Hi Pack,
A potential sighting of the murderer was of pivotal importance to the inquest, since it impacted directly on the cause of death; inasmuch as that "cause" might have been the very same man observed in her company. Why else do you suppose other Millers Court witnesses made reference to men they had seen (and about whom they were quizzed by the coroner and jury)? Unless you mean that Wednesday 7th was too far in advance of her death to be of any importance to the investigation, but in that case why cite this "description" in particular as evidence for the killer's likely social status, as opposed to one of the more credible and reliable ones, such as Lawende's, which occurred ten minutes before the discovery of the victim's body?
I have plenty of faith in them too, but that does not mean mistakes aren't made occasionally - in this case in the form of a possible conflation of two witness sightings. Is a specific source cited? Not one of the newspapers alluding to this "white-cuffed" individual - and there were very few - placed him in the court itself.
Jon argues that "afternoon and evening were interchangeable", but the actual words attributed to Bowyer in that solitary article were "Wednesday night".
With regard to the original question, I would be very surprised if the ripper enjoyed a higher social status than that of a menially employed blue-collar worker who frequented lodging houses. Since this encompasses the vast majority of men in the district, the list of potential suspects looms rather large still.
All the best,
Ben
A potential sighting of the murderer was of pivotal importance to the inquest, since it impacted directly on the cause of death; inasmuch as that "cause" might have been the very same man observed in her company. Why else do you suppose other Millers Court witnesses made reference to men they had seen (and about whom they were quizzed by the coroner and jury)? Unless you mean that Wednesday 7th was too far in advance of her death to be of any importance to the investigation, but in that case why cite this "description" in particular as evidence for the killer's likely social status, as opposed to one of the more credible and reliable ones, such as Lawende's, which occurred ten minutes before the discovery of the victim's body?
By saying in millers court i'm quoting the A to Z.In most cases i've enough faith in those guys to not trawl through every single newspaper to find if any other than the western mail carried it.
Jon argues that "afternoon and evening were interchangeable", but the actual words attributed to Bowyer in that solitary article were "Wednesday night".
With regard to the original question, I would be very surprised if the ripper enjoyed a higher social status than that of a menially employed blue-collar worker who frequented lodging houses. Since this encompasses the vast majority of men in the district, the list of potential suspects looms rather large still.
All the best,
Ben
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