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

[Simon Wood]

[Herlock Sholmes]

Everything is ‘unsafe’ to Trevor when something gets in the way of something he believes to have been true. MacNaghten - unsafe. Hutt and Robinson - unsafe. Cadosch - unsafe. Richardson - unsafe. Flakey Lawyer Lawton who took an uncorroborated statement from Feigenbaum in the cells - perfectly reliable of course. Welcome to Marriott World.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Herlock,

I don't know anything about Feigenbaum, but in all the other instances I'd say Trevor was right.

Good luck getting Druitt to Bucks Row.

Regards,

Simon

[MrBarnett]

IIRC Colin Ireland was once mentioned on here in this context.

I believe he travelled from Southend on Sea to scope out the gay bars of Earl's Court.

Not a huge commute, but not exactly on his doorstep either.

Thanks Ms D.

Where there no men in Southend? No bars? No gays?

[Trevor Marriott]

[QUOTE=Herlock Sholmes;n787811]

You cannot know that. Your simply making an assumption.

Well it had to be one or the other, either he made it up, or the information he was given was unreliable and unconfirmed.

Dont forget he was in a tight spot the sun newspaper released the article on Cutbush he was clearly asked to pen a report to water down the sun report

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Ms Diddles]

Thanks Ms D.

Where there no men in Southend? No bars? No gays?

One would assume that there were.

My knowledge of Southern England is shockingly bad, but I always associate Southend on Sea (perhaps erroneously) with elderly retirees.

Maybe he was after a younger demographic?

[MrBarnett]

Hi Simon.

Thanks for the humorous response, but you didn't actually address the question I asked.

I never said anything about Druitt having been in Buck's Row. That is the scenario that you & Ally find so utterly ridiculous.

Being a humble chap, I'm lowering the stakes considerably. I'm just wondering if would require an equally "insane trip" for Druitt to have gone back to London to merely visit King's Bench Walk or take part in a meeting in Peckham on August 31st.

Being more of a baseball fan than a cricket enthusiast, I can appreciate that it is not always to one's benefit to waste one's three strikes by trying to hit the homerun ball.

Sometimes a more statistically plausible blooper past the infield is sufficient.

I also think that Ally might be misstating the actual scenario that we are up against. I made this same observation to others on Howard's site, but evidently to no avail.



Ally can correct me if I'm wrong, but she seems to be suggesting with the phrase 'that he'd already traveled to' that Druitt had traveled from London to play cricket in Blanford Forum.

The evidence suggests otherwise.

Druitt had played in Salisbury a few days before Blandford Forum match. Before that he had played games in Bournemouth (twice).

A close study of his life in the 1880s strongly suggests that Druitt spent his August holiday down in Dorset, probably stationed in Wimborne.

I will be accused of nitpicking, but the true scenario is not of a man yo-yoing back and forth from London in a ridiculous manner.

The true scenario is a man down in provincial Dorset for several weeks, who goes up to London on an overnighter, London being the city he has been living in for 8 years and would involve most of his business and social contacts.

Looking at it in this light, a sudden return to London might strike many as still being unlikely, but is far less ridiculous than the scenario of a man yo-yoing back and forth and wasting his time and money on train fares.

All the best.

Hands up those who think it improbable or absurd that a professional man, a barrister with chambers in the Temple, might have had a reason to interrupt his summer hols in Dorset and pop back to London for a day.

No takers, I imagine.

Hands up those who think it ditto that such a man, if he’d been a twisted serial killer, thus removed from his family and social connections in a Dorset, might walk the short distance from his chambers to the anonymity of the East End to look for his particular taste in victims - a type that could be more likely found there than anywhere else on the planet.

[MrBarnett]

Thanks for that, Simon.

Does that mean Druitt had no professional commitments or demands between 12th August and October 23rd?

Why might he have interrupted his Dorset break to play in the Blackheath Match on 8th Sept?

Perhaps it was something he wanted to do and the logistical effort of getting there didn’t bother him.

[rjpalmer]

Why might he have interrupted his Dorset break to play in the Blackheath Match on 8th Sept?

You don't think he returned to Blackheath in preparation for the school year?

[MrBarnett]

You don't think he returned to Blackheath in preparation for the school year?

Possibly. But he wasn’t preparing while he was playing cricket. Perhaps he could have finished his weekend in Dorset before returning to Blackheath.

[Herlock Sholmes]

[QUOTE=Trevor Marriott;n787817]

Well it had to be one or the other, either he made it up, or the information he was given was unreliable and unconfirmed.

Dont forget he was in a tight spot the sun newspaper released the article on Cutbush he was clearly asked to pen a report to water down the sun report

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

This is a perfect example of your blind spot on this matter. I’d suggest that these are the possibilities. There may be ones that I’ve missed of course.

1. That Macnaghten made the whole thing up. (Not impossible but a ludicrous suggestion imo)
2. That someone gave him deliberately false information. (Not impossible but it’s hardly a subject for practice jokes is it and I can’t see how the family would involve themselves in this in any way so this option seems unlikely imo)
3. That someone unintentionally gave him false information by perhaps misinterpreting something he’d seen or heard for example. (Possible)
4. That someone gave him information but Macnaghten overestimated the significance of the evidence or that he misinterpreted it. (Possible)
5. That the information was genuine and Macnaghten judged it correctly and Druitt was the ripper. (Possible)

As we don’t know the content of that information how can we properly assess its content? We can neither confirm or reject is value. So why are you so keen to claim to know the impossible Trevor? Why are you sooo confident of something even though we have nothing to go on? I approach things fairly. I presented 5 options and give my opinion as - 1 x extremely unlikely, 1 x unlikely and 3 possibles. You claim to know as a fact.

I doubt that a sensible explanation will follow but I live in hope.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock,

I don't know anything about Feigenbaum, but in all the other instances I'd say Trevor was right.

Good luck getting Druitt to Bucks Row.

Regards,

Simon

There’s absolutely no issue in getting there. There’s not a single obstacle. The argument is done and dusted.

[MrBarnett]

If people really want to do something, a relatively short train journey won’t deter them.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I’ve made day trips from the eastern outskirts of London to Cumbria to walk on my favourite hills.

Weren’t there any closer hills to Essex than the Howgill Fells? There were, thousands. But at that time only the Howgills would do.

[Herlock Sholmes]

You don't think he returned to Blackheath in preparation for the school year?

Roger, how do we know that Druitt wasn’t back in London permanently by the time of the game on the 8th?

[Herlock Sholmes]

If people really want to do something, a relatively short train journey won’t deter them.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I’ve made day trips from the eastern outskirts of London to Cumbria to walk on my favourite hills.

Weren’t there any closer hills to Essex than the Howgill Fells? There were, thousands. But at that time only the Howgills would do.

You’d think that Nichols had been killed on a farm in Inverness