Why Didn't the Police Have Schwartz and/or Lawende Take a Look at Hutchinson?

[sleekviper]

Wait, a guy with gold hanging from him, is walking the streets with fish and chips, in an area of extreme poverty and hunger? At night? Alone? He didn't have food.

[Sam Flynn]

I doubt they used newspaper for packaging hot food back then.

I'm sure they did, and the practice continued until about the 1980s, when various food safety regulations came into force. People, myself included, remained nostalgic about the old days, to the extent that we (mis?)remembered that fish and chips tasted better when wrapped in the Sun or the Daily Mirror.

That sounds expensive

Not as expensive as simply throwing it away, and old newspapers were put to a number of purposes, including wrapping hot or cold food. Even "processed" foods, so to speak: people used old newspapers as toilet tissue until well into the 20th century, and even I remember squares of newspaper hanging from a piece of string on the outside lavatory door.

[Darryl Kenyon]

If astracan was carrying a fish and potato supper with him, he must have bought it before he met Mary.
That means it must have been for his own consumption. Following on from that and he did buy the meal somewhere near or on Thrawl St it probably means that he lived nearby. Would you walk miles for your supper if Chandlers shops were open that late?
So it means he was local.
Yet astracan was not found despite Hutchinson's very detailed description of him.
I would expect him to have been, even if he was just eliminated from police enquires and Dew making mention of it. But no the man was never traced even if he had done a bunk.
No trace, probably no suspect.

[Fisherman]

Me too (before I saw the light and took early retirement).

But the point at issue is whether an intelligent young man, reliant for a period on casual work, would lose track of time.

I think probably not.

It has absolutely nothing at all to do with intelligence, Gary. I´m not even sure that we have Hutchinsons IQ on record for that matter ...

[Fisherman]

‘At present’.

How long does a man have to be out of ‘regular employment’ to lose track of the days of the week?

Well, since the very reason for loosing track of the days lies in a lost pattern of normality, I´d say not long at all.
I would think that a good example would be how we work all year round, keeping to a fixed pattern, and then we have a months vacation where we perhaps travel and see things, and stay up late some nights - all the sorts of things that disrupt the pattern of normality we usually have around us. Under such circumstances, we will be much more likely to get the days wrong. We will know that we have for example visited a temple, gone to a party, hiked, seen a famous statue, eaten something we never had before, tried surfing in the ocean, fished for tuna... these things we will know quite well and vividly, but getting them in the right order is another matter.

[GUT]

I doubt they used newspaper for packaging hot food back then. That sounds expensive and were newspapers not ironed in some places because the ink came off easily? I don't think even the unfortunates would fancy eating from that.

Just wrapping paper. That is what a parcel sounds like. A box would be more like... a box I would think.

Gee I was still buying f&c wrapped in newspaper in the 1970s

[DJA]

Who fried the fish at that time in the morning?

Let's not lose sight of the stupidity we are challenging.

Anyone who was busy enough to be open up to 3 am on The Sabbath, serving a popular Jewish dish in an area heavily populated with Jews.

Particularly someone who could have alerted Jack the Ripper that Joseph Barnett had moved out.

[Roy Corduroy]

Gary you're being rude to newbie Batman. He seems a reasonable "Chap" as yall say who is honestly trying to learn about the case and participate. And what better place to start than here at Hutch Nirvana. So can you please ease up on him a little bit.

Yes he's reading the material here on Casebook. It's easy to do. Simply leave the Message Boards and go there and start reading. Some people do that, especially newbies. I spent years reading the material here beginning in 2008, my start date. Yes there are some howlers there. Like Carrie Brown was murdered in New Jersey! In the Klosowski profile. It's good material most of it. The Casebook Wiki is where things are supposed to be updated, and some folks did some of that, Chris comes to mind. But it sort of stopped.

Gary you could update Casebook Wiki. You have the knowledge and the wherewithal.

And far the record, I bet my daddy is from even further west than Batman's and mainly, further South

Roy

[MrBarnett]

McCarthy's Chandler's Shop stayed open till 3:00am sometimes, according to Bowyer.

Who fried the fish at that time in the morning?

Let's not lose sight of the stupidity we are challenging.

[MrBarnett]

I doubt they used newspaper for packaging hot food back then. That sounds expensive and were newspapers not ironed in some places because the ink came off easily? I don't think even the unfortunates would fancy eating from that.

Just wrapping paper. That is what a parcel sounds like. A box would be more like... a box I would think.

How expensive do you imagine last week's newspaper would have been?

You really have no idea, do you?

Ask Alfred, BM, or, possibly, do some research yourself.

[Batman]

Thanks for those.

BTW, I think a simple sling hitch is what he used to carry the parcel.

[Wickerman]

I would like to know how we know the exact times.

I think that between 11 and 12 everything including Doss houses are shutting up and it's all done by 12:30. However, Lawende and company stayed in a club until 1:30 am. Chandlery shops stay open to serve suppers to people going home. Open late on holidays?

McCarthy's Chandler's Shop stayed open till 3:00am sometimes, according to Bowyer.

[Wickerman]

Probably.

At what time did the pubs close?

12:30 am, for Public Houses. This time is given more than once in various press articles.
I'm sure it is in a police document I read some time back to do with regulations.
Private establishments, clubs, beer houses, etc., could stay open longer.

[Batman]

Agreed, the potential comparison is not even close.

This parcel was said to be about 8" long, but no shape is given. Was it flat, square, rectangular, round (like a tube)?
If the man was a Jew, was this parcel a book bound in oilcloth? Some books did come with a strap around, maybe his Torah?

As he was carrying this parcel(?), was it too big to fit in his coat pocket?

I doubt they used newspaper for packaging hot food back then. That sounds expensive and were newspapers not ironed in some places because the ink came off easily? I don't think even the unfortunates would fancy eating from that.

Just wrapping paper. That is what a parcel sounds like. A box would be more like... a box I would think.

[Wickerman]

Correct.A newspaper bundle containing fish and chips wouldn't be mistaken for American cloth with a (presumably leather) strap around it.

Agreed, the potential comparison is not even close.

This parcel was said to be about 8" long, but no shape is given. Was it flat, square, rectangular, round (like a tube)?
If the man was a Jew, was this parcel a book bound in oilcloth? Some books did come with a strap around, maybe his Torah?

As he was carrying this parcel(?), was it too big to fit in his coat pocket?