Proof of Innocence?

[Gary Barnett]

Who? Oh me.
I think that is a fair summary.

I’m not sure that the popping home to drop off his bag, thereby alerting his family that he was no longer in Blandford and was going on a journey somewhere, is a necessary part of the story. He could have left his bag at Wimborne station, where he was presumably known, or at the left luggage station at Waterloo (assuming it was open). There was nothing really tight about the journey beyond the 10-min connection at Salisbury.

[Michael Banks]

From what we can tell so far
The match on 30^th was unlikely to start before 1pm

Simply an invention. You won’t get a cricket match today starting after 11.00 (unless you include the modern day invention of day/night games which require floodlights) It’s not in the slightest bit ‘unlikely.’ So that’s a ‘spurious’ claim.

Rain may well have delayed play.

The newspaper mentions the poor weather. It was windy. They do not mention rain so we have to assume that it didn’t rain. Another ‘spurious’ claim.

It was about half a mile from the Recreation Ground to the Station – maybe 10 minute’s walk.

I thought that it was more. Fine, that makes it easier. So the distance from the ground to the station is a complete irrelevance to timing.

The only realistic train he could have got is

Realistic in a nice convenient world where manipulating evidence is seen as a good thing.


Blandford to Wimborne
4.55-5.52

This would possibly allow Druitt time to get home and dump his bag and get back to Wimborne station. It was a mile each way from the station to his house.

Wimborne to Salisbury
6.43 – 8.24

Salisbury to Waterloo
8.34 – 11.41

The whole thing is incredibly tight. Even for an unpredictable serial killer. The match could very easily have gone on longer than 4.55 --and before hand he would surely not have known it would be over that early.
And did he know all these train times in his head?

Is it a knock out blow?
Its certainly a standing count.
Young Hainsworth seems to have thrown in the towel to stop further punishment.

So apart from the blatant inventions, the route you have described would have got him to London a whole 4 hours before the murder. Nail in the coffin? Not even a light scratch on the lid.

An 11.00 or even a 12.00 start would have been entirely plausible. The fact that the game was a short one is just that….a fact, so it’s a reasonable possibility that he could easily have made the 2.55 train which you conveniently eliminate.

You really should try taking the Lechmere goggles off Ed.

[Edward Stow]

Gary
The Wimborne bag drop was added to close off that as potentially being something to delay him... I was being fair!
Some have suggested that he might have had work related business in London on 31st which might have been his excuse to go up... and he used the opportunity to murder.
This all seems unlikely to me as if he'd missed the 4.55 - which he easily could have done - he wouldn't have left Blandford. So the whole thing must have been very last minute had he actually gone off to London

[Edward Stow]

Mr Banks!
You should try and avoid mentioning Lechmere out of context. I will only respond about Lechmere in an appropriate thread.

Your 11am figure has no bearing on what happened in 1888 and every contemporary account of relevant start times found so far suggests an afternoon start. I used the word 'unlikely', rather than something more definitive to allow the possibility of an earlier start. I hope you can see how that works?
Can you produce a report of a comparable match starting at 11 am or even 12?

There are two reports of bad weather which clearly could have interrupted play. But again I didn't claim that it definitely stopped play - but it is information that we now have which may have affected things. Again - do you see how that works?

The distance of the recreation ground to the station isn't irrelevant as if the match ended at 4.50, then Druitt didn't leave.

If Druitt didn't get the 4.55 - which more realistic one you think he got?

Remind me again. Where are the inventions?

[Gary Barnett]

Where did you find that it was windy, Mike?

There was certainly heavy rain on the Wednesday, and the weather on both Wednesday and Thursday was said to have been ‘unfortunate’.

[Edward Stow]

Gary that might have been a rainless storm.

[Chris Phillips]

Your 11am figure has no bearing on what happened in 1888 and every contemporary account of relevant start times found so far suggests an afternoon start. I used the word 'unlikely', rather than something more definitive to allow the possibility of an earlier start. I hope you can see how that works?
Can you produce a report of a comparable match starting at 11 am or even 12?

We do know that Druitt's match at Blackheath on 8 September started at 11.30am, don't we?

[Michael Banks]

Mr Banks!
You should try and avoid mentioning Lechmere out of context. I will only respond about Lechmere in an appropriate thread.

Your 11am figure has no bearing on what happened in 1888 and every contemporary account of relevant start times found so far suggests an afternoon start. I used the word 'unlikely', rather than something more definitive to allow the possibility of an earlier start. I hope you can see how that works?
Can you produce a report of a comparable match starting at 11 am or even 12?

There are two reports of bad weather which clearly could have interrupted play. But again I didn't claim that it definitely stopped play - but it is information that we now have which may have affected things. Again - do you see how that works?

The distance of the recreation ground to the station isn't irrelevant as if the match ended at 4.50, then Druitt didn't leave.

If Druitt didn't get the 4.55 - which more realistic one you think he got?

Remind me again. Where are the inventions?

Mr Stow!

How many examples of games beginning in the afternoon have you found? I’ve seen one but I certainly could have missed one or two. The ‘invention’ is to state as likely that the game would have begun in the afternoon. It’s blatantly misleading.

To even mention that bad weather ‘clearly could have interrupted play’ is also blatantly misleading. The newspaper report shown on here specifically mentions bad weather but only wind. Why mention wind which wouldn’t delay a cricket match but omit all mention or rain which certainly would have affected the match. So any mention that it might have rained is misleading. The umpire might have had a heart attack causing a delay. Someone might have stolen the bails which might have caused a delay. If my aunt had…….

All that we know as a fact is that there was a very, very short game of cricket.

[R. J. Palmer]

Wimborne to Salisbury
6.43 – 8.24

Salisbury to Waterloo
8.34 – 11.41

The whole thing is incredibly tight.

Didn't Queen Victoria make the trains run on time?

Seriously, I think we have to allow that the station master isn't a moron, and if the train from Wimborne was a few minutes late, the next train to London isn't going to pull away from the platform until people have had time to make their connections.

The whole purpose of these complicated and well-thought-out timetables is so people can make their connections, isn't it?

Roger are you eliminating the possibility that he might have taken the 2.29 train?

No, I'm not eliminating it, but at the time I was only concerned with what the trip from Blandford to Wimborne would have entailed, and the 2.29 didn't stop in Wimborne. It would take him to Bournemouth in plenty of time, however, provided we are looking at a morning or mid-day game.

My sense is that this is going to be a very long process before we have any definitive answer and it may take the input of a local railway enthusiast or a researcher going to the London Transport Museum. There may be angles and complications we don't know about.

[R. J. Palmer]

I know nothing about the rituals of rural cricket, but there does seem to be an awful lot of discussion about cricket "luncheons." Why do you need to feed the players lunch if these are afternoon games?

[Edward Stow]

Mr Banks
You missed the key word - storms.
Do you believe it was a rainless storm?

RJP... you seen to be arguing with your imaginary friend about the train times. I don't recall disputing that he could have got the 8.34 from Salisbury... provided he got the 4.55 from Blandford.

The key timing is actually the start of the game. And the most difficult to establish. I have already tried but to no avail, with Blandford Town Museum, which has a local history archive, and Blandford Cricket Club.
I have been given another suggestion from those sources which I will follow up.

[Michael Banks]

Where did you find that it was windy, Mike?

There was certainly heavy rain on the Wednesday, and the weather on both Wednesday and Thursday was said to have been ‘unfortunate’.

My mistake Gary, I was thinking of the May 5th game.

[Michael Banks]

Druitt played for a team called The Incogniti on during a tour of the West country. These games were known for their ‘bread and cheese’ lunches followed by a dinner at 6.00 then a dance. So these games must have started before mid day to have allowed a period of play before the ‘bread and cheese’ lunch break. So a start of say 11.00 with a lunch break at 1.00 is entirely probable for these games, that Druitt played in, also in the West Country(mirroring modern day cricket.)

[Edward Stow]

Equally they could have started at 12 and broken at 1.30. These matches were often social occasions. But the Incogniti tour wasn't the same as a standard local village or Dorset inter club match.

[Michael Banks]

Mr Banks
You missed the key word - storms.
Do you believe it was a rainless storm?

RJP... you seen to be arguing with your imaginary friend about the train times. I don't recall disputing that he could have got the 8.34 from Salisbury... provided he got the 4.55 from Blandford.

The key timing is actually the start of the game. And the most difficult to establish. I have already tried but to no avail, with Blandford Town Museum, which has a local history archive, and Blandford Cricket Club.
I have been given another suggestion from those sources which I will follow up.

But you’re still saying if it rained it might have delayed the games significantly and if the game began at 1.00 then it might have made it impossible or unlikely for Druitt to have made his train.

We could continue the if game.

If the game began at 11.00 as the Incogniti games would almost certainly, and if we allow for 3 hours actual playing time (even though it could very easily have been less), then even 2 and a half hours of rain would still have allowed Druitt enough time to get to the train.

Ed, Its either a case of we can or can’t eliminate Druitt with the evidence that is currently available to us. Maybe tomorrow that evidence will surface. Maybe the day after….who knows. But the evidence at the moment simply doesn’t.