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

[caz]

My tongue is firmly in my cheek as I type this, but I have often thought that if this was an Agatha Christie style murder-mystery the note would be a red herring.

It would have been torn from a longer letter in which Monty discusses his mother's morbid obesity and expresses concern that he too may be piling on the pounds, hence;

"Since Friday I felt I was going to be like mother, and the best thing was for me to die(t)".

Just a flight of fancy!

Ha ha, Ms D!

Reminds me of the Dad's Army episode, where Captain Mainwaring tells a joke about an Australian soldier, who is asked by a British officer: "Have you come to die?" and he replies: "No sir. I came yester-die."

Love,

Caz
X

[Herlock Sholmes]

Afternoon Herlock,

I should imagine that it was simply that "Jimmy Grant" rhymes so well with "Immi-grant''. That would argue against a real person of that name, but it's not how rhyming slang typically works either.

I can see how Jimmy Grant could then have evolved into Pommy Grant, because "Pommy-grant" sounds so similar to "pomegranate".

On balance I would doubt that it was more than a play on words and their sounds, going from "immigrant" to "Jimmigrant", and then via "Pommygrant" and "pomegranate" to just "pommie".

Love,

Caz
X

Hello Caz,

Its often weird how these phrases come about. Your version certainly makes.

[The Macdonald Triad]

I've always been suspicious of Druitts older doctor brother. He found the supposed suicide note and was of the right age and occupation to be who Macnaughten was talking about. What if Montegue caught the brother after MKs murder and the brother eliminated him? I feel it would be very easy back then to muddy the waters. Not a lot of phones around then. No faxes, no APB's, no mugbooks, no fingerprints, no DNA. But I guess it's my nature to complicate things with conspiracy theories sometimes.

[Harry D]

How come Macnaghten's "secret knowledge" trumps Anderson & Swanson's identification?

[Ms Diddles]

How come Macnaghten's "secret knowledge" trumps Anderson & Swanson's identification?

Personally I'd put them on a pretty equal footing.

On balance I doubt either reveals the answer, but I find them both quite intriguing to consider.

[Abby Normal]

Personally I'd put them on a pretty equal footing.

On balance I doubt either reveals the answer, but I find them both quite intriguing to consider.

agree. but id put Koz slightly ahead of druitt due to the possible positive ID.

[Ms Diddles]

agree. but id put Koz slightly ahead of druitt due to the possible positive ID.

I vacillate between the two of them (plus Bury).

For some reason I find Druitt the most intriguing.

Possibly not the most likely, but there's a kind of melancholy drama to his story that I find really compelling.

You're probably right though, Koz (or Bury) by a nose!

[Herlock Sholmes]

How come Macnaghten's "secret knowledge" trumps Anderson & Swanson's identification?

I wouldn’t say that it does Harry. There are unanswered question for both of them. We certainly know more about the Anderson/Swanson version than we can know about the MM. All that we have is what Macnaghten said of course which opens him up questions of honesty/accuracy/judgment etc.

Like Ms D, I personally find Druitt the most intriguing but that’s just a personal opinion of course. For me Druitt, Koz and Bury are the likeliest of the ‘named’ to have been the one. If we did a tick box exercise then I say that we would have to place Bury at the top.

[Abby Normal]

I vacillate between the two of them (plus Bury).

For some reason I find Druitt the most intriguing.

Possibly not the most likely, but there's a kind of melancholy drama to his story that I find really compelling.

You're probably right though, Koz (or Bury) by a nose!

hi diddy
i got hutch, bury, chapman, kelly, koz,lech and druitt. pretty much in that order. id add blotchy up there with hutch and the bethnal green botherer near the back if we include un named suspects. taken all together, i think theres a slightly better than 50/50 chance the ripper would be amongst this group.

[andy1867]

Going back to the actual cricket...would it not be advisable to have some form of "DRS" on the forum, you know...Is the "argument pitching in line with the stumps etc"
Anyhow
If Cricket in Dorset at that time was similar to the north of the country.
a midweek game of usually one innings would be played on the "early shop closing day"..so the Butcher Baker and candlestick maker could turn out.
In sheffield for instance The Wednesday cricket club (More infamous for the football club I sadly watch week in week out) played their games on a Wednesday afternoon
I don't know the exact time of the start, but doubt it would be much before 1:30pm..I presume this doesn't save Druitt from suspicion..as he took 6 for 3..(Maybe in a semi frenzy because he had "Other things to do"...It seems London was still makeable, especially as the game didn't last that long.
I mentioned a few years ago that I found it strange some author or other had said "Druitts game" had dropped off... 6 for 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....bloody shoddy that eh?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Some matches began as early as 12.00 or even earlier but we have absolutely no way of knowing what time this particular match began. All that we know is that the 2 innings wouldn’t have been of long duration due to the low scores. Chris Phillips compiled a list of Blandford’s matches over on JTRForums but only for a very few were start times mentioned mentioned.

https://jtrforums.com/resources/BlandfordCC.pdf

He also found that apart from the train that everyone was debating about there was also one after it which he could have caught that would have got him to London.

[andy1867]

Some matches began as early as 12.00 or even earlier but we have absolutely no way of knowing what time this particular match began. All that we know is that the 2 innings wouldn’t have been of long duration due to the low scores. Chris Phillips compiled a list of Blandford’s matches over on JTRForums but only for a very few were start times mentioned mentioned.

https://jtrforums.com/resources/BlandfordCC.pdf

He also found that apart from the train that everyone was debating about there was also one after it which he could have caught that would have got him to London.

Thanks for the reply...and the link
I notice several Thursday games state "Time not allowing the game to be played out"
it suggests to me it could be a sort of "Bad light stops play",.. which further suggests maybe it was an afternoon start, unless of course there was some sort of time limit, for a reason i can't really think of. because the same phrase pops up on weekend games

[Herlock Sholmes]

Thanks for the reply...and the link
I notice several Thursday games state "Time not allowing the game to be played out"
it suggests to me it could be a sort of "Bad light stops play",.. which further suggests maybe it was an afternoon start, unless of course there was some sort of time limit, for a reason i can't really think of. because the same phrase pops up on weekend games

Yes many of the games were shortened but it’s impossible to find out more despite research done over on JTRFORUMS. Did they start later due to rain? Did it rain during the game causing them to have to go off the pitch for a length of time? Or did it just rain in the latter part of the game causing them to give up the ghost knowing that they wouldn’t have time to get to a result before the light faded. All that we know is that the evidence points to a shortened 2 innings game rather than a 1 innings game (although 1 innings games did occur, 2 seem to be prevalent)

As it stands Druitt could have caught either train to get to London. Of course this in no way proves that he did of course. One thing that was certainly of interest, resulting from research over on JTRFORUMS, was that it turns out that Druitt had no alibi for the Tabram murder. Something that had been assumed for years based on Leighton’s book. I can’t recall who discovered this - either Roger Palmer or Gary Barnett I think.