On April 23, 1891, Carrie Brown, a 60-year-old prostitute known as “Old Shakespeare” because of her penchant for quoting the Bard after a few drinks, took a customer to the East River Hotel.
The next morning, her body was found on the bed in room 31 of the hotel, on Catherine and Water Streets. She had been strangled and disemboweled.
Her brutal murder riveted New Yorkers, and newspapers instantly raised the possibility that she could be the first U.S. victim of Jack the Ripper, who was killing prostitutes across the Atlantic in London around the same time.
Because of the fear Jack the Ripper whipped up in the city, New York cops felt a lot of pressure to solve the case.
So they arrested an Algerian, Ameer Ben Ali, who lived in an adjacent room at the East River Hotel.
Though the evidence against Ali was circumstantial, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Eleven years later, after police reformers presented the city with evidence that the cops framed Ali, he was set free.
The real killer, like Jack the Ripper, remains a mystery.
Tags: 19th century New York City, Ameer Ben Ali, East River Hotel, Frenchy, Jack the Ripper, murder of a Bowery prostitute, Old Shakespeare, Police corruption New York City, prostitution in New York City
Ephemeral New York 
February 1, 2010 at 6:31 pm |
[…] mystery surrounding the murder of a 60-year-old prostitute on the Bowery in 1891 remains unsolved. At the time, many believed it to be the work of Jack the Ripper [Ephemeral […]
February 2, 2010 at 12:43 am |
[…] Did Jack the Ripper kill a Bowery prostitute? « Ephemeral New York […]
February 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm |
Um, do those dates tie up with the well-known American ‘Quack’ doctor and Ripper suspect, Francis J. Tumblety?
I’m sure I read he fled to the States somewhere about this time….
February 2, 2010 at 5:50 pm |
Actually yes. He was released on bail in 1888 and fled to the U.S. sometime after:
July 13, 2010 at 5:04 pm |
Actually she may very well have been killed by the “Ripper” I was able to link the murders of earlier Austin, TX and San Antonio, to that of London and this one in NYC. I’ve discovered that the “Ripper” letters and killings were done by Herman Mudgett from Chicago. In April of 1891, he travelled with a College-mate from Chicago to Boston. To do so, One took the Pennsylvania Limited to Jersey, then the Ferry to Manhattan to pick up the train to Boston. This was his last “Ripper” style killing before his multiple killings in Chicago. The college-mate was also dead within the year.
October 30, 2010 at 8:34 pm |
Not bloody likely.
January 2, 2014 at 8:57 pm |
Actually it’s been long suspected that the Ripper was a British aristocrat which is why he was never apprehended. Because no one actually wanted to screw with a member of the so-called aristocracy.
November 6, 2022 at 6:45 am |
If readers are interested in the East River Hotel Murder and would like to see what modern research has uncovered, you’re invited to either join or simply browse our site at:
https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/index.php
Our repository is located at:
https://carriebrown.net/
Hope to see you there.
Howard & Nina Brown
February 2, 2024 at 4:44 pm |
East Side Story: 1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown
by Howard and Nina Brown (2024)
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/east-side-story-howard-and-nina-brown/1144649128?ean=9798855694468
April 6, 2024 at 9:32 pm |
Researcher Nina Brown found a photograph of the East River Hotel, the front of the hotel located at 14 Catherine Slip, from the early 1880s and before the murder of Carrie Brown nearly a decade later.
https://carriebrown.createaforum.com/photograph-of-the-east-river-hotel-found-after-133-years/the-photo/
It is the first time in the 133 years since Carrie Brown’s murder that a photo of the hotel has been identified, seen, and shared publicly.