Druitt's 30 August Cricket Match

[GUT]

Agreed, but it does help narrow the time frame that is critical to reaching an actual conclusion about his candidacy. Research often is a slow progression of small improvements in our knowledge, and this is an example of that. His whereabouts between those two cricket matches, which are only a couple days apart, make that period of time an obvious target for concentrated effort. The hope is that there still exists something that can tell us if he was, or was not, in London. While showing he was won't produce proof that he was the Ripper, if it ends up he can be shown to be elsewhere then he can be cleared of Nichols murder, and so not Jack the Ripper.

- Jeff

Cartainly gives focus for research, but not the nailin the coffin many are claiming it to be.

[paul g]

Excellent find , just goes to demonstrate there is still stuff out there that can eliminate or include potential suspects over a 100 years later.
Just off to the avatar shop , I feel left out.

[rjpalmer]

Out of curiosity, what are you ‘signalling’ with your avatar?

It's hard to tell, but based on his comment, I assumed that he was signaling that he is a big fan of Vlad Putin and the superfluous L's (which is not the name of a Russian rock band).

Moving along...

Great research

That means Druitt was in Dorset

At the time of Tabram murder
At the time of Nichols murder
At the time of Chapman murder

At the time of Chapman murder? Was there a Dorset Street in Blackheath?

Of course, if you're suggesting that he could have been in Dorset in the a.m., and in Blackheath by noon, we may have a problem...

[Trevor Marriott]

Cartainly gives focus for research, but not the nailin the coffin many are claiming it to be.

Another nail in the coffin, which seems to have been overlooked as far as Druitt is concerned as a suspect is the fact that it suggested that he was a homosexual and if that be the case which I firmly believe he was then that would rule him out because male homosexual serial killers do not as a rule kill victims of the opposite sex.

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[GUT]

Another nail in the coffin, which seems to have been overlooked as far as Druitt is concerned as a suspect is the fact that it suggested that he was a homosexual and if that be the case which I firmly believe he was then that would rule him out because male homosexual serial killers do not as a rule kill victims of the opposite sex.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

And what evidence is there that he was homosexual?

[Trevor Marriott]

And what evidence is there that he was homosexual?

There is no direct evidence, but he got sacked from a boys school, and the club he was a member of were all homosexuals so draw your own conclusions

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[FISHY1118]

I have a copy of the image but unfortunately, I couldn't get it to upload! The article is available on the British Newspaper Archive for anyone who is interested.

At 3.40 am on Friday 31 August 1888 in Bucks Row, Whitechapel Charles Allen Cross discovered the body of Nicholls who had last been seen alive at 2.30 am. From this, I would have to say that it was highly unlikely that Druitt could have made it to Whitechapel on time to murder Polly Nichols if he was playing cricket in Dorset just hours before. First, Blandford is around 117 miles from London, and from looking at train timetables from the period to reach London a commuter would have to travel first to Bournemouth then change at Brockenhurst before catching the train to London. This would mean that by going to Blandford, Druitt would be travelling even further from the murder site that day. Also, the journey from Bournemouth to London Waterloo took a little over four hours. After that, anyone wanting to reach Whitechapel would have an additional 54-minute walk, so this journey would take around 5 hours in total. Of course, by the time the game of cricket wound up, he may not have been able to get to London in time to commit a murder as these games can go on well into the evening!

In my opinion, it seems highly implausible Druitt would spend an entire day travelling to and from Blandford to play cricket, then leave the match early to travel to Bournemouth in time to drop off his things, get changed and spend 5 hours travelling around 120 miles from Bournemouth to Whitechapel to commit a murder and then spend the next morning travelling home again and then play cricket again the following day. I hope this is of interest to everyone.

My gut feeling or opinion on the above is this ..... The only possible reason that people dont want to eliminate Druitt as a ripper suspect is because they get far to much pleasure is useing the phase ''He cant be ruled out 100 per cent'', or ,''This doesnt prove anything, he still could have done it'' and so on.With everything thats ever been written about Druitt as a suspect is there anything at all that anyone can say that overrides the enormous amount of pure speculation and abundants of circumstancial evidence that would change one to think he was the killer ? . I doubt it .

They know deep down he wasnt the Ripper, they just dont want you to know they know it .

[Herlock Sholmes]

. From this, I would have to say that it was highly unlikely that Druitt could have made it to Whitechapel on time to murder Polly Nichols

I’m sorry but some seem to have a pretty strange definition of the word unlikely. As Roger showed over on JTRForums he had 2 options in getting to London after the match. One gets him to London about 11.40 while the other got him there at 12. So there was absolutely no impediment to him going out to look for a victim (if he was guilty of course)

But there was also an earlier train which left at 2.40 pm. The cricket match was a very short one (I’m estimating 2-3 hours) and we have no way of knowing exactly what time it began. So it’s also a possibility that he might have been able to have caught the earlier train which would have had him reach London by early evening.

So Druitt would have had absolutely no problem getting to London with ample time to spare.

If he killed Nichols, he has a night sleep, gets up in the morning, and has a whole day to catch a train for a leisurely journey back south arriving the day before the 2nd game.

If this eliminates Druitt then anything can mean anything. As I’ve said on JTRForums, the evidence for Druitt being innocent might be out there somewhere and if it comes from any quarter then his cricket career is the likeliest source imo. But as far as eliminating Druitt this very good find simply isn’t it and the disappointed and irritation and bloody-minded refusal of some to accept the facts speaks volumes.

[Herlock Sholmes]

There is no direct evidence, but he got sacked from a boys school, and the club he was a member of were all homosexuals so draw your own conclusions

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

There’s no evidence that Druitt was gay.

[Trevor Marriott]

There’s no evidence that Druitt was gay.

I said draw your own conclusions and if I am right then Druitt suspect status takes a big hit
.
Do you know why he was sacked from the boys school ?

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Aethelwulf]

Obviously this doesn't eliminate Druitt, but on a sliding scale of guilty to innocent I think it pushes him a bit further towards the latter. The first cricket match on 30th Aug was on a Thursday, the second (1st) on a Saturday. I'd be surprised if either of these matches was arranged spur of the moment and Druitt might have had them marked in his diary for a few days beforehand at least, potentially more. To my mind, if someone of Druitt's capabilities had these dates in his diary, might he not have arranged his work to take advantage of a potential long weekend and not bothered with a return on the Friday? It seems an awful lot of effort to go to. Do we know if Druitt had family or friends in the Blandford/Canford area? I notice there is a prestigious boarding school at Canford (although in its present form seems to have only existed since 1923). Also, the late summer bank holiday that year was on Monday 27th, so he might even have taken a whole week if he had someone to stay with nearby. If he was there longer I'd be surprised if he didn't play more cricket (more evidence somewhere), even on the Friday.

[paul g]

If In Dorset in between cricket matches and the urge to kill awoke.
option 1 Find a victim locally in Dorset
option 2 with this overwhelming urge. Get 3 trains to London and 3 trains back?

[MrBarnett]

There is no direct evidence, but he got sacked from a boys school, and the club he was a member of were all homosexuals so draw your own conclusions

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

What club was that, Trevor?

[Trevor Marriott]

What club was that, Trevor?

Martin Howells and Keith Skinner, in their book, The Ripper Legacy, suggest that Druitt came to Chiswick to visit ‘Wilson’s chummery’, a sort of informal club for homosexuals at The Osiers, Chiswick Mall, and the home of one Henry Wilson from 1887 until 1895.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Herlock Sholmes]

Martin Howells and Keith Skinner, in their book, The Ripper Legacy, suggest that Druitt came to Chiswick to visit ‘Wilson’s chummery’, a sort of informal club for homosexuals at The Osiers, Chiswick Mall, and the home of one Henry Wilson from 1887 until 1895.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

It’s been a while since I’ve read Howell’s and Skinner Trevor but I was under the impression that this wasn’t proven but a suggestion based on the fact that he’d known some of the members?