Lechmere was Jack the Ripper

[Fisherman]

Why would Richardson lie? He appeared to be doing what was a regular chore.

The case is full of people who seemingly wanted their fifteen minutes of fame. And we have it on record that Chandler said that Richardson told him he did not go down the stairs and he told Chandler nothing at all about the shoe business. Richardsons mother said that her son did not need to go down the stairs to check the padlock, because he could see it dfrom the top of the stairs, and that seems to be what he told Chandler that he did.
It was only later that he used the shoe business to explain why he was supposedly on the stairs.

Question: If you can see the padlock from the top of the stairs, then why do you sit down on the step in the middle of the stairs to fix the shoe? Why not sit on top of the stairs where it is dry and warm, instead of on the potentially damp, grimy and cold step in the middle of the stairs? Why go further down than you have to? Why sit on a relatively narrow step, when you have the whole floor of the hall to sit on?

Once again, and before Herlock says "Now he says that Richardson MUST have been on top of the stairs!", I am not saying that anything must be this or that. I am only pointing to an anomaly.

[Varqm]

If the body was there and Richardson missed it, the person(s) observed by Cadosch,"No" and "I heard a sort of a fall against the fence which divides my yard from that of 29." ,who was that or who were those.The person(s) also missed Chapman's body?

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[Sam Flynn]

Hi Sam,

Your Post #374—

If the door wasn't self-closing, what force was making it constantly bump against [Richardson's] left elbow, as "shown in Fish's diagrams"?

His elbow itself would be bumping against the door (and, thanks to Newton, vice versa).

Just to make it absolutely clear - again - I have never envisaged this being an "automatic" door, and I don't now.

[Fisherman]

If the body was there and Richardson missed it, the person(s) observed by Cadosch,"No" and "I heard a sort of a fall against the fence which divides my yard from that of 29." ,who was that or who were those.The person(s) also missed Chapman's body?

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Personally, I think we may be certain that the body was in place when Long and Cadosch made their observations.

Cadosh was not certain that the "No" came from the backyard of 29, but the later thud did occur there.

It has been suggested that the "No" could have come from somebody who came out the backyard door in 29 and saw the body. I canīt exclude that - if another "unfortunate" was on her way to do the business in the yard, then she may have seen the body and exclaimed "No!", and taken her business elsewhere, reluctant to give herself up to the police afterwards. As would the punter perhaps also be.
It may also be that it was all an invention on Cadoshīs behalf.

Many a thing were invented during the Ripper hype. I do not exclude in any way that more than one person may have wanted to participate in the game on false grounds, relating to the same victim, in this case Chapman. The problem is that there is a risk they tend to corroborate each others stories, as was indeed the case here. Luckily,Long and Cadosch alike fell into the same trap of being too sure about the timings, and the timings disagree with each other.
If, that is, they were indeed telling porkies. It remains a case of us not knowing.

[Fisherman]

His elbow itself would be bumping against the door (and, thanks to Newton, vice versa).

Just to make it absolutely clear - again - I have never envisaged this being an "automatic" door, and I don't now.

His elbow would NOT bump against the door if he used his knee as a doorstop, Gareth. You seem to have missed that point of mine?

Also, I am finding your argument a bit hard to follow. Are you saying that he would never accept having the door interfere with his business, and so it could not have been there?

[Sam Flynn]

Either Richardson lied, or Dr. Phillips was mistaken.

I know who my money's on.

Indeed. Phillips was mistaken.

[Fisherman]

Indeed. Phillips was mistaken.

And how do you plead when it comes to the questions I asked you about the door? Was it also mistaken in approaching Richardson?

[harry]

A pity Dew didn't include Richardson as having mistaken the day.
There was enough time before he(Richardson) sat down to make at least a cursory examination of his surroundings,and it shouldn't be held that because he was there primarily to check a lock,he wouldn't have taken a few seconds to survey the rest of the yard.

I doubt that at that time of the year it would have been a cold damp place to sit.From the various photos from that time,stone steps appears a common place to park ones rear,(Still is today),and from the description of Richardson,he hardly comes across as a person with a tender ass.So wheres the anomoly.

[Joshua Rogan]

The case is full of people who seemingly wanted their fifteen minutes of fame. And we have it on record that Chandler said that Richardson told him he did not go down the stairs and he told Chandler nothing at all about the shoe business. Richardsons mother said that her son did not need to go down the stairs to check the padlock, because he could see it dfrom the top of the stairs, and that seems to be what he told Chandler that he did.
It was only later that he used the shoe business to explain why he was supposedly on the stairs.

Question: If you can see the padlock from the top of the stairs, then why do you sit down on the step in the middle of the stairs to fix the shoe? Why not sit on top of the stairs where it is dry and warm, instead of on the potentially damp, grimy and cold step in the middle of the stairs? Why go further down than you have to? Why sit on a relatively narrow step, when you have the whole floor of the hall to sit on?

Once again, and before Herlock says "Now he says that Richardson MUST have been on top of the stairs!", I am not saying that anything must be this or that. I am only pointing to an anomaly.

Was Richardson talking about the yard steps when he said he didn't go down them?
There were two short sets of stairs side by side.
One leading from the passage into the yard, the other from the yard to the cellar door.
The Daily News report of Chandler's evidence says;

"Did he say what for? - He said he went into the back yard and down the cellar to see if all was right, and then went away to his work in the market.

Did he say anything about cutting his boot? - No.

Did he say he was sure the woman was not there? - Yes.

By the Foreman - Witness told him that he did not go to the bottom of the steps leading to the cellar. He went to the top, and looked down."

If this is correct then it explains Richardson's seemingly contradictory evidence about the steps, and also his certainty that he couldn't have missed the body.

[Herlock Sholmes]

You ARE aware that if he pushed the door "out of the way", it would actually return again? You do see how that works, donīt you?

Visual evidence - photographs - stop perpetuating nonsense.

Can you see how that problem would have been easily solved by resting the door against your knee, if you needed to do someting with your hands and arms?

No Fish, for f*%@s sake, that’s the problem in the first place. Why can’t you grasp this? Working on his shoe his elbow would have jutted out meaning it would have bumped against the door if it rested against his legs. A more relevant point is that with the seconds step being low it’s very possible that the door would have swung over his legs and bumped against his left arm whilst he was working!!

Are you really so totally hellbent on not understanding how this would have worked? Is it against all logic to let a door that swings back on itīs hinges rest agianst your person? How else do we deal with that problem? Do we fill our lungs and try to blow the door open? Do we let it bounce, boing, boing, boing, as we sit there?

Stop pretending that the photographs of the door are misleading when you have not a single smidgeon of evidence for that. It’s transparent that you are only saying this because you need it to be true to bolster your crumbling argument.

How do you suggest such a problem should have been solved, if the door persistently came back all the time you pushed it open?

For the 9,000th time - it didn’t, as per the photographs!

I would like for you to explain that to me. If the door WOULD swing back on itīs hinges, precisely how would you avoid the door when sitting on the stairs?

For the 9,001st time - it didn’t, as per the photographs.

Constantly repeating something that you wish to be true won’t make it so.

Are you getting a sense of the point here Fish?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Richardson was asked if he closed the door and answered ha didnīt, because it did so itself. Are we to believe that he opened the door wide, the door stayed open as he sat there, and then, as he got up, the door shut itself?

Or are you suggesting that he opened it wide, and then it stayed wide open, and THEN he gently swung it back on itīs hinges, but he did NOT actually close it - and then, the door that would stay open and would not swing back on itīs hinges, suddenly slammed itself shut as he left?

Are these the kinds of exoticisms that I must deal with now?

Do you live in a cave Fish?

He got up to leave, gave the door a bit of a pull and it closed behind him.

Is this some kind of miracle in your eyes Fish?

I bet you must come close to a heart attack when someone turns on the tv using the remote

[Herlock Sholmes]

The case is full of people who seemingly wanted their fifteen minutes of fame. And we have it on record that Chandler said that Richardson told him he did not go down the stairs and he told Chandler nothing at all about the shoe business. Richardsons mother said that her son did not need to go down the stairs to check the padlock, because he could see it dfrom the top of the stairs, and that seems to be what he told Chandler that he did.
It was only later that he used the shoe business to explain why he was supposedly on the stairs.

Question: If you can see the padlock from the top of the stairs, then why do you sit down on the step in the middle of the stairs to fix the shoe? Why not sit on top of the stairs where it is dry and warm, instead of on the potentially damp, grimy and cold step in the middle of the stairs? Why go further down than you have to? Why sit on a relatively narrow step, when you have the whole floor of the hall to sit on?

Once again, and before Herlock says "Now he says that Richardson MUST have been on top of the stairs!", I am not saying that anything must be this or that. I am only pointing to an anomaly.

Maybe he wanted a better view of the yard in case there were any mutilated corpses hidden away

[Herlock Sholmes]

And just to repeat for Fish - as we’re talking about what is or is not normal, believable behaviour - why did Davis simply stand on the top step and see the corpse straight away and yet Richardson takes two steps down and into the yard and yet misses the corpse completely? Perhaps he was blinkered?

He’s wouldn't have been the only one

[Robert St Devil]

It’s also very reasonable to suggest that he might have leaned forward to some extent as he was working on his shoe. Who would do this sitting bolt upright?

Thanks Herlock. I thought it was a reasonable suggestion too.

[Fisherman]

A pity Dew didn't include Richardson as having mistaken the day.
There was enough time before he(Richardson) sat down to make at least a cursory examination of his surroundings,and it shouldn't be held that because he was there primarily to check a lock,he wouldn't have taken a few seconds to survey the rest of the yard.

I doubt that at that time of the year it would have been a cold damp place to sit.From the various photos from that time,stone steps appears a common place to park ones rear,(Still is today),and from the description of Richardson,he hardly comes across as a person with a tender ass.So wheres the anomoly.

Yes, YOU think there was enough time. And YOU doubt that the middle step was cold, damp and grimy. And YOU have first hand information about Richardsons ass.

I simply disagree, and I have just as much going for my view as you have for yours. And so you are fighting a battle you cannot win, only loose - Richardson CAN have missed Chapman even if she was there.

You donīt even get to decide how likely or unlikely it was. Bummer!