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#Post#: 2128--------------------------------------------------
July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: September 11, 2023, 6:20 am
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#Post#: 3620--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: November 7, 2024, 4:35 pm
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On July 10th, Fred House presented the Judge with the defense's
request for a new trial at Ali's sentencing before the appeal in
the first post.
New York Evening World
July 10th, 1891
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#Post#: 7184--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 23, 2026, 6:37 am
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In each of the articles that Pete Damgaard found regarding the
Ali confession ( Providence News & Philadelphia Record), the
following excerpt attributed to prosecutor Francis L. Wellman
seems to be at odds with the facts. Both of the articles Pete
found are here:
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/sultan's-story/msg4989/#msg4989
"I have known for years Frenchy was reported to have confessed
the crime," said Francis L. Wellman, who as assistant district
attorney, had actual charge of the prosecution. "The fact that
his counsel did not appeal for a new trial was sufficient proof
that in getting a verdict of murder in the second degree the
counsel thought Frenchy was making a lucky escape."
#Post#: 7185--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: August 23, 2026, 8:10 am
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What actually happened to the appeal? It seems it was denied, or
his lawyers advised him to withdraw the appeal.
But I don´t recall seeing a formal reply or a notice in the
papers? Shouldn´t the NY Supreme Court issue some sort of
judgment or decision about the appeal?
#Post#: 7186--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 23, 2026, 8:56 am
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Pete:
Thanks for bringing this up.
This is what I get when I asked the following question to Gemini
AI...to save us from some digging:
What ever became of the July 10, 1891 appeal on behalf of George
Frank to the New York Supreme Court?
The initial appeal filings on behalf of George Frank (the alias
used by Ameer Ben Ali, "Frenchy") following his sentencing on
July 10, 1891, were never perfected or heard by the higher
courts, and the appeal was ultimately abandoned.
Key Context & Outcome
Lack of Perfection: While defense counsel Frederick B. House
gave initial notice and prepared motions for appeal/retrial
immediately after the conviction in July 1891, the defense
lacked the necessary financial resources to print and prepare
the voluminous trial transcript required to perfect the appeal
before the General Term of the New York Supreme Court.
Refusal of Retrial & Inaction: Subsequent attempts to secure a
judicial order for a new trial through the courts failed to
advance, as the prosecution maintained that the circumstantial
verdict was final and the defense did not pursue the statutory
appeal process to completion.
Ultimate Resolution via Clemency: Because the judicial appellate
route lapsed, relief was sought exclusively through executive
clemency. After Frenchy spent nearly 11 years incarcerated (at
Sing Sing, Matteawan, and Dannemora), the French diplomatic
mission and attorney Frederic R. Coudert presented newly
discovered exculpatory evidence directly to Governor Benjamin B.
Odell Jr., who officially pardoned and released him in April
1902.
---------------------------------------------
Pete....if you'll recall, the cost to print out a copy of the
trial transcript for the use of those appealing his sentence ran
into the hundreds of dollars.
The figure of 1,100 dollars comes to mind. I'll go check to make
sure.
#Post#: 7187--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 23, 2026, 9:05 am
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How much would it have cost to make a copy of the trial
transcript?
In New York State in 1891, the legal rate for an official court
stenographer to transcribe trial notes was 10 cents per folio (a
folio being defined as 100 words).
For a complete, multi-day, full-length murder trial transcript,
this typically added up to a significant sum:
Estimated Page/Word Count: A standard, full trial record running
over several days could easily stretch between 500 to 1,500
written pages** (roughly 1,200 to 3,500 folios).
Total Estimated Cost: The transcript for a full trial usually
ran between $120 and $350 (equivalent to roughly $4,000 to
$12,000 today).
Because Ameer Ben Ali ("Frenchy") was destitute, his defense
counsel could not raise the funds required to purchase the
formal stenographic minutes from the court reporter. Under the
New York Code of Civil Procedure at the time, court
stenographers were not required to provide a transcript free of
charge for an appeal unless specifically ordered as a public
expense or funded by defense counsel. His inability to pay for
these transcript pages was one of the primary reasons a formal
appeal could not be perfected, leading his supporters to pursue
executive clemency and pardon petitions instead.
**The Trial transcript is a little over 1,100 pages.
I can't remember where I saw the cost to reprint in the
newspapers ( a New York paper) at the moment...sorry!
#Post#: 7188--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: August 23, 2026, 9:14 am
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Sounds very reasonable, thanks. Just wondering how AI knows
this, is it perhaps in Dekle´s book?
I do not recall seeing a single article describing anything
about it. Perhaps you should ask about its sources
Btw. have you noticed arguments from here being used in the book
New York´s Coldest Cases, published in April 2026 :)
[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 7189--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 23, 2026, 9:15 am
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Pete:
I found what I was looking for:
The trial transcript.
Stenographer's bill: $ 250
Printing: $ 500
2,100 pages of typewritten testimony
650, 000 words
Total cost: $ 750
In 2024 dollars: $ 26,016.62
Thread below is where I remembered the amount from. I was off a
bit on the cost to transcribe....and the number
of pages, unless they duplicated the number of currently
available pages ( approx. 1,100 ) for some reason. That's a hell
of a lot of pages ( 2,100).
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/the-costs-trial-transcription-fees/msg3841/#msg3841
#Post#: 7190--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 23, 2026, 9:22 am
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Pete:
Yes, I know about Bushman's book and the statements he included
in it.
This is what I get back from another question:
There is no contemporary 1891 newspaper article that quotes a
specific dollar figure of $150 to $300 for the transcript alone.
Period reporting regarding Ameer Ben Ali's financial barriers to
appeal were published in mid-July 1891 following his sentencing:
What Newspapers Reported: New York press outlets—including the
New York Herald, The New York Times, and the New York
Sun—reported that "Frenchy" was entirely without funds to pursue
an appeal. The press noted that perfected appeals required
purchasing official court stenographer's minutes and paying to
print the official record, estimating that the total financial
hurdle for an appeal ranged broadly from several hundred dollars
to $500.
Statutory Rates: The specific 10-cent-per-folio rate (10 cents
per 100 words) comes directly from Section 3311 of the
contemporary New York Code of Civil Procedure, which set fixed
legal fees for court stenographers at the time.
The $150 to $300 breakdown is a modern historical calculation
based on applying that statutory 10-cent rate to the roughly
1,500 to 3,000 folios generated during Ben Ali's five-day trial,
rather than a direct quote printed in a 1891 news article.
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Nevertheless, Pete, I am sure that I read a paper with the
monetary figure being mentioned. I'll give it a look.
#Post#: 7194--------------------------------------------------
Re: July 10, 1891 Appeal To New York State Supreme Court
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: August 23, 2026, 10:35 am
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--- Quote from: Howard Brown link ---
>
> What Newspapers Reported: New York press outlets—including the
New York Herald, The New York Times, and the New York
Sun—reported that "Frenchy" was entirely without funds to pursue
an appeal.
--- End Quote ---
I can´t seem to find any of those at the moment. They would
date from July 10 at the earliest. Looking but so far no luck -
I can only find a few articles mentioning en passant that an
appeal has been prepared or filed.
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