beer bottles

[corey123]

the ripper letter 'dear boss' and joseph barnett were linked because of ginger beer bottles being found by police in No.13 millers court on nov,9th and ginger beer bottles also being described in the 'dear boss',why would that make him more likely as the ripper?its common knowledge that mary kelly was probally drunk on the night of her murder.and witness mary ann cox see kellly with a man holding a pail of beer in dorset street entering millers court at 11:45 PM,which also points out that shes probally drunk.
so how does this make any connection to barnett and the ripper?even when the 'dear boss' was deamed a hoax??

thank you

[Monty]

This is such an education for me.

Monty

[j.r-ahde]

Hello corey123!

Well, let's ask about it from the experts of this website:

How much there was ginger beer for sale in the LVP per year?!

How many brands of ginger beer there were in the LVP?!

How many types of ginger beer bottles there were in the LVP?!

All the best
Jukka

[kensei]

I would bet that ginger beer bottles could have been found in Mary Jane's room almost any time.

[corey123]

Common

Depending. On how common they were in the LVP.



Yours Truly

[richardnunweek]

Hi.
One of Kellys nicknames, was 'Ginger', proberly refering to her hair, but could it have been attributed to her love of Ginger beer?
I would say the latter is more likely, as her hair was not ginger, according to Fiona Kendall, as witnessed by her grandfather.
Regards Richard.

[Jon Guy]

One of Kellys nicknames, was 'Ginger', proberly refering to her hair, but could it have been attributed to her love of Ginger beer?
I would say the latter is more likely, as her hair was not ginger, according to Fiona Kendall, as witnessed by her grandfather.

Probably more likely that she coloured her hair with henna.

If there was a ginger beer bottle in her room, it was there to contain drinking water, or a candle was stuck into it.

[Robert]

Hi Jon

I hadn't heard of a candle being stuck in a ginger beer bottle. There was a farthing dip which was in a broken glass, I think. I'm assuming that a farthing dip (probably all that Kelly could have afforded) was a pretty thin candle, so I wonder whether it would have been thick enough to stop a bottle.

[Jon Guy]

Hi Robert

I didn`t know about the wine glass, that makes more sense as it would shield the candle flame like a lamp. Perhaps, they purposely bought farthing dips, not due to being poor, but because they would sit low, shielded by the wine glass?

[Robert]

Hang on, Jon, you may have been right in the first place, at least if the Pall Mall Gazette reporter for 12th November had his facts right :

"The jury being quite satisfied we marched through the churchyard again, and pushed our way through the crowd which followed us up the Commercial-road, and into Dorset-street. Here another crowd held possession of the field, trowy women, with babies in their arms, drunken men recovering from their orgies, and a whole regiment of children, all open-mouthed and commenting on the jury. The entrance to the court was held by a couple of policemen, and it was so narrow that we could pass up in single file. It was only about three yards long, and then we were at the door which is numbered 13. The two windows which look into the little court were boarded up, and had apparently been newly whitewashed. From the windows above a girl looked down upon us quite composedly, and several pots of beer were brought in during our stay to comfort the denizens of the court. At last the key was procured, and the room was surveyed in batches. The inspector, holding a candle stuck in a bottle, stood at the head of the filthy, bloodstained bed, and repeated the horrible details with appalling minuteness. He indicated with one hand the bloodstains on the wall, and point with the other to the pools which had ebbed out on to the mattress. The little table was still on the left of the bedstead, which occupied the larger portion of the room. A farthing dip in a bottle did not serve to illuminate the fearful gloom, but I was able to see what a wretched hole the poor murdered woman called "home". The only attempts at decoration were a couple of engravings, one, "The Fisherman's Widow", stuck over the mantelpiece: while in the corner was an open cupboard, containing a few bits of pottery, some ginger-beer bottles, and a bit of bread on a plate. The rent was 4s. a week. In twenty minutes the jury filed out again and marched back, still accompanied by a curious crowd, to the Town Hall, and began their very simple labours under the direction of Dr Macdonald, the member for the Scotch Crofters."

I think the passage must have been longer than three yards though.

[corey123]

Ginger

I belive if she had been called "ginger" it was possibally her hair, but in the photos at the crime scene her hair looks more brown than red if you ask me.

yours truly

[Archaic]

Ginger Beer Bottles

Ginger beer bottles were extremely common items in the late 19th Century.
They weren't made of glass, but of a simple yet sturdy pottery called 'Stoneware'. Jugs and crocks were also made of stoneware.

The beverage itself was more like a lightly-carbonated root beer type soft-drink rather than an alcoholic beverage. It was typically made with ginger, sugar, and a little lemon.
Ginger Beer was inexpensive, tasted good, and safer than drinking the water.

The bottles were commonly reused, especially by the poorer classes who found them very handy.
(In fact, people even tried to rinse out and reuse poison bottles, often with tragic results.)

Old trash pits are full of them, and they are popular among collectors.
Here's a photo:


And here are a couple of bottle-collecting websites featuring Ginger Beer Bottles which offer both history, photos, bottles for sale, etc:

http://www.antiquebottles.com/gingerbeer/

http://www.stonies.co.uk/gallery_1.html

If you are interested, you can find recipes for making your own Ginger Beer on the internet.
(If you do, please send me some... Yum! )

Best regards, Archaic

[corey123]

Well there we go

Ginger beer was very common so I guess that means it makes no difference wheather or not Kelly had them in her room.

thank you

[Archaic]

Your very welcome, Corey.

Best regards, Archaic

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Well, if "Ginger" was a strawberry-blonde, like some have suggested, it could have meant both her hair and her fondness of ginger beer. See the colour of the bottles in Archaic's message!

Hello corey123; to think about the crime scene photo, I made a test with a photo of a red-haired actress Robyn Hilton (Blazing saddles by Mel Brooks!) , first in colour, then turned to grayscale.

If the hair of MJK really was red, it looks like black in a b&w-photo!


All the best
Jukka