Ruxton Murders: How discovery of dismembered bodies near Moffat created a forensic science revolution

Science and Health

The use of cutting-edge scientific techniques in the prosecution of Dr Buck Ruxton for the murders of his wife Isabella Ruxton and her maid Mary Rogerson in 1935 transformed how the police investigated crimeAs you walk through the ornate iron gates of the anatomy department at Edinburgh University’s Old Medical School, the first thing you notice is a massive elephant skeleton, standing as if on guard.Then another display catches your eye, more modest but much more important. In an illuminated glass cabinet is a book inscribed with a list of names. It is a book of remembrance, not to war dead but those who have left the ultimate legacy: their bodies as a gift to medical science.Within the medical school, they are known as the Silent Teachers, and their contribution is revered and deeply appreciated. Technology has brought much to medical training but there is no digital substitute for the hands-on reality of the human body. The Silent Teachers are just as important today as they were when the medical school opened, almost 300 years ago.I was thinking about this when I heard the anatomy department was making efforts to return some remains of victims of an infamous murder case, which I have studied and written about.Read MoreExhaustive investigationThe 1935 Ruxton Murders were the sensation of the age. The discovery of dozens of dismembered body parts in a ravine just north of Moffat set in motion one of the 20th century’s most complex and consequential murder investigations.It brought together the police and the leading forensic scientists of their day in a brilliant episode that laid the foundation for modern, science-led, criminal investigations. After exhaustive investigation, the body parts were suspected to be those of society hostess Isabella Ruxton and her maid Mary Rogerson.The main suspect was Isabella’s husband, the suave Dr Buck Ruxton. With a background of domestic violence, he had the motive and the ability to dismember the bodies, but the case rested on identifying the bodies. Long before DNA and with the body parts mutilated, this was a challenge even for leading scientists.What followed was innovative brilliance that developed no less than three distinct branches of forensic science to identify the body parts and prove the case. Forensic entomology, dermal fingerprinting, and facial superimposition were presented as evidence for the first time in the case.Police hold back a crowd outside Strangeways gaol in Manchester before the execution of Dr Buck Ruxton for the murder of his wife Isabella Ruxton and her maid Mary Rogerson (Picture: Fox Photos)

Ruxton Murders: How discovery of dismembered bodies near Moffat created a forensic science revolution

Science and Health

The use of cutting-edge scientific techniques in the prosecution of Dr Buck Ruxton for the murders of his wife Isabella Ruxton and her maid Mary Rogerson in 1935 transformed how the police investigated crimeAs you walk through the ornate iron gates of the anatomy department at Edinburgh University’s Old Medical School, the first thing you notice is a massive elephant skeleton, standing as if on guard.Then another display catches your eye, more modest but much more important. In an illuminated glass cabinet is a book inscribed with a list of names. It is a book of remembrance, not to war dead but those who have left the ultimate legacy: their bodies as a gift to medical science.Within the medical school, they are known as the Silent Teachers, and their contribution is revered and deeply appreciated. Technology has brought much to medical training but there is no digital substitute for the hands-on reality of the human body. The Silent Teachers are just as important today as they were when the medical school opened, almost 300 years ago.I was thinking about this when I heard the anatomy department was making efforts to return some remains of victims of an infamous murder case, which I have studied and written about.Read MoreExhaustive investigationThe 1935 Ruxton Murders were the sensation of the age. The discovery of dozens of dismembered body parts in a ravine just north of Moffat set in motion one of the 20th century’s most complex and consequential murder investigations.It brought together the police and the leading forensic scientists of their day in a brilliant episode that laid the foundation for modern, science-led, criminal investigations. After exhaustive investigation, the body parts were suspected to be those of society hostess Isabella Ruxton and her maid Mary Rogerson.The main suspect was Isabella’s husband, the suave Dr Buck Ruxton. With a background of domestic violence, he had the motive and the ability to dismember the bodies, but the case rested on identifying the bodies. Long before DNA and with the body parts mutilated, this was a challenge even for leading scientists.What followed was innovative brilliance that developed no less than three distinct branches of forensic science to identify the body parts and prove the case. Forensic entomology, dermal fingerprinting, and facial superimposition were presented as evidence for the first time in the case.Police hold back a crowd outside Strangeways gaol in Manchester before the execution of Dr Buck Ruxton for the murder of his wife Isabella Ruxton and her maid Mary Rogerson (Picture: Fox Photos)

Incoming Trump administration to make science scientific again

Science and Health

OPINION:

The four-plus year editor-in-chief of Scientific American, Laura Helmuth, recently quit her job after taking to social media to rant against Donald Trump’s supporters as the “meanest” and the “dumbest,” and to call Generation X-ers who voted Republican “f—-ing fascists.” She also said this of MAGA voters: “F—- them to the moon and back.”

Science, Democrat style.

Helmuth later tried to apologize. But too little, too late.

“I’ve decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief,” she wrote in a Bluesky message. “I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching).”

Great. Maybe she can bring the COVID scientists and LGBTQ medical professionals with her.

America has faced a scarcity of true science in recent ages, due in large part to Democrats’ willful destruction of truth.

Helmuth is of the breed of scientist that believes all those outside the scholarly learning circles of certain select areas of study are of inferior intellect — namely, that if you ain’t as college pedigreed as a Dr. Anthony Fauci or a Bill Gates, then you’re in the class called Stoopid. 

“Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science,” Fauci said, amid 2021 attacks from Republicans who wanted to know why he kept obfuscating on his so-called science of mask wearing, science of COVID shots, science of COVID origins, science of COVID lockdowns. Basically, any time someone questioned Fauci about a Fauci COVID recommendation, Fauci would rail against the questioner as a luddite, a dolt, a COVID denier. What’s the science for six feet of social distancing — of wearing two masks or more — of closing gyms and bakeries and churches but not Walmart and liquor stores and marijuana shops — of staying off the beaches and out of parks, where all that fresh air circulates, Dr. Fauci? “I am science, hear me roar!” — Fauci would respond.

“Take the shots, take all the shots!” — Fauci would follow up and say.

Meanwhile, my how the Big Pharma-slash-taxpayer money did flow.

“How Bill Gates and partners used their clout to control the global Covid response — with little oversight,” Politico wrote in September of 2022.

“Big Pharma raked in USD 90 billion in profits with COVID-19 vaccines,” The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations wrote in February of 2023.

“Fauci Making Millions During COVID Pandemic Sparks Backlash,” Newsweek wrote in September of 2023.

It’s difficult to stomach the idea of scientists and medical bureaucrats and pharmaceuticals and various government entities making millions upon millions of dollars from the COVID shots when they’re simultaneously partnering to force the shots in the arms of every man, woman and child on planet Earth. And let’s not forget: Those who questioned the shots were treated to swift social media bans and censorship. That’s not so much science at work as conflicts of interest. 

After all, imagine a doctor who creates a pill, profits off the sale of that pill, and is then sheltered by the government from being sued for adverse effects from the digesting of the pill — imagine if that doctor were to solely prescribe that pill to all patients, and tell those patients to ignore all other forms of treatment. Wouldn’t that doctor clearly be guilty of a conflict of interest? 

That’s what the world’s medical bureaucrats and Big Pharma and partners did during COVID. And just as with the pretend scenario of the doctor who prescribed the pill and only the pill to patients, all the while profiting off the sale of the pill, the global health wonks who forced America and the world into unjustified lockdowns and into unreasonable wearing of face masks and social distancing ought to be put to the fire of accountability.

Yes, to the fire of accountability and consequence, both.

“Rand Paul vows to investigate ‘covid coverup’ as Senate [oversight] panel’s new chair,” The Washington Post wrote a few days ago.

That should be just the beginning.

Let the exodus of all elitists hiding behind their higher education degrees begin. For too many years, free Americans were forced to bend their wills and cede their liberties to the leftists in government and to the secularists in health care and to the arrogant and prideful in the medical world and to the profiteers in Big Pharma and to those who sought to exploit the coronavirus for personal and political gain.

For far too long, liberty-loving citizens were compelled to sit down, shut up and do the bidding of the power-hungry who saw the coronavirus as a tool of control and who used fear to steal individual rights and instill an atmosphere of communist-like collectivism around the nation. But it was all in the name of science; all in the name of best medical science.

Then came the LGBTQ lunacy and the destruction of the definition of male and female and the rebellion against traditional family and medical abominations against children who said they wanted to transition and the bucking of all that was ordained by God, all that’s the will of God for His creations. Once again, it’s all in the name of science.

Science, thanks be to Democrats, has become a mockery.

That the editor of Scientific American feels the need to resign solely because of the president-elect’s incoming administration sends a strong message that the unscientific science of recent years is about to reverse course. Out with the lunatic fringe; out with the censorship of dissenting viewpoints; out with the forced medical treatments and underage sex organ snipping.

Trump won’t just make America prosperous again, safe again, secure again and great again. He will also likely make America’s science scientific again. 

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

Incoming Trump administration to make science scientific again

Science and Health

OPINION:

The four-plus year editor-in-chief of Scientific American, Laura Helmuth, recently quit her job after taking to social media to rant against Donald Trump’s supporters as the “meanest” and the “dumbest,” and to call Generation X-ers who voted Republican “f—-ing fascists.” She also said this of MAGA voters: “F—- them to the moon and back.”

Science, Democrat style.

Helmuth later tried to apologize. But too little, too late.

“I’ve decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief,” she wrote in a Bluesky message. “I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching).”

Great. Maybe she can bring the COVID scientists and LGBTQ medical professionals with her.

America has faced a scarcity of true science in recent ages, due in large part to Democrats’ willful destruction of truth.

Helmuth is of the breed of scientist that believes all those outside the scholarly learning circles of certain select areas of study are of inferior intellect — namely, that if you ain’t as college pedigreed as a Dr. Anthony Fauci or a Bill Gates, then you’re in the class called Stoopid. 

“Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science,” Fauci said, amid 2021 attacks from Republicans who wanted to know why he kept obfuscating on his so-called science of mask wearing, science of COVID shots, science of COVID origins, science of COVID lockdowns. Basically, any time someone questioned Fauci about a Fauci COVID recommendation, Fauci would rail against the questioner as a luddite, a dolt, a COVID denier. What’s the science for six feet of social distancing — of wearing two masks or more — of closing gyms and bakeries and churches but not Walmart and liquor stores and marijuana shops — of staying off the beaches and out of parks, where all that fresh air circulates, Dr. Fauci? “I am science, hear me roar!” — Fauci would respond.

“Take the shots, take all the shots!” — Fauci would follow up and say.

Meanwhile, my how the Big Pharma-slash-taxpayer money did flow.

“How Bill Gates and partners used their clout to control the global Covid response — with little oversight,” Politico wrote in September of 2022.

“Big Pharma raked in USD 90 billion in profits with COVID-19 vaccines,” The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations wrote in February of 2023.

“Fauci Making Millions During COVID Pandemic Sparks Backlash,” Newsweek wrote in September of 2023.

It’s difficult to stomach the idea of scientists and medical bureaucrats and pharmaceuticals and various government entities making millions upon millions of dollars from the COVID shots when they’re simultaneously partnering to force the shots in the arms of every man, woman and child on planet Earth. And let’s not forget: Those who questioned the shots were treated to swift social media bans and censorship. That’s not so much science at work as conflicts of interest. 

After all, imagine a doctor who creates a pill, profits off the sale of that pill, and is then sheltered by the government from being sued for adverse effects from the digesting of the pill — imagine if that doctor were to solely prescribe that pill to all patients, and tell those patients to ignore all other forms of treatment. Wouldn’t that doctor clearly be guilty of a conflict of interest? 

That’s what the world’s medical bureaucrats and Big Pharma and partners did during COVID. And just as with the pretend scenario of the doctor who prescribed the pill and only the pill to patients, all the while profiting off the sale of the pill, the global health wonks who forced America and the world into unjustified lockdowns and into unreasonable wearing of face masks and social distancing ought to be put to the fire of accountability.

Yes, to the fire of accountability and consequence, both.

“Rand Paul vows to investigate ‘covid coverup’ as Senate [oversight] panel’s new chair,” The Washington Post wrote a few days ago.

That should be just the beginning.

Let the exodus of all elitists hiding behind their higher education degrees begin. For too many years, free Americans were forced to bend their wills and cede their liberties to the leftists in government and to the secularists in health care and to the arrogant and prideful in the medical world and to the profiteers in Big Pharma and to those who sought to exploit the coronavirus for personal and political gain.

For far too long, liberty-loving citizens were compelled to sit down, shut up and do the bidding of the power-hungry who saw the coronavirus as a tool of control and who used fear to steal individual rights and instill an atmosphere of communist-like collectivism around the nation. But it was all in the name of science; all in the name of best medical science.

Then came the LGBTQ lunacy and the destruction of the definition of male and female and the rebellion against traditional family and medical abominations against children who said they wanted to transition and the bucking of all that was ordained by God, all that’s the will of God for His creations. Once again, it’s all in the name of science.

Science, thanks be to Democrats, has become a mockery.

That the editor of Scientific American feels the need to resign solely because of the president-elect’s incoming administration sends a strong message that the unscientific science of recent years is about to reverse course. Out with the lunatic fringe; out with the censorship of dissenting viewpoints; out with the forced medical treatments and underage sex organ snipping.

Trump won’t just make America prosperous again, safe again, secure again and great again. He will also likely make America’s science scientific again. 

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

Handbag maker Mulberry plans to simplify business as losses widen

Business News

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The new boss of British luxury handbag maker Mulberry has said he will simplify the business as part of his plan to turn it around, after sales fell by a fifth and losses widened.Revenues at Mulberry fell 19 per cent to £56mn in the six months to September 28. Its loss before tax was £15.7mn, compared with £12.8mn in the same period last year.Chief executive Andrea Baldo, who has been in post for less than three months, said: “In response to current market conditions, we have taken decisive steps to streamline operations, improve margins, reduce working capital, and strengthen our cash position.”He added that the brand would alter its product line-up, prices, and distribution, and was in talks with wholesalers “to ensure we are present wherever our customers shop”.The “challenging and volatile macroeconomic environment” was affecting consumer confidence, particularly in the UK, Baldo said. Brands across the globe have had to contend with a slowdown in luxury spending. The comments came after Mulberry recently rejected a takeover approach from its second-largest shareholder Frasers Group. Its majority owner Challice, which has a 56.4 per cent stake and is controlled by billionaire property tycoon Ong Beng Seng and his wife Christina, said it was not interested in selling. On Tuesday, Mulberry said it had incurred £824,000 in redundancy costs in the half year. It added that a strategic review of the business would be finished in December and it would provide more details at a later date. Sales in the UK, its largest market, fell 14 per cent to £31.2mn during the period. In the Asia Pacific region sales were down 31 per cent to £9.3mn — mainly because of a slowdown in China and South Korea, where retail purchases were down 52 and 29 per cent respectively. However, retail sales in Australia were up 3 per cent on the same period last year.

Listen Technologies appoints new regional sales manager

Technology

Listen Technologies Corporation, a provider of advanced wireless listening solutions for 26 years, has promoted Shawnee Bond to regional sales manager. Bond will manage Listen Technologies’ team of manufacturer representative firms in the Western United States.
She will also work directly with Listen Technologies dealers, integrators, consultants, and end users throughout the region. Bond will report to Listen Technologies senior sales director Mikey Shaffer.
Bond joined Listen Technologies in 2017 and has worked in customer service and sales roles at the company. Most recently, she was an account sales representative for the Western United States where she fostered strong relationships and a keen understanding of the market and related industries. Bond has earned the trust and respect of colleagues, channel partners, and customers with her clear communication skills, supportive and collaborative manner, and extensive knowledge of Listen Technologies’ solutions.
Shaffer said: “Throughout her tenure at Listen Technologies, Shawnee has proved to be a champion in her stellar support of our channel and our manufacturer’s reps and has been a tremendous driver of our mutual growth. It is truly my pleasure to see Shawnee step into the role of Western regional sales manager and I look forward to the team’s continued success in the West under her leadership.”
Bond will lead the Western US team selling Listen Technologies’ full suite of listening solutions, including ListenWIFI, ListenTALK, ListenRF, and ListenIR. She will also represent Ampetronic and sell its induction loop systems in the Western United States as part of Listen Technologies’ partnership with Ampetronic and the companies’ creation of a single, market-leading source for innovative audio solutions.
Bond said: ”I am excited to strengthen the relationships I have with customers, manufacturer’s reps, and consultants in this new role. I believe in the purpose of Listen Technologies and am grateful for the opportunity to further our shared goals and help meet the needs of venues and end users with new and innovative technologies and solutions.”
Bond is an artist who enjoys painting and working with different mediums. She reports that her creativity helps her look at things in different ways: “Sometimes a fresh perspective is all you need to find the best way to move forward, whether in work or on a painting.”

Spirit to Sell Fiber Materials Inc. Business to Tex Tech Industries

Business News

Spirit AeroSystems has agreed to sell its Fiber Materials Inc. business to Tex-Tech Industries for $165 million in cash.
In a statement released Monday, Tex-Tech CEO Scott Burkhart said FMI’s range of high-performance products will be added to the company’s offerings for the space and defense industry.
“Our customers demand world-class solutions, and the integration of FMI bolsters our ability to meet those demands,” he added.
FMI produces high-temperature materials and reinforced composites. Its products support defense systems and NASA programs like Stardust, Mars Curiosity, Orion and Mars 2020.
Tex-Tech, on the other hand, is a global supplier of materials science-based products in key markets such as aerospace, defense, medical, and industrial.

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Zelenskyy: New economic policy provides for business support, security and honesty of state

Business News

14:01
19.11.2024

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a new economic policy based on support for entrepreneurship, security of business and honesty of the state towards it.

“Despite all the difficulties of the war, the Ukrainian economy maintains basic stability. It needs a new economic policy of our state. A policy that will be based on several key things,” he said during his speech in the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.

According to the president, the first point will be maximum support for Ukrainian entrepreneurship, localization and production in Ukraine, since it is necessary to expand access of Ukrainian producers to the public procurement market.

In his opinion, everything that can be produced in Ukraine should be produced in Ukraine and purchased from Ukrainian producers.

“Effective insurance of war risks is required. Consistent deregulation and protection of freedom of enterprise, which will be reflected in economic growth, are needed. A gradual reduction in the share of redistribution of GDP by the state is required,” the head of state emphasized.

The second important principle in the new economic policy of Ukraine will be the safety of doing business and reducing pressure on business from all government institutions that control the activities of others, and do not create added value themselves. Zelenskyy is confident that the favorable Ukrainian jurisdiction and the attraction of investment are inseparable from the security of every “white” business in Ukraine.

The third principle is honesty in relations between the state and business, since, according to Zelenskyy, the state is interested in maximum and legal employment in Ukraine, de-shadowing.

He added that this cannot be achieved only by forceful measures, entrepreneurs need an incentive to de-shadow, and not new pressure.

Zelenskyy believes that this kind of economic policy can lead Ukraine to sustainable economic growth, a sufficient level of security for Ukraine’s defense needs, and the preservation of human capital due to the fact that Ukrainians will be able to realize themselves and their aspirations in Ukraine.

“Without a strong economy, this will not happen. There will be no strong economy without respect for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. Therefore, in fact, we are not just talking about decisions on the economy. We are talking about a decision about the future,” the president of Ukraine concluded.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is Back with a New Book and More Book News!

Arts & Culture, Books

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at [email protected].
View All posts by Emily Martin

Book lovers, it’s time to gather ’round to share the hottest book gossip and revel in all of the exciting book news. Sure, the world might be on fire, and the rest of the news cycle might be dire, but at least we have a few nuggets of book news to carry us through the rest of this chaotic month. So take a break from your doom-scrolling and comfort yourself with a little bit of book cheer.

Here’s the cover of Mia Sosa’s upcoming romance novel When Javi Dumped Mari. What’s more, Cosmopolitan is letting readers have a look at the first chapter. So check that out, and get ready to pick this book up on June 24th, 2025.Here’s another fun book to check out in 2025! Ally Carter’s The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold will be out on August 5th. Check out an excerpt over at People right now.Taylor Jenkins Reid is back with a new novel! According to the publisher Ballantine, a Penguin Random House imprint, Atmosphere tells “a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.” It’s out on June 3rd.

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Bridgerton actess Bessie Carter is narrating Marie Benedict’s new novel The Queens of Crime. The novel will be out in print and on audiobook in February 2025 from St. Martin’s Press. Check out the cover of the new queer romance from Gabriella Gamez, Kiss Me, Maybe. The author told Entertainment Weekly, “I was actually very particular about what I wanted this cover to look like, which is funny because I was not this way at all with my first book. There’s a scene in Kiss Me, Maybe where Krystal is placing a flower crown on Angela’s head during Fiesta, and as I was actively writing it I knew I wanted the cover to convey that scene in some way.” Kiss Me, Maybe is out from Forever on May 6th, 2025.

Be sure to come back and check out more book news every week. In the meantime, take care of yourself. Read a good book. We’ll see you very, very soon.
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