Eddowes Photograph

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stewart,

That's a much better version, so it's a fair cop Guvnor. I'll come quietly. You've got me bang to rights about it being a boat. But I still want to know what all that other stuff is in the shell. It's no way to treat a lady.

While I'm waiting for the handcuffs, have you got another version of the photo which shows the wounds?

Regards,

Simon

[Stewart P Evans]

Different Planet

Hi Stewart,
Mortuary shells were simple wooden boxes lined with copper so they could be easily washed out.
I think you'll find that this is the correct way around for the pic. It renders some of the writing almost readable, including that on the left arm.
[ATTACH]7766[/ATTACH]
And here's the Foster and Brown drawings.
[ATTACH]7767[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7768[/ATTACH]
The long wound up the torso is visible, but out of focus? I'm going to send you a Specsavers coupon.
Regards,
Simon

You really are on a different planet Simon.

[Simon Wood]

And your prize for that post, Tom, is a Lenscrafters gift card.

[Tom_Wescott]

It's not "almost" certainly Eddowes, it is Eddowes. The cut is the same, the wounds to the face are the same, the mutilation is the same, the cut throat. I couldn't care less if she was in a spaceship when the pic was taken, it's still Eddowes.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Mascara & Paranoia]

That's almost certainly Eddowes; look at that first diagram[?] and the body in the crate, the wounds are a perfect match. The only thing about that photo I'm a bit stumped on is a) why she's already been stripped if that's to transport corpses to the morgue and b) what all that presumed junk is that she's been lain on top of. Unless it's her clothes? Or maybe the wood panneling's all scratched and the lighting made the photo a bit blurry (could make sense of how stony her lower torso looks).

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stewart,

Mortuary shells were simple wooden boxes lined with copper so they could be easily washed out.

I think you'll find that this is the correct way around for the pic. It renders some of the writing almost readable, including that on the left arm.



And here's the Foster and Brown drawings.



The long wound up the torso is visible, but out of focus? I'm going to send you a Specsavers coupon.

Regards,

Simon

[Stewart P Evans]

Photograph

Hi Stewart,
Not Macnaghten, eh? Then I give up. Who was it?
Who is it a photograph of? Unfortunately I don't know the name, but there's a number of clues to suggest it isn't Eddowes.
The corpse is laying in a boat. Look at all the surrounding bits and pieces.
The corpse has been severed at around waist level.
The head and face are completely different sizes and shapes compared to the other Eddowes pics.
If this photograph was taken before the post-mortem there are no wounds on the body which match those inflicted in Mitre Square.
And if this photograph was taken after the post-mortem then the stitching running from her neck to groin is absent.
Regards,
Simon

1. Don Rumbelow, it was one of the City Police photographs of Eddowes that he located.

2. A boat??? You get some funny ideas - it is clearly a shell, which was a rough old coffin that was used for transporting bodies to the mortuary.

3. The body is not 'severed at around waist level.'

4. The head is not a different size, it's the foreshortening and distorting effect of looking upwards at the face.

5. This is a pre-autopsy photograph and the long wound up the torso is visible, but out of focus.

Back to the drawing board Simon.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stewart,

Not Macnaghten, eh? Then I give up. Who was it?

Who is it a photograph of? Unfortunately I don't know the name, but there's a number of clues to suggest it isn't Eddowes.

The corpse is laying in a boat. Look at all the surrounding bits and pieces.
The corpse has been severed at around waist level.
The head and face are completely different sizes and shapes compared to the other Eddowes pics.
If this photograph was taken before the post-mortem there are no wounds on the body which match those inflicted in Mitre Square.
And if this photograph was taken after the post-mortem then the stitching running from her neck to groin is absent.

Regards,

Simon

[Sox]

I have seen another mortuary picture of Catherine Eddowes and it looks as if she has been photographed propped up against a wall, is this so and why would this be done?
Thanks Looby

To my knowledge, cameras of this era could not take a picture at an angle i.e pointing downwards. I came across this little oddity while doing research on Jesse James, I was curious as to why he was pictured propped up in his coffin (as were many slain outlaws from that period) so I spoke to a friend who specializes in sepia photography, and that's what she told me.

[Stewart P Evans]

Who?

Hi Stewart,
I did the easy part and worked out that in all probability the photograph came from Macnaghten. But what I want to know is who told Dan Farson it was a photograph of Eddowes? Because it isn't.
It's all very fascinating.
Regards,
Simon

No it didn't come from Macnaghten, it was a City case not Metropolitan. Who is it a photograph of then???

[Addy]

Hi Suzi,

I've visited the picture section only once. When I read a book I often skip the mortuary photographs, I've seen them a couple of times and that's enough.

Greetings,

Addy

[Suzi]

These pics are available on site here- the Vacher l'Eventreur ones come from Robert Mc Laughlin's book

[Addy]

Hi Suzi,

I guess the last picture is the one I heard about. I never saw it before. I can imagine people thinking it is not Kate, it is an awful picture. But indeed, the wounds are the same.

Greetings,

Addy

[Suzi]

Hair shot!

c/o Rob Mc Laughlin

[Suzi]

Mortuary head shot of Kate c/o SPE/Skinner

Eddowes from Vacher l'Eventreur c/o Robert Mc Laughlin

Eddowes c/o SPE/Skinner