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Carrie Brown : Murder In The East River Hotel
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#Post#: 4448--------------------------------------------------
What's In A Name?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: April 13, 2025, 8:40 am
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Basically for those who are interested in a certain discussion
on JTRForums about the use of an alias as some sort of indicator
of guilt or nefarious concealment...
Three examples of individuals, all in different roles, who went
by and were referred to by names other than the ones they were
born with
in criminal cases.
1. Mary Ann Lopez: Witness for the prosecution at the trial of
Amer Ben Ali.
A- Used the false name Mary Ann Eigan* in September 1890 at
the time she pressed charges against Amer Ben Ali, who gave the
false
name of Frank Sherlicka, after Ali assaulted Lopez in the East
River Hotel.
B- Lopez attempted to use the surname 'Freel' at the
Coroner's Inquest, May 13-14, 1891. She was overheard boasting
to another person
at the Inquest that she was using a false name. One of the
defense attorneys brought this up when it was her turn to take
the witness stand.
She admitted that she lied and gave her real surname which was
Malone. She said she did so to spare her family any shame should
they read
about the case from their home in Albany. Freel was her mother's
maiden name,
C- She is referred to as Mary Ann Lopez ( she took the name
of a local man named Antonio Lopez with whom she no longer
lived) in every
instance her name appears in print, including the aftermath of
the April 5th, 1891 drowning death of another local woman in the
life, Lizzie Elliott. She used
the name Lopez at the Inquest in that case.
D- She is referred to as Lopez in the official Coroner
Inquest file and the official trial transcript. It is doubtful
that Mary Ann Lopez ever married
and yet she is always referred to, with the one known exception
in September 1890, as Mary Ann Lopez.
* Very hard to ascertain what the exact spelling of that name
is. It was written down by Officer Eugene Meyer at the Oak
Street Station.
2. Samuel Ruskay: Juror at the June 24-July 3rd, 1891 trial of
Amer Ben Ali.
A. EVERY newspaper that listed jurors' names referred to
Ruskay as Rutsky. He went by the false name of Rutsky, dating
back
to 1880 when he and his brother, who also used the false
surname, started a brokerage. He also gave the false name during
the vetting
of jurors beginning on June 24th, 1891.
B- Ruskay is buried at the Jewish Montefiore Cemetery by the
name Ruskay. He began using his true surname in the latter part
of the
1890s.
3. Amer Ben Ali : Charged with the murder of Carrie Brown, June
24-July 3rd, 1891.
A. The police and press eventually learned his true name around
May 10th, 1891, approx. 16-17 days after his arrest and after
being told, by Ali,
that his name was either Frank Sherlicka, George Francois, or
George Frank, the latter being the name of a man Ali had stolen
property from in 1890.
B. As previously mentioned, he went by an alias at the time of
his arrest in September 1890.
C. Despite the District Attorney's Office and Judge Smyth and
everyone else concerned being well aware of Ali's true name, the
official
name of the case is 'The People of the State of New York vs.
George Frank'.
D. Sentenced to prison for life on July 10 as George Frank by
Judge Smyth.
E. His official registration sheet at Sing Sing Prison, July 10,
1891, lists him as George Frank.
F. The commutation order signed by Governor Benjamin Odell in
April 1902, releasing Ali is under the name George Frank, not
his true name.
G. A ship's registry filled out on June 7, 1889 ( the freighter,
the Allianca) features his real name....the ONLY time we find
Ali being referred to
as Ameer Ben Ali from June 1889 up to May 1891, two full years
after his arrival in the United States.
H. The correct spelling of his name was Amer Ben Ali.
Probably the best example of someone being charged and convicted
with murder and who was universally referred to by their chosen
alias was H. H. Holmes, whose true
name was Herman Webster Mudgett, sentenced to death in
Philadelphia, 1896.
#Post#: 4453--------------------------------------------------
Re: What's In A Name?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: April 14, 2025, 8:07 am
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Amendment to the threadstarter:
This is the first time that Ali's name appeared in the papers,
although it was a variation.
My goof.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/WmXLiGt.png
#Post#: 4460--------------------------------------------------
Re: What's In A Name?
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: April 16, 2025, 4:01 am
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Thanks Howard.
I’ve mentioned how little importance the English authorities
gave to people’s names, even when being informed of a criminal’s
correct name, they didn’t bother amending their case files.
We see that here with Ali also. The case against him being
against George Frank, even though they all knew what his real
name was.
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