The Laying Out

[Robert]

Hi AP

I feel it is Race and, as far as I can tell, he wasn't living too far from Thomas in 1891. Thomas might even have run past his window jogging, I mean jobbing.

[Cap'n Jack]

Remember, Robert, Thomas 'rambled' around Whitechapel, and did his odd jobs on the side.
I think I'm in perfect agreement with Race when he says that Chinese blades that had never seen China were commonplace in Whitechapel in 1888; but I'm afraid I am in perfect disagreement with him when it comes to Chinese blades which carry the seven star pattern, as in the blade carried by Cutbush.
To carry the seven stars it must have been a genuine export item.
Incidentally the seven star blade's symbolism was based upon the ancient Triad belief that it was the ultimate weapon for beheading demons; and is still the centre piece of any Triad altar in Soho's China Town.
Here is a fine example:

[Robert]

Blimey, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of those.

AP. it was the other police official who made the remarks about the knife. Do you think that Race had been told to shut up? That bit about "I must be careful in expressing an opinion" might have been code for "I've been told to pack it in."

[Cap'n Jack]

"Is this for the Mile End job? I mean the public house next to the Syndicate (Synagogue), where I just missed her that time. They took me to be of the Jewish persuasion, and I got away."
That is Thomas' statement to Inspector Race.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I do have a leg to stand on.
The Mile End is an extension of 'Roadside', and just where Brick Lane touches Mile End there was a synagogue, and just down Brick Lane from there was the infamous 'Seven Stars' public house where the prostitutes of the area congregated to obtain clients, in 1888.
Thomas carried a formidable knife with the seven stars carved on the blade, and I would suggest that he was a common visitor to this public house, and it was to this public house he was referring to in his statement to Inspector Race, and it was this association with the seven stars that made him purchase such a knife in the first place.

[Robert]

Intriguing suggestion, AP. I had hoped that he really meant syndicate, i.e. the hereditaments in Fieldgate St, but I guess synagogue fits better.

[Roy Corduroy]

Was he syphilitic?

Roy

[Robert]

Hi Roy

Macnaghten says he was. He seems to have had some kind of skin condition, and to have spent a lot of time gazing at himself in the mirror. I'm wondering if it was a case of delayed puberty - he was in his early 20s in 88 - with accompanying acne.

His appearance was described as "terrible" and "singular."

[Sara]

Might the substitution of Dartmoor for Broadmoor been an attempt to cover himself, if he had been told not to discuss the Cutbush case in relation to the Ripper?

Or might it have been a mis-hearing or a false correction on the part of the reporter, who may have heard of Dartmoor but not Broadmoor? - though as it had already been open for over 20 years, that's highly unlikely