Druitt DNA

[dougie]

John,......Is there nothing that Druitts DNA could be compared with?Were any of the crime scene artifacts preserved? Someone,in a book,claimed to have a piece of Eddowes(?) shawl.....probabley a hopeless task ,but....

The druitt relative you spoke to,was his knowledge of suspicions regarding druitt taken only from mc cormicks book,and not from oral history handed down generation to generation?? Would it not appear odd that although macnaughton and obviously others would have known about this issue.... the Druitt family didnt?
regards

[Johnr]

Good Questions All, as usual, Dougie,
Firstly, I certainly am unaware of any JTR era object which might still survive which just might retain JTR's DNA.The shawl would have passed through so many hands, and if any DNA survived, I would assume it would be the victims'.
Concerning the Druitt family's confirmable knowledge of the Druitt Suspicion:
the Druitt family member who replied to me, an Australian born, ex-British (African) diplomat, named Kenneth Druitt Henderson ( one of his books on Africa appeared on Ebay once) lived in England in the 1970's.
He passed my questions about the family's memories of MJD and any JTR suspicion to -I think- Gwen Ffoulkes(nee Vaughan) a retired doctor from Devon. Farson interviewed her, and even came back for a second go at extracting more Druitt family photos.Gwen was MJD's brother's godchild.
But her response was measured and non-incriminating.
I'll put the whole thing on a Druitt thread one day.
Henderson ended the letter with his summation of the McCormick book.He felt McC was definitely on the right track.
That is all I'll put on this thread, because I feel it will get lost for future Druittists.I might dig out my stuff and start a new thread. JOHN RUFFELS.

[dougie]

John,
A measured and non-incriminating response from Gwen Foulkes? Does that hint at something more? ...maybe?
Well if you do decide to post more of this on whatever thread,I for one would be happy to read it.....thanks for the reply.
kind regards
dougie

[aspallek]

Just for clarification, I never meant to imply that the Druitt haiir would yield DNA of any forensic value. It was merely interesting to hold a physical piece of the Druitt family in my hands.

John, you should publish that information regarding the Druitt family. Or perhaps you will let me do so in an upcoming article or just maybe even a book.

[Johnr]

Hello Andy and Dougie et al,
Yes, I realise I have been a bit lax, sitting on the information I dug out during my last burst as an enthusiastic Druitt researcher ( 1970's).
Of course, several of the people I communicated with could only communicate through the ouiji board now.
One of the lessons of history researching is.. timeliness...(Get in there before they die).If anyone is interested, my other history research maxim ( which I seem to I share with people like Stewart P Evans, A.P. Wolfe and Keith Skinner and Chris Phillips and Robert Linford and many others..) is that history belongs to no one person.
Yes, Andy, not only have I procrastinated long enough on my promise to publish something in Ripperologist on my search for the Dandenong Document ( you know, The East End Murderer: I Knew Him ) in Australia, I think I should pass along some of my hard earned discoveries about the Druitt Suspicion - mainly from an Australian perspective.
Do not read too much into my tossed off phrases Dougie. But yes, Dougie and Andy,I think I'll pass along my Druitt family letter to Andy to use, as a thank you for all his splendid detective work. JOHN RUFFELS.

[Sara]

It might have been in a locket - common practice at the time - and removed by a later family member eg when the archive was donated to the CRO.

People are often reluctant to throw such things away. I found my Dad's set of upper teeth when my Ma died, almost 20 years after him. I found it impossible to just throw them in the skip - I ended up throwing them over the cliffs near his favourite fishing spot