Piggott' s walk and alibi

[DVV]

William Henry Piggott (or Pigott?) was caught in Gravesend on Sunday 9 September 1888. That was in a pub (the Pope's Head), where he was supposedly expressing a "great hatred of women".
His hand, or one of his fingers, was injured.
At 4 pm, when he reached Gravesend, Piggott had asked some men where he could get a glass of beer, because, he said, he was tired and thirsty, having walked from Whitechapel...
When in custody, the police found a paper parcel that he had left in one Mrs Beitchteller fish shop... There were blood-stained clothes inside.
Piggott certainly knew that he was at that time suspected to be the Whitechapel murderer.
But his alibi was something like: "I was in Whitechapel last friday night, and I wandered the streets up to 4 am...Then, in Brick Lane, I saw a woman faint down...I tried to rescue her, but she bited my hand, and I angrily beat her. Two constables came then, and I ran away..."
What an amazing "alibi"... It has often been stated that, if the murders had ceased after Chapman's, Isenschmid would have go down in history as the Whitechapel murderer (first by Stephen Knight, and more recently by Begg, if I'm correct).
But the case of Piggott seems to me more serious, far more serious...

[cats meat man]

Hi David
Do we know who the woman was that fainted?Could it have been Annie Chapman?If that was the case,Jack might have been watching or even following her.Do you think it possible that William Henry Piggott could have been the man seen by Mrs Long and that Jack then followed them into the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street?This might explain his strange behaviour and desperate need for an alibi after learning of her murder at the hands of the Whitechapel murderer later.
All the best
Rob

[DVV]

Hello Rob,
to my knowledge, nothing is known about the woman, and maybe Piggott was lying...
I'm not saying that Piggott was AC's murderer, but he seems to me a more serious suspect than Pizer or Isenschmid (if we had to compare the September's suspects).

The Times, 14 Sept: "The police have satisfied themselves that the man Piggott have had nothing to do with the murders. His movements have been fully accounted for..." A strange statement, since Piggott himself said he was wandering Whitechapel on the murder's night.
In fact, the police suspected Piggott to be the man seen by Mrs Fiddymont in a pub (Prince Albert), one hour after Chapman's body had been discovered, but no witness could identify Piggott.

Amitiés,
David

[Normy]

Just found this:

http://www.casebook.org/forum/messages/4922/9331.html

Normy