Astrakhan Fur

[chrismasonic]

...i don't know how common it was to see people swanning around the dodgy eastend streets wearing fur coats back in 1888...

...sounds to me like you'd be asking to be mugged...

...I wouldn't wear my posh Astrakhan Fur coat down Dorset Street in 1888 unless i had a big knife tucked underneath it

[Mascara & Paranoia]

I might be mixed up but I think I remember reading that Eddowes' wore a coat with fake fur 'trimmings' when she died. She certainly got robbed of a few things!

[Bulldog]

Hi Chrismasonic,

Astrakhan was more likely used for trim, especially for a collar, than for a full coat. Cloth coats witrh astrakhan collars and cuffs were very popular in the 1880's. George Hutchinson claimed that the man he saw walking with Mary Jane Kelly was wearing one.

Bulldog

[andy.s]

while we are on the astrakhan thing...what exactly was/is American cloth?

[Sam Flynn]

while we are on the astrakhan thing...what exactly was/is American cloth?

American Cloth is made of cotton or canvas which has been treated with oil to make it waterproof. It was sometimes known as "oilcloth" accordingly.

[kensei]

...I wouldn't wear my posh Astrakhan Fur coat down Dorset Street in 1888 unless i had a big knife tucked underneath it

And IF he was the Ripper, he most certainly did.

Its always struck me about Mr. Astrakhan how ironic it would have been for the dreaded Ripper to end up going down at the blade of some two-bit mugger.

[Ben]

If he was blinged up to the short and curlys in wearing the most concpicuous attire and accessories imaginable in the worst possible location and the worst possible time, he was certainly asking for a two-bit mugger at the very least.

Which is why he makes no sense as a living reality, let alone as a ripper.

[Sam Flynn]

If he was blinged up to the short and curlys... he was certainly asking for a two-bit mugger.

What makes it worse is that the very fact of wearing astrakhan would make the "short and curlys" somewhat more ubiquitous than usual

[perrymason]

If he was blinged up to the short and curlys in wearing the most concpicuous attire and accessories imaginable in the worst possible location and the worst possible time, he was certainly asking for a two-bit mugger at the very least.

Which is why he makes no sense as a living reality, let alone as a ripper.

Thats a roger on that Ben...he might have been mugged for the horse head pin alone. He's a slightly more resplendant fellow than even the mythical killer, Top Hat, Cape and Gladstone et al.

Thought it might be nice to tell you when I agree with you too....

Cheers Ben

[Ben]

Chuffed to bits to hear it, Mike!

And a good point.

[Jez]

Oh, the implausibility of it all!
Serial killer with razor sharp knife dares to walk down dangerous street wearing astrakhan, horseshoe tie pin and assorted bling.....

[Ben]

You said it, Jez.

Totally ridiculous.

Picture the hilarious scene: The worst little abyssal corner of London at the worst possible moment in history. Press and public alike had been pumped full of wild rumours of a Jewish killer from outside the district, possibly a well-dressed doctor in search of abdominal specimins, surly and conspicuous and clutching a black package. Along comes the real ripper, thinking it might be a good idea to pander to all that nonsense by dressing in a manner that encompasses all of those "scare" factors, chucking in mug-me gold chain for good measure.

Or Hutchinson lied.

[Ben]

What makes it worse is that the very fact of wearing astrakhan would make the "short and curlys" somewhat more ubiquitous than usual

Indeed, Gareth.

What if the cuffs and collars were made of real short and danglies and not Astrakhan at all?

Thomas Coatbush!

[Jez]

Or perhaps imagine that Hutch told the truth, Ben.
And here you are, over 120 years later, asserting that the Ripper - whose career as a murderer was based on taking breath-taking chances in open spaces such as Mitre Square, escaping with only seconds to spare, that this amazing risk-taker would not have dared to stroll be-spatted and gold-chained along Commercial Street in the early hours of a hitherto murder-less morning.

[Ben]

Or perhaps imagine that Hutch told the truth, Ben.

Or perhaps not, Jez.

You speak of Jack as an "amazing risk-taker" as though he deliberately sought to take risks that were completely unnecessary to his objective of murder and mutilation, which is not borne out by any credible evidence. The risks he took were those that best facillitated his crimes and ensuing escapes. By dressing up in the most opulent and ostentatious fashion imaginable, he was essentially doing the opposite of that; he was deliberately minimizing the realistic chances of pulling off an efficient crime and escaping from it.

...Or Hutchinson lied.