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#Post#: 4536--------------------------------------------------
Jane McDonald - insane?
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: April 27, 2025, 2:10 pm
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This is another one I don't recall seeing, Howard.
Jane McDonald, of 130 Leonard Street, recognised by several
detectives as one of the primary witnesses against Frenchy?
From The Sun, Sept. 19, 1899
[attachimg=1]
#Post#: 4537--------------------------------------------------
Re: Jane Mcdonald - insane?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: April 27, 2025, 5:47 pm
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Pete:
It's an excellent find. McDonald, unless she went by a
different name in 1891, does not appear in any other
newspapers or official documents, aside from this one, related
to the case.
130 Leonard Street, Manhattan, was then and still is today the
address of Collect Park Pond....an urban pond with a reflecting
pool right behind the Central Court of General Sessions, where
the trial took place, on Centre Street.
The street name, "Stanton" is cut off in the article. Chrystie
Street and Stanton Street intersect just east of The Bowery and
slightly north of Chinatown.
There is a 130 Leonard Street in Brooklyn ( Williamsburg
neighborhood). It is quite a way from the Lower East Side....in
fact, one hell of a long way for an ambulatory middle-aged woman
to go back then. Neither the Williamsburg or Manhattan bridges
were completed until years after this article.
Not sure of what to make of the claim that the detectives
recognized her as one of the witnesses whose evidence
principally contributed to his conviction since she doesn't show
up in the papers...much less testify at the Inquest or trial.
Nevertheless, a very nice find, Pete. Thanks for sharing.
On this link....last map on the page....you'll see Collect Park
Pond at the bottom left-hand side of the page.
HTML https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/sketches-photographs/bromley-1891-maps-of-manhattan/
#Post#: 7124--------------------------------------------------
Re: Jane McDonald - insane?
DIR By: Kattrup
Date: August 8, 2026, 12:42 pm
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I came across this notice of the same woman, Jane McDonald, but
this one mentions her age, 31:
[attachimg=1]
NY Journal and Advertiser Sept. 19 1899
And so a crazy thought: could Jane McDonald be Mary Miniter?
Miniter's middle initial was J., most likely her middle name was
Jane. Perhaps she married after the trial.
Agewise, Miniter was born 1868-69, making her 31 in 1899. And
she was an important witness in the Frenchy trial.
130 Leonard Street - perhaps it was a pond, but there are quite
a few people listed with that address in the NY Directory and
the City Record and there are some mentions of it as an address
in newspapers?
#Post#: 7128--------------------------------------------------
Re: Jane McDonald - insane?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 8, 2026, 5:38 pm
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Pete:
Not a crazy thought one bit. Good find, buddy.
This is the NY Sun article....in this one, it doesn't give a
specific age
and labels her as 'middle-aged'.
New York Sun
September 19, 1899
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Insane on the Subject of the "Frenchy" Trial.
A middle-aged woman was found by the police yesterday afternoon
at Chrystie and Stanton streets
haranguing a crowd and gesticulating wildly. In her rambling
remarks, she constantly referred to the
murder of "Old Shakespeare," for which crime "Frenchy," as he
was known, is now undergoing a life
sentence. She was taken to the Eldridge street police station,
where she described herself as Jane
McDonald of 130 Leonard street. She was recognized by several
detectives as one of the witnesses
against "Frenchy," upon whose evidence principally he is
supposed to have been convicted.
She was committed from the Essex Market court to Bellevue
Hospital as an insane person.
#Post#: 7129--------------------------------------------------
Re: Jane McDonald - insane?
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: August 8, 2026, 6:16 pm
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"and there are some mentions of it as an address in newspapers?"
There sure are, Pete. A couple of the stories were on incidents
you would also see taking place near the hotel.
Her former husband, Michael Lynch, was remarried with a family
in New Jersey by 1899.
Nina and I never found her in an article by the married name
Lynch.
They were not living in connubial bliss for long....he went to
the joint shortly after they married, if you recall.
When she was sent to Blackwell's Island for larceny in 1894, her
name was still Miniter.
If she married a man named McDonald, it was after the
Blackwell's Island stint.
Then again, she may have adopted the name.
Probably aren't going to find a McDonald-Miniter marriage, if
that was why she went by McDonald,
assuming that she was formely Mary Miniter.
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