Resurrection City III: The Breconshire Horrors

[Andrew D. Gable]

It will not be forgotten; it will find
A voice, like the volcano, and will scatter
Such hideous wreck among us, deaf and blind,
As all our sheltering shams shall rend and shatter.
The den is dark, secluded, it may yield
To Belial a haunt, to Mammon profit;
But we shall reap the tillage of that field
In harvest meet for Tophet.
Slum-farming knaves suck shameful wealth from sin,
But a dread Nemesis abides therein.
~ Punch, September 29, 1888

July 31, 1893
Dr. Thomas Bond sat at his desk in the wood-panelled office in his respectable home in Broad Sanctuary, in Westminster, among the government buildings and not far from New Scotland Yard. A pipe hung from his jaw, bluish smoke filling the room as he shuffled through papers and photographs pertinent to the latest case he was working on.

Just then, his housekeeper knocked at the door. "Some men here to see you, sir."

Dr. Bond nodded. "Thank you, send them in."

A moment later, the door opened and in filed five men, two of whom Bond recognized. "Jamison, Richard," he greeted them, standing and shaking their hands. "How've you both been these past few years? And who are your friends here?" He sat back in his chair.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Here's a picture of New Scotland Yard (as opposed to Old Scotland Yard; this building was being constructed in 1888 and as a bit of trivia, an unidentified and dismembered body was found on the grounds. Jack, or maybe not?).

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"Dr. Bond. A pleasure to see ye again, sir. May I be introducing Trevor McAllister, Baron Walsingham, Sergeant William Robinson, and the Reverend Andrew Miller. I wish that we could have been here to see ye under better circumstances, but I'm afraid that things are right fec--" Diggory coughs. "Well, we've just come from speaking with Mr. McCarthy, a chandler in Whitechapel. Miller's Court area, ye know. I do hate to be dragging up the past, but I'm afraid this has some sort of connection with the Ripper."

Jamison runs a hand through his hair, sighs, and turns to Hewitt and the others, waiting for one of them to pick up his thread. It's really the last place I've been wanting to return to, but there it is, and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Dr. Bond shakes in turn the hands of his other guests. He grimaces at Diggory's explanation. "John McCarthy? The one who was there that morning? That was a ghastly mess, wasn't it?" He sighs and then laughs slightly at another part of Diggory's remarks. "And I hate hearing about the past. That part of it, anyway. So, our old 'jolly friend' isn't up to his old tricks again, is he? Haven't heard anyhting from Whitechapel, think I'd would were it so."

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"It's connected to the Ripper somehow, at least Mr. McCarthy indicated so. He even suggested talking to ye about it. Mentioned a gentleman named Yesset, said he was watching over something fer someone, that it was all five years gone now, and that ye could help us more than he could. Mentioned his fondness for Mary Kelly, too."

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"And you're thinking that that something he was looking after was Mary?" Dr. Bond says, finger on chin. "Can't say I've ever heard of a fellow named Yesset. Sounds like a Jewish name, doesn't it? Enough of them about." He thinks silently for several minutes, puffing on his pipe thoughtfully. "I don't know if it's what McCarthy meant... but yes, I believe there was something odd with that Kelly woman." Bond rises and disappears into another room.

After a few moments, he reappears, a thick folder in his hand. He lays it down on the desk beside him. "Here's everything I have on file about her." He opens it and leafs through the papers and those ghastly photographs. He draws one paper out and snaps the folder shut. "Here. This is the post-mortem report I made." He indicates one passage with his finger.

"Imagine my surprise when I found that Kelly had been the recipient of some fairly major, and dare I say, nonstandard surgery during her lifetime. I found a dented scar on the top of the cranium. It probably would have been covered by her hair in life. Further investigation revealed that the forecenter of her brain," he points to a spot on his forehead, between his eyes, "right about here but a few inches back, had been tampered with. I informed the Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard about it, but it was never made public, thankfully."

No, Bond didn't really find that!

 

[Jarval]

"That's a little, well, odd." Richard says, somewhat redundantly. "And difficult to know what effect such surgery might have had. Do you have any theories, Doctor?"

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"And difficult to know what effect such surgery might have had. Do you have any theories, Doctor?"

"A few observations rather than theories, though I must admit, they make little sense to me. It's interesting to me to note that most of this 'tampering' seems to have been at the pineal body. That's possibly somewhat of an explanation, though we know not what said body's purpose is. Those fellows from India and other parts of the East attribute it as being the site of the 'third eye' and all that nonsense."

 

[JimAde]

"A few observations rather than theories, though I must admit, they make little sense to me. It's interesting to me to note that most of this 'tampering' seems to have been at the pineal body. That's possibly somewhat of an explanation, though we know not what said body's purpose is. Those fellows from India and other parts of the East attribute it as being the site of the 'third eye' and all that nonsense."

Trevor chuckles sardonically at this. "Well regardless of its purpose, that sort of mucking about in a person's head is not to be done lightly. Requires someone who knows their way around the old brain-pan," he says tapping his own head lightly with his walking stick. "Is that something either of you medical men would feel confident doing, or is that outside normal medical training?"

"As far as Yesset goes, perhaps the police have something on file about him. I have a few people I could ask as well," he adds.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"It's possible the police have a file on Yesset. If it's in with the Ripper files, though, it might take some work to get at."

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"Is that something either of you medical men would feel confident doing, or is that outside normal medical training?"

"For my part," says Dr. Bond, "I would not. Some familiarity with the brain is, of course, standard knowledge for we medical professionals." He looks toward Dr. Hewitt and continues. "However, only a few could perform such an operation with any confidence, I think. Mostly those who deal with regularity with lunatics -- doctors at asylums, for instance. And even then, I stress that such a surgery is definitely not without risks."

"As far as Yesset goes, perhaps the police have something on file about him. I have a few people I could ask as well," he adds.

"Dr. Hewitt and I could possibly check around at asylums and sanitoriums in the area for record of this man as well. A Dr. Yesset shouldn't be hard to find, I don't believe. It's not a common name, after all. And Mary's skull had healed over quite a bit," he says. "So it's quite likely we'd be dealing with a procedure done anywhere from 1883 to 1886, which also helps narrow it down. That is, if Dr. Hewitt's willing, of course."

I didn't realize until I wrote it (love how that happens), but Bond's procedure date ties in nicely with the date of 1884 Mary Kelly gave as when she arrived in London. I frighten myself...

Jim: I totally forgot. In reality, apparently, Marie Lloyd also knew John McCarthy. Really, I didn't make that up.