Other attacks : man wearing deerstalker hat

[Trevor Marriott]

This is getting interesting.

I meant to type "madarosis" (not "macaronis") - damn you autocorrect. I read madarosis is frequently linked with leprosy, but also with syphilis.

I'm trying to find articles on madarosis in 19th Century England to find out how frequently it occured, onset and causes.

Bowyer's sighting of a man with peculiar eyes talking to Kelly is interesting.

If this was JTR, then the lack of eyelashes reduces the potential suspects.

Has anyone tried searching periodicals of 1880's for phrases such as as "no eyelashes" or "peculiar eyes" ?

I did a Google search for "no eyelashes" and came up with several people arrested who had that description

These descriptions are unsafe to rely on. Peculiar eyes, coloured eyelashes, no eyelashes, come on people get real

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Craig H]

This is getting interesting.

I meant to type "madarosis" (not "macaronis") - damn you autocorrect. I read madarosis is frequently linked with leprosy, but also with syphilis.

I'm trying to find articles on madarosis in 19th Century England to find out how frequently it occured, onset and causes.

Bowyer's sighting of a man with peculiar eyes talking to Kelly is interesting.

If this was JTR, then the lack of eyelashes reduces the potential suspects.

Has anyone tried searching periodicals of 1880's for phrases such as as "no eyelashes" or "peculiar eyes" ?

I did a Google search for "no eyelashes" and came up with several people arrested who had that description

[Wickerman]

It's called Madarosis, there are various causes and one is syphilis.

What about the man seen in Millers Court the night before Mary Kelly was murdered?

Harry Bowyer states that on Wednesday night he saw a man speaking to Kelly who resembled the description given by the fruiterer of the supposed Berner Street murderer. He was, perhaps, 27 or 28 and had a dark moustache and very peculiar eyes. His appearance was rather smart and attention was drawn to him by showing very white cuffs and a rather long white collar, the ends of which came down in front over a black coat. He did not carry a bag.
Western Mail, 12 Nov. 1888.

The man who accosted Sarah Lewis & Mrs Kennedy on the same night as above, he was also standing outside the Britannia on the night Kelly was murdered, was described in Mrs Kennedy's statement:

"Mrs. Kennedy picked up the bag, whereupon the stranger exclaimed that he was not Jack the Ripper. Just then the woman noticed the unnatural glare of the man's eyes, and instinctively fled from the spot leaving him behind".

Is this well-dressed character with 'strange eyes', the same man?

[Craig H]

I'm inclined to think it was his mistake because the PC Smith suspect in other respects is similar enough, except the newspaper parcel, to the man Stride was seen with at the Bricklayer's Arms around 11:00 PM, where witnesses Best & Gardiner described her with a man:

The man was about 5ft. 5in. in height. He was well dressed in a black morning suit with a morning coat. He had rather weak eyes. I mean he had sore eyes without any eyelashes. I should know the man again amongst a hundred. He had a thick black moustache and no beard. He wore a black billycock hat, rather tall, and had on a collar. I don't know the colour of his tie. I said to the woman, "that's Leather Apron getting round you." The man was no foreigner; he was an Englishman right enough.

The man seen by Best & Gardner seems similar to the one seen by William Marshall and PC Smith. This meant he was with Stride for a long time - from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. However, JTR may have invested time so the women were at ease and he took them to a quiet area.

The additional information from Best & Gardner that the man had no eyelashes is interesting.

Can anyone provide information on what this condition could be ?

My Google search found it may be macaronis. This can be caused by leprosy or syphilis.

Any link with syphilis is interesting as it provides a motive if the killer wanted to punish prostitutes who he believes gave him syphilis.

[Craig H]

Yes, I think we're both meaning the same thing. I should have said "added" instead of "changed", though the end result was to change the type of hat as the hard felt hat & the deerstalker are totally different hats. So by adding an erroneous detail he effectively changed the hat.

Yes, that makes sense.

Also, PC Smith's full description was a "dark felt deerstalker's hat" and deerstalkers weren't made of felt.

[Wickerman]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for this. Good to see the images and how they could be confused. This could be right.

The other option is PC Smith first said it was a hard felt hat as this was the more common headwear. I’m assuming not many people wore a deerstalker in the East End. The most obvious explanation was a hard felt hat.

I'm inclined to think it was his mistake because the PC Smith suspect in other respects is similar enough, except the newspaper parcel, to the man Stride was seen with at the Bricklayer's Arms around 11:00 PM, where witnesses Best & Gardiner described her with a man:

The man was about 5ft. 5in. in height. He was well dressed in a black morning suit with a morning coat. He had rather weak eyes. I mean he had sore eyes without any eyelashes. I should know the man again amongst a hundred. He had a thick black moustache and no beard. He wore a black billycock hat, rather tall, and had on a collar. I don't know the colour of his tie. I said to the woman, "that's Leather Apron getting round you." The man was no foreigner; he was an Englishman right enough.

It's common for theorists to think this was a different man, I'm not so sure because even today the police get differing descriptions from various witnesses of the same suspect. People don't always notice the same details or describe them the same way.

[Wickerman]

My point was that Smith didn't change from his initial description of it as a hard felt hat, he just seems to have added at the inquest that it was a deerstalker., whilst maintaining that it was a hard felt hat.

Yes, I think we're both meaning the same thing. I should have said "added" instead of "changed", though the end result was to change the type of hat as the hard felt hat & the deerstalker are totally different hats. So by adding an erroneous detail he effectively changed the hat.

[Joshua Rogan]

My point was that Smith didn't change from his initial description of it as a hard felt hat, he just seems to have added at the inquest that it was a deerstalker., whilst maintaining that it was a hard felt hat.

[Craig H]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for this. Good to see the images and how they could be confused. This could be right.

The other option is PC Smith first said it was a hard felt hat as this was the more common headwear. I’m assuming not many people wore a deerstalker in the East End. The most obvious explanation was a hard felt hat.

However, as he thought more about what he saw, he realised it was actually a deerstalker. This would be unusual to see in the area.

As you say, he must have used the phrase “deerstalker” as it’s in his testimony and several newspapers quoted it.

I think this is the other explanation for the changed description

Craig

[Wickerman]

It's not certain that PC Smith changed his description. Inquest coverage from 6 October has him using both variants to describe the man's hat.

Daily News
He had a hard felt hat on

Daily Telegraph
His hat? - He wore a dark felt deerstalker's hat.

Morning Advertiser
He wore a hard felt dark hat

Times
He had on a hard felt deerstalker hat of dark colour

When we look at all the press versions it is hard to imagine he didn't use the word 'deerstalker', as the alternate is to suggest that the Times, Telegraph, Star, People, etc. just copied each other rather than sent their own reporters to the inquest.
So, we are (I think) required to accept he used that word, as opposed to thinking it was an error by one reporter, clearly it was not.

So why?

The answer could be that it was suggested to him after he gave his initial statement in his report.
He must have wrote "hard felt hat" in his report, which is why it is captured in the official police description. But, if another officer had asked him to describe that hat, and he said the top was round, and there appeared to be a small peak fore & aft, which sounds this:

A deerstalker.

but what he meant was this:

or this:

A hard felt hat.
(I'm not promoting Druitt, it's just the only side view I have of that hat)

A domed hard felt hat, with a slight peak fore & aft, seen in profile at night, could be confused with a deerstalker?

There must be an answer, and this is about the best I can come up with on the evidence we have.

[Joshua Rogan]

It's not certain that PC Smith changed his description. Inquest coverage from 6 October has him using both variants to describe the man's hat.

Daily News
He had a hard felt hat on

Daily Telegraph
His hat? - He wore a dark felt deerstalker's hat.

Morning Advertiser
He wore a hard felt dark hat

Times
He had on a hard felt deerstalker hat of dark colour

[Craig H]

Jon,

Yes, my mistake, you're right - Lawende said man work a "peaked cap" not a "deerstalker" as I wrote.

Still, two credible witnesses (Long and PC Smith) said the man work a deerstalker.

You noted how PC Smith changed his description from the man wore a "hard felt hat" :
"- Aged about 28, and in height 5ft. 8in. or thereabouts; complexion dark, and wearing a black diagonal coat and hard felt hat, collar and tie. He was of respectable appearance, and was carrying a newspaper parcel."
Star, 1 Oct. 1888.

.. to saying it was a deerstalker at the enquiry.

Is it possible The Star typed it incorrectly ?

I would think his testimony in person would be more accurate as it was first hand.

Craig

[Wickerman]

Lawende had a good look at the man with Eddowes a short while before she died and said the man wore a deerstalker.

No, I'm sorry, he didn't.
Lawende described just a peaked cap.
"- He had on a cloth cap with a peak of the same."

Elizabeth Long saw the man with Chapman just before she died and also said he wore a deerstalker.

Yes, this is true, but the age she gave was much older.

PC Smith described the man with Stride just before she died as wearing a deerstalker.

Well, like I said. His first published description was a hard felt hat....

"- Aged about 28, and in height 5ft. 8in. or thereabouts; complexion dark, and wearing a black diagonal coat and hard felt hat, collar and tie. He was of respectable appearance, and was carrying a newspaper parcel."
Star, 1 Oct. 1888.

The above was published 5 days before Smith gave evidence at the inquest.

Later, on 12th Nov. Scotland Yard republished the same description along with two others of the three suspects seen that night.

"At 12.35 a.m., 30th September, with Elizabeth Stride, found murdered at one a.m., same date, in Berner-street - A man, aged 28, height 5ft 8in, complexion dark, small dark moustache; dress, black diagonal coat, hard felt hat, collar and tie; respectable appearance; carried a parcel wrapped up in a newspaper."

It doesn't look like the police were looking for a man wearing a deerstalker, the mystery remains as to why PC Smith changed his description at the inquest.

[DJA]

Meh,seems Funny Hat Days set him off.

[Craig H]

So continuing with Al’s line .... if JTR wore a deerstalker as part of his modus operandi, did he do the same for other attacks either before or after the canonical 5 ?

it’s likely he did something else before or after.

what are archives worth searching ?