Lizzie Prater - intended victim?

[Cogidubnus]

This is interesting regardless of whether or not he was trying to gain access to the shed that night. If the Ripper occasionally slept in the shed, he might have been acquaintances with both Kelly (because of proximity) and Eddowes (who Bruce Paley suggested occasionally spent nights there).

But if he had previously slept in the shed, then he'd surely have known the (only) way into it...and that MJKs door wasn't it...

No?

All the best

Dave

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
This theory is not without merit, their were two doors on the left up the passage, one led to Upstairs, the other Kelly's room.
It is conceivable that ''so tell him I have gone up'' [ words spoken by Prater to McCarthy at 1.30 am] would suggest that she had arranged to meet someone at the court, from a meeting that evening, as apparently her and Mary Kelly were both out that evening to try ''their luck''.
If this was the case, then the layout of millers court would not have been known by this person, and if he happened to be the Killer, and he informed her he would meet her at the passage entrance, saying ''If I was a bit late where do you live?' the reply being ''First door on the left''
We could then introduce the following scenario...
If the killer was not intending to meet her at 1.00-130, and just wanted to have access to her room, he may have said ''If I am late don't lock me out''.
But Praters routine of blocking her door with furniture was applied, so when the killer entered the first door , and came upon Praters room, finding it locked
he assumed he had the wrong location, and realized the first door, may have been the first door pass the passage...he tried his luck there.
If , and its a big ''IF'', room 13 was still on the latch, he could have walked in , and although realizing he had the wrong person...the rest is history[ as Robert interpreted me].
Regards Richard.

[Barnaby]

Alternatively he may simply have been trying to get into the shed, closed shortly before. It was very wet and cold that night. Even murderers have to get out of the rain.

This is interesting regardless of whether or not he was trying to gain access to the shed that night. If the Ripper occasionally slept in the shed, he might have been acquaintances with both Kelly (because of proximity) and Eddowes (who Bruce Paley suggested occasionally spent nights there).

[Edward]

Wrong Door?

Rather an extreme response for entering the wrong door.

Mary: "What are you doing in my room?" "Oh Murder!"

Killer: stab, stab, stab ....

Edward

[Damaso Marte]

It was very wet and cold that night. Even murderers have to get out of the rain.

Sounds like the perfect time to sleep naked.

[Robert]

Hi Nell

As a hypothesis, this has something to be said for it. I have long felt that Mary's murder was a botched affair, committed by someone who was taken by surprise at finding somebody asleep on a bed right on the other side of the door. But rather than have Jack going upstairs and failing to get into Prater's room, I'd just have someone who took the wrong door and expected to have a flight of stairs to negotiate. Suddenly the door bangs on the bedside table, Mary cries out....the rest, as Richard Nunweek would say, is history.

Alternatively he may simply have been trying to get into the shed, closed shortly before. It was very wet and cold that night. Even murderers have to get out of the rain.

[Carrotty Nell]

This is not a new idea. But it hasn't been covered in depth and it intrigues me very much.

c. 1.30 am. Lizzie Prater retires to her room after an unsuccessful wait for her toy boy. She baricades her door with some furniture. She then falls down into a drink-induced sleep at once. Diddles curls up on her mattress.

c. 3.45 am. Lizzie is woken by Diddles who walks on her neck.

c. 3.55 am. Lizzie (and one other witness in the court) hear a cry of 'murder' from Mary Kelly's room below Lizzie's. Note - I'm going by the testimony of Sarah Lewis who heard the Christchurch clock striking 4 very shortly after the alarming cry.

Two things are very striking to me:
1. Lizzie would have been a more typical Ripper victim than MJK because of her more matronly age.
2. Pussycats do not wake in the night unless some noise or someone has disturbed them.

Was it Lizzie Prater the killer was after? Did he mount the stairs to her room and find himself unable to enter because of the baricade? Did the minimal noise he made reach sensitive feline ears but not weaker human ones? Was the killer meanwhile returning downstairs and finding MJK the nearest viable alternative to vent his thwarted rage upon?