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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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DIR Return to: 1901-1902
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#Post#: 2346--------------------------------------------------
Beating A Dead Horse
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: November 14, 2023, 12:45 pm
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From my perspective, it's a matter of beating a dead horse. I
have no doubt that the farmhand story is fake and believe it's
possible others knew it in 1901.
One thing that I hadn't posted before is in regard to the
efforts of DA Philbin, per the requests of Governor Odell, to
guarantee that 'Frenchy' and Damon's Danish farmhand were
different people.
All of it came about as a result of a Dannemora convict, in the
institution at the same time as Ali, having sent Odell a letter
claiming Frenchy was Damon's farmhand. It was basically a con
job, but mysteriously, the convict knew more than a little about
Damon's story than the average prisoner.
Anyway, on July 1st 1901, Damon, Robert Butler, and Ovide
Robillard went to the police headquarters on Mulberry Street to
see if a photo of Ali was available. One wasn't, but a policeman
who was involved in the investigation ten years earlier provided
Damon with a description of Ali from memory.
Philbin sent Odell this update to the two previous affidavits (
one in May and one in June) shortly afterward.
Odell was on the ball as far as trying to guarantee the
convict's claim was false. It would have been a black mark on
his career had he let the wrong man out of prison.
He would go on to send two photographs to Philbin to show Damon
which were of Ali while in Matteawan. Damon stated in his fourth
and final affidavit that Ali wasn't Frank and that he was sure
of it. He knew this in advance based on events at his home
shortly after the murder.
Then....Robert Butler sent a letter and a clipping from the
newspaper he was once a reporter for dated May 1, 1891, to
Governor Odell. Butler's letter was dated July 2nd.
This clipping clearly shows C. Kniclo, erroneously listed as
'the prisoner' ( standard procedure for the newspapers), with a
heavy mustache.
Here's the problem I've been driving at:
1. When Damon went to Mulberry Street on July 1st, he must have
been shown the clipping that Butler would send to Odell the very
next day.
Damon went to the notary on July 2nd to file his third
affidavit and was very likely accompanied by Robillard and
Butler.
Of the three people present, Butler HAD to know that the
writing under the sketch in the NY Sun was a typo and should
have read, "what the SUSPECT looks like".
It is almost a certainty that Butler would have explained
that to Damon....and possibly in the presence of Robillard
The article may have even been written by Butler since he
was a reporter for the NY Sun at that time.
2. Damon didn't just say the farmhand had no mustache.....he
swore to it. This is inescapable.
3. The situation we have now is finding Robert Butler fully
aware that the sketch of the suspect ( C. Kniclo) bore a heavy
mustache
But Damon swore to something else altogether
different....that his farmhand had no mustache.
4. Therefore, Butler was aware that the description did not
resemble the description given by Damon and more than likely in
his presence on July 2nd when Damon filed his third affidavit.
Yet, this obvious flaw in Damon's story was not picked up on
either by DA Philbin or Governor Odell.
Odell was sent the clipping that appears in this post. How
could he have overlooked the blatantly obvious discrepancies
between C. Kniclo's description and Damon's farmhand?
Clipping and letter from Butler found in the file labeled
NYSA_A0597-78_B45_F18 I made the underline on the Butler
letter. The Sun article was in that condition when I received
it.
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HTML https://i.imgur.com/6SqEfhv.jpg
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