Maggie Crowley.

Maggie Crowley.
(New York Journal, March 16, 1898.)

On March 15, 1898, a woman was found strangled to death in the courtyard of a New York City tenement.  She was the seventh strangulation victim in the Tenderloin district over the previous four years. What made this case different was that even before the victim was identified, the police had a suspect in custody. Some believed he was responsible for all seven murders.

Shortly before 5:00 a.m. Robert Hoey told Policeman Peter Dillman that there was a dead woman in the courtyard at 27 Monroe Street, where he lived. Hoey said he was returning from his job on the docks, unloading the steamer, Gulf Stream. Coming home in the dark and literally stumbled over an obstruction that turned out to be a woman lying on the ground. He thought she was sleeping and tried to rouse her, but his efforts were in vain.

The woman was about 35 years old, with a light complexion, light-brown hair, and blue eyes. She wore a blue-and-white striped shirtwaist, a grey-and-black striped skirt, a gingham apron, black stockings, and buttoned shoes. She lay on her side, with a handkerchief and a dark shawl folded as a pillow.

Dillman called for an ambulance from Gouverneur Hospital. After a quick examination, the ambulance doctor said she had died from natural causes. The ambulance took the body to the Seventh Precinct police station, where Deputy Coroner Williams performed an autopsy. Contrary to the ambulance doctor's claim, he declared her death was due to violence. Dark marks on her neck had been made by the grasp of a strong hand. Her death was caused by strangulation, and, in Williams’s opinion, she had been dead about three days.

Detectives investigating the case soon discovered that Hoey had lied. He had not been working on the pier that night; according to the timekeeper, he had not worked for ten days. They brought Hoey in for questioning, and he told a different story. He said he had been drinking in the Tekulsky Brother’s saloon at 33 Monroe Street with Charles Weston, a professional mandolin player, and Thomas Cosgrove, a wagon driver. They decided to go to Hoey’s flat, and they found John Brown, half-dressed, standing over a woman’s body. Hoey went to get a lamp to get a better look, and when he came back, Brown was gone. 

No one was able to identify the dead woman. None of the men arrested knew her, and a bartender from Tekulsky Brothers didn’t think she was from the neighborhood. Some of the police officers had seen her around, but they did not know her name. Ellen Bradford, an employee of Bellevue Hospital, thought she was Ellen Fitzgerald, who had been discharged from the House of Correction on February 23. But the police soon learned that Ellen Fitzgerald was sixty-four years old, and the victim was no more than thirty-five.

(New York Journal, March 16, 1898.)

The courtyard at 27 Monroe, known locally as “The Hole in the Wall,” was frequently the site of brawls. James Swadle, who lives on the second floor of 27 Monroe Street, was awakened by loud cries at around 2:40 A.M. on Monday, March 15. He went outside with a lantern and saw Hoey, who told him there was a dead woman in the yard. Swaddle ran out into the street shouting, "Police!" while Hoey awakened Mrs. Downing, the housekeeper at 27 Monroe. She refused to come to the courtyard, saying she could not attend to every fight. 

Mrs. Downing later told the police that she heard a woman crying for water at 2:00.  She saw Hoey and two other men leave the house shortly before the alarm was given. The police thought that the death was the result of a row during a drunken quarrel. The murder was not committed in the courtyard; the body had been dragged there. The coroner's assessment that she had died three days earlier was ignored.

Under further examination by Inspector Cross and Captain Nally, Hoey stated that he had been picking Brown’s pocket while Brown was strangling the woman. That was why he lied about coming home from work. He said he did not know at the time that Brown was choking the woman; he thought he was there for some other purpose. 

On March 17, a barber told the police that John Brown had been in his shop the morning after the murder and had him shave off his mustache. He said he knew Brown well, and he replayed their conversation to the police:

“I’m in a lot of trouble,” Brown said. “I’ve just strangled a woman and got bilked out of $4. I need money badly, and I want you to lend me $10.”

“You don’t mean to say you killed the woman?” asked the barber.

“I guess I have,” replied Brown. “I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean even to hurt her, but I had to.”

Mrs. Lynch, who lives on the floor above Hoey’s, said on the night of the murder, she heard fighting in Hoey’s rooms; she heard a woman cry, “Mamie, get me some water!” Then a man’s voice said, “For God’s sake, give her some water!” Doors slammed, and there was a great noise of quarreling. 

(New York Journal, March 16, 1898.)

As the questioning continued, the story kept changing. Now they said that, at 2 a.m., Monday morning, Cosgrove and Weston had purchased a bottle of whiskey. They met Hoey, who suggested they go to his flat and drink it. They agreed, and the three of them went to 27 Monroe. That is when they met Brown standing over the body.

“What are you doing here?” Hoey asked.

“What do you think?” replied Brown, and he began to run. Hoey grabbed him, and they started fighting. When Cosgrove and Weston joined in, Hoey took the opportunity to rob brown of $4 and some change. Brown said he would fight to the end if he didn’t get his money back.  Weston became the peacemaker and decided that, since Brown was the intruder, Hoey should keep the bills and return the change. Seeing he was outnumbered, Brown agreed, and after taking a drink, he left quietly. That is when Hoey discovered that the woman was dead and called for help. In addition to the three already in custody, the police arrested James Dee. He had not been with them for the fight, but he overheard the others talking about robbing the man. The witnesses' testimony led to the arrest of John Brown.

They also arrested Charles Weston’s wife, May Fernandez, alias Mamie Largo. She was of Spanish descent, and “was said to be one of the most depraved women in that part of the city.” She puffed on a cigarette as she told police her story:

I know the sailor. I met him early Sunday evening and we had a talk. Then I saw him again in company with the woman who is now dead. I know her well, but I cannot tell her name. She used to hang around this part of the city. Brown and the woman were having some words. They wanted to come into my hallway, but I told them not to, and they went away.

The police arrested Robert Hoey’s common-law wife, Mary, whose real name was Mary Reilly. She said Brown had been in their rooms with the murdered woman. The police believed that the strangling took place in Hoey’s second-floor apartment, and the body was dragged to the courtyard. Brown was charged with murder, Hoey was charged with robbery, and the other five were held as witnesses.

The New York World described the accused killer:

The man who is arrested, charged with the crime, gives the name of John Brown and says he is thirty-eight years old, and a native of Holland. He is a sailor, short and stocky, with broad shoulders and a skin browned by the sun of many climates. His hands—the weapons with which, it is alleged, he killed the woman are very large. His expression is sullen. He is a man who knows enough to keep his own counsel. His small gray eyes are shifty, and altogether he impresses one as a man rather to be met in the light than in the dark.

John "Sailor" Brown.
(New York Journal, March 16, 1898.)

The newspapers were now referring to the accused as “Sailor” Brown; they would soon drop the quotation marks, as if “Sailor” were his given name. The police would not rule out the possibility that Sailor Brown was responsible for many other unsolved Tenderloin strangulation cases, citing those of Hannah Altman and “Diamond Flossie” Murphy. Most of these murders involved ropes or cloths tied in knots familiar to sailors. Many witnesses said the Strangler had a dark complexion, like Sailor Brown's sun-browned face. In her last words to her husband, Flossie Murphy said she was going to meet the Dutchman, and Sailor Brown was Dutch.

Jennie Isaacs, who kept a saloon on Monroe Street, had been to the morgue and recognized the corpse as a woman who had lived in the neighborhood about a year earlier. She did not remember her name. On Sunday night, Isaacs saw her in the saloon with Brown, Weston, and Mamie Fernandez. It was known that Brown had money, and Isaacs was convinced he would be robbed.

The murdered woman was still being referred to as Ellen Fitzgerald, though the age discrepancy made the identification unlikely. Then, in a manner that the New York Journal said “reads like a French detective story,” Policeman Thomas F. Kealey discovered the victim’s true identity. While on patrol, he saw an older woman wearing a shawl identical in color and design to the one found with the murdered woman.  He also detected a resemblance between the older woman and the victim.

Kealey asked the woman, Mrs. Clarkson, if she had a daughter. Mrs. Clarkson said she did have a daughter, but she hadn’t seen her since Sunday. Kealey took her to the morgue to view the body. When she saw the corpse, Mrs. Clarkson cried without hesitation, "It is my Margaret!" 

Mrs. Clarkeson said that Margaret, known as Maggie, was 34 years old and worked as a housemaid. Nine years earlier, she had married a man named Crowley, who died shortly after. Following her husband’s death, Maggie acquired a taste for strong drink, and it was her custom to go on periodic sprees. Mrs. Clarkson was aware of this weakness, so when her employer informed her of Maggie's absence, she believed her daughter was on a spree and would return in a day or two.

With this valuable information, the police were able to trace Maggie's movements. Jennie Silver, daughter of Maggie's employer, told police that Maggie spoke of visits she made to her friend, Mrs. Bridget Lynch.  On Sunday night, Maggie visited Mrs. Lynch, who lived next door to Hoey. They sent out for several pints of beer. Maggie left and was later seen in the company of Sailor Brown. Mrs. Lynch learned that Maggie had then gone to the rooms of Mr. and Mrs. Hoey.

As it turned out, John Crowley, Maggie Clarkson Crowley’s husband, was not dead. When he read about the body’s identification, he went to the Police Station and told his story:

They all thought I was dead and buried, and I was willing they should think so. But after I read of the horrible way in which my wife was killed, my conscience hurt me and I made up my mind to give her a decent burial some way or other. As badly as she treated me, I could not bear to have her put in the field.

I had nothing to complain about until she got in with a lot of women who were not as they should have been. She began to drink, and all my arguments went for nothing. She wouldn’t listen to me. By and by she began to neglect me and the baby we had. The little one died. Her neglect was responsible for its death.

When Maggie started going with other men, Crowley decided to leave her. He got a job as a cook on a whaling ship. When he returned two years later, he learned that everyone thought he was dead, and he decided not to enlighten them.

Coroner Zucca held an inquest on March 28. Mrs. Hoey had been released, but the other six who had been arrested on suspicion gave testimony. The jury returned a verdict without leaving the box that Margaret Clarkson Crowley “came to her death by strangulation at the hands of a person or persons unknown to them.” Sailor Brown and the four men witnesses were sent back to the Tombs to await the action of the Grand Jury. May Fernandez was sent to the House of Detention for creating a commotion in the Criminal Building by smoking a cigarette.

The Grand Jury hearing on May 10 was a rowdy affair. The New York Herald described the motley crew of witnesses and spectators:

The Bowery girl was there, chewing gum and smoking cigarettes. With her came the Cherry Hill boy, who chewed tobacco and spat at the ceiling. There were old men who for fifty years lived an intermittent life along the riverfront, together with Swedish sailors and Irish boarding house keepers. 

The Grand Jury ordered indictments against John Brown, Robert Hoey, and Thomas Cosgrove for the murder of Maggie Cowley.

The murder trial opened on July 10, 1898, and ended the same day. After hearing the evidence the prosecution presented, Justice Fursman said, “I direct the jury to acquit the prisoner. A case should not be submitted to a jury on mere conjecture and suspicion.” Sailor Brown was acquitted, and indictments against Hoey and Cosgrove were dismissed.

The case was closed, adding Maggie Crowley’s murder to the growing list of unsolved Tenderloin strangulation cases. Once again, a promising suspect for the murders was acquitted for lack of evidence. Sailor Brown was not Jack the Strangler.

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Sources:

“"Sailor" Brown Confessed that he was the Strangler,” New York Evening Journal., March 17, 1898.
“4 Men Arrested,” New York American, March 16, 1898.
“An Unknown Woman Strangled to Death,” The World, March 16, 1898.
“Back Like One from the Dead,” New York Evening Journal., March 21, 1898.
“Dead Woman Identified,” Sun., March 20, 1898.
“Expert Study of "Sailor" Brown,” New York Journal, March 19, 1898.
“Facts in the Strangler Case,” New York Evening Journal, March 16, 1898.
“False Clews to a Strangler's Murder,” New York Journal, March 18, 1898.
“Held for Killing a Girl,” New York Herald, May 11, 1898.
“Identified in French Detective Story Style,” New York Journal and Advertiser, March 20, 1898.
“The Margaret Clarkson Case,” The New York Times, March 29, 1898.
“May be the Strangler,” New York Evening Journal, March 16, 1898.
“Monroe Street Murder,” The New York Times, March 17, 1898.
“Monroe Street Strangling,” New York Herald, March 29, 1898.
“More Clews to Dark Mystery of the Strangler,” New York Journal, March 17, 1898.
“One Link Missing,” New York Journal, March 19, 1898.
“Says He's the Strangler,” The World, March 17, 1898.
“Seven Murder Suspects Held,” New-York Tribune, March 19, 1898.
“Strangled Victim Positively Identified as Maggie Clark.,” New York Evening Journal, March 19, 1898.
“Strangler Mark on Dead Woman's Neck Told of Murder,” New York Evening Journal, March 15, 1898.
“Victim of Strangler,” New York Evening Journal, March 15, 1898.
“Who Killed This Woman,” New York Herald, March 16, 1898.