Carrie Brown (c. 1834 – April 24, 1891) was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

who was murdered and mutilated in a lodging house. She is occasionally mentioned as an alleged victim of

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

. Although known to use numerous aliases, a common practice in her occupation, she supposedly won her nickname of Shakespeare for her habit of quoting

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

during drinking games. She has often been referred to as Old Shakespeare in later news articles and books and contemporaneous newspapers.

The murder

The badly mutilated body of Brown, a longtime

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighbourhood, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row (Manhattan), Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th ...

prostitute, was found in a room in a squalid

lodging house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodgers rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, s ...

known as the East River Hotel on April 24, 1891. Newspapers were quick to report the murder as proof of the alleged arrival in America of Jack the Ripper, whose murders of prostitutes in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

district were well known during the time. News of the possibility that Jack the Ripper had arrived in New York City posed a challenge to

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

Chief Inspector Thomas Byrnes, who had criticized

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

for its inability to capture Jack the Ripper.

Suspect and trial

As the murder of Brown was soon becoming one of the most publicized in the city's history, pressure was on Byrnes to solve the murder as quickly as possible, and an Algerian named Ameer Ben Ali (who also went by "Frenchy" or "Frenchy No. 1") was arrested for the murder soon after. However, evidence against Ben Ali was largely circumstantial and based primarily on the claim that unidentified bloodstains had been found leading from the room where Brown was killed into the room he was staying in. Reporters who had been at the scene of the crime said that no such bloodstains were actually there. On July 3, 1891, Ben Ali was convicted of

second degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, ...

, and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

, despite his claims of innocence. JacktheRipper1888

Other theories

A group of reformers pointed out instances of

police misconduct Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, false confession, coerced false confession, intimidation, ...

in the investigation and evidence to support Ben Ali's innocence. The group was able to prove the NYPD had made no attempt to find the missing key to the locked room or the unidentified man who witnesses claimed she had last been seen with the night before. Years later it was claimed that a man in a

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

farm had found the missing key to Room 31 and a bloody shirt in a bureau drawer of a room he had rented out to a man who had disappeared shortly after the murder. Faced with this testimony, coupled with the longstanding belief of many for years that Ben Ali had been set up and the fact that Byrnes had been removed from office for corruption, Ben Ali was released after serving 11 years and left for his native

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

shortly afterwards. No substantial evidence has proven that Jack the Ripper was responsible and the case remains unsolved. It has been stated by writer Philip Sugden that if the murder was committed by Jack the Ripper, one possible culprit could be

George Chapman George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is ...

, a Ripper suspect who moved from London to the US around this time, although recent research suggests that he only moved to the US after this murder. Another possibility suggested by writer James Tully is James Kelly, a Ripper suspect who murdered his wife by slashing her throat and was committed to Broadmoor Insane Asylum, which he escaped from just prior to the Ripper murders. He may have traveled to New York after the Ripper murders in London stopped.Tully, Jim, '' Prisoner 1167: The madman who was Jack the Ripper '' A book by Howard and Nina Brown, ''East Side Story: 1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown'', presents evidence that the 'Danish Farmhand' story presented by New Jersey businessman George Damon in 1901 was false based on the latter's own words within a previously unseen affidavit submitted on July 2, 1901, in Manhattan. Howard & Nina Brown's, ''An Illustrated Encyclopedia: The Murder Of Carrie Brown'', is a comprehensive A to Z of the case, featuring over 200 entries on persons involved in the Brown murder case.

In popular culture

*The death of Brown and the murder's supposed ties to Jack the Ripper were used in writer

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. The accolades she has received include nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and an Independent Spirit Award. After appearing in tel ...

's ''Sacred Evil''.

References

* Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. *Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. *Conway, J. North. ''The Big Policeman''. Lyons Press, Guilford, Connecticut, 2010. *Dekle, George R. The East River Ripper: The Mysterious 1891 Murder of Old Shakespeare. Kent State University Press, 2021. ISBN 978-1-60635-426-1 *Brown, Howard and Nina. ''East Side Story'': 1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown. Barnes and Noble, 2023. *Brown, Howard and Nina. ''An Illustrated Encyclopedia'': The 1891 Murder Of Carrie Brown. Amazon 2025 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Carrie People from New York City People murdered in New York City Jack the Ripper Sex workers murdered in the United States 1891 murders in the United States History of women in New York City 1891 in New York City