WS Magazine Dec 2009

[coral]

Thanks Tom & Nats

please give me inspiration to write another article. I did start to do research on a 'walk down Whitechapel High Street' but the road is too bloody long

Coral

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Coral,
A walk down Leman Street , Houndsditch or Minories -any of these would be fascinating.
Best
Norma

[Tom_Wescott]

The Strand? Baker Street? Or maybe the homes and streets of of well known Ripper personages?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[coral]

Blimey Gov - you 2 dont waste time!

Although the Strand & Baker Street have thrown me a bit -neither are in the East End

Coral

[Tom_Wescott]

Beyond the Pale

Adrian wanted me to post a long discursive deconstruction of Bill Beadle's Stride essays, but I have no such inclination. However, having discovered - to my horror - that these strange works are posted here on the Casebook for all to read, I thought I'd post one small portion that is a personal favorite of mine. It is from 'Reinvestigating Murder - How Was Liz Murdered?' or something to that effect. After arguing that Liz Stride died of a heart attack(!!!) Beadle gives us his 'proof':

'A labourer named Best, who claimed to have seen Liz in a pub a couple of hours prior to her death, provides us with what would seem to be the clincher. Best was taken to the mortuary to see if he could identify the remains. Afterwards he told the Evening News that he was almost certain it was the same woman, adding:

"The face looks the same but a little paler".

Best was not the only one to remark that the corpse had a pale face. Both Inspector Reid and an Evening News reporter who saw the body in the mortuary confirm it.'

Naturally, when I first read this essay I was waiting for the punchline. Surely it was a joke? No, Beadle means it. How this is proof that Stride had a heart attack is beyond me, as is why Beadle would think Dr. Phillips and co. so incompetent that they couldn't see telltale signs of a cardiac arrest.

I would think it might occur to anyone that once a woman has been murdered and bled out, she's not quite as rosy pink as she was before. Best most likely meant the comment as a throwaway, or to signify that the woman he saw in the pub was more tanned than the corpse appeared to be. After all, what Beadle does not tell us is that Best was only 'almost certain' Stride was the woman he saw, and even remarked the bridge of the nose appeared different.

Anyway, I hope I've fulfilled Adrian's request to his satisfaction.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Jeff Leahy]

We proof read as best we can. Any errors left in are an error and not deliberate despite some comments.

Any complains can be addressed to the editor, hopefully, in person!

Editor.

Dont worry Adrian. I had to reburn a whole set of DVD's because I spelled Dorset Street incorrectly. Much to Aliffe's amusement.

See you on the 6th

Jeff