Blotchy

[Abby Normal]

More and more I am of the opinion that Blotchy should be our best candidate for Mary Kelly's murderer and JtR. I think he is overlooked and am rather surprised that he doesn't come up more often in these discussions.

He was the last suspect seen to enter Mary Kelly's room on the night of her murder as described by a reliable witness, and if you find Hutch's A-man story as hard to beleive as i do then Blotchy is the last person to be with Mary when she was alive. This would make him suspect number one to any detective.

On the night of her murder, all signs point to Mary not venturing out again that night. She was extremely inebriated with more on hand, with a man whom she was very comfortable with and who in her mind probably had money, and the weather was horrible-cold and rainy. To me this seems like a situation where she had no intention of going out again, even if she was physically able to. She was settled in, unfortunately for her, with Blotchy for the evening.

One of the objections to Blotchy being JtR is, taking the time of approx. 4:00 for the cries of "murder" as mary's TOD, is that the ripper would not have waited so long to spring his attack. A valid question, but I don't really have a problem with this. He may have killed her earlier and the cries were not Mary's. But I do place alot of weight on two witnesses hearing the cry, and the 4:00 time of death seems reasonable to me. So why did Blotchy wait so long? This was the first and only time the ripper was alone with a victim in her own room (and with a door that could be locked). Perhaps he felt comfortable to take his time, savor the moment. or perhaps he did not feel comfortable and wanted to make sure the time was right and he would not be interupted, so he waited. Either way, cops on the beat were not a concern this time, so perhaps in his mind the urgency to have to strike immediately was not there.

Blotchy was the last "reliable" suspect seen with Mary in her room the night of her murder. The scenario that evening seems to sugest that she was very comfortable with him and therefore probably knew him casually. Blotchy never came forward to clear his name or assist the police, nor did he go to the press. His description tallies with the man who lawende saw with Eddowes and the man who attacked Ada Wilson. He is the local unknown and regular "Joe" who many beleive would be the type of man to be the serial killer and Jack the Ripper.

What say you?

[Fleetwood Mac]

If you could find a bookies keeping a book on all of the suspects then undoubtedly Blotchy would be the favourite in the field.

There is no accounting for a man in the room on the night.

If I could go back and ask one question to any major player in the event it would be: Mary, if you were soliciting, why not just go into an alley like the rest and then move onto the next fella, more money to be earned?

To me, it all points to him staying the night: going back to her room, the singing, the beer pot. Seems like a night cap as opposed to a five minute knee trembler.

Edited to add:

In terms of the time, I just don't see it as plausible that he waited til 4. This is hardly a cat toying with a mouse, witness Stride and Eddowes. If it was him, it was earlier, and the 4am cries weren't Mary's.

[Sally]

Hutchinson was Blotchy's (who was a Fenian Conspirator) Dad, and made up Astroman to get his son off the hook? That would explain a few things..

On the other hand, it does look from what little we know that 'Mary Kelly' probably knew Blotchy. However drunk she was, the question must be, would she have been going back to her place with a takeout with a bloke she didn't know (at least by sight) in her, and the, circumstances?

Throw in the Fish 'n' Chips supper (or Eels 'n' Mash, perhaps) and it looks a bit more like she's pulled after a night in the pub.

It doesn't mean that Friend Blotchy didn't kill her, I suppose. It does at least make a bit more sense than Randy Churchill (or someone like him) slumming it in Dosshouse Street with murder on his mind

[caz]

I think we sometimes see Jack as a killing machine, who is either tucked up in bed at night doing bugger all, or out looking for victims. But he must have been out on many an evening doing other things as well. He only killed on a handful of nights at most.

I tend to think he was probably familiar with women like Mary Kelly and used their services regularly, before he began acting out his violent urges on the more vulnerable and desperate specimens in the area, who might otherwise not have appealed to him. He could have set out on the evening before Lord Mayor's Day to enjoy himself, purely and simply, with a night down the pub, where he bumps into Mary and allows her to pick him up. They have a fish and chip supper together and some take-out beer for afters back at her place. Now Barnett isn't sharing her bed she can service anyone who seems pleasant and trustworthy in relative comfort. If Blotchy tells her he's good for a shilling or three to keep the landlord sweet, how could she resist?

As Mary was younger and fitter he may have had 'normal' designs on this one to start with, but something she said or did in that room (her singing could easily have got on his nerves) made his knife hand twitch and that was that. It's also possible that once he began killing that autumn he found it harder and harder to use a prostitute for the original purpose.

Hutch comes along around 2.15 to see if he can doss with her, but she's evidently 'entertaining' so he waits until 3 then gives up, assuming it's an all-nighter. When he learns what happened in the room he realises he might need to explain his loitering for so long outside, so he invents a description of the guest he never saw - who may well have been Blotchy.

Love,

Caz
X

[lynn cates]

suggestions

Hello Abby. Interesting idea. You make many good points here.

One solution to some of the problems you suggest would be to agree with Dr. Bond regarding TOD. I would suggest somewhere between 1 and 2--at 1, we have testimony that MJK was still singing, another piece of testimony has lights out before 2.

One problem with this approach is that the fire would need to be kindled later to correspond with the fire that was evidenced during the investigation. Perhaps one could see MJK finishing her song shortly after 1 and falling asleep with BM whilst he awaits for her being asleep, and soundly. Then he cuts her throat and lights a fire for mutilation.

Of course, a flaw is that it would be difficult to have killed her in the dark--especially, if she is resisting.

(It could be offered, on the other hand, that the light went out after 1 because she had gone back out. This would make the A-Man timing less awkward.)

The above are merely suggestions. I do not necessarily advocate any of it.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Seek and ye shall--oops!

Hello Mac. Indeed. If the press cuttings are to be believed, BM was diligently sought by the Met--to no avail.

Cheers.
LC

[DVV]

Hello Caroline, if Mary was so obviously a random victim, why is it the only murder indoors, why is she the only victim under 30, why is she the last of the series, why did he take the heart instead of the uterus ?
Nothing impossible in your scenario, but there is room for doubt.

[kensei]

May I take an opposing view? I do not think Blotchy was JTR or MJKs killer, I think he was a guy with a little money to blow- perhaps a laborer who'd just been paid- who went out looking for a good time and found it with Mary Jane. While I do feel that the Ripper was probably fueled by alcohol every time he killed (just as Ted Bundy usually was), and as Caz said he was probably familiar with prostitutes and sometimes hired them for their services, I don't see him as being someone to make a scene with one swinging a pail of beer around in public and then letting her loudly sing to him when he has murder on his mind. I see him as drinking privately at home, or brooding in a corner of the pub by himself until he had a good buzz going, on the nights when he was preparing to go on the hunt.

Blotchy on the other hand was making a spectacle of himself (as did many drunks in the East End), may or may not have been able to successfully complete a sex act with Mary Jane, and may have been drunk enough to not even remember who he'd been with when he woke up late the next day. All that singing- strikes me as two drunk strangers who hooked up and spent some time giddily laughing together and intending to have sex but not having much success. She would have had to have gone out again afterwards, very drunk with her defenses all down, and met the Ripper.

Fleetwood Mac wondered why Mary didn't just take him into an alley for a quick one. Well, she had her own place, which none of the other victims did. It was out of the weather and afforded her comfort, an actual bed, and privacy. Doing business in alleyways, though it may have been the norm- let's face it, it sucked. It was dirty and uncomfortable. If any other option was available, it would have been preferable. And as for being able to service more clients in one night by not bringing them home- let's not forget just how close Miller's Court was to the Ten Bells and "Mary's Corner." I've been there- it's a couple of minutes' walk. Meeting multiple clients in a night either inside or outside the Ten Bells and bringing them back to her room to conduct business would have made little difference in time from having a room right there in the pub.

[lynn cates]

minor points

Hello Caroline. Your ideas seem pretty consistent here. Particularly, the idea that he had not intended mayhem at the first seems attractive.

Two minor points:

1. I suppose he came in with the knife? (Of course, that does not imply intent to use.)

2. I suppose it would need to be concealed? (I suppose further that such would have necessitated his remaining clothed? Would that, in itself, make MJK suspicious?)

Cheers.
LC

[Robert]

Even if Jack deviated from previous practice by letting a fair amount of time elapse before committing the murder, and even if he enjoyed normal relations with Kelly in the early hours of 9th before something made him flip - my question would still be, why cut the right side of her throat (her right side)?
I am very strongly right-handed myself, and cannot imagine cutting someone's throat "backhand," as it were. Jack had always cut his victims' throats on their left side.

Of course, one could say that this would mean that Kelly wasn't a JTR victim. I think she was, it's just that Jack had to do it on the spur of the moment, because she was crying "Murder." I don't think he knew that she was in the room until she shouted.

I think I'm in a minority of one here, but, as Dennis Weaver used to say, there you go.

[Abby Normal]

May I take an opposing view? I do not think Blotchy was JTR or MJKs killer, I think he was a guy with a little money to blow- perhaps a laborer who'd just been paid- who went out looking for a good time and found it with Mary Jane. While I do feel that the Ripper was probably fueled by alcohol every time he killed (just as Ted Bundy usually was), and as Caz said he was probably familiar with prostitutes and sometimes hired them for their services, I don't see him as being someone to make a scene with one swinging a pail of beer around in public and then letting her loudly sing to him when he has murder on his mind. I see him as drinking privately at home, or brooding in a corner of the pub by himself until he had a good buzz going, on the nights when he was preparing to go on the hunt.

Blotchy on the other hand was making a spectacle of himself (as did many drunks in the East End), may or may not have been able to successfully complete a sex act with Mary Jane, and may have been drunk enough to not even remember who he'd been with when he woke up late the next day. All that singing- strikes me as two drunk strangers who hooked up and spent some time giddily laughing together and intending to have sex but not having much success. She would have had to have gone out again afterwards, very drunk with her defenses all down, and met the Ripper.

Fleetwood Mac wondered why Mary didn't just take him into an alley for a quick one. Well, she had her own place, which none of the other victims did. It was out of the weather and afforded her comfort, an actual bed, and privacy. Doing business in alleyways, though it may have been the norm- let's face it, it sucked. It was dirty and uncomfortable. If any other option was available, it would have been preferable. And as for being able to service more clients in one night by not bringing them home- let's not forget just how close Miller's Court was to the Ten Bells and "Mary's Corner." I've been there- it's a couple of minutes' walk. Meeting multiple clients in a night either inside or outside the Ten Bells and bringing them back to her room to conduct business would have made little difference in time from having a room right there in the pub.

Hi kensei
Thanks for the response.

Blotchy on the other hand was making a spectacle of himself

The only one making a spectacle of themselves was Mary. Blotchy was quiet and just happened to be seen by one of mary's neighbors at thr last moment.

All that singing- strikes me as two drunk strangers who hooked up and spent some time giddily laughing together and intending to have sex

And thats what Mary probably thought also.

I don't see him as being someone to make a scene with one swinging a pail of beer around in public

The pail of beer may have been part of the reason how Blotchy got mary out of the pub and back to the privacy of her own place. A clever device from the serial killer, who for all we know might have found it harder and harder on the street to get his victims where he wanted them.

[caz]

Hello Caroline, if Mary was so obviously a random victim, why is it the only murder indoors, why is she the only victim under 30, why is she the last of the series, why did he take the heart instead of the uterus ?
Nothing impossible in your scenario, but there is room for doubt.

Not 'so obviously' random at all. For all I know, Blotchy (or her killer if not Blotchy) could have been a regular of hers, perhaps even a favourite. But my suggested scenario here was that her killer may not have intended her to become his next victim initially, if he regularly used prostitutes in the area anyway. Indoors this time, regardless of who picked up whom, because she happened to have a pad to herself now Joe B had moved out, while the previous victims did not. If Blotchy was a favourite, they'd have both been in high spirits as they entered her room together. Her younger age might simply reflect the age of prostitutes her killer preferred when picking them up for sex without violence. Last of the series? I'm not the least bit sure she was. But if so, there are scores of possible reasons. Why would a copycat take the heart away with him but leave the removed uterus and kidneys behind? Jack may have taken the heart simply because for the first time he could. I imagine he may have had a pretty low boredom threshhold.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

Hello Caroline. Your ideas seem pretty consistent here. Particularly, the idea that he had not intended mayhem at the first seems attractive.

Two minor points:

1. I suppose he came in with the knife? (Of course, that does not imply intent to use.)

2. I suppose it would need to be concealed? (I suppose further that such would have necessitated his remaining clothed? Would that, in itself, make MJK suspicious?)

Cheers.
LC

Yes, he came with a knife - his trusted friend? He was a wanted man after all, and if he had bumped into Lawende on his travels for instance, it might have proved handy.

Yes, it wouldn't have done to show his weapon to anyone he was with, prostitute pure and simple or intended victim. But I don't doubt he could have kept it concealed in any clothing he may have taken off. The light would not have been that good and the woman was supposedly very drunk.

Love,

Caz
X

[Bridewell]

One Possibility

Even if Jack deviated from previous practice by letting a fair amount of time elapse before committing the murder, and even if he enjoyed normal relations with Kelly in the early hours of 9th before something made him flip - my question would still be, why cut the right side of her throat (her right side)?
I am very strongly right-handed myself, and cannot imagine cutting someone's throat "backhand," as it were. Jack had always cut his victims' throats on their left side.

Of course, one could say that this would mean that Kelly wasn't a JTR victim. I think she was, it's just that Jack had to do it on the spur of the moment, because she was crying "Murder." I don't think he knew that she was in the room until she shouted.

I think I'm in a minority of one here, but, as Dennis Weaver used to say, there you go.

"My question would still be, why cut the right side of her throat (her right side)?
I am very strongly right-handed myself, and cannot imagine cutting someone's throat "backhand," as it were. Jack had always cut his victims' throats on their left side."

Just possibly because, whilst his usual practise was to cut the left side of the throat from the right side of the body, he was unable to get there without waking her on this occasion and had to improvise? I think the fact that the bed was against the wall on that side might be a factor.

(I'm not saying that's how it was - just that it is a possible explanation).

Yours aye, Bridewell.

[Bridewell]

His Description

More and more I am of the opinion that Blotchy should be our best candidate for Mary Kelly's murderer and JtR. I think he is overlooked and am rather surprised that he doesn't come up more often in these discussions.

His description tallies with the man who Lawende saw with Eddowes and the man who attacked Ada Wilson.

Ada Wilson: About 30, face sunburnt, fair moustache, 5' 6", dark coat, light trousers, wideawake hat.

Lawende: About 30, 5' 7" or 8", fair complexion, fair moustache, medium build, pepper & salt colour loose jacket, grey cloth cap with peak of same colour, reddish handkerchief tied in a knot round neck. Appearance of a sailor.

Blotchy: 36 years old, 5' 5", fresh complexion, blotches on his face, small side whiskers, thick carroty moustache, shabby dark clothes, dark overcoat, black felt.

Blotchy was older, slightly shorter, had side whiskers & his moustache was a different colour. The sunburnt face reported by Ada might fit with 'blotchy', I guess, but the similarities are not that great.
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one as I think "description tallies" is over-egging the pudding somewhat.

Regards, Bridewell