William Goodrich paid a visit to the lodging of his brother Charles, on Degraw Street in Brooklyn, on March 21, 1873. Getting no response at the door William entered the house to search for his brother, and found Charles in the basement, lying dead on the floor, neatly posed, as if laid out by an undertaker. Charles had been shot in the head. On the floor near the wound lay a revolver, and near the gun was Charles’s hand, suggesting suicide. But William Goodrich knew his brother too well to believe this. “You never did this yourself!” he said, “This is murder! Not suicide!”