East End Photographs and Drawings

[Archaic]

Hi Stephen

I was on a primary school history trip a few years ago...

Robert, you fooled me. All these years I've thought you were a grown-up.

Now get off the Casebook and go do your homework.

- Archaic

[Bridewell]

The Alley

Sure Harry,

I think the interesting aspect of Bishopsgate Station cell layout in 1888 is the fact that the cells are set against a pub and that they are across a yard.

Eddowes had to be escorted from these cells, across the yard and back into the station.

You don't see that in any reconstructions of the incident.

Yes, I do have an anorak...why you ask?

Monty

Monty,

Might she not have been released into Rose Alley? Hutt says he brought her "from the cell into the office", but would there not have been a small office in the cell area for the gaoler's use? I'm not trying to pick a fight over it, and don't suppose it matters much, but I just thought it was a possibility on the facts as presented.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Robert]

Oh, Miss Bunny, do I have to? I'm fed up with reading about Magna Carta. What is she to me? She died ages ago.

[Monty]

Monty,

Might she not have been released into Rose Alley? Hutt says he brought her "from the cell into the office", but would there not have been a small office in the cell area for the gaoler's use? I'm not trying to pick a fight over it, and don't suppose it matters much, but I just thought it was a possibility on the facts as presented.

Regards, Bridewell.

No, that's a fair comment. I don't think so Bridewell,

She was presented to Byfield and Hutt states she went to the main doesn't he?

Its pretty clear to me she was released out on to Bishopsgate.

Monty

[Rob Clack]

Out of interest, I was lucky enough to be in the station with Rob Clack only last month.

Monty

Just to be clear. We were invited guests.

Rob

[Archaic]

Just to be clear. We were invited guests.

Rob

Yeah, Rob, that's what all the "regulars" say.

Next, I bet you'll tell us they only took your photo there to celebrate the visit.

Archaic

[Monty]

Just to be clear. We were invited guests.

Rob

Í thought that would be taken as read, however knowing your past record...

Monty

[Rob Clack]

Yeah, Rob, that's what all the "regulars" say.

Next, I bet you'll tell us they only took your photo there to celebrate the visit.

Archaic

It was a case of mistaken identity

Í thought that would be taken as read, however knowing your past record...

Monty

We wont discuss that, thank you

Rob

[Monty]

For legal reasons I cannot comment upon Robs post above, not until the trial is over.

Besides, the beach wasn't designated as a nudist beach and though he did have a zoom lens camera it was purely for taking photos of the local wildlife, especially the birds.

Monty

[Archaic]

Street Salesman in Thomson Photo & Liz Stride

My thanks to Harry for posting the link with the old Thomson photographs of London street life.

I've been looking closely at the one showing a man selling items from a standing tray. It's a wonderful photo and I've meant to post it before, because a thought occurred to me regarding Liz Stride.

First off, note an interesting detail: the salesman has as an enormously tall orthopedic "elevator" shoe on his right foot to make his two legs the same length.

If you enlarge the photo and look closely, his tray reads:
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
Try Our New Cough Preventative
PEPPERMINTS
And directly below his tray a little banner reads: COUGH LOZENGES

I can't for the life of me figure out what the cloth hanging down below that is for...it appears to be a white cloth with something dark in the middle of it- any guesses?

OK, here's my Liz Stride tie-in: I couldn't help but wonder if there was any similarity between this kind of product- Victorian peppermint cough drops hawked by street pedlars- and the little "cachous" that Liz was holding in her hand when she died. (Peppermints would certainly make one's breath smell better than many of the rather bitter ingredients typically used in cachous.)

Early hygiene products were often marketed as having important "medicinal" qualities. That ploy convinced more people to buy them, because it justified their expense.

> How closely would the police have examined the "cachous" in Liz's hand to determine if they were actually peppermint-flavored cough drops, candies, etc?
Could "cachous" have been a more generic term than we tend to think of it today?

I wonder if Liz bought her little packet of "cachous" from a similar street vendor?

Thanks,
Archaic

[Carol]

Hi Archaic,

I can remember when I was a young girl some older people wearing elevator shoes. They weren't easy to walk on.

I can also remember that you could buy 'cachous' in a little tin in Boots' the chemists. They were called Parma Violet Cachous and were tiny little things, hard, with a chalky consistency and easy to crunch. They actually tasted of violets. They were meant to be breath fresheners. As far as I can remember lozenges were always for coughs and sore throats.

For all you youngsters, I'm talking about the 1950's.

Carol

[Harry the Hawker]

parma violets (from my mother's grave?)

Hi Archaic,

I can remember when I was a young girl some older people wearing elevator shoes. They weren't easy to walk on.

I can also remember that you could buy 'cachous' in a little tin in Boots' the chemists. They were called Parma Violet Cachous and were tiny little things, hard, with a chalky consistency and easy to crunch. They actually tasted of violets. They were meant to be breath fresheners. As far as I can remember lozenges were always for coughs and sore throats.

For all you youngsters, I'm talking about the 1950's.

Carol

I remember hard little 'sweets' called Parma Violets. They came in a roll, were quite small and hard and crunchy, and did indeed (to my childish imagination anyway) taste of violets (plus they were of course violet in colour). My (very elderly) nan (or possibly even great nan) used to give them to me (in the 1970s).

Cheers!
Harry

[Bridewell]

My thanks to Harry for posting the link with the old Thomson photographs of London street life.

I've been looking closely at the one showing a man selling items from a standing tray. It's a wonderful photo and I've meant to post it before, because a thought occurred to me regarding Liz Stride.

First off, note an interesting detail: the salesman has as an enormously tall orthopedic "elevator" shoe on his right foot to make his two legs the same length.

I can't for the life of me figure out what the cloth hanging down below that is for...it appears to be a white cloth with something dark in the middle of it- any guesses?

Thanks,
Archaic

The woman with her back to camera seems to have a deformed left hand and a badly-scarred left arm. I can't work out what the dangling cloth item is either. Is the salesman the "Poor Jo--" referred to in the adjacent board?

Regards, Bridewell.

[Archaic]

Thomson Photo of Street Pedlar

Hi Bridewell. You're right, her left hand does look a bit odd. Can't tell if it's arthritis, and injury, or perhaps a birth defect. People must have suffered greatly in those days.

I noticed the 'Poor Jo' poster too. It's a theater advertisement, probably for some inexpensive local theater. The poster says "Theatre" at the top, but can't make out the first word of its name. It almost looks like "Clark Theater", but that's just a guess and that name doesn't ring a bell.

In England street peddlers are known as "pedlars", and apparently they were also called "cheapjacks" and "mongers". The latter word is of course where the term "costermonger" comes from.

Regards,
Archaic

PS: I forgot to ask, does anybody know what the round opening low in the wall right in front of the seller's tray can be? It appears to be a "chute" of some kind but doesn't look like a coal chute.

[Bridewell]

PS: I forgot to ask, does anybody know what the round opening low in the wall right in front of the seller's tray can be? It appears to be a "chute" of some kind but doesn't look like a coal chute.

Hi Archaic,

I think it's a boot scraper.

Regards, Bridewell.