Lawende is a red herring.

[DJA]

[Michael W Richards]

Really, Michael?

I'm trying hard to imagine the killer [or killers if you prefer] of any of these women thinking to himself: "I know that what I'm doing is not essential, but I'll risk my neck doing it anyway".

Surely, every act was essential to the killer at the time, or he'd have been somewhere else having a quiet night in.

Love,

Caz
X

No issue with the above comment highlighted Caz, just that many "essential acts" to Kates killer quite obviously had no bearing at all in Annies murder, assuredly the one murder that best exemplifies what his "essential acts" were. To kill, access what he wanted, cut it out, and leave. these acts were specific and single minded. What was the nose cut about? Or the chevrons, if made separately? Why do we have a 2 ft section of colon stuick between her arm and body? Tracing the navel? Why did he forget that he intended to take sloppy wet organs and not bring something to do that, if he had excised organs like that before?

Non-essential to accessing and obtaining, which is what Annies killer "essential" goals were.

[Harry D]

My man Harry D,

Hey are we still cool after our little Liberal/Conservative pissing match?

c.d.

Did someone say something?



Just kidding. We cool, we cool.

[c.d.]

Did someone say something?



Just kidding. We cool, we cool.

Glad to hear it.

c.d.

[Michael W Richards]

Lawende admitted he wouldn't recognise the man if he saw him again. For the police to rely on him as a witness must show they were clutching at straws.

There's no guarantee the couple he saw were Eddowes and her killer in the first place.

Theres no guarantee that Lawende was their witness that they used later either.

[Michael W Richards]

A point often made by people who do not think Eddowes was killed by the Ripper is that the ripping in Mitre Square was sloppy compared to what was done to Chapman. Cut through the clothes, knicked the colon, no attempt to decapitate, etc. While I believe it was the same killer as Chapman, the sloppiness is certainly consistent with it being a rush job.

Of course doctors take longer to cut people up: what they do only superficially resembles what the Ripper did.

Or due to substantially less light than Annies killer had Damaso. I dont automatically include Kate as Ripper victim myself, but I do acknowledge the variables at play here.

[Simon Wood]

Whom else might the witness have been, Michael?

Daily Telegraph, 18th February 1891—

“Probably the only trustworthy description of the assassin was that given by a gentleman who, on the night of the Mitre Square murder, noticed in Duke Street, Aldgate, a couple standing under the lamp at the corner of the passage leading to Mitre Square. The woman was identified as one victim of that night, Sept. 30, the other having been killed an hour previously in Berner Street . . . The witness has confronted Sadler and has failed to identify him.”

[Scott Nelson]

Daily Telegraph, 18th February 1891—

..."The witness has confronted Sadler and has failed to identify him.”

Hi Simon,

Did this appear in any newspaper other than the DT?

If not, it sounds like a police cover story to me.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Scott,

The story also appeared in -

Portsmouth Evening News
South Wales Echo
South Wales Daily News
Birmingham Mail

There may be others.

Stay safe.

Simon

[Michael W Richards]

Whom else might the witness have been, Michael?

Daily Telegraph, 18th February 1891—

“Probably the only trustworthy description of the assassin was that given by a gentleman who, on the night of the Mitre Square murder, noticed in Duke Street, Aldgate, a couple standing under the lamp at the corner of the passage leading to Mitre Square. The woman was identified as one victim of that night, Sept. 30, the other having been killed an hour previously in Berner Street . . . The witness has confronted Sadler and has failed to identify him.”

Hello my friend,

I think that may indicate that Lawende was used there Simon, but it still doesnt address the fact he himself couldnt even recognize the man seen with the woman, let alone the woman, 2 weeks after the event. To me it says grasping at straws, or trying to make lemonade from lemons gone bad some time before.

[Simon Wood]

I agree with you.

Hope springs eternal in the policeman's breast.

Simon

[Scott Nelson]

The story also appeared in -

Portsmouth Evening News
South Wales Echo
South Wales Daily News
Birmingham Mail

Thanks Simon. You wouldn't happen to have the dates on hand would you?

More importantly, did these newspaper stories copy one source (the DT?) or was the wording different in each paper?

[Simon Wood]

Hi Scott,

18th or19th February 1891.

They're all pretty much the same.

Simon

[Michael W Richards]

I agree with you.

Hope springs eternal in the policeman's breast.

Simon

Unless of course one of the other three wiseman that night was actually the one they later used with Sadler. One of them that had a connection to an actual suspect recorded in some documents, as I recall.

[Simon Wood]

Good luck with that, Michael.

Harry Harris claimed he'd seen nothing.

Hyam Levy testified—

"I should think he was three inches taller than the woman, who was, perhaps, 5ft high."

But look on the bright side.

At the very least, Levy's testimony rules out Francis Tumblety. He was over six feet tall.

Also, Sadler had ears that stuck out like a London cab with its doors open.

It's the sort of detail Lawende, Hyman and Harris might have noticed.