the Goulston St Graffiti

[D.B.Wagstaff]

If this has been discussed already, forgive me, but the following thought occurred:

Jack leaves Mitre Square after killing Catherine Eddowes - taking a piece of her apron to wipe his hands and/or knife. He wipes his hands and/or knife as he walks, and knows he needs to discard the piece of cloth, not wanting to have it on his person in case he is stopped and questioned by the police. He happens to see the Ghoulston Street Grafitti (he might even have ducked into the doorway when somebody - maybe even the police, walked by) and thinks "Perfect - it mentions Jews and is written so badly, it's hard to tell what it means. I'll just toss the rag here - that should muddy up the waters . . ."

Possible? Probable? I await your comments . . .

[Defective Detective]

If this has been discussed already, forgive me, but the following thought occurred:

Jack leaves Mitre Square after killing Catherine Eddowes - taking a piece of her apron to wipe his hands and/or knife. He wipes his hands and/or knife as he walks, and knows he needs to discard the piece of cloth, not wanting to have it on his person in case he is stopped and questioned by the police. He happens to see the Ghoulston Street Grafitti (he might even have ducked into the doorway when somebody - maybe even the police, walked by) and thinks "Perfect - it mentions Jews and is written so badly, it's hard to tell what it means. I'll just toss the rag here - that should muddy up the waters . . ."

Possible? Probable? I await your comments . . .

I've always been partial to the notion that Jack accidentally sliced his hand open while brutalizing Ms. Eddowes in Mirte Square, and 'borrowed' a piece of her apron to wrap it around his wound. That would at least give us something to look for - perhaps a report of a suspect checking it at one of the East End's hospitals for a wound to the hand around the time of the Double Event - and an ad hoc explanation for the lack of murders committed in October 1888.

Let us not forget that Mitre Square was surely the most poorly-lit of all the sites the Ripper killed in, and he may very well have been in a hurry if he knew PC Long was coming back in five minutes after first looking into the square. It would make sense to me that he might have gotten sloppy in his butchery and done himself harm in the darkness.

I agree with the rest of your post.

[Fisherman]

David:

"Were there many "graffiti-decorated doorways" in Goulston Street ?
All as strange as the GSG ??"

THAT would be odd in the extreme, David. A more reasonable guess would be that the graffiti differed from doorway to doorway.
...but as you know, we cannot tell how much graffiti was about, where it was and what it said. But reasonably, it was about in many places, saying many things, some of them "strange" and others more straightforward things.

If you differ, it would be interesting to hear in what way!

The best,
Fisherman

[Fisherman]

D B Wagstaff:

"He happens to see the Ghoulston Street Grafitti (he might even have ducked into the doorway when somebody - maybe even the police, walked by) and thinks "Perfect - it mentions Jews and is written so badly, it's hard to tell what it means. I'll just toss the rag here - that should muddy up the waters . . ."

Possible? Probable? I await your comments . . ."

Absolutely possible - if the doorway was lit up so that he could read the message. But why would it be?

As for the implication of Jews, I think that it is not a very good suggestion. He had loads of time in Dorset Street, but did nothing to entertain such a suggestion. Nor did he implicate Jews in Buck´s Row or Hanbury Street - well, that is unless he was even more "subtle" in them venues then he was authoring the GSG...

So no, I do not buy into any of this, I´m afraid.

The best,
Fisherman

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

Just a thought... does anybody know who lived in the buildings where the apron piece/graffiti were found? In the 1891 census perhaps? And if so... I wonder how many Jewish people lived there?..

Just a thought..

best wishes

Phil

[Ben]

I really don't see why it has to be all or nothing when it comes to the amazingly reasonable suggestion that the killer may have sought to deflect suspicion in the direction of the Jewish community when the opportunity arose. I fear that some have the idea that unless the killer was seeking to implicate the Jews all the time in a very blatent manner, he can't have been doing so at all. I struggle to see how this makes sense.

Several of the most senior police officials from the period appear to have recognised the merit in the suggestion that the killer had may have harboured this intention in the wake of the Eddowes murder at the very least, and historian Philip Sugden also considered it a viable suggestion.

If the killer's intention was to implicate the most popular scapegoat around, it wouldn't have made any sense to engage in any Jew-implicating antics at the Tabram or Nichols murders, since they occured before the "Leather Apron" fun commenced in ernest.

Best regards,
Ben

[lynn cates]

answer

Hello Phil. Nearly all were Jewish.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Thanks so much to Jane Coram for posting information about the accusatory graffito on the fence of the slaughterhouse on Winthrop Street after the Nichols murder.
To Fisherman:
Pertaining to the Ghoulston graffito, the honest answer would be that I don't know what the hell to think. Although I doubt it that the one who discarded the piece of apron didn't happen to see the graffito. I tend to believe that Stride was a Ripper slaying, and that the “anti-semitic“ components of the night of the double event were probably related.
I very much agree with Ben here.
Ben wrote:
I fear that some have the idea that unless the killer was seeking to implicate the Jews all the time in a very blatent manner, he can't have been doing so at all. I struggle to see how this makes sense.
If the killer's intention was to implicate the most popular scapegoat around, it wouldn't have made any sense to engage in any Jew-implicating antics at the Tabram or Nichols murders, since they occured before the "Leather Apron" fun commenced in earnest.
And to Phil Carter:
It seems that Jacob Levy lived without short walking distance from Ghoulston Street, whatever that's worth for. And yes, Lynn Cates is right that most inhabitants in these buildings were Jews.
As for how to upload a videoclip on casebook, Lynn, perhaps if you talked to the admin? Or if you uploaded it somewhere else and posted a link to that here?

[Monty]

Goddamit, its Goulston Street, not Ghoulston street.

Im sorry Maria, Im no angel at spelling, and its not solely you who has made the error so please dont think Im singling you out. Im sure its an honest error.

However it starts with Ghoulston and end up with Macnaughten.

Anally yours

Monty

[The Grave Maurice]

Good point, Monty. Although there is a poster with the screen name ghoulstonstreet (which is a clever moniker, actually) and Maria may have picked up on that.

[Monty]

Yes Grave,

Im sure its an honest mistake by Maria. Others have done the same, equally in error Im just as sure, just that it grates.

I know, I need to get a life.

Monty

[The Grave Maurice]

No, you're fine, son. But don't even talk to me about Macnaghten. That is the most frequent mistake I make on these boards. For nearly all of my life, I've known members of a family named MacNaughten and, consequently, I nearly always misspell it here. (I blame Sir Mel and his clan for adoptng a variant version.)

[mariab]

Ouch, I was not even aware that it's Goulston Street, without an “h“, Monty! Thanks so much for correcting me. (I guess my ignorant newbie roots totally show...)
By the by, I have the feeling that Lynn has just created a new thread, “Liz Stride reenactment“.

[mariab]

By the way, Monty, can you tell us what the graffito text in your Berner Street 1909 photo says? I'm so sorry, I can't at all decipher the text here, it's too tiny.

[Garza]

If the copper said that he only noticed the graffiti when he was looking for blood on the wall, it is probable that either the Ripper wrote the graffiti or he did not see it at all.