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After posting about this in the Night She Died thread, and reading Wolf's post in the Mary Kelly Seen At Lord Mayor's Parade thread, I did a bit of research because I thought the fish supper needed closer scrutiny. And boy am I glad I did!
A very helpful friend of mine works with a number of American medical examiners and she checked with a couple of them. They came up with 1-3 hours for food to leave the stomach and move into the intestines. According to Bond, partially digested food was found in the intestines and the stomach. So it sounds like she was in the middle of the process of digestion when she was killed.
Now let's look at the possible times:
- If we believe Hutchinson, he saw her at 2.00 am. She picked up Mr A around 2.05/10 am, and went into the court with him around 2.15 am. She had been heard singing in her room at around 1.10 am. And Lizzie Prater says she stood outside the court from 1.00 to 1.20 am and didn't see her leave. So, giving Prater the benefit of being a couple of minutes early in her estimation, which I assume was based on hearing a clock chiming, let's say Kelly leaves on the stroke of 1.20 am. She then goes to a fish and chip stall, buys her food or has it bought for her, eats it and then starts walking away from Dorset St towards where Hutchinson stands at Flower & Dean St and Commercial St. The earliest she could finish eating the fish and chips would be around 1.40 am. That means that the earliest she could have been killed would be 2.40 am. But that would mean Mr A keeping her alive for 25 minutes unnecessarily. So it looks like Kelly ate those chips earlier.
- Now let's look at Cox's evidence. She sees Kelly drunk, with Blotchy Face, at 11.45 am. Kelly remains in her room singing and waking the people upstairs until 1.10 am and doesn't leave for at least another 10 minutes after that. (If she goes anywhere at all.) Cox does not mention seeing any fish and chips but she did mention seeing the pot of ale. So I assume she didn't see the food--she would have smelt it as well--because it had already been consumed. Let's posit that Kelly shared a fish supper with Blotchy around 11.30-40 am. Now let's count forward. We've got a window of 1-3 hours where the food leaves the stomach, with it basically being gone by the 3 hour mark. This takes us to 2.30 am. Which means that Mr A could have picked her up, brought her back in and killed her. But that is working on the outside of the time limit, and Bond states that the remains of the food were 'in the stomach and scattered around the intestines'. So there is still a fair amount of food in the stomach. I think it's likely that we have to pull back from 3 hours to 2-21/2 hours and maybe even earlier than that. If we turn back 21/2 hours, we get to 2.00 am on the nose. Which is when Hutchinson claims to have seen Kelly in the street. 2 hours takes us to 1.30 am which is when Kelly is somewhere, maybe in her room, maybe not. But quiet as a mouse, after singing her head off.
- Maxwell claims to have seen Kelly in the morning. It's possible that she could have, and that Kelly had eaten those fish and chips first thing for breakfast. Except that Maxwell claims that Kelly said she wasn't feeling good, and told the press Kelly said she had the 'horrors of drink' on her. In those circumstances, I don't see her prancing out for a nice greasy fry-up. Hangover sufferers on the board could tell me if I'm right or wrong...
To sum up, the fish and chips suggest to me that Kelly was killed earlier in the evening than has been previously suggested. That she died between 1.30 and 2.00 am. And if this is the case, I doubt she left her room after entering it with Blotchy Face.
A very helpful friend of mine works with a number of American medical examiners and she checked with a couple of them. They came up with 1-3 hours for food to leave the stomach and move into the intestines. According to Bond, partially digested food was found in the intestines and the stomach. So it sounds like she was in the middle of the process of digestion when she was killed.
Now let's look at the possible times:
- If we believe Hutchinson, he saw her at 2.00 am. She picked up Mr A around 2.05/10 am, and went into the court with him around 2.15 am. She had been heard singing in her room at around 1.10 am. And Lizzie Prater says she stood outside the court from 1.00 to 1.20 am and didn't see her leave. So, giving Prater the benefit of being a couple of minutes early in her estimation, which I assume was based on hearing a clock chiming, let's say Kelly leaves on the stroke of 1.20 am. She then goes to a fish and chip stall, buys her food or has it bought for her, eats it and then starts walking away from Dorset St towards where Hutchinson stands at Flower & Dean St and Commercial St. The earliest she could finish eating the fish and chips would be around 1.40 am. That means that the earliest she could have been killed would be 2.40 am. But that would mean Mr A keeping her alive for 25 minutes unnecessarily. So it looks like Kelly ate those chips earlier.
- Now let's look at Cox's evidence. She sees Kelly drunk, with Blotchy Face, at 11.45 am. Kelly remains in her room singing and waking the people upstairs until 1.10 am and doesn't leave for at least another 10 minutes after that. (If she goes anywhere at all.) Cox does not mention seeing any fish and chips but she did mention seeing the pot of ale. So I assume she didn't see the food--she would have smelt it as well--because it had already been consumed. Let's posit that Kelly shared a fish supper with Blotchy around 11.30-40 am. Now let's count forward. We've got a window of 1-3 hours where the food leaves the stomach, with it basically being gone by the 3 hour mark. This takes us to 2.30 am. Which means that Mr A could have picked her up, brought her back in and killed her. But that is working on the outside of the time limit, and Bond states that the remains of the food were 'in the stomach and scattered around the intestines'. So there is still a fair amount of food in the stomach. I think it's likely that we have to pull back from 3 hours to 2-21/2 hours and maybe even earlier than that. If we turn back 21/2 hours, we get to 2.00 am on the nose. Which is when Hutchinson claims to have seen Kelly in the street. 2 hours takes us to 1.30 am which is when Kelly is somewhere, maybe in her room, maybe not. But quiet as a mouse, after singing her head off.
- Maxwell claims to have seen Kelly in the morning. It's possible that she could have, and that Kelly had eaten those fish and chips first thing for breakfast. Except that Maxwell claims that Kelly said she wasn't feeling good, and told the press Kelly said she had the 'horrors of drink' on her. In those circumstances, I don't see her prancing out for a nice greasy fry-up. Hangover sufferers on the board could tell me if I'm right or wrong...
To sum up, the fish and chips suggest to me that Kelly was killed earlier in the evening than has been previously suggested. That she died between 1.30 and 2.00 am. And if this is the case, I doubt she left her room after entering it with Blotchy Face.
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