Drawing og Kelly's body in situ - IPN

[Stephen Thomas]

Here's a detail from Chris Scott's enhanced MJK1 photo which shows that Kelly's head could not possibly be seen from behind the bed and also that the headboard had a horizontal bar at the top (looking rather like a stair bannister) which doesn't seem to show on the drawings. Also the chair only appears in one of the drawings.

There's something going on here but I'm not sure what.

[Garry Wroe]

Given the combination of a disinclination on the part of the police to impart case-related information to the press and the lock-down of Miller's Court immediately upon discovery of the body, I very much doubt that a newspaper sketch artist would have been allowed into the court, let alone permitted to make a sketch of the crime scene with the body in situ. And since the windows were boarded up and the door padlocked shortly after the body was removed from the scene, I tend to think that the initial sketch was derived from a description provided by someone like McCarthy, and that any subsequent sketches were simply variations of the original.

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

[Supe]

I quite agree with Gary. It is a fair bet neither artist got within a 100 feet of No.13--and certainly not when the body was still there. But such were the standards of journalism then. Having a picture, however stylized and accurate was more important than accuracy, as is quite apparent from some of the drawings of victims

Don.

[Stephen Thomas]

Yes, these 1888 drawings are imaginary bollocks.

Dreamed up for no particular reason,

And of no relevance to anything whatsoever

[Suzi]

Yep Stephen - sadly I reckon they are- as a by the by - where does table number 2 come from??- p'raps the police brought it with 'em....

[richardnunweek]

Hi Suzi,
Table two is the washstand which has been depicted in another sketch, however then on the right side of the bed up against the partition.
You can see some kind of bowl on a shelf below.
Richard.

[Chris Scott]

To put this illustration into context, I am attaching the complete "before and after" sketch from the IPN cover. The man with Kelly in the "before" part is obviously based on the Hutchinson description.