An even closer look at Black Bag Man

As Kattrup rightly said…Dew’s memories aren’t the most reliable. I wouldn’t base anything on what he said.

I don’t really see how it can be doubted that these ‘two’ women were Fanny Mortimer who said that, before she went onto her doorstep for the final time, the only person that she had seen was the man with the black bag (Goldstein) “…who walked very fast down the street from the Commercial-road.” The Evening News interview where the woman (Fanny) describes “a young man walking up Berner-street” is surely more likely to have been an error when the journalist wrote up his story from his notes combined with a fallible memory. It’s difficult to think of any reason why Fanny would have neglected to have mentioned seeing this same man twice had she done so. The police interviewed Goldstein and were clearly satisfied with his explanation and, although we have no evidence for this, it would hardly have been surprising had they gone to the coffee house in Spectacle Alley and checked his movements.

More tricky to explain of course is: “He might ha' been coming from the Socialist Club., A good many young men goes there, of a Saturday night especially.”

I have to admit to being wary of any report though where the text lapses into the vernacular with the ‘cor blimey guv’nor’ talk which always smacks, to me, of an effort to add local colour. So for me I think it possible/probable that because Leon Goldstein was Jewish (and possibly/probably looked Jewish) Fanny told the reporter something like that he might have been a club member and that Saturday was a night when people like Goldstein went to the club. Maybe she was suggesting why he’d looked toward the club.

Yes, I fully accept that this isn’t an ‘explanation’ that we can say “yes, that’s what must have happened,” but it’s a plausible explanation imo.

I know that we’ve been here before but I just don’t think that there is anything suspicious about Leon Goldstein. As a man seen in the area ‘around’ the time of the murder he would have been checked out by the police.

Fanny Mortimer: It was soon after one o'clock when I went out, and the only man whom I had seen pass through the street previously was a young man carrying a black shiny bag, who walked very fast down the street from the Commercial-road. He looked up at the club, and then went around the corner by the Board School.

Neighbour interviewed by the Evening News: I only noticed one person passing, just before I turned in. That was a young man walking up Berner-street, carrying a black bag in his hand.
...
He might ha' been coming from the Socialist Club., A good many young men goes there, of a Saturday night especially.

In A closer look at Leon Goldstein, I suggested that as the neighbour appears to have been Fanny Mortimer, and the direction of the bag carrying man was clearly south in the first instance and north in the second, Fanny Mortimer must have seen Goldstein walk through Berner St twice, at around the time of the murder. This suggestion gained little or no acceptance, yet it would seem the notion of Mortimer being the interviewed neighbour, is accepted by most members. Consider the similarities ...

Mortimer lived at #36, two doors from the club at #40, and thus 3 'doors' from the gateway to Dutfield's Yard.

EN journalist: Some three doors from the gateway where the body of the first victim was discovered, I saw a clean, respectable-looking woman chatting with one or two neighbours. She was apparently the wife of a well-to-do artisan, and formed a strong contrast to many of those around her. I got into conversation with her and found that she was one of the first on the spot.

Was he talking to Fanny?

Mortimer: I was standing at the door of my house nearly the whole time between half-past twelve and one o'clock this (Sunday) morning, and did not notice anything unusual. I had just gone indoors, and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a commotion outside, and immediately ran out, thinking that there was another row at the Socialists' Club close by.

Neighbour: I was just about going to bed, sir, when I heard a call for the police. I ran to the door, and before I could open it I heard somebody say, 'Come out quick; there's a poor woman here that's had ten inches of cold steel in her.' I hurried out, and saw some two or three people standing in the gateway. Lewis, the man who looks after the Socialist Club at No. 40, was there, and his wife.

Similar, but with a significant difference. The neighbour was alerted to the murder before she opened her door, whereas Fanny says she was informed of the murder on reaching the yard: I went to see what was the matter, and was informed that another dreadful murder had been committed in the yard adjoining the club-house, and on going inside I saw the body of a woman lying huddled up just inside the gate with her throat cut from ear to ear.

So, was Fanny Mortimer and the interviewed neighbour one and the same person, and why does it matter? Also, why is this thread not taking an even closer look at Leon Goldstein, rather than the more generic Black Bag Man?

Consider the following from the EN interview.

Journalist: Did you observe him closely, or notice anything in his appearance?

Neighbour: No, I didn't pay particular attention to him. He was respectably dressed, but was a stranger to me. He might ha' been coming from the Socialist Club.

Now consider Mortimer's location at her doorstep, relative to the club. #38 Berner St would be a few yards to her right, and the club (#40) would be a few yards further. Just beyond that point is the entrance to the yard. Measured in walking time, mere seconds away. Now why would Mortimer be speculating that a man might have come from the club but not know for sure? When Eagle returned to the club at around 12:40, he found the front door locked, so went in via the side entrance. Perhaps the phrase "coming from the Socialist Club" was meant to cover anyone coming from either the front door or the side door, and thus the yard.

Okay, so the scenario is that the man leaves the yard with his black bag. Fanny does not see him exit the yard, but suddenly notices a man to her right, walking towards her. She gets enough of a look at him in a few seconds to determine that she doesn't know him. He walks right by her, close enough that she could reach out and touch his left shoulder, had she wanted to.

Does it make sense for Fanny to say, "I didn't pay particular attention to him"? To me, that sounds like someone who is in a position to observe the man at some length (but chose not to), and from some distance. Fanny Mortimer was not in a position to do either of those things. However, a woman who lived on the opposite side of the street and further toward Commercial Rd, would have been in a position to do both.

It may be true that Walter Dew's writings on the murders may contain numerous significant errors. Paradoxically, one of those errors may go some way to resolving the riddle of the Berner St murder. Where did Dew suppose the Mortimer residence was specifically located? Let's investigate.

Dew referred to Dutfield's Yard as a court:

The court had no lamps and was in darkness. On one side were cottages occupied mostly by cigarette-makers and tailors. The whole length of the other side was taken up by the rear of a social club known as The Working Men's Educational Club. A back entrance linked the building with the court and was in fairly frequent use.

The following, although somewhat ambiguous, tells us roughly where Dew believed Fanny Mortimer lived:

Not a single suspicious sound was heard by any of the men inside the building, but it is more than probable that a woman living in one of the cottages on the other side of the court was the only person ever to see the Ripper in the vicinity of one of his crimes.
This woman was a Mrs. Mortimer.

What does he mean by "one of the cottages on the other side of the court"? Across the street? What did she see, according to Dew?

Just as she was about to re-enter her cottage the woman heard the approach of a pony and cart. She knew this would be Lewis Dienschitz, the steward of the club. He went every Saturday to the market, returning about this hour of the early morning.

At the same moment Mrs. Mortimer observed something else, silent and sinister. A man, whom she judged to be about thirty, dressed in black, and carrying a small, shiny black bag, hurried furtively along the opposite side of the court.

The woman was a little startled. The man's movements had been so quiet that she had not seen him until he was abreast of her. His head was turned away, as though he did not wish to be seen. A second later he had vanished round the corner leading to Commercial Road.

So, the man hurried along the opposite side of the court. Opposite to what? Opposite to #36 would mean the man exited the yard and immediately crossed the road, continuing along Berner St before turning into Commercial Rd. A right turn would have taken him in the opposite direction to Aldgate. Would it make more sense to suppose that the man seen walking north with a black bag, had he indeed exited from the yard, would have remained on the club side? That would mean Dew's witness, and by logical extension the interviewed neighbour, lived on the board school side and thus was not Fanny Mortimer.

So, if another woman did see a man carrying a black bag while walking north on Berner St at around the time of the murder, who was the man?

Announcement

Leave a comment:

Leave a comment:

Leave a comment:

Leave a comment: