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Hello all,
Over the years here there has been many debates about the nature of the cuts made on Kates cheeks, whether they were intentional markings or whether they were collateral damage as a result of the nose being cut almost completely off her face.
In 2012 Simon Webb published a book called Dynamite, Treason and Plot, a look at Terrorism in London during the LVP, and in it there is an interesting factoid concerning the markings on a murder victims face. The case in point was the trial of a Stinnie Morrison, at the Old Bailey in March of 1911. The victim was Leon Beron, a Russian immigrant who lived in Jubilee Street in Whitechapel and was a member of the Jubilee Street Anarchists Club. He was thought to have been a police informant.The victim in this case had 2 elongated "S"'s into his cheeks after death. The physician who examined the dead man, Dr Joseph Needham... Divisional Police Surgeon for Balham, asserted that the marks were absolutely intentional.
There was some attention paid to these markings as they attempted to figure out their meaning, and it was revealed that the carving of letters or symbols in the face of a murder victim was not unique to the Beron case. In fact, there had been other examples of that kind of "marking" in previous years, often associated with the notion that the victim was being marked as a "spy" after the murder....hence the elongated "s" cuts on the cheeks. The inference being of course that the victim was co-operating with the police and providing information about the goings on in the Russian and Jew immigrant communities. Anarchist activities.
Kate Eddowes told a friend she intended to turn the killer on the loose in for the reward money, intimating that she both knew the person and that she could provide some information to verify her statement. She told Kelly the day they parted for the last time that he "needn't fear" for her, that she wouldn't fall "into his hands", again intimating that she knew who to be careful of and that she had some reason not to be afraid for her own skin.
Heres the point to all this....it can be proven that the marking of cheeks on people murdered in London was not isolated to one or 2 cases.... and it can be fairly said that the motive for the murder in at least some of the cases might have had something to do with supressing information the killer felt was dangerous to him, or perhaps his cause.
Since we cannot say why Kate was in Mitre Square in the first place, why she thought she knew who was doing the killing, why the story that Kelly gives about their last 24 hours has definable errors...such as when the boots were pawned..., how she got money to get so drunk by 8pm that last night, and why she was murdered, is it not feasible to consider that Kates claim of knowing the killer posed a direct threat to that person or persons and that her intending to turn him in to the officials could be construed as squealing on someone she knew?
If so, why the V shape? Why not cut an S for Spy, or Squealer, or Snitch?
Does anyone know languages enough to explain why a Russian or European Jew might choose to mark her with V's? Is there a word in Yiddish or Russian that begins with a V that might correspond with the Spy or Snitch theory? One might suggest that Vasiliev did that murder and signed it with some cuts....Ive considered that.
Best regards
Over the years here there has been many debates about the nature of the cuts made on Kates cheeks, whether they were intentional markings or whether they were collateral damage as a result of the nose being cut almost completely off her face.
In 2012 Simon Webb published a book called Dynamite, Treason and Plot, a look at Terrorism in London during the LVP, and in it there is an interesting factoid concerning the markings on a murder victims face. The case in point was the trial of a Stinnie Morrison, at the Old Bailey in March of 1911. The victim was Leon Beron, a Russian immigrant who lived in Jubilee Street in Whitechapel and was a member of the Jubilee Street Anarchists Club. He was thought to have been a police informant.The victim in this case had 2 elongated "S"'s into his cheeks after death. The physician who examined the dead man, Dr Joseph Needham... Divisional Police Surgeon for Balham, asserted that the marks were absolutely intentional.
There was some attention paid to these markings as they attempted to figure out their meaning, and it was revealed that the carving of letters or symbols in the face of a murder victim was not unique to the Beron case. In fact, there had been other examples of that kind of "marking" in previous years, often associated with the notion that the victim was being marked as a "spy" after the murder....hence the elongated "s" cuts on the cheeks. The inference being of course that the victim was co-operating with the police and providing information about the goings on in the Russian and Jew immigrant communities. Anarchist activities.
Kate Eddowes told a friend she intended to turn the killer on the loose in for the reward money, intimating that she both knew the person and that she could provide some information to verify her statement. She told Kelly the day they parted for the last time that he "needn't fear" for her, that she wouldn't fall "into his hands", again intimating that she knew who to be careful of and that she had some reason not to be afraid for her own skin.
Heres the point to all this....it can be proven that the marking of cheeks on people murdered in London was not isolated to one or 2 cases.... and it can be fairly said that the motive for the murder in at least some of the cases might have had something to do with supressing information the killer felt was dangerous to him, or perhaps his cause.
Since we cannot say why Kate was in Mitre Square in the first place, why she thought she knew who was doing the killing, why the story that Kelly gives about their last 24 hours has definable errors...such as when the boots were pawned..., how she got money to get so drunk by 8pm that last night, and why she was murdered, is it not feasible to consider that Kates claim of knowing the killer posed a direct threat to that person or persons and that her intending to turn him in to the officials could be construed as squealing on someone she knew?
If so, why the V shape? Why not cut an S for Spy, or Squealer, or Snitch?
Does anyone know languages enough to explain why a Russian or European Jew might choose to mark her with V's? Is there a word in Yiddish or Russian that begins with a V that might correspond with the Spy or Snitch theory? One might suggest that Vasiliev did that murder and signed it with some cuts....Ive considered that.
Best regards
...... despite that I am still hopeful that someone who understands Polish, Russian, French or Hebrew/Yiddish might offer an answer to the question.....does the letter V begin words used to describe a stool pigeon, spy or traitor in any of the above languages?
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