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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 3993--------------------------------------------------
Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed By
Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: December 30, 2024, 3:50 pm
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An example of the tremendous transcription effort undertaken by
Michael Banks a year or so ago.
This is Eddie Fitzgerald's trial testimony ( PDF at the bottom
).
New York, June 30th, 1891
TRIAL RESUMED.
EDWARD FITZGERALD, a witness being called by the People, being
duly sworn, testified as follows:
#Post#: 4728--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: June 8, 2025, 6:16 am
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Howard, I noticed in the Evening World 13 may 1891, Eddie's
mentioned as living 14 Avenue C.
have you seen that mentioned elsewhere - is it a mistake or did
he live there?
[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 4730--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: June 8, 2025, 7:04 am
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Page 261
New York, June 30th, 1891
TRIAL RESUMED.
EDWARD FITZGERALD, a witness being called by the People, being
duly sworn, testied as
follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION by Mr. Wellman.
Q. Eddie, you are now in the House of Detention, aren’t you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And have you been in the House of Detention since when?
A. Since the 1st of May.
Mr. House: Oh, I can’t hear you, my boy.
The Witness: Since the 1st of May.
Q. Since the 1st of May?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Before you were in the House of Detention, where were you
employed?
A. 14 Catherine Slip ——the East River Hotel.
Q. The East River Hotel?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did you do there, at the East River Hotel?
A. I done all the cleaning around, and attended to the door.
Q. Speak out loud, please. You did all the cleaning around?
A. Yes, sir, I I cleaned up and attended to the door and did a
little behind the bar.
Q. You cleaned up, attended to the door and did a little behind
the bar?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long have you been working there?
A. Between two and
Page 262
three months.
Q. Do you know this man here, the defendant at the bar?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you call him around the hotel? What do you call him?
Mr. House: One moment. That is objected to - what they call him
around the hotel, as being
improper and immaterial.
Q. By what name do you know him?
A. Frenchy.
Q. When did you see him rst - do you know?
A. It was two nights before the murder, one or two nights before
the murder.
Mr. House: Now one moment, if your Honor please, I object to the
killing or the death of this old
woman being characterised as a murder.
The Court: Well, leave out the word “murder.”
By the Court.
Q. One or two nights before the death of this woman,
Shakespeare?
A. Yes, sir.
By Mr. Wellman.
Q. And where did you see him, one or two nights before the death
of Shakespeare?
A. He went up stairs in the hotel with a woman.
Page 263
Q. On what oor?
A. On the top oor.
Q. Was the woman Shakespeare?
A. No, sir; I couldn’t tell you who he went up with rst.
Q. First?
A. The rst night, I didn’t take notice to the woman.
Q. But he went up with some woman?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What time did he go up —— do you know?
A. I couldn’t exactly tell you the time.
Q. Well, did you send him up —— did you give him the key of the
room?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you remember the room he had the rst night?
A. No, sir, I couldn’t tell you what room he had the rst night.
Q. Did you see him go out in the morning?
A. Sam Shine let him out in the morning —— next morning.
Q. And you didn’t see him go out in the morning?
A. No, sir.
Q. Now that was one or two days before the Shakespeare woman was
killed. When did you next
see him, after letting him up that rst night?
A. The Thursday night?
Q. Yes, the Thursday night?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That is the night before the body was found. The body was
found the next morning —— the
dead body.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where did you see him that night?
A. He came in between 12 and 1 o’clock.
Page 264
Q. Did you see him earlier in the evening?
A. No, sir, I did not.
Q. Between 12 and 1?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. He came in where?
A. He rang the bell to go up to bed by himself.
Q. Rang what bell?
A. The electric bell on the door of the Water Street side.
Q. The Water Street side?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And did you go to the door?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where was Mary Miniter?
A. Mary Miniter had gone to bed before 12.
Q. And is it your duty to attend to the bell?
A. That night it was
#Post#: 4731--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: June 8, 2025, 7:08 am
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Pete:
I must have stored the post just before this one on the thread
and activated it somehow.
Yes, I've seen that reference to Avenue C before.
As we know, he stated that he lived at the Hotel at the
Coroner's Inquest.
He also appears in the City Directory, living at the hotel's 14
Catherine Slip address, in 1894.
He died in 1896.
#Post#: 4733--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: June 8, 2025, 7:21 am
---------------------------------------------------------
His unmarried sisters lived at 9th Avenue and Avenue B
His married sister lived at 143 Cherry Street....1/10th of a
mile from the hotel.
#Post#: 4734--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: June 8, 2025, 7:41 am
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Pete:
The address mentioned in the NY Evening World article from May
13, 1891, still stands. Strangely, the NYEW claimed he lived
there,
when on that very same day while he was on the witness stand, he
clearly said he lived at the Hotel. In fact, it was the very
first
question that Wellman asked him.
Avenue C is now known as Loisaida Avenue. 'Loisaida' is what
Spanish speakers of the Lower East Side call the Lower East
Side.
Pronounced, 'Low-ees-eye-da'. Comprende, amigo? ;D
HTML https://i.imgur.com/iAz9cxk.png
#Post#: 6600--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: February 27, 2026, 3:58 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Here's a snippet I never noticed before: Eddie was epileptic.
We know he died very young, so epilepsy could be a symptom of
whatever disease killed him.
From The Sun, April 26 1891
[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 6601--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: February 27, 2026, 4:03 pm
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Pete:
We've had a reference to his epilepsy since 2022:
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/general-discussion/the-murder-during-after/msg762/#msg762
You might be right about the disease leading to his early death.
#Post#: 6605--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: March 1, 2026, 3:29 am
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Thanks, I just hadn’t noticed, and it wasn’t mentioned in the
A-Z. I was just surprised at the mention that he had a fit right
after, seems noteworthy, I think.
In the same article, there’s mention of a Rickets, clerk at
Bellevue, who saw the body in the morgue. I tried looking him up
but difficult to find anything since Rickets is also a medical
term.
What do you think of the story? Canard or factual?
#Post#: 6607--------------------------------------------------
Re: Eddie Fitzgerald Trial Testimony June 30, 1891- Transcribed
By Michael Banks
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: March 1, 2026, 5:29 am
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What do you think of the story? Canard or factual?
About Eddie having epilepsy and the fact that he was now
involved in the case, contributing to his collapse in the
street?
I can believe it. He either had similar spells and told those
who took him to the hospital, or the hospital attendant
diagnosed him as being an epileptic.
I had a classmate back in 1964, when I was in the fifth grade,
who had an epileptic seizure in our school's playground. I
remember how it scared the hell outta all of us.
He was taken here, Pete.....the old House of Relief ( Chambers
Street Hospital, which lasted until 1894)
More information found here:
HTML https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/08/engine-company-no-29-160-chambers-street.html
The former hospital was located on the west side of the city at
160 Chambers Street....1.3 miles from the Hotel.
The Chambers Street Hospital, formally known as the House of
Relief and a branch of New York Hospital, operated
at 160 Chambers Street in Manhattan, treating over 280,000
people from 1875 until it closed in 1894. The building
later served as a firehouse for Engine Company 29 and was
landmarked in 2016, with its history documented
in NYC architectural archives.
[URL=
HTML https://imgbox.com/fDebb4rd][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/96/81/fDebb4rd_t.png[/img][/URL]
P.S. Clerk Rickets appears just once in Newspapers.Coms archive.
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