Pall Mall Gazette sketch

[Chris Scott]

I hadn't seen the sketch before which Im posting below
This is from the Pall Mall Gazette of 10 September 1888
Interesting to compare this with the sketch at

http://photos.casebook.org/displayimage.php?album=3&pos=3

[John Bennett]

The intereting thing about this ketch as opposed to the one on the archive, is that it shows the fence as being 'solid', ie no gaps between posts. Which would be the logical representation, otherwise Cadosch would have been able to see what was going on over the other side!

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Chris,

I have seen this sketch before - I believe it's been flagged up in the past that those blotches on the fence (and the irregular dark patch on the ground between it and the step) could well represent Annie's blood. Makes sense to me.

[George Hutchinson]

^ That's what I thought the moment I saw it. This could be artistic licence, or it could be a genuine glimpse into how much blood was visible at the scene and the direction of blood flow.

I'm no pathologist but if blood doesn't shoot out of the body cavity after the throat is cut, this gives us several options : 1) She wasn't actually dead when the mutilations began in spite of a cut throat, 2) Her throat was cut on the way down, 3) Her throat was cut whilst she was on the ground.

This seems to link in with Tom Wescott's theory about how they were killed and could also explain the sequence of sounds heard by Cadosch. All theorising, of course.

PHILIP

[perrymason]

Hi all,

This may seem redundant since both sketches show it intact, but I thought the structure over the stairs was disassembled at the time. No?

Best regards.

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Michael

With this dating from the time I guess it can't have been the case. However, it's certainly possible that by the time of the 1903 Harold Furniss illustration (the more famous one) it had gone, but then it is looking more and more likely that Furniss based his illustrations on previous newspaper reports and not from recent on-site sketches.

PHILIP

[Stewart P Evans]

Interesting

It is interesting that the blood is shown in this sketch as it is possible to compare it with another sketch that shows the blood spray.

[Stewart P Evans]

The Million

The sketch of the fence from The Million -

[Robert]

Stewart, to my untutored eye it's as though her head was sinking backward and downward while the blood spurted.

[perrymason]

Thanks for the response George. Perhaps Im think of a photograph of that same angle...maybe at a later period. Ill see if I can find what Im recalling.

I find it interesting that the further away from the ground, the larger the size of that blood staining, and in both sketches, the "spray" looks reminiscent of a plant.

Cheers all.

[Jon Guy]

Hello

This is how Dr Phillips described the blood on the fence :

"On the back wall of the house, between the steps and the palings, on the left side, about 18in from the ground, there were about six patches of blood, varying in size from a sixpenny piece to a small point, and on the wooden fence there were smears of blood, corresponding to where the head of the deceased laid, and immediately above the part where the blood had mainly flowed from the neck, which was well clotted."

It is a very similar picture to the Kelly crime scene, arterial spray on the wall and head turned away facing the other side.

[John Bennett]

The image that Stewart posted has a sense of reality to it because of the artist's comments.

He seems to have observed the area and the stains quite closely (closely enough to wax almost lyrical about their appearance) and the drawing suggests blood hitting the fence as the head was being lowered (basically echoing Robert's comment earlier).

Shall I just venture then that the smears (which gave it the feather-like appearance) indicate that Chapman's head may have been touching the fence as it was lowered - and that maybe that is what Albert Cadosch heard when he went into the yard of No.27?

Just a wee thought.

[Jon Guy]

Hello John

I would say the artists were in the back yard of No. 31 looking over the fence.

My take on the feathered arterial spray is that Chapman was on her back, and after the first incision he rolled her so that the spray went down the fence and then pooled by the neck as the pressure decreased.

The bump on the fence may have been Chapman kicking out as she is initially assaulted,or as you say, it may have been her or the killer as she is lowered to the ground.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Stewart,

Thank you for the illustration from "The Million".

The journalist involved obviously had a classical bent.

Have you any ideas on the "queer little meeting-house"?

Could it have something to do with Mrs Richardson's [possibly Millenarist] religious meetings?

Regards,

Simon

[perrymason]

Hi again,

If that is spray that happened while the victim was standing, or slumping against the fence while slipping to the ground, then it is not a crime scene like Mary Kelly's attack nor Kate's, for in both those cases it is most probable that the victims were lying on their backs, Mary perhaps on her side, when the throat was cut, as it is with Polly. If thats what happened with Annie, then you have no explanation for why she didnt cry out, because the killer didnt strangle or cut off her air until she could be lain down flat for the throat cut first, and you have to explain why the blood appears to be in larger spots higher up, and smaller spots lower...indicating a spray that was initially forceful and fast, to a more spurt and leaking kind of bleeding.

If this was a Ripper murder, and he is at all repetitive in his attack methods,....which I would guesstimate he is to some degree since there seems to be a repetitive pattern of 1., Attack and cut off air, 2. Lower to the ground, unconscious or semi-conscious, and 3., When the victim is on her back, on the ground, slit the throat...then for this murder you likely have the bump being the "air" being cut off as she is pressed into the fence by the motion, and the cut being made when she is down.

Best regards all.