Originally posted by Abby Normal
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I don't discount the possibility the graffiti was written by JtR, but graffiti was apparently not uncommon, nor was anti-antisemitism. The apron was found in the stairwell of a building primarily tenanted by Jews, as well, so there's a reasonable probability it could have been completely unrelated to the murders. Basically, the chance of them being unrelated is high enough that both options have to be considered. Certainly, the police at the time would have seen it as a potential clue because there was also good reason to believe that JtR did write it. Had they photographed it, preserving the handwriting, that might have been something they could use as a lead.
Obviously, if it's not JtR, there's nothing but coincidence that the apron was found there and no particular meaning or intention is required other than discarding of evidence.
If, on the other hand, he did write it, it possibly does refer to Lawende, Levy, and Harris, or if Stride is a victim of JtR, it could refer to his being interrupted and fleeing that crime to then commit a second, and so forth. Perhaps he dropped the apron to ensure the message was connected to him, or perhaps he dropped the apron and the notion of leaving a message occurred to him just then and he stuck around to do so. Or I suppose he may have had a compulsion to write a message, and dropped the apron to do so and just didn't bother picking it back up as he was done wiping up.
Anyway, all I'm saying is that both the "JtR is and is not the author of the graffiti" arguments are strong enough to consider as reasonable, and neither requires dismissing any of the evidence we have, so both account for things.
Hmmm, that being said, let me speculate a little here. Let's consider the implications of the "JtR went home, cleaned up, came back out and discarded the apron piece and wrote the graffiti" for whatever reason. One thing we are probably safe to assume is that JtR does not want to get caught. So, if he fled to his bolt hole, and then came back out to discard the apron, then he's taking a huge risk by coming back out when the place is likely to have lots of police around. To reduce his risk he is going to want to avoid Mitre Square and head away from where all the activity will be so it seems most likely to me that when he leaves to discard the apron, he would head in a direction that puts more distance between himself and the crime scene and not head back towards the hornets nest. And, he's not going to go all that far, since the longer he's carrying it the greater the risk of getting caught with it. That would suggest his bolt hole would most likely be between Mitre Square and Goulston Street, or somewhere along Goulston Street south of the graffiti maybe? If he lived very near by then he would be aware of how much activity was in the vicinity, and so might also be aware that he had enough time to chalk a message as well.
But, that whole idea all depends upon the apron being deposited after he went home and came back out. If it was deposited as he fled the crime scene, then what we have is an indication of his general direction of travel, suggesting he lives east of Goulston, rather than in the vicinity of it.
- Jeff
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