|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| Author |
Message |
    
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 1757
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 1:36 pm: | 
|
For anyone who is interested I would suggest that they read the lengthy account of ‘The Cannon Street Murder’ which took place in 1866, available in ‘The Times’, firstly as ‘Two Murders in London’ on April 13th & 14th, and then as ‘Murder in Cannon Street’ starting from April 16th and continuing for some considerable time from that date.
I realise that this murder predates the Ripper crimes by some twenty years but it does offer some extraordinary insights into how the police of the LVP approached the subject of the sudden and brutal murder of a woman with no apparent motive for that crime.
As this case pans out in court it rapidly transpires that the young man the police have arrested for the terrible crime is actually innocent of it and able to prove his alibi, but the court at the suggestion of the police do not allow this to happen, and the young man’s solicitor is actually ordered out of court and threatened with arrest should he continue to attempt to introduce witnesses into the court who can vouch for the man’s innocence… eleven in number who were all drinking and playing cards with the young man in Eton on the night in question.
Meanwhile the police prepare an elaborate - but nonetheless farcical - case against the young man where obviously demented or drunkard witnesses are hauled into court to claim that they had seen the young man on the steps of the house where the woman was murdered on the very night in question, whilst at the same time the police produce a meticulous account of how the young man could have used the ‘modern’ railway system to have carried out the crime in central London and then returned to Eton.
The young man is about to be condemned to death when the jury more or less rebel against the court - with the court threatening one and all with prison - and eventually the eleven witnesses for the defence are allowed to give their evidence, despite the strenuous objections of police and prosecution counsel.
Within minutes, and after an impassioned speech from defence, the young man is fully acquitted and discharged.
Although the court attempts to justify its curious course in not allowing witnesses for the defence to be called, it is obvious that the police were pulling the strings in this case, and it is the police who in fact set this young man up and then corruptly influenced various figures under their direct control to give false testimony in court. The degree of this wholesale corruption is breathtaking, one female witness is so barmy that the entire court is in stitches when she is sarcastically questioned by defence counsel, eventually admitting to a whole string of criminal prosecutions.
The list of corrupted witnesses goes on and on, and it does appear as if the cells of all the local nicks were cleared of drunks to give evidence against the young man.
It is a salutary lesson of police and court procedure which I think can be successfully applied to many of the court hearings during the Ripper crimes.
Also of great interest was the amount of time and trouble the police went to in an attempt to prove that a murderer could use the ‘modern’ railway to travel into central London, commit a terrible murder there, and then be at home in the country in time for a pint of beer and a game of cards. Although the rest of their case was badly flawed and corrupt, the police attempt to prove this possibility was commendable, and again could be used in direct application to the crimes of the Ripper.
Of equal interest is the method and unknown motive of the murderer, for here was the brutal murder of a woman in a very public place, dispatched in a few moments of time, with a clear disabling major penetrating wound to ensure that the victim could neither cry out or struggle, and then once dispatched the killer enjoyed himself by inflicting various incidental and idle wounds to the dead woman.
The killer was never found.
He came and went, and nobody was witness to that, although they should have been.
My own interest in this case is in an entirely different direction, however I do think it rewards study when applied to the crimes of Jack the Ripper. |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 576
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 5:22 pm: |
|
Hi A.P.,
I have commented on the Board elsewhere about several murder mysteries that the Police bungled in the years up to 1888. Cannon Street would be one of them (but not the first). I started collecting articles from The Times on the case a year or two back, but put them aside. A brief account of the case is found in Charles Kingston's book FAMOUS JUDGES AND FAMOUS TRIALS (London: Stanley Paul & Co., Ltd., n.d.) on pages 242 - 244. It is in the chapter (or essay) on Mr. Justice Bramwell, who handled the trial of William Smith (the defendant who was acquitted).
Jeff |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 1760
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 5:47 pm: |
|
Thanks Jeff,
I knew I had seen the Cannon Street Murder somewhere on the site, but a search failed to reveal where.
It is my understanding that William Smith (the defendant) eventually received a handsome pay out for the trouble that the police had put him through.
Which, if you know the case, means he could have finally brought the second shirt that his mother so desired, so she wouldn't have to wash his only shirt every night on account of him being a lazy sod.
One sort of hopes that by 1888 the police had seen the folly of false witness and had got their act together, but somehow one doubts it.
It is my honest opinion that we do not spend enough time on the crimes that went on before Jack took to the streets. |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 578
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 6:55 pm: |
|
Hi A.P.
Actually, I think you are right. There are always unsolved murders, but the failures of the English police from 1842 to 1888 really should be studied. In particular those cases dealing with murdered prostitutes.
Jeff |
|
Use of these
message boards implies agreement and consent to our Terms of Use.
The views expressed here in no way reflect the views of the owners and
operators of Casebook: Jack the Ripper.
Our old message board content (45,000+ messages) is no longer available online, but a complete archive
is available on the Casebook At Home Edition, for 19.99 (US) plus shipping.
The "At Home" Edition works just like the real web site, but with absolutely no advertisements.
You can browse it anywhere - in the car, on the plane, on your front porch - without ever needing to hook up to
an internet connection. Click here to buy the Casebook At Home Edition.
|
|
|
|
