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I have often thought, as we have a probable direction of travel for the murderer from Mitre Square (Eddowes' Apron / Goulston St) what it pity it is that we have nothing similar from any of the other murders. It seems to me likely that a killer's first instinct will be to head, if not for home, then at least for a safe haven. He might deviate after giving the matter some thought, or be forced to divert to avoid the police, but it seems reasonable, at least tentatively, to make that assumption. The Star is perhaps not the source one might choose for reliability, but the following is from its issue dated 1st October 1888:
"From two different sources we have the story that a man when passing through Church-lane at about half-past one, saw a man sitting on a door-step and wiping his hands. As every one is on the look out for the murderer the man looked at the stranger with a certain amount of suspicion, whereupon he tried to conceal his face. He is described as a man who wore a short jacket and a sailor's hat."
The time would have to be inaccurate for this to be a genuine sighting. 1.30 would mean that the killer hadn't gone far ( - perhaps hadn't been able to? - ) and would also be cutting it fine for Mitre Square. The mention of the "sailor's hat" is intriguing though. Did it feature in descriptions before the Double Event murders & could The Star have got wind of it in such a short space of time? If and I accept that it's a very big if, this is a genuine sighting, it would mean that the killer's initial movement was approximately north-north-west from Berner Street. I've drawn lines from Mitre Square through the Wentworth New Model Dwellings (roughly north-east), and from Berner Street through Church Lane to see where they intersect. There would need to be a degree of approximation factored in, but the cross-over is on Flower & Dean Street about one third of the way along from the Commercial Street end. The lines continue and form a 'V' upwards from that point which, towards the top end of the search area, runs from Spital Square in the west, to Spital St in the east (using an 1894 OS map).
It would mean that the killer did not travel to Mitre Square by the most direct route. He would have needed to turn back to the south-west, possibly after reaching Wentworth Street but, once he's well to the north of Whitechapel Road, he's not coming from the direction of the Berner Street murder scene, so is less likely to be challenged. (Of course the whole edifice comes crashing down if Stride was not a Ripper murder!)
"From two different sources we have the story that a man when passing through Church-lane at about half-past one, saw a man sitting on a door-step and wiping his hands. As every one is on the look out for the murderer the man looked at the stranger with a certain amount of suspicion, whereupon he tried to conceal his face. He is described as a man who wore a short jacket and a sailor's hat."
The time would have to be inaccurate for this to be a genuine sighting. 1.30 would mean that the killer hadn't gone far ( - perhaps hadn't been able to? - ) and would also be cutting it fine for Mitre Square. The mention of the "sailor's hat" is intriguing though. Did it feature in descriptions before the Double Event murders & could The Star have got wind of it in such a short space of time? If and I accept that it's a very big if, this is a genuine sighting, it would mean that the killer's initial movement was approximately north-north-west from Berner Street. I've drawn lines from Mitre Square through the Wentworth New Model Dwellings (roughly north-east), and from Berner Street through Church Lane to see where they intersect. There would need to be a degree of approximation factored in, but the cross-over is on Flower & Dean Street about one third of the way along from the Commercial Street end. The lines continue and form a 'V' upwards from that point which, towards the top end of the search area, runs from Spital Square in the west, to Spital St in the east (using an 1894 OS map).
It would mean that the killer did not travel to Mitre Square by the most direct route. He would have needed to turn back to the south-west, possibly after reaching Wentworth Street but, once he's well to the north of Whitechapel Road, he's not coming from the direction of the Berner Street murder scene, so is less likely to be challenged. (Of course the whole edifice comes crashing down if Stride was not a Ripper murder!)
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