Broad Shoulders, Elizabeth's Killer ?

[GBinOz]

Excellent post George, I agree with your views and assessment on this.

Thanks RD,

I do need to correct an error - I stated that Mrs Artisan did not mention standing at her doorway. This is clearly incorrect as she mentions it in the latter part of her interview.

Cheers, George

[Herlock Sholmes]

Apologies for another lengthy one. My comments in brackets in blue.


Evening News, Oct 1st


INTERVIEW WITH A NEIGHBOUR.


Some three doors from the gateway where the body of the first victim was discovered, (I realise that in many reports it says that Fanny lived four doors from the club but that’s not the case - there was the gateway the gateway then number 40, then number 38 THEN number 36, Fanny’s house, three doors from the club, so this interviewer is describing a woman that came from Fanny’s house) I saw a clean, respectable-looking woman chatting with one or two neighbours. She was apparently the wife of a well-to-do artisan, ( George correctly points out that Mr. Mortimer was a Carman but the interviewer does use the word ‘apparently’ which could mean that he was just giving an opinion that the woman appeared to be the wife of a better class of person. After all, ‘artisan isn’t a specific job but the reporter is suggesting some kind of craftsman rather than, say, a casual labourer) and formed a strong contrast to many of those around her. I got into conversation with her and found that she was one of the first on the spot. (Due to her location and situation Fanny must have been one of the very first on the spot too.)


TEN INCHES OF COLD STEEL.


"I was just about going to bed, sir, when I heard a call for the police. (Fanny had just gone inside for what she believed at the time was for the final time - so she too was preparing to go to bed and said just that in some versions) I ran to the door, and before I could open it I heard somebody say, 'Come out quick; there's a poor woman here that's had ten inches of cold steel in her.' I hurried out, and saw some two or three people standing in the gateway. Lewis, the man who looks after the Socialist Club at No. 40, was there, and his wife. (This part certainly differs from Fanny’s versions - I went to see what was the matter, and was informed that another dreadful murder had been committed in the yard adjoining the club house - isn’t it possible that she heard the ‘cold steel’ part at the yard but the interviewer recorded it as being the commotion that she heard when she opened her door, a person who told her what had happened?)

"Then I see a sight that turned me all sick and cold. There was the murdered woman a-lying on her side, with her throat cut across till her head seemed to be hanging by a bit of skin. Her legs was drawn up under her, and her head and the upper part of her body was soaked in blood. (This version is certainly more dramatic in its language so it could be a slightly sexed up version of Fanny’s story - and on going inside I saw the body of a woman lying huddled up just inside the gates with her throat cut from ear to ear.) She was dressed in black as if she was in mourning for somebody.


MURDERED WITHIN SOUND OF MUSIC AND DANCING.


"Did you hear no sound of quarrelling, no cry for help?" I asked.

"Nothing of the sort, sir. I should think I must have heard it if the poor creature screamed at all, for I hadn't long come in from the door when I was roused, as I tell you, by that call for the police. (Fanny also expressed the opinion that she couldn’t have failed to have heard any significant noise due to her being on her doorstep) But that was from the people as found the body. Mr. Lewis, who travels in cheap drapery things a bit now and again, had just drove into the yard when his horse shied at something that was lying in the corner. He thought 'twas a bundle of some kind till he got down from his cart and struck a light. Then he saw what it was and gave the alarm." (Fanny also mentions Diemschitz - I was told that the manager or steward of the Club had discovered the woman on his return home in his pony cart.)

"Was the street quiet at the time?"

"Yes, there was hardly anybody moving about, except at the club. There was music and dancing going on there at the very time that that poor creature was being murdered at their very door, as one may say." (In The Daily News Fanny said - The quiet and deserted character of the street)


A MAN WITH A BLACK BAG!


" I suppose you did not notice a man and woman pass down the street while you were at the door?"

"No, sir. I think I should have noticed them if they had. Particularly if they'd been strangers, at that time o' night. (Fanny doesn’t mention strangers but she does say - (and did not notice anything unusual.) I only noticed one person passing, just before I turned in. That was a young man walking up Berner-street, carrying a black bag in his hand."

"Did you observe him closely, or notice anything in his appearance?" (Fanny mentions seeing Goldstein of course but Mrs A uses the word ‘up’. )

"No, I didn't pay particular attention to him. He was respectably dressed, but was a stranger to me. He might ha' been coming from the Socialist Club., A good many young men goes there, of a Saturday night especially." (This certainly suggests that the guy was walking north and is curious but, as I think that this story is too similar to be anything other than Fanny Mortimer’s given by a more dramatic reporter, I tend to think that there must be an explanation. Maybe because Goldstein was Jewish Fanny suspected that he might have been a club member, especially as he glanced toward the club as he passed. Being a club member,bet might have meant that she used the phrase ‘from the club’ and perhaps this, or something like it, was at the root of the confusion as to which direction he was going?)

That was all that my informant had to tell me. I wonder will the detectives think it worth while to satisfy themselves about that black bag?

As this is so similar to Fanny’s story in so many ways, added to the fact that the police appeared to find nothing suspicious about Goldstein (as they might have done if it had been discovered that he’d passed the scene of the murder twice instead of once as first stated) I have to say that I feel strongly that this is a different version of Fanny’s story. I know that George and I disagree on this particular point. If I recall from previous conversations opinion was divided but I can’t recall if there was a slant toward one or the other?

[GBinOz]

As this is so similar to Fanny’s story in so many ways, added to the fact that the police appeared to find nothing suspicious about Goldstein (as they might have done if it had been discovered that he’d passed the scene of the murder twice instead of once as first stated) I have to say that I feel strongly that this is a different version of Fanny’s story. I know that George and I disagree on this particular point. If I recall from previous conversations opinion was divided but I can’t recall if there was a slant toward one or the other?

Hi Herlock,

As I recall, in the previous discussions the slant was entirely in the direction of your opinion, and away from my solid minority opinion of one. Your argument seems to be that the differences can be explained by misquotations and interpretations in the interviews, and that may be, as such differences should, as you state, have been sorted out by police when they interviewed everyone in the street.

With regard to the mention of the "10 inches of cold steel", the shout was on the night, minutes after the murder. The Coram knife was found a day afterwards and had a 10" blade. Coincidence?

Without discounting your conclusion, shall we look at the statements strictly as written.

Mrs Mortimer:
"the only man whom I had seen pass through the street previously was a young man carrying a black shiny bag, who walked very fast down the street from the Commercial-road. He looked up at the club, and then went around the corner by the Board School".

This is very specific and doesn't leave much room for interpretation.

Mrs Artisan:
I only noticed one person passing, just before I turned in. That was a young man walking up Berner-street, carrying a black bag in his hand."
"Did you observe him closely, or notice anything in his appearance?"
"No, I didn't pay particular attention to him. He was respectably dressed, but was a stranger to me. He might ha' been coming from the Socialist Club., A good many young men goes there, of a Saturday night especially.

Since Berner St slopes down from Commercial to Fairclough, it does appear than the man was headed north. The suggestion that he might have been coming from the Socialist Club means that, whether or not he looked jewish, he was coming from the direction of the club. So if it is to be suggested the "up" and "down" the street descriptions are interchangeable, then for Mrs Artisan to be seeing the man headed south she must have been living at 42, 44 (Packer) or 46 (The Nelson). I have difficulty accepting that this is the case. The other thing to be noticed is that the interviewer asked Mrs Artisan if she had seen a couple walking down the street, and she replied No, but that she did see a man walking up the street.

Cheers, George