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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 1964--------------------------------------------------
A Look At New Suspects : From Raskolnikov To Thompson
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 2, 2023, 9:17 am
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Unless someone has an objection to my exclusion of the 'Danish
Farmhand' from the names below, I'll post these four men and a
theoretical possibility for now.
Ameer Ben Ali
C. Kniclo, the now unknown man last seen in the company of
Carrie Brown
Tommy Thompson : Suggested as the murderer in a 1900 New York
World article and in an elaborate 1906 Evansville Courier
article
George Damon
Someone From Damon's Social Circle
I've added Damon as Luke Kummer feels strongly that he was
Brown's murderer.
In a way similar to the fictional character from the 1866 book
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Raskolnikov, Damon emerges years later
with the actual ( Luke's opinion) key to the room but is not
sentenced to Siberia....or worse: Eagleville, Pa. Him going to
the Hotel ( I don't believe it occurred) was a 'return to the
scene of the crime', as Luke put it. His emergence to assist
the pardon campaign ( which, I feel, was the reason he came
forward ) was his penance.
Kummer argues that the fact that no one other than Damon
provided an affidavit from the Cranford household that this had
made his affidavit the only source of his being given the key,
the shirt, and facts about the mysterious hired hand. No one
else could corroborate it and alarmingly, his wife was not asked
to at least confirm some of the story. John Lee and Charles
Brennan both provided affidavits related to subsequent events
and not events from the very beginning when Damon first came up
with his story.
One possible link from Damon to consider is the idea Pete
Daamgard mentioned a while back about the 'downtown' ( Broadway
) merchant story and a blackmail scheme.
That story was first brought up by Mary Brennan upon Brennan's
arrest and quizzing by reporters on April 26th by both The
People and NY Herald. It is sort of remarkable that this gossip
or fact-based story was brought up that early, I think.
Brennan mentions a tall man named George with a red mark on his
chin with Brown at Barney Wintermeyer's saloon on 15 Bowery
earlier in the week preceding her murder.
Luke has asked Nina to see whether she could find any document
that gave Damon's height. Nina is still looking.
So...does anyone have any add-ons to the list or any
reservations about including Damon ?
#Post#: 1975--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Look At New Suspects : From Raskolnikov To Thompson
DIR By: Michael Banks
Date: August 7, 2023, 2:25 pm
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I have to say How, I struggle to see a case against Damon. Id
certainly like to hear Luke Kummer’s case against him though.
#Post#: 1976--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Look At New Suspects : From Raskolnikov To Thompson
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 7, 2023, 5:15 pm
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Same here, Mike.
Luke didn't elaborate too much, but part of it had to do with
him having the key in the first place; 'returning to the scene
of the crime' with Brennan: and the ten-year delay.
Without going into it too much here, that he had the key doesn't
seem likely in light of the new files....or, at least, less
likely than previously accepted.
#Post#: 1978--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Look At New Suspects : From Raskolnikov To Thompson
DIR By: Michael Banks
Date: August 8, 2023, 4:28 am
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Yeah, he was culpable but I don’t see him as the culprit.
#Post#: 1979--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Look At New Suspects : From Raskolnikov To Thompson
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 8, 2023, 5:54 am
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Mike:
What about the possibility that the killer was someone he knew
and his b.s. story was an attempt to cover for that person?
I know his obituary showered praise on him in his hometown, but
if you have money, that usually happens when someone wealthy
passes away.
Nina has suggested this latter theory for a few years now. She
never bought into the 'going to the hotel' story. I agree,
obviously, and if you read Brennan and Damon's affidavits side
by side, you're left with the impression that it was scripted
because of how it is worded. This is after a ten-year gap
between visits. Brennan and John Lee, who also had a glowing
obituary*, delivered what can hardly be called 'independent
corroboration', since one was a friend and the other an employee
of 15 years, very dependent on Damon, with a wife and nine
children. Makes you wonder about that windfall of a new house
in upscale Essex County that Mrs. Brennan, with the nine
children, was able to swing financially shortly after Brennan
died in 1906.
* Lee ran into trouble in the 1890s in Paterson ( his business
was established in this north Jersey city) over material he used
that was sub-standard in a city pavement contract.
While I am, if not you as well, certain that using Damon's own
sworn, not hearsay, not third-hand, affidavit, we know the
features he attributed to the farmhand demonstrates that the
farmhand was not C. Kniclo and without a shred of doubt, this
comes to mind :
What if Damon did ask Brennan to accompany him...and putting
aside the b.s. story about being able to see the key-board while
sitting in the saloon, where one was not visible as no hotel
would risk putting room keys around a lot of prostitutes and
boozers who hadn't paid for a room,, that Damon, more or less,
used Brennan to support the farmhand theory?
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