The Real Mary Kelly (35 page)
Read The Real Mary Kelly Online
Authors: Wynne Weston-Davies
127
Inquests were expensive and the cost fell upon the ratepayers of the district in which they were held.
128
The identity of Julia Venturney is another of the uncertainties that surround the Ripper story. The
East London Advertiser
reporting the inquest
on 17th November stated that she was German, although genealogical research recently published on the
Rootschat
website seems to have established her identity beyond reasonable doubt. The confusion about her name and her nationality springs from the fact that she was born Julia Charlotte Cook in Fulham in 1841 and married an Italian by the name of Antonio Venturini. The Italian pronunciation of the name as ‘Ventooreenee’ doubtless gave rise to the many variations that appear in the census and other documents including Ventouni, Venteney and Vanturney. At the time of the Ripper murders Julia was a widow and living at 26 Miller’s Court with a man by the name of Harry Owen. She later adopted the name Lottie Owen and, extraordinarily, later moved into the very room in which Mary Jane Kelly had been murdered. When the Canadian woman journalist Katherine Blake Watkins visited Miller’s Court in 1892 she interviewed Lottie, not apparently realising that it was Mary Jane’s friend Julia, although Lottie had difficulty in speaking due to a broken nose that she had incurred in a kick from her partner’s boot. Watkins wrote an account of the meeting in the
Toronto Daily Mail
in February 1892 in which she described the blood stains still being visible on the wooden partition beside the bed on which Lottie now slept.
129
No trace of anything personal beyond her clothes was found in the room. Mary Jane was known to have received letters whilst at Miller’s Court and surely she is likely to have kept some or to have had some other mementos of her former life, but none were found.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
130
East London Advertiser
, 24th November 1888.
131
See
http://www.osffranciscans.com
/ It is tempting to wonder whether the authorities were hedging their bets with regards to Mary Jane’s religion. Her funeral set off from a Church of England parish church and she was buried in a Catholic cemetery by an Anglo-Catholic priest.
132
Unusually she also has two entries in the quarterly Indexes of Deaths under both Kelly and Davies.
133
Bodleian Law Library, Oxford.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
134
Notes accompanying the divorce petition and affidavit of Francis Spurzheim Craig.
135
Strictly speaking he should still have described himself as Married. If he knew his wife to be dead he should have described himself as a Widower. He could have applied to have her presumed dead after seven years but he did not do so. Only if he had successfully divorced his wife could he describe himself as Single.
136
On 16th August 1819, volunteer cavalry charged a peaceable crowd which had gathered in St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester, to hear political speeches in favour of the Reform movement. Fifteen people, including some policemen, were killed and many more trampled underfoot. Coming so soon after Waterloo it became known as the Peterloo Massacre.
137
William Etty (1787–1849) was an English painter well known for his titillating depictions of the naked female form which managed to gain public acceptance through their classical and historical subject matter.
138
The use of the word den to mean an office or study is another interesting use by Francis of an Americanism not generally used in Britain at the time.
139
In fact Sir Charles Warren had returned to the army after resigning as Metropolitan Police Commissioner and at this time he was commanding Thames District although, understandably, he had kept a very low profile.
CHAPTER TWENTY
140
Evening Telegraph
, 28th March 1901.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
141
Simpson, Keith.
Forensic Medicine
. Edward Arnold, London, 1958.
(the initials EWD refer to Elizabeth Weston Davies, FC to Francis Craig)
Abberline, Insp. Frederick George
93–4
,
168
,
170
,
178
,
181
,
182
,
211
Allbrook, Lizzie
162
Angel, Miriam
133
Arnold, Supt
168
Barnett, Joe
17–27
passim
,
65
,
143
,
162
,
170
,
185
,
186
at EWD’s inquest
178–9
‘Mary’ meets
19–20
nickname of
23
questioned
188
splits from ‘Mary’
162
Baxter, Wynne
67
,
88
,
89
,
93
,
96–7
,
99
,
100–4
passim
,
128–30
,
139
,
142
,
176–7
,
178
Bazalgette, Sir Joseph
43
Beardsley, Aubrey
34
Beck, PC
227
Besant, Walter
62
Blackwell, Dr. Frederick
116
,
134
,
135
Bond, Thomas
11
,
84
,
170
,
173–6
,
180
,
182
Breton, Dr. W. Kenneth
228
Brough, Edwin
153–4
Brown, Dr. Frederick
120
,
127
,
145
,
146–9
,
174
Bruce, Alexander Carmichael
138
Bucks Herald
44–6
ancestry of
16
Central News
105–6
,
107
,
109
,
110–12
,
157–8
,
159
,
212
Chandler, Insp. Joseph
93
found dead
92
Churchill, Randolph
197
Collier, George
67
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper
(Sugden)
27
Connelly, Mary Ann
73–4
Cooperative News
209
Cooperative Weekly
205
Cotton, Mary Ann
124
Craig, E.T. (FC’s father)
37–9
,
42–3
,
44
,
47–8
,
51–2
,
64
,
78
,
80
,
196
,
204–5
book written by
204
death and funeral of
208–9
irascible nature of
208
pictures of
95
son’s absence in writings of
204
Craig, Francis (Jack the Ripper) (
see also individual victims
):
absence of, in father’s writings
204
and anatomical knowledge
78–9
,
100
,
102–3
,
136
,
145
,
146
,
174
appearance of
83–4
attempted suicide of
225–6
census records of
41–2
,
48
,
196
,
202
children’s welfare concerns of
55
,
199–200
death of
226
and dissection
78–9
divorce petition of
52–3
,
57–8
,
69–70
,
196
editor’s roles of
44
,
195
,
197–8
,
209
EWD sought by
55–7
,
59
,
61
,
62–3
,
64–5
,
70
,
75
EWD under observation by
161–2
EWD’s death plotted by
75–82
passim
failing health of
209
and fitness
38
in France
215–16
funeral of
228–9
Indicator
editorship quit by
209–10
inquest on
39
,
53
,
54
,
84
,
204
,
209
,
212
,
213
,
217
,
226–8
journalism of
37
,
39
,
40
,
41
,
44–6
,
195–201
,
203–4
,
209
and killing methods
78–81
life of, after canonical Ripper murders
195–210
,
213–14
,
215–17
,
219–23
Long’s possible sighting of
132
,
155–6
maps created by
43–4
personality and mental issues concerning
39–40
,
43
,
46
,
213
,
217
pictured at Chapman inquest
95–6
positions of victims of
80
possible surviving portrait of
96
purported
communications from (as Ripper)
105–13
,
120–1
,
126
,
128
,
153
,
156–9
,
202
,
210–13
resentment felt by
77
returns to parents
195
reward for capture of
149
serial-killer type that best fits
77
shadowy character of
39
sporting interests of
202
sustained public interest in
192
theories on identity of
154
verse written by
58
,
64
,
197–9
,
201
,
205–7
,
212
weapons chosen by
80–1
Craig, Mary (FC’s mother)
140
,
204
,
210
,
212–13
Crawford (solicitor)
142
,
145
,
150
,
151
Cross, Charlie
87
Crow, Alfred
69
Currie, Edmund
62
Dam, Harry
202
Davies, Anne (EWD’s mother)
29–30
Davies, Edward (EWD’s father)
29
,
30
Davies, Elizabeth Weston (a.k.a. Mary Kelly)
167–83
arrests after death of
188
and Barnett,
see
Barnett, Joe
and bohemian London
31
Bond’s written verdict on killer of
175
death certificate of
20
,
26
,
28
,
190
discovery of body of
13
disputed age of
26
early life of
29–30
efforts to identify
188
and FC,
see
Craig, Francis
hoax letters after death of
159
installed in brothel
34
‘murder’ cry heard by
164
photographed corpse of
171
police statement concerning death of
190
post-mortem on
173
prostitution as way of life for
22
unknown whereabouts of
18
Welsh and Irish background claimed by
15–16
,
23
,
24–5
,
28
widowhood claims of
20
younger brother of,
see
Davies, John ‘Johnto’
Davies (EWD’s alleged husband)
20
,
25
Davies, John ‘Johnto’ (EWD’s brother)
23
,
30
,
65
,
183
,
192–4
Dew, Ch. Insp. Walter
19