The Cry of Oh Murder! - Why No Response?

[c.d.]

Mary's supposed cry of Oh Murder! was apparently loud enough that several witnesses testified that they heard it. If so, why did they not investigate? Was it that common a cry that it could be dismissed? Yet it was late at night. Doesn't it suggest that something was terribly amiss? Or was it a case much like today that they simply didn't want to get involved?

c.d.

[Sam Flynn]

Mary's supposed cry of Oh Murder! was apparently loud enough that several witnesses testified that they heard it.

...well, at least two witnesses, CD. I often wonder whether either of them heard it, to be honest, or whether it was imagined by one, possibly having read or heard about something similar, and embellished by the other. "Ooh! Now that you mention it, I heard that, too!" - that kind of thing.

I don't suggest this on a mere whim, but because there was a precedent in the local popular press - the very same cry of "Murder" was reported in connection with Tabram's death. A story in the Echo of 13th August 1888, a Mrs Hewitt and her husband dismissed the incident because "such cries are a frequent, if not nightly, occurrence in the district"... sound familiar? Step in Mrs Prater, perhaps.

[richardnunweek]

Hi Cd,
The answer is mayby one of two scenerios.
As you quite rightly suggested the witnesses to the scream mayby turned a blind eye as it was considered normal in that area.
Or the scream heard was ,as Mrs Prater suggested at the inquest complete with vocal interpretation like 'Awaken from a nightmare'.
If scenerio two is the correct one which is my belief, then the only time that sound became any alarm to the court residents that heard it,was when they were aware that just feet away from their humble dwellings a body had been ripped open.
Summing up.
If one takes Praters inquest interpretation of the cry and place that alongside with lotties account to Kit Watkins, then we have every chance that Mjks cry was awakening from a reoccurance of her recent nightmare , even the words 'Oh Murder' depict the dreams contents.
That being the case there is no reason why she could not have been seen in the morning....
Regards Richard.

[Dark Ali]

Mary's supposed cry of Oh Murder! was apparently loud enough that several witnesses testified that they heard it. If so, why did they not investigate? Was it that common a cry that it could be dismissed? Yet it was late at night. Doesn't it suggest that something was terribly amiss? Or was it a case much like today that they simply didn't want to get involved?

c.d.

Hi CD, it could possibly be the case of people not wanting to be involved, I remember a Police Officer giving a talk to the girls at my school, he suggested if we found ourselves in a situation where we were at risk from a rapist or sex pest, we should shout "Fire" rather than "Rape" as more people would respond.

[gizmo]

Who stated that it was a fact that it was Mary Kelly that cried "oh murder"?

[Blackkat]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think if it indeed was said, people didn't want to get involved. Maybe it was such a common thing to hear? I dun know. I know that all I have to hear is something that doesn't sound right and I'm looking out my window or going outside. I suppose it was different then.

[Doctor X]

Do you rush to the window whenever you hear a car alarm?

It may have been like that, if it actually happened as some respondent caution.

--J.D.

[Blackkat]

Doctor X

Exactly - someone here at casebook mentioned that the cry of Murder was a common thing to hear. I don't know if that's true, but I thought it was mentioned in books.

[perrymason]

Hi cd,

Had the usage of that phrase in Victorian East End London been indicative of an actual murder taking place, I would think anyone hearing it would have at least taken a look towards the sound. But "oh-murder" was no more a cry for help than "nice day" was during that period.

I think in this case it was used to exclaim surprise and annoyance, if Mary cried it out, at someone showing up at her door around 3:45am. Funny then how it is followed by absolute silence. Even If Mary cried it out, heard by Prater as "faintish" in volume, she didn't follow it with so much as a raised voice, or a muffled scream. "Oh-murder" was all that was heard.

My best regards.

[paul emmett]

Shout 'Fire" before "Rape." For sure! But I've never bought into "Oh, Murder" because it just does not sound right. Someone comes after you with a butcher knife, or is about to slit your throat, and "Oh, Murder" seems so wrong. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! or HELP!!!! But "Oh, Murder" sounds so.....staged. And we've seen the response it got.

I could see it as a response to a nightmare--but not to JTR.

Michael and I posted simultaneously. I guess I'm saying that "Oh,Murder" is STILL not used to indicate actual murder.

[Sam Flynn]

I'm still not convinced that Prater didn't just make it up, and Lewis embellished it (or vice versa). They might easily have had time to swap gossip before their police interviews, and - based on her story of the Bethnal Green weirdo - I get the feeling that Lewis wasn't averse to sensational exaggeration.

[Blackkat]

Shout 'Fire" before "Rape." For sure! But I've never bought into "Oh, Murder" because it just does not sound right. Someone comes after you with a butcher knife, or is about to slit your throat, and "Oh, Murder" seems so wrong. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! or HELP!!!! But "Oh, Murder" sounds so.....staged. And we've seen the response it got.

I could see it as a response to a nightmare--but not to JTR.

Michael and I posted simultaneously. I guess I'm saying that "Oh,Murder" is STILL not used to indicate actual murder.

You know what? When I first starting reading some JtR books, and then reading here and seeing the "Oh Murder" I wondered why someone would say that instead of just screaming like a mental patient. It does sound weird. I just shrugged it off to "Well maybe it was the time period or something" but it does sound odd no? I think in that situation I would have just screamed like all get out. Of course if someone slit your throat pretty fast, you wouldn't have time. That would suck.

It's like the old saying "First ya say it, then you do it."

[Robert]

There are several examples in the "Times" of people crying "Murder" when they were about to be murdered or thought they were about to be murdered.

[Blackkat]

Hey thanks. So was this just something that was a regular expression during that time period? Like today when we just scream help? Did they do both in the 1880's?

[c.d.]

I can't remember -- did any of the witnesses who claimed to have heard the cry give an explantion as to why they did not respond?

c.d.