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Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 198
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2004 - 7:21 pm: |       |
(Quote)
The assumption that a ‘criminal class' lurked at the heart of the cities and was responsible for disorder and delinquency weighed heavily in Victorian conceptions about crime and disorder. The ‘garrotting panics' of the 1860s, or the ‘hooligan' scares, a generation later, came as a factual confirmation of what would have otherwise remained a rather vague notion. Ad hoc legislation was passed, such as the Habitual Criminals Acts of the late 1860s/early 1870s to counteract this ‘army of crime', English style. The scares, however, faded out at the moment of WWI, so that the phrase ‘criminal class' now bears an unmistakably Victorian flavour.
....It shows clearly how important violence was in the definition of criminal behaviour and of the ‘criminal class'. For instance, the 1863 Security from Violence Act, known as the ‘Garrotters' Act', was passed just months after the London Garrotting Panic of the summer of 1862: the Metropolis faced an outbreak of violent street robberies perpetrated by small bands of thieves, where one of them would creep behind an isolated passer-by, wrap an arm around his throat and choke him, while he, or his accomplice, would swiftly seize the victim's purse. [4] London experienced 97 such nasty street attacks (labelled ‘ robbery with violence' in the Metropolitan Police returns) for the whole year of 1862, compared to a little above 30 for an ‘average' year. There had been previous similar outbreaks, not only in London in 1851 and 1856, but also in Birmingham and Manchester (1851), and there was to be a fourth and final episode of garrotte attacks in Manchester and Salford in 1865.
Public opinion, as reflected in the press at least, be it the supposed to be ruling England at the moment Times, or the satirical Punch, was quick to label ticket-of-leave men, i.e. convicts liberated on parole, as the main culprits. This scare had taken place just a few years after transportation had been abolished, causing increased anxiety about the size and behaviour of a convict population now stationed in Britain. In such a context, the 1863 Garrotters' Act punished violent street robberies with prison and whipping (25 strokes of cat-o'-nine-tails for juvenile offenders, 50 strokes of birching for adults). Two further pieces of legislation were passed in the following years : the 1864 Penal Servitude Act required police supervision of ticket-of-leave men and fixed a minimum sentence of 5 years penal servitude for a first offence, 7 years for any subsequent ; the 1869 Habitual Criminals Act led to the constitution of a national register of people with a criminal record of more than one offence, and its dispositions were strengthened by those of the 1871 Prevention of Crime Act, which brought to a close a decade of intense legislative activity.
What stands out first is the increasing criminalization of violence : such acts were part and parcel of the definition of what criminal behaviour was; the Garrotters' Act did not deal with plain street robberies (‘robberies from the person'), but robberies with violence; this definition of criminals as primarily violent persons loomed large in subsequent legislation. Interpersonal violence had clearly become a social stigma, justifying more stringent measures of policing. Second, ‘habitual criminals' were perceived as a ‘class', or group, distinct from the rest of the population, with their own economy, their own language, codes of behaviour and, so to speak, their own polity; this was reflected in the writings of Henry Mayhew among others. This remained cause for concern long after the garrotting panics stopped in the late 1860s: attention focused eventually upon gangs of violent youths, be they Liverpool ‘cornermen' (mid-1870s), Manchester ‘scuttlers' (mid-1880s), or London ‘hooligans' (1898-1910): these were the late-Victorian and Edwardian embodiments of the ‘criminal class'. However, no new piece of legislation was added to the Statute Book in response to these new ‘threats', with the exception of the 1908 Prevention of Crime Act, which re-enacted and strengthened the provisions of the 1869 and 1871 Acts.
(end of Quote)
http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/actes1/chassaigne.htm#_ftnref9
If anyone has any information on the effect of the garrotting craze, or related stories, I would appreciate hearing the details.
Also, any sources which give light to this not so usual type of street violence in the 19th century.
Thanks, Jon
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Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 277
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 12:38 pm: | |
A reflection back to the 'bad-old-days' by Walter Dew, writing in 1938.
"..One of the greatest problems of the police in the bad old days were organized gangs. Lawless characters banded together, and under some fancy name went about robbing and blackmailing honest tradesmen, assaulting innocent pedestrians, garrotting and fleecing drunken sailors, and preying upon the defenceless foreign element, chiefly poor Polish Jews" p. 89
We read of many of those problems in the papers of the time but 'garrotting' does not make a significant appearance, to our eyes it remains largly unknown, yet Dew makes specific reference to it as a contemporary problem - interesting.
Regards, Jon |
Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 278
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 1:11 pm: | |
In the Star, Dec. 24, 1888, the theory was proposed that perhaps the earlier 'Ripper' victims had first been strangled by the use of a ligature (garrott), and that the killer may have hidden that detail by running the knife through the ligature mark.
"The theory is no empty speculation of sensationalism. It derives weight from the fact that it originates with Dr. Matthew Brownfield, of 171, East India Dock-road, who, as the divisional police surgeon of Poplar, made the post-mortem examination of the body found in Clarke's-yard, and who gave evidence at the inquest on Friday. Dr. Brownfield put forward the suggestion on Saturday in an interview with a Star reporter."
It was highly irregular for a Divisional Surgeon to entertain the press in such a fashion. Such revelations by professional men were sorely frowned upon, but it remains a significant observation nonetheless.
(Re: murder of Rose Myllet)
"I have no doubt at all," said Dr. Brownfield, "that death was caused by strangulation, of which the mark round the neck of the body is the evidence."
Dr. Brownfield is said to be quoted:
"If this murder was the work of the same man the question is whether strangulation is not the beginning of all his operations. Does he strangle or partially strangle them first, and then cut their throats afterwards?"
Then Dr. Brownfield went on to explain why this was likely. "If his object is mutilation," "he said, he could cut their throats so much more cleanly and deliberately. And this would explain, too, how the murderer would be able to do his work without getting covered with blood."
"But, if the other victims had been first strangled would there not be postmortem indications?" - "If he
CUT THE THROAT ALONG THE LINE
of the cord he would obliterate the traces of partial strangulation."
[edit]
Here there is everything to support Dr. Brownfield's theory. The woman's throat was cut all round in such a manner that the mark of strangulation must have been completely obliterated.
With respect to the other murders Dr. Phillips points out that the retraction of the skin following immediately upon severance of the throat would immediately destroy the marks of the cord supposing it to have been first used.
But there is also another and a most important point of resemblance which Dr. Phillips is understood to perceive. He has always maintained the opinion that the murderer was a man of considerable surgical knowledge. In this belief the Poplar case confirms him. "The murderer," he says, "must be a man who had
STUDIED THE THEORY OF STRANGULATION,
for he evidently knew where to place the cord so as to immediately bring his victim under control. It would be necessary to place the cord in the right place. It would be a very lucky stroke for a man at the first attempt to hit upon the proper place."
It should be noted that the above extracts are presented as quotes or paraphrasing of the opinions of two Divisional Surgeons, Brownfield & Phillips.
Brownfield was apparently open to questions from the press but according to some, Dr. Phillips was not so given to disclosure. All the relevent Caveats apply to this news report, but, it is interesting that this proposal was even discussed by anyone let alone printed in the press.
Regards, Jon
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Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 279
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 1:27 pm: | |
Actual ligature mark, clear and distinctive, very east to run a knife through.
If that is the reason for the 2nd cut, the question "why?" comes to mind.
Regards, Jon
(Pic. courtesy of Crime Scene, Larry Ragle, 2002.) |
Dan Norder
Inspector
Username: Dannorder
Post Number: 311
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 7:27 pm: | |
Interesting posts, Jon. You may have something here.
Dan Norder, editor, Ripper Notes |
BJMarkland
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 6:26 pm: | |
Jon, one link to garrotting I find is at www.victorianlondon.org
At the main index, select Crime, then on the following index, Violence & Assaults, then Garroting/Mugging.
You can use the word "garrotting" in the search function but it does not bring up the above. It did have an article from Thompsons Social Investigations about a Mr. Baylis who ran a cook-house. He was for seven years a policeman and served on the anti-garrotting task force. He quit the force because of ill-health. The article also states that after he opened his cook shop, he would give ticket-of-leave men one week's free lodging and attempted to find them work.
Best of wishes,
Billy |
Jon Smyth
Inspector
Username: Jon
Post Number: 281
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 1:22 pm: | |
Hi Dan, yes I think it has potential, it certainly provides a solution to the age-old problem that was expressed by so many officials in not being able to account for the lack of noise "no screams", etc.
Billy.
Thankyou for that, this perspective needs a great deal of research.
IF the secong cut was an attempt to hide the mark of the ligature/garrotte, and criminals were arrested and flogged for using it, then in this potentially slender clue there might lay a solution, somewhere in criminal court proceedings or press reports there might be a name, a hint, or something.
Best Regards, Jon |
BJMarkland
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 7:57 am: | |
Jon, some more references to the "garrotting panic."
http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/actes1/chassaigne.htm
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~city19c/viccity/laworder.html
http://www.police999.com/history/police04.html which had this interesting tidbit about the Metropolitan police force:
"At that time, the job was considered so dangerous however that part of the policeman's uniform was a leather band or 'stock', four inches high, which was worn around the neck and fastened by a brass clip, to prevent garrotting."
This book was referenced in a university course found during the search:
Jennifer Davis, "The London Garrotting Panic of 1862", in VAC Gatrell, B. Lenman, G. Parker, Crime and Law (1980)
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/tdbys10.txt
An article (is this a periodical or multivolume set?):
Sindall, R. (1987) 'The London garrotting panics of 1856 and 1862', Social History, 12 (3), pp. 351-9.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/society/crime_02.shtml
The above mentions garrotting but also has a picture entitled, "The Discovery of One of the Victims of the Whitechapel murders" that I don't recall ever seeing.
With all the above web sites, to save time, I would recommend using the Find function (ctrl+F) and enter the word "garrotting".
Best of wishes,
Billy |
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