Skull Reunited With Body of Girl Murdered in 1887

Not Mary's actual skull

Almost 130 years after Mary Tuplin was murdered, a ceremony has been held to reunite her head with her body. As bizarre as this sounds, the skull of the pregnant 17 year old Prince Edward Island woman had been separated from her skeleton body for forensic examination and was never reunited. It remained in the coroner's office over the years and eventually a local family took it home where it remained.

The murdered girl's body was discovered in the Southwest River on July 4, 1887, just a short distance from where she lived with her parents in Margate. She had been shot twice in the head and dumped in the river, her body weighted down with a heavy stone.
 
William Millman, 20, was convicted of the murder and hanged, despite the jury’s recommendation for mercy. Many local islanders believe he was innocent and the story is still told on the island.

A service was held on August 21 at the United Church cemetery in Margate, P.E.I., where Mary's skull was buried with the rest of her remains.

Read more at  Skull of murdered P.E.I. teen finally reunited with her body after 129 years 
and Mary Pickering Tuplin, 1887 murder victim, properly laid to rest

You can also read the full text of "Verbatim report of the Millman-Tuplin murder trial [microform] : Supreme Court, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, 1888"

The Tragic Story of Little Willie McCallister

Poor Willie McCallister. Little did he know that November day in 1885 that his young life would end. 

New York Times 6 November 1885

Willie, sometimes called Fred, was 5 years old and living in the Catholic Orphan Home for Boys in Troy New York.  He and an older boy, 12 year old Eddie Townsend wanted to watch the fireworks, so they devised a plan to sneak out and enjoy the show. But young Willie stepped in the muck, made much worse than usual by the rainy weather, and could not get out. 

He struggled, but sank further into the wet sludge. Young Townsend ran off and was found wandering the streets the next day. Sadly he did not tell authorities that Willie was trapped until two nights had passed. When he did finally reveal Willie's plight, it was too late. Little Willie was found dead with mud up to his chin. 

Willie deserves to be remembered and perhaps my readers can help find Willie's family. According to a lengthy article in The Times on November 12th, Willie's mother was Kate McCallister living on North 1st Street and employed at Leggett's Box Factory. Willie was said to be very good-looking and well-liked in the Asylum. He is the perfect example of what is known as a "half-orphan", that is, a child with one parent living but in destitute circumstances.

Eddie Townsend was arrested as it was revealed that he disliked little Willie and often struck him with sticks. He was later charged with manslaughter in Willie's death

The Times 12 November 1885 (4 clippings above)

Pittsburgh Post Gazette 7 November 1885

Thanks to visitor Beckie who sent me the Pittsburgh Newspaper clipping and asked for my help. 

UPDATE! I think I may have found "Willie" and his family in 1880 in Troy New York. The family consists of Frederick McCallister, age 35, a  moulder born in Pennsylvania with wife Katie, age 25 born New York and with children Grace,6 and Freddie, 7months (Freddie would be little "Willie") I am off to hunt for the family in 1900.

Has Jack the Ripper Been Found Through DNA?

A few days ago the Daily Mail UK published an article written by Russell Edwards. Mr. Edwards believes he has found the true identity of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer responsible for  at least five grisly murders in Whitechapel in East London during the autumn of 1888.

The story is compelling. Mr. Edwards owns a shawl said to have been found on or near the body of Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper's victims. One of the policeman who investigated the murder in 1888 took the shawl home to his wife and she immediately packed it away, unwashed.

The shawl was passed on from one generation to the next until  2007 when the current owner at that time decided to auction it off.  Edwards, a self-confessed amateur detective, bought the shawl and enlisted the help of Dr Jari Louhelainen, a world-renowned expert in analyzing genetic evidence from historical crime scenes. His credentials are top-notch in his field.

Dr Louhelainen was able to extract 126-year-old DNA from the material and compare it to DNA from descendants of Eddowes, resulting in a perfect match. Thus the shawl was proven to be Eddowes, which answered questions about its provenance.

DNA samples from what Dr. Loouhelainen believed to be semen on the shawl were then compared with a descendant of the sister of the prime suspect, again with a perfect match as the result. Mr. Edwards believes this new DNA evidence proves conclusively that Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jew who had fled to London with his family, escaping the Russian pogroms, in the early 1880s, was Jack the Ripper. Edwards'  book Naming Jack the Ripper will be published by Sidgwick & Jackson today, September 9th. 

Some questions spring to mind - why did they not test descendants of all the suspects in case another match was found? How do they know that Mr. Kosminski's semen was found at the scene because he was a customer of Ms. Eddowes, rather than her murderer? 

I will almost certainly purchase the book in hopes of reading more details of the analysis of the DNA sample. Although the shawl is not listed in the inventory of items found on Catherine Eddowes or in her room, I do not find that too unusual. I suspect the police officer who supposedly asked permission to keep the shawl, may have taken it home with him before the inventory was taken - with or without permission of his superiors. What did intrigue me was the listing of a skirt patterned with Michaelmas daisies. The same design of Michaelmas daisies occurs on the shawl.

Continue reading full details at WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Jack the Ripper unmasked: How amateur sleuth used DNA breakthrough to identify Britain's most notorious criminal 126 years after string of terrible murders