how close was 'jack' to being caught

[dixon9]

was thinking of this last night and ran through the 'five' and how close was he to being 'nabbed'.Obviously i am going down the line of Liz Stride was a victim of jack for this.

(1)Never really looked like being in danger of getting caught
(2)My fav,just feel taking the chance in a back yard(with 17 living at) 29 Hanbury Street,in near daylight was a very risky one.
(3)Looks like he was disturbed,so again pretty close.
(4)Did jack lure Catherine into Mitre Square,or was he led by her,with Catherine knowing how quite and dark the Sq would be? So for me not full of risks
(5) Could well have been very dangerous,due to the fact if someone entered the room(a client fellow resident) he was caught.

So for me Annie Chapman's was pretty daring and risky on jacks part,which one would you more clued up people have as your number one.

Dixon9
Still learning

[lynn cates]

PC Harvey

Hello Dixon. Actually, it is generally conceded that Jack was close to detection in Polly's case. Indeed, there are one or two supporters of Cross = Jack, so close did their paths overlap.

My guess, however, is that jack was all but caught at Mitre Square. The murder was in progress between about 1:37 and 1:44 AM. PC Harvey claimed to have gone through Church passage between about 1:40 and 1:42 AM. Had he been able to see across the square he might have watched Jack finishing the job.

Incidentally, if Annie was killed at 5:30 then Jack WAS caught. (See truth table conditions for conditional proposition with false antecedent and false consequent.)

The best.
LC

[Jon Guy]

Actually, it is generally conceded that Jack was close to detection in Polly's case.
LC

Eh?!?

She was already cold when Cross and Paul investigated

[lynn cates]

warm

Hello Jon. Hmmm. How does that square with this?

Cross calls to Paul. Cross believes she is dead. Her hands and face are cold but the arms above the elbow and legs are still warm. Paul believes he feels a faint heartbeat. "I think she's breathing," he says "but it is little if she is."

If she were generally cold, it is not indicated here. (From Casebook, under Polly Nichols.)

The best.
LC

[Jon Guy]

Hello Lynn

Perhaps not that cold, but, as with Liz Stride, a coldness indicative of death five or ten minutes earlier.

Mercifully, death would have been instantaneous for Polly. There is no way that Cross or Paul felt her heart beat. She would have died whilst her throat was still been cut.

Dr Llewellyn inspected the body fifteen or twenty minutes after Cross and Paul, and gave up to half an hour earlier for T.O.D., and Bucks Row resident, Mrs Lilley, heard a scuffle around the half hour after three.

[lynn cates]

Westcott dissertation

Hello Jon. Perhaps so, but I paste below a line from Tom Westcott's dissertation on Polly.

"The notion that the Ripper was interrupted in his efforts by the sound of the approaching footsteps of Charles Cross becomes almost irresistible."

The best.
LC

[dixon9]

thanks for that lynn,(sat up latereading through Polly's murder again)so who would be your number one?


Dixon9
still learning

[Monty]

It would be hard to name a 'street' murder where the idea he was disturbed or not long finished isnt highly likely.

Just one into the mixer. Morris in Mitre Square.

Let you mull it over.

Monty


PS Anyone wishing to get a good overview of Strides murder would do well to read Toms excellent piece.

[dixon9]

thanks alot monty,i will start mulling it over now.

Dixon9
still learning

[lynn cates]

murder

Hello Dixon. Do you refer to first murder?

The best.
LC

[dixon9]

my apologies lynn i did not make myself very clear there,what i was meant to ask you(and other rippologists) was,what murder do you believe jack came closet to being caught,or put himself most at risk of being caught?

Dixon9
still learning

[Sam Flynn]

my apologies lynn i did not make myself very clear there,what i was meant to ask you(and other rippologists) was,what murder do you believe jack came closet to being caught,or put himself most at risk of being caught?

For me, it has to be 29 Hanbury Street (most risk) and Mitre Square (closest to actually being caught).

[lynn cates]

Mitre Square

Hello Dixon. I definitely agree with Flynn that Jack was perhaps seconds away from capture by PC Harvey in Mitre Square. (See my post above.) Of course, I have seen Harvey's veracity questioned (the suggestion being that he didn't go all the way up Church passage, or something of that sort). Even so, PC Watkins was probably not more than 30 seconds to a minute behind Jack's escape--likely to the north.

Of course, if one accepts Liz as a Jack victim, there are theories that, had Diemschutz looked to his left instead of right (and had proper lighting), he would have seen Jack. What a fun legend!

Cheers.
LC

[Monty]

Lynn

If Watkins was 30 seconds or so behind Jack then Morris was closer. As he opened the warehouse door moments before Watkins entered the Square.

If fact, if Jack struck at the same time on any other night of the week, he would have come across Morris quietly puffing away on his pipe.

It could have been oh so different.

Monty

[lynn cates]

work habit

Hello Monty. Indeed. I think he usually left the door open anyway, didn't he?

All of which brings up the old question, was Jack lucky or clever?

The best.
LC