Oh, Dear Boss: Druitt's on a Sticky Wicket

[Darryl Kenyon]

The story I was told when a kid was that it came from the military, the British grenade looked like a pomegranate.
I've no idea whether that is true.

Hi Wick, there are many explanations but the one most favoured is that when the English came over early 20th century or late nineteenth they would go red quickly in the sun and look like Pomegranates
Regards Darryl

[C. F. Leon]

Thanks for clearing that up, Jonathan. I didn't know, which is why I asked. From the couple of sentences on the podcast, I had the impression that there was some sort of problem, but not of the sort that you mention. I thought it was some kind of disagreement that was Ripper-related, which is why I asked.

My apologies for bringing up a sore subject in my ignorance.

[Ally]

Also, who is Sebastian Sam and why does Ally want to have her "Wicked way" with him?

Sebastian Stan, and because he is delicious. And I respect his mind....

[Wickerman]

Andy is still alive.

He's spent 6 of the last 12 years in prison for twice being caught in possession of child pornography.

JM

Thanks for that update Jim, false alarm then.

[Wickerman]

Hi Wick, there are many explanations but the one most favoured is that when the English came over early 20th century or late nineteenth they would go red quickly in the sun and look like Pomegranates
Regards Darryl

Thanks Darryl, though wouldn't that equally apply to any immigrant from say England, France, Canada, USA, Russia, etc?

[GUT]

Thanks Darryl, though wouldn't that equally apply to any immigrant from say England, France, Canada, USA, Russia, etc?

Possibly, but by far the majority were from Britain.

[GUT]

On POM for a long time when I was a kid, I thought it HAD to be followed by the B word that mean illegitimate

[Wickerman]

Possibly, but by far the majority were from Britain.

I remember in the 60's my parents were considering to emigrate, there was an Gov.t offer of something like £10 would get you a ticket to Australia.

[GUT]

I remember in the 60's my parents were considering to emigrate, there was an Gov.t offer of something like £10 would get you a ticket to Australia.

Yep known as 10 pound Poms. My brothe4 in law came out on such a deal. Australia was desperate to grow in population and at the same time had a “White Australia Policy” after the war a lot of Italians and Greeks came out to work on the Snowy Mountain scheme and along with the Brits were the major growth in population and added to the interesting mix in the country.

[GBinOz]

Yep known as 10 pound Poms. My brother in law came out on such a deal.

Mine too. My mother in law used to offer him 20 pound to go back.

[C. F. Leon]

Mine too. My mother in law used to offer him 20 pound to go back.

And the return ticket was, what, 200 pounds?

[C. F. Leon]

Sebastian Stan, and because he is delicious. And I respect his mind....

The actor (Marvel CU)?

So it's an IZombie-Virginia spin-off thing? Eeeeewwww...

[Joshua Rogan]

Anyway. I was passing through Wimborne earlier this week, so decided to pop in for a visit

[Herlock Sholmes]

Anyway. I was passing through Wimborne earlier this week, so decided to pop in for a visit

Did you get an overwhelming sense of evil Joshua?

Im a fan of progressive rock and I didn’t know until last week that Robert Fripp from King Crimson (and husband of Toyah Wilcox) was also born in Wimborne.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock,

I was looking for previous threads on the possibility of MJD having been murdered, and came across your thread "The Strange Death of Montague John Druitt" which contained this timeline:
30th Nov - Druitt is dismissed by George Valentine at the Blackheath School.
11th Dec - An unnamed ‘friend’ contacts Monty’s brother William to say that he hadn’t been seen for over a week.
30th Dec - William arrived in London and has Monty’s property searched. He also discovers Monty’s sacking.
31st Dec - Monty’s body is pulled from the Thames.
2nd Jan - The Inquest is held.

You raised a question as to why Druitt's belonging were still at the school on 30 Dec when he had been sacked on 30 Nov. I think the circumstance points to the probability that he wasn't sacked on that date. I agree with GUT in a later post on that thread - he was sacked on 30 Dec, as stated in the report of the inquest, for being AWOL, and there is no need to "adjust" that report.

I can't see any evidence or reason to believe that Monty ever returned from Hammersmith/Chiswick after 1 Dec, so I think he popped in at KBW, was spotted by the friend, and then he proceeded to Hammersmith.

Let us consider a scenario where MJD is JTR. Serial killers are not known for suiciding due to remorse, so Monty leaves the school on Dec 1 solely because the school term has finished on 30 Nov. The cheque for 200 pounds is payment for one of the four school terms. On some Friday between MJK's murder and 1 Dec, Monty has confided his crimes to a family member, or to a CofE minister and, as head of the family, William has been informed. William has arranged to meet Monty at Chiswick, possibly to discuss treatment at the Manor House Asylum. William decides that between the risk of Monty being caught, tried and hanged as a fiendish serial killer or committing suicide due to mental illness, the later is the lesser of two evils for the family reputation. He arranges Monty's murder to look like suicide, ensuring the valuables are left on his person so that there is no hint of a blackmail attempt gone wrong, and writes the suicide note(s) himself. It is curious that the suicide note found at Blackheath, 'Since Friday I felt I was going to be like mother, and the best thing for me was to die.' has the feel of being written in the past tense.

Just some more speculation on an increasingly interesting topic.

Cheers, George

Hi George,

It does seem strange though that William would wait nearly three weeks from being informed on the 11th to go to London to find out that his brother had been sacked on December 30th (the day that he’d arrived in London?) Possibly in favour of the 30th December sacking date is the question - wouldn’t his friends have checked at the school after Druitt had gone awol? As he’d been at KBW for 8 years surely they’d have been aware that he’d also worked at the school so wouldn’t they have checked there before contacting William?

We assume that Druitt was sacked from the school which led to Druitt being ‘removed’ from the cricket club but couldn’t it have been the other way around? Just a thought.