The Attleboro Sensation.

(Illustrated Police News, April 3, 1886.)

Agnes Anastasia Long moved out of her parents’ home in East Attleboro, Massachusetts, in April 1882. With her many male suiters, she was considered the black sheep of the family. Her father had enough of her bad behavior and, according to the Boston Herald, “refused to permit her to darken the threshold of his humble home.”

She took a job at Streeter Brothers’ Jeweler Store in East Attleboro and roomed with Edith Cole, another Streeter Brothers’ employee, at the lodging house run by Mrs. Brown. They took their meals at a nearby boarding house run by Mrs. E. Arnold. There she met George E. Stowers who was quite attentive to Agnes. They saw each other often, and Agnes became so attracted to Stowers that she seemed unhappy when not in his presence. 

Stowers worked for Handy’s Grocery Store delivering orders to customers. He drove by Mrs. Brown’s house with his horse and wagon nearly every day to see Agnes and he called upon her three or four evenings a week. Those who knew Agnes believed that they were destined to marry, and she told her friends that Stowers had promised marriage.

Edith Cole said Stowers would often call at Mrs. Brown’s. At first, she would join them in the parlor, but when she realized they had a romantic attachment she left the couple to themselves. The door was never locked, and she did not think Stowers ever visited in their chamber. When the weather turned warm, they would stroll outside or go on carriage rides.

Around the Fourth of July, Agnes told Edith she was going away for a day’s pleasure with Stowers but would be home that night. She did not return that night or the night after.

“This conduct,” said Edith, “in addition to other rather unfeminine acts, rather turned me against Agnes, and at the earnest solicitation of my mother I left her about July 17 and took a room by myself in another portion of the town.”

(Illustrated Police News, April 10, 1886.)

Over time, Stowers’s attention to Agnes waned and he became more attentive to Annie E. Godfrey who also took her meals at Mrs. Arnold’s. Annie owned a millinery and dressmaking store in town. Though he did not stop seeing Agnes, he began spending more time with Annie. Agnes noticed the change in Stowers and became quite jealous and did everything she could to win back his affection. She still asserted to her friends that she and Stowers would be married, but by September the romance was all but over.

Around this time, Agnes realized that she was pregnant. She went to see Dr. Batenshill, asking for medicine to relieve her condition. The doctor refused to have anything to do with her and recommended she see a lawyer. The lawyer she hire tried, several times, to persuade Stower to marry her, but he always declined. Then Agnes wanted him to swear out a bastardy warrant against Stower, but it is unclear whether the warrant was ever issued.

Then, that fall, it appeared that Agnes would get her wish. She told her friends that she and Stowers had reconciled and were going to be married. One day in November 1882, Agnes told Mrs. Brown she was going to party that evening. Agnes had been ill and Mrs. Brown replied, “I don’t think you are able to be out. You would look better in bed than at a party.” Nevertheless, Agnes went out that night between 8 and 9 o’clock. Mrs. Brown never saw her again. 

Sometime later, Mrs. Brown received two letters dated from Providence, Rhode Island, purporting to be from Agnes. They said she had moved to Providence and would come back later to settle her bill and pick up her belongings.  She never came. Mrs. Brown thought that Agnes could not write, and firmly believed the letters were written by George Stowers.

Mrs. Brown tried to find Agnes in Providence, with no luck. Agnes’s family took no interest in finding her. The disappearance of Agnes Long was soon forgotten.

On March 16, 1886, nearly three and a half years later, two brothers Thomas and John Odie were rabbit hunting in the woods of Wrentham, Massachusetts, eight or ten miles from Attleboro. They chased a rabbit who ran into a heap of brush. Thomas jumped on it to startle the rabbit and something white rolled out. Thomas picked it up, thinking it was the skull of a dog. 

Suddenly he dropped it and shouted, “It’s a human skull, and there’s a bullet hole in it.”

They notified Deputy Sheriff Coleman, who went with others to the site. There they discovered a braid of dark brown hair and the skeleton of a woman. The skull showed marks of a bullet from a thirty-two-caliber revolver which passed through the right temple and out the left temple. 

For several days, identifying the skeleton seemed hopeless. Josep Petrovski, from Providence, Rhode Island, believed it was his sister Katie, who kept company with a man in North Attleboro, but this could not be confirmed.

Then gradually people began to remember Agnes Long. Mrs. Fannie Briggs, a dressmaker, positively identified a portion of a brown flannel dress found upon the skeleton. It was part of a dress she made for Agnes in October 1882 to be worn at her wedding. Two corset springs found with the body were hooped at the bottom which a prominent physician in town said indicated that the wearer was pregnant. The skull had an upper plate of false teeth which her mother identified. Other pieces of clothing and jewelry were identified as belonging to Agnes.

Some people, including Edith Cole, believed that Agnes had gone into the woods and committed suicide. The police rejected this theory because the body had been covered over with brush after death and the revolver was not found.

(Boston Globe, March 22, 1886.)

A locket found with the body, opened to reveal photographs of two men. The man on the left, smoking a cigar, was identified as Samuel Snell, and he was briefly considered as suspect in Agnes’s murder. Snell told Boston Globe he had known Agnes before she moved out of her parents’ house. They had gone out together, but he cared no more for her than for many others whom he met. He could not identify the other man in the locket.

The prime suspect soon became George E. Stowers. Rebury Manchseter, who managed Gardner’s Stable in Attleboro, said that on November 22, 1882, Stowers hired a buggy and a horse named Sukey, returning at 2:00 AM. The next day Manchester found the cushion covered with blood and blood on the floor of the buggy.

(Boston Globe, March 21, 1886.)

Following the disappearance of Agnes Long, George Stowers married Annie Godfrey. On the evening of March 15, Detectives Pratt and Seaver went to their home in North Attleboro. Stowers received them pleasantly but denied all charges against him.  This is what he told the detectives:

 

I knew Agnes A. Long as well as I did many other girls in the town. I took her to ride once or twice but that was all. I never took her to a party and knew nothing of her condition or whereabouts. I remember paying for a team hired at Gardner’s Stable and being obliged to pay an additional amount for overdriving, but that is all. No blood as far as I know was ever found on the carriage I used…I deny everything tending to show I was implicated in any way with the fall or condition of Miss Long.

The detectives told Stowers they had more questions and would be back the next day. When they went to his house the next morning he was gone, and his wife did not know where he went. Detective Pratt issued the following statement:

George E. Stowers of Attleboro, wanted for the murder of Agnes A. Long. Description: Height, 5 feet 10 inches: weight,170 pounds; light complexion, auburn hair, mustache same, medium height, eyes inflamed, wears gold-bowed spectacles. Had on when last seen dark clothes, round top hat. Has large hands; usually works on farm. Arrest and notify George C. Pratt, or Elijah Capron, state detectives, office district police, Commonwealth building, Boston. 

Rufus R. Wade, Chief

The manhunt began but was somewhat hindered by the fact that neither the town, nor Agnes’s family offered a reward for Stowers’s capture.

On March 17, Stowers visited McGrory’s saloon in Boston’s Northend. He had shaved his mustache and worn less conspicuous glasses. Henry McGrory, a friend of Stowers, said he came in drunk. McGrory took him to his private office and read the last news of the investigation. 

Stowers said, “I did not kill her. I know all the facts in the case, yet I did not do the deed and was not a party to it.”

McGrory claimed he tried to signal one of the patrons to go for a policeman, but it didn’t work. Sowers left soon after in the direction of train station. While in the saloon, Stower wrote a letter to his mother:

Dear Mother: I am going away for a time to avoid being arrested, but I am innocent of the crime with which I am charged. Do not worry about me, as I will come out all right. Your affectionate son, G. E. Stowers.

After his escape, and when it was too late, the Norfolk Grand Jury found an indictment against Stowers for murder. The police were soundly criticized for not arresting him when they had the chance. "I shouldn't think they would have cheek enough to walk up and down the street as they do and look people in the face after letting Stowers get away from them," said one prominent Attleboro citizen.

Three years later, Stowers was positively identified as living with his wife in the State of Maine, in the wilderness near the Canadian border, engaged in lumbering. Back in Attleboro, the police were still accumulating evidence against Stowers, but, apparently, no effort was made to arrest him in Maine.

The chase effectively ended in 1893, when it was stated that George Stowers had gone to Uruguay.

---

Sources: 

“"He Cannot be Guilty",” The Boston Globe, March 19, 1886.
“"I'll Sacrifice my Life",” Boston Herald, March 19, 1886.
“"Save Him",” The Boston Globe, March 17, 1886.
“"Stowers Shall Be Mine",” Boston Herald, March 20, 1886.
“Agnes' Friend,” The Boston Globe, March 17, 1886.
“Agnes Long's Lover,” The Boston Globe, March 16, 1886.
“The Attleborough Sensation,” The Standard-Times, March 16, 1886.
“Captured in a Swamp,” The New York Times, March 23, 1886.
“Eastern Massachusetts,” Springfield Republican, March 16, 1886.
“George E. Stowers, Murderer of Agnes A. Long,” Illustrated Police News, April 10, 1886.
“George Stowers Seen at the North End,” Boston Evening Transcript, March 19, 1886.
“Hidden in a Brush Heap,” New York Herald, March 17, 1886.
“Identified,” Boston Herald, March 15, 1886.
“Legislative Acts/Legal Proceedings,” Boston Evening Journal, February 19, 1889.
“Located at Last,” The evening world, February 8, 1889.
“A North Attleborough Tragedy Recalled,” Boston Evening Transcript, July 28, 1893.
“One or More?,” The Boston Globe, March 16, 1886.
“The Police Want Stowers,” Boston Herald, March 17, 1886.
“The Skeleton Mystery,” The New York Times, March 19, 1886.
“The Strong Room Got Ready,” Boston Herald,, March 16, 1886.
“The Wrentham Mystery,” Boston Evening Journal, March 14, 1886.

Ida and Sophia.

 

Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant.

Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and their contents spread on the floor. She called for Sophia and, getting no response, went into the kitchen, where she found her sister lying dead on the floor, covered with blood. Horrified, Ida ran from the house to seek assistance from the neighbors. At least that was the story she told the police. The following day, Ida Quinlan was arrested for the murder of her sister.

Read the full story here: Did Ida Do It?

Daniel, Teresa, and Phillip.

Daniel Sickles, Teresa Bagioli, Phillip Key

In 1859, Dan Sickles, a congressman from New York (and future Union General), was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington, but his other interests, including his mistresses, often kept him away from home. His lonely young wife, Teresa, found comfort in the arms of Philip Barton Key, D.C. District Attorney and son of poet Francis Scott Key. When Sickles learned of their affair, he armed himself and confronted Key on the street. Blinded by rage, he shot and killed his wife’s lover. Was it premeditated murder or temporary insanity?

Read the full story here: Dan Sickle's Temporary Insanity.

A Father's Demon Deed.

Illustrated Police News, February 8, 1879.

O.P. Hull, a well-to-do farmer, lived with his wife and six children near the village of Wassonville, Iowa. Mr. Hull was a kind father and affectionate husband who was adored by his family. He especially doted on his attractive and popular 19-year-old daughter, Emma. Her comfort and happiness were foremost in his mind. He would leave nothing undone to benefit his daughter, but his attachment to Emma was so strong that her absence from home, for any reason, would worry his mind terribly.

On January 23, 1879, Emma and other members of the family were out attending a “spelling-school.”  Emma’s absence on this night gave her father more than usual anxiety. Mr. Hull was already in bed when they returned. He rose, dressed, and greeted his family. Soon after, they all retired, noticing nothing unusual.

What happened next was best described by the Chicago Daily Tribune:

It appears that, about 1 o’clock, the father arose, procured an ax, went to the bed where his daughter was asleep, and in a moment of temporary insanity, we must conclude, reached over two smaller children, and sent the ax with a terrible blow through the brains of his darling child, splitting her head almost in two from the lower part of the ear across the top of the head, so causing instant death.

He left the room. A younger daughter ran to her mother and said that something was the matter with Emma. The mother went into the bedroom and screamed at the sight of Emma lying in a pool of blood. 

Mr. Hull reentered the room and, realizing the true state of affairs, exclaimed, “Oh, mother.” He raised a revolver to his head, fired the pistol, and fell to the floor a corpse.

“The cause of this unfortunate affair will, perhaps, never be known,” said the Tribune.

---

Sources: 

“A Father's Demon Deed,” Illustrated Police News, February 8, 1879.
“Horrible,” Public ledger., January 25, 1879.
“Horrible Domestic Tragedy,” Chicago Daily Tribune., January 26, 1879.
“Shocking Crime,” New York Herald, January 26, 1879.

Guest Post: 'Once a Happy Bride.'

 Howard and Nina Brown are frequent contributors to Murder by Gaslight, on matters pertaining to the 1891 murder of Carrie Brown, viewed by some as the work of London’s Jack the Ripper. The Browns run the website JTRForums.com, discussing all aspects of Jack the Ripper's murders, and CarrieBrown: Murder In The East River Hotel, a discussion site on the Carrie Brown case. They have written three books on Carrie Brown: East Side Story:1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown, An Illustrated Encyclopedia and A -Z: The1891 Murder Of Carrie Brown In The East River Hotel, and 'Once A Happy Bride' The Tragic Life Of Carrie Brown: From Liverpool To The Lower East Side.

Their latest book, ‘Once a Happy Bride’, available from Amazon, covers aspects of Carrie's life that have been generally glossed over, beginning with her days as a young bride of a successful sea captain, and continuing through her days in New York, when she was never able to shake the ravages of alcohol. Howard and Nina are sharing the foreword of their new book.

'Once A Happy Bride' 

The Tragic Life Of Carrie Brown: From Liverpool To The Lower East Side

FOREWORD

Our book is a compilation of the known facts of Carrie Brown's life and not a rehashing of her murder in Room 31 of the East River Hotel in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, back in April 1891.

Three books have already been published that cover the sensational crime that dominated headlines for ten weeks, from April 24, 1891 to the conclusion of the trial of Amer Ben Ali (aka 'Frenchy') on July 3rd, 1891. A murder which received worldwide attention due to the media hype that asked whether Jack The Ripper had arrived in New York. There were similarities between the murder of Carrie and some of the victims of the Whitechapel Murders that required no hype in order to ask that question.

The newspaper media (actually, the only daily form of media in the Gilded Age) brought up a quote (actually a misquote) attributed to Inspector Thomas Byrnes, the man who would be in charge of the NYPD on this case, in which Byrnes allegedly said that if the Ripper came to New York, he'd be arrested within a matter of hours.

The media then, as now, competed for the scoops and stories that sold newspapers, and the Brown Murder was no different. Carrie had entered the East River Hotel on April 23rd with a man who we today know as C.Kniclo (a name written down by the hotel manager in the guest register the following morning after her body was found) and never left alive. She was strangled and mutilated on a cheap, dirty bed on the top floor of the hotel.

Most of what has been published in the contemporary press, beginning in 1891, is loaded with land mines, with many articles published on the same day that conflicted with each other. For those of us who have studied the case for years, it's business as usual. To the newcomer to 19th-century newspapers, you have our sympathies.

It is a fact that newspapers from the 19th Century are riddled with mistakes, a problem that turned 20th Century and early 21st Century case-related research into a mess.

This begins with the nickname she is universally associated with: "Old Shakespeare", a moniker that was given her on April 25th in both the New York Evening World and the Boston Globe. Newspapers referred to her by that nickname even before they had confirmation of her real name.

Early press reports referred to her as old 'Shakespeare' before eventually referring to her as "Old Shakespeare". We'll take a look at her nicknames a bit later on.

Unfortunately, there is an enormous gulf between the years 1861 up to the time she was murdered in regard to biographical material. Material on Carrie

from nearly all of the 1860s and 1870s will be at a minimum in this book. There won't be any 'filler' or our speculations to make up for the scarcity of material, either. What you'll see is what we've got.

Even before the 1860s and 1870s, quite a bit of important information is unavailable.

While we have no baptismal or birth record for her, she was been said to be from Liverpool. Yet, this may be just a long-held speculation since that's the port city from whence she and her parents left England and possibly not the town in which she was actually born.

Since we have no birth certificate, we don't know with absolute certainty her date of birth. One possible method of determining her age may rest in a Church somewhere, but to date none have been located. We do believe that she was born in either 1834 or 1835 and we'll provide the reasons why.

We've tried to present facts and events from her life that explain how she changed from a 'once happy bride', as the Boston Globe referred to her, and which she had been, to 'worthless' as the July 3rd, New York Evening World labeled her, and which she was most definitely not.

There were a lot of women like Carrie Brown during the late 19th century. Intelligent, ambitious, married with a well-respected breadwinner husband, and socially active. Yet, something, perhaps one event or a series of incidents, altered the course of this woman's life to the extent that in her later years she would go into the hallways of buildings of Fourth Ward to sleep at night if she could not obtain money for a night's stay in a hotel or a client to sleep with.

Unlike other murder victims from the Gaslight Era, such as the victims of the Whitechapel Murderer in London, victims who have plaques, grave markers, and frequent visitors, Carrie is buried in an unmarked grave. One day, perhaps that might be addressed.

In lieu of a marker, we hope this book will provide people with better insight into her life and struggles.

Howard Brown & Nina Brown May 2026

* * * * *

We'd like to thank Jose Oranto and Peter Damgaard for their contributions to this work.

James and Ellen.

James Lattin and Ellen Lucas.
(Daily Graphic, November 20, 1874.)

Ellen Lucas of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was to be married on October 3, 1874. The typically happy 18-year-old was somewhat anxious on the evening of October 2, repeatedly looking at the clock as she hastily ate supper. Ellen changed her clothes and left the house at 7:00, telling her mother that she would not be gone long. Mrs. Lucas watched her daughter walk to the corner where she met her fiancé, James E. Lattin. Ellen never came home that night.

Read the full story here: The Bridgeport Tragedy.

The Tell-Tale Skull.

(Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 1895.)

Johanna Gahan married Jimmy Logue, a professional thief, in 1871, just as he was preparing to serve a seven-year prison sentence for burglary. She waited for him, and after his release, Jimmy bought a house for them in Philadelphia. Within a year, Jimmy was off on a “thieving expedition” to Boston. When he returned, Johanna was gone.

Those who knew Jimmy Logue knew he frequently beat Johanna, and they believed she had taken the opportunity of his absence to run away. Logue searched for her, but he was arrested again for burglary and sent back to prison. Nothing more was thought about Johanna’s disappearance until workmen repairing the kitchen of the Philadelphia house found a woman’s skull under the floorboards.

The skull was identified as Johanna’s by the formation of the teeth and the clothing found with the skull. Jimmy was in trouble again, but this time he had an alibi. 

Read the full story here: "A Romance in Crime."

The Confession of Mary Cole.

The Confession of Mary Cole, 1813.

Cornelius and Mary Cole lived in a farmhouse in Sussex County, New Jersey, with their two children and Mary’s widowed mother, Agnes Teaurs. Cornelius bought the property from Agnes in exchange for an annuity of $50 per year for the rest of her life. Mary and her husband did not live happily with Agnes. According to Mary, her mother was always very hard on her, and she insisted on sleeping in the same bed as Mary and Cornelius, even though they provided her with another bed.

In December 1811, Agnes apparently moved out of the house. Mary told the neighbors that Agnes was offended by something the couple did, so she packed up and moved in with her brother in Bergen County. The following March, Mary and Cornelius left as well, moving in with his family. They rented the farm to another family.

The family that moved into the farmhouse perceived an unusual and unpleasant odor. They believed it was coming from beneath the floor, and in June, they pulled up some floorboards in the kitchen and found the source. It was the dead body of a woman lying in a shallow hole covered with ashes and swingle tow (flax fiber). They raised an alarm, the neighbors collected in the kitchen and were able to identify the body as that of Agnes Teaurs.

Her skull had been fractured by a severe blow from an axe or a hammer, and her throat was cut from one ear to the other. A coroner’s jury found that her death had been “willful murder, committed by Cole and his wife.” A warrant was issued to apprehend Cornelius and Mary. They were apprehended in their home in Bergen County and taken before Judge Pennington in Newark, New Jersey, who committed them to jail.

Before their trial, Mary confessed. She said that on December 15, they had guests who remained until almost midnight. After they left, Cornelius went to bed. Mary and her mother had a dispute in the room where Cornelius was sleeping. According to Mary, as the quarrel escalated, Agnes threatened her with a knife. Mary grabbed an axe and struck her mother on the head, knocking her down and fracturing her skull. Then Mary took a jackknife and cut her mother’s throat. She awakened Cornelius and told him what she had done.

The next morning, he dug a hole under the floorboards, put the body in the hole, covered it with ashes and tow, then replaced the boards. They told the story that Agnes had moved out, and they were believed until the body was found.

The Coles were tried for murder in the Court of Oyer and Terminer in Sussex County. Mary was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. Cornelius was acquitted of murdering Agnes, but found guilty of concealing her murder. He was fined $250 and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the State Prison. Mary’s attorney tried to lessen the crime to manslaughter, but all who heard the trial were satisfied with the verdict.

Mary Cole was hanged in Newton, New Jersey, on June 26, 1812. Her last words were:

It is a hard thing for me to die, but I must. I do not deserve to die; my mother came at me with a knife to kill me, and I was so afraid and mad that I did not know what I did. I hope all will take warning by me, and not let their passion get the better of their judgment.

---

Sources: 

Cole, Mary, The Confession of Mary Cole (New York: Printed for the purchasers, 1813.)

 “[At a Court of Oyer and Terminer],” Sentinel of Freedom, June 2, 1812.
“[On Friday, 26 ult.],” Sentinel of Freedom, July 14, 1812.
“Legislative Acts/Legal Proceedings,” Long-Island Star, July 15, 1812.
“Newton, Sussex-County, June 2,” Trenton Federalist, June 8, 1812.

Jennie Cramer's Tragic Ballad.

(New Haven Independent)

Taylor Ward sings "Found Drifting with the Tide" (excerpt), the tragic ballad of Jennie Cramer's murder.

“Found Drifting with the Tide” was a song written by A. C. Willis, "Dedicated to the memory of Jennie Cramer," who was murdered in 1881.

When the body of beautiful young Jennie Cramer was found on a sandbar in the ocean off West Haven, Connecticut, in August 1881, it was assumed that she had drowned and possibly committed suicide. But there was no water in her lungs, and a thorough examination of the body revealed that the cause of death had been arsenic poisoning. It was also revealed that she had lost her virginity within the last forty-eight hours, and not consensually—she had been violently raped. Suspicion fell immediately on Jimmy Malley, Jennie’s current beau and nephew of the richest man in New Haven. The problem for the prosecution, and everyone since, was determining what exactly happened in the last two days of Jennie Cramer’s life.

Read the full story here: Found Drifting with the Tide.

Charles and Lizzie.

 

Charles Kaiser conspired with Lizzie DeKalb to murder his wife for insurance. When the plot was uncovered and the murderers tried, both claimed that they acted under the hypnotic power of James Clemmer, the insurance agent who conceived the plan.

Read the full story here: The Kaiser Conspiracy.

A Delilah's Revenge.

 

In 1863, Theodore B. Weber, then a businessman in Burlington, Iowa, was attracted to Mrs. Adelaide (Ada) Bennert, a woman sixteen years his junior. His passion “soon ripened into criminal intimacy,” and although both were married, they began a romantic affair. When Mr. Bennert learned of his wife’s infidelity, he left her in disgust. Weber moved to Chicago to join his brother’s boot-and-shoe wholesale business. Ada followed him to Chicago, and the affair continued.

Hannah and Stephen.

 

Stephen Pettus gave Hannah Southworth a glass of drugged champagne and had his way with her while she was unconscious. Hannah became pregnant and for years after, she badgered Pettus to acknowledge that he had ruined her. When all legal means were exhausted, she avenged her honor by shooting him in the back on a Brooklyn street.

Read the full story here: Avenging Her Honor.

The Conspirators and their Hitman.

In 1830, Joseph Knapp conspired with his brother, John Francis Knapp, to hire a local criminal, Richard Crowninshield, to murder their great uncle, Captain Joseph White, in Salem, Massachusetts. They believed that if the captain died without a will, they stood to inherit a sizable fortune.

Read the full story here: "A Most Extraordinary Case"

Jack the Strangler Post-Mortem.

Strangler Suspect, Jacob Tolker
(New York Journal, May 14, 1897)

Eight women were strangled—seven fatally— on Manhattan’s East Side, between May 1894 and August 1900. While the police closed three of the cases, their solutions were so weak that the New York City newspapers continued to list them all as unsolved and continued to speculate that one man committed all eight crimes. “It is not difficult to construct a hypothetical 'Jack the Strangler' who prowls up and down Second Avenue and from time to time surrenders himself to his cruel, cowardly mania.” Said the New York Journal. Was there a mad strangler at loose on Second Avenue, or was “Jack the Strangler” the product of sensational journalism?

Kate Scharn.

Kate Scharn.
(New York American, August 20, 1900.)

It had been more than two years since a murder was reported in New York City’s East Side, but on August 20, 1900, the pattern was all too familiar. A young woman was found murdered in her room after 1:00 a.m. No one heard a sound. Her jewelry was stolen. A variety of men were suspected, but with very little evidence against any of them. Kate Scharn was the latest victim of “Jack the Strangler.”

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 area 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, he 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.

"Diamond Flossie" Murphy.

"Diamond Flossie" Murphy.
(New York Journal, March 18, 1898.)

Flossie Murphy was a flamboyant character, notorious in the demi-monde of New York City’s Tenderloin. She had a fondness for diamond jewelry, which she wore conspicuously, earning her the nickname, “Diamond Flossie.” With her striking public display of diamonds and gold, Diamond Flossie was an obvious target for the many jewel thieves operating in the area. But when she was found on the floor of her room on April 22, 1897, with a rope tied around her neck and all her jewelry gone, the coroner ignored evidence of theft and murder and ruled her death a suicide.

Diamond Flossie was born Flossie Reilly in Albany, New York, and had come to New York City six years earlier. She lived at 228 W. 24th Street with her common-law husband, Alexander Frederick Murphy, taking his last name. The police knew Diamond Flossie as a woman of the street and a thief. She was arrested in March with her friend Ida Carr for picking the pocket of one William Bishop. When caught, they returned the money, $80, and Bishop withdrew the charge.

She was addicted to opium, and, on the night of her death, Mr. Murphy prepared a pipe for her before going out. The last thing she said before he left was that she was planning to meet the Dutchman at the corner of 27th Street and 7th Avenue.

Hannah Altman.

(New York Evening Journal, March 18, 1898)

Around 1 a.m. on September 2, 1896, Samuel Meyers ran out of the tenement at 202 East 29^th Street, screaming, “Murder! Murder! Police! Police!”

Patrolman Tyler heard his cries and ran to the spot.

“My wife is murdered!” said Meyers, “Somebody has killed my wife. She’s dead.”

Tyler and another officer followed Meyers to a second-floor apartment. The first policeman who entered the bedroom recoiled in horror. In flickering candlelight, he saw the distorted features of a young woman, wearing only a yellow shirtwaist and a chemise, with her head hanging over the edge of the bed. A black stocking was wrapped tightly around her neck and tied under her chin.

Annie Bock.

(New York Journal, August 5, 1896)

Annie Bock and her husband, Jacob, were spending the summer at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. On Sunday, August 1, 1896, Annie went back to their flat at 207 E. 21st Street in Manhattan’s East Side to pay their monthly rent. She had $300 in the Dry Dock Savings Bank, and on Monday morning, she withdrew $50 and paid $20 rent. Her plan was to return to Rockaway that afternoon, but instead, she went to Coney Island, possibly accompanied by a man. “At 9:00 she was on 14th Street,” said the New York Journal, “the pavements of which she knew well.”  

Her movements were observed by others who knew the pavements well. Rosa Schwartz saw Annie stop and converse with a man, 5’ 6”, slender, graying hair, wearing a black frock coat and a straw hat. They walked to 3rd Avenue and took a cable car uptown. Hattie Stein and Lillie Field saw them alight from the car on 21st Street and enter No. 207 together. Mamie Freidman saw them leave the house about 20 minutes later. At about 12:30, Mrs. Feltner, who had a view of the entrance to 207 from her window, saw Annie return to the house with another man, of medium build, with a swarthy complexion and a black mustache. This was the last time Annie Bock was seen alive by anyone but her killer.

Mamie Cunningham.

(New York Journal, May 31, 1896.)

On the morning of Memorial Day, May 30, 1896, Mrs. Annie Cunningham had to go to work, while her 13-year-old daughter, Mary (known as Mamie), was home from school for the holiday. Mrs. Cunningham asked Mamie if she planned to go to the parade. Mamie said no, she wasn’t interested, and she planned to do housework and study. At 8:30, Mrs. Cunningham said goodbye to her daughter; it was the last time she saw Mamie alive.