Deconstructing Jack by Simon Wood

[David Orsam]

The engraving/photograph tells a lot.

Like what?

If Pigott placed a revolver in his mouth and shot himself, the exit wound would be at the back of the head wouldn't it?

Can you see the back of Pigott's head in the engraving/drawing? I can't.

[Simon Wood]

Hi David,

Here's another picture from Madrid, taken/drawn/engraved before Richard Pigott was draped in a scapula.



A very neat and tidy suicide.

Regards,

Simon

[David Orsam]

Simon, it's a drawing. It's in black and white. It doesn't show the back of his head!

For those three reasons alone, it's utterly useless in establishing what happened to Pigott.

On the other hand, there was a Spanish judicial inquiry....

[David Orsam]

Not to mention a post-mortem examination in Madrid:

"The doctors say the bullet penetrated the roof of the mouth, and, destroying the base of the skull, penetrated the lower part of the brain, injuring one lobe. It then emerged, causing terrible fractures of the skull." (Leicester Daily Mercury, 9 March 1889)

[Simon Wood]

Hi David,

Take your pick.

"The bullet penetrated his skull, a portion of which was shattered, the head presenting a terrible spectacle."

"I have myself seen the corpse," a correspondent telegraphed at ten o'clock on Saturday night, "and, although the face is horribly disfigured, it is undoubtedly that of the notorious forger."

"The Standard says it is able to confirm the statement that the suicide was Pigott. When arrested he took the situation calmly and threw the officers off the scent. With the excuse that he wished to get his overcoat, he retired to an alcove and there shot himself in the mouth with a revolver. He died instantly. His head was horribly disfigured."

An official statement reports that, "Pigott died instantaneously without a groan or a convulsion. After death the body looked like that of a strong, healthy man, sixty years old, rather stout, of florid complexion, very long and almost white beard, with hair rather darker, and very bald on the top of the head."

Regards,

Simon

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Richard Pigott in Madrid had something in common with Mary Jane Kelly in Spitalfields.

They both "died" in Room 13.

Regards,

Simon

[David Orsam]

Take your pick.

It's not a question of "Take your pick" Simon. Pigott shot himself with a revolver in a hotel room as he was about to be arrested by a Spanish police officer, accompanied by an interpreter. A judicial inquiry in Spain and post-mortem examination were conducted. The basic facts are very clear and are not changed by a couple of drawings.

What is also clear is that you have neither evidence nor reason to challenge those basic facts. There was nothing "alleged" about the suicide (and "alleged" is quite the wrong word anyway, presumably you meant "supposed" or "purported").

[Simon Wood]

An Explanation of Piggot's Pictures

Hi David,

The circumstances of Pigott's "suicide" are far from clear. I have around six different takes on the incident.

However, that aside, it seems they had some odd habits in Madrid 1889.



Regards,

Simon

[David Orsam]

Hi David,

The circumstances of Pigott's "suicide" are far from clear. I have around six different takes on the incident.

However, that aside, it seems they had some odd habits in Madrid 1889.

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Simon,

You've headed your post "An Explanation of Pigott's Pictures" as if there was something that needed explaining.

I already said that a bullet in the mouth will exit at the back of the skull, so nothing was ever going to be seen of an exit wound in any picture or photograph which only shows the front of Pigott's face. I also made the point that they were drawings (not photographs) and black and white so you were never likely to get any useful detail out of them.

There is absolutely no doubt about what happened in Madrid. Pigott shot himself in the head at the moment he was about to be arrested by a Spanish police officer, accompanied by an interpreter, in order to avoid being extradited back to England to face a charge of perjury. He committed suicide. It's an historical fact.

Do you have any other points to make in defence of the central thesis of your book? If so, I hope they are better than that one.

[Simon Wood]

Hi David,

Did you read the accompanying news cutting, or were you too busy trying to sound clever?

Regards,

Simon

[David Orsam]

Hi David,

Did you read the accompanying news cutting, or were you too busy trying to sound clever?

Yes of course I read it.

"There was a scar at the back of his bald head, showing where the bullet had passed."

It's exactly what I said would have happened. We didn't need the news cutting to tell us this because I already posted the result of the post-mortem.

What do you think the news cutting has added?

[Pcdunn]

I find the news clipping's words "fixed to the back of the chair by a piece of cord round the body" interesting, when we look at one of the afore-mentioned engravings, which does show a cord round the body.

Maybe now we know how the illustrator saw the body? (After death, and not at the scene of the death/crime.)

[David Orsam]

I find the news clipping's words "fixed to the back of the chair by a piece of cord round the body" interesting, when we look at one of the afore-mentioned engravings, which does show a cord round the body.

Maybe now we know how the illustrator saw the body? (After death, and not at the scene of the death/crime.)

Simon has said the engraving was made from a photograph (although he never provided any evidence for this).

[Simon Wood]

Hi PC Dunn,



Regards,

Simon

[jerryd]

"The Standard says it is able to confirm the statement that the suicide was Pigott. When arrested he took the situation calmly and threw the officers off the scent. With the excuse that he wished to get his overcoat, he retired to an alcove and there shot himself in the mouth with a revolver. He died instantly. His head was horribly disfigured."

Am I missing something here? How did he retire to an alcove to fetch his overcoat while strapped to a chair? He was found dead roped to the chair, was he not?