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MacCarthy's Shop & Lodgings

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  • MacCarthy's Shop & Lodgings

    I've been coming across a number of cases that seem to link John McCarthy of Miller's Court to various scams involving the use of prostitutes and hired thugs, this being one of them:

    THOMAS SMITH, Violent Theft > robbery, 21st November 1898.


    Reference Number: t18981121-39
    Offence: Violent Theft > robbery
    Verdict: Guilty > other
    Punishment: Imprisonment > hard labour
    See original
    39. THOMAS SMITH (17) , Robbery with violence on Julius Legrand, and stealing a watch and chain, his property.

    MR. OLIVER Prosecuted.

    JULIUS LEGRAND . I am a waiter, of 8. Boniface Street, Westminster Bridge Road—on October 31st I was near Spitalfields Church—I met a woman—the prisoner came up and asked me if I wanted a bedroom—I said, "Yes"—he said he would go and see his friend and get the key—he returned without the key and some other men surrounded me and took my gold watch and chain and £2 10s. and some coppers, and ran off—I called "Police"—a policeman came up, and then the prisoner came up—I said, "This is one of them"—he said he was not there—when I got up I could not see the woman—the place was lighted—the prisoner was in front of me when he took my watch and chain—I saw him three times—I pointed him out a quarter of an-hour afterwards.

    WALTER GUMBLETON (430 H). On October 31st I was on duty at a little after 2 o'clock—I heard shouts of "Police," and saw the prosecutor standing at the corner of Palmerston Court—he made a complaint—lie was sober—I walked round with him and in about a quarter of an hour we saw the prisoner—the prosecutor said, "Here is the man coming who took my watch and chain," and gave him in custody—the prisoner said, "I know nothing about it; I have just come out to get some sausages and broad"—he had 6d. in coppers in his hand—this was 10 or 12 yards from the spot—there is enough light there for one man to identify another.

    WILLIAM KITSON (386 H). I have known the prisoner twelve months—on October 31st I was on duty near Paternoster Row and saw the prisoner—that was about 30 yards from where the robbery took place—men are in the habit of standing there and letting beds to men and women, instead of letting them go to lodging-houses—the prosecutor came to mo and I went with him to Dorset Street and met the prisoner, and before we got nearer to him than 20 yards the prosecutor said, "That is one of them"—the prisoner said he was going to get some German sausages; and there was a shop open there.

    Cross-examined. McCarthy lets beds there and you used to work for him.

    Witness for the Defence.

    MRS. SMITH. The prisoner is my son—he lives with me at 3, Dorset

    See original
    Street—on this night I went to bed and fell asleep—I cannot tell what time he went out—I could not understand what was read over to me before the Magistrate.

    The Prisoner's Defence: "I went up the street to my brother-in-law and met the prosecutor, and he saw, "That is the man who took my watch and chain."

    GUILTY .

    —He then PLEADED GUILTY to a conviction of felony at Worship Street on February 8th, 1898, and another conviction was proved against him.— Twelve Months' Hard Labour.

  • #2
    Nasty piece of work, McCarthy. At least I always thought so! Too much crime happening right where he was. Multiple murders in Millers Court and now this.

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    • #3
      Indeed, Chava, and if you found yourself stabbed after a fracas outside his shop he was always willing to pay for a cab to get you to the London Hospital.
      What a splendid fellow he was!

      'I did not kick you opposite McCarthys shop. You did not have a stick in your hand; you did not strike me with the stick on the arm; you did not fall down, and I did not fall on top of you. It was an hour before that you showed me the knife. I did go into John McCarthy's after I was stabbed, to ask for some money to pay the cab.'

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      • #4
        I've heard a few stories about how the name "McCarthy's Rents" were discriptive of the girls in Miller's Court more than the rooms he let out. I guess like Ice-T he was pimpin' the ho's (a popular vernacular, not my words.)
        "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill

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        • #5
          Don't believe the stories. It referred to the rooms, not the women. The court was called "Miller's Rents" long before McCarthy owned them.

          Dan Norder
          Ripper Notes: The International Journal for Ripper Studies
          Web site: www.RipperNotes.com - Email: dannorder@gmail.com

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Dan Norder View Post
            Don't believe the stories. It referred to the rooms, not the women. The court was called "Miller's Rents" long before McCarthy owned them.
            Indeed - and there were other dwellings referred to as "[Insert name here]'s Rents" elsewhere at that time.
            Kind regards, Sam Flynn

            "Suche Nullen" (Nietzsche, Götzendämmerung, 1888)

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