statements & press reports that exist. On the other hand it might have some validity.
Whether it does or not, that's up to the reader. Wading through the mine field of lackadaisical reporting in the early days, these sorts
of stories pop up pretty frequently....all attempts on the part of the 'professional reporters' to scoop their competitors. Just because
someone was in the profession of journalism ( beat reporters), doesn't mean they themselves were always professional in how they
managed to present information to the public.
One of the rules that existed at the East River Hotel was that single men not be permitted to rent rooms on the fifth floor.
At the Coroner Inquest, Tommy Thompson, after being recalled to the witness chair, reflected on two instances of Ali getting
physical with an unnamed woman and Mary Ann Lopez. The incident with Lopez transpired in the Fall of 1890 ( September).
Getting to the point. Sam Shine stated that the policy of permitting no single men on the fifth floor came about because men, not
just Ali apparently, had a tendency to go stag and wander around the top floor. Eddie Fitzgerald stated ,while on the stand, he was
unaware of this policy although he had been at the hotel for 'two or three months'.
The fact that Fitzgerald took twenty five pennies from Ali and that Shine acknowledged this transaction demonstrates an instance
of hotel rules not being enforced. Shine admits that since Ali was already up on the fifth floor to let him stay. Probably not the only
time he went up alone and the best we can do is to speculate as to how often.
We know that Officer Adam Lang accompanied by Mary Ann Lopez, came up on Ali loitering on Water St on the evening of the 24th. The investigation
began in the afternoon and within hours, Ali had been picked up, originally as a witness. One might consider that the
fact it was Lopez who pointed Ali out to Lang may have been payback for the aforementioned 'arm biting' incident from 1890, an incident
that left Lopez scarred. There were numerous women milling around the hotel shortly after the discovery of Brown's corpse, but it was
Lopez who, perhaps coincidentally or not, who would assist in Lang's detention of Ali. Ali was not originally arrested as
a murder suspect.
Going back to the coroner report....Fitzgerald, as we know, stated Ali gave him 25 pennies and went up by himself to room 33. However,
while being cross examined ( page 68 of the coroner report transcript), he states that :
" and on the night of the murder he went up with a woman too..."
This 'night of the murder' was the 23rd. Fitzgerald stated that Ali had been with a woman on the night of the 22nd, a Wednesday...which
is a certainty....Ali being at the hotel at least 3 nights, probably 4, that week. But the night of the murder with a woman, too ?
It's more than likely that this was a mistake on his part. It's very likely that most of those testifying at the inquest were a little
nervous as all eyes were on them. Thompson wasn't and neither were the medical men, but the women and Fitzgerald were likely to have been.
If that's the case and it merely being a case of the jitters on Fitzgerald's part...then is there anything else which might make us think it may have been true ?
Perhaps this will......
In re-reading newspapers outside of the Manhattan area, I stumbled across a San Francisco Examiner article ( William Randolph Hearst's
paper handed down from his father, George) dated April 26.... with an accurate description of events of the 25th.
I doubt that the Examiner pulled that reference to Lopez from out of the bottom of a hat.
If true, would it explain why Lopez, out of all the women who were available & who hung out in the hotel, was the one who accompanied Lang ?
Likely a goof on Fitzy's part and a gaffe on the Examiner's part , but like so many other things in the case...an interesting bit.
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