Ann Druitt's (Montague's mother) Medical Condition in 1890

[GUT]

How I read the entry in the A-Z was that a twentieth century writer (ie Begg, Fido or Skinner) put in the bit about imagining that Ann Druitt believing she was being electrocuted. I doubt that any person would have used the expression in the 1880's.

Perhaps Ann imagined that someone was applying some sort of a devilish machine to her hands and feet and she was feeling painful tingles. She could have thought that lightning was striking her.

Perhaps earlier in life she and her husband had attended popular scientific lectures and demonstrations of electricity and it all came back to her in her deluded state? Original documents don't use the expression with regard to Ann do they?

That's certainly a possibility.

[Roy Corduroy]

Good evening Rosella,

How I read the entry in the A-Z was that a twentieth century writer (ie Begg, Fido or Skinner) put in the bit about imagining that Ann Druitt believing she was being electrocuted. I doubt that any person would have used the expression in the 1880's.

Please go to post 1 and read the letter kindly transcribed and shared by member SuspectZero. The letter writer is Dr. Gasquest who treated Ann Druitt for 20 months from Sept 1888 to May 1890. He mentions the apparent electrocution hallucination.

I simply typed the A to Z entry here to state a true fact - she was certified insane in summer 88' which is confirmed by Dr. Gasquet who "renewed her certificates" the following April.

Roy

[SuspectZero]

That's certainly a possibility.

Hi Rosella,
The letter from her doctor clearly states it's a delusion Ann suffered from as well as believing she had no esophagus.

[SuspectZero]

So let me pose this question.
1. Ann appears to have severe mental problems since 1888. She was in her mid fifties.
2. Ann's mother and sister both had insanity labels attached to them.
3. Now Montague has killed himself stating his fear of being like mother. He's 31.
4. The letter does not appear to be entered into evidence at the inquest where we could see the entire content and understand the context of his allusion to mother.
I find William's evidence oblique. Analogies to bolster a story. It feels like a lot of sweeping under the rug and sounds like quite a stretch to me. It makes me suspicious and a feeling that something is just not right. Thoughts?

[GUT]

So let me pose this question.
1. Ann appears to have severe mental problems since 1888. She was in her mid fifties.
2. Ann's mother and sister both had insanity labels attached to them.
3. Now Montague has killed himself stating his fear of being like mother. He's 31.
Does that even sound plausible?

What's not plausible about it?

[SuspectZero]

What's not plausible about it?

That he killed himself at 31 because he felt like was going insane like mom. where is the letter? What other evidence do we have he showed any suicidal tendencies?

[GUT]

That he killed himself at 31 because he felt like was going insane like mom. where is the letter? What other evidence do we have he showed any suicidal tendencies?

No other evidence I've ever seen.

The letter William said he had it, he wasn't asked to produce it as far as we know so where would you expect it to be 125+ years down the track?

[Mayerling]

Good evening Rosella,



Please go to post 1 and read the letter kindly transcribed and shared by member SuspectZero. The letter writer is Dr. Gasquest who treated Ann Druitt for 20 months from Sept 1888 to May 1890. He mentions the apparent electrocution hallucination.

I simply typed the A to Z entry here to state a true fact - she was certified insane in summer 88' which is confirmed by Dr. Gasquet who "renewed her certificates" the following April.

Roy

Hi Roy,

When I accidentally exploded "What the hell does that mean" I was naturally referring to the comment regarding Ann's statement about electrocution - nobody else. I see that some form of electro-shock was available from 1800 onward, but why was she readily put into using it? It's used, I believe, in the most extreme cases of insanity. Put another way, had Jack been caught but not executed, and Dr. Forbes Winslow been allowed to examine him, I can see Forbes Winslow using the shock therapy to get into the man's dementia.

Actually there was an electrocution death as early as the 1760s when a German scientist tried to duplicate one of Dr. Franklin's experiments with electricity in his home lab, and apparently touched the wrong part of the battery jar he was using. But after that the only time a murder was involved with electricity was in 1806 when a convicted and hanged murderer was subjected to a crazy experiment by Galvani to see if his muscles would react to electric impulses if wires with charges going through them were applied. The muscles did react and the man's arm and leg twitched (frightening a number of onlookers).

It crossed my mind, when I noticed Rosella mentioned that Ann may have thought somebody with a machine was causing tingling pains in her extremities. That is possible, as she was diabetic and that is sometimes a sign of diabitis. On the other hand, my father was diabetic, and except for the nerve ends of one finger none of his fingers or toes had feeling in them.

Jeff

[GUT]

Hi Roy,

When I accidentally exploded "What the hell does that mean" I was naturally referring to the comment regarding Ann's statement about electrocution - nobody else. I see that some form of electro-shock was available from 1800 onward, but why was she readily put into using it? It's used, I believe, in the most extreme cases of insanity. Put another way, had Jack been caught but not executed, and Dr. Forbes Winslow been allowed to examine him, I can see Forbes Winslow using the shock therapy to get into the man's dementia.

Actually there was an electrocution death as early as the 1760s when a German scientist tried to duplicate one of Dr. Franklin's experiments with electricity in his home lab, and apparently touched the wrong part of the battery jar he was using. But after that the only time a murder was involved with electricity was in 1806 when a convicted and hanged murderer was subjected to a crazy experiment by Galvani to see if his muscles would react to electric impulses if wires with charges going through them were applied. The muscles did react and the man's arm and leg twitched (frightening a number of onlookers).

It crossed my mind, when I noticed Rosella mentioned that Ann may have thought somebody with a machine was causing tingling pains in her extremities. That is possible, as she was diabetic and that is sometimes a sign of diabitis. On the other hand, my father was diabetic, and except for the nerve ends of one finger none of his fingers or toes had feeling in them.

Jeff

The tingling theory makes sense when we read that he says "Electrified" rather than "Electrocuted."

[pinkmoon]

blood harvest

I would advise anyone with an interest in druitt to read david andersons book "blood harvest" I think you will find it very interesting .

[SuspectZero]

No other evidence I've ever seen.

The letter William said he had it, he wasn't asked to produce it as far as we know so where would you expect it to be 125+ years down the track?

I have a suspicion it still exists and is someone's possession.

[Mayerling]

Hi Rosella,
The letter from her doctor clearly states it's a delusion Ann suffered from as well as believing she had no esophagus.

I wonder what made Ann believe she had no esophagus. If Montie was the Ripper, and had heard and believed Ann, when he cut his victim's throats was he looking for his mother's missing esophagus? Kidding aside, Montie's father was a surgeon (if I'm correct) and I wonder what his specialty was - possibly throats? Or had Ann somehow heard how earlier in 1888 Kaiser Friedrich III of the German Empire died from throat cancer after a three month "reign", and after a laryngectomy that left him without any voice in a doomed attempt to stop the cancer performed by a British surgeon (Dr. Morrell Mackenzie) in 1887.

Jeff

[Mayerling]

I have a suspicion it still exists and is someone's possession.

It would be nice if it still did exist, but it probably doesn't (if it ever existed). William Druitt would have kept it long enough to show to the police if there was any interest in his brother or his brother's suicide, but after a number of years the reason to save it would have been less and less, especially as the suspicion against Montie would have been gradually hidden. To have saved it into the time of the revitalization of the suspicions in the late 1950s would make no sense. Family members by that time would have thought of it as a reminder of a sad incident of the past that was best forgotten.

Jeff

[GUT]

I have a suspicion it still exists and is someone's possession.

Are you persuaded it ever existed?

[SuspectZero]

Are you persuaded it ever existed?

No I can't say that I am. But I do think there are too many strange components to the Druitt conundrum. I'm convinced that there was some type of whitewash at his inquest of which the letter played a significant part and then afterwards a steady campaign to point a finger in his direction (disguised as it was).
I believe there is still some evidence somewhere that will answer his quilt or innocence because the motive for the murders and his suicide are still unknowns. Since Druitt's family has a history of mental illness I'm hoping that he might have sought psychiatric help earlier in his life and that there is a record of that. This is why I'm pouring over Tuke's patient case records.