Lloyd's Articles

[Robert Linford]

You know, I've searched a certain database several times for Thomas Hayne Cutbush, Thomas Taylor Cutbush, Supt Cutbush....and found very little. Mostly I got a screenful of rose sniffers.

I found one or two things, which I've already posted. I also found one or two very brief mentions of Colocitt, which yielded nothing new so I haven't posted them.

Then tonight, I tried again, and bang!

LLOYD'S WEEKLY APR 19 1891

[Robert Linford]

LW APR 26th 1891

[Robert Linford]

BTW, note the weird echo of Hove when the ladies pick out Colocitt, but can't swear to him.

[R.J.Palmer]

A fascinating account, Robert, worthy of much discussion.

“Diligent reader of the Lancet.....”


“After his arrest some torn pieces of thick paper or cardboard were found in one of his overcoat pockets, and, upon being pasted together.... One represented the trunk of a woman, with the walls of the stomach thrown open and the intestines exposed, and another was of a still more remarkable character, being partially drawn in red ink.”

Does this indicate that Macnaghten was downplaying the The Sun's report, with his jibe about pink stockings?

Yes, and I agree with your last comment. It's also rather an amazing account of a young woman taken to an asylum to identify a caged lunatic...in 1891....

[Paul]

Excellent. This is what these message boards are all about.

[R.J.Palmer]

One interesting point is the remarks made by Cutbush’s solicitor. He implies that he could have proven Cutbush’s innocence in the jobbings, but the Crown pushed the insanity hearing.

While one might wish to take his solicitor’s remarks of innocence with a grain of salt, this could give some minor support to AP Wolf’s theory that there was a conspiracy to hide evidence on the part of the Crown. On the other hand, it almost looks as if Mr. Kirk is saying that it was more akin to a ruse on the part of the Crown: they could get their suspect locked away as a madman, without having to provide any actual evidence that he was guilty of the crimes. It was the quick road to a ‘conviction,’ without actually having to convict. It would be interesting to know whether any other solicitors lodged similar complaint against the Crown in regards to their clients during the Victorian era. It also now appears that Cutbush’s mother was active in his defense.

One final observation. It’s interesting that Miss Johnson is allowed into Peckham House Lunatic Asylum to identify Cutbush. One recalls Dr. Mickles’ refusal to allow a similar identification of the suspect Isenschmid by Mrs. Fiddymount. The difference in allowing access may be that, in the current case, another man stood accused, ie., Colocott, which in turn may have made the Peckham House keeper more willing to cooperate.

A remarkable article. Brilliant.

With all this digitization, the next couple of years will call for a serious reassessment of the case from beginning to the end. Let's hope it's done in an orderly fashion. I would say the above rather helps the Cutbush theory in some respects.

[Robert Linford]

Thanks RJ and Paul.

Well, Macnaghten may have been downplaying the Sun report. He seems to me to have copied the Lloyd's report a little - at least, the wording about the clerk and the canvassing seems to anticipate Macnaghten's wording.

I frankly don't understand how a man can be accused of vioent crimes, found unfit to plead, and then be sent to Broadmoor unless there was either a very strong presumption of his guilt, or he had exhibited unmistakable signs of violence in the period since his arrest. After all, another of our suspects, Kosminski, was only sent to Colney Hatch, yet he had to be taken from his home with his hands tied behind his back.

Perhaps Cutbush had a history of violence, as the article says that he was already known to the authorities. It then mentions the letter-writing, but it's difficult to believe that that was why he was known.

Kate and Clara seem to have been on his side, but were they and the solicitor merely seeking to salvage Thomas's good name (and their own)? I think that as far as the Sun articles were concerned, the impression was given that they didn't want any publicity - the Cutbush name wasn't mentioned. So they don't seem to have been actually trying to clear his name, or at least get him out of Broadmoor and into a private asylum.

Robert

[Robert Linford]

Re the legal issue, I have written to Andrew Roberts in the hope that he might shed light on it.

Robert

[R.J.Palmer]

Robert - There's an excellent and detailed contemporary discussion of the legal issues of pleading in Tuke's A Dictionary of Psychological Medicine (1892) pg. 951-964. (Now on-line at Google Books). It's under the heading "Plead, Capacity of Insane to," and contains case studies and legal commentary.

At the very least, the suspicions against Cutbush would have had to have been grave enough to make it past a grand jury, because a grand jury wasn't allowed to directly address the question of sanity.

[Robert Linford]

Thanks RJ. I'll read that when I can.

Robert

[Natalie Severn]

Thankyou Robert for this valuable article.I was interested in the fact that the reporter had sought advice from a medical authority on mental illness who believed Cutbush was not so irrational that he could not have appeared in court.Although its too early to say there was a cover up of more serious evidence against him ,I believe that the mention on several occasions in the article of the East End, his connection with it,the Whitechapel murders etc infers that there was believed to be some circumstantial evidence against Cutbush,held by the police possibly.Maybe it was confined to the peculiar medical drawings found in his pocket but I am mindful that there were also reports of bloodstained clothing found up his chimney!
Brilliant research!

[Robert Linford]

Thanks Nats. It makes me wonder whether the police ever searched MJK's chimney.

[AP Wolf]

Absolutely incredible stuff, Robert, my sincere congratulations to you my dear friend. I've read the report five times already, and there is just so much to comment and remark on that I must marshall my thoughts first.
But allow me to say straight off that this very important report you have found no longer allows the Macnaghten Memo - and Sun reports - to be viewed as items of splendid isolation with no relation to the Whitechapel Murders, for there are deep and searing points of contact here between two crimes that seem to find an echo in much of the rumour we deal with here.
I do believe you have almost done the impossible here, Robert.

[Robert Linford]

Thanks AP. Yes, there is a lot to digest here and who knows, there may be still more out there.

Robert

[Robert Linford]

Debs sends this from Lloyd's Weekly Oct 27th 1889. A previous sighting of Thomas?