Alleged photo of one of the victims found at Clapham

[Chris Scott]

Hadn't seen this one before...

Lloyds Weekly
21 October 1888

We are informed that yesterday morning the Clapham police had handed to them five photos which had been found mysteriously at Clapham. They were wrapped up in a piece of white circular paper tied with string, and outside of which the following was written:-
"Whosoever finds these photos, please take care of them, as the cabinet is one of the murdered women in Whitechapel, and the others her sister. The victim I kissed 20 times, and tried it on again, but I got no brass, so she told me to kiss her and to a dreadful end she came on the eve of her death."

[joelhall]

interesting, if very brief. would be interesting to see if theres anything further on these, as the article doesnt say too much

[Chris Scott]

Hi Joel
Yes, I found this one intriguing
I have done a search around this date but so far cannot find a mention of this in any other paper
Chris

[Chris Scott]

The "cabinet" referred to is a portrait as follows:

In 1866, Frederick Richard Window, a London photographer who had introduced the Diamond Cameo Carte de Visite two years earlier, put forward the idea of a larger format for portrait photography. The proposed format was a photographic print mounted on a sturdy card measuring 41/4 inches by 61/2 inches. (roughly 11cm x 17cm). The new format was called the Cabinet Portrait, presumably because a large photograph on a stout card could be displayed on a wooden cabinet or similar piece of furniture. The Scottish photographer George Washington Wilson (1823-1893) had produced 'cabinet' sized landscape views as early as 1862, but F.R.Window had adopted the large format specifically for portraiture.

Window believed the larger dimensions of the 'cabinet print' (4 inches by 51/2 inches or approximately 10.2 cm x 10.2 cm x 14.1 cm) would enable the professional photographer to demonstrate his technical and artistic skill and produce portraits of a higher quality than the small cdv would allow.

[Mitch Rowe]

The victim I kissed 20 times, and tried it on again, but I got no brass, so she told me to kiss her and to a dreadful end she came on the eve of her death."

What does that mean?

[joelhall]

The victim I kissed 20 times, and tried it on again, but I got no brass, so she told me to kiss her and to a dreadful end she came on the eve of her death."

What does that mean?

impotence?

[Bulldog]

The victim I kissed 20 times, and tried it on again, but I got no brass, so she told me to kiss her and to a dreadful end she came on the eve of her death."

What does that mean?

It doesn't seem to make any sense. 'Brass' was a colloquial term sometimes used to refer to or money or cash. That may be how it was used in this quote.

Bulldog

[joelhall]

It doesn't seem to make any sense. 'Brass' was a colloquial term sometimes used to refer to or money or cash. That may be how it was used in this quote.

Bulldog

seems to me he kept trying it on & couldnt get an erection to be frank.

i couldnt see it being viable to make coins from brass

[sdreid]

Sometimes gibberish is gibberish.

[Monty]

To try it on, in the UK, means many things but basically it means to try ones luck.

The letter writer states he tried to have sex with her for free, one assumes the woman is a prostitute. She wants payment, he hasnt got the money-brass to pay, frustrated because she wont let him have sex for free he kills her.

Cheers

Monty

[Limehouse]

I think what is happening is that the writer is writing as if he is speaking and uses the word 'got' instead of 'had'.

It seems as if he kissed her (20 times) and she perhaps asked for payment before the act went its full course but he had no money so she would only allow him to kiss her again, hoping the union would end there. However, it seems he ended her life.

I think it's fantasy.

[joelhall]

think you guys have nailed it. sorry was a tad sleep deprived yesterday....

anyway, it appears the writer knew the victims, rather than took credit for the killings. however given the little attention given the photos, i suspect its along the lines of the ripper letters.

how would a punter get her family photos?

[Chris Scott]

For reference below is the original
Thanks for the replies and interpretations guys!
Chris

[Mike Covell]

I will have a look at what I have down here Chris. It's all very interesting

[Howard Brown]

It might mean that after the two kissed...he got a semi...then lost it...several times..then said "screw it"...and because he couldn't, he whacked her.

It could also mean that he kissed her ( ballpark estimate) "20 times"...tried schmoozing her to get busy with him without him having any green in the first place....she didn't believe this, thinking he wanted some poon on the i.o.u., and believing he really did have some moolah, kept at him in order to extricate the bread. He didn't and instead of extricatin', he got busy evisceratin'...Limehouse mentioned "got" as really meaning "had" and that sounds kosher.

Very nice find,Chris.

If there was a kernel of truth to this Lloyd's article...who could those photos be of?

Chapman had a sister...Eddowes had sisters...Stride's family was back in Sweden...Nichols didn't have a sister. Not sure about Tabram's familial history...