Lieber Sherlock,
herzlich willkommen im Forum. Endlich mal einer, der sich nicht nur einfach hin und wieder einloggt! Ich finde es auch schön, dass Du gerade dieses Thema anschneidest, denn meistens dreht es sich bei uns um „wer hat wen gesehen“ oder „welchen Weg ist er gegangen“.
ABER, was Bilder und Fotografieren angeht......besser Panoptikum fragen!!!
Das Fotografieren der Augen war tatsächlich ein (letzter) Versuch, der aber letztendlich nichts hergab. Die Verwertbarkeit der Fingerabdrücke war gerade erst in jenem Jahr in Deutschland eingeführt worden, in Frankreich wohl ein Jahr früher. Aber wie dem halt so ist mit neuen Technologien, sie stoßen anfangs auch auf viel Ablehnung, insbesondere bei älteren Leuten, die nun „umdenken“ müssen. Zu diesen beiden Themen fand ich einmal etwas im Internet und habe es im Forum gepostet, falls es Dich interessiert. Allgemeine Diskussion:
Die Beweiskraft des Abdrucks feiert Geburtstag
„Optografie“ oder das letzte Bild dass ein Lebewesen vor seinem Tod sieht.
Die Polizei arbeitete seinerzeit noch mit Tatortzeichnern. Ich persönlich vermute, dass es auch Detailzeichnungen gab, z. B. von der Anordnung der Habseligkeiten neben den Opfern. Doch vieles ging mit den Jahren einfach verloren oder wurde von Polizisten oder „Forschern“ auch geklaut. Denk mal an den „Dear Boss Brief“, der 1987 anonym an den Yard zurück geschickt wurde. Angeblich soll sein Verschwinden bereits kurz nach „Ende der Ermittlungen“ bemerkt worden sein. Dazwischen liegen problemlos 80 Jahre, da müsste dann ein Enkelsohn bemerkt haben, was er da in Opas Papieren fand und sandte es zurück. Angesichts dieses Diebstahls kann man nicht mal erahnen, was alles aus den Unterlagen als „Souvenir“ mitgenommen wurde.
Die bemerkenswerten Fotos vom Miller's Court wurden auch nur zufällig in einer „dunklen Ecke“ entdeckt, die mit den eigentlichen Ripperakten nichts zu tun hatten.
Das hier stammt aus dem „Casebook“:
The Kelly Crime Scene Photographs
Stewart P. Evans
Regarding the provenance of the original prints of the famous photographs of the murder scene at 13 Miller's Court, 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields, two relevant references have been written. They are as follows --
From The Complete Jack the Ripper, Donald Rumbelow, 1975, pp. 146-147:--
Several years ago, through the permission of the Commissioner of the City Police, I was able to place in the Eddowes and Kelly file [at New Scotland Yard] copies of the original photographs which were in their possession and to deposit similar sets with the Black Museum and Bow Street Historical Museum. One can only assume that the Kelly photograph was removed from the file at a much earlier date, since Sir Melville Macnaghten refers to it in his notes. Stranger still was the fact that the photograph was the work of the City Police, in spite of the dressing down they had received from Sir Charles Warren for being in Whitechapel. A story which explains this, although it is at variance with the newspaper accounts, is that although the Metropolitan Police didn't dare to disobey Warren's order and break down Kelly's doorway before the bloodhounds arrived, the City Police did so as they ran no such risks. Apparently as the morning dragged on, and nothing happened in Miller's Court, somebody quietly asked the City Police for their help which they gave by breaking into Kelly's room and taking the photograph of her body as their only justification for doing so. Certainly all the surviving photographs of Ripper victims were taken by the City of London Police. Curiously enough, they may have taken others. The photograph of Miller's Court is now a well-known one, but it was only by chance that I found it and published it in Police Journal in 1969. In 1967 the City Police photographic department were clearing out a lot of old negatives, including some glass ones, and by chance I happened to spot them. Two were of immediate interest. One was of some Metropolitan policemen, taken about 1870, and the other - which I instantly recognized - was of Miller's Court, of which no photograph was known to exist. When I tried to trace their source, I was told that they had come from a large album of photographs which disappeared when the force museum was broken up in 1959 and lost at the same time as the 'From Hell' letter, which vanished with it. I don't believe that they have been lost forever. But their present whereabouts is still a mystery.
Bill Waddell, The Black Museum, 1993:-
In 1988, on the centenary of the Ripper murders, I received an envelope which contained papers from the Ripper files that had not been seen for many years, including the original 'Dear Boss' letter. They were sent from Croyden, and the envelope was tested for fingerprints. After eliminating the prints of those who had handled it, one set was found of which there was no trace. Who sent them has never been discovered. I also found other interesting material relating to the Ripper. While going through some old photograph albums that had been used for CID training, I found pictures of the five victims. The scramble to release them to the press was one of the most remarkable experiences of my forty years with the Metropolitan Police.
Jack the Ripper letter and pictures returned to Yard 100 years after Killing.
By Neil Darbyshire
Crime Correspondent
... Also shown publicly for the first time yesterday were original post mortem photographs of three of the Ripper's victims which had been presumed lost. They were returned to Scotland Yard separately [from the 'Dear Boss' letter, Bond report, Crippen items etc.] by the family of a senior police officer who died recently.
It is not known how the photographs came into his possession but he is believed to have used them to illustrate criminology lectures.
Extract from The Independent, Friday 19 August 1988:-
Thema: Frage zu den Tatortfotos und deren Geschichte. (Gelesen 16836 mal)