kelly and pepper

[Observer]

Why on earth pepper?

As an aid in disrupting anarchist meetings of course, after all, it's the only logical reason to steal pepper!

Observer

[ianincleveland]

Hello Ian. That is correct. And the police claim they weren't sweepings. And the other suspect bolted--not a good sign.

Why on earth pepper?

And yes, there are a good many John Kellys in London, but I presume only a proper subset are 42 and work around the docks.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn,

Yeah there werent many 42 yr old John Kellys down the docks,but it could have been a false name,i dont suppose names for things like theft were always checked in 1888,what with the transient nature if the East End locals etc.


After all its quite likely it seems that Mary Kelly was a false name(and Eddowes had Kelly as a false name)

[lynn cates]

sweepings

Hello Ian. That is correct. And the police claim they weren't sweepings. And the other suspect bolted--not a good sign.

Why on earth pepper?

And yes, there are a good many John Kellys in London, but I presume only a proper subset are 42 and work around the docks.

Cheers.
LC

[ianincleveland]

Hello Lynn,

Firstly, I must echo Tom's word that there would have been an awful lot of John Kelly's in London.

Secondly, the sweepings from a ship's hold were often considered to be "bunce" - a cash extra fo anyone who could sell them. Many years ago when I worked on cargo ships carrying grain, the sweepings were sold to local pig farmers and provided welcome beer money for the ship's crew.

Rgds
John

9 3/4 lbs is an awful lot of "sweepings" especially of something like pepper.Yes there would have been a lot of John Kellys in London.

[Observer]

Hello Tom and John. I heartily concur that John Kelly was a common name. And, no, there is no known link to our John Kelly. Of course, the age matches. And John was supposed to work the docks as a labourer.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn

It's one thing to suggest that John Kelly pepper thief, and John Kelly the partner of Kate Eddowes were one and the same

However to suggest that should our pepper thief be Kate Eddowes beau, and that he used the pepper to hijack an anarchists meeting, thus implying a link between Kate's murder and those nasty anarchists, well what can I say. Have you ever considered a career in dime novels, the writing of that is?

Observer

[lynn cates]

common

Hello Tom and John. I heartily concur that John Kelly was a common name. And, no, there is no known link to our John Kelly. Of course, the age matches. And John was supposed to work the docks as a labourer.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

testimony

Hello Packer. So, you can smell, er, I mean see that too? Pretty obvious.

Cheers.
LC

[John Savage]

Hello Lynn,

Firstly, I must echo Tom's word that there would have been an awful lot of John Kelly's in London.

Secondly, the sweepings from a ship's hold were often considered to be "bunce" - a cash extra fo anyone who could sell them. Many years ago when I worked on cargo ships carrying grain, the sweepings were sold to local pig farmers and provided welcome beer money for the ship's crew.

Rgds
John

[Tom_Wescott]

There were literally hundreds of John Kellys in London, and there's nothing in this article to suggest that it was referring to 'our' JK.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[packers stem]

Hi Lynn
I mentioned on the 'how drunk was eddowes thread' that after taking your pointer i read the times inquest report.
I agree with you there's something not right about what he was saying.
Who was the 'mystery woman' who came to tell Kelly about catharine being locked up?
Why didn't he go to Bishopsgate to enquire about her wellbeing,if not that night then certainly the morning after?
He didn't come forward until he read about the pawn ticket in the papers!!!
Even though an unidentified woman had been murdered in the area and the love of his life had not been seen for how long?
Keep it up Lynn,very interesting

[lynn cates]

conundrum

Hello Phil. Another ripperologist has pointed out to me that both stories cannot be true.

Of course, we know our John Kelly was hopping. After all, he said so.

Cheers.
LC

[Phil Carter]

Hello Lynn,

Most interesting... does the date correspond with our JK being back from Kent?

best wishes

Phil

[lynn cates]

oh, choo!

Hello Packer. Thanks for that.

Interesting that a socialist club meeting in Hammersmith was broken up when an anarchist threw pepper on the stove.

Cheers.
LC

[packers stem]

Another good find Lynn.
Certainly nothing to be sneezed at

[lynn cates]

Hello All. Here is an interesting snippet from Lloyd's August 26, 1888. The name, age and location seem consistent with our John Kelly. Also, it is involved with the docks.

Any information would be appreciated.

Cheers.
LC