Originally posted by Herlock Sholmes
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I think Druitt's location would get a 1. His location out of the city for his cricket matches does reduce him relative to someone known to be in the area at the time. Given it would be fairly easy for him to get to London, though, that sounds like the "1" category for location.
For Maybrick, I would lower his location score to at least 1. He cannot be placed in London at the time, and Manchester to London is a pretty long distance making it more than an "easy trip". I know he is supposed to have connections of some sort with the area, but that's not the same as it being documented that he was actually in the area at the time. There could be an argument to even score his Location as a 0 due to the distance between the cities, but given his connections, perhaps 1 would be about right?
However Sickert's Location score, given he was in France at the time, I think should be 0. I know some debate if he was in France, but all information we have suggests he was before and after. A trip over the channel and then to London is more than a simple trip. Again, 0 doesn't have to mean it was impossible for a suspect to make the trip, only that such a trip is more than a simple and short train ride. An impossible trip makes for an alibi, in which case their location could be scored with a large negative value.
And Gull's age, and illness, I think is so extreme, that he would get a 0 on that category. Otherwise, everyone gets at least a 1. To me, if Gull gets a 1, then 1 seems to just mean they have an age and are not dead. In which case, we might as well just score that as 1 or 0 rather than 2 or 1, since 0 would be impossible to get, making the 1 meaningless.
Something like this:
Druitt > 1 - 2 - 0 -1 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 5
...
Maybrick > 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 = 3
Sickert > 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 2
Gull > 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 = 2
I know I'm quibbling, and the bigger picture doesn't really change for any of them, but I like the idea and think it could be a very nice tool. Much of the ordering it has produced seems sensible as well.
- Jeff
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