Peaked Cap Man

[Abby Normal]

All
Witnesses Marshall, Schwartz and pc smith all describe a man with a peaked cap seen with stride the night of her murder as does witness Lawende describe a man with a peaked cap seen with eddowes later on. Also, they all describe the man wearing a short/jacket.

Along with this is a little discussed report that appeared in the star the day after the double event that a suspicious man was seen wiping his hands on a doorstep in church lane at a time in between the two murders. Church lane is situated en route from berner street to miter square. He was described as wearing a short jacket and a sailers hat.

The obvious conclusion to be drawn from this is that the ripper was probably wearing a peaked cap the night of the double event and it clears up a few minor and major mysteries of the case, namely:

1.As women actively prostituting don't normally accompany and walk around with one man (peaked cap man)for a long period of time, stride was probably not out actively prostituting the night of her murder.
2.Israel Scwartz was telling the truth.
3.Broad shouldered man was strides killer and JtR.
4. Lawende saw the ripper with eddowes.

5.Furthermore, having established that it is more than likely that Schwartz saw the ripper and the ripper yelled an anti Semitic insult to him (lipski), one could also draw the conclusion that therefore the ripper was probably a gentile and as a result of being seen/interrupted by this Jewish witness and the others, prompted him to write the GSG. (admittedly this is a little more of a stretch than the previous 4 points but still a reasonable conclusion IMHO).

As someone has recently said the clues are there, and quite frankly I am a little surprised more people have not jumped on this one.

[GUT]

G'Day Abby

The obvious conclusion to be drawn from this is that the ripper was probably wearing a peaked cap the night of the double event and it clears up a few minor and major mysteries of the case, namely:

I don't think that we can draw the conclusion that this man was JtR, he could simply have been a man trying to get a woman, whether an unfortunate or not is perhaps open to speculation.

1.As women actively prostituting don't normally accompany and walk around with one man (peaked cap man)for a long period of time, stride was probably not out actively prostituting the night of her murder.

So does the same apply to Eddows?

2.Israel Scwartz was telling the truth.

Or he had heard about the other reported sightings?

3.Broad shouldered man was strides killer and JtR.

No, at absolute best it might prove that he was trying to pick up.

4. Lawende saw the ripper with eddowes.

How does it prove that he was Jack?

He may have not been able to reach an agreement with the first woman he tried with for what ever reason, they couldn't reach an agreement on price for just one possible explanation.

[Wickerman]

The man was seen at 1:30am, ....how does that time fit with any theories?

[GUT]

G'Day Jon

The man was seen at 1:30am, ....how does that time fit with any theories?

I presume you mean with any theories that it was Jacky.

[Alicia]

Good points!

All
Witnesses Marshall, Schwartz and pc smith all describe a man with a peaked cap seen with stride the night of her murder as does witness Lawende describe a man with a peaked cap seen with eddowes later on. Also, they all describe the man wearing a short/jacket.

Along with this is a little discussed report that appeared in the star the day after the double event that a suspicious man was seen wiping his hands on a doorstep in church lane at a time in between the two murders. Church lane is situated en route from berner street to miter square. He was described as wearing a short jacket and a sailers hat.

The obvious conclusion to be drawn from this is that the ripper was probably wearing a peaked cap the night of the double event .....

I completely agree with you. So much is lost in speculative articles that one needs to return to the original descriptions of the crimes.

I also got the idea that Liz Stride was not actively soliciting that night. If anything, she was described as cheerful when she left her lodgings - like she had a date.

However, despite many claiming Stride was not a Ripper victim, one can't overlook the fact she was found on the ground, face up, with her throat slit. She also had her legs bent up (making an angle over the ground), which was the way the Ripper got close to the lower abdomen to begin his mutilations. (He would part the legs and kneel in front of the torso.) He was most certainly interrupted.

In addition, there was a man in a peaked cap seen with Mary Kelly as well.

Yes - peaked cap man was definitely Ripper in my opinion and several persons got a good look at him that night.

[Alicia]

Abby - I know this sounds odd, but the Ripper doesn't feel Jewish to me. And, the slur directed at Schwartz is a good indication of this. Being an American, this sounds very much like blaming the black guy during a crime investigation.

[GUT]

G'Day Alicia

I know this sounds odd, but the Ripper doesn't feel Jewish to me. And, the slur directed at Schwartz is a good indication of this. Being an American, this sounds very much like blaming the black guy during a crime investigation.

Just a thought, but maybe he was yelling out to his accomplice that there was a "Lipski" around!

[GUT]

G'Day again Alica

And I forgot to say "Welcome".

[Damaso Marte]

My understanding is that "peaked cap" refers to what we in America would call a "newsboy cap" today:

http://www.villagehatshop.com/photos/product/giant/4511390S91577/newsboy-caps/english-tweed-newsboy-cap.jpg

This is certainly not what Schwartz described, he described a man wearing a wide brimmed hat. And James Brown described a man in a long coat, not a short one.

I believe the man Smith saw is widely believed to be a member of the club, hence why he had a parcel, the parcel containing newspapers he was distributing.

Finally, let me say a few more things about the 12:30 PC Smith sighting and what it does or does not mean for Stride being a Ripper victim:

(1) We cannot rule out the fact that the Ripper spent a lengthy amount of time with his victims prior to killing them. We don't know what Nichols, Chapman, or Kelly were doing with any great certainty or precision for hours before their deaths. Eddowes has the "missing time" issue as well. Given that the ripper, if he was soliciting prostitutes, knew he would get his money back after the murder, he might have hired them for several hours to chat with before disposing of.

(2) It is not "either interrupted murder OR not a ripper victim". It is possible for Stride to be a ripper victim and the reason she was not mutilated was because he did not want to mutilate her. Perhaps the double event was pre-meditated and he wanted to multilate only the second one. Perhaps he had some kind of ritual he did before mutilation and something about Stride screwed it up. Who knows.

[GUT]

G'Day Damaso Marte

(2) It is not "either interrupted murder OR not a ripper victim". It is possible for Stride to be a ripper victim and the reason she was not mutilated was because he did not want to mutilate her. Perhaps the double event was pre-meditated and he wanted to multilate only the second one. Perhaps he had some kind of ritual he did before mutilation and something about Stride screwed it up. Who knows.

I just had a thought reading the above. [Yes the poor thing is lonely].

What if, as some speculate, he was after specific people and realized, once he killed her, that he had killed the wrong person when he killed Liz?

[Alicia]

Thanks GUT -- just getting my feet wet; should have verified the witness descriptions, I guess. Lots to learn.

I don't think so he was after specific people - other than the general type of prostitute (which Liz Stride was); he was an opportunistic killer.

[Alicia]

Witness descriptions

Regarding the peaked cap -- it makes sense it was not a sailor because the witnesses would have said sailor cap.

A newsboy cap has the advantage that it can easily be pulled down in front to give partial coverage to the face. So, that's something.

I should have verified the witness descriptions -- I'm new, good to see it's a tough board. I will need to bone up.

[GUT]

G'Day again Alicia

I am not convinced he was after specific victims either, others are.

As to tough boards, some people on here know a lot about the case [I'm not one of them] and I can assure you some of the discussions get heated.

[pinkmoon]

Lawende had a fleeting glimpse in poor light of a couple who were hanging round an area where prostitutes took clients.With the timings we are given its quite possible that the couple were not eddowes and jtr but a different couple who might have enterd the square and disturbed our killer.I have never really taken any of the sightings of jtr seriously and I think the best witnesses were the ones who didn't come forward.

[pinkmoon]

p.c smith

Something must have made p.c smith suspicious of the man with the parcel in his hands that he saw with stride shortly before she was killed other wise he wouldn't have taken note and been able to give a detailed description why didn't he stop this man at the time and question him.