Cutbush = Blotchyman ?

[MrTwibbs]

as quoted from the Victim section>Mary kelly
11:45 PM: Mary Ann Cox, a 31 year old widower and prostitute, who lives at 5 Miller's Court (last house on the left) enters Dorset Street from Commercial Street. Cox is returning home to warm herself as the night had turned cold. She sees Kelly ahead of her, walking with a stout man. The man was aged around 35 or 36 and was about 5' 5" tall. He was shabbily dressed in a long overcoat and a billycock hat. He had a blotchy face and small side whiskers and a carroty mustache. The man is carrying a pail of beer.

now compare this to

"All the nerves and bones in my head seemed dropping to pieces. The nerve muscles of my face and jaw were greatly agitated - spots with large, red irritant patches came out on my face, and a dreadful burning pain in my left side" - Thomas Cutbush

Could THC been the blotchyman?

[Rubyretro]

Here is a description of Cutbush:
•Description of Thomas Cutbush admitted from Holloway Prison
•Born: 29th June 1866.
•Age: 26 years.
•Height: 5ft 9 1/2 inches
•weigh: 9 stone 6 1/2 pounds
•Hair: black
•Whiskers: black: (very short)
•Eyes: Dark Blue (very sharp)
•Complexion: Dark
•Build: slight.
•Features: Thin.
•Marks slight bruise on left knee. 1 tooth out in front of upper jaw.

5ft 9 1/2" would be quite tall at the time and I doubt that it could be mistaken for 5'5", and a dark complexion and black hair and whiskers can't be confused with 'carroty'.

You could darken light hair, but I don't see how you could make dark hair 'carroty' easily at the time, nor disguise black sideburns or a dark complexion.

So I don't see how Cutbush could be Blotchy.

Blotchy may not mean spots either: if Blotchy was a 'ginger', he may have had an uneven freckly pigmented skin.

Cutbush was also over 10 years younger than Blotchy.

Cutbush is described as 'slight build' and Blotchy 'stout'.

[MrTwibbs]

Here is a description of Cutbush:
•Description of Thomas Cutbush admitted from Holloway Prison
•Born: 29th June 1866.
•Age: 26 years.
•Height: 5ft 9 1/2 inches
•weigh: 9 stone 6 1/2 pounds
•Hair: black
•Whiskers: black: (very short)
•Eyes: Dark Blue (very sharp)
•Complexion: Dark
•Build: slight.
•Features: Thin.
•Marks slight bruise on left knee. 1 tooth out in front of upper jaw.

5ft 9 1/2" would be quite tall at the time and I doubt that it could be mistaken for 5'5", and a dark complexion and black hair and whiskers can't be confused with 'carroty'.

You could darken light hair, but I don't see how you could make dark hair 'carroty' easily at the time, nor disguise black sideburns or a dark complexion.

So I don't see how Cutbush could be Blotchy.

Blotchy may not mean spots either: if Blotchy was a 'ginger', he may have had an uneven freckly pigmented skin.

Cutbush was also over 10 years younger than Blotchy.

Cutbush is described as 'slight build' and Blotchy 'stout'.

5ft 5 could be miscalculated if the the person was not educated enough to know the difference. Most folk in those days couldn't read or write properly so height estimates should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Cutbush may have been 10 years older but it is dependent on how he looked and the witness' interpretation of what is 35. We sometimes play a game here of guessing new people's ages and you'd be surprised the differences of opinions.

Cox did say he had small side whiskers which Cutbush is said to have had. He could have shaved off his mustache. A long overcoat was found at the house of TC. as for the stoutness this could be taken to mean broadshouldered but then you must bear in mind two years and 5 months had passed since Cox's sighting and TC's being admitted to asylum. So it is very likely his description could have changed and he lost the mustache, lost some weight and he looked older than his years or Cox over-estimated it. Remember he was at home during the day in 1888 and probably stuffing his face full of food and laying in bed reading the Lancet. As his condition worsened mentally he ate less causing a drop in weight:-)

[Rubyretro]

as for the stoutness this could be taken to mean broadshouldered

'Slight' and 'broad shouldered' ?

darkcomplexion/black hair and carroty ?

Confusing 5'5"" (much shorter than MJK, with whom he was walking), and 5'9 1/2" ?

23 and 36 ?

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
Mary Kelly would never have taken a stranger back to her room at the peak of the Whitechapel murders during night hours.
Blotchy would have been known to her, and if Hutchinsons 'Astracan man' truely existed, then he too also.
If Astracan alerted GH, as being unusual, then you can bet your shirt on Kelly thinking also, especially carrying a small parcel in his hand, ... unless she knew him .
Because he was known to her, does not mean one of them was not the Ripper, but it would suggest not, especially as she was allegedly seen three times that morning by two witnesses.
To get back on thread, Cutbush being Blotchy is a non starter..JTR worked at spitalfields market, and was the man seen talking to Mary Jane outside Ringers by Mrs Maxwell.
She was duped into believing all was safe for business with this man, after all it was broad daylight.
Wrong...
Regards Richard.

[Normy]

Hiya all
I think height would be hard to tell especially if someone was wearing a hat, so an inch or two is easy to mis judge. I was described as 5'7'' by a cop one night and I'm 5'9 1/2
As for the colour of a moustache, if Blotchy was drinking from his pail of beer he might have froth and beer around his mouth discolouring it in the light or making it glimmer slightly.
Broad shoulders-the killer may have worn an oversized coat on nights he went on the prowl that had space for knives or anything he might think he'd use during his attacks.

Cheers

[Rubyretro]

I'm a person who is perfectly willing to change their mind ; I think that only stupid people don't admit when they're wrong and refuse to learn from those that are 'in the know'.

However, if you had only one -oh, I'll give you two- discrepencies between Cutbush and Blotchy, then I would be open to admitting 'well, it COULD be'.

The facts are, though, that EVERY SINGLE detail you need to change and make allowances for is wrong.

I personally am not convinced that Cutbush was Blotchy -not that Blotchy was JtR anyway.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Problem being that a 'blotchy face' wouldn't have been uncommon....a diet of cheap ale and meat caused a blotchy face.....plenty of that going on in the East End. I don't think there's much to go on here....and I agree with those who offer the opinion that Cutbush was a different build altogether....and such a mistake in wouldn't haver been made....height possibly...build....I don't think so.