Tweet
Hi all,
as we are well aware of, witnesses are of various types. There are those who have seen something (Long, Lawende, etc), those who have heard something (Cadosch)...and those who have "felt" something...such as...Diddles and Louisa Reeves!
From the Echo, 17 August:
"Something was going to happen.
A statement was made this afternoon by Louisa Reeves, the wife of the dock labourer who first discovered the body [of Martha Tabram, of course] (...).Mrs Reeves explains that screams of "Murder" she heard early in the night must have proceeded from George Street, and could not possibly have been heard by her if they had proceeded from the dying woman.
Strange to say, Mr and Mrs Reeves woke up several times under an apprehension that something was about to happen. Not a scream was heard by them when they aroused from their slumber, for Mr Reeves went to his door and listened.
"I could not say why", remarked Mrs Reeves today, "but I knew something was about to happen out of the ordinary, for me and my old man were never so much disturbed before, though we almost nightly hear the cries of "Murder" and "Police". We pay no attention to them whatever.(...) But that night was a dreadful one. (...) We weren't awoke by screams, but there was something we could not understand, that seemed to tell us that trouble was at hand."
This suspicious statement tends to confirm Tom Wescott's observations about the supposed silence surrouding Tabram's murder (see his article "The Silence of Violence" in dissertations).
In fact, it suggests that the Reeves, just like the Hewitts, have perhaps heard something of the murder, although they're insistent that they have not.
In short, Louisa chose to be a Diddles-like witness rather than a Cadosch-like one, for reasons well explained by Tom Wescott.
But let me add that I find (remotely) possible that Mrs Reeves "felt" something, after all... Who knows?
Anyway, interesting articles here.
Amitiés,
David
as we are well aware of, witnesses are of various types. There are those who have seen something (Long, Lawende, etc), those who have heard something (Cadosch)...and those who have "felt" something...such as...Diddles and Louisa Reeves!
From the Echo, 17 August:
"Something was going to happen.
A statement was made this afternoon by Louisa Reeves, the wife of the dock labourer who first discovered the body [of Martha Tabram, of course] (...).Mrs Reeves explains that screams of "Murder" she heard early in the night must have proceeded from George Street, and could not possibly have been heard by her if they had proceeded from the dying woman.
Strange to say, Mr and Mrs Reeves woke up several times under an apprehension that something was about to happen. Not a scream was heard by them when they aroused from their slumber, for Mr Reeves went to his door and listened.
"I could not say why", remarked Mrs Reeves today, "but I knew something was about to happen out of the ordinary, for me and my old man were never so much disturbed before, though we almost nightly hear the cries of "Murder" and "Police". We pay no attention to them whatever.(...) But that night was a dreadful one. (...) We weren't awoke by screams, but there was something we could not understand, that seemed to tell us that trouble was at hand."
This suspicious statement tends to confirm Tom Wescott's observations about the supposed silence surrouding Tabram's murder (see his article "The Silence of Violence" in dissertations).
In fact, it suggests that the Reeves, just like the Hewitts, have perhaps heard something of the murder, although they're insistent that they have not.
In short, Louisa chose to be a Diddles-like witness rather than a Cadosch-like one, for reasons well explained by Tom Wescott.
But let me add that I find (remotely) possible that Mrs Reeves "felt" something, after all... Who knows?
Anyway, interesting articles here.
Amitiés,
David
Comment