New information/research?

[MrBarnett]

I can’t be sure of this, but I suspect that some, if not all, of the catsmeat produced at Winthrop Street may have been taken to Coventry Street to be sold/distributed. It seems HB had a wholesale outlet there.

[MrBarnett]

A few pages from Charles Dickens’s All The Year Round journal describing the skills of a particular knacker (called Potler here, but I suspect his real name was Cutler) up in John Harrison’s yard in Islington in the late 1860s.

[MrBarnett]

Potler 1

[MrBarnett]

Potler 2

[MrBarnett]

Blank

[MrBarnett]

Potler 3

[MrBarnett]

Potler 4

[MrBarnett]

Bear in mind, horse slaughtering took place overnight, and before the arrival of electricity the activity was carried out by flickering gas/candle light.

[MrBarnett]

Bear in mind, horse slaughtering took place overnight, and before the arrival of electricity the activity was carried out by flickering gas/candle light.

There is an amusing story of a knacker named Nicholas Shippy who had connections to Whitechapel and at one time lodged with Henry Tomkins in Manchester. On one occasion when he was working in Wolverhampton, his boss sent him out to buy some candles for the night’s work, and on the way back Shippy allowed himself to be lured into a pub by a ‘woman of the town’ who took the opportunity to steal his candles.

[Pcdunn]

Bear in mind, horse slaughtering took place overnight, and before the arrival of electricity the activity was carried out by flickering gas/candle light.

So, horse-slaughterers were used to using knives in low light? Interesting...

[barnflatwyngarde]

So, horse-slaughterers were used to using knives in low light? Interesting...

Absolutely!

[MrBarnett]

This is the man who allowed a ‘woman of the town’ to steal his candles in Wolverhampton. He was living under Henry Tomkins’s roof in Manchester in 1881.

It’s an example of what I think of as the casual cruelty of the knacker’s yard.

[mpriestnall]

Hi Aethelwulf

I think there’s lots of material out there that can be unearthed and that will contribute to our knowledge about the case in its societal context.

I do not think that any more central files will be located that will drastically change how we understand the events. The central police reports have been preserve and published.

Most people here are online investigators, using data from sources as they come online. But there’s a heap of material that will not be digitized any time in the near future. So one needs to get to an actual archive and start digging. That often means having to be in London.
But there are opportunities locally, I believe - one could start with one’s local archive, check out what kind of records local police have from that time or what the papers wrote about the case. Perhaps some witnesses have a connection to one’s local area and so info about their background could be researched.
I’m situated in Denmark, so I’ve a habit of researching any Danish connections, others elsewhere could do the same.
It was often reported I believe that the police would send reports of the murders to foreign police forces when a murder occurred that might be similar to a ripper murder. If that is true (I consider it unlikely), those reports would still reside in German, French, Dutch archives etc and could potentially reveal important details.
Similarly for local British archives; letters from london about various suspects would have been sent to local law enforcement.

Such material will not digitized soon, so going in person (or paying someone to go in person) is the only way.
So I’m confident we’ll eventually find MJK, I’m equally confident she won’t help us find JtR

MJK is linked to Astrakhan who is in turn linked to JTR. This is ascertained fact.

[Kattrup]

MJK is linked to Astrakhan who is in turn linked to JTR. This is ascertained fact.

Hmm, ascertained how? MJK is linked to JtR - being one of his victims - and to Astrakhan man - they were seen together. But how has it been ascertained that Astrakhan man is linked to JtR?


Would you kindly explain how the linkage is an ascertained fact?

[mpriestnall]

Hmm, ascertained how? MJK is linked to JtR - being one of his victims - and to Astrakhan man - they were seen together. But how has it been ascertained that Astrakhan man is linked to JtR?


Would you kindly explain how the linkage is an ascertained fact?

I found Astrakhan first in 2016. After a couple of days I found JTR by searching around the former. I should have found Kelly then but I overlooked her and didn't find her until sometime in 2020.

I have extensively researched Astrakhan, JTR and Kelly.

regards,

Martyn