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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 7161--------------------------------------------------
Proof That Iron Keys Were Used On The Fifth Floor....
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 19, 2026, 7:43 am
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A year ago, we discussed whether or not an excerpt from the
trial transcript cast significant doubt on the Damon Key
story. This is that thread:
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/does-the-following-fact-demolish-the-damon-story/15/
I originally asked whether or not the trial testimony provided
by Eddie Fitzgerald on June 30th gave Jennings' affidavit more
credence.
I was mistaken when I posted that Fitzgerald used a cast-iron
key to open Room 31 on the morning of the 24th. He didn't say
that.
This is what he did say:
Page 265:
Q. And, between 12 and 1 o'clock, you opened the door for this
man, when he rang the bell? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What conversation did you have with him? A. He said, "Give me
a bed, John".
Q. He called you by name -- John? A. That ain't my name.
Q. But that is what he said? A. Yes, sir, and he paid me 25
pennies, and I give him Room 33,-- the key and matches and a
green candle.
Q. And what is a green candle?
By the Court.
Q. A fresh candle? A. Yes, sir, a whole, fresh candle.
By Mr. Wellman
Q. And the key to 33? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, what sort of a key have you at those hotels -- how large
a key? A. Well, about that size (indicating) -- a cast iron key.
Q. What? A. About that size (indicating) -- a cast iron key.
Q. It is a large key? A. Yes, sir.
Q. About four inches? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And has it any ———.
A. It has a tag on it.
Q. Now, what sort of a tag has it got on it?
By the Court.
Q. Was it a paper or metal tag?
A. No, sir, a brass tag.
Fitzgerald wasn't referring to opening the door to Room 31 in
his testimony. He was referring to having given Ali a cast-iron
key to open the door to Room 33.
A year ago, in the original discussion....
The key produced does not, in all details, correspond to the
descriptions provided by Fitzgerald or Jennings; the size of the
tag is described as markedly different.
There's no argument. The key produced by Damon doesn't match the
two sketches published on April 25th in the Evening World and
Sun.
Both iron and brass keys were used at the hotel at the time.
There's no argument. Jennings said that himself. He also stated
that iron keys were used exclusively on the fifth floor.
Fitzgerald testified to giving Ali a
cast-iron key.
It's also important to note that the police issued a description
looking for a key, stating it was a "brass" key. Someone gave
them that information immediately after the murder.
There's no argument. It wouldn't be the first time the press
rushed to judgment or were given false information.
Jennings was in the hotel on the 24th and so was Fitzgerald.
Neither would have stated the missing key was made of brass, in
light of the former's affidavit and the latter's trial
testimony.
IMHO, the information about a brass key being missing came from
elsewhere, either from a hotel habitué, employee, or a case
where the reporters guessed.
This is a side-by-side comparison of the sketched keys from
April 25, 1891, to the Damon key.
I included it below, since U.K. readers cannot access Imgur.
Were two independent newspaper sketch artists both wrong when
they sketched these two hotel keys?
HTML https://i.imgur.com/KHHxa5j.jpg
This new take on things that Fitzgerald wasn't referring to the
type of key he used to open Room 31 on the 24th, but rather that
it was the type of key he
handed Ali on the night of the 23rd, makes me even more certain
that the Damon key story was bogus. One would have to argue that
the hotel used different
types of keys on rooms less than four feet away.
I seriously doubt that anyone can provide an example of a hotel
or motel where two different types of keys are used for locks on
rooms on the same corridor.
That the brass key shown him, deponent, in the presence of Mr.
Robillard,
counsel for the prisoner, so far as he is aware, was never used
in the hotel of
which he was then the proprietor; that Room 31 was on the top
floor; that as
far as he has any recollection all the rooms on that particular
floor, at the time
of said murder, had iron keys with brass oblong tags attached;
that the keys
on the other three floors of the hotel were some of brass and
some of iron;
that all the keys had brass tags, some round and scalloped, some
oblong,
some may have been square, but all the tags varied from about an
inch to an
inch and a half long, and from an inch to an inch and a half
wide, and that no
tag was as small as the one on the key now produced.
Sworn to me on the 10th day of June, 1901 by James Jennings
William H. Broderick, Notary Public
#Post#: 7162--------------------------------------------------
Re: Proof That Iron Keys Were Used On The Fifth Floor....
DIR By: Jose Oranto
Date: August 19, 2026, 8:36 am
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In my opinion there is no doubt whatsoever: the key was iron.
Fitzgerald's and Jennings' testimonies completely override the
press's claims and conjectures. The fact that the press
mentioned 'brass' means nothing.
#Post#: 7163--------------------------------------------------
Re: Proof That Iron Keys Were Used On The Fifth Floor....
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 19, 2026, 9:04 am
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Jose:
Two early press reports and the BOLO ( Be On Look Out) issued
by the NYPD directed cops to look for a man matching
Miniter's description and that he may have the missing key on
his person. The key was described as brass in the police
directive.
Nevertheless, I'm with you that the latter part of the directive
was incorrect.
#Post#: 7164--------------------------------------------------
Re: Proof That Iron Keys Were Used On The Fifth Floor....
DIR By: Michael Banks
Date: August 19, 2026, 10:59 am
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Hi How,
(Maybe it’s an issue from my end but it just took me an age to
get on to this thread and then get the reply box up. I don’t
know what they call that icon that spins around when you’re
waiting for something to load but it was taking forever. As I
say, maybe it’s my end but I thought I’d mention it in case you
have a tech issue - have you moved over to steam power
How[emoji3])
Maybe the tech issue was cause by tremors resulting from Damon’s
key story crumbling. I agree with Jose and yourself…the keys
were clearly iron ones. If the key was describes as brass in the
police directive might it have been the case the an officer or
two saw the board where they kept the keys and there were only
brass ones hanging at that particular time so that they
incorrectly assumed that all the keys were of brass?
#Post#: 7165--------------------------------------------------
Re: Proof That Iron Keys Were Used On The Fifth Floor....
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 19, 2026, 11:13 am
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If the key was described as brass in the police directive, might
it have been the case that an officer or two saw the board where
they kept the keys, and there were only brass ones hanging at
that particular time, so that they incorrectly assumed that all
the keys were brass?
That may very well have happened. It may also have been a case
of the sketch artists sketching brass keys.....but if so, they
still don't match Damon's key....particularly the 'teeth', or
bits at the end of the shank.
In other words, if the keys which were
sketched....independently.... were brass AND Damon's key was
brass, then why don't they match?
Mike...sometimes the server acts up. I get that myself
sometimes.
#Post#: 7166--------------------------------------------------
Re: Proof That Iron Keys Were Used On The Fifth Floor....
DIR By: Jose Oranto
Date: August 19, 2026, 3:47 pm
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What Michael says makes complete sense.
As you know, I am not much of a conjecturer, but I believe this
whole case is so clear that it doesn't need much theorization.
It must have been obvious to everyone that Damon was lying. Why
else would Foster McGowan Voorhees have felt the need to write
to Odell validating Damon as an honest person? Why did Eugene
Ambrose Philbin commission McNaught to authenticate the key?
Fitzgerald referred to the key quite naturally as a 'iron key',
and Jennings not only stated with absolute clarity that the keys
to the top floor were all iron, but denied that this brass key
came from his former establishment. Jennings's testimony alone
is more than enough to dismantle the whole "key" case.
I suppose Odell accepted all of this to be done with all that
rubbish once and for all; after all, Ali would be deported.
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