Hypothetical

[clark2710]

If you could resurrect any witnesses that actually laid eyes on the Ripper who would you resurrect? If you have more than one you would please feel free to list.

[John Wheat]

If you could resurrect any witnesses that actually laid eyes on the Ripper who would you resurrect? If you have more than one you would please feel free to list.

The problem is we don't know who did lay eyes on the Ripper. Also witnesses testimony can be unreliable.

[mpriestnall]

The ones dismissed, ignored, or torpedoed by the Wall Washer, Shifter Nib, and Trust Me I'm A Christian, namely Schwartz, Packer, and Hutchinson.

[DJA]

Elizabeth Long.

[Ms Diddles]

On balance, I'll go with Hutchinson.

Who knows if he actually saw the Ripper, but I'd like to see if his amazing eyesight and powers of observation can be evidenced.

A slight digression, but of the other witnesses (ie the ones who are not claiming to have seen JTR), I'd love to speak to Caroline Maxwell.

I find her evidence particularly hard to reconcile.

It makes no sense in relation to everything else we know, but I can't get over the fact that she comes across (from this distance anyway) as one of the more credible witnesses.

[Abby Normal]

On balance, I'll go with Hutchinson.

Who knows if he actually saw the Ripper, but I'd like to see if his amazing eyesight and powers of observation can be evidenced.

A slight digression, but of the other witnesses (ie the ones who are not claiming to have seen JTR), I'd love to speak to Caroline Maxwell.

I find her evidence particularly hard to reconcile.

It makes no sense in relation to everything else we know, but I can't get over the fact that she comes across (from this distance anyway) as one of the more credible witnesses.

same here diddles. Id like to have a little chat with him, because surly if he wasnt telling porkies, then aman is the ripper.

[Wickerman]

...
A slight digression, but of the other witnesses (ie the ones who are not claiming to have seen JTR), I'd love to speak to Caroline Maxwell.

Thinking along similar lines...
One witness that might have had more to say, if she had been asked, is Sarah Lewis.
When Lewis gave her testimony the inquest didn't know about Hutchinson's story.
Lewis claimed to see a man standing opposite Millers Court, she also claimed to see another couple ahead, the couple entered Millers Court while the man stood opposite.

The inquest didn't know how important these three people would turn out to be, so I wonder just how much detail Lewis saw of both the man standing (Hutchinson?), and the male & female she saw enter Millers Court (Astrachan & Kelly?).

[barnflatwyngarde]

I would like to have a chat with Mr Hutchinson, simply to ask him some searching questions which would in all likelihood discredit his story of seeing Mary Jane and Astrakhan Man.

Then we could look closely at Mrs Cox's statement.

I still think that the man seen by Mrs Cox was probably the murderer.

[mpriestnall]

Shifter Nib? I meant Shifty Nib. Doh!

[barnflatwyngarde]

Shifter Nib? I meant Shifty Nib. Doh!

Don't dismiss Shifter Nib, that man has a lot of explaining to do!

[mpriestnall]

Don't dismiss Shifter Nib, that man has a lot of explaining to do!

Ah yes, Shifter Nib the invisible puppeteer behind the whole conspiracy.

And I bet he rolled up his left trouser leg on regular occasions. Say no more!

[Sleuth1888]

If you could resurrect any witnesses that actually laid eyes on the Ripper who would you resurrect? If you have more than one you would please feel free to list.

Ah that's a good question. I have my doubts about Hutchinson's statement due to the amount of detail included in his report and the notion of such a well dressed man as Mr Astrakan would surely draw attention and suspicion.

Now, back to the actual question - I would like to speak to Mr Lawende. I think his sighting is credible as Eddowes was found 10 minutes later if we take 1.35am as the time of Lawende's sighting that leaves me to conclude that the man he saw with Eddows was her killer as the time window is just too narrow for anyone else to have gotten in afterwards and to have done what the Ripper obviously did.

So yeah I think Lawende is up there with the most credible of the witness accounts.

[erobitha]

Huthinson's statement is over-compensating with erroneous additional detail no other witness has given. I have always struggled with the description he gave. It's like he has a mental image of what a "flash Jewish man" would look like, and this was the best stereotype he could come up with. Gold chain, spats, ashkatran coat - was he the first prototype of a pimp?

He saw something, but I believe the description he gave was not it. The fact it took him the best part of three days to come forward is jarring also. He would be the one I would need to get clearer answers from.

[caz]

I do believe Hutch stood near Kelly's room for nearly an hour before giving up and going away, but suspect the reason was that he was just hoping to warm himself in her company and had to wait for another man to leave. If he had admitted that, he'd have been an obvious person of interest, so he thought things through before coming forward and claiming that he had been curious to take another look at that man, who had accompanied Kelly back there.

Hutch may indeed have seen this man, but fashioned his description to better explain why he was so curious. Alternatively, Blotchy could still have been in there with Kelly, and Hutch had to invent the man who had roused his curiosity, because he hadn't actually seen anyone.

Love,

Caz
X

[Abby Normal]

hi caz and ero
hutch obviously didnt see anyone with kelly. if he did, it didnt matter what the guy looked like-he wouldnt need to embellish anything-i mean cmon, it would have been jack the freaken ripper! and it took him afew days to avoid the inquest on purpose and come up with his uber villain. aman is a fig newton.