorting with
thieves and lesser rascals.
Mary wore a faded gobelin blue gown, with cuffs and bows of wine
color. A felt hat of black straw adorned with yellow trimmings
topped a head of frizzled black hair. The young woman's eyes
were swollen, and her voice had the harsh, rasping sound so
common among this class of debauched women.
She remembered seeing Carrie Brown in the "box," where "ladies
sat to meet gentlemen" on the ground floor of the East River
Hotel at 11 o'clock on the night of April 23. They had all
drank, and the witness did not see the old hag, Carrie Brown,
till she found her dead body cut and mangled on the bed in room
31 next morning.
Fred House, too plainly working under pressure, for he came from
a sick bed and in disobedience of his physician's orders to
court to the defense of the humble Arab mendicant,
cross-examined Mary Corcoran.
"Mary, is this the man who was in the box with old Carrie Brown,
or, as you call her, 'Shakespeare,' when you saw her that
night?"
The question was asked in a low tone, having the effect of
bringing silence in the court chamber.
At a hitch from Lawyer Levy, Frenchy arose in his place,
directly opposite the witness chair. He understood nothing of it
all, but his little brown eyes peered at the tough young woman
in the witness chair eagerly, and he struggled to comprehend
what she said:
"No, sir; he was not there, and I never saw him before in my
life till I saw him at the police station after the death of
Shakespeare."
This was startling, for the prosecutor had declared that Ameer
was frequently a visitor to this place, and yet the housekeeper
had never seen him, and the housekeeper is the prosecutor's
witness.
"What?" exclaimed Mr. House. "Didn't this man buy the drinks for
all those ladies in the box? How did he look? Didn't he look
like the prisoner?"
"Yes, sir, the man bought the drinks for Shakespeare and me and
Mary Mintur and two other ladies in the box, but he was not this
prisoner nor any one like him. He had a light mustache, and
that's all I remember about him. Oh, yes, he wore a derby hat
with a dent in it."
Then Mr. Howe elicited that the Water Street doorway leading to
the hallway is always kept locked at night, and to get in or out
one must ring the bell calling someone from the bar.
WHERE IS THE BLONDE MAN?
"Who was there that night when Old Shakespeare came in with the
young man with the light mustache?" asked Mr. House.
"Jennie Lynch, Mamie Madden, Mary Mintur, a man of war and
myself," replied Miss Corcoran.
"Have you ever seen that young man since?"
"No, sir."
"Did you ever see old Shakespeare in the company of the
prisoner, Frenchy?"
"No, sir, never. I never saw him till after his arrest."
Juror No. 5, Mr. Lichtig, wanted to know about that
"man-of-war." How did Mrs. Corcoran know he was a
man-of-war's-man? Did the man-of-war's-man go upstairs with
Carrie Brown?
"No, he went with Lizzie—I don't know her other name.
Shakespeare went with the young man with the light mustache,"
replied the hard-voiced young woman.
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