Sex, Drugs and Violence: The Stories Behind 10 Brooklyn Streetnames
We’ve got a gold digger in our midst! Originally named DeGraw Street, this artery connecting Park Slope to east Brooklyn is the location of one of the borough’s legendary 19th century murders. Lizzie Lloyd King, better known by her alias, Kate Stoddard, shot a pistol at her lover, Charles Goodrich, penetrating his brain and killing him instantly. Goodrich had been a widower in his forties and sought to terminate his relations with Stoddard. After killing him, Stoddard took his watch, pocket-book, ring, and pistol, though she returned the next day to bathe Goodrich and dress him in clean clothes. She also went to her job as a bonnet maker the day after the murder. An acquaintance of Stoddard’s, Mary Handley, worked with Brooklyn police and detectives on the case and captured Stoddard three months after her crime. She got locked up and eventually committed to the State Lunatic Asylum in Auburn, New York. Shocking details surfaced, including the story that Stoddard had secured some of Goodrich’s blood in her locket and ingested it daily.