John Richardson sitting on the step

[Phil Carter]

Hello Colin,

I agree with you.
Another wise monkey, this Richardson.
Here no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
Its amazing he had his eyes open looking DOWN when cutting that boot leather.

It's a recurring theme through every murder.
No one sees anything. No one hears anything. All turn up just too late to find a body and in Richardson's case, right under his nasal orrifice.

Ever noticed NO ONE wears spectacles?

Best wishes

Phil

[Garza]

The thing that strikes me with Richardson, is a story that is too unbelievable to not be true.

If he really was the murderer, why say he sat on the step in the first place, wouldn't it be better to say he peeked round the corner and that is it?

If he was embarassed by his negligence or incompentance of spotting a body, wouldn't it be better to say he peeked round the corner and that is it? (I mean that is what people say about Schwartz when he changed his story - he didn't want to seem like a coward).

Let me put it this way. What did Richardson have to gain by saying he sat no more than 2 feet away cutting a piece of leather from his boot from a dead body?

It is very possible due to the sketches and the way the door was opened that he couldn't see the body.

[Garza]

Yeesh ignore my last post, I have been on hiatus for a half a year on jack the ripper and facts are a little fuzzy at present :-) .

[Jon Guy]

Hey Up Chava!!

And I would also like to have had someone take that butter-knife be brought into the inquest and try and cut some boot-leather with it. I've never believed that was the knife he had with him that night.

To be fair, Richardson did state at the inquest that he had to use a sharper knife to finish the job off (his boot, not Chapman ..) when he arrived at the market.

[lynn cates]

the knife

Hello Jon. Quite. He brought his knife to inquest and they were dubious about its power to cut.

Cheers.
LC

[Chava]

I think men did carry sharp knives with them then as useful tools. So I can well believe that he actually cut the leather with a clasp-knife. I don't see any reason why he would carry a butter knife, which in those days would have had a rounded edge and would have been used for...smearing butter! So no real cutting edge to it at all. He probably realized that he'd put himself in it carrying a knife at all, so lied about it. I do think it's a long shot for the reasons above. But I can't discount Richardson. If he was in the habit of going past every day at that time to check on his mother's stuff in the backyard while on the way to work, he'd have to come up with a reason why he wasn't near the backyard the exact morning someone killed a woman there. So he may well admit to being there before the murder rather than denying he was there at all.

[RockySullivan]

Richardson sounds like a strong person of interest to me, anyone know any more about him? What does a market porters job entail? He was viewed with suspicion and that says A LOT. I wonder if he was involved in taking $ to let prostitutes use the yard. He's at the scene with a knife....

[RockySullivan]

Any other buildings Richardson worked at? He may have stumbled upon annie and a client and after the john left Richardson killed her. The john may not have come forward to if he was married. Or Richardson may have used the yard as a killing spot and then became worried a witness saw him there. I don't buy him stopping in and cutting his shoe at that unlucky time...he may be the ripper

[Ginger]

What does a market porters job entail?

A market porter is an employee of the market itself, whose job is to unload wagons and carry and stack goods for the dealers in the market. Typically, the dealers will pay the market for porter services (or else get that included as part of their stall lease). The market usually issued the dealer with porter tokens, and for every load of goods taken from the delivery wagon to the dealer's stall, the dealer gave a token to the porter. At work's end, the porter cashed his tokens in at the market offices.

It would be by no means unusual for a porter to carry a sharp clasp knife as a work tool. During the course of the day he might have to cut ropes and strings, open boxes, etc. Personally, I wonder if Richardson didn't use his clasp knife to trim his boot, then, at the inquest, realize that he was likely to lose his good knife as evidence, and make up the tale about the butter knife.

[RockySullivan]

A market porter is an employee of the market itself, whose job is to unload wagons and carry and stack goods for the dealers in the market. Typically, the dealers will pay the market for porter services (or else get that included as part of their stall lease). The market usually issued the dealer with porter tokens, and for every load of goods taken from the delivery wagon to the dealer's stall, the dealer gave a token to the porter. At work's end, the porter cashed his tokens in at the market offices.

It would be by no means unusual for a porter to carry a sharp clasp knife as a work tool. During the course of the day he might have to cut ropes and strings, open boxes, etc. Personally, I wonder if Richardson didn't use his clasp knife to trim his boot, then, at the inquest, realize that he was likely to lose his good knife as evidence, and make up the tale about the butter knife.

Thanks Ginger! I wonder what is known about richardsons military experience (?) and I assume he grew up working for his family but what other jobs might he have had? The tokens used at the market wouldn't be like the farthing (that was or wasn't) found?

[Ginger]

The tokens used at the market wouldn't be like the farthing (that was or wasn't) found?

http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/tokens...ket_tokens.htm is a fellow's list of market tokens. Most of these are 'box tokens', issued to a purchaser by a dealer when the purchaser used the dealer's wooden box or basket to transport his purchase, and redeemable by the dealer for the face amount when the box was returned in good shape. Note that http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/tokens...et_tokens.html lists a 1 shilling token for a Mrs. Richardson in Spitalfields Market.

http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/tokens...ury_tokens.htm shows photos some of the tokens, not just for markets but for other uses as well. Most are nicely-made, and resemble coins, but could not be mistaken for a farthing piece even in bad light. These are basically the exact same idea as the tokens for airport services, car washes, and video game arcades that are common today.

[RockySullivan]

http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/tokens...ket_tokens.htm is a fellow's list of market tokens. Most of these are 'box tokens', issued to a purchaser by a dealer when the purchaser used the dealer's wooden box or basket to transport his purchase, and redeemable by the dealer for the face amount when the box was returned in good shape. Note that http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/tokens...et_tokens.html lists a 1 shilling token for a Mrs. Richardson in Spitalfields Market.

http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/tokens...ury_tokens.htm shows photos some of the tokens, not just for markets but for other uses as well. Most are nicely-made, and resemble coins, but could not be mistaken for a farthing piece even in bad light. These are basically the exact same idea as the tokens for airport services, car washes, and video game arcades that are common today.

Cool ginger pretty neat! Mrs richardson said many tenants in the building worked at spitalfields market and left very early in the morning. The cellar was john richardsons workshop alrhought I'm not sure what he worked on down there? It seems like richardson would be able to kill out there in the backyard safely knowing the activity of the tenants very well and having reason to be there

[Debra A]

Thanks Ginger! I wonder what is known about richardsons military experience (?) and I assume he grew up working for his family but what other jobs might he have had? The tokens used at the market wouldn't be like the farthing (that was or wasn't) found?

I have had some of what I think are this John Richardson's military records for a while, Rocky but I've never posted them before-just mentioned that he was discharged unfit because of epilepsy.
The records included a description. I will see if I can transcribe them and post them later on.

[Jon Guy]

The records included a description. I will see if I can transcribe them and post them later on.

Yes, please !!

[RockySullivan]

That would be awesome debs!