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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 1943--------------------------------------------------
June 10 and July 1, 1901 : Damon, Jennings, & Robillard
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: July 29, 2023, 6:29 pm
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On July 1st, George Damon, along with Ali's attorney and
Manhattan spearhead of all the pardon campaigns, Ovide
Robillard, and Robert Gordon Butler, once a newspaper man for
the New York Sun and now one of its editors, met up at 300
Mulberry Street, at the time the headquarters of the NYPD.
The purpose of the visit according to Damon which he discusses
in his July 2nd, 1901 affidavit, was to see whether there was a
photo of Ali available in order that he compare the features of
his hired hand, eventually known by the nickname, The Danish
Farmhand, to those of Ali.
This trip to Mulberry Street was taken 34 days after Damon first
popped up out of the woodwork. The content of his first
affidavit was already known, nationwide, by this time and was
not questioned.
It was accepted as factual...which, of course, you would expect
from the pardon campaigners.
It was accepted without question by newspapermen. Now, not all
of those who worked for the various Manhattan papers in June
1901 were at their positions in 1891. There would be, as is
with all professions, a turnover. Men retire, move to other
cities, leave the profession for another, etc.
You would think that one of the 'new blood' that scribbled
stories for Manhattan's numerous papers would have had at least
a modicum of interest in the startling emergence of George Damon
earlier in the year, which resulted in the first affidavit and
publicity surrounding his story on June 3, 1901. Yet, as it
turned out, none did.
This mystery, one of many in the case, always puzzled me. I
couldn't understand the absence of any future in-depth reports.
At least, a few questions for the printer-slash-savior of the
pardon campaigns, but none can be found and that's because none
were ever conducted.
As to the pardon campaigners: The amount of time spent
canvassing businesses and neighborhoods, just going by the
number of names on the petitions, is impressive; the concerns of
the French Consulate & Government, who played a far greater role
in the events leading to Ali's release than has been commonly
perceived; an appeal to the U.S. Secretary of State for help in
releasing Ali; it cannot be underestimated how intense their
desire....compulsive some might say....was to get Ali out of
jail. Their campaigns were quite possibly the greatest effort
ever expended for a lay citizen in the U.S. during the 19th
Century.
So, it makes perfect sense for the following two events to have
occurred :
When George Damon learned that Ali and his hired hand looked
nothing alike*, he distinguished his hired hand** by describing
some of his features.
A few of them, such as his height which was close to Miniter's
description of C. Kniclo: and the way in which each man spoke:
with a German, or to generalize, a Scandinavian or Germanic
accent.
The most significant difference between the hired hand and Ameer
Ben Ali was the absence of a mustache. That's already been
mentioned in this thread :
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/1901-9/miniter-contra-damon-it's-who-you-know/msg1943/#new
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It would be unlikely that when Damon learned of Ali's
description while in the police station, he wouldn't mention
this to Robillard. After all, both were on the same side in the
concerted struggle to get Ali out of jail and out of the
country.
We know that 23 days earlier on June 10th, when former Hotel
proprietor James Jennings, upon being handed what was
purportedly the key to Room 31, the one Damon came forward with,
by the very same Ovide Robillard, Jennings stated clearly that
the key being shown him had a tag which was not in use at the
time he was hotel proprietor in 1891.
This critical issue didn't faze Robillard one bit. In fact, he
completely overlooked it even though he was faced with a serious
dilemma, one that could have derailed the present pardon
campaign once and for all. Acknowledging what Jennings had just
told him would not go over well with the Governor or anyone in a
position of authority when it came time for them to seriously
consider releasing Ali. So Robillard let it slide.
Just like he let Damon's enormous goof-up of describing his
hired hand as not having a mustache on July 1st, slide on by.
I believe Robillard, realizing what Jennings said on June 10th
in his presence and what Damon said on July 1st( July 2nd
affidavit), intentionally overlooked these issues that would
destroy the current campaign effort. No future Governors would
even consider pardoning Ali if the two issues were discovered or
mentioned by Robillard.
Imagine if you will, Robillard conferring with Governor Odell
and telling him that he had one guy who owned the hotel stating
that the key was bogus and another guy whose hired hand had no
mustache when everyone and his brother knew that C. Kniclo did.
Does anyone think Odell wouldn't smell a rat?
It might also have been a case of Robillard, one of those who
felt Ali had been convicted on faulty evidence, saying to
himself, 'Well, two can play at that. I'll just not mention
it."
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* There was no reason to go to the trouble of inquiring what Ali
looked like since no one was more qualified to know that 'Frank'
and 'Frenchy could not have been one and the same than Damon.
Damon swore in his May 20th affidavit that his hired hand didn't
leave his estate for at least two days, while Ali was in jail on
the 24th. News reports mentioning Ali by his nickname of
'Frenchy' had already been in print at least by the 25th and
known to Damon who was following the case by his own admission.
A totally unnecessary stunt on Damon's part to give one and all
the impression that he was dead set on doing all he could to
help the cause.
** Again, while the 'Danish Farmhand' and C. Kniclo were not one
and the same, there may have been a hired hand on Damon's estate
and it is his description that Damon used in fabricating his
story. Whether Damon had a hired hand or not is irrelevant at
this point,
If researchers and devotees of this case accept what Damon
said in that May 20th affidavit....and to be clear on this,
there is absolutely nothing, either in 1901 or the 122 years
that follow, that one can locate that even questions, much less
critiques, Damon's original affidavit, other than the grumbling
by a few without concrete proof to dispute it.... then the
content in the July 2nd affidavit ought to be viewed in the same
manner.
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