The Broken Window

[Scott Nelson]

Like you say - it's a waste of time, and I'm not wasting any more time here. Do your own research.

Oh no!

That's the first time I've been rebuked by Stewart Evans.

Well, I'd do my own research if I could remember how.

[Nemo]

That brick column is only 9" x 9" (length of a standard brick)

+ approx 3-6" for the window frame and glass

So the person reaching inside would only be stretching over a distance of about 15" or slightly more

I suspect there was a bolt or latch near the top of the door, the lock being more at eye level than the pictures I posted would suggest

[Garry Wroe]

I don't know if Gary would like to have another go, or indeed anyone else that can use Photoshop, as different people have different techniques and some might work out better than others.

Fabulous job, Jane. Case closed, I would say.

Regards.

Garry Wroe.

[Raoul's Obsession]

this is what it looks like solarised with a very low threshold. Only colours exactly black or very close to it are inverted.
This is fun - we should all have a go.
I'm down on filters and I shan't quit solarizing till I do get buckled.

[Issack]

I have made a few assumptions, however, by looking at the photograph posted earlier in this thread, the wall from corner to door reveal looks to be about 1brick + 1 brick edge on (327mm allowing 10mm for mortar)
I am taking a standard brick as being 215x102 . The door frame is approximately 2 No bricks from the corner (difficult to see but I have tried to use the rainwater pipe as a guide) 2x215 + 10mm morter
Allowing for a standard door reveal, and allowing that the Window frame appears to be of the old 4 inch concrete reveal type (approx 105mm) it would mean that the distance from the broken glass to the lock would require a reach of approx 546mm (21.5inches)
(this is assuming that the broken window and door lock are on the same level)
if the vertical height varies the dist of 546 will increase., certainly not impossible. But close to maximum reach.

[Bob Hinton]

The photograph actually looks much clearer on my machine. I think it's lost some of the quality being posted up to the site. This is the copy of the photograph that Stewart posted up, so I presume it's a scan from the first generation hard copy print. I'll see if I can reproduce the exact black levels that display in photoshop on my machine, so that it shows a true version of the image I'm looking at. It does show the bottom right and left window panes quite clearly, so people can make a better judgement. Other than adjusting the black levels slightly, it's not been retouched in any other way.

Hugs

Janie

xxxx

I'm quite sure the photograph has not been retouched in modern times but I think it looks like it may have been retouched when the first print was made. Only the original glass negative can tell us this.

[Bob Hinton]

Broken Glass

All the photograph shows after all the excellent work done by various members is that there is a possibility that behind some of the window panes there are dark patches, which could be anything.

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Daily Telegraph, 13th November 1888–

Bowyer: " . . . I got no answer, and I knocked again and again. Receiving no reply, I passed round the corner by the gutter spout, where there is a broken window - it is the smallest window."

Charles Ledger, an inspector of police, G Division, produced a plan of the premises.

Bowyer pointed out the window, which was the one nearest the entrance.

Regards,

Simon

[Garry Wroe]

Although it still needs more work, I've cleaned up Jane's image such that the panes are much clearer. Make of it what you will.



Garry Wroe.

[Chava]

This is from the Daily Telegraph first report of the murder, which seems to have found its way into police files.

Accordingly Bowyer knocked at the door of Kelly's room, but received no answer. Having failed to open the door, he passed round the angle of the house and pulled the blind of the window, one of the panes being broken. Then he noticed blood upon the glass, and it immediately occurred to him that another murder had been committed. He fetched M'Carthy, who, looking through the window, saw upon the bed, which was against the wall, the body of a woman, without clothing, and terribly mutilated.

I've highlighted the stuff about blood on the glass, because if it's true it tends to corroborate someone reaching through the window and dropping the latch on the door and so creeping in on MJK as she is sleeping. I can't see how the blood on the window glass could belong to anyone else but the killer, who gave himself a nasty cut on the arm while reaching through. The body was clear across the room, and any arterial spray went against the far wall.

If this is in fact the case, then it could be a night-stalker-type prowler. Someone who creeps around late at night, notices a broken window, looks through to see a woman on the bed, and then steals in and kills her. I've always thought MJK let her killer into her room, but this model could suggest someone who crept in while she was dead drunk and asleep and killed her more-or-less before she woke. Which could explain the lack of noise and struggle.

The blood on the window does not negate the possibility that she was killed by someone who knew her. But it does suggest that she was killed by someone who might not have been allowed entrance by her if he came to the front door.

The Russell Williams case up here--which is a particularly nasty one--shows us that a killer can commit many different types of offences, from breaking into young girls' bedrooms and trying on their panties to breaking into grown women's houses and killing them in a horrible way. It's possible that the Ripper was a Night Stalker who might well have wandered around like a peeping tom and nicked stuff when the possibility offered itself as well as a man who accosted prostitutes as a trick and then killed them. It's possible that the MJK killing was a kind of confluence of his two pastimes.

[Fisherman]

Hmmm, Chava. It appears to be a good suggestion at first, but when I give it some thought, Iīm less sure.

Letīs assume that the killer did receive a nasty cut as he reached through the window. And letīs assume that it started to bleed immediately, staining that broken pane. To begin with, the better assumption in such a case would be that it was his hand he cut, since arguably the rest of the arm would be covered by a sleeve.
So there he is, with a hand dripping with blood, still outside the room. Such a thing would produce drops of blood on the ground outside the window, but no such thing is recorded. Furthermore, one would expect the same blood droplets forming a trail around the corner, up to the door - again, no such thing on record.

On the other hand, we had a man inside that room that flung chunks of freshly cut off meat around himself, stacking them on the table beside the bed. And the room was but a small one. I donīt find it in any way incredible that this would have produced drops of blood all over the place. Imagine him grabbing hold of the intestines inside her and ripping them out to get at the contents of the abdominal cavity. They may well have swung out of her, Chava, sending drops of you-name-it very long distances. Take a length of rope, dip it in fresh paint and swing it a hundred-and-eighty degrees through the air, and you will find yourself cleaning up paint drops ten- fifteen feet away.

I think this is a better solution. We know that most of Mary Kellys blood was not to be found inside her when she was found. It would not have been neatly collected in just the one spot.

The best,
Fisherman

[Chava]

I understand your point, Fisherman, but there is no suggestion that blood was found in the room other than around the body and in the vicinity of the bed. Also, if blood was spattered like that, it would hit the pilot coat hanging over the window as a curtain rather than hitting the glass.

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
I remember reading, that it was believed, the killer left by the window, hense the bloodstained glass , which was proberly his murderous hands leaving their mark
ugh.. what a ghastly scene?
A big No No, if it was that easy to get out, without using the obvious exit, then it would be the same getting in...would it not?, unless he locked the window catch[ if any] via the broken pane, and the police were void of intelligence.
Regards Richard.

[claire]

I think Chava's right here, Fish--the coat would have formed a barrier between the glass in the window and any carnage in the room. Where I differ in the interpretation is the idea that the blood on the glass speaks to a night-prowler happening upon the broken window and entering the room on an opportunistic basis. For one, Miller's-court isn't the natural choice for someone browsing for opportunities; for two, given the darkness, he'd have to be pretty confident of gaining access, and deft of hand, to slip an arm in, grope around for the catch (on the offchance it was possible to do that). No, as we've hinted at on another thread, it seems to me that, if this was how her killer gained access, it was because he knew he could. This doesn't necessarily mean he would have been welcomed by MJ had he knocked on her door at 3am, but it does suggest he knew the basic logistics of getting into the MC room.

Good source, Chava.

[Rubyretro]

I've never read this before, so it's very interesting..if it's true and not mis-reporting.

I've always thought that he got in by a hand via the window, when she was asleep, and that she awoke when attacked (the cries of 'Murder!' and the defense wounds on her arms..).

I'm surprised that he would cut himself, because I had understood that the holes in the pane were stuffed with rags and newspaper, when she was inside. I would expect some of that to be well caught on the glass and protect an arm.

If the killer HAD left blood from a cut on the glass, I'm surprised that the police weren't doing lots of publicity looking for someone with a fresh jagged cut to their hand or forearm and no alibi or explanation for it.

They didn't, and elsewhere it was reported that Bowyer, getting no reply at the door, and suspecting that Mary could be hiding from the rent collector, looked through the window and saw the body (and it was daylight). There was no mention of blood on the glass, and I'll plump for the Telegraph misreporting.