Suggestion

[Abby Normal]

No. He killed her by entering the door between 26 and 13.

Then he moved the table and the bed wih the dead body on it to barricade the entrance door before performing the mutilations.

And this is just my suggestion.

The coroner asked Prater if she had heard any beds or tables beeing pulled around.

Regards Pierre

ok -thanks

[Pierre]

Hi Pierre
so the killer moved the bed to barricade the door with mary in it still asleep?

No. He killed her by entering the door between 26 and 13.

Then he moved the table and the bed wih the dead body on it to barricade the entrance door before performing the mutilations.

And this is just my suggestion.

The coroner asked Prater if she had heard any beds or tables beeing pulled around.

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

well since Pierre has posted this twice and no one has responded-I will.
Obviously he wants someone to notice this.

If that's the sillouette of jack the ripper on the wall then he must have been soaked in blood and marys blood must have been spraying him and the wall like a high pressure industrial paint sprayer. lol.

Yes, I know. So I think it is unlikely.

Regards Pierre

[Abby Normal]

The door between 26 och 13 was already opened by the killer and therefore could be opened and closed again by the police.

The entrance door was barricaded by the table and bed. The police could not get in through that door and so they used the door between 26 and 13.

You can see that on MJK3. The photographer stands in front of the barricaded entrance door.

Prater said the "partition" was thin.

Look at the fire map and you will see the that the place of the original door matches the place of the door in Kelly´s room.

The killer must have opened it when Kelly wasn´t in her room and then closed it again.

It was an old, thin door. McCarthy did not even make a real partition. He just closed the door, locked it and put some wallpaper on the side of number 26, if he even bothered to do that.

And this is how easy it probably was for the killer to open this door:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDyBLpmiDLQ

Regards Pierre

Hi Pierre
so the killer moved the bed to barricade the door with mary in it still asleep?

[Abby Normal]

1. The door was already opened by the killer when Mary was out. He just had to open it and kill Mary in her sleep.

2. No. The door opened into number 26. Look at the fire map.

3. Same as 1.

Regards Pierre

ok-got it. thanks!

[Abby Normal]

Regards Pierre

well since Pierre has posted this twice and no one has responded-I will.
Obviously he wants someone to notice this.

If that's the sillouette of jack the ripper on the wall then he must have been soaked in blood and marys blood must have been spraying him and the wall like a high pressure industrial paint sprayer. lol.

[Pierre]

Hi pierre
1.wouldn't there have been a lot of noise if the killer was trying to get through this way?
2.wouldn't marys bed have blocked his entrance this way?
3.wouldn't mary have woken up if someone was trying to get in that way?

1. The door was already opened by the killer when Mary was out. He just had to open it and kill Mary in her sleep.

2. No. The door opened into number 26. Look at the fire map.

3. Same as 1.

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

Then why isn't the "door"/wall damaged and or shows any evidence that the police entered that way when the photo of mary on her bed showing it behind her was taken from the other angle?

The door between 26 och 13 was already opened by the killer and therefore could be opened and closed again by the police.

The entrance door was barricaded by the table and bed. The police could not get in through that door and so they used the door between 26 and 13.

You can see that on MJK3. The photographer stands in front of the barricaded entrance door.

Prater said the "partition" was thin.

Look at the fire map and you will see the that the place of the original door matches the place of the door in Kelly´s room.

The killer must have opened it when Kelly wasn´t in her room and then closed it again.

It was an old, thin door. McCarthy did not even make a real partition. He just closed the door, locked it and put some wallpaper on the side of number 26, if he even bothered to do that.

And this is how easy it probably was for the killer to open this door:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDyBLpmiDLQ

Regards Pierre

[Abby Normal]

Corrrect. The killer used this door to get in. He killed Mary Kelly in her sleep, barricaded the other door and performed the mutilations. After the murder he left through the first door. The police couldn't get in since the door facing Miller's Court was barricaded.

Number 26 was also boarded up after the murder.

Regards Pierre

Hi pierre
wouldn't there have been a lot of noise if the killer was trying to get through this way?
wouldn't marys bed have blocked his entrance this way?
wouldn't mary have woken up if someone was trying to get in that way?

[Abby Normal]

I'm unsure what is being suggested here. The photo appears to be from the other side of the bed so the bed must have been moved away from the wall/partition that it was previously up against.

Any door in that position from this photo would be the main entry to Kelly's room (the one they struggled to open) and, maybe this is the point of Pierre's post, would probably be a bit damaged if they had to bash it in.

However there was, in fact, another door into the room albeit (in theory) sealed off and at one time boarded over. This door must have led to the same entrance as that on the ground floor to the stairs for Prater's room (and more than likely then on to another door into the back of number 26.

I say boarded over at one time because that's the impression I get from Kelly photo 1 - much of the boarding appears to have been pulled away re-exposing the door. In fact, the boarding had probably been used as fire wood over the years (maybe even on the day in question). If it was possible to still open this door, a surprise attack would easily have been possible on Kelly. There's no other suggestion of that though so just my crackpot theory.

because they didn't "bash" the door open, but merely forced the door, prying it open and only breaking the lock?

[Abby Normal]

Yes. Well done. And all this explains why the police had a problem entering Kelly´s room.

And when they did get in, they used the other door. That´s why they were able to take this photograph.

Regards Pierre

Then why isn't the "door"/wall damaged and or shows any evidence that the police entered that way when the photo of mary on her bed showing it behind her was taken from the other angle?

[Pierre]

Suggesting a valid interpretation

The press account specifically says:
"...being over a shed or warehouse used for the storage of costers' barrows."
Daily Telegraph, Nov 10th 1888

Hi,

I think the we can answer the question as to the boarding up of 26 Dorset Street.

Wickerman has put forward the idea that the room was used for costermongers barrows. He has found some article indicating this.

I have hypothesized that 26 Dorset Street was boarded up after the murder on Kelly.

So our scientific problem is: Which interpretation is right?

I would like to suggest that both are right. So what are the sources for this?

Firstly, thanks to Rosella who writes:

“The rooms in McCarthy's rents were tiny really, 12 feet by 8 feet. You can imagine it being a bit crowded with several large policemen and the doctor inside!

With regard to the front room of No. 26, (the room used as a storeroom) the Evening Express of 12 November noted 'The room was formerly left open and poor people often took shelter there for the night but when the Whitechapel murders caused so much alarm the police thought the place offered too much temptation to the murderer and so the front was securely boarded up'.”

We can see the boards in the picture from The Pictorial News 17 November 1888.

So if there was a gate, this gate was boarded up.

The boarding up of 26 Dorset Street should have been done either to prevent people from looking in through the gate or from breaking in, or to prevent the killer from entering the room – or both.

Another problem with the idea of keeping costermonger barrows in the room is that, as Rosella says, the rooms were tiny. Number 26 was just the double size of number 13.

Wickerman also seems to be aware of the size of those barrows as he writes:

"though if you know how large a costermongers barrow was, you'd appreciate it would not fit through a front door"

So even if there was a gate, the room was small and could not keep many barrows.

And even if there was a gate, it was “securely boarded up” (The Evening Express 12 November 1888) and we have a drawing showing these boards (The Pictorial News 17 November 1888).

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

Were those costermonger carts collapsible by any chance? Maybe they could be folded down smaller somehow? Or the wheels easily removed for storage? Maybe they could just use the door after all.

There can not have been many of these carts in such a small area. Number 26 was just twice as large as number 13.

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

Is there a reason why MJK1 is a square-framed picture while MJK3 is a rectangular picture?

I have no idea.

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

A scientific problem to be solved

The press account specifically says:
"...being over a shed or warehouse used for the storage of costers' barrows."
Daily Telegraph, Nov 10th 1888.

Hi Wickerman,

It must be clear to everyone that we have a scientific problem here. We can not solve this problem by having private opinions about it. We can not draw any conclusions before we either have examined the sources at hand to find a valid conclusion or before we have found a more reliable source.

The scientific problem is:

We have different sources saying different things about 26 Dorset Street:

It had been boarded up after the murder on Kelly. / Or it had gates.

So our task now is to find other sources or make a more valid interpretation of the sources we have.

Until then, we only have hypotheses.

Regards Pierre