Mr Blotchy

[jerryd]

In the Star report, Mrs Fiddymont claims the shirt was ripped; isn't this the case where some clothes were left in a wastebin? Or someone buys a shirt??

On September 8th, 1888 a man left some clothes in the bathroom of the Central News Offices. These offices were a few blocks from the Blackfriars Underground Railway Station. (see my last post regarding the underground station)

[jerryd]

In trying to reconcile the first two articles posted here, I wonder if the press mixed up Hutchinson's man with Cox's man. If so, it looks like it could be the same man with the blotchy face and carroty moustache. Also, if by chance, he is in fact THE blotchy man, he appears to be heading toward the west, possibly Battersea. Queen Victoria Street is down near the Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill area. All three of these clips seem to be speaking of the same man, to me anyways.

Evening News
London, U.K.
16 November 1888

At about ten o'clock this morning, a man answering every description to the particulars furnished to the police by G. Hutchinson, as seen by him on the night of the murder of the woman Kelly, attracted attention in Queen Victoria-street, Blackfriars. Finding himself being watched, he immediately hurried his footsteps, and without giving time for any action to be taken, entered the Underground Railway station near by, and escaped.

The Echo 17 Nov 1888

There is some news this morning, however, of the man "with the blotchy face and carroty moustache," He is averred to have been seen at a late hour, yesterday, in Battersea Park Road, at a period subsequent to that in which he is said to have been seen in Queen Victoria Street. The police were at once on the alert, but without any result.


Evening News
London, U.K.
16 November 1888

The police at Battersea are in search of a man who is stated to answer to the description of the man wanted for the murder of Mary Jane Kelly. He was seen under somewhat singular circumstances yesterday afternoon. He entered a coffee-house in that neighbourhood, and displayed some hair, which is stated to have been human, with congealed blood attached. No one thought to detain him, but information was subsequently given to the police. It is understood that he left the hair behind him.

[Craig H]

I want Taylor to have seen Jack just like I want this guy to be Blotchy. Then I could follow his course on a map in the hours after the Chapman murder. Other reports of "Jack" getting a drink at a pub or coffee stall around the times of the murders bolster the idea that he could have visited Fiddymont's. In the Star report, Mrs Fiddymont claims the shirt was ripped; isn't this the case where some clothes were left in a wastebin? Or someone buys a shirt??.

Hi Robert

What are some of the other sightings of Jack or Blotchy that you were thinking of ?

All the best
Craig

[Sam Flynn]

Lewis was making a late night visit to her friend, which may indicate Lewis knew when her friend Kennedy would be expected home.

Such foreknowledge might have come in handy, as it would have enabled Lewis to plan to leave enough space for her friend to occupy on the Keylers/Gallaghers' floor

[Wickerman]

Your brief outline might give the impression that Kennedy was a resident of Miller's Court. The reports (most probably derived from a single source) said that she went to stay with her parents in MC, not her "home" except in an indirect sense.

"Staying with her parents" may imply a temporary arrangement.
Perhaps Kennedy had left her husband to stay with her parents, or even Kennedy and her husband were both "staying with her parents".
The point is, Kennedy was living at Millers Court.
We have nothing to suggest otherwise.

Lewis was making a late night visit to her friend, which may indicate Lewis knew when her friend Kennedy would be expected home.

[Chava]

Back in my younger days I knew a few drinkers who brought their own pewter mugs to the pub with them. Then there were other drinkers who kept their mugs at the pub.
The press accounts, including the court record, overwhelmingly all describe the mug as a "pot". Fewer accounts describe it as a "can".
Where the idea came from that it was a pail or bucket, is hard to guess.
So this "pot" may have been his, and may have (as you suggest) been quite empty.



All I can say to that is, you should try it sometime. See how far you get

You’re right. It was likely a pewter mug. But handy enough for all those semi-liquid bits&bobs.

[caz]

Hi Gareth,

Don't most parents, then as now, treat their home as their children's, from cradle to grave? And don't most grown up children, then as now, treat their parents' place as "home" until both have passed away?

It might literally only be home in an 'indirect' sense, but isn't that splitting hairs?

Love,

Caz
X

[Sam Flynn]

Kennedy had been returning home to Millers Court, from where (work?), she did not say.

Your brief outline suggests something quite different.

Your brief outline might give the impression that Kennedy was a resident of Miller's Court. The reports (most probably derived from a single source) said that she went to stay with her parents in MC, not her "home" except in an indirect sense.

[Wickerman]

Also the smell would have been noticed. Beer has an unmistakeable odour that hangs around a long time. In fact I wonder if there was any beer in that ale-pail when it went into the room. It might be that Cox saw the pail and assumed its contents.

Back in my younger days I knew a few drinkers who brought their own pewter mugs to the pub with them. Then there were other drinkers who kept their mugs at the pub.
The press accounts, including the court record, overwhelmingly all describe the mug as a "pot". Fewer accounts describe it as a "can".
Where the idea came from that it was a pail or bucket, is hard to guess.
So this "pot" may have been his, and may have (as you suggest) been quite empty.

Getting back to Hutch, he isn’t necessarily dependent on the newspapers. He could have spoken to or overheard anyone who was present at the inquest to get the Lewis info.

All I can say to that is, you should try it sometime. See how far you get

[Wickerman]

At the risk of parroting a certain angler, you're saying it's easier to explain away two overlapping murder series where the victims had their abdominal walls cut away, rings stolen, missing organs, etc. than it is to explain the differences, (presumably the local geography and logistics)?

If I knew what you were talking about Harry, I think it would still be a "No".

[Wickerman]

Much more likely than two different women who independently decided to leave their lodgings at about the same time on the morning of Kelly's death and shack up with relatives in the room directly opposite Kelly.

Perhaps your resistance to this obvious deduction is in part due to you misunderstanding the story.

Lewis left her home in Great Pearl street, due to a row with her live-in husband.
(So she goes to her friends house to seek solace?)

Kennedy had been returning home to Millers Court, from where (work?), she did not say.

Your brief outline suggests something quite different.

[Joshua Rogan]

yup! Kennedy is a fig newton of someones imagination

Mmmmm, fig Newtons....I'm imagining some now.

[DJA]

From what I've read alcohol is absorbed by the stomach, and it is absorbed in a relatively short time.

20% by the stomach,80% by the small intestine.

[Abby Normal]

Much more likely than two different women who independently decided to leave their lodgings at about the same time on the morning of Kelly's death and shack up with relatives in the room directly opposite Kelly.

yup! Kennedy is a fig newton of someones imagination

[Abby Normal]

Hi Jon,

That was the point I was going to make.

Unless we dismiss all the Lewis/Kennedy stories as invention, we have two women being talked about.

So if Lewis and Kennedy are one and the same, there is still a second woman to account for, with a similar story to tell, but who apparently never talks about it. She lets Lewis go it alone.

I'm not sure how likely that is.

Love,

Caz
X

many people just don't want to get involved.