The broken window

[David Orsam]

Hi David,

"We know that Dr Gale did not live very far away from Whitechapel in 1888."

We do?

I meant Dr Gabe, Simon.

[Simon Wood]

Hi David,

No problem.

Mecklenburgh Square is around two-and-a-half miles from Church Street.

Regards,

Simon

[David Orsam]

Hi David,

No problem.

Mecklenburgh Square is around two-and-a-half miles from Church Street.

That's exactly my point Simon. Not very far away at all. Through Clerkenwell, which was an area in which Dr Gabe operated, across the City and you are in Whitechapel. Not a particularly long walk but a short journey in a cab in 1888 (as today).

I was contrasting to any Dr Gale who you might find in Plymouth or somewhere like that. The newspaper report referred to a 'Dr Gale' treating patients at the London Dispensary. Find me a Dr Gale who was closer to Spitalfields.

[Robert St Devil]

Thanks Simon.

Puts a dent in part of my theory

Surmise she took her tablets with her.

DJA. I found the following link for PHARMOCOPOEIA OF ST BARTHOLOMEWS HOSPITAL 1896. It was the only one available online:

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b20405662#?asi=0&ai=0

I'm having to learn Latin real quick. Some prescriptions are obvious lotions (Lotio). But there are also eye lotions (Collyrium) and salves (Unguentums). Still working on the others. Want to discover which lotions would have been marked as POISON and what they may have treated.

Already SULFATE OF ATROPIN has been marked for its poisonous qualities. Reports of a suicidal man drinking an EYE LOTION containing the drug. Guessing that hiding Visine in alcohol in a prank isnt anything new.

[DJA]

Already SULFATE OF ATROPIN has been marked for its poisonous qualities. Reports of a suicidal man drinking an EYE LOTION containing the drug.

Extract of deadly nightshade or Bella Donna.

Once similar was used for gastric ulcers.

Thanks for the link.

[Robert St Devil]

Extract of deadly nightshade or Bella Donna.

Once similar was used for gastric ulcers.

Thanks for the link.

Glad to help DJA. Think I may have found one for vaginal itching. What would have been prescribed to her 3 times a day is beyond me...

[DJA]

Best of luck with the itching St Devil

The TB rate was around 20%,so might be a clue.

Ex May & Baker, also experienced in alcohol and drug rehab. No eye dear.

[David Orsam]

Except for the fact that the doctor was not a gynaecologist.

Hi Simon,

I hope you won't mind me asking you a question re. the above.

Why do you say that Dr Gabe was not a gynaecologist?

[RockySullivan]

The mystery to me is how McCarthy couldn't have a key. Bowyer goes to the landlord when he sees a mutilated corpse through the window...why? If you saw a butchered body through a window..would you scream for the police or would you go and see your boss the landlord first?

Break down the door with an axe? I've never heard of a landlord not having a key to his property. McCarthy trusts the only key to a prostitute who hasn't paid the rent in months?

This story isn't right.

[RockySullivan]

Extract of deadly nightshade or Bella Donna.

Once similar was used for gastric ulcers.

Thanks for the link.

Personally I've wondered if the women might have been drugged with Atropine/Scopolamine from a Nightshade tincture hours before their murders. The drugs effects can last for a long time. The way Eddies was arrested for public intoxication and she said her name was "nothing" could possibly be the result of a disassociative. These drugs were used by the Thugees to control victims, so someone who had spent time in India could be familiar with their method. Off topic.

[Rosella]

The mystery to me is how McCarthy couldn't have a key. Bowyer goes to the landlord when he sees a mutilated corpse through the window...why? If you saw a butchered body through a window..would you scream for the police or would you go and see your boss the landlord first?

Break down the door with an axe? I've never heard of a landlord not having a key to his property. McCarthy trusts the only key to a prostitute who hasn't paid the rent in months?

This story isn't right.

Put yourself in McCarthy's position, Rocky. I think he may well have thought to himself as he stood in front of that window and realised he'd have to call the police. "If I admit that I have a key to this room and the police know that I work seconds away from it, they might ask me some awkward questions about having easy access. I know what, I'll tell 'em I only had one key, gave it to Mary and she lost it.'

That's the easiest explanation, I think. Even if the police didn't believe him, and they probably didn't, how would they prove that he was lying?

[Wickerman]

The relationship between servant & master was very strong in those days. People had a place and they were expected to know their place.
Bowyer's duty was to his master first, especially as his master was a matter of feet away. Bowyer's place is not to make decisions, but to inform his master and wait for his decision.

McCarthy was not stupid, on the one hand it is hard to believe he didn't have a spare key. Yet, McCarthy lived in a crowded house, brothers, wives & children, it should have been relatively easy for him to have an alibi for the night of the murder, it's not like he lived alone.
So, on balance, not having a spare key was probably the true situation, careless, but true. Why should he have another key made, and the cost, getting in is their problem, let them deal with it.
We all have little things that we should tend to but keep putting off, McCarthy was likely no different.

McCarthy is also concerned about damage & cost of repair, so I have no doubt he would have stepped up with a tool (a pick?) with which to force the door, to keep the damage to a minimum. The police would not have come with a sledgehammer to break their way in. They would approach a local contractor to borrow something, so McCarthy was helping them out while looking after his interests too.

[RockySullivan]

Hi Rosella, Hi Wickerman,

But would he really axe the door if he had nothing to hide? If he didn't keep a spare key, he's gonna have to chop down a door everytime a prostitute skips out on the rent

[packers stem]

Small point but why not put your arm through the broken pane, unclip the sash window and open it

[Wickerman]

Hi Rosella, Hi Wickerman,

But would he really axe the door if he had nothing to hide? If he didn't keep a spare key, he's gonna have to chop down a door everytime a prostitute skips out on the rent

The solution could be as simple as Mrs McCarthy being out on some errand at the time and had the keys with her, or the master key.
The fact he forced the door doesn't necessarily suggest that he didn't have a spare key, it only suggest he could lay his hands on another key at that moment when the police wanted in.

I'm sure the police would have asked just the same questions you are asking, that they can't believe he wouldn't have a second key. Maybe there was an innocent answer to that question, that's all I am suggesting.