Jack McCarthy speech on Dorset Street

[Wickerman]

Forgive me for asking the question for I genuinely don't know the complete answer, but is there any evidence apart from Mccarthy himself that Mary owed the rent she was supposed to ?
Or was he a chancer who hoped to get some money back, from one of Mary's relatives who may have come forward , say for instance for the broken door, maybe the window pane or maybe for the general cleaning of the flat of the bloodstains etc

Regards Darryl

That question has been raised in the past, that McCarthy could have been an opportunist, expecting Kelly's family should be coming to her funeral and would likely prefer to settle her debts, why not hike her debt up a bit - who's going to know?

A very legitimate question we may never know the answer to.

[Indian Harry]

Which Mrs. McCarthy, Elizabeth or Mary? Which young son, John Jr. (Steve) or George?

I've since discovered that most sources have Bowyer running to the police station instead of McCarthy's son. The November 10, 1888 issue of the Daily News has some passages that suggest McCarthy's son and wife lived on Dorset Street.

A small general shop in Dorset street adjoins the entrance to the court, tenanted by Mrs. M'Carthy, who also owns the houses in the court.

And elsewhere....

Mrs. M'Carthy with her son went to pay her customary visit for the purpose of collecting the day's rent. Young McCarthy appears to have first sent a man named Bower (sic) to the house, which, though entered from the court, is really a part of No 26 Dorset street. Bower failed to obtain an answer to his knocking, and, looking through the window, saw to his horror the woman lying on the bed in a state of nudity, horribly mutilated. He called McCarthy, who also looked through the window, and seeing that the body was cut about almost beyond recognition, he hurried away with Bower and ran to Commercial street Police Station, where they informed the police.

Full disclosure - there are some factual errors elsewhere in the article and the way it's written makes it hard to differentiate between McCarthy's.

https://casebook.org/press_reports/daily_news/18881110.html