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With regard to Kelly's being well-educated, I believe somewhere there is an account of a man who said that, when he was a boy, he read to her accounts of the other murders when they were covered in the newspapers. She always told him she knew who the killer was. Whether she knew the killer or not, she wouldn't have needed anyone to read her the stories if she could read well enough herself.
I am always suspicious of this kind of account. I believe it's always been part of The Game to spin these kinds of stories. And a smart East End whore might be able to up her price on the back of tales of a West End brothel in Knightsbridge. Which then, as now, was a classy part of town.
The thing is, Sam, that no one came forward from the West End to say 'oh yes, that's Marie Jeanette! I knew her well!'. That would be the only corroboration I'd accept. The only people who come up with that story are people told that story by Kelly.
Kelly doesn't present like a full-time committed prostitute. She lived with one man, that relationship broke up, and she then found someone else to live off. It's only when her relationship with this man collapsed that she went back on the game. She says she was in a gay house up West, but her pattern of behaviour in the East suggests that she would be far more likely to try and find a protector than spend her time in a brothel. She did that twice in the Whitechapel area. But the 'French lady' and the visits to France? I sincerely doubt it. What I have never heard in contemporary accounts--although I've seen a fair amount of it on this board--is that Kelly was a raving beauty and the Jewel of the 10 Bells. She was described as somewhat heavy-set, combative and a drinker. My guess is she would have been all of the above for a long time before she died. Knightsbridge brothels whose patrons took their whores on junkets to France were a great deal too picky to use someone like Kelly. I think she was someone who hung around with whores, and whored herself when she had no alternative. Her story was romantic and may have made her feel better about herself, at least I hope it did, poor woman.
I am always suspicious of this kind of account. I believe it's always been part of The Game to spin these kinds of stories. And a smart East End whore might be able to up her price on the back of tales of a West End brothel in Knightsbridge. Which then, as now, was a classy part of town.
The thing is, Sam, that no one came forward from the West End to say 'oh yes, that's Marie Jeanette! I knew her well!'. That would be the only corroboration I'd accept. The only people who come up with that story are people told that story by Kelly.
Kelly doesn't present like a full-time committed prostitute. She lived with one man, that relationship broke up, and she then found someone else to live off. It's only when her relationship with this man collapsed that she went back on the game. She says she was in a gay house up West, but her pattern of behaviour in the East suggests that she would be far more likely to try and find a protector than spend her time in a brothel. She did that twice in the Whitechapel area. But the 'French lady' and the visits to France? I sincerely doubt it. What I have never heard in contemporary accounts--although I've seen a fair amount of it on this board--is that Kelly was a raving beauty and the Jewel of the 10 Bells. She was described as somewhat heavy-set, combative and a drinker. My guess is she would have been all of the above for a long time before she died. Knightsbridge brothels whose patrons took their whores on junkets to France were a great deal too picky to use someone like Kelly. I think she was someone who hung around with whores, and whored herself when she had no alternative. Her story was romantic and may have made her feel better about herself, at least I hope it did, poor woman.
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