Hanbury Street Back yard photo

[Cogidubnus]

Hi Colin

precisely...or unless of course he actually didn't check at all that morning and the gradual escalation of his story is consequent upon one initial silly fib...

All the best

Dave

[Bridewell]

If he sat on the bottom step whilst trimming his boot then he could've seen the cellar door...but then he could hardly have missed a body on his left could he?

Hi Dave,

Of course, he could easily have missed it if it wasn't there yet!

Regards, Bridewell.

[Cogidubnus]

I think he'd have to come down the steps at least a bit, because it is obvious from the photos that the doorway is somewhat deepset...I don't think he could've just stood in the ground floor doorway and peered out to his right as his mother seemed to be implying (unless of course she meant that he could see from the top of the cellar steps).

If he sat on the bottom step whilst trimming his boot then he could've seen the cellar door...but then he could hardly have missed a body on his left could he?

All the best

Dave

[Bridewell]

So I think when Richardson says he could see if the door was locked by just peeking out and looking down to his right, my bet is he could.

Especially if he actually checked the lock while sitting on the second step, rather than before as the record suggests. (Just a thought).

Regards, Bridewell.

[Michael W Richards]

Hi C.F.

I think the 'wooden cover' that people are discussing is that sort of rooflike thing that you can see in the contemporary crime scene drawings in posts #32 and #33. It looks as though it would have impeded Richardson's view of the cellar door as he stood in the back doorway of the house.

With respect to Richardsons view from the top step, I believe the entrance to the cellar was covered by a wooden "roof", and there are signs of that original configuration in some of the old photos. It was higher than the top of the cellar door jamb. There were no sides on the structure, it was likely just to keep rain off anyone going in and out of the cellar.

So I think when Richardson says he could see if the door was locked by just peeking out and looking down to his right, my bet is he could.

Best regards

[Stephen Thomas]

It only had one door in 1888 Colin.

Yes, in the 1920s or before, the front room of #29 became a 'lock up' barbershop which got its own front door next to the original C19th one.

[Bridewell]

It only had one door in 1888 Colin.

Monty

I stand corrected.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Monty]

It only had one door in 1888 Colin.

Monty

[Bridewell]

29, Hanbury Street

Here is a drawing of the front of 29 Hanbury Street from The Adirondack News Nov 3, 1888

Interestingly the house seems to have lost one of its doors. I wonder if this is an 'artist's impression'?

Regards, Bridewell

[DRoy]

...and one of the back

[DRoy]

Here is a drawing of the front of 29 Hanbury Street from The Adirondack News Nov 3, 1888

[Cogidubnus]

Richardson's knife

Elizabeth Long's evidence, whether you compare with Cadosch or the good doctor, may be dodgy timewise...her identification may in any case not be certain...

Cadosch didn't actually see anything...presumably dominated by his urgent need for the privy he might've actually heard a "No" from anywhere...the thud against the fence could've been a cat...his reputation for honesty (thanks to Colin) is shot to pieces anyway...

OK all this is hindsight but Baxter weighed in favour of these two against the medical evidence...leaving aside the legal mind over the medical mind arguments, why?

I suggest Richardson is actually the key...and assuming Deb's research is correct his evidence may just be tainted by the effects of epililepsy...which depending upon the severity may last just a few seconds, (typically petit mal) or which occasionally may last 10 to 15 minutes...not necesssarily fits as often imagined, but seizures during which nothing recallable registers on the mind...

And what's all this with the knife, which isn't initially mentioned at all, but then in one moment cuts off the offending piece of leather, but the next minute doesn't after all, and which when produced, probably wouldn't even cut up the carrots it was supposedly there for...

Whatever's going down in the back yard of No 29, I don't think Richardson's a particularly reliable source to relay it

All the best

Dave

[Phil H]

It is the extent to which the yard of No 29 was overlooked, and the frequency of movement in the house and yard once dawn broke, that makes me ponder an earlier time for the murder - one more consistent with the times of death of Nichols and Eddowes.

Phil H

[Beowulf]

Ha. There is a window right about the spot where she was murdered, talk about crust. All one had to do was look out the window to see the murder take place, he seems to have been very content he was not going to be seen, how was that?

Do they know who lived in that apartment? Or any of the apartments, specifically? It would be interesting to hear what the person with the window exactly above the murder might have to say, wonder if it was a bedroom window and they were in there sleeping away...

[Ginger]

Could Someone please clarify this for a Newbie?

I'm getting the impression that what most people are meaning by a 'door cover' is a vertical object fitting into the door jam. But couldn't the cover be horizontal (even with the ground, I mean), over the down stairs also? I've seen pictures of this sort, usually two shutters that would be padlocked together. And I think Richardson would have been able to check that sort just by looking out.

-- C F Leon

Hi C.F.

I think the 'wooden cover' that people are discussing is that sort of rooflike thing that you can see in the contemporary crime scene drawings in posts #32 and #33. It looks as though it would have impeded Richardson's view of the cellar door as he stood in the back doorway of the house.