New-York tribune., 1891-05-01
HAVE THEY THE RIPPER ?
THE POLICE TELL THEIR STORY.
HOLDING THE PRISONER IN SECRET WHILE
LODGING FOR EvIDENCE-BUT 1T MAY
NOT BE THE MAN.

| Of old Carrie Brown was under arrest, and tnat'
| in fact, he had been in custody for nearly a
week. was made at Police Headquarters yester-
| day. He is the man who was Known as
| Frenchy" among the degraded men ana women
| in the Water-st dives, and he was arrested on
Friday evening, less than twrnty-four hours a1ter
| old "Shakespeare" was strangled and shoeldngly
| mutilated In the East River Hotel at Water-st.
| and Catharine Slip. 1t was made known yester
| day that Inspector Byrnes and his assistants
| suspected that the prisoner had committed the
| crime, and that they have been collecting evil
| dence of hts guilt. day by day, ever since his
arrest INSPECTOR Byrnes had not intended 10
| take the public into his confidence yesterday,
| but the secret was permitted to escape by an
official who had been consulted in the case. Even
| then the Inspector refused to talk for publlca-
ton, but he gave to reporters an account OF the
| facts which had been ascertained by The de-
| tectves, and it was plain that he was fully
convinced of the prisoners guilt
"Frenchy" is dark, evil-looking Algerian,
| thirty-fve years old His right name may not be
| known to The police but he has been called George
! Frank, or Francois. and also Frank Sherlick, or
| ShefIcka. He was first seen in this city ABOUT
| eighteen months ago. and he earned precarlous
| living by working on fruit boats along the EasI
| River piers In the Water-st. dens. where he
| soon came to be regarded as a dangerous ruffan.
| His intelligence Of a low order and his
temper was like that of wolf. He was arrested
once for biting Mary Ann Lopez. one of those
women, on the arm Several times he was turned
out of the dens and lodging houses for assaulting
or trying to rob the women.
Carrie Brown or Shakespeare" was one OF
his associates and was in his company at the East
River Hotel on the afternoon and night Of Wednes-
day, April 22. She was seen talking with him
again on the following day. Late on Thursday
night the woman went to the East River Hotel
with stranger, who said to Mary Miniter, the
assistant housekeeper, that his name was c. Nicola.
The couple were sent TO Room No. 81, on the top
floor At a later hour Trenchy" went to the
:" hotel" alone and was permitted to occupy Room
No. 33, which is the same floor and diago-
nay across She hall from Room No. 81. Edward
Fitzgerald, one of the barkeepers, let him have
the room for twenty-five cents. Later in the
night Fitzgerald was scolded by jennings the pro-
prietor of the place, for admitting the man. who
had made trouble there before, but as "Frenchy"
was supposed to be asleep by that time he was
not disturbed.
On the following morning, when the mutilated
corpse of old Carrie Brown was found in Room
No. 81, suspicion at first directed to the
stranger who had accompanied her TO the room
and had disappeared in the night In trying to
identify the murdered womans body the de-
tectives learned of her acquaintance with
Frenchy" and they searched for him. Ftz-
gerald said that Frenchy' left the East River
Hotel at a. m., three hours before the murder
was discovered Tie snea7ed out, Fitzgerald
said and turned his face from him when they
met In the lower hall.
When the Algerian was arrested in the evening
I'LL
although he had talked well enough previously
to persons who understood no other language
Interpreters questioned him in Greek and French
with no better result. He was finally surprised
into talking, and he at first denied that he had
been in the East River Hotel on Thursday night.
Confronted by Fitzgerald, the prisoner admitted
what he had just denied Women who had seen
him with old Shakespeare in the Water-st.
dens, identified him at the Oakst. police station,
but he declared that he did not know them. He
even refused to recognize Mary Ann Lopez, into
whose arm he had sunk his teeth.
The prisoner was searched and blood was
found on his clothing and body. lie had washed
his hands, but more blood was found
under his finger nails. Going to Room
No. 33 in the East River Hotel, the detectives
found more evidence. There were traces of blood
just outside the door of the room and on the floor
of the hail. making. trail from the room in
which the murder had been committed. On
the outside of the door of Room No. 33 were
the marks of bloody fingers There were more
such marks on the other side of the door and on
the partition Of the ROOM The seat of the chair
on which the prisoner sat was bloody too. SO
were the mattress and blankets of the bed on
which he had lain The detectives cut away
pieces of wood and cloth on which the bloodstains
were found aud took them, with the prisoners
clothing and the dried blood which had been
scraped from his finger nails to Dr. Cyrus Edison,
of the Health Department. who made micro
scopc examination and reported that the blood
was human blood.
"Frenchy" was asked to account for the blood
on his clothing and he told story which caused
the detectives to take him to Long Island City
and to Jamaica on Tuesday. His story was proved
to be false but his captors learned that he had
been confined in the Queens County Jail for
vagrancy several weeks, and had been released on
April 49,
Inspector Byrnes, Captains Mclaughlin and
O'Connor and the other officers engaged in the
Investigation. believed then that Frenchy was
the real murderer but they sought for the stranger
who took Carrie Brown to Room No. 81 on Thurs
day night. because his testimony would help to eN-
plain the crime. They searching for him yet.
and hope to find him some time. 1t is believed
that he left the room soon after he took the
woman there, and that Frenchy' afterward
entered the room and killed her.
The murderer carried away the key OF Room No.
81 and probably threw it into the river. 1t has
not been found The knife with which the corpse
of Carrie Brown was mutilated Is such as might
have been stolen from fruit-stand. Its owner
ship has not been traced. Inspector Byrnes said
F., Yesterday that no part Of the womans body had
been carried away by the murderer In fact. the
mutiation is regarded partly a work of revenge.
| The crime was not committed by Jack the
Ripper, the human butcher of Whitechapel, il is
declared and if the murderer initiated the work
Of that mysterious criminal for any other reason
| than personal hatred of his victim, he probably
| .l.ou,b, tba hutcherv might diverf susnioion