East 14th Street, New York in 1880s

[loobylooayr]

An article from the Evening Telegram on 7 July 1897 [Rahway Murder Is Cleared Up] refers to "Mrs. William Harris of Oceanport, N.J., living temporarily at No. 323? West Fortieth Street this city [NYC]."  In this accounting of the murder, Mary was said to have traveled on the steamship 'Bolivia' carrying $2000 which was her part of her father's fortune. 

An article in the Herald on 9 July 1897 [Mary Dorman's Tragic Death], has an interview with Jane's sister Agnes who was living in Syracuse, NY and remarried to a guy named Charles Williams.

The other articles are worth reading, too, if you need more background.  They seem to confirm that, at the time of the murder, Jane Harris was living at 273 East 4th Street, NYC not on 14th Street.  It was the brother-in-law, Andrew Kirkwood, who lived on 14th Street in Jersey City, N.J.

Thanks again for these. I am trying to read them . Perhaps it is my laptop , but I am finding these newspaper images very blurry
Looby

[Erato]

Which ones are too blurry?  If they aren't too long, I can clip them and attach them here.

[loobylooayr]

Which ones are too blurry?  If they aren't too long, I can clip them and attach them here.

Thanks for the offer Erato - but I have opened another internet browser and have now succeeded in opening a much clearer image of the newspaper (the one with Jane's image)    I can read it with ease.

Looby

[Erato]

For what it's worth, there was a Dr. William J Gilfillan who did live on Main Street in Brooklyn.  There were, of course, many people named William Harris in Brooklyn so, without knowing Harris's occupation, it is impossible to confidently identify the William Harris who rented housing from Gilfallen.  It may be worth noting, though, that in 1884/1885 there was a waiter named William H. Harris who lived at 354 Gold Street, Brooklyn.  Gold Street could accurately be described as "a little way up from Fulton or Catharine Street ferry"  -  it was about six blocks east of the Catharine St. ferry and about nine blocks from the Fulton St. ferry.

Do you know what William's middle initial was?


https://archive.org/details/1885BPL/page/n567


And in 1880, there was a William Harris, ropemaker, at 331 Gold Street.

https://archive.org/details/1886BPL/page/n493

[loobylooayr]

I'm not aware of William having a middle initial (not to say he didn't )

Interestingly , during my search of death records on Familysearch , I came across the death of a William H Harris on 25th August 1896 in Brooklyn, New York. He was 76, married, born in USA and his occupation was Commission Mch (? no idea what that is? ) .

Looby 

[Erato]

Was Michael Murray Scottish or Irish?  Just about every Michael Murray I see entering or living in the United States was Irish.  I'm hard put to find one reportedly born in Scotland.  [To be sure, my own ggg-grandmother was a Murray from Wigtownshire but, then again, maybe she was Irish, too.]

[loobylooayr]

Was Michael Murray Scottish or Irish? 

Haven't been able to establish that. My instinct is that he probably was Irish. I can't locate him on 1851 Census.

Looby