Morris and Harvey

[Monty]

Maybe something n nothing but...

...has anyone noted how Morris described Eddowes when he asked for PC Harveys assistance?

Has his choice of words struck anyone?

Monty

[Robert]

"A woman has been ripped up in Mitre Square" - whereas Watkins said "cut to pieces." That's interesting, Monty. I can't seem to find the word "ripped" in the Times in relation to the murders until Oct 1st, where it says that the abdomen had been ripped open.

[Rob Clack]

You mean like "A woman's been Ripped" yes it's very interesting. Although I think it was Harvey who said that was what Morris told him. Didn't Morris just say "terrible murder"????

Rob

[Monty]

Robert and Rob,

Rob, yes, Harveys words at the inquest. Just that it struck me as odd.

Robert, indeed, especially when you take on board Watkins often quoted words in the Star of 1st October 88, 'she was ripped open like a pig..'

Either Morris used the term 'ripped' prior to the publication of the Dear Boss letter or the term was swiftly absorbed into useage.

Like I say, something n nothing but I noted it whilst we were working on our article Rob. Most likely a coinkydink, however Im sure someone may get a book outta it.

Monty

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Monty,

The term "ripped" was being used in the papers very early on in the series, it seems. The East London Advertiser and the Evening Standard, for example, both used it on September 1st, when reporting the Buck's Row murder.

[Robert]

Step forward Rob Hills.

[Monty]

Gareth,

Many thanks.

I didnt realise that.

Monty

[perrymason]

Hi all,

The coroner said that the abdominal incision started "opposite the enciform cartilage", and that it went "upwards".

Holding a knife blade up and forcing it to cut upwards would leave jagged wounds, appearing as a "rip" or tear in the skin.....I think the nature of that wound itself dictated that terminology. The knife ripped her skin open...it didnt slit it open.

All the best

[Sam Flynn]

Hi all,

The coroner said that the abdominal incision started "opposite the enciform cartilage", and that it went "upwards".

Holding a knife blade up and forcing it to cut upwards would leave jagged wounds, appearing as a "rip" or tear in the skin.....I think the nature of that wound itself dictated that terminology. The knife ripped her skin open...it didnt slit it open.

That was Dr Brown, not the coroner, Mike. As to the cut commencing "opposite the enciform cartilage", he also mentions that the knife sheared off the front surface of that cartilage, which indicates that the knife was plunged into the notch between the ribs (where the ensiform, or xiphoid, cartilage "lives") and moved upwards a little way, before it was subsequently dragged back downwards to effect the opening of the abdomen. As I wrote a while back:

"We find from Dr Brown's account that the initial cut commenced below the sternum, went upwards a little (i.e. upwards from beneath the sternum), then downwards again, slicing obliquely into the ensiform cartilage - aka the xiphoid cartilage - at the base of the sternum... [this] uppercut to the sternum appears to have been little more than a slip of the knife. The wound then continued downwards along the axis of the body..."

(Sam Flynn, "By Accident or Design?", Ripperologist #73; also here.)