Druitt's movements around murder dates

[Ben]

The fact that there is no documented record of Montague Druitt's appearance in a fixture between 11 August and 1 September to me rather argues against the month-long holiday.

Here I'd respectfully beg to differ, Andy.

As I mentioned earlier, the month in question would be entirely consistent with a normal school summer holiday at an English private school, and the dates in question all seem congruent with time spent leisurely by the coast, cricketing some weekends, and just chillin' out on others. Additionally, his return to London by 8th September would be consistent with the start of the new winter or "Michaelmas" term (bearing in mind he was in Dorset on 1st). That said, I'd never dispute that "probably" doesn't constitute a proven alibi.

Cheers,
Ben

[aspallek]

Could be Ben, but still an assumption of a probability as I'm sure you'd agree. Courts were in session in London during August so one might say Druitt would likely have been in London making use of some valuable free time from the school to pursue his legal career. It's all a matter of perspective.

But, as long as we agree that in any case "probability" is not an alibi....

[Gideon Fell]

I have always liked Druitt as a suspect and I have never seen a thing that proves he couldn't have been our man. That means he has withstood all examinations since his name was first given to Ripperologists over forty years ago. That is quite a record and with his family or someone close to him suspecting him it must be strong support for the theory. Though alike with all suspects there was apparently no hard proof.

[Johnr]

Hello Andy and All,
I think it is good, tidy housekeeping - given the Boards have been restarted after the old ones were lost - to make a log of Druitt's whereabouts in the vital months mid to late summer and autumn, and even winter, 1888.
What exactly were the dates of the two or three court appearances we know of by Druitt during this time? ( Is the name recorded just "Mr Druitt" or does it clearly identify MJD?).
Some years ago, a fellow researcher told me the Bournemouth(?) papers or Christchurch papers recorded visitors to these towns weekily on their social pages.
As Gideon Fell has said, as with all the suspects, we just don't know enough about them to make authoritative judgement.
The "West of England" MP's unmasking is a promising milestone though.
I wish we had a permanent Ripperologist with a sleeping bag waiting outside Colindale for paid assignments in the newspaper files!
JOHN RUFFELS.

[Ben]

Hi Gideon,

The fact that nothing concrete has yet surfaced to rule Druitt out is, I suggest, more a feature of the passage of time that has elapsed since the commission of the crimes. Plenty of material has surfaced to place him in the "probably not" pile, but as for ruling him out completely, one would be hard pressed. I envisage a similar thing happening with Maybrick: 40 years later we're still unlikely to have an alibi, but that wouldn't make Maybrick any less lame as a suspect.

All the best,
Ben

[celee]

Hi Ben,

Druitt is a much stronger suspect then Maybrick, right? We know Druitt was a suspect. Maybrick is just fabricated as far as I am concerned.

Your friend, Brad

[Ben]

Absolutely, Brad.

I'm just anxious that Druitt's candidacy isn't elevated on the basis that nothing concrete has emerged to rule him out completely.

Cheers,
Ben

[jmenges]

Hi all,

Andy Spallek was the guest on our podcast about Druitt yesterday. Please give it a listen. The link to the show is in the Ripper Audio thread.

JM

[jmenges]

And, one thing I wished I had asked Andy, is that Begg wrote that Druitt also played for a Hockey (I assume lawn hockey) club. We know his Cricket schedule, but what of these other sports Druitt was playing? He was not exclusively a Cricket player.

JM

[anna]

Hi all, actually,from what I have read during my research locally,looking through the newspapers of the time. Monty,although he is said on one of the murder dates to have a match that started at eleven in the morning.He would have been required to have been at the school earlier than that. The boys used to carry out the equipment while accompanying the players,as a lot of the pupils remained in the school during the Summer break,depending on their parents committments.The boys went onto the field to set out the cricket equipment,while the players went over to the pub on the heath to change,and walk out for the match.After the match all adjourned back to the pub for sandwiches,cake etc and tea.Where the room they sat in to feast had glass windows which looked out onto the heath and they could eat while watching the matches that followed theirs.Just a bit of Monty trivia folks!

[anna]

We discussed the fact that he might have been too stressed to have gone on to play the following day,had he have been Jack.He only played in the first innings of a cricket game I found a report on.

[aspallek]

And, one thing I wished I had asked Andy, is that Begg wrote that Druitt also played for a Hockey (I assume lawn hockey) club. We know his Cricket schedule, but what of these other sports Druitt was playing? He was not exclusively a Cricket player.

I thought of that later, too, Jonathan and I wished I'd have mentioned it. I assume it was "lawn" or "field" hockey as we call it in the US. Here it is primarily a girls' sport. Although, I believe ice hockey has been played in England for over 100 years.

BTW -- In listening to the podcast later I noticed a spot where I misspoke. In discussing the rail services I at one point said "Cannon Street" when I meant to say "Charing Cross." I think the mistake should be obvious enough.

We discussed the fact that he might have been too stressed to have gone on to play the following day,had he have been Jack.He only played in the first innings of a cricket game I found a report on.

Was that the Sept 8 match? I didn't remember that but I do recall he fared poorly in that match.

With regard to showing up in advance of the game, if he's on a 0730 or 0749 train he's there in plenty of time. We also should say, however, there is only a record of his playing in the match. There is no record of whether he was there hours before the match. Even if that was normally expected (and I don't know whether it was or not), I'm sure players occasionally had reason for not showing until game time.

[anna]

Hi Andy, I don't know,as I haven't dated the photocopy! It was a match played against the Brothers Christopherson-When Blackheath are in he beats S.Christopherson in the Ist Innings,doesn't play in the second Innings.When the Brothers Christopherson are in,he looses to S,C & D Christopherson. But Blackheath win.I suppose he would have been expected to have been there for the warm up before they went to get changed at the pub.

[Mike Covell]

Lawn Hockey was and possibly still is a sport for both men and women, my wife and I were just discussing this the other night.

I was always a defender because I was pretty fast and my weight training made me quite a bulky charector!

Although we played it on an all weather court rather than the lawn (we weren't posh enough!)

[aspallek]

Hi Andy, I don't know,as I haven't dated the photocopy! It was a match played against the Brothers Christopherson-When Blackheath are in he beats S.Christopherson in the Ist Innings,doesn't play in the second Innings.When the Brothers Christopherson are in,he looses to S,C & D Christopherson. But Blackheath win.I suppose he would have been expected to have been there for the warm up before they went to get changed at the pub.

That sounds like the match in question. When I get a chance I'll post the game account. I don't know enough about cricket to tell much, except that Druitt did not perform well.

Lawn Hockey was and possibly still is a sport for both men and women, my wife and I were just discussing this the other night.

I was always a defender because I was pretty fast and my weight training made me quite a bulky charector!

Although we played it on an all weather court rather than the lawn (we weren't posh enough!)

I did some checking in Total Hockey, a hockey encyclopedia, and found that ice hockey didn't really come to England until the 1890's although Oxford and Cambridge played a variation of ice hockey in Switzerland in the 1880's. The sport was popularized in England by the Royal family, who apparently played on the ground of Buckingham Palace! Rather a different Edwardian image than I ever had before.
Incidentally, the first artificial ice rinks opened in London in the 1870's.

The only hockey I ever played was a sort of street hockey we used to play in Chicago in winter. We would play without skates and use a tennis ball for a puck.