DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: 1901-1902
*****************************************************
#Post#: 1980--------------------------------------------------
Adventures In Affidavits
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 8, 2023, 7:06 am
---------------------------------------------------------
It's unnecessary to remind long-time and even marginally
interested devotees of this case that it is almost an automatic
knee-jerk reaction on a researcher's part to question
everything.
Even in something as straightforward as an affidavit, mistakes
are made such as we perpetually encounter in the piss-poor
reportage of the headline-hunting reporters who covered it.
I want to refer to Professor Dekle's book for an example .
On pages 206 and 207, Professor Dekle transcribed the Washington
(DC ) Times article from May 23rd, 1901 regarding Damon's story.
This, unless the affidavit I am about to show you was
incorrectly dated, would eventually be sworn to on May
20th....or, if one goes by what appears to indicate May 29th, as
shown in the scan of that affidavit.
It isn't so much the date that bugs me, but the reference to a
'Dane'. Someone, at some point during the transcribing of
Damon's first of four sworn documents, wrote the word, Swede' at
the end of the affidavit.
Ovide Robillard referred to a Dane and in fact, that term would
be used four times in the June 3rd, 1901 New York Times piece
about Damon's story.
The funny thing is, is that Damon did not use the word, 'Dane'
in an affidavit until the July 2nd affidavit, some 6 weeks
later. Even then, he was not certain of the man's ethnicity.
May 20 affidavit: A reference to a Swede as shown below.....
June 12th affidavit: No reference to an ethnicity
July 2nd affidavit: A reference to Dane, Swede & German...only
certain about the hired hand speaking German, uncertain about
the ethnicity.
July 13th or 18th : No reference to an ethnicity
These are the scans :
First, the scan of John A.. Lee's remarks in the Washington
Evening Times from May 23rd, 1901.
It would be another 18 days before James Jennings told Ovide
Robillard point-blank that the key and tag were not from the
Hotel and swore to it in his affidavit
But, hey ! It's always best to go by the testimony of someone
who not only didn't remember the number on the tag but had never
been in the hotel and certainly wouldn't know one way or the
other if that key was legitimate, as his affidavit is based only
upon what he was told, not learned on his own.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/tgZkEgc.jpg
From the Washington Evening Times of May 23rd, 1901....Damon
being attributed as having used the word, Dane':
HTML https://i.imgur.com/BQe74NA.jpg
Now, to what was actually on that May 20th affidavit along with
Damon's signature on that affidavit, modified at some point
during the transcription. No one in Albany would dream of
altering it. It was corrected on the date given. This is from
that first affidavit
HTML https://i.imgur.com/7b1RBAf.jpg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/8CK2lS1.jpg
Look at that date and tell me that it doesn't look like May 29.
All previous references to May 29th as being the date of the
first affidavit have been corrected.
I worked in a field where I was confronted with obstacles in
terms of time, material characteristics, and all sorts of
obstacles in getting the job at hand done since 1975.....just
like other people in their respective occupations.
I cannot believe how difficult it has been to get what should be
simple tasks completed in Brownian research without some
goddamned thing or the other creating an issue. It makes my
former profession seem like a trip to an amusement park.
#Post#: 1981--------------------------------------------------
Re: Adventures In Affidavits
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 8, 2023, 8:25 am
---------------------------------------------------------
In the future, I will be transcribing all 14 of the affidavits
filed by the 12 men who submitted them. One has already been
shared, that of Henry Berbenich. It had been presumed that only
8 men filed affidavits.
The 12 men were Henry Berbenich, Jacob Riis, Robert Gordon
Butler, James Jennings, Charles Brennan, John Lee, Frederick
Barber, Francis Coleman, Charles Salomon, Ovide Robillard,
Albert Leon, and four from George Damon.
Coleman submitted his on April 8th, 1901
Barber submitted his on May 27th, 1901
Berbenich submitted his on May 28th, 1901
Butler submitted his on May 27th, 1901
Riis submitted his on March 8th, 1901
Lee submitted his on what looks like May 31st, 1901
Brennan submitted his on May 9th, 1901
Jennings submitted his 'key-squashing' affidavit on June 10th,
1901
Robillard and Salomon submitted theirs on July 2nd, 1901
Leon's affidavit is undated and missing at least one of its
pages
and Damon submitted his on May 20th, June 12th, July 2nd, and
July 13th ( or 18th), 1901
#Post#: 1986--------------------------------------------------
Re: Adventures In Affidavits
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 10, 2023, 7:15 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Make that 14 affidavits from 12 different men.
I've added the name of Charles Salomon, Ovide Robillard and
Albert Leon to the list above.
Strange that Ali was listed as a European of a Southern type.
DA Philbin included this police report in one of his letters,
the police blotter at Oak Street Station.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/kOe8klM.jpg
Here it is:
HTML https://i.imgur.com/0t1RHst.jpg
#Post#: 4106--------------------------------------------------
Re: Adventures In Affidavits
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: January 31, 2025, 7:03 am
---------------------------------------------------------
We might want to include the affidavit submitted on June 30th to
Clarence Simms, Asst. DA, from Joseph Hargrove.
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/editorial-section/various-letters-1891-1902/msg1939/#msg1939
That would make 15 affidavits from 13 different men:
Coleman submitted his on April 8th, 1901
Barber submitted his on May 27th, 1901
Berbenich submitted his on May 28th, 1901
Butler submitted his on May 27th, 1901
Riis submitted his on March 8th, 1901
Lee submitted his on what looks like May 31st, 1901
Brennan submitted his on May 9th, 1901
Jennings submitted his 'key-squashing' affidavit on June 10th,
1901
Hargrove submitted his on June 30th, 1891
Robillard and Salomon submitted theirs on July 2nd, 1901
Leon's affidavit is undated and missing at least one of its
pages
and Damon submitted his on May 20th, June 12th, July 2nd, and
July 13th ( or 18th), 1901
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1