"Like A Shadow Along The Air": The Gold Street Murder, Part 3

“But it may be questioned if anything in the shape of man so utterly degraded by vice has ever walked the streets of Brooklyn.”

Late in the evening of May 21, 1867, a burly man in a black slouch hat and obviously wearing a set of false whiskers, stood outside of Thomas Mosscrop’s saloon at 166 Myrtle Avenue. He spoke briefly with Mr. Mosscrop’s teenage son Samuel, who later testified that Skidmore - the man in the hat and whiskers - had peered into the saloon from the doorway, then walked away.

Skidmore did not go far. He was waiting for a man that he saw in Mosscrop’s, to come out. He had been noticed hanging around this area for the last month or so “with an iron cane” - which is what the air gun looked like when not being use. This area was his former beat as a police officer - and it was his former colleagues at the 4th Precinct (by 1867, renamed the 44th) who were quietly keeping an eye on him.

The man that Skidmore was waiting for was inside the saloon eating oysters. His name was William Bishop Carr. He was an Englishman, about 40 years old, and had emigrated with his wife and children about the year 1860 (probably at the end of that year, thus avoiding both the US and the UK censuses). He sometimes worked as a jeweler, but had made a certain amount of money by his invention of a toy called the “return ball.” They are still made today, and I played with one as a child in the late 1960s: a wooden paddle with an elastic string attached to it, at the end of which is a small rubber ball. I was not able to find Carr's patent, unfortunately.

Carr and Skidmore were good friends. Mrs. Carr testified that they were “particular friends,” having met when Skidmore was still a policeman. Carr had lent Skidmore money a few times, and had last visited the Carrs at Christmas.

It is not clear how the two met. It is possible that the Carrs and Barnetts knew one another, being both immigrant English families. The connection may have been through the Hickses. Helen E. Hicks, a dressmaker, was living at 197 Gold Street in 1866 and 1867. She was probably Ellen Hicks, the sometimes-estranged wife of Hiram - elder brother of Daniel, Lemuel and Andrew, and of Susannah Skidmore [see note below].

In May 1867 Carr had just returned from Havana, where he had made a lot of money selling his toys. In any case, he was doing well and had a stable life. Throughout the 1860s he is listed in the Lain’s directories as living at 197 Gold Street (unlike the peripatetic Hickses and Skidmores).

Skidmore hid and waited for Carr to come out of the saloon. At Johnson Street Skidmore fired at Carr from about 2 yards away. He then threw his police overcoat, the whiskers and the air gun into a yard and ran off, pursued by Officer William Dyer. Dyer was hovering nearby, suspicious of the man lingering on the quiet street. He was close enough to hear the gun and chased Skidmore. Dyer and Officer Alonzo Nash (who joined the chase) caught Skidmore after a long chase through the streets. A testimonial was organized for Dyer a few weeks later. Alonzo Nash’s minister preached a sermon especially about the Air Gun Murder in which he mentioned Nash’s courage.

The case was noted for the unusual murder weapon, too. The air gun was mostly found in England, Germany and France, not the US. The Times noted that “these villainous weapons are little known in this country, and…there is only one gunsmith in the United States who can manufacture or repair them.” The air gun was a 3’ long wrought-iron tube, resembling a man’s walking cane (it was also called a cane-gun). It was divided into two chambers, the lower one forming the barrel of the gun. To load the gun the two parts were separated and compressed air was pumped into the top chamber, which was released in small amounts, enough to discharge the bullets. Wikipedia notes that the air gun was associated with poaching in the 19th century because it was so quiet. It is not ever made clear where Skidmore got the air gun.

Poor Mr. Carr had been hit directly in the head, at close range, and suffered a severe brain injury. His doctors feared that even if he could survive, he would be severely brain-damaged due to the terrible injury from the air gun. Carr lingered for a few days but died on May . Six hundred mourners attended his funeral, and he was buried at Greenwood Cemetery.

Skidmore admitted to killing Carr but said it was not for money. The alternate explanation was that they were rivals for the affections of a mystery woman, but that was never corroborated in any way. There were dark hints about Skidmore being partners in crime with a robber named Monzani, and about other crimes he might have committed. There was also much talk of his perhaps poisoning his wife. But it was believed that part of what drove Skidmore to suicide was the knowledge that the police had talked to his children (who were with Skidmore relatives). His eldest daughter told them something “worse than incest” that Skidmore had done to her. The police would have Skidmore's daughter testify at the upcoming trial. It was reported that he killed himself to keep this secret forever.

In one final strange sad twist, there was another suicide related to this case - years later, in 1884. The son and namesake of William Bishop Carr, who was a “base ball manufacturer,” committed suicide in Brooklyn in 1884. It was reported that he had had drinking problems and had been in the “Inebriates’ Home.” The article about this tragedy mentions his father’s murder, saying that Skidmore and Carr had quarrelled about a woman. It also says that the air gun, and the razor that Skidmore cut his throat with, were still on display at Skidmore’s old precinct.

The subtitle of this post is from the sermon that Officer Nash’s minister gave on the murder, and the epigraph is from the Eagle.

Image from NYPL Digital Gallery: prisoner being taken from court to jail, circa 1885.

NOTE: A study of the 1860 and 1870 US census shows only one Ellen or Helen Hicks living in Brooklyn or indeed NYC, of adult age, and that was the wife of Hiram. In 1864-5 Helen E. Hicks is listed as a widow at 165 Hudson (which is quite near 197 Gold). The following year ‘Hiam Hicks,’ a laborer, is at the same address. The year after that, Helen E., tailoress (which fits with her having run a fancy goods - i.e. women’s clothing - store), is at the Carrs’ at 197 Gold Street. Ellen/Helen’s other known addresses are all in the Fort Greene neighborhood. The two names were often interchangeable in the 19th century (another ancestor changed between Eleanor, Ellen and Helen, depending on the census year).

ONE MORE NOTE: This is by necessity a short version of the case (I realize that it may well seem like an awfully long version to readers not absorbed by the Hickses and their relations!). I hope someday to do this case justice, as there are many characters and incidents that I decided to edit out in this three-part summary.

More on the Gold Street Murder:

Part 1: http://thevirtualdimemuseum.blogspot.com/2008/03/meanest-sort-of-snake-gold-street.html

Part 2: http://thevirtualdimemuseum.blogspot.com/2008/03/extraordinary-disclosure-of-vice-gold.html

Sources

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“The Gold Street Murder,” May 22, 1867, p. 2.
“The Dyer Testimonial,” May 24, 1867, p. 2.
“The Gold Street Assassination - Carr Has A Lucid Interval,” May 24, 1867, p. 3.
“The Gold Street Assassination,” May 29, 1867, p. 2.
“Law Intelligence,” June 12, 1867, p.2.
“Sermon By the Rev. George Lansing Taylor,” Jun 24, 1867, p. 2.
"Recalled: The Celebrated Skidmore Carr Murder," June 25, 1884, p. 4.

From the New York Times:

"The Probable Murder In Brooklyn," May 24, 1867, p. 4.
“Minor Topics,” May 29, 1867, p. 4.

Lain's Brooklyn City Directories, 1861-1868.