The Bloody Piece of Apron Redux

[Errata]

In the prevailing unsanitary conditions, wrapping a piece of very dirty cloth around a cut would almost certainly lead to blood poisoning. Perhaps that what made Jack stop - he died of bloodpoisoning after killing Mary Kelly lol.

Well, it isn't entirely impossible. It also isnt entirely impossible that he crippled himself during the murder of Eddowes or Kelly (depending on how you feel about Kelly being in the C5). The effort it takes to cut through abdominal muscle and perhaps even clothing is such that if you cut your own hand, it is likely with enough force to sever the tendons in your palm or fingers. And that was not a treatable injury in 1888. It's actually the one way I could buy George Chapman as JtR. His method would have changed because it became physically impossible to continue his previous method. Not that there is any record or George Chapman having a crippled hand...

[mariab]

case closed

Hello Curious,
I think we just cracked the case. LOL.

[curious4]

Cut hand

In the prevailing unsanitary conditions, wrapping a piece of very dirty cloth around a cut would almost certainly lead to blood poisoning. Perhaps that what made Jack stop - he died of bloodpoisoning after killing Mary Kelly lol.

[mariab]

Hi Jane and all,
I definitely see "2 doors from Wendworth Str“ (first line) and “2 blocks“ (second line) as Jane and Dave said, and I work with handwritten 19th century texts on a daily basis (for my job).

Hi Errata,
the Ripper most evidently was not a regular anyone, and one can easily stop a bleeding cut with a piece of tissue of pillowcase proportions in 5'-10' minutes, just by keeping it wrapped. I suspect that not just the bleeding, but also the fecal matter was a factor here for making the killer want to whipe his hand(s) on foreign cloth. Cutting his own hand while engaging in the kind of mutilations that occurred during the Eddowes (and Mary Kelly) slaying is a likelihood.

[protohistorian]

I really need more of a life, why won't someone stop me!
Line 1 I believe says, "2 doors from wentworth street" Dave

[protohistorian]

1894 os of the map depicted. Dave

[protohistorian]

Maybe this will help? It appears you have a palimpsest of sorts here. It is likely a product of being written on a page from a booklet and the lower page containing a remnant of an upper page. Dave

[Errata]

That's why I'm saying, he might have cut himself with his own knife, might have gotten fecal matter on his wound, and quickly grabbed/tore a piece of the apron to clean up his injury. Walks a couple blocks around, wound stops bleeding too much, he gets rid of the piece of evidence. Might have chosen the GSG deliberately or accidentally. Might have even scribbled the graffito himself, pissed at the IWEC people, before encountering Eddowes.

The reason this rings odd to me is that when it all boils down to it, there are wounds you worry about and ones you don't. If someone were to cut the crap out of their hand, to the point that they need to wrap it, apply pressure, etc. then that's a wound you worry about. Most people would wrap their hand up and get home as soon as possible to take care of it. It's sort of like the amount of concern required to bind a wound is a 5, and the amount of concern to get to place where you can see it under light and clean it properly is a 5.001. There just isn't a lot of room in between those two levels.

It's also a lot of cloth to bind a wound. And if he was wounded, he wouldn't have to explain the presence of a bloody cloth. He could walk around with that thing all night. If someone said "hey why do you have a bloody cloth?" he would say "because I cut the crap out of my hand. See?".

I can see a lot of scenarios where he either doesn't take the cloth, or doesn't get rid of it. But taking a pillowcase sized piece of cloth and dropping it a few blocks away seems sort of so bizarre it had to be purposeful.

[sgh]

Janie,
The line I can see where it says - found inside entrance to,,,
is just above the - 108 to 119.
The writing below that and to the right is just too indistinct
to read it fully.

It's all relative to the exact location of where exactly the piece
of apron was found.
Just snippets of clues to help us try to determine things.

Many Thanks again Janie - you're a real Gem :-)

[Jane Coram]

Hi,

. I think the first line says '2 doors from Wentworth Street' . .I think the last word of line 2 is 'blocks' . . . the third line says 'about 30 feet'. . . I can't even find the bit you can see, so you must have bloody good eyes.

I'll have a look at it in Photoshop tomorrow and see if I can get it more readable. It might already be in a book somewhere, I'll have a look through if I can't work out what it says. I know I've seen it written down somewhere. I think it might have been on a thread about the GSG. I'll try and remember.

Hugs

Janie

xxxxx

[sgh]

Foster's Site plan for Janie

Hi Janie,
Here's the section of Foster's plan with the handwritten notes I was just referring to that I'm trying to decipher.

Best
Steve

[sgh]

Hi SGH,

I'm going to have to email someone to see if Foster actually went there on the night of the murder or not, or it's going to drive me batshit!

Much love

Janie

xxxxx

Hi Janie,
While your at it (the email a friend part - not the batshit:-) can you ask them
if they can decipher the handwriting in the top rh corner of Foster's site plan of Mitre Sq refering to the apron piece. I can make out most of it especially where it says 'found inside to ,,,,' .
Something or other comes after that and I can't make that out yet.

Bucket full of Hugs
Steve

[Jane Coram]

Hi SGH,

I'm going to have to email someone to see if Foster actually went there on the night of the murder or not, or it's going to drive me batshit!

Much love

Janie

xxxxx

[sgh]

Hi SGH,

You've got me wondering now. I don't think there is any doubt that the illustration is actually Foster's, but I'm beginning to wonder if he went to the murder site on the night of Kate's murder, or if he was purely working on sketches by Brown. The only reason I thought that he had gone to the murder site himself to do sketches is that there is an awful lot of detail in that illustration which looked as if it had been taken from life (or in poor Kate's case, death). The only other alternative is that Brown's sketch was so good that he could take all that detail from it. I thought I had read somewhere that he had gone there, but it could have been on a thread and it was just someone suggesting it.

I've had a quick look through and can't find anything on it, but I'm sure someone can tell us.

Help!
Hugs

Janie

xxxx

Hi Janie,
We're both rummaging through texts by the sounds of it - not to worry though, I'm glad you pointed this out and I'll refer to it as Foster's in the future.
Thank you once again for your help

Double Hugs back :-)

Steve

[sgh]

Hi SGH,

As far I know that illustration is Foster's. It's credited to Foster in the Source Book and here on Casebook at least. I've always thought he just used Brown's sketch to put all the pencilled medical notes in around the body, but that he'd made his own sketches and notes at the scene as well. I don't know if I read that somewhere or if I'm just misremembering that bit. I read so many books, I forget what I have read sometimes. The actual illustration on that document though is generally credited to Foster, even though it is based on a sketch by Brown. Maybe someone else can shed some light on it?

Hugs

Janie

xxxxx

Many thanks for your reply, Janie.
Sounds like Foster's it is then - makes sense, I see the reasoning.

Hugs back :-)

S