MJK photo 4 enhanced

[Malcolm X]

because all i can see is roughly this, and this looks like nothing to me, that curtain looks dead flat, but no it'll have folds, this just shows how bad the photo is..........so that could indeed be the CLOSED door, but with loads of additional detailing mising

[Mr.Hyde]

Robert Clack and Simon Wood,
Is that an internal secondary security bolt on the other side from the lock?

[Malcolm X]

that photo still looks odd, it doesn't look like the door knob to me, because if the door was closed, the isometric projection of the knob looks wrong, it's too circular........and if the door was open it would cover the whole bolster,

that door knob, looks like a fault in the photo, that just so happens to resemble the Door Knob, it is also slightly too close to the edge of the curtain............ but i suppose it doesn't really matter, i guess it just highlights how bad the original photos are

[Mr.Hyde]

Thanks Jane Coram,
I now see that the key is only used from the outside.First time I've seem one of those with the old style key.
Dave.

[sgh]

Hi Sgh,

Well done for spotting that - I have to agree with Sam that it's new to me, and God knows I've studied that photo for Heaven knows how many hours, until I've gone boss eyed. : As you say though it wasn't apparent on the unenhanced versions, but very well spotted all the same.

I really think that there isn't much doubt that is the edge of the door there, with either a keyhole or the lock visible there. Which would of course mean that was the crossbar of the window that Sam pointed out.

Just goes to show you can never have too many pairs of eyes!

Hugs

Jane

xxxx

Hi Jane,
I know exactly what you mean about going boss eyed on the image :-)
Many thanks for that and also finding a Victorian lock in a seperate post too.

I guess you may have taken a shot at drawing the victim to scale on my drawing, but don't worry over it because I know how demanding that task really is! I had a go myself :-)

If you do manage to make a plan view sketch of the victim I could do the scaling down to fit. But like I say, I fully understand if you don't wish to commit yourself to the onerous task.

Best Wishes
Steve

[Simon Wood]

Hi Steve,

According to your scale plan the diagonal distance between the door knob and the strip of light seen through a gap in the curtains at the centre of the smaller window is around 25-26 inches. This makes sense bearing in mind the distance someone would have to reach through the broken window to trip the bolt.

But in photograph MJK3 the distance between what may be the door knob and what may be a strip of light seen through the curtains looks considerably greater.

Also, look closely at the "pull handle" in the attached crop of MJK3. I've circled the "door knob" for reference. Look between the green arrows. The "handle" passes through the bolster/Mister Crocodile, most probably pinning it to the table.



Regards,

Simon

[Rob Clack]

I've always thought it was a bit like this:



Rob

[Jane Coram]

Here is a typical Victorian spring lock and key. These photos were kindly posted originally by Bob Hinton, but I'm sure he won't mind me posting them again. I would say that the round bit fit's quite well with what we see here.

Hugs

Jane

xxxxx

[sgh]

MJK3 and diagram

To help clarify the location of the door, doorknob , the window and the strip of light coming through the gap between the curtains and their relationship to the remainder
of the foreground objects - the table, bedding bolster, and the victim, I've
rotated my diagram for easier determination as I realise that it isn't easy to explain and visualise when the photo is shown one way opposed to the original drawing the other way.
So here are the two enhanced photos again which show the doorknob
and below that the diagram the right way up to compare and confirm positioning.

Incidentally, when doing the enhancement work on mjk3 I wasn't looking for a doorknob, but as I worked through the shadow area processing it became clear that something was there, so progressed to confirm or deny that what I was seeing was not just a clump of black artefacts with a speck of white
resembling the appearance of a black doorknob with a speck of highlight.
Also what appears to be some sort of vertical line next to the doorknob similar to what could be assumed as a pull handle indeed is not a grouping of vertical artefacts. There is definite shadow and highlight along the objects length.

The photo that I have used found on this website is a modern photo of the original and likely of several generations. I'm sure this copy was printed out using the wrong combination of photo paper and printing ink. This becomes apparent due to the numerous crack marks running laterally where the print has obviously been rolled or folded but without creasing thus causing the ink to flake away. The photo laid out flat then photographed or scanned again.
Hence, it now contains even less information than when it started!

I mention this because those crack marks which appear as white specks on the copy photo add further to the numerous scratches, blotches and general mishandling marks already within the original.
A careful close-up study of the doorknob results in a high probability that the highlight mark is indeed a highlight and not just another whitish artefact caused by flaked ink.

Anyway, I hope this helps to understand the positioning of the elements in MJK3.
The diagram is reverse engineered from the two photographs MJK1 and MJK3 also information gleaned from sketches and written reports of the time, plus a bit of common sense (I hope)

Best
Steve

[Mr.Hyde]

Hi Stephen Thomas.
Having a Dickens of a time working out what lock was used.I've spent some time on it.Owned a "settlers cabin" in Oz and have seen lots of old keyed door locks,often with a seperate door bolt.Anyone have a link?
Odd that the police had the landlord force the door to gain entrance,considering the broken window and access to the lock.

[Sam Flynn]

Good call, Stephen.

[Stephen Thomas]

As the lock was apparently a spring lock like the modern Yale, no keyhole would be visible. There is the 'keyhole' line to the right of the knob and another light horizontal line to the left of it so the lock may have looked like this

[Jane Coram]

Hi Sgh,

Well done for spotting that - I have to agree with Sam that it's new to me, and God knows I've studied that photo for Heaven knows how many hours, until I've gone boss eyed. : As you say though it wasn't apparent on the unenhanced versions, but very well spotted all the same.

I really think that there isn't much doubt that is the edge of the door there, with either a keyhole or the lock visible there. Which would of course mean that was the crossbar of the window that Sam pointed out.

Just goes to show you can never have too many pairs of eyes!

Hugs

Jane

xxxx

[Malcolm X]

it looks like a gap in the curtains to me, i cant see that door being left open either; not with that revolting mess inside the room, that door would've been kept closed....to keep prying eyes out

in addition the door swings open towards her bed, so that table is in the way of the door opening, the yellow and red arrows highlighting a darker area is the wall adjacent to the closed curtain

[sgh]

No probs, Steve - you've revealed something quite new to me here, for which many thanks. Now that you've found me my bearings, a couple of observations:

The bright dot in the middle of the shaft of light would thus be the "crossbar" of the window, the level of the window-sill being where the shaft cuts off - that all adds up, IMO.

Interestingly, there's also a faint cross to the immediate left of the bright dot as we look at it - which may be an artefact, but it might also be the shadow of the join between the four panes.

Taking all this together, it ought to enable us to gauge roughly where the far corner of the room was - and, from it, that tiny part of the universe where the "window trick" of opening the door happened.

Hi Sam,
I'm digesting your thoughts here.
Yes, I reckon the crossbar to be about in that location and the window sill at the bottom is the cut off point for the light source.
Considering the narrow brickwork of the corner section of the building between the edge of the window and the edge of the doorway as seen in the Miller's Court photo we can deduce that little room remained for the edge of the curtains - meaning that the curtains would be right into the corner and possibly slightly curved into the corner if we can allow for poor fitting.

I too thought that the cross of the window frame may have shown as a shadow on the curtains as there appears to be 'something' there.

I think the 'window trick' to open the door was certainly possible through the lower broken pane judging by the brick count and dimensions involved - a fair chance! I'll check that bit out again.

Best, Steve