Chapman Timeline

[Herlock Sholmes]

I’m trying to work out Annie’s movements in regard to Crossingham’s. So..


The Times


About 7.00 on Friday she turns up

She asks to be allowed into the kitchen

Donovan asks where she’s been

She tells him the infirmary

She stayed there until just before 2.00am Saturday

She leaves asking for her bed to be kept


The Telegraph


About 2.00-3.00 on Friday afternoon she turns up

She asks to be allowed into the kitchen

Donovan asks where she’s been

She tells him the infirmary

He next sees her at 1.30-1.45

She asks for her bed to be kept


Morning Advertiser


About 11.30pm on Friday she turns up

Donovan asks where she’s been

She tells him the infirmary

She leaves in the direction of Bishopsgate Street

At around 1.40 she returns

She asks for her bed to be keep before leaving


Evening News


About 2.00pm Friday she turns up

Donovan asks where she’s been

She tells him the infirmary

He next saw her around 1.30am Saturday

She asks for her bed to be kept

She leaves around 1.45-1.50am


Pall Mall Gazette


At about 11.30pm on Friday she turns up

Donovan asks where she’s has been

She tells him the infirmary

She leaves in the direction of Bishopsgate Street

1.40 she’s back asking for her bed to be kept

She leaves


Amelia Farmer saw her at 5.00 on Friday afternoon and then a few minutes later saying that she needed to get money for her lodgings

…..

That she left around 1.45 is no problem. Only 2 of the 5 has her leaving and returning but the have Donovan ‘not seeing her again until’ which I assume must be because she’d gone out. After all, was she really likely to have stayed in the kitchen for hours? So what time did she show up on Friday 7.00pm/ 2.00-3.00pm/ 11.30pm/

Thoughts?

[Herlock Sholmes]

British Medical Journal
Sept 22nd

DR. GEORGE BAXTER PHILLIPS gave some remarkable evidence at the adjourned inquiry respecting the mutilations found on the body of Mary Anne Chapman, who was found in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Whitechapel, on the morning of September 8th. He express the opinion that the length of the weapon, which must have been very sharp, was at least five or six inches, probably more. The mode in which the knife had been used, he said, seemed to indicate some anatomical knowledge. The reposts published in the daily press are incomplete. It is there desirable to state that the parts removed were a certain portion of the abdominal wall, including the navel; two thirds of the bladder (posterior and upper portions); the upper third of the vagina and its connection with the uterus; and the whole of the uterus.


Someone must have asked our organ thieves to get them two thirds of a bladder and a third of a vagina, Trevor.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Third Draft

An explanatory paragraph added at the beginning due to the conflicting times attributed to Donovan.
Occupants of number 29 updated (Belloc)
Information added Joshua Rogan’s Occupants Of Number 29 thread (CF Leon)



Annie Chapman hadn’t been seen a Crossingham’s Lodging House for a week until she reappeared on the Friday evening before her death the following day. It is variously reported that lodging house deputy Timothy Donovan first saw her at 2.00-3.00pm, 7.00pm and 11.30pm. He asks her where she has been and Annie tells him that she has been in the infirmary. He allows her to spend time in the kitchen. During this period she visited the Ringer’s pub and also sent one of the lodgers for a pint of beer before heading out. Due to the varied times given it’s impossible to slot her actions during this period into a timeline. We can’t know how many times she might have gone in and out of the lodging house.

Tuesday 4th - Eliza Cooper sees Annie Chapman in the kitchen of Crossingham’s Lodging House. Annie asks for the return of a piece of soap. The quarrel continued in the Ringers pub. Annie slaps Eliza and Eliza hit her in the eye and chest.

c5.00 - Amelia Palmer of 30, Dorset Street, sees Annie Chapman in Dorset Street. Chapman complained of feeling too ill to go and sell goods in Stratford as she usually did on Fridays.

c5.15 - Palmer sees Chapman again a few minutes later at the same spot. She tells Palmer that she needs to get money for her lodgings.

c12.12 (Saturday AM) - William Stevens, a painter living at Crossingham’s, sees Chapman in the kitchen of the lodging house. He sees Annie pick up a piece of paper and wrapped some pills that she had previously kept in a box which came apart

c1.30-1.45 - Donovan sees Chapman go to the kitchen. John Evans, the night watchman (known as ‘Brummie’) is sent to collect the money for her bed but she doesn’t have it. She then comes up to the office and tells Donovan not to let her bed as she will be back soon with the eightpence that she needs. According to him she has been drinking. She is eating baked potatoes.

c1.50 - Evans sees her leave the building. She walks through Paternoster Street into Brushfield Street then turns toward Spitalfields Church.

c3.00 - At 29 Hanbury Street, in the first floor front room, Amelia Richardson wakes but then dozes.

c3.50 - Mrs Richardson calls out “good morning” to Mr Thompson, who occupied the front room and worked at Goodson’s in Brick Lane, second floor with his wife, before she hears him leave the house to go to work. He doesn’t go to the yard.

c4.45-4.50 - John Richardson, Porter at Leadenhall Market of 2, John Street, Spitalfields, the son of Amelia, goes to check the cellar. He sits on the back door step to do some repair work on his boot before leaving. He sees nothing in the yard.

c4.47-4.52 - Richardson leaves to go to work.

c5.00 - Mrs Elizabeth Long leaves her house at 3 Church Row, Whitechapel and heads for Spitalfields Market.

c5.15 - Albert Cadosch a 27 year old Carpenter living at number 27 Hanbury Street wakes up.

c5.20 - Cadosch goes into the yard to use the outside toilet and when he returned to the back door he heard a “no.”

c5.23-5.24 - Cadosch goes back into the yard to use the toilet. When he returns he hears something brush against the fence.

c5.30 - Mrs Long sees Annie Chapman talking to a man just a few yards from number 29 Hanbury Street.

c5.32 - Albert Cadosch passes Spitalfields Church on his way to work.

c5.45 - Carman John Davis, who worked at Leadenhall Market, is woken by the striking of Spitalfields Church clock. He has a cup of tea before going to the yard.

c6.03 - Henry John Holland, box maker, 4 Aden Yard, Mile End Road passes number 29 on his way to work in Chiswell Street but stops to talk to two men (Kent and Green)

c6.04 - Davis finds the body then leaves by the front door. He calls over two men who work at Mr. Bailey’ packing case making business (which is three doors away on the same side of the street as number 29 at 23a) and tells them about the body. They return with him. He only knows them by sight. The two men called by Davis are James Kent of 20, Drew’s Blocks, King David Lane, Shadwell and James Green of 36, Ackland Street, Burdett Road. Holland is with them.

c6.05 - Davis locates a PC John Pinnock (238H) who sends John Davis to Commercial Street Station to tell them about the murder.

c6.05 - Harriett Hardiman, a cats meat saleswoman who occupies the ground floor front room is awakened by the noise from the passage. She sends her husband to see what was going on (she thought that there might have been a fire)

c6.05- Thomas Richardson, aged 14, is sent by his grandmother Amelia to find out why there is so much noise coming from the passage. He returns to inform her of the discovery of the body.

c6.05 - Holland heads off to find a Constable at Spitalfield’s Market.

c6.06 - Mrs Richardson goes downstairs and sees the body.

c6.10 - Inspector Joseph Chandler (H Division) is on duty in Commercial Street at the corner of Hanbury Street when he sees several men running. He calls them over and is told about the murder. (Possibly Davis was with these men - maybe he continued on to inform the station as he’d been asked to do?) The inspector goes straight to number 29. He sends for Dr Phillips and to the police station for the ambulance and for assistance. From his place of work at 23a James Green sees Chandler arrive.

c6.11 - James Kent returns with a canvas to place over the body at Chandler’s request.

c6.12 - Holland gets to Spitalfield’s market half a mile away and informs a Constable that there had been a murder similar to the Bucks Row case but he refused to attend the scene (this was an officer on point duty). He told Holland to inform the two policemen outside the market but he couldn’t find them. (Holland later complained about the PC at Commercial Street Station)

c6.20 - As Holland is returning to number 29 he sees an Inspector running with a young man.

c6.20 - Dr George Baxter Phillips, 2, Spital Square, Police Divisional Surgeon, is informed about the murder.

c6.30 - Dr. Phillips arrives at the yard. He examines the body.

c6.45 - Inspector Chandler speaks to John Richardson in the passage of number 29.

c6.50 - The body is removed to the Whitechapel Union Workhouse Mortuary in Old Montague Street on Phillips orders by Sergeant Edmund Badham (31H) He stays with the body until Inspector Chandler arrives.

c6.50 - After the body was moved Chandler examines the yard.

c7.00 - The body is received at the mortuary by mortuary keeper (and Whitechapel Union Workhouse inmate) Robert Mann. He stayed with the body until Dr Phillips arrived at 2.00. The mortuary was locked the whole time until it was unlocked to admit 2 nurses (Sarah Simonds, resident nurse and a senior nurse Frances Wright, who arrived to strip the body which was still on the ambulance) The key to the mortuary was given to the police.

c7.10 - (A few minutes after 7.00 according to him) Chandler goes to the mortuary. DS Thicke examined the body too while Sergeant Badham made notes.

c7.40 - When Chandler leaves the mortuary he leaves PC Barnes (376H) on guard.

c11.30 - Amelia Palmer is taken to the mortuary to identify the body.


Soon after 2.00 the post mortem is conducted by Dr Phillips at the Whitechapel Union Workhouse Mortuary.


c2.30 - Ted Stanley arrives at Crossingham’s and enquires about Chapman after hearing that she had been killed. When this was confirmed he left.

…..

The Inquest takes place on Monday 10th September? At The Working Lads Institute under Coroner Wynne E. Baxter. The jurors are told to be there for 10am.

The jurymen are then sworn, their names are Messrs. Dawson, Knight, Upton, Gardiner, Wall, Hunt, Statham, Mead, Hawkins, Wood, Ford, Latier, Carter, Neville, Chamberlain, Kemp, Silvan, and Birks. Mr. Thorpe was unanimously selected as foreman.

…..

The Residents of Number 29 Hanbury Street


Ground floor front - Mrs Hardiman and her son 16

Ground floor back - Mrs Richardson’s kitchen area.

First floor front - Mrs Richardson and her grandson Thomas, 14.

First floor back - A man called Walker, 65 who made lawn tennis rings. He lived with his son Alfred who was 31 and was described as ‘not right.’

Second floor front - Mr Thompson, Carman (worked at Goodson’s in Brick Lane), his wife and an adopted little girl.

Second floor back - The two Misses Cooksey who worked in a cigar factory

Top floor front - John Davis, Carman at Leadenhall Market, wife Mary Ann and sons James, Benjamin and David.

Top floor rear - An old lady called Sarah Cox (actual name Wilcox according to Jon Guy) who Mrs Richardson kept out of charity.


17 in total.

[GBinOz]

c7.00 - The body is received at the mortuary by mortuary keeper (and Whitechapel Union Workhouse inmate) Robert Mann. He stayed with the body until Dr Phillips arrived at 2.00. The mortuary was locked the whole time until it was unlocked to admit 2 nurses (Sarah Simonds, resident nurse and a senior nurse Frances Wright, who arrived to strip the body which was still on the ambulance) The key to the mortuary was given to the police.

Hi Herlock,

I haven't been able to find a reference as to what time the nurses arrived at the mortuary. However, this is from the Daily Telegraph report of the testimony at the inquest:

Sarah Simonds, a resident nurse at the Whitechapel Infirmary, stated that, in company of the senior nurse, she went to the mortuary on Saturday, and found the body of the deceased on the ambulance in the yard. It was afterwards taken into the shed, and placed on the table. She was directed by Inspector Chandler to undress it, and she placed the clothes in a corner.

It was not Chandler that ordered the body stripped, but the clerk to the board of trustees. Am I the only one this finds this unusual, verging on suspicious?

Cheers, George

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock,

I haven't been able to find a reference as to what time the nurses arrived at the mortuary. However, this is from the Daily Telegraph report of the testimony at the inquest:

Sarah Simonds, a resident nurse at the Whitechapel Infirmary, stated that, in company of the senior nurse, she went to the mortuary on Saturday, and found the body of the deceased on the ambulance in the yard. It was afterwards taken into the shed, and placed on the table. She was directed by Inspector Chandler to undress it, and she placed the clothes in a corner.

It was not Chandler that ordered the body stripped, but the clerk to the board of trustees. Am I the only one this finds this unusual, verging on suspicious?

Cheers, George

Hi George,

On the timings - as Mann said that he received the body at 7.00 and Simonds said that when she got there the body was still on the ambulance in the yard it suggests that Simonds got the the yard just before Mann.

On your point,

Simonds, The Times: They were directed by Inspector Chandler to undress the deceased. Witness took the clothes off and placed them in a corner of the shed. They left the handkerchief round the neck of deceased. They washed the blood off the body. There was blood on the chest, as if it had run down from the throat. She found the pocket, the strings of which were not broken. Inspector Chandler stated he did not instruct the nurses to undress and wash the body. The Coroner’s officer said it was done by order of the clerk to the guardians.

Could this just be a lapse of memory from Simonds? If that’s not what happened though it’s difficult to see why a minor workhouse official would have given this order. Perhaps it might have been someone relatively new to the job who made a poor decision due to a lack of experience?

[GBinOz]

Hi George,

On the timings - as Mann said that he received the body at 7.00 and Simonds said that when she got there the body was still on the ambulance in the yard it suggests that Simonds got the the yard just before Mann.

On your point,

Simonds, The Times: They were directed by Inspector Chandler to undress the deceased. Witness took the clothes off and placed them in a corner of the shed. They left the handkerchief round the neck of deceased. They washed the blood off the body. There was blood on the chest, as if it had run down from the throat. She found the pocket, the strings of which were not broken. Inspector Chandler stated he did not instruct the nurses to undress and wash the body. The Coroner’s officer said it was done by order of the clerk to the guardians.

Could this just be a lapse of memory from Simonds? If that’s not what happened though it’s difficult to see why a minor workhouse official would have given this order. Perhaps it might have been someone relatively new to the job who made a poor decision due to a lack of experience?

Hi Herlock,

The testimony suggests that the body was taken to the mortuary, not to the yard. What would have been the point of a key to a lock taken possession by the police if the body was in the yard. I doubt that a "lapse of memory" could have occurred over so short a time. I am aware of the Times report, but I am not sure that the clerk to the guardians was a minor workhouse official. Some years ago I came across a report that identified the clerk to the guardians at the time, by name, as involved in corruption. I'm sure that you have experienced the incidence of a recollection that you can no longer access despite all efforts. You have presented an alternative to which I have difficulty in ascribing any realistic possibility. But that's just my opinion, and we have come to accept that we will more than often be on opposing sides of an argument without involving further rancour.

Cheers, George

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock,

The testimony suggests that the body was taken to the mortuary, not to the yard. What would have been the point of a key to a lock taken possession by the police if the body was in the yard. I doubt that a "lapse of memory" could have occurred over so short a time. I am aware of the Times report, but I am not sure that the clerk to the guardians was a minor workhouse official. Some years ago I came across a report that identified the clerk to the guardians at the time, by name, as involved in corruption. I'm sure that you have experienced the incidence of a recollection that you can no longer access despite all efforts. You have presented an alternative to which I have difficulty in ascribing any realistic possibility. But that's just my opinion, and we have come to accept that we will more than often be on opposing sides of an argument without involving further rancour.

Cheers, George

My reading of it George is that the body was taken to the mortuary which was a part of the Whitechapel Workhouse Union so it would, I imagine, have a yard in front of it. When the body arrived at the mortuary it would have been locked. Then the workhouse would have been informed so that Robert Mann be woken up to unlock and the nurses called. As a nurse maybe Simonds was already on duty and so went to the mortuary with her colleague to wait for Mann’s arrival.

I certainly know what you mean by not being able to recall a detail. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve regretted not making a note of something. I have no idea who the Clerk of the Guardians was so perhaps I might have been underplaying the importance/seniority of the role. It certainly worth posing the question that you have though - why would that person have taken it upon himself to have ordered the body stripped and washed?

[GBinOz]

My reading of it George is that the body was taken to the mortuary which was a part of the Whitechapel Workhouse Union so it would, I imagine, have a yard in front of it. When the body arrived at the mortuary it would have been locked. Then the workhouse would have been informed so that Robert Mann be woken up to unlock and the nurses called. As a nurse maybe Simonds was already on duty and so went to the mortuary with her colleague to wait for Mann’s arrival.

I certainly know what you mean by not being able to recall a detail. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve regretted not making a note of something. I have no idea who the Clerk of the Guardians was so perhaps I might have been underplaying the importance/seniority of the role. It certainly worth posing the question that you have though - why would that person have taken it upon himself to have ordered the body stripped and washed?

While your reading is speculative, it may be correct, but I am not convinced as the testimony does not appear to support your opinion. There are too many contradictions. Once again we enter the realm of differing interpretation.

[Herlock Sholmes]

While your reading is speculative, it may be correct, but I am not convinced as the testimony does not appear to support your opinion. There are too many contradictions. Once again we enter the realm of differing interpretation.

Certainly true George. I don’t know if you noticed but I put out a request for info in the General Discussion thread to see if anyone can put a name to our friend the clerk.