Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The singularly strange Death of Rose Mylett

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The singularly strange Death of Rose Mylett

    I am opening this thread at this juncture because I have twice today written on the subject of Rose Mylett on other threads but where,for me to develop my arguement any further it would be inappropriate.

    I was initially intrigued that Robert Anderson had brought in Dr Bond to write a report on the surgical skill, or otherwise, possessed by the Whitechapel Murderer.This was done immediately after the murder of Mary Kelly and the report was written on 10th November 1888 and contained the view that,at that time,five women victims could safely be attributed to the Whitechapel Murderer[Nichols,Chapman,Stride Eddowes and Kelly].
    This report,of November 10th also included a "profile" of the killer.
    Now Dr Bond admitted himself that he could not give a very close approximation of a time of death because he had not seen four of the five victims he believed were the Ripper"s work.But he was able to say,without having seen these corpses that none bore any sign of having been committed by a doctor,a student doctor ,a butcher -even a horse slaughtereretc.
    Now this would in my opinion be fine were it not for the fact that he contradicted Dr Phillips,the Divisional Surgeon on this matter and indeed his words contradict those of the City Police Surgeon Dr Brown also.
    That there were other doctors present who were not so sure is not the issue I want to address at this moment,simply that he disagreed with two at least of those doctors who had actually seen the corpses for themselves.



    Returning to the case of Rose Mylett.This was a woman who had been found dead in the Poplar region of the East End in late December 1888,No-one had heard a sound,there were no signs of a struggle and crucially the police were not certain of how she had died.But she had been seen struggling with two men dressed as sailors in the early hours.The Divisional surgeon was called in but it was his assistant who saw the body and said he could see no signs of violence-so the police were not advised,at that stage, that it was wilful murder-quite the contrary.However When it was insisted upon by the Secretary of State, that the opinion of the Divisional surgeon ,Dr Brownfield was to be sought ,Brownfield examined the body FOR HIMSELF and categorically stated at the Inquest that she had been strangled---note-Evelyn Rugles Brice,secretary to the Home Secretary , had contacted James Monro and specifically asked him for an "expert doctors opinion" because hints of strangulation existed and Matthews had been concerned to know whether this might be the case.

    There then followed a series of visits by doctors beginning with Dr Alexander MacKellar,the Police Surgeon in Chief,who had agreed to look into the case in the absence of Mr Anderson"s Dr Bond who had already done some work for him was Anderson"s Surgeon of choice [Monro had assigned the case to Robert Anderson].Dr MacKellar however was in no doubt she had been strangled.At roughly the same time Dr Hibbert,having opened the letter from Robert Anderson to the absent Dr Bond went ,in lieu of Dr Bond to examine the corpse and like the Chief Surgeon he stated death was due to strangulation.
    In fairness to these doctors,and the confusion that surrounded the case, the recent case of the Suffolk murders presented similar difficulty establishing the cause of death which ,in two cases was strangulation/suffocation was believed to have been due to pressure on the carotid artery.
    Further medical evidence from Doctors Harris and Brownfield also claimed Rose Mylett had been strangled.
    On 24th December 1888 Dr Bond and Dr Hibbert both agreed with Dr Bownfield in the presence of Robert Anderson that Rose Mylett had been strangled.

    However,Robert Anderson reports to James Monro on 11 January 1889,

    "After a long conference,in which I pressed my difficulties and objections I referred them to you .But that same afternoon,Dr Bond went again to Poplar
    to m ake a more careful examination of the woman"s neck and returned t0o tell me he had entirely altered his view of the case." He concluded that death was due to strangulation by accident by the woman herself.There were more visits by Anderson and all the doctors involved.All thereafter stuck to their opinions.Only Dr Bond and Robert Anderson were of a different view.

    Now I will finish there for the moment but I will return later to the row that erupted over Dr Brownfield initially not conveying his findings to the police , ,the verdict of the jury at the inquest etc.etc But this case is of crucial importance in my view.As readers of my posts will know I do believe Dr Phillips was a competent and good enough doctor in these matters and it is reported that in his view,the killer of Rose Mylett,like the Ripper,knew the Theory of Strangulation ie knew how to subdue his victims by pressure on an artery.
    Natalie
    Last edited by Natalie Severn; 04-02-2008, 07:29 PM.

  • #2
    Hi Natalie

    Just a couple of points, if I may.

    I think Rose was seen at around 20.00 with the two sailors, a number of hours before she was found.

    I was under the impression that Brownfield had initially spoken to a Star reporter regarding his thoughts, and the pressman had taken it a stage further by associating her murder with the Whitchapel killer. Monro then insisted that his boys inspected the body.

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Jon,
      Well its possible Brownfield said that -to the papers-he was in a bit of trouble for not relaying his findings to the police in the first instance but gave cause of death to the Inquest as murder.However it went to a very high level indeed, very early on, and it was the Secretary of State,Home Secretary Matthews who instructed Rugles Brice to contact Monro to get medical opinion to determine cause of death.Monro handed the case to Anderson and Anderson wrote to Dr Bond,who at first wasnt available.
      Brownfield"s assistant had done gone to the scene initially,not Brownfield which had caused a problem because the assistant doctor had just assumed it was some kindd of accident and relayed that to the police.

      Comment


      • #4
        'I think the murderer must have stood behind the woman on the left side, and having the ends of the string round his hands, thrown the cord round her throat, and crossing his hands, so strangled her. Where the hands crossed would be just where the the marks of the cord are absent. The cords being tight would prevent the woman from calling out for help. I think it quite possible that the cord would be run through two holes or rings, and then twisted by a turn of the wrist till death ensued.'
        Mr. Brownfield, Divisional Surgeon.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Cap'n Jack View Post
          'I think the murderer must have stood behind the woman on the left side, and having the ends of the string round his hands, thrown the cord round her throat, and crossing his hands, so strangled her. Where the hands crossed would be just where the the marks of the cord are absent. The cords being tight would prevent the woman from calling out for help. I think it quite possible that the cord would be run through two holes or rings, and then twisted by a turn of the wrist till death ensued.'
          Mr. Brownfield, Divisional Surgeon.
          Thanks for that Cap"n Jack.I looked for such a statement as that but was unable to find it.It may be there but difficult to find.
          Best
          Natalie

          Comment


          • #6
            Hello Natalie

            You were quite correct,of course, Alice Graves saw Rose with two men in Whitechapel, an hour or so before she was found dead in Poplar, about two miles away.

            I did note that Rose had money on her when she was found, which may rule out robbery as a motive, but there doesn`t appear to be the evidence of scavenging through possessions, as seen with Chapman and Eddowes.

            Comment


            • #7
              what i find strange is that no alchol was found in her system.

              so was she with 2 teatotal sailors.

              that does not really add up.

              Comment


              • #8
                Nurse Creed

                Hello All. I found this snippet in "Lloyd's Weekly" for December 23, 1888. Nurse Creed's manner of death looks vaguely similar to Mylett's.

                How does one commit suicide like this? Seems impossible on the face of it.

                Cheers.
                LC
                Attached Files

                Comment


                • #9
                  Hello Lynn.
                  If she poured some ether in the bag before wrapping it tight, she would pass out before the self preservation instinct had her ripping at the bag, but allow her to complete the act.
                  I confess that altruistic and cynically selfish talk seem to me about equally unreal. With all humility, I think 'whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,' infinitely more important than the vain attempt to love one's neighbour as one's self. If you want to hit a bird on the wing you must have all your will in focus, you must not be thinking about yourself, and equally, you must not be thinking about your neighbour; you must be living with your eye on that bird. Every achievement is a bird on the wing.
                  Oliver Wendell Holmes

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    ethereal

                    Hello Viper. That could happen. Thanks.

                    Do you happen to know how long the ether traces would remain? Since it wasn't mentioned I'm not sure it was present.

                    Whole self strangulation story sounds odd.

                    Cheers.
                    LC

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      No idea, back then it may have been assumed to have been a method since she was a nurse. That whole suicide idea has always seemed odd to me since I would imagine that with my luck it would not work, and then would be worse than before the attempt.
                      I confess that altruistic and cynically selfish talk seem to me about equally unreal. With all humility, I think 'whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,' infinitely more important than the vain attempt to love one's neighbour as one's self. If you want to hit a bird on the wing you must have all your will in focus, you must not be thinking about yourself, and equally, you must not be thinking about your neighbour; you must be living with your eye on that bird. Every achievement is a bird on the wing.
                      Oliver Wendell Holmes

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        access

                        Hello Viper. That's right. A nurse might have had access to such chemicals.

                        Cheers.
                        LC

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by lynn cates View Post
                          Hello All. I found this snippet in "Lloyd's Weekly" for December 23, 1888. Nurse Creed's manner of death looks vaguely similar to Mylett's.
                          How does one commit suicide like this? Seems impossible on the face of it.
                          Cheers.
                          LC
                          But in Creed's case the tape was still in place around her neck. Not really a parallel to Mylett's case.

                          Although the issue of the mark around her neck seems formost, we should not forget Dr. Brownfield also observed;
                          "The left side of the heart was full of fluid black blood........and the lungs were gorged with the same fluid black blood, meaning that for the space of several respirations she had not breathed before the heart ceased to pulsate".

                          According to Dr Phillips, this was also the case with the Chapman murder.
                          Regards, Jon S.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Some opinions on death by strangulation which may pertain to the Mylett case.

                            Quote:
                            EDWARD COLLETT SHOPPEE . I am a M.R.C.S., and a registered medical practitioner, living at 233, Kentish Town Road.....
                            "....The distortion of the features depends a good deal on the amount of time during which the constriction is kept up; if quickly removed, in cases of hanging, even in judicial executions, there would be very little distortion—I have said that in this case it would not take more than a minute and a half to effect strangulation; if after that time the ligature was removed I should expect to find very little distortion—the degree of distortion would depend partly on the violence used and partly on the time during which the process lasted—it would require extraordinary resolution for a person to keep up the pressure for a minute and a half on their own person, they would become insensible; if they became insensible and the hands relaxed, the cords would at once become loose, therefore it would be morally impossible that any person could strangle themselves and produce the mark on themselves otherwise than by hanging."


                            This whole record makes interesting reading, if for nothing else but the medical opinions.
                            Regards, Jon S.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by lynn cates View Post
                              Hello Viper. That could happen. Thanks.

                              Do you happen to know how long the ether traces would remain? Since it wasn't mentioned I'm not sure it was present.

                              Whole self strangulation story sounds odd.

                              Cheers.
                              LC
                              I let my sister chloroform me once as research for her novel. People could smell it for hours afterwards, like, 10 hours afterwards.
                              The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X