Double Event Timings etc...

[DJA]

Doubt police were allowed to starve their prisoners.
Kate was in their care for five hours.
As bread and water were punitive because they constipate,she probably ate something slightly nourishing during her incarceration.
It really isn't that difficult.

Doubt Stride ate any cashous,as it is most likely they were handed to her seconds before her murder.
Then again,I suspect they were medication rather than breath lollies.

[Rosella]

I wonder whether there were any charity soup kitchens in the area serving a cup of soup and a bit of bread that Kate could have accessed in the early evening before she earned any drinking money. If there were I don't think she would have resisted.

On the other hand did police kitchens have facilities for making soup, however thin and gruel-like? I know police station houses, which were sometimes attached to stations, did, but I just can't imagine policemen rushing to deliver hot soup to their casual clientele who were only there for a few hours. A cuppa and a piece of bread, with a smearing of butter, would be more the ticket, I would have thought.

[DJA]

As a guest of Her Majesty for the evening,Kate could expect soup,potato and bread for dinner and oatmeal with bread for supper.

[Rosella]

Thank you DJA! When was dinner served though? Was it served at about 6pm or when? Did Kate miss out on the soup, potato etc and just cop the oatmeal supper?

[DJA]

That was from an 1849 Table of Dietaries for Prisoners,Berwick Gaol.

Gladstone standardised prisoners food in 1878.

Our token Pommie up here is a librarian who turns up of a Friday morning
He told me he can't stomach oatmeal,so not much help.

Honestly don't know when they are fed,however despite Kate's condition,there is a fair chance she was fed soon after her arrival.
Maybe 8.45pm? Dunno.
Doubt she would have been interested in supper.

Edit.D'oh! The cut end would be the two feet of large intestine that was placed by her body.

[Rosella]

Thank you, DJA. But these Berwick prisoners are actually in the clink, serving their sentences or on remand, not just visiting for a few hours, so to speak. Those just sleeping it off in the cells at a police station might only be there for a couple of hours.

[GUT]

Doubt police were allowed to starve their prisoners.
Kate was in their care for five hours.
As bread and water were punitive because they constipate,she probably ate something slightly nourishing during her incarceration.
It really isn't that difficult.

Doubt Stride ate any cashous,as it is most likely they were handed to her seconds before her murder.
Then again,I suspect they were medication rather than breath lollies.

And probably a soupy stew with a chunk of half stale bread.

[Rosella]

I've just taken a look in Monty's book 'Capturing Jack the Ripper'. It says in that, according to the 1889 code 'necessary refreshments may be purchased out of money taken from them' (the prisoners) provided they weren't being charged with stealing the money! They were not allowed spirits or beer, only tea or coffee!

City of London police report 1891 states 'the prisoner would be offered tea or cocoa, if preferred, and some bread and butter.' However, a fee of 4d was to be charged for the refreshments. Too bad if you didn't have 4d.

[DJA]

DJA: i was getting ready to send out a rescue party for you. Thought you may have got ,stuck, in woop woop, but figured you were probably allan quartermaining it in some outback somewhere.

I,ve wondered if yhe portion of her intestine that was removed was accidentally cut when her body was cut open, spilling the feces into the abdomen. I,m trying to locate the thread that had the discussion of the feculent matter being sizeable.

G'day!

Jack did it on purpose.
It's part of the descending colon.

[GUT]

I've just taken a look in Monty's book 'Capturing Jack the Ripper'. It says in that, according to the 1889 code 'necessary refreshments may be purchased out of money taken from them' (the prisoners) provided they weren't being charged with stealing the money! They were not allowed spirits or beer, only tea or coffee!

City of London police report 1891 states 'the prisoner would be offered tea or cocoa, if preferred, and some bread and butter.' However, a fee of 4d was to be charged for the refreshments. Too bad if you didn't have 4d.

If you needed 4d they could always turn a trick.

[Rosella]

Yes, but did Kate have 4d on her when she was brought in, or had she drunk it all away?

[Bridewell]

Personally, I'd think that if the police were in the habit of feeding more than a cup of tea to every drunk who they locked up for a few hours there would be a queue at the door.

And drunks who are arrested are more interested in release than in food. Eddowes was no exception if Hutt's account is taken as accurate (and I see no reason why it shouldn't be).

[Bridewell]

A cuppa and a piece of bread, with a smearing of butter, would be more the ticket, I would have thought.

Yep. That's about the size of it. If you start providing meals at times dictated by prisoners you lose control altogether. Kate Eddowes was not in custody at a regular mealtime, so would have been fed little or nothing during her incarceration. That's certainly how it would be in the modern era, and I can't imagine that things were more generous in the LVP than they are today.

[Bridewell]

Just an after-thought to the above. If someone at the police station had been out and bought something akin to what would now be termed 'chips', any left over might have been offered to a detainee who asked politely.

[caz]

If Eddowes fell sound asleep as soon as she hit the sack, and wanted out of there the moment she stirred, I doubt she would have asked for, or been offered, anything to eat. It does look like her priority was to beg, borrow or earn some money before going to face the music with her other half.

Love,

Caz
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