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Diana
Inspector
Username: Diana
Post Number: 367
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 7:57 am: | 
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The unfortunate effect of Hutchinson's tale, if indeed it is only a tale is to make us ignore Blotchy Face with the beer bucket. But if you assume for the sake of argument that Hutchinson made the whole thing up, and Hutchinson wasn't JTR then Blotchy Face becomes deserving of a whole lot more attention than he has had in the past. |
Christopher T George
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 1140
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 10:09 am: |
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Hi Diana
The man with the blotchy face and the pail of ale described by Mary Ann Cox appears to fit the description of the sailor suspect John Anderson who confessed to be Jack the Ripper as he lay dying aboard the barque Annie Speer off the coast of South America in 1895. See the thread "John Anderson: Who is he?"
According to Anderson's shipmate James Brame, the suspect was about thirty eight years old, had medical knowledge (he had been US Navy hospital assistant), fair complexion, red hair, mustache, and a face pitted with smallpox scars. The description of Anderson thus appears to match Cox's ID of "blotchy face, and full carrotty mustache". In republishing Brame's narrative of Anderson from Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of October 1896 in Ripperana a few years ago, Nick Connell had noted the similarity to Cox's description.
All the best
Chris
Christopher T. George
North American Editor
Ripperologist
http://www.ripperologist.info
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Suzi Hanney
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 1538
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 2:11 pm: |
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Hi Diana and Chris
Of course under the shadow of Hutch's statement Mr Blotchy does seem to pale into some sort of obscurity! Chris, I have read the John Anderson thread and it's a very interesting thing as so many here, but I feel myself in a 'I am Jack The Ripper' prob here yet again!'
SHURELY!......... IF.. 'chummy had this blotchy face and a carrotty moustache then the witness statements may have been a tad more concordant! Somehow the face and the 'tache seem to be a bit of a giveaway...difficult to diguise all that lot I'd say!!!
Suzi |
Busy Beaver
Detective Sergeant
Username: Busy
Post Number: 67
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 3:37 pm: |
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Your right to a certain extent Suzi- it would have depended on how close the witness was to the murder scene/site/event, but red hair and a mustache would almost have certainly stood out. Anderson, if he was blotchy face, may well have been the last bloke with Mary-Jane Kelly before she died, hence his statement "I'm Jack the Ripper",of course I do not have him as a ripper suspect. In 1888 his age would tie in nicely at 31. But even if George was lying, we do have the time MJK and blotchy were seen, and it has been said on a number of MJK threads ( and I think we're all in mutual agreement here), JRT would not have hung around for her to sing and get undressed and in this scenario we're talking from approx 12.30am to about 4.00am.
Busy Beaver  |
Suzi Hanney
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 1540
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 5:07 pm: |
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OK BB
As to distance! thats what I was saying...Hutch would have certainly known or recognised Mr Blotchy the timing is interesting but I reckon Huch finally shuffled away about 3.45 at the latest
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hemustadoneit
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 5:54 pm: |
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Hi Suzi,
I didn't quite understand your first post (not your fault but mine chuck).
Were you suggesting if he was JtR then he would have stuck out like a sore thumb at the other murder scenes?
It's interesting if the statement were attributed to him, that he did say I am JtR rather than I killed MJK.
I am still not clear whether MJK was part of the series, but, if blotchy face were JtR and she was the last victim, it would have been nice if his rather startling appearance made it into other crime scene reports.
Hi Diana, any idea whether a red head was seen even vaguely elsewhere on other occasions, I can't recall any off hand? Some had hats if I remember, but a full carroty moustache is hard to hide or disguise.
How widely was the description of blotchy face reported at the time, if it was generally reported I'm sure it would have jogged some memories from other witnesses (especially when a reward became available).
Cheerio,
ian -- not keeping any eyes open at the moment
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Suzi Hanney
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 1543
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 - 5:55 pm: |
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Hi
All I was saying was that mr Blotchy would have been a tad more recognisable than your average Whitechapel cove! ... Disguise maybe???
Who knows just a thought
Suzi |
Christopher J. Morley
Police Constable
Username: Cjmorley
Post Number: 6
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2005 - 8:43 am: |
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Hello Diana, just noticed this thread regarding 'Blotchy Face'. I agree with you, he is deserving of a little more attention than he has currently so far received. Who was the man nicknamed Blotchy Face ? it is a question many have asked. The sailor, John Anderson, is one name that has been put forward over the years, as a possibility, due to his face been pitted with smallpox scars, the drawback to this however, is that there is no real evidence Anderson even existed, and his candidacy may be nothing more than a journalistic yarn. After suffering from writers block during research for my new book (shameless plug), I decided to take a step back, strip away the many myths, and take a fresh look at the version of events that 'actually' occurred on the night Kelly was murdered, and not the version of events that are perceived to have happened, in the hope of identifying Blotchy Face. Without allowing the dubious statement of Hutchinson's to overshadow events In doing so, I believe I 'may have' identified 'Blotchy Face'. |
Diana
Chief Inspector
Username: Diana
Post Number: 566
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2005 - 10:36 am: |
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I don't believe that a moustache per se would have been remarkable in 1888. There are varying shades of red hair, some more obvious than others, but the lady said carroty which makes it sound pretty noticeable. A lot of the other sightings involved hats, if not all. If you think about it, if JTR was a flaming redhead he would have worn a hat pretty consistently, because such people are noticeable and stand out. I guess we have to look at the witness sightings to check out the hat issue and then find out if hats were pretty normal in Whitechapel in 1888. For that we could look at some of the old photographs of crowd scenes posted on the site. |
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