From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Archives

June 18, 2009 by missheather
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg

Yet another rainy day and with it yet another morning I have spent entertaining myself by poking around the Brooklyn Daily Eagle online archives. My armchair traveling has netted me a number of wonderful discoveries. Among them: a couple of long-forgotten graveyards (one of which was in Greenpoint!) and a school or two. Incidental to (or more accurately, as a consequence of) my numerous searches I came across today’s item. Which brings me to the above photograph taken on Milton Street.

Nowadays this diminutive stretch of road is a pretty quiet place. Save the sounds of children at play at the American Playground or the occasional film crew not much goes on here. But just over 130 years ago this location gained infamy for being one of the sites associated with the most notorious and downright gruesome murder stories of its day. All the elements for a truly sensational tale are to had in this item from the July 17, 1882 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle: drinking, claims of infidelity, dismemberment and eventually madness. Enjoy!