MJK & Facial Mutilations

[Anna Morris]

I have never seen this suggested before. 'South Wales Echo', 11/10/88. I couldn't enlarge it in the first place and did a bit of enhancement but it's still hard to read. Sorry. The main point is that experts believed the facial mutilations happened last.

[Howard Brown]

Here you go, Anna......

[Anna Morris]

Thanks, How. It's still rough looking. It was kind of that way in the original. It says:

"The most unaccountable feature of the case is the manner in which the murderer mutilated the face of his victim, as if to make identification difficult or perhaps impossible. In the case of his Mitre Square victim, a woman picked up in the street and murdered in the open air, the murderer's motive in endeavouring to render the features unrecognizable can readily be understood, but he could scarcely suppose that the identification of a woman renting her room as a regular lodger, and well known in the immediate locality of the crime, would fail to be capable of comparatively easy proof. It is therefore assumed by experts that the cutting off of the nose and ears and the slashing of the cheeks is this case were done in a transport of mad ferocity to which monomaniacs are notoriously subject. There is reason to believe that the injuries to the face were inflicted after the more elaborate mutilations of the body, as though the monster, on casting a final look round previous to taking flight, became so exasperated at the tranquil appearance of his victim's face."

[Howard Brown]

I don't recall reading an account that approached the facial mutilations this way, Anna....thank you. Good little account.

[Anna Morris]

I never saw that before either. I'm really impressed with the Welsh papers. They seemed to have reporters on site and the reporting is better than a lot. Still, lots of the same and so far I haven't seen anyone dig into MJK the Welsh woman. Just a flash in the pan and dropped. Wonder why.

[Wicker Man]

Hi Anna, How.

That quote does appear in the Daily News of 10th Nov., and a partial also appears in the Bournemouth visitors Guide of the 14th Nov.

The Daily News version was a little different, only the portion in italics remaining the same.

A post mortem examination was held by the medical authorities summoned by the police, and the surgeons did not quit their work until every organ had been accounted for, and placed as closely as possible in its natural position. In the case of the Mitre square victim, a woman picked up in the street and murdered in the open air, the murderer's motive in endeavouring to render the features unrecognisable can readily be understood. But he could scarcely suppose that the identity of a woman renting the room as a regular lodger, and well known in the immediate locality of the crime, would fail to be capable of comparatively easy proof. It is therefore assumed by experts that the cutting off of the nose and ears and the slashing of the cheeks in this case were done in a transport of mad ferocity to which monomaniacs are often subject. There is reason to believe that the injuries to the face were inflicted after the more elaborate mutilations of the remainder of the body. A man's pilot coat has been found in the murdered woman's room, but whether it belonged to one of her paramours or to the murderer has not been ascertained.
Daily News, 10 Nov. 1888.

The original source appears to have been the Central News Agency, who sold their story to whomever chose to publish it, and as is often the case the end user will edit or adapt their purchase to suit.

[Anna Morris]

Thanks, Wicker Man. I did clip a paragraph from the longer version. As we can see the longer version is more of the same except it is more accurate, correcting the idea that her uterus and some other organs were taken, as some early reports had said. At this time the police were still able to hold back that her heart was missing. In fact that is still a point of discussion, so saying all her organs were put back where they belonged is accurate as per information available.

The wording seemed new to me, and How too. Interesting.

[Wicker Man]

Hi Anna.
Interestingly, The Dundee Courier, Nottingham Evening Post, and Sunderland Daily Echo, all of the same date, 10th Nov, provide the same story in a variety of versions and length of content.

Given that these reports, likely all stemming from the Central News were published in the Dailies on Saturday morning (meaning it was sourced on Friday night), before the official Post-mortem, I wouldn't put too much faith in the details being accurate.

[Howard Brown]

That quote does appear in the Daily News of 10th Nov.
-Wick-

And I just put up scads of articles from the Daily News less than a month ago. Missed it.

[Trevor Marriott]

Hi Anna.
Interestingly, The Dundee Courier, Nottingham Evening Post, and Sunderland Daily Echo, all of the same date, 10th Nov, provide the same story in a variety of versions and length of content.

Given that these reports, likely all stemming from the Central News were published in the Dailies on Saturday morning (meaning it was sourced on Friday night), before the official Post-mortem, I wouldn't put too much faith in the details being accurate.

Well one thing they got right was that the heart wasn't taken away by the killer !

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Wicker Man]

That quote does appear in the Daily News of 10th Nov.
-Wick-

And I just put up scads of articles from the Daily News less than a month ago. Missed it.

And the Dundee Courier, if I'm not mistaken

http://jtrforums.com/showpost.php?p=271763&postcount=123