John Smith.....Frenchy #2 ?

[Howard Brown]

This morning, while recuperating from yet another one of Nina's spectacular Christmas meals....I decided to look for a letter or letters sent to the Mayor of NYC and/or Inspector Byrnes to show Mike Banks. I couldn't find them ( I will ) but I did come across this :

I've attached the NY Evening World article....Life In The Depths....from December 18, 1893.

Could the claim found here that 'John Smith'... another Algerian in the Lower East Side.....be legitimate ?

Since Ali and this character were both Algerians, someone in the area may have decided to refer to them as being cousins...maybe Ali himself.

New York World
December 18, 1893
Page 9
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[Howard Brown]

A 2017 article in the Whitechapel Society Journal posits the notion that 'Jenalli', Ameer Ben Ali's friend from Brooklyn, was Frenchy # 2. That's incorrect.
Jenalli stated...as did his Irish wife....that they hadn't seen Ali upward of a week prior to the murder of Brown.
As we know, Ali, along with Frenchy 2, were in the company of women just prior to the murder. That fact alone eliminates Jenalli.....unless someone is willing to call Jenalli and his wife liars without cause or evidence to disprove them.

[Michael Banks]

Nice area! This has a photograph of where Double Alley was. Good find though How. I wonder what his real name was?

http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/les-slums-that-once-were.htm

…..

How, another thing that I can’t remember. Did Ali admit to having a cousin who was known as Frenchy 2?

[Howard Brown]

Good find, Mike....I wrote a piece for The Rip years ago about 'Sweeney's Shambles' in the Lower East Side...Irish slum...I'd rather be dead than to have lived there.
Off topic, I found an article mentioning an assault upon one John Tiernan, a clerk, in a saloon in the general vicinity of the murder in 1894 I had found it years ago but came across it again this morning.
There was a man at the Glenmore Hotel who was mentioned by his last name, Tiernan, who Kelly ( of the Glenmore) turned to and said that Glenmore Man looked like he had just murdered someone.
Tiernan of the Glenmore was also a clerk. Might mean nothing...might be the same guy.

I'm like you, because I'm struggling to remember if Ali was the one who referred to the fellow as his cousin ( this is possible, of course)...but we do know others called him his cousin.

No idea how to determine what 'John Smith'' was born as....maybe a job for Nina.

[Howard Brown]

P.S. I also found that 1890 article....San Francisco Examiner.....the letter to New York.

[Michael Banks]

Good find, Mike....I wrote a piece for The Rip years ago about 'Sweeney's Shambles' in the Lower East Side...Irish slum...I'd rather be dead than to have lived there.
Off topic, I found an article mentioning an assault upon one John Tiernan, a clerk, in a saloon in the general vicinity of the murder in 1894 I had found it years ago but came across it again this morning.
There was a man at the Glenmore Hotel who was mentioned by his last name, Tiernan, who Kelly ( of the Glenmore) turned to and said that Glenmore Man looked like he had just murdered someone.
Tiernan of the Glenmore was also a clerk. Might mean nothing...might be the same guy.

I'm like you, because I'm struggling to remember if Ali was the one who referred to the fellow as his cousin ( this is possible, of course)...but we do know others called him his cousin.

No idea how to determine what 'John Smith'' was born as....maybe a job for Nina.

That sounds like a real challenge to set for Nina. You might get that guitar across the back of your head.

[Howard Brown]

Thanks for the advice, Mike. I'll give it a day or so.