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I agree - the story that has come down to us is a garbled version of what really happened.
The table runner was never in Mitre Square.
But Eddowes was. Kosminski was. And supersecret copper Amos Simpson was. He was the first to see the body.
He didn't take any shawl because there wasn't one. Actually he scooped up Eddowes' entire corpse and snuck off through the streets with it. He got it home, laid it on the dining room table as a practical joke at his wife's expense, then when his wife had finished screaming, he secretly carried it back to Mitre Square and went about his business, very pleased with himself.
Mrs Simpson complained that the table runner was ruined, and it was packed away and handed down through the generations, until an enterprising businessman revealed its secrets a century later.
"What I'm saying is that if Amos Simpson was a cop in London in 1888, then there's a pretty damn good chance that he WAS present at one of the scenes that night, if not both."
That's the thing....too many unknowns. It assumes a lot to say that he got a piece of cloth from a crime scene that was preserved for 120+ years with dna evidence. However, it also assumes a lot to try to say definitively that it couldn't have happened exactly that way.
Saying, "he was in the wrong force" is saying absolutely nothing. Both jurisdictions had murders less than a mile apart on the same night, so I can tell you with certainty that dozens of officers from both jurisdictions crossed paths on that night. Do I have any proof that they crossed paths? No. But I know they did, but I know how police work. There is not some magical force field that keeps a cop from one jurisdiction out of another jurisdiction, particularly in the chaos of a murder in two neighboring jurisdictions.
"Proof" that Amos Simpson was at Mitre Square? Nope. But there is also technically no "proof" that the man who killed Mary Kelly was ever in Mitre Square either. What I'm saying is that if Amos Simpson was a cop in London in 1888, then there's a pretty damn good chance that he WAS present at one of the scenes that night, if not both. Again, the provenance is sketchy. But it's also sketchy to assume that he wasn't there just because there is no surviving written record of him being there.
The point is that Mitre Square is at the extreme South East corner of the City. It is adjacent to H Division . See
for a map of the Divisions at the time. G Division which was Amos's, is much further away - about a mile at its nearest. If there were Mets about they are much more likely to have come from H Division than G. Mitre Square was a long way from Amos's patch unless he was sent there deliberately and, as someone said earlier, the police records do not show that he was.
Prosector
for a map of the Divisions at the time. G Division which was Amos's, is much further away - about a mile at its nearest. If there were Mets about they are much more likely to have come from H Division than G. Mitre Square was a long way from Amos's patch unless he was sent there deliberately and, as someone said earlier, the police records do not show that he was.
Prosector
At any rate, Amos Simpson was an N division police. He was stationed in Islington. So he did not police a borderline leading over into City territory at all.
At any rate, Amos Simpson was an N division police. He was stationed in Islington. So he did not police a borderline leading over into City territory at all.
The best,
Fisherman
Fisherman
You are quite right - I apologise. In that case he was even further away and could not have 'stumbled into the City' unless he was off duty at the time or was sent there deliberately.
Prosector
"I try to see if there is a sensible explanation and having heard some humdingers passed down in families I know better than to take any family folk lore seriously without first looking to the facts."
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