#Eltham murder

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 22 April 1993, Stephen Lawrence, a Black British teenager, was murdered in a racist attack while he waited for a bus in Eltham, London. Rather than devote adequate resources to finding the killers, instead the London Metropolitan Police infiltrated the Lawrence family's campaign for justice in order to find ways to smear and discredit the family. However, ultimately years of campaigning forced the government to acknowledge the institutional racism of the police force, and two of the killers were eventually convicted in 2012. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9445/stephen-lawrence-murdered https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=612922037547682&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[une-sanz-pluis]

The thing that strikes me as extraordinary about Henry V and his brothers is how there's no real comparative case to make about English kings who were universally supported by their brothers. Edward II alienated his brothers and stepmother by favouring his favourites at their expense. Edward III's only brother, John of Eltham, died young and Edward was rumoured to have murdered him. Of the "three sons of York", George Duke of Clarence attempted to usurp his brother and was later executed for treason by Edward IV while Richard III usurped his brother's sons and had them declared bastards. The Devil's Brood was, well, the Devil's Brood.

Yet whatever could be said for the rivalry between Henry V and Thomas, Duke of Clarence in their father's reign, or the fractious relationship between John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester in their nephew's reign, they worked as a team. They were all loyal to Henry V and he rewarded their loyalty. There is no sign of faction or discontent between them.

[ao3feed-usukus]

Of National Importance

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/MqKZ2Gj by Tea (Arteamissing) Of the many cases of Sherlock Holmes, many have been quite mysterious and almost chilling. But this one, the Case of Eltham Palace, revealed a whole new world of its own. Who knew that taking the murder case would lead to a much bigger mystery: Who is Arthur Kirkland really? Or: Hetalia and Sherlock Crossover where Sherlock meets a few national embodiments Words: 20493, Chapters: 4/?, Language: English Fandoms: Hetalia: Axis Powers, Sherlock (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: Gen, M/M Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, England (Hetalia), America (Hetalia), Hong Kong (Hetalia) Relationships: England (Hetalia) & Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson, minor America/England (Hetalia) - Relationship Additional Tags: Crossover, Investigations, Murder, Identity Reveal, Case, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Writer's Block MCC Red Rabbits read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/MqKZ2Gj

[itsrattysworld]

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Put On Record How Social Media Harvested Intellectual Property Copyright Images CPPDP Judiciary Of England Wales Criminal Justice System Crown Prosecution Service Colluding With A-Z Of Abusers Including UEL Richard Harty MIC Paedophile Rings Tie In With Channel 4 News Seventh Day Adventist Church LEYF June O'Sullivan Drag Queen Story Tellers Justin Welby Resignation Queen Camilla Domestic Abuse With Housing For Women Joe Hooper At 16 Alma Grove London SE1 5PY Captured On YouTube Live Kicking My Door Met Police Come To Join Racism County Court Clerkenwell Shoreditch District Judges Greenidge Swan Sterlini Richard Hayes Pigram Bell Naidoo Listed In Rogues Gallery As I Will Be Remembered For My Fight4justice In Honour Of Strong Women Everywhere Is Online Dedicated To A Strong Jamaican Woman By Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley When Am Dead Slowly By Torture After Dr. Phil Gregory Tried To Make Me Unable To Function My Book Will Be The Story Of My Ancestors Who Preferred Death To Dishonour Unlike First Black Female Bishop Of Church Of England Refused To Mediate On My Behalf I Was Face Of Windrush 70 Who Will Be Imprisoned Evicted To Cover Abuse Of Children In Early Years Sector Young Black Boys Murder 101 Year Old Husband Neglected On Byron Ward Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust His Wife Taken From His Bedside After She Attended Windrush Vigil 6th April 4th I Was Provoked By Trina Philbert After DJ Beecham Rubbing Her Hands To Deny Me My Rights Let Solicitor Barrister Read My Book To Find Truths Why I Will Be Famous Like Nanny Of The Maroons Stephen Lawrence Murdered In Eltham Kris Kabo In Lambeth 20/11/2024

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Starts With Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin I Meet H4W AGM April 2014 After Saying Final Goodbyes To Perline Louise Chambers-Nembhard Facebook Cyberbullying Criminals Harvest 18 Pages Account 2023 Not Authentic Liz Roberts LinkedIn Nursery World Forum Party To LEYF MIC Bloggers Jumping Ship In EYFS Abusers Rings Community Playthings UK Partnership Work 2012- HCT Group…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.22

1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil (discovery of Brazil). 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. 1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1,250 kilometres (780 mi)) east of the Moluccas. 1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg. 1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity. 1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency. 1876 – The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia. 1889 – At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000. 1898 – Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000. 1906 – The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens. 1915 – World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres. 1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding. 1944 – The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations in the China Burma India Theater. 1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea. 1944 – World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station. 1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape. 1945 – World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army. 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces. 1951 – Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong. 1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins. 1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world. 1969 – The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta. 1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated. 1974 – Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board. 1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic. 1992 – A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206. 1993 – Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham. 2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record. 2016 – The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming. 2020 – Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.

[newsofthetimesnott]

The Eltham Murder Mystery

News of the Times Episode 53 | 1840 

 The Eltham Murder Mystery: Murderous Mondays 

The Eltham Murder Mystery of 1871 involves pregnant Jane Clouson and her “young man”, Edward “Ned” Pook, who is none other than the son of the head of the household from which she has just been dismissed. Pretty Jane Clouson is ecstatic to receive a letter from her Ned wishing to meet with her that night to give her some tremendous news.  Jane is excited and tells her friends and family about her planned meeting with her Ned.  She never returns. On a lonely road, Jane is found bludgeoned so extensively that her brains are protruding over her eye.  She has been bludgeoned face to face – she saw it happen. This case became a cause celebre at the time, eventually leading to riots in town. The murder of Jane Clouson of the Eltham Murder Mystery is today’s episode of Murderous Mondays. Hosted by Robin Coles.

[12blogmk]

Stephen Lawrence: Anger at police failings after BBC names sixth suspect

Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley, who represented Eltham at the time of the murder, told Radio 4’s the World At One the BBC investigation showed the crime “would have been solved within hours” if the police had given proper attention to the eyewitness evidence from Duwayne Brooks, Stephen’s friend who was with him at the time of the attack.

[collymore]

My genuine comprehension of what real love is actually all about!

By Stanley Collymore       Love is much more than just     saying those requisite and     heart-inspiring words of     "I love you"; while quite attendantly     so with distinctly soothing actions     quite essentially also similarly too     evidently undeniably, conveying in     tandem with your obviously basic     thinking then and unquestionably     even subsequently after, that you     truly believe, what you're actually     saying. For love is not principally     or literally exclusively about just     beautiful words plus usually too     very inspirational actions at any     given moment in time but quite significantly, and unequivocally     is discernibly thoroughly about     absolute commitment, to what     you cleverly indefatigibly value;     and expectantly so voluntarily!       (C) Stanley V. Collymore     22 April 2023.         Author's Remarks:     True love is not by any means exclusive to the physical kind but is also evidently too the clearly irrefutably, incomparable and emotional sort of loving parents for their devoted to offspring, and that very thankfully and blessedly never wanes in the least, even when that child is clearly undeniably, rather brutally, savagely and racially murderously taken from them.         30 years ago and throughout their quite harrowing and thoroughly, racist ordeal for justice for their son Stephen my full commitment then was, as it still is, and will forever be, with Neville and Doreen Lawrence, their family members and as well their close friends, together with all those then, who devotedly campaigned very unceasingly for justice for Stephen Lawrence. Thank you all!  And true Love and Respect to you!       And to our most unquestionably iconic heroes Doreen and Neville Lawrence, you're very much in our thoughts and eternally in our hearts!       Stephen Lawrence Remembrance Day: 22 April 2023. 30 years murdered: 22 April 1993, in Eltham London.

[ifreakingloveroyals]

23 April 2018 | Prince Harry speaks during a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in London, England.. The 18-year-old murder victim was fatally stabbed by a gang of racists in Eltham, south-east London, on April 22 1993. (c) Victoria Jones - WPA Pool/Getty Images

[helloyoucreatives]

The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, a new organisation set up to support the legacy of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, has unveiled its launch brand identity, designed by creative agency BMB.

Stephen Lawrence Day is dedicated to celebrating Stephen’s life and legacy. This new Foundation, set up against a backdrop of unprecedented worldwide awareness of racial inequality, exists to inspire a more equal inclusive society and to foster opportunities for marginalised young people. Stephen’s mother Doreen, Baroness Lawrence, launched the Foundation on 22 October.

BMB, appointed directly by Baroness Lawrence, designed the new brand identity, creating a new symbol for the day and an identity for the Foundation behind it. At the core of the design is an encircled equal sign, a universal symbol of inclusion and equality.  Monochrome typography is set against a vibrant orange, symbolising the positive legacy of Stephen Lawrence and the hope of combating racial inequality.

Along with creating the Foundation’s look and a range of assets to be used with supporting organisations, BMB is advising on brand strategy and assisting with launch activity.

Stephen Lawrence was murdered while waiting for a bus in Eltham, south London, on the evening of 22 April 1993. The crime was a family tragedy with significant ramifications, including cultural changes of attitudes on racism and the police, to the law and police practice. It also led to the partial revocation of the rule against double jeopardy. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder in 2012.

Stephen Lawrence Day was first celebrated in 2019. It takes place annually on 22 April to commemorate the date of Stephen’s death.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence, founder of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, said: “I want Stephen Lawrence Day to be a really important brand, commemorating the legacy of my son but also being a force for societal change. BMB have been absolutely instrumental in developing and designing our brand, offering expertise and creativity as we relaunch Stephen Lawrence Day, bigger and better than ever”

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 22 April 1993, Stephen Lawrence, a Black British teenager, was murdered in a racist attack while he waited for a bus in Eltham, London. Rather than devote adequate resources to finding the killers, instead the London Metropolitan Police infiltrated the Lawrence family's campaign for justice in order to find ways to smear and discredit the family. However, ultimately years of campaigning forced the government to acknowledge the institutional racism of the police force, and two of the killers were eventually convicted in 2012. * Learn more about the problems with policing in white supremacist, capitalist society in this book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/the-end-of-policing-alex-s-vitale https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1969876003197540/?type=3

[crime-notforgotten]

April 25th, 1871, south-east London, a brutal murder took place that rocked the little town of Eltham and left a lasting legacy of nightmares. Jane Maria Clouson, a 17 year old maid working for a well off family named Pook fell in love with the son of her boss. Jane and Edmund Walter Pook had an affair which, as these things tend to do, led to a pregnancy. But Edmund wanted nothing to do with marriage, at least not with Jane. His older brother had married “below his class” and Edmund told himself he would not do the same.

On April 25 Jane was found beaten to near death with a hammer on a small lane in Eltham. She was barely conscious but was able to name her attacker as Edmund Pook. Her last words were “oh, let me die…” which she sadly soon did. Police found the murder weapon near by, a bloody hammer that was purchased by Pook days before. Also, witnesses claimed to have seen Jane and Edmund together on that fateful evening. Lastly it was discovered his clothes were covered in mud and blood. Pook was arrested and sent to trial for the murder.

It seemed like an open and shut case, but unfortunately it wasn’t. Firstly, the judge claimed that Jane’s last words were hearsay and he wouldn’t allow them as evidence. Next the judge gave the police some shit, he said they pestered and hounded Pook until they finally arrested him with no real evidence to back it up. Pook claimed the blood on his clothes was his own, from a bite to his tongue after suffering a seizure. Though the witnesses saw a man fleeing the scene that night they did not get a proper look and couldn’t identify Pook, the eyewitness testimony was useless. The jury didn’t feel there was enough evidence against him, they felt they had a reasonable doubt, and so, shockingly, Pook walked.

During the last day of his trial a huge crowd waited for the verdict who expected justice, but when it came in the people were disappointed and very mad. Most people thought that the elder Pook, Edmund’s rich father, had used his upper class connections to get his son off the charge of murdering the poor servant girl. Jane’s funeral brought thousands of mourners, some dressed in maids uniforms, to honour her memory.

On the 143rd anniversary of Jane’s death, April 2004, a campaign group called Women Against Violence Expressing Solidarity, or W.A.V.E.S, gathered at Jane’s grave to remember her and raise awareness of the fight against violence towards women. W.A.V.E.S helps to “build visible support for an approach that tackles violence against women and girls.”

Much like Jane’s mourning family, the Pooks never escaped the infamous murder. Everyone thought Edmund was guilty and everyone made it very clear. They eventually fled England and changed their names to avoid the notoriety and hatred the public had towards Edmund Pook, the high class suspected murderer. The crime would become known as the Eltham Murder and has become an infamous case of south London history.

Pictured above: a photo of Jane Clouson, a newspaper article about the crime, a depiction of the crime, a depiction of accused murderer Edmund Pook and finally Jane’s grave and a close up of the headstone.

[foxspirit1928]

Miss Fisher Australia Tour (73)

“On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, A partridge in a pear tree. On the second day of Christmas…” Some love the episode of S2E13 Murder under the Mistletoe, praising it a clever remake of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. Some groan like Aunt P every time the song comes on as it gets stuck in your head for days. Whether you are a fan of the episode or not, I think we all agree that the filming location of the chalet is glorious and deserves a post of its own.

According to Wikipedia, Montsalvat is an artist colony in Eltham, a short 20 km (12 miles) northeast of Melbourne. It was established in 1934 by an Australian artist and architect, Justus Jörgensen, to be home to over a dozen buildings, houses and halls set amongst richly established gardens on 12 acres of land. When Phryne and company first arrived, the front of the chalet we saw was the Great Hall, which started construction in 1938 and finally opened to the public in the 1950s. What’s unique about Montsalvat is that it’s not just a museum where people come admiring the majestic architecture and beautiful art exhibitions. It’s “Australia’s oldest continuously active artists’ community; a place where art in all its forms is made and taught, and art’s transformative power is celebrated in exhibitions, festivals, concerts, workshops and artists’ residencies”. (montsalvat.com.au) After almost a century, Jörgensen’s vision is still being carried out and carried on.

Montsalvat is open 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily. Guided tours for groups are available on request, and must be booked a minimum of 2 weeks in advance. Since it’s not too far from Melbourne CBD, some suggest that it’s more convenient to catch a taxi (between $60 and $70). If you are short on cash but not on time, trains or buses are alternatives that would take about an hour and a half, depending on the connections.

(Posted 28-May-2019)

[itsrattysworld]

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Starts With Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin I Meet H4W AGM April 2014 After Saying Final Goodbyes To Perline Louise Chambers-Nembhard Facebook Cyberbullying Criminals Harvest 18 Pages Account 2023 Not Authentic Liz Roberts LinkedIn Nursery World Forum Party To LEYF MIC Bloggers Jumping Ship In EYFS Abusers Rings Community Playthings UK Partnership Work 2012- HCT Group Impact Report 2016 Of 1 In 5 Of All Suicides Are Associated With Unemployment 600,000 Older People In UK Say They Leave Home Once Per Week Or Less Am Barricaded 16 Alma Grove Bermondsey London Got Re Domestic Violence 2000 Re Debbie Gilchrist Joe Hooper Coerced By Samantha Gibbs Met Police Captured Live Broadcasts Join In Misogyny Traumatised Arnold Ebenezer Tomlinson Son Assaulted Me 9/3/24 Back In Hospital Neglected Nurse Betty Called White Security Manhandle Me Windrush Vigil Not Work 10 Years HMCTS CPS CJS IOPC JCIO BSB SRA CCMCC MOPAC HMPPS CLCC DBS Involved With Nexus Health Group Misogyny Breach Equality Act 2010 Protected Characteristics Age Belief Race Disability Sex As DJ Sterlini Who Defame My Name Label Violent Nuisance Open Floodgates Of Judiciary Of England Wales Miscarriages Of Justice From Kings College Hospital 2008 Brother Died Colon Cancer YouTube Cyberbullying Criminals Try To Strike Channels Like Met Police Attempts To Section Murder Kidnap Me A-Z Abusers Stephen Lawrence Was Murdered By Racists In Eltham A Mob Rule In Bermondsey Target Me Prime Minister Must Call Me To Share Stories About Children Abused In LEYF Nurseries Reviews Online During ET/EAT 10/9/2024

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Share Stories 18 Facebook Pages Disabled 2023 LinkedIn Stolen 3 Accounts 1st 69 Publications Google My Business Suspensions Twitter Blocking Instagram Threats TikTok 55K Views 300+ Comments Andrew Holness Guy Lawfull Mark Upton Stole My Vision Website YouTube 6.9K+ 1K Subscribers Led To Cyberbullying Strikes To Take Channels Narin Masera Devonshires Solicitors LLP…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.22

1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil. 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. 1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1,250 kilometres (780 mi)) east of the Moluccas. 1601–1900 1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg. 1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity. 1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency. 1876 – The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia. 1889 – At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000. 1898 – Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000. 1906 – The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens. 1915 – World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres. 1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding. 1944 – The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations in the China Burma India Theater. 1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea. 1944 – World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station. 1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape. 1945 – World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army. 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces. 1951 – Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong. 1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins. 1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world. 1969 – The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta. 1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated. 1974 – Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board. 1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic. 1992 – A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206. 1993 – Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham. 2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record. 2016 – The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming. 2020 – Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.

[shootingvictoria]

The Beginning

The discovery of Jane Clouson at Kidbrooke Lane, 26 April 1871. From Chapter 1 of Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane:

     He stumbled upon her at 4:15 on Wednesday morning, April 26, 1871, half an hour before the sun rose, just as definition and color began to bleed into the amorphous black and gray. Donald Gunn, a police constable of R, or the Greenwich Division of the London Metropolitan police, was at the extremity of his beat, which had taken him from Shooter’s Hill southwest through the smaller town of Eltham, and then northeast to this deserted road flanked by market gardens and bisected by the little rivulet—Kid Brook— that gave this road its name—Kidbrooke Lane. Kidbrooke Lane provided a direct route between the Kent countryside and the metropolis, but few carriages or wagons traveled that way, as it was muddy, rutted—nearly impassable. The lane’s adjoining footpath, however, was drier, and during the day the route was well frequented by pedestrians, particularly in the evenings: then, the area around Kidbrooke Lane became a well-known haven for lovers, the surrounding fields offering the perfect space apart for lovemaking, just minutes from the bustle of southeast London, but a world away from the relentless attentions of the city, and particularly from prying parental eyes. But the lovers had fled hours before, and PC Gunn usually trod this final part of his night beat in profound solitude; Kidbrooke Lane must have seemed to him far removed from the most populous city in the world—must have seemed in its quiet more like the place where he had grown up: distant Caithness, the northeastern tip of Scotland.

     Gunn had made his first circuit of Kidbrooke Lane two and a half hours before, approaching Kidbrooke by the footpath, separated from the road by high hedges, and returning by way of the road itself. If Jane had been lying there then, he must have walked right past her. The moon had set long before this, and although Gunn carried a bull’s-eye lantern with him—it was standard issue for all metropolitan police officers—he did not use it that night, instead making his way down the road guided by dim starlight and by rote memory.

Now, as he made his second circuit up the footpath to the brook, and a hundred yards down the muddy lane, he made out a sodden black-and-brown jumble of clothing that slowly resolved itself into a human body: a woman, or a girl, rising from the mud and trampled grass on her hands and knees. She faced away from him, but he could see her head bobbing up and down as she moaned softly, “piteously.” He immediately concluded that she was drunk, literally dumped here in her inebriation by an ungallant lover to sleep it off alone.

     Gunn walked to her, towered over her, and asked sternly what she was doing there.

     “Oh, my poor head; oh, my poor head,” she moaned.

     He clutched her shoulder and gave her a shake. What was the matter, he asked her: how had she come by her injuries? He noticed then a smear of blood on her cheek.

     The woman lifted her left hand from the ground, stretched it toward him, and in a feeble voice, asked him to take hold of it.

     She slowly turned her face toward him.

     Gunn recoiled as he looked at her and saw a face no longer human—a battered and bloody mass. Several gashes were cloven into her skull. Her left cheek was slashed open and smashed in. Her right eye was destroyed, and above it a chunk of the temporal bone had been bashed out, leaving a hole from which her brain clearly protruded.

     He stared at her in horror for several seconds before finally reaching out his hand for hers. It was too late. The woman lost her balance and pitched face-first onto the ground.

     “Let me die,” she murmured, and then fell still.  

     Gunn, for a moment helpless, let her lie there while he surveyed the area. Four feet from the woman, behind him and toward the middle of the road, he could see a small pool of blood, cold and clotted into the mud. Around this center was grouped a mass of footprints; this was where she must have been attacked, must have fallen; from here she had crawled to the side of the road. Two feet from the woman was a pair of women’s gloves, daintily placed one within the other, and two feet from them was a black bonnet, decorated with three embroidered red roses.

     Gunn looked up and down the road in the wild hope that the attacker might still be near. But he and the woman were alone.

     He lifted her, unconscious, from the mud and set her down gently on her back on the dry grass by the side of the road. And then he turned and ran—southeast down the lane, to the farm of the ancient manor of Well Hall: the hostler and stable boys there, he knew, would already be awake and working. But upon running into the farmyard, Gunn found better help than that: his sergeant, Frederick Haynes, happened to be there, pausing in his early-morning round of surprise inspections of his constables on their beats. Gunn hurriedly conferred with Haynes about the woman. The two men then dashed off in opposite directions: Haynes up Kidbrooke Lane to attend to the woman and Gunn to the police station at Eltham to assemble a stretcher party from the officers who would just then be returning from their night beats.

     Sergeant Haynes found the woman lying insensible where Gunn had left her. In his hurry Gunn had set her down with her skirts hiked up above her knees, and so Haynes, seeing her, jumped to the conclusion that she must have been assaulted sexually. Sergeant Haynes looked around him and saw the marks of a violent struggle, the trampled-down grass, and the chaotic, indistinct footsteps. He saw the hat, picked up the gloves. The attack, he realized, had been recent, but not all that recent: the pool of blood in the muddy road had clotted, as had the blood on the woman’s face and matted in her hair: the blood had ceased to flow from many of her wounds. She had obviously lain here for several hours—four or five, at least.

     He stood sentinel over the unconscious woman as the sun rose, until Constable Gunn returned with several others. Haynes took charge, supervising the lifting of the woman onto the stretcher, and then ordering Gunn to remain at the scene, both in the hope of waylaying anyone who might have witnessed the attack and to protect the crime scene from contamination by curious passersby—if not from fellow police. The others set out, double-time, for Eltham, Haynes taking the lead, with his ear by the woman’s head. She revived enough, he later claimed, to speak once more, moaning, “Oh, save me!” before passing out again.

     They bore her into Eltham and one of the larger houses on the High Street, where they pounded on the door to rouse Dr. David King. As police surgeon and medical officer of health for the district, he would seem the best man for miles around to treat the woman’s wounds. But with a glance King realized that her life was far beyond his—and likely anyone’s—power to save. He directed Haynes to send her on to Guy’s Hospital, nine miles to the northwest in Southwark. They could at least make her comfortable there.