Druitt's 30 August Cricket Match

[mpriestnall]

Turning your attention to the discovery posted here.

https://www.jtrforums.com/forum/persons-of-interest-or-actual-suspects/m-j-druitt/588052-proof-of-innocence

JM

Thanks for the heads up.

[Herlock Sholmes]

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 ?

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

No I don’t Trevor and neither do you or anyone else so why assume that he was gay?

Perhaps his behaviour had become worrying?
Perhaps he’d had one too many absences/days off?
Perhaps he’d lost his temper and struck one of the boys?
Perhaps he’d fallen out with a colleague which ended in him striking him?
Perhaps someone had found out that Druitt had been spending time in the east end?
Perhaps someone suspected him of being Jack?
Perhaps he’d been involved in some financial irregularities?
Perhaps some resentful pupil started a malicious rumour about him?
Perhaps a colleague started a malicious rumour about him?
Perhaps he did something unknown to us that Valentine thought would bring the school into disrepute?
Perhaps he got up to something with some woman who worked at the school?
Perhaps he tried to force his attention onto a woman who worked at the school?
Perhaps he did get up to something with one or more of the boys?

We just have no way of knowing.

[Trevor Marriott]

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?

Druitt’s body was found in the River Thames at Chiswick

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Trevor Marriott]

No I don’t Trevor and neither do you or anyone else so why assume that he was gay?

Perhaps his behaviour had become worrying?
Perhaps he’d had one too many absences/days off?
Perhaps he’d lost his temper and struck one of the boys?
Perhaps he’d fallen out with a colleague which ended in him striking him?
Perhaps someone had found out that Druitt had been spending time in the east end?
Perhaps someone suspected him of being Jack?
Perhaps he’d been involved in some financial irregularities?
Perhaps some resentful pupil started a malicious rumour about him?
Perhaps a colleague started a malicious rumour about him?
Perhaps he did something unknown to us that Valentine thought would bring the school into disrepute?
Perhaps he got up to something with some woman who worked at the school?
Perhaps he tried to force his attention onto a woman who worked at the school?
Perhaps he did get up to something with one or more of the boys?

We just have no way of knowing.

And you cant dismiss impropriety with a student especially if he was gay

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[caz]

Annoying to keep track of who's posting when everyone's virtue-signalling the Ukrainian flag...

Not as annoying as having your country invaded though, is it?

[caz]

Indeed. Druitt's cricket schedule has always been leaning against him in terms of probability, but never quite reaching the threshold of making it impossible. While this narrows the window of opportunity even further, it does not shut it entirely. As Herlock, and yourself point out, if the remaining window can be shut then it would show he was simply a talented but tragic man. On the other hand, one legal document (for example), showing he had returned to work in London, would show that the improbable does sometimes happen. Of course, showing he's in London at the right time still doesn't mean he's the Ripper, but it would throw the window wide open again.

It is research like this that will advance our knowledge because it tells us what the actual events are that need to be explained, rather than us just dealing with a void and filling it in with something that works for a particular desired solution. Theories have their place, they suggest what we need to look for, but until that search bears new fruit, theories are just stories we made up to fill the void. Useful to guide our thinking, but dangerous if we conflate them with evidence. It will be research like this that either firmly closes and locks the window on Druitt, or throws it wide open again.

Nice work by those who found this.

- Jeff

Nice post, Jeff.

If Druitt didn't do it, there is quite likely to have been evidence at one time that he stayed down in the south west the whole time between 30th August and 1st September, but also a bit odd if anyone who suspected him against their will and better judgement didn't move heaven and earth to find it, at least after his body was recovered.

If Druitt was the killer, his best bet would obviously have been to avoid leaving evidence of that return journey to London between the two matches, and to avoid making his presence known while there, to give himself the semblance of an alibi - which is exactly what some are now convinced he had.

The irony is that if evidence did turn up to show he was definitely in London for some innocent purpose, it would suggest that he hadn't been trying to set up an alibi for himself and was therefore not the killer!

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

That’s how he subdued them before ripping, good whack with a critter bat, gloves to protect his hands, box in case the kicked for the Katz crackers, pads to protect his legs while the kneeled and slashed. See it all fits nicely.

And when Stride called out "Howzat!" she did it three times but not very loudly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EmSanSFXEM

Love,

Caz
X

[Ms Diddles]

And you cant dismiss impropriety with a student especially if he was gay

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

Agreed, but that is merely one possibility among many (including, but not limited to) those suggested above by Herlock.

I totally concur that IF there was concrete evidence that Druitt was gay, for me that would decrease (but not completely eliminate) the likelihood that he was JTR.

It's one of the reasons I'm sceptical of Tumblety's candidacy.

[Herlock Sholmes]

And you cant dismiss impropriety with a student especially if he was gay

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

And I haven’t done so Trevor. That’s why it was on my list of suggestions. But we can’t assume an unknown to dismiss a suspect.

[caz]

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?

Great idea, to do his first [or second] ripper murder in Dorset, in between his cricket matches there.

The whole point of doing that journey up to London and back would have been to make it look as unlikely as you and others find it, paul.

It's called setting up a false, but credible alibi.

My gut feeling is that Druitt was innocent and more likely to have stayed put in Dorset for those three days. But then, my gut feelings are no better or worse than anyone else's.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

Agreed, but that is merely one possibility among many (including, but not limited to) those suggested above by Herlock.

I totally concur that IF there was concrete evidence that Druitt was gay, for me that would decrease (but not completely eliminate) the likelihood that he was JTR.

It's one of the reasons I'm sceptical of Tumblety's candidacy.

Me too, Ms D, but there is an equal possibility that Druitt was bisexual, which makes it rather difficult to eliminate him purely on account of his supposed sexuality.

The killer could still have targeted females because they were more available, more vulnerable and easier to overpower.

Love,

Caz
X

[Darryl Kenyon]

I wonder if there was an official complaint to the police regarding Druitt , but it never went any further because of Monty's suicide ?

In the memorandum Mac says - He Was sexually insane. Yet just after he says - I have little doubt but that his own family believed him to have been the murderer.

It is as if Mac knew for certain that in Victorian terminology Druitt was sexually insane.

If he had got that info from the same source as the family info would he not written something like - From private information I believe he was sexually insane and I have little doubt but that his own family believed him to have been the murderer.

Just a thought
Regards Darryl

[Abby Normal]

I wonder if there was an official complaint to the police regarding Druitt , but it never went any further because of Monty's suicide ?

In the memorandum Mac says - He Was sexually insane. Yet just after he says - I have little doubt but that his own family believed him to have been the murderer.

It is as if Mac knew for certain that in Victorian terminology Druitt was sexually insane.

If he had got that info from the same source as the family info would he not written something like - From private information I believe he was sexually insane and I have little doubt but that his own family believed him to have been the murderer.

Just a thought
Regards Darryl

good point DK!
Did the sexually insane part come from someone from other than the family? having to do with his dismissal from the school?
and if from the family-why did they think he was sexually insane?

Me thinks if it was from because of the school or some other incident (not from the family)Mac would have mentioned it, so it seems to me that that info also came from the family.

in victorian times-what did sexually insane actually mean?

[Ms Diddles]

Me too, Ms D, but there is an equal possibility that Druitt was bisexual, which makes it rather difficult to eliminate him purely on account of his supposed sexuality.

The killer could still have targeted females because they were more available, more vulnerable and easier to overpower.

Love,

Caz
X

Oh, for sure!

He could have been bisexual, pansexual or completely asexual.

I don't think any of those categories would have any impact on his standing as a potential JTR candidate.

Being exclusively gay would be the only one which would to my mind, make it highly unlikely (based simply on sexuality).

It would be really interesting if it came to light that the reason he was sacked from Valentine's school was for harassing middle aged char women / school cleaners of similar class (in the parlance of the time) to the victims.

Something of that nature would be quite a big "tick" in favour of his candidacy.

[Trevor Marriott]

And I haven’t done so Trevor. That’s why it was on my list of suggestions. But we can’t assume an unknown to dismiss a suspect.

I agree, but we are entitled to draw infereneces from what we do know and those inferences clearly show us another nail in the coffin of Druitt as JTR.

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk