Ripperologist 133: August 2013

[Robert]

OK, I'm going to ask any ladies reading this for some tips on female psychology.

Imagine you are a desperately poor woman in 1888. You maybe only own one dress, you almost certainly don't own more than two. The Reynolds News sketch seems to show a dress on the chair (and a pair of boots on the floor).

Question : at some point in the night you go out, and then you either return to your room to find a murder victim on your bed, or else, if you have been out all night, you hear about it next day. Either way, I ask : what woman does not reclaim her dress and boots?

Of course, the dress and boots might belong to the non-Kelly victim, though it seems reasonable to think that Barnett would have identified the dress. He must have seen her in it often enough.

[Cogidubnus]

Hi Dale

No John, it isn't sediment. There isn't even a picture of Mary to see how she looked, which is what usually sways sentimental feelings.

Sure it isn't the allure of the girl with the sandy hair and gravelly voice?

All the best

Dave

[Jonathan H]

And why wouldn't a living Mary Kelly capitalize on being alive by getting some kind of financial relief from a tabloid?

Was she in the crowd, disguised, at her massively attended funeral?

I too feel the powerful tug of sentiment: I wish it would turn out she had escaped and begun a new life in Wyoming.

Sadly, I just do not see any evidence for this. Plus there's pesky common sense to contend with too.

I found Simon Wood's essays to be very interesting, well-written and thought-provoking.

It did not convince me, but I could feel the hairs standing on the back of my neck as I read both parts.

For myself, I think that Montie Druitt, as a high functioning sexual maniac (official file, 1894--memoirs, 1914) got the idea for the mutilation murders from the first two, Smith and Tabram, who were not killed by a lone maniac. Druitt saw what sympathetic press these atrocities gained for the poor and decided to maintain this momentum (by escalating the horror, eg. removing their wombs and placing innards where they could be seen).

Think that's far-fetched?

Consider the coincidence that a lone maniac, who likes to rip up East End harlots, began his series of killings just after a Rip Gang and some vicious soldiers had already committed two murders in a remarkably similar way.

Coincidences do happen as even a die-hard 'Diary' advocate agreed, or ... didn't ...?

[Wickerman]

Hi Dale



Sure it isn't the allure of the girl with the sandy hair and gravelly voice?

All the best

Dave

C'mon Dave, lets not muddy the waters..

[Robert]

Of course, if Kelly survived, it means that some other poor woman was murdered in her place - a woman about whom nothing whatsoever has been remembered, because nothing is known.

[Wickerman]

Of course, the dress and boots might belong to the non-Kelly victim,

Hi Robert.
Yes perhaps that likelyhood negates the question, afterall what woman would leave the house without her dress & boots?

though it seems reasonable to think that Barnett would have identified the dress. He must have seen her in it often enough.

Rightly so.

The alternate victim scenario is not a sound proposition.

[Robert]

Hi Jon

I was just allowing for the remote possibility that Kelly went out in her dress and boots, and that some other woman was then murdered in Kelly's bed, after taking off her dress and boots. But as you say, it's pretty clear that Kelly was the victim.

[lynn cates]

When non-Kelly is Kelly.

Hello Robert.

". . . a woman about whom nothing whatsoever has been remembered, because nothing is known."

But that describes "Kelly." (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[robhouse]

Hi Rob,

I have a sneaky feeling you're going to hate the next installment.

Regards,

Simon

I think I agree with you for once. But is there a next installment? I thought this was only a 2 part thing? There is more?

RH

[Wickerman]

Hi Robert.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was your proposition. Though I did understand you were only pursuing a train of thought.

I was generalizing that this idea pops up now and then.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Rob,

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

Regards,

Simon

[Wickerman]

Hello Robert.

". . . a woman about whom nothing whatsoever has been remembered, because nothing is known."

But that describes "Kelly." (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

Maybe it is worth remembering that the life of Alice McKenzie is equally unknown.

[robhouse]

Hi Rob,

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

Regards,

Simon

This is what people say usually right before they end up losing.

RH

[Simon Wood]

Hi Rob,

"It is basically a fantasy, a fabrication . . . you have taken a few scattered facts and invented a theory that is quite fantastic and unbelievable."

I eagerly await your expert analysis.

Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

maybe

Hello Jon. Thanks.

"Maybe it is worth remembering that the life of Alice McKenzie is equally unknown."

Well it might be--at some point.

Cheers.
LC