Hammersmith address

[ShaunJ]

Sing Sing description:

John Clay
Sept 22 Received from New York
Sentenced: Sept 22/93. 2-0 Con G.L.  Fitzgerald
Born: England
Age: 62
Occupation: Mechanical Engineer
Complexion: Light
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Light Brown & Gray
Stature: 5’ 9 3/4 "
Weight: 155
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Habits: Mod.
Tobacco: Yes Protestant Married
Resided when arrested at: 109 W. 105th St. N.Y.C.
Wife: Etta Clay, 109 W. 105th St. N.Y.C.
Scars, marks, etc.:
Good shaped round head. Size 6 7/8 hat No. 8 shoes. Very thin hair, top of head nearly bald. Two scars on back of neck from carbuncle. good shaped and small ears. Round and high forehead.  Active and good (?) left eyebrow. Small straight but good length nose. Short chin. Thick under lip. Upper and lower teeth both false. Regular features. Scar on right leg out side above the knee.

[ShaunJ]

1880 US census - possible hit in Lower Chichester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania:

John Clay 44 born England, works in shipyard
Etta Clay, 30 wife born England
Lena M Clay daughter 7 months born Pennsylvania

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/6742/records/37305854

[ShaunJ]

Just to close out one of the questions on this one, I've now seen the Horton Asylum case notes (Thanks Alison !) and the descriptions of the scars on the back of the neck and the outside of the right leg match the prison description from Sing Sing. So it is the same man.  Our thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
 
We still haven't identified "Miss O'Donnell" though.

[ShaunJ]

John Clay's story is now on the Friends of Horton website:  https://hortoncemetery.org/clay-john/

[jonwarrn]

Hi Shaun
Thanks for the link, a very interesting read.

I am puzzled about his journeys to and from America after his second prison sentence in England. Did he use another name?
Also the stretch in Sing Sing. Was he sent there because of the unpaid hotel bill?
A John Clay, 62, was charged with fraud(?) in New York in September 1893.
There is a report in the Times Union which I don't have in full. Another one in the Evening World, which I do, and is attached, but is a very poor copy.
John

[ShaunJ]

Thanks John,

I'd assumed that his two years in Sing Sing was a consequence of his unpaid hotel bill in July 1893, but he wasn't sentenced until 22 September. What you have just provided is new information ! 

He is certainly hard to find in passenger lists.