Jack the Ripper's suspected true identity will be revealed later, more than 100 years after his gruesome series of murders terrified London.

The killer was never caught and there have been countless investigations, books, articles, plays, films and musicals based on the murders.

Now, documents from the original investigation have been discovered by a descendant of the officer in charge of the case in 1888.

The papers from Chief Inspector Donald Swanson shed new light on the notorious case and are said to contain the name of the person suspected of the crimes.

They are being loaned to Scotland Yard's Crime Museum - the oldest of its kind in the world - for its relaunch today.

At least five women - all prostitutes - were killed by the Ripper and there are several theories as to his identity.

His victims were either strangled or stabbed, with some of the bodies badly mutilated and even having organs removed. Some believed he had medical training.

Until now, those in the frame have included an employee of the Royal Family, an artist and a man called Francis Tumblety who was arrested shortly after the last killing but escaped to the US.

source (http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13532581,00.html)...

This thread (http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1090&highlight=jack+ripper) mentions the possiblility JTR is buried in Anfield Cemetary. Scroll down.

I wonder if it really was Liverpool man James Maybrick?

Who was Spring Heeled Jack?

I remember reading about this years ago, apparently he jumped from roof to roof in Everton Valley.

*googles*

That spring heeled jack has appeared over many years and in different locations- largely around London. Some reports said he breathed fire as well as having incredible jumping skills. Could he have been an alien??

Ill look forward to the ripper disclosure, ive read a few books on the subject

James Maybrick is buried in Anfield Cemetery.

I think it will just be another suspect to add to the long list. doubt we will ever get the true answer, but i bet they know who it was. I think it must have been more than one person.:disgust:

What sits at the bottom of the sea and scares all the other fish????????


JACK THE KIPPER:celb (23):

Click here (http://www.truebritsjournal.co.uk/links/jack_the_ripper.htm). :eek:

Cool Howie

Sad case about Florence.

New documents about the identity of 1880s serial killer Jack The Ripper are to be revealed at the re-launch of Scotland Yard's Crime Museum.

The paperwork has been donated by relatives of an officer involved in the original investigation.

The museum, which has been re-vamped and modernised, features exhibits from famous cases dating back to 1875.

Admission to the exhibition is by invitation only and attracts officers, crime experts and lawyers.

At the re-launch, a relative of Ch Insp Donald Swanson, the senior investigating officer of the Jack the Ripper case, will be handing over the paperwork which provides a name suspected to be the murderer.

Medical training

The serial killer is believed to have killed five prostitutes in Whitechapel, east London, in 1888 but he was never caught.

His victims were either strangled or stabbed, with some of the bodies badly mutilated and even having organs removed. Some believed he had medical training.

The pseudonym Jack the Ripper was coined from a letter sent to a London news agency at the time of the murders, supposedly from the killer himself, but which police later dismissed as a hoax.

Countless articles, books, plays, films and musicals are based on the unsolved murder mystery, among them 2001's From Hell, starring Johnny Depp.

Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell's 2002 book Portrait Of A Killer set out to solve the killings using modern investigative techniques.

She concluded that artist Walter Sickert was the real Jack the Ripper but other Ripper experts dismissed the findings.

Suspect fled

Also among the names mooted was Francis Tumblety who, according to a 1995 book, was arrested shortly after the last killing but escaped and fled to America.

Another theory is that more than one person was responsible for the killings.

The Crime Museum, stored at Scotland Yard, contains amongst other items death masks, casts of necks disfigured by rope burns and a collection of nooses hanging from a gallows.

New exhibits have been added for relaunched museum.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5173314.stm




I demand a museum presentation on "Spring Heeled Jack"
:D

Museum given Jack the Ripper names
Jul 13 2006

Handwritten notes in which the police officer who led the hunt for Jack The Ripper names his chief suspect for the gruesome murders have been donated to Scotland Yard.

The notes are contained within a book handed down through the family of Chief Inspector Donald Swanson, which was formally presented to the Metropolitan Police to mark the re-launch of its world-famous crime museum.

In his annotations, Mr Swanson names Polish barber Aaron Kosminski as the suspect in the notorious Ripper case.

He had made his handwritten notes in a book called The Lighter Side of my Official Life, the memoirs of Dr Robert Anderson, who was Scotland Yard's assistant commissioner at the time of the Ripper investigation.

Mr Swanson made his personal notes in the margin, naming Kosminski and explaining why he believed him to be the killer who stalked east London back in 1888, claiming the lives of at least five women.

More (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0300nationalnews/tm_objectid=17380682&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=museum-given-jack-the-ripper-names-name_page.html)...

Not James Maybrick then! :o

Hi all

To clarify what was posted above, Chief Inspector Donald Swanson's

marginalia notes have been known for some years so the supposed "revelation" with the news reports making out that it was startling new information that the

Ripper could have been a Polish Jewish barber, Aaron Kosminski, is not actually new at all. In fact, the apparent belief of police officials Sir Robert

Anderson and Donald Swanson that the Ripper was Kosminski is countered by information from other police officers and the likelihood is that Scotland Yard did

not definitely know who the killer was.

The following which I wrote for the "I Beg" news section in Ripperologist 69 (July 2006) should add to

what was posted above. By the way, I don't think James Maybrick was the Ripper and he is only in the frame because of the supposed hoax Diary that came to

light in 1993 and that was apparently put together by local Liverpool forgers. There are though other valid Liverpool connections to the case through other

suspects such as William Deeming, James Kelly, and Liverpool-born former prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (a long shot) as well as American quack Dr.

Francis Tumblety, who is known to have lived in Liverpool in the 1870's.

Chris

* * * *

Chief Inspector Donald S Swanson’s personal copy

of Sir Robert Anderson’s 1910 memoirs The Lighter Side of My Official Life containing his handwritten marginalia notes made on the Whitechapel

murders, which had been on loan to Scotland Yard’s Crime Museum, has been officially donated to the museum. The notes are significant in naming a man named

‘Kosminski’ – generally thought to mean Polish-born Jewish barber Aaron Kosminski – as the unnamed suspect whom, Anderson claims, the Yard had under scrutiny

as the man responsible for the Whitechapel murders.

The ceremony at the Metropolitan Police’s famed ‘Black Museum’ took place on 13 July. Nevill

Swanson, the great-grandson of Chief Inspector Swanson, had loaned the marginalia to the Black Museum and he formally handed it over to the museum in part to

help publicise the Met’s newly refurbished museum.

Although Anderson was cautious in his memoirs, the handwritten notes are more explicit. Anderson

wrote in his book: 'The only person who ever had a good view of the murderer unhesitatingly identified the suspect the instant he was confronted with him,

but he refused to give evidence against him.'

Swanson’s granddaughter, Mary Berkin, stated that the case was commonly discussed by the family. ‘It

was general knowledge that my grandfather knew the name of the killer, and that there was no evidence except from a Jewish man who would not give evidence

for ethical reasons,’ she said. It is thought by some students of the case that witness Joseph Lawende, who saw a man with fourth canonical victim Kate

Eddowes on the night of her murder early on 30 September 1888, might have refused to testify that the man was a Jew known to him.

Swanson’s notes

apparently clarify the situation: ‘Because the suspect was also a Jew, and also because his evidence would convict the suspect, and witness would be the

means of murderer being hanged, which he did not wish to be left on his mind. And after this identification, which suspect knew, no other murder of this kind

took place in London.’ In clear handwriting, and initialled ‘DSS’ as in his annotations on Yard correspondence, Swanson added: ‘Kosminski was the suspect.’



‘My great-grandfather thought he got his man,’ Nevill Swanson said. ‘He would have thought he conducted his detecting job very well and reached a

proper conclusion.’

Partly backing up the story, the name ‘Kosminski’ also appears with those of other suspects in the memorandum written in 1894 by

Assistant Chief Constable Melville Macnaghten. On hand for the Scotland Yard ceremony was Ripperologist and documents expert Keith Skinner, who said there

was no proof implicating any of the suspects that have been suggested. ‘We don't know why these names come into the frame. Swanson’s [notes] produce as many

questions as they do answers,’ he said. Adding to the mystery, Skinner said was that although the Jewish suspect is said to have died, Aaron Kosminski died

in a mental hospital in 1919.

Following is the cover of a German pulp novel about a latterday Ripper in Liverpool. . . .

Hi all

I am gearing up to write a couple of obituaries for Ripperologist for a couple of Philadelphians with Jack the Ripper connections. The two people are actor Jack Palance who has just died and journalist Ed Bradley. Palance played the Ripper in "Man in the Attic" based on "The Lodger." Bradley was the CBS News "60 Minutes" journalist who covered the Maybrick Diary for U.S. TV in 1993. For that piece, he interviewed author Shirley Harrison, Mike and Anne Barrett, and filmed inside Battlecrease House on Riversdale Road, the former mansion of the James and Florence Maybrick. Also he won an award for his report that helped to reopen the case of Emmet Till, the black boy killed in the south in 1955.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6139030.stm

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/featr/content/shared-gen/ap/TV/Obit_Bradley.html

Chris

The face of Jack the Ripper, the 19th-century killer whose identity still remains a mystery, has been revealed for the first time.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1470402.jpg

continues (http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13552821,00.html)....

Kev, Is JTR James Maybrick or Freddie Mercury? could be either, more confused now?? ta mate:celb (23):

http://www.radio-orla.com/en/images/stories/George_chapman_Klosowski.jpg

Snap? Severin Klosowski alias George Chapman, born in Nargoniak, occupied Poland in 1865, failed to qualify as a doctor in his home country and became a London barber. He was found guilty of poisoning three women and hanged on April 7, 1903. Usually considered an also ran as a suspect, he was in the East End at the time of the Whitechapel murders.

Chris

Hi all

I am gearing up to write a couple of obituaries for Ripperologist for a couple of Philadelphians with Jack the Ripper connections. The two people are actor Jack Palance who has just died and journalist Ed Bradley. Palance played the Ripper in "Man in the Attic" based on "The Lodger." Bradley was the CBS News "60 Minutes" journalist who covered the Maybrick Diary for U.S. TV in 1993. For that piece, he interviewed author Shirley Harrison, Mike and Anne Barrett, and filmed inside Battlecrease House on Riversdale Road, the former mansion of the James and Florence Maybrick. Also he won an award for his report that helped to reopen the case of Emmet Till, the black boy killed in the south in 1955.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6139030.stm

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/featr/content/shared-gen/ap/TV/Obit_Bradley.html

Chris

Chris.. Whats is Jack Palances connection to the Ripper ? ...


I have a secret about the Yorkshire Ripper by der way:D

Chris.. Whats is Jack Palances connection to the Ripper ? ...


I have a secret about the Yorkshire Ripper by der way:D

Hi FKoE

I would be interested to hear your secret about the Yorkshire Ripper anytime you care to reveal it.

Palance's connection to the Jack the Ripper is that besides making a career playing baddies, notably in the classic film "Shane", he played the Ripper in the 1953 film "Man in the Attic" based on Marie Belloc Lowndes' novel, The Lodger.

Chris

The Yorkshire ripper contributed to the album cover of a 'ceramic hobs' album cover... The painting was of 'Shergar' :o


So Jack just played a role, called 'the ripper', but other than that there is little connection, to the ripper ?

The Yorkshire ripper contributed to the album cover of a 'ceramic hobs' album cover... The painting was of 'Shergar' :o


So Jack just played a role, called 'the ripper', but other than that there is little connection, to the ripper ?

Thanks for that titbit about the Yorkshire Ripper. Very intersesting. Yes we're doing the obit on Palance because he played the Ripper in that 1953 film but also because he was notable for a career of playing bad guys.

Chris

http://www.rskentertainment.co.uk/prodimg/PUMF469%20-%20Ceramic%20Hobs.jpg


I never told you yeah ? :D

The album is available from pumf.net ;)

Jack the Ripper young and 'frighteningly normal'From correspondents in London

November 21, 2006 04:35am
Article from: Agence France-PresseFont size: + -
Send this article: Print Email
JACK the Ripper was short, stocky and about 30 years old - "frighteningly normal" - according to a profile of the notorious Victorian-era killer published today using state-of-the-art technology.

In the profile unveiled in British newspapers, the man who strangled and butchered five London prostitutes looks probably very different from the man authorities were searching for at the time, police said.

Laura Richards, head of analysis for the Metropolitan Police's Violent Crime Command, has drawn up what is believed to be the most accurate portrait of the murderer after analyzing evidence from the case using modern police techniques.

She said that the evidence from 118 years ago shows that the ripper was between 25 and 35 years old, had a stocky build, and stood between five feet five inches and five feet seven inches tall.

The evidence can also likely locate where he lived.

"For the first time, we are able to understand the kind of person Jack the Ripper was," said Ms Richards, who in the past has studied serial killer Fred West and Ian Huntley, who murdered two girls.

"We can name the street where he probably lived and we can see what he looked like; and we can explain, finally, why this killer eluded justice," Ms Richards said.

Working alongside former Metropolitan Police commander John Grieve, she assembled experts like pathologists, historians and a geographical profiler to understand why the case was never solved and to see whether it still could be.

"This is further than anyone else has got. It would have been enough for coppers to get out and start knocking on doors ... they would have got him," Commander Grieve said.

Drawing on modern experience, the experts studied his legend, analyzed the Ripper's crimes and retraced his steps while examining 13 different witness statements taken at the time of the killings.

The details produced a picture of someone who was "perfectly sane, frighteningly normal, and yet capable of extraordinary cruelty", Ms Richards said.

Commander Grieve said: "It's a popular misconception that nobody ever saw the murderer, that he just vanished into the fog of London. Well that's just not right. There were witnesses at the time who were highly thought of by the police.

"If we were doing this investigation today, we could pool together all these descriptions and the kind of face that the police were clearly looking for. You could come up with a composite and you can go beyond just a full face, you can get something that really helps the police to look for suspects."

In January this year, Jack the Ripper was voted Britain's most hated individual in a BBC poll, which described him as the forerunner of modern serial killers.

ChrisGeorge, The Brit TV documentary,"Revealed-Jack the Ripper", is available for download on UKnova.

ChrisGeorge, The Brit TV documentary,"Revealed-Jack the Ripper", is available for download on UKnova.

Hi shy

Thanks for this information, shy.

I was asked over on the Merseyside & History Forum who Jack the Ripper was, so below is my answer which also talks about the Channel 5 documentary.

No strong thoughts about who the Ripper might have been. The e-fit mugshot of the Ripper that Scotland Yard developed for the Channel 5 documentary that aired on Tuesday, which most people seem to think matches the late Freddie Mercury of Queen (!), does correspond to witness statements that describe a young moustachioed young man about five foot six or seven, perhaps wearing a sailor's cap with a peak. Since those witness statements have been known for 118 years, except for coming up with the face they thus have not produced anything new. FBI profilers in 1888 said it was probably a local man and the Yard now says the same thing. This is a view I agee with as well, and I rather think the Ripper may have been a nobody and we will never know for sure who the killer was. Liverpudlian James Maybrick is only in the frame because of the hoax Diary.

Chris

I lost all respect for the Casebook.org site when someone suggested that Mary Jane Kelly might have been killed by - wait for it - A WEREWOLF!!!!!

Gave me real fits lol.

I don't recognise "Ripperology" and more than I would recognise "Scientology". A Ripperologist is just a name for someone who doesn't know who Jack was. I prefer 'Crime Historian', exemplified by masters like Vincent Burke, who research the facts of a crime, but "Ripperology"? May as well have Zodiacology and Zodiacologists if youre investigating the Zodiac murders. 'Are you a Black Dahliast? A Thames Torsologist?'

I lost all respect for the Casebook.org site when someone suggested that Mary Jane Kelly might have been killed by - wait for it - A WEREWOLF!!!!!

Gave me real fits lol.

I don't recognise "Ripperology" and more than I would recognise "Scientology". A Ripperologist is just a name for someone who doesn't know who Jack was. I prefer 'Crime Historian', exemplified by masters like Vincent Burke, who research the facts of a crime, but "Ripperology"? May as well have Zodiacology and Zodiacologists if youre investigating the Zodiac murders. 'Are you a Black Dahliast? A Thames Torsologist?'

Hello Chazza

Your post is rather on the sneering side. The person who said that about Mary Jane Kelly on Casebook.org -- and I missed the post -- doesn't speak for the site much as you don't speak for Yo Liverpool. I understand from Stephen Ryder, the owner of Casebook.org, that as of this morning the site has 1,627 members. So that was an opinion of one out of 1,627. The best of Ripperologists, such as Stewart P. Evans, Paul Begg, and Philip Sugden, do exactly what you say should be done and "research the facts of a crime" -- so stop carping over the name.

Chris

The following essay originally appeared in Ripperologist magazine in August 2003 at the time of the Jack the Ripper convention held that month at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel.

Jack the Ripper’s Liverpool
By Christopher T. George

Despite the popular success of the books by Shirley Harrison and Paul Feldman on the Maybrick ‘Diary’ that purports to be the ‘confessions’ of Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick, most experts on the case believe the document is not the real bill, although whether a fairly recent post-1988 forgery or one done closer to Maybrick’s demise in May 1889 is uncertain. If James Maybrick was Jack the Ripper, and speaking as a Liverpudlian I feel it unlikely, he was certainly the center of a real-life murder drama, one of the cause celebres of the nineteenth century. For, James’s Alabama-born wife Florence, 26 years his junior, was arrested and charged with poisoning him with arsenic. Her subsequent conviction of the supposed crime caused sonic booms on both sides of the Atlantic as British and American society reeled from the news. However, Maybrick is only one of a number of named suspects who had important ties to Liverpool. Interestingly, the judge at Mrs. Maybrick’s trial, Justice Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, was himself the father of an alleged suspect, poet J K Stephen.

Dr. Tumblety Comes to Liverpool

One major suspect, Irish-American quack Dr. Francis Tumblety, born in Dublin in 1830 but raised in Rochester, New York, was a frequent visitor to the city. He had a sister, Bridget Brady, who lived in nearby Widnes, east of Liverpool. Mrs. Brady, was one of a number of relatives of Tumblety’s who received money under the terms of a will signed a month before his 28 May 1903 death in St. Louis.


http://www.republiquelibre.org/cousture/images7/JACK06.JPG

Dr. Francis Tumblety

Tumblety is the most important suspect named in the last 15 years. He deserves special attention because he is one of the rare handful of suspects named in materials left by senior police officials familiar with the case. Specifically, Chief Inspector John George Littlechild in a letter of 1913 to George R. Sims, mentions Tumblety as a ‘very likely’ suspect. It was the purchase of this letter by Stewart Evans from rare books dealer Eric Barton that led to Stewart’s work on Tumblety and his 1995 book, written with Paul Gainey, The Lodger, later republished as Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer.

Much is known about Tumblety, about his career as an ‘Indian Herb Doctor’ and about his scrapes with the law, usually for homosexual activity, but also, in Canada in 1858 for performing an abortion in Quebec, and for the suspicious death of a man named Portmore two years later in St. John’s, New Brunswick. He was also arrested after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865 and incarcerated in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC. This arrest though was seemingly a case of mistaken identity—the authorities mistook him for a Confederate agent named Dr. Blackburn, the pseudonym of ‘Blackburn’ being one of the good doctor’s aliases.

When you think of a doctor, you might think this implies that the person is used to doing surgical operations. In fact, Tumblety was a pills and potions man, not a cutter-upper of patients. When he performed an abortion, he used pills known as abortifacients. Among the testimonies to the good work he supposedly did and that he published on a regular basis in the press is the testimony of a Mr. King of Washington, DC. In a newspaper ad of 1862, King is cited as a man from whom Tumblety removed ‘a large tumor of a cancerous nature . . . from his head without resorting to the barbarous practice of cutting with a knife.’

While Tumblety lived in Washington in the 1860’s he is said to possessed a collection of women’s uteruses in jars. However, it is likely that as with other shady practitioners, he actually bought this collection as ‘window dressing’ for his trade, rather than that he cut them out himself.

Tumblety was tall, around five foot eleven, aged 58 about the time of the murders, and gay. Some commentators on the Whitechapel murders have questioned whether a homosexual man would target women, and that the sightings of men seen with the victims before their demise appear to be of younger and shorter men than Tumblety. He does also seem to have been a character who attracted attention. Possibly, as many believe, Jack was quite the opposite—a nondescript individual. Dr. Tumblety, though, for all the reservations that commentators on the case have against him as a suspect, is a most interesting character and a genuine prospect for Jack in that he was mentioned as a leading suspect by Littlechild, a senior Scotland Yard police official.

Frederick Douglass, the great African American abolitionist recalled encountering Tumblety on a Liverpool street in a letter of 10 June 1887 to Amy Post—

I met a man in the street a day or two ago—who introduced himself to me as Dr. Tomblety [sic]. . . . He told me much about himself in a very brief space, for he seemed to have more tongue than ears. I could not get a word in anywhere and you know I am too much in love with my own voice to like being suppressed and overtalked in that way, but enough of Dr. Tomblety. He seemed a good fellow after all.

Fourteen years earlier, in late 1874, Tumblety had arrived in Liverpool and tried to set up a practice, and he was attacked in the Liverpool press. His friend and lover, writer Sir Henry Hall Caine, yet to become famous himself, helped write a pamphlet for the good doctor to help defend his reputation and named among other fictitious patrons none other than four-time prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. After the hostile reception in Liverpool, the restless doctor upped stakes and moved south to try his luck in London.

Other ‘Liverpool Suspects’

Gladstone, who was born on Rodney Street in Liverpool in 1809, himself has been named as a possible suspect—and the ‘Gladstone bag’ is a suspected receptacle for Jack to carry knives and organs. The great leader of the Liberal party had a penchant for wandering the streets at night to try to reform fallen women, though usually in the West End, not the East End. Did he take his reforming efforts a stage further? In 1888, as leader of her Majesty’s loyal opposition, and aged 79 at the time, he would seem to make an unlikely Ripper suspect. Supporters of the Gladstone-as-Ripper theory point to the fact that he remained a robust man even in old age, and could still chop wood on his Hawarden estate outside of Chester. But was he handy with a knife as well as an axe?

Frederick Bailey Deeming, born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, across the Mersey from Liverpool in 1853, and thus aged 35 in 1888, was a brute who murdered his wife Marie and four small children in 1891, and buried under the floorboards of his house, Dinham Villa, at Rainhill, near Liverpool. His career of crime ended several months after he murdered his second wife Emily by slitting her throat and fracturing her skull on 24 December 1891 and buried her under the hearthstone of their home in Victoria, Australia. Deeming was finally caught in Perth, Western Australia, on 11 March 1892 masquerading as ‘Baron Swanston.’

http://photos.casebook.org/albums/userpics/10002/normal_deeming.jpg

Frederick Deeming

Deeming seems more of a domestic murderer than a serial killer of strangers, but who knows? He was also a sailor, and Colin Wilson and Robin Odell have written that evidence seems to suggest that Deeming was in South Africa at the time of the Whitechapel murders.

The St. Louis Republican of 8 April 1890 noted:

Samuel Mercier of Rain Hill, who was well acquainted with Deeming, as saying, ‘Deeming represented himself to me to be a military man, and said he had fourteen scars on him.’ He went on to talk very glibly as to hand-to-hand encounters which he had gone through as inspector in the army. He would not call himself a soldier altogether, although he said that he ‘had been under fire.’ Deeming showed me various weapons, including swords, knives, spears and an assegai which he said he had got from Zululand. He particularly dwelt on a very handsome sword which was adorned with silver and a band of gold, and which he said he had fought two hours for. He next showed me a beautiful knife with a sheath made of woven silver wire, and said it had belonged to Cetewayo.

Indeed, Deeming appears to have had a fascination with edged weapons. The same newspaper reported,

‘In nearly every place that Deeming has been he has shown a really valuable collection of weapons of various kinds. At the inquest there were produced a battle-axe and a knife which Surgeon Mullins thought might have inflicted the wounds that killed the last Mrs. Deeming.’

The dizzying array of odd weapons associated with the man would seem to be another reason to think that he was not the East End murderer, if we grant that the Ripper’s murder weapon appears to have been almost certainly exclusively a long and sharp knife, perhaps a surgical knife.

Deeming, who met his deserved destiny with the executioner in Melbourne on 23 May 1892 appears to have been a thoroughly bad character, a bigamist, and a brutal murderer, but he was probably not Jack the Ripper.

James Kelly, an unbalanced upholsterer, born in Preston, and brought up in Everton, Liverpool, stabbed his wife Sarah Ann in the throat with a knife in 1883 at 21 Cottage Lane, Clerkenwell, London. She lingered a few days then died. He was sentenced to be hung, then reprieved, and incarcerated in Broadmoor. He escaped in January 1888 and remained at large until 1927. According to the late author James Tully, makes a viable suspect with his ties to the East End of London and his violent history. Kelly, who spent time in Texas before returning to England, was apprehended in Birkenhead, and sent back to the asylum. Do the records on him, said to be under seal until 2030, hold the information that he was Jack the Ripper as Tully theorized? The tool shown in Tully’s book of the upholsterer’s tool known as a ‘ripping knife’ almost certainly would not fit the bill for the mutilations done by the Whitechapel murderer and even given his violent history there appears to be nothing to suggest he was a serial murderer.

Sailor Jack?

Given Liverpool’s importance in 1888 as a port, it is probable that most other suspects, whether named or not, passed through the port. Consider for example if Saucy Jacky was an unnamed and thus likely unknowable ‘Jolly Jack Tar sailor’, that the chances are good that he knew Liverpool well.

Carrie Brown, a woman who, by some reports, was born as Caroline Montgomery in Liverpool in 1832, and a murder victim in New York, in late April 1891, was possibly killed by a sailor of the name of Arbie La Bruckman, whom researcher Michael Conlon has pointed out was also arrested at the time of the Whitechapel murders. Was La Bruckman Jack the Ripper?

I am personally interested in a couple of sailor suspects. Or shall we say, as the police do, persons of interest. One of the men is John Anderson, a sailor who died in Chile in 1895 and reportedly confessed that he was the Ripper on his deathbed. The case of Anderson is reported in Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper of 1896, which was reprinted by Nick Warren in Ripperana a few years ago. Warren noted that the description of Anderson by shipmate James Brame of a red-haired man with a pitted face could match the description of the carroty haired man with Mary Jane Kelly on her last night. Anderson is said to have taken lodgings in and committed the murders after he was robbed by a prostitute. He is said to have worked with an accomplice who had a clean coat for him after each murder. The ship on which Brame and Anderson were on when the suspect died was the Annie Speer, thought to be a Liverpool registry vessel.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ITliverpoolP.jpg

Liverpool in 1875 by Atkinson Grimshaw

The other one-time sailor who interests me is Richard Brown, a man who committed suicide just after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly, a man with a curious and somewhat mysterious life history. Supposedly from Adelaide, Australia, Brown was a Jew who was in succession a sailor, a soldier, and a Metropolitan Police constable. He was dismissed from the police on 13 November 1888 and committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth in Hyde Park three days later.

City of Mysteries

Of course, Liverpool itself is rich in mysteries as writers such as Richard Whittington-Egan and Tom Slemen have shown. ‘Spring-Heeled Jack’ a being with a fiery headdress who breathed blue flame and who is said to have been able to leap over buildings and walls is said to have been last seen in Liverpool’s William Henry Street in 1904. Excited newspaper reports, such as that in the News of the World, 25 September 1904, stated that the ‘man’ was able to leap in excess of 25 feet (7.5 metres) and who eventually leapt over the houses and vanished. But was the last sighting of Spring-Heeled Jack only a much exaggerated account of a demented man in his nightshirt loose on a city roof as Paul Begg suggested in his editorial in the July 2003 issue of Ripperologist?

‘Spring-Heeled Jack’ was reportedly seen on numerous occasions throughout the British Isles, as early as the 1830’s, over a period that curiously spanned the whole of the reign of Queen Victoria. Was the phenomenon a product of people’s overactive imagination, or as Paul suggested, a prank by a notorious nobleman named Henry de la Poer Beresford, the 3rd Marquess of Waterford (1811–1859)? And how much did ‘Spring-Heeled Jack’ have to do with the naming of Jack the Ripper, a name for the Whitechapel murderer that came either, depending who you believe, from the killer himself or, if the Sir Robert Anderson of Scotland Yard was correct, ‘an enterprising London journalist’ or possibly some unknown letter hoaxer.

The Liverpool Jack the Ripper Letters

A number of the Jack the Ripper letters were sent from Liverpool, but not more so than from elsewhere. Among the 200 plus letters noted by Evans and Skinner in Jack the Ripper Letters from Hell, around five were identifiably posted in Liverpool, and the postmarks of the other letters range from London to Scotland, and as far abroad as Ireland and Philadelphia. Shirley Harrison in her book on The Diary of Jack the Ripper shows the image of a Jack the Ripper letter written from London and penned on a newspaper that happens to have the name, ‘Liverpool’ next to the person’s script writing, which Shirley suggests could hardly be a coincidence. To me, the Diary seems a pastiche of the Ripper letters, and it is even signed ‘Yours truly, Jack the Ripper’ in emulation, it would seem, of the original ‘Dear Boss’ letters. Noticeably, however, James Maybrick’s known handwriting does not match the handwriting in the Diary nor that of the Ripper letter cited by Shirley.

Victorian Remnants

Liverpool as James Maybrick or Gladstone would have known it has largely been swept away as it fell victim to German bombs and the wrecking ball of progress and renewal. But there are still remnants: for example, St. George’s Hall in Lime Street, where Florie was convicted in September 1889 of murdering James, Gladstone’s birthplace on Rodney Street, the Maybrick’s mansion at 7 Riversdale Road, Aigburth. The Liverpool Exchange that Maybrick would have known was one of the major victims of the blitz. Luckily, the adjacent Town Hall, dating from 1754, survived the German onslaught and an attempt by rioting sailors to damage it with cannon fire at the end of the eighteenth century.

An important piece of sculpture dating from 1812 is still extant in the quadrangle behind the Town Hall and would have been familiar to Victorians of 1888 as they walked under the ornate baroque façade of the Exchange. It is Nelson’s monument, a dramatic and morose piece of sculpture. In his early novel, Redburn: His First Voyage, American novelist Herman Melville described the monument as ‘a group of statuary in bronze, elevated upon a marble pedestal and basement, representing Lord Nelson expiring in the arms of Victory. One foot rests on a rolling foe, and the other on a cannon. Victory is dropping a wreath on the dying admiral’s brow; while Death, under the similitude of a hideous skeleton, is insinuating his bony hand under the hero’s robe, and groping after his heart. A very striking design, and true to the imagination; I never could look at Death without a shudder.’ A fitting design for the doomed Maybrick to ponder as he skipped by for his daily pick-me-up of arsenic!

‘Pestilent lanes and alleys. . .’

Liverpool in the nineteenth century was a rough sailors’ town, and death was commonplace. In Redburn, Melville provided a graphic description of the Dead House in the crypt of the parish church of St. Nicholas by Princes Dock:

In the basement of the church is a Dead House, . . . where the bodies of the drowned are exposed until claimed by their friends, or till buried at the public charge. From the multitudes employed about the shipping, this dead-house has always more or less occupants. Whenever I passed up Chapel-street, I used to see a crowd gazing through the grim iron grating of the door, upon the faces of the drowned within. And once, when the door was opened, I saw a sailor stretched out, stark and stiff, with the sleeve of his frock rolled up, and showing his name and date of birth tattooed upon his arm. It was a sight full of suggestions; he seemed his own headstone.

Melville’s Redburn provides heartbreaking descriptions of the poverty he observed in the lowest areas of Liverpool, very reminiscent of the East End of London:

The pestilent lanes and alleys which, in their vocabulary, go by the names of Rotten-row, Gibraltar-place, and Booble-alley, are putrid with vice and crime; to which, perhaps, the round globe does not furnish a parallel. The sooty and begrimed bricks of the very houses have a reeking, Sodomlike, and murderous look; and well may the shroud of coal-smoke, which hangs over this part of the town, more than any other, attempt to hide the enormities here practiced. These are the haunts from which sailors sometimes disappear forever; or issue in the morning, robbed naked, from the broken doorways. These are the haunts in which cursing, gambling, pickpocketing, and common iniquities, are virtues too lofty for the infected gorgons and hydras to practice. Propriety forbids that I should enter into details; but kidnappers, burkers, and resurrectionists are almost saints and angels to them. They seem leagued together, a company of miscreant misanthropes, bent upon doing all the malice to mankind in their power. With sulphur and brimstone they ought to be burned out of their arches like vermin.

Reflecting on Whitechapel the murders and the poverty in which they occurred, the one of Liverpool’s leading clergymen called for his fellow clergymen to address the needs of the poor:

The Bishop of Liverpool on Thursday night, . . . said he knew the East London intimately, and clergymen in that district could quite understand such tragedies as had horrified the Christian world taking place. Men were there living little better than beasts, and the state of that district illustrated the opinion of an old divine, that if the man was left to himself he was half devil, half beast. Whilst such tragedies aroused people, it brought them to a sense of what should be done for the neglected classes, so that no room and no house should be left unvisited by the clergy.

Of course, Liverpool’s rollicking and seedy ‘Sailortown,’ crawling with sailors on shore leave, just like London’s East End had its share of prostitutes or ‘unfortunates’ willing to cater to their needs, and Lime Street was notorious for them. The sea shanty ‘Maggie May’ — no, not the more recent Rod Stewart song, an older traditional song, a snatch of which the Beatles sang on their ‘Let It Be’ album—goes,

Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they have taken her away,
To walk upon Van Diemen's cruel shore,
She robbed so many sailors, and dosed so many whalers,
And she'll never roam down Lime Street any more.

With prostitutes such as Maggie May readily available why would a Liverpool man, be he James Maybrick or whomever, need to go to London to murder East End prostitutes, when he had a ready supply to hand? This is one reason why to me, as a Liverpudlian, the Maybrick candidacy seems implausible, plus the rather twisted idea that he would travel 200 miles to slaughter prostitutes to get revenge on his unfaithful wife. No, to me, Maybrick has been more recently ‘fitted up’ as the murderer by someone who thought that as a man famous but not not too famous, he could have been Jack, but who knew that to be the Ripper, he had to travel to London, as if the only way to get his name up in lights was to have him go to the East End.
From Liverpool’s thoroughfare named ‘Whitechapel’ to London’s ‘Whitechapel’ neighborhood. Hmmm…. It does seem, incidentally, as if Whitechapel, Liverpool, got its name in the late eighteenth century as one of a number of Liverpool streets that were named for London streets or locales, other examples being Cheapside, Islington, Paradise Street, Fleet Street, and Duke Street. On the 1764 map of Liverpool by John Eyes prepared for Lord Mayor John Tarleton, the thoroughfare that was later to be known as ‘Whitechapel’ is called Frogg Lane.

A Plague of Flies

On a lighter note, Paul Begg kindly pointed me to an article that might give some motive for someone wanting to get out of Liverpool to commit the crimes at this time. The Star of 25 September 1888 reported

Within the past few days Liverpool has been visited by swarms of diminutive flies. In the busy streets of the city the little pests are met with as well as in the suburbs, causing much inconvenience to pedestrians. The flies are of the midge type, with a tiny black body and comparatively large wings. So numerous have they been, and so annoying to persons walking along that they have become a topic of general conversation. In Cheshire the flies have appeared in myriads, causing the same inconvenience.

But what about a month earlier—presumably the flies were a new phenomenon in Liverpool at the end of September, or else the newspaper might have mentioned the same thing happened in August. Of course, the murders of Tabram and Nichols took place 7 August and 31 August, respectively, and the Annie Chapman murder on 8 September.

Ripper Sightings in Liverpool?

Just as with the sighting of Spring-Heeled Jack in Liverpool that I mentioned earlier, there were reports of people seeing Jack the Ripper in the city, as reported in the Weekly Herald of 19 October 1888—

On Wednesday evening [a] young lady in question was walking along Shiel Road, Liverpool, not far from Shiel Park, when she was stopped by an elderly woman aged about 60, who, in an agitated and excited manner, urged her most earnestly not to go into the park. She explained that a few minutes previously she had been resting on one of the seats in the park when she was acosted by a respectable-looking man dressed in a black coat, light trousers, and a soft felt hat, who inquired if she knew if there were any loose women about the neighbourhood, and immediately afterwards he produced a knife with a long thin blade, and stated that he intended to kill as many women in Liverpool as in London, adding that he would send the ears of the first victim to the editor of the Liverpool Daily Post. The old woman, who was trembling violently as she related this story, stated that she was so terribly frightened that she hardly knew how she got away from this man. She could not see anything of either a policeman or a park keeper, but in addition to warning the young lady she appears to have mentioned the matter to some workmen whom she met afterwards in Shiel Road.

The Manchester Guardian of 16 October noted—

The story that the London murderer has been seen in Shiel Park, Liverpool, has created the utmost sensation in the neighbourhood. An extra number of police and detectives have been in the locality during the past few days, but nothing has been seen of the man who frightened the woman in the park. Many women residing in the streets adjacent to the park, it is alleged, are afraid to leave their houses after dusk. A number of low-class women in Liverpool have armed themselves with knives. One woman, who was recently arrested by the police, and in whose possession was a large knife, stated that it was for "Jack the Ripper." Several others declare that they have been accosted at the docks by a mysterious-looking man, and have fled from him in terror.

Was this man Jack the Ripper, or just an unbalanced man, or perhaps a prankster? The Weekly Herald continued—

The steamers leaving Liverpool for American and other ports are now being carefully watched by the police, and the passengers are closely scrutinised by detectives, there being an idea that the perpetrator of the Whitechapel murders may endeavour to make his escape via Liverpool.
What is the truth about Liverpool’s connections with the murder? Could Jack have been a Liverpudlian, someone with family ties to the Liverpool area, or at least someone who passed through the city at one time or another? Just as with so many questions about the case, the answers are unknown.

A Postscript

Liverpool is of course famous for two famous football teams, Liverpool F.C. and Everton F.C. At Liverpool’s Anfield stadium, founded in 1892, the most famous stand is called the Spion Kop, named after the 24 January 1900 battle in the Boer War. It was at this battle that the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner at the time of the Whitechapel murders, General Sir Charles Warren, was blamed for losing in a significant defeat for the British. In fact, the legend is that he spent the time of the battle in his bath!

London, April 17. The despatches which passed between Sir Redvers Bullers and his officers and Lord Roberts regarding the sensational British reverse at Spion Kop were published to-day. General Buller in his report condemns General Warren. He says:

“We lost our chance because of Warren’s slowness. I ought to have assumed command myself.”

The despatches of other officers also given indicate that matters at the battle were in a hopeless muddle. The publication of the reports is likely to cause renewed disputes and incriminations.

Naugatuck (Connecticut) Daily News, 17 April 1902

So in a way the same man who was 'responsible' in a way for not catching Jack the Ripper, could be held responsible for the British defeat at Spion Kop.


Acknowledgements

My thanks to Paul Begg, Claudia Oliver, Chris Scott, Mark Andrew Pardoe, Andrew Peake, and Stewart P. Evans. An earlier version of this paper was delivered to the Jack the Ripper conference at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool on 16 August 2003.

Sources

‘Additional Testimonials. A Few of the Many Testimonials from the Citizens of Washington to Dr. Tumblety, the Indian Herb Doctor.’ Washington Star, 21 April 1862

Paul Begg, Martin Fido, and Keith Skinner. The Jack the Ripper A to Z. London: Headline Books, 1998

‘Called a “Demon.” The Name by which Deeming Was Known. . .’ St. Louis Republican, 8 April 1890

Frederick Douglass to Amy Post, 10 June 1887, University of Rochester Frederick Douglass Project http://www.lib.rochester.edu/rbk/douglass/allentr77.stm#1

‘East London as Described. . . (The Bishop of Liverpool on Thursday night,. . . addressing the Curates’ Society, . . .).’ East London Observer, 13 October 1888

Stewart P. Evans and Paul Gainey. Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer. New York: Kodansha, 1998.

Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner. Jack the Ripper Letters from Hell. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2001

John Godl, ‘The Life and Crimes of Frederick Bailey Deeming.’ Internet article at http://casebook.org/dissertations/dst-deeming.html

Alan Hunt, 'Sir Charles Warren in Africa,' originally in The Journal of the Whitechapel Society. http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/ws-warreninafrica.html

Shirley Harrison. The Diary of Jack the Ripper. New York: Hyperion, 1993

Lyrics to ‘Maggie May’ in ‘Across the Western Ocean: Songs from the Era of the North Atlantic Sailing Packets’ by John Roberts and Tony Barrand. Swallowtail Records., ST-03, CD 2000 (First published on LP, 1973, cassette 1994,). See http://www.sover.net/~barrand/rgh/westernocean.html#MAGGIE%20MAY

Herman Melville, Redburn: His First Voyage. New York: Penguin, 1976

‘A Plague of Flies at Liverpool.’ The Star, 25 September 1888

‘Strange Occurrence in Liverpool.’ Weekly Herald, 19 October 1888

James Tully, Prisoner 1167: The Madman Who Was Jack the Ripper. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1998

‘The Whitechapel Murders.’ Manchester Guardian, 16 October 1888

Colin Wilson and Robin Odell. Jack the Ripper: Summing Up and Verdict. London: Bantam Press, 1987

Hi all

A colleague, Thomas Schachner, who runs a German language site on Jack the Ripper, posted the following URL from his site with excellent night time shots of sites in London's East End associated with the Ripper crimes. I am sure Victorian Liverpool looked much the same.

hello everybody,

our "autumn-special-2006" is online - nightshots of the east end.

for that section i completely changed the layout of our site...
have fun...and enjoy!

http://www.jacktheripper.de/schauplaetze/nachtaufnahmen/


take care
thomas.
(editor www.jacktheripper.de)

Also while I am on the topic, check out the site for my Ripper musical:

http://www.jack-themusical.com/

and another site which has samples from the music from a recent American production of the show:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/asu3

All my best

Chris

Who was Spring Heeled Jack? I remember reading about this years ago, apparently he jumped from roof to roof in Everton Valley.*googles*
Everton Valley? Hasn't it been established that the best Mary Jane Kelly candidate hailed from Liverpool and lived at 8 Victoria St., Everton according to the 1871 England Census? Father John...brother Henry...mother of famous Lancashire singer Christine Wilson...had a son in South London in the 1880s and then disappeared...connected with servants of the Earls of Carnarvon--pretty good match. Only problem is she would have been 33....although she would have been 16 when she was living on Victoria and working as a servant.
On question though: Is there a Victoria St. actually in Everton because the only Victoria St. I can find is the one downtown, a block from Whitechapel....

All the Best
M Reiche

Spring Heeled Jack once jumped on to the spire of SFX RC Church in Salisbury Street, Everton. Been up there but couldn't find any marks myself!

Everton Valley? Hasn't it been established that the best Mary Jane Kelly candidate hailed from Liverpool and lived at 8 Victoria St., Everton according to the 1871 England Census? Father John...brother Henry...mother of famous Lancashire singer Christine Wilson...had a son in South London in the 1880s and then disappeared...connected with servants of the Earls of Carnarvon--pretty good match. Only problem is she would have been 33....although she would have been 16 when she was living on Victoria and working as a servant.
On question though: Is there a Victoria St. actually in Everton because the only Victoria St. I can find is the one downtown, a block from Whitechapel....

All the Best
M Reiche

Hello Maria

Great to hear from you. I have to tell you that the background and family of Mary Jane Kelly remains totally undecided. There are many candidates if you follow the threads on Mary Jane Kelly (http://forum.casebook.org/forumdisplay.php?f=37) at "Casebook: Jack the Ripper" with researchers coming up with many possibilities for her birthplace and family. I have no reason to believe the Everton family of Kelly was that of victim Mary Jane Kelly, or is a better candidate than others that have been mentioned elsewhere in the British Isles. Of course, her name is a very common one. Although she is undoubtedly the most famous victim of Jack the Ripper she is the one about whom the least is known in terms of her genealogy and origins.

Best regards

Chris George

Mr. Jona,
I learned of Spring Heeled Jack many years ago when I was studying cryptozoology. In my own active field of that pseudo-science, I never believed in a paranormal resolution but in the end, I had to give in....
Mr. George,
Jack the Ripper is almost always relegated to the realm of the phantasmagorical. The Victorian era was fairly fantastic historically speaking. Even the establishment was going Egyptian and Far Eastern....
You can always get Christina Wilson's or her descendant's DNA for purposes of confirmation if that's your druthers....And here's the Everton MJK in the 1861 Census. Maybe someone can tell me what street that is. I know it's off Scotland Rd. which does run into Everton Valley....

It's Bostock St.
The Everton MJK lived at 5 Bostock St. in 1861. It's off of Scotland Rd. She was about 6 years old....

Only a jump from Everton Valley....

Hello all

Ripperologist is looking for new subscribers, and I am willing to send a sample copy to anyone who is interested. The journal after publishing for a decade as a print magazine has switched solely to electronic publishing. Once a month we email a full color copy of the issue to subscribers. Rip 74 came out on Christmas Eve and I would like to send a copy to anyone who would like one. It is a large PDF file of 89 pages of text and pictures so you have to have a mailbox large enough to receive. Most of our issues are about this size. Anyone interested, feel free to PM your email address to me. Enquiries about this offer or general enquiries on the case of the Whitechapel murders also entertained. :celb (23):

For more information on our current and past issues go to:

http://www.jtrforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=170

Chris

Hi all

An Australian named Steve Powell has appeared on the "Casebook: Jack the Ripper" message boards posting in a thread he has entitled "On The Trail Of The Forgers" (http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=3489) alleging that the Maybrick Diary that surfaced in Liverpool in 1992 and that was subsequently published in facsimile and transcript form in 1993 by Hyperion in a book entitled, The Diary of Jack the Ripper by Shirley Harrison, was a hoax cooked up in Australia. Powell had appeared on the same "Casebook" message boards back in 2000, when he had told part of the story. Now he has reappeared with further details of and information about the scheme.

As many of you may know, the Maybrick Diary was brought forward by Mike Barrett, formerly a scrap metal dealer and taken in 1992 to London literary agent Doreen Montgomery. The story was that Barrett had received the Diary from Tony Devereux, a former compositor at the Echo, a friend he knew from drinking with him at the Saddle Inn in Anfield. Devereux subsequently died before he could give a full explanation of where the Diary had come from. More recently, Mike Barrett's wife Anne, who now goes under her maiden name of Anne Graham, said the Diary was in her family for years and that she gave it to the out-of-work Mike Barrett to apparently give him the impetus to write (he was a free-lance journalist).

Mr Powell alleges that while Anne Graham was in Australia around 1970, where she trained and worked as a nurse, she was involved in the forging of the Diary with a transplanted Englishman named Steve Park, born in Lancaster, England, in 1952, who is now a permanent resident of Australia and who lived in Cronulla, Sydney at the time that the Diary forgery was begun.

Chris George

interesting stuff Chris!
Fascinates me...
Wasnt one of the Ripper letters (a fake one) written in Prince William St in Liverpool?

interesting stuff Chris!
Fascinates me...
Wasnt one of the Ripper letters (a fake one) written in Prince William St in Liverpool?

Hi MissInformed

Yes indeed you are correct, there were a number of "Ripper" letters sent from Liverpool and one of them was addressed from Prince William Street in Liverpool. By the way, the book by Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner, Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell, is excellent and I highly recommend it. If you are interested in the letters... and there were hundreds of them (probably hoaxes)... their book is an excellent survey of the letters received as well as the different suspects who might have written them, etc.

Chris

Hi all

Even better than my earlier offer to email a free, sample issue of Ripperologist to anyone who is interested, I am pleased to say that my colleague, Ripper author and East End expert Adam Wood, the technical genius behind the Rip, has redesigned our website and is offering three recent issues for you to download, free, gratis, and with the blessings of the staff of Ripperologist. Judge our magazine for yourself. I am sure some of you may wish to subscribe. Just go to http://www.ripperologist.info to peruse sample articles or download an issue or two.

Ripperologist is a monthly magazine sent by email PDF file. Our publication is a journal with footnoted articles examining all aspects of the Ripper case plus news and reviews of books, movies, and websites that have a bearing on the Whitechapel murders, other true crime, and East End history.

Best regards

Chris George

Hi MissInformed

Yes indeed you are correct, there were a number of "Ripper" letters sent from Liverpool and one of them was addressed from Prince William Street in Liverpool. By the way, the book by Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner, Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell, is excellent and I highly recommend it. If you are interested in the letters... and there were hundreds of them (probably hoaxes)... their book is an excellent survey of the letters received as well as the different suspects who might have written them, etc.

Chris

hiya chris
I have this book, it is indeed fantastic. The pictures are great, and the information is fascinating.
I had a school friend who lived in Prince William St, and would visit her every day after school. It is amazing, that a letter could have been sent from that tiny little street!

Hoax letters can indeed be sent from anywhere and in fact i'm writing one now in the broom cupboard. How do you spell Ransom/ransome?

Hoax letters can indeed be sent from anywhere and in fact i'm writing one now in the broom cupboard. How do you spell Ransom/ransome?

Ha ha, good one, Ged. :celb (6):

There is the question about a number of these letters of whether they were actually written from where the writer claimed, so I would not put my money on that letter actually having been written from William Henry Street. The writers make all sorts of claims and boasts, often I think to mislead the authorities.

As for the spelling of the word "ransom" I used to know a guy named Bert Ransom. ;)

Chris

Bert Ransom.

'How much' did you know him? :)

Bert Ransom.

'How much' did you know him? :)

Hi Ged

I didn't know him in the biblical sense. I didn't owe him either. ;)

Chris

Ha ha, good one, Ged. :celb (6):

There is the question about a number of these letters of whether they were actually written from where the writer claimed, so I would not put my money on that letter actually having been written from William Henry Street. The writers make all sorts of claims and boasts, often I think to mislead the authorities.

Chris

Prince William Street!:)

I noticed that too but I knew Missi would correct ya, being a stickler for important detail :)

Hi MissInformed

Many thanks for correcting me, MissInformed. My mistake. I am a bit dyslexic. . . :rolleyes:

Chris

That's k.o.

Someone on here raises an interesting point and I'd like to expand on it with a question -

Can anyone provide an example of Mr. Slemen discovering any unique, verifiable and substantial information about any of the criminal cases which he has "investigated" which cannot be otherwise ascertained via any pre-existing published material ?

AP

welcome AntiPathos

That is a very reasonable question to ask, im sure if you visited Toms forum and asked him in his " Ask Tom " section he might be able to answer it for you? I cant answer that one but he reckons that he has a new ripper suspect that has not been mentioned in the suspect mix before - guess we will have to wait till his book is published i guess:)

but he reckons that he has a new ripper suspect that has not been mentioned in the suspect mix before - guess we will have to wait till his book is published i guess:)

I thought he finished his ripper work?

He did research It In 2000/2001 after all and he gave talks enough on It to give a whole story.

And what about his Claude Reigner Conder?

Hi Max:)

Im not sure when or if Tom has finished his ripper work, your best asking him personally max as i dont speak for tom.

Claude Reigner Conder is a suspect that tom has mentioned for jack the ripper i think???

My best bet Is not saying anything.

Hi Max:)

Im not sure when or if Tom has finished his ripper work, your best asking him personally max as i dont speak for tom.

Claude Reigner Conder is a suspect that tom has mentioned for jack the ripper i think??? but hey mate think this is the wrong thread to disscus the ripper crime

Yes Colonel Claude Reignier Conder, a friend of Sir Charles Warren, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during the Ripper crimes, and who worked with Warren on excavations in Palestine between 1867 and 1882, is Tom Slemen's suspect. We await his book written with Keith Andrews with interest.

Chris

Found this off Casebook.org

http://media.putfile.com/slemen-unedited

Sounds alot like Jimmy Corkhill from Brookside.

Found this off Casebook.org

http://media.putfile.com/slemen-unedited

Sounds alot like Jimmy Corkhill from Brookside.

cool max!! great little clip

Hi Chris
What is your favourite or in your opinion, the best Ripper book out there?

I have quite a few, but I am in the mood to start a new one!

Hi Chris
What is your favourite or in your opinion, the best Ripper book out there?

I have quite a few, but I am in the mood to start a new one!

Hello MissInformed

I always say that Philip Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper is about the best all-round Ripper book that there is.

Chris

Hello MissInformed

I always say that Philip Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper is about the best all-round Ripper book that there is.

Chris

Hi Chris
That Philip Sugden one is my utmost favourite.
It was so easy to read too, and so informative.

The 'Letters from Hell' book is fabulous too, if only for the pictures!

Do you know of any new Ripper books coming out? Apart from Tom Slemen's

...

Do you know of any new Ripper books coming out? Apart from Tom Slemen's

List (http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/latest_books.html) of upcoming JtR books.

Of course, Mr. Slemen's "book" may yet turn out to be another puff of imaginary wind.

AP

List (http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/latest_books.html) of upcoming JtR books.

Of course, Mr. Slemen's "book" may yet turn out to be another puff of imaginary wind.

AP


Hello AP

That list is pretty much outdated... Most of those books are out already. You'll note the "2005" date there.

Chris

many thanks for that!
that's more than enough for me to be getting on with!:celb (23):

Hello MissInformed

You probably should check out the new book by Stewart P. Evans and Donald Rumbelow, Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates. Both of these gentlemen were serving police officers -- Don Rumbelow with the City of London Police and Stewart Evans with the Suffolk Police -- and they are universally regarded in the field. If anyone knows about the workings of the police department, then and now, it is these two experts.

Chris

:) many thanks chris
will have a little look at that

Hi MissInformed

Another new book on the horizon is Ripperology: The Best of Ripperologist is to be published in March 2007 by Magpie Books, an imprint of Constable Robinson, in the UK and by Barnes & Noble in the US. The Editors of the Rip drew up a shortlist of the best articles to have appeared in our previous 72 issues, with the publishers selecting the final entrants. The 27 essays include "The Carrie Brown Murder Case" by Michael Conlon, "Elizabeth’s Story" by Daniel Olsson, "Kit, Kitty, Kitten" by Andy Aliffe, "The American Connection" by Carman Cumming, "Nikolay Vailiev" by Stepan Poberowsky, "Le Grand of the Strand" by Gerry Nixon, "Responses to the Ripper Murders" by L. Perry Curtis, "Cut-throat" by Karyo Magellan, and "Diosy and D'Onston" by yours truly, Christopher T. George.

Chris

Hi MissInformed

Another new book on the horizon is Ripperology: The Best of Ripperologist is to be published in March 2007 by Magpie Books, an imprint of Constable Robinson, in the UK and by Barnes & Noble in the US. The Editors of the Rip drew up a shortlist of the best articles to have appeared in our previous 72 issues, with the publishers selecting the final entrants. The 27 essays include "The Carrie Brown Murder Case" by Michael Conlon, "Elizabeth’s Story" by Daniel Olsson, "Kit, Kitty, Kitten" by Andy Aliffe, "The American Connection" by Carman Cumming, "Nikolay Vailiev" by Stepan Poberowsky, "Le Grand of the Strand" by Gerry Nixon, "Responses to the Ripper Murders" by L. Perry Curtis, "Cut-throat" by Karyo Magellan, and "Diosy and D'Onston" by yours truly, Christopher T. George.

Chris

Sounds great Chris!!
I can see where my wages are gonna be spent in the next few months!
:) :)

Chris - I'm off to West Ham tomorrow, as you know I had a pint in the Ten Bells before the Spurs game last month. Can you recommend any other pubs on Whitechapel Rd with a Ripper connection as well as the White Hart, I tried that link you emailed me but the site seemed to have been taken offline.

Chris - I'm off to West Ham tomorrow, as you know I had a pint in the Ten Bells before the Spurs game last month. Can you recommend any other pubs on Whitechapel Rd with a Ripper connection as well as the White Hart, I tried that link you emailed me but the site seemed to have been taken offline.

Hi Steve

Casebook was offline for a few days recently but you should be able to call up the link now. I would defer to Viper's knowledge of the Ripper-associated drinking holes. :) I hope we win the West Ham match. I will be watching at the Irish bar in Baltimore that I go to.

Chris

Hi Steve

Casebook was offline for a few days recently but you should be able to call up the link now. I would defer to Viper's knowledge of the Ripper-associated drinking holes. :) I hope we win the West Ham match. I will be watching at the Irish bar in Baltimore that I go to.

Chris

Thanks Chris I have just had a look its a great site. Having done been in the Ten Bells and City Darts I have probably done the main two that are still standing but will go in the White Hart anyway. Our aim is to take the tube to Aldgate East early afternoon and see how far down Whitechapel Road we get as we hope to go to some of the old Krays hangouts as well. I bet you are looking forward to seeing a Reds game at a decent hour for a change. :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Thanks Chris I have just had a look its a great site. Having done been in the Ten Bells and City Darts I have probably done the main two that are still standing but will go in the White Hart anyway. Our aim is to take the tube to Aldgate East early afternoon and see how far down Whitechapel Road we get as we hope to go to some of the old Krays hangouts as well. I bet you are looking forward to seeing a Reds game at a decent hour for a change. :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Thanks, Steve. I was amazed in the back cover pic by Adam Wood in Ripperologist 74 to realize that the Norman Foster building knicknamed the "Gherkin" actually towers over the Mitre Square where Catherine Eddowes was murdered.

Chris

I was re-reading 'Letters From Hell' last night, and looking at these amazing, clear photos/illustrations.

If you are interested in the case, it is a must have!

The ITV drama from 1988 starring Michael Caine is on Crime TV now (Sky 531), I dont think I ever tire of watching this.

The ITV drama from 1988 starring Michael Caine is on Crime TV now (Sky 531), I dont think I ever tire of watching this.

Hi Steve

The 1988 "Jack the Ripper" starring Michael Caine as Inspector Abberline is one of the best treatments of the Ripper story even if it accepts the probably innaccurate Royal conspiracy theory to explain the murders. I am though a staunch Michael Caine fan so I might be a bit biased. :)

Chris

The 1988 "Jack the Ripper" starring Michael Caine as Inspector Abberline is one of the best treatments of the Ripper story even if it accepts the probably innaccurate Royal conspiracy theory to explain the murders.
Alfie knows what it's all about....
The latest Mary Jane Kelly candidate is one who had a son named Arthur Sullivan by an Arthur Sullivan before she disappeared mysteriously....All documented....Since she and/or her family served the Earls of Carnarvon who were the same family as one Arthur Sullivan's famous friend and traveling companion, Lady Lindsay, I think By George we already have it, Master Wayne....

Just for the James Maybrick fans the public house he would drink in at times, the Poste House, on Cumberland Street.

Just for the James Maybrick fans the public house he would drink in at times, the Poste House, on Cumberland Street.

Well, er, allegedly. According to the Maybrick Diary, he drank there, at least as I read it, though whether the real James Maybrick did, or even if whomever hoaxed the Maybrick Diary did actually say he drank at the Poste House in Cumberland Street is a matter of debate -- it doesn't actually say that he took "refreshment" in the Poste House in Cumberland Street but just gives the name "Poste House." I think it is a mistake in the Diary because the place was known as the "Muck Midden" back then but there are those, even some who believe the Diary is a forgery, who say some other pub known informally as a "post house" may have been meant. The Post Office pub (http://forum.casebook.org/showpost.php?p=60346&postcount=80) in School Lane has been proposed as a possible candidate.

Chris

LOL just go's to show how much i know :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Caught an episode of Most Haunted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_Haunted) the other week and according to our very own Derek Acorah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Acorah) there were two Rippers James Maybrick being one. He failed to name the second Ripper :rolleyes:

Don't tell me, he went into a frenzied trance brought on by 'Sam'

If you're looking for the other name, give Tom Slemen a call.

I thought he also named Pedachenko (sp?).

Hi all
I was watching a video on the case of the James Maybrick diary earlier and they were appealing for a book by Dr Thomas Dutton...

I just wondered what the link to the Ripper are?

Hi all
I was watching a video on the case of the James Maybrick diary earlier and they were appealing for a book by Dr Thomas Dutton...

I just wondered what the link to the Ripper are?

Hello DaisyChains

Dr. Thomas Dutton was a real person who had some interest in the Ripper case. He seems to have made notes or collected information about the case, so if his notes or diary can be found they might be important. However, the chief person to allege the existence of such a diary by Dr. Dutton was writer Donald McCormick (The Identity of Jack the Ripper, Jarrolds, 1959) whose writings have been challenged because he appears to have made up a lot of what he wrote about. So whether Dr. Dutton's diary ever in fact existed remains a matter of speculation.

The latest allegation, by the way, is that the Ripper might have been a Jewish pimp named Joseph Silver (http://randomhouse-umuzi.book.co.za/2007/04/05/south-african-author-unmasks-jack-the-ripper/) with worldwide connections to Europe, England, the United States, and South Africa. The claim by University of Pretoria Professor Charles van Onselen, in the book The Fox & the Flies – the World of Joseph Silver, Racketeer and Psychopath, is being met with skepticism by the Ripper community.

Best regards

Chris George

Hello DaisyChains

Dr. Thomas Dutton was a real person who had some interest in the Ripper case. He seems to have made notes or collected information about the case, so if his notes or diary can be found they might be important. However, the chief person to allege the existence of such a diary by Dr. Dutton was writer Donald McCormick (The Identity of Jack the Ripper, Jarrolds, 1959) whose writings have been challenged because he appears to have made up a lot of what he wrote about. So whether Dr. Dutton's diary ever in fact existed remains a matter of speculation.

The latest allegation, by the way, is that the Ripper might have been a Jewish pimp named Joseph Silver (http://randomhouse-umuzi.book.co.za/2007/04/05/south-african-author-unmasks-jack-the-ripper/) with worldwide connections to Europe, England, the United States, and South Africa. The claim by University of Pretoria Professor Charles van Onselen, in the book The Fox & the Flies – the World of Joseph Silver, Racketeer and Psychopath, is being met with skepticism by the Ripper community.

Best regards

Chris George

This is all very interesting Chris...thanks!:)

I managed to find a copy of The Lodger: The Arrest and Escape of Jack the Ripper by Stewart Evans yesterday

has anyone read it?

I managed to find a copy of The Lodger: The Arrest and Escape of Jack the Ripper by Stewart Evans yesterday

has anyone read it?

Hello DaisyChains

I have been for over a decade in communication with Stewart P. Evans, co-author of The Lodger: The Arrest and Escape of Jack the Ripper, which was republished in the U.S. as Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer., although have not had the fortune to meet him in person. In the book, Stewart and his co-author, Paul Gainey, put forward a good case for Irish-American quack doctor Dr Francis Tumblety as having been Jack the Ripper.

Certainly Tumblety was in London at the time of the Ripper crimes. He was arrested in early November for homosexual offences with several men (such activity being illegal at the time). He was supposedly given bail which might have enabled him to murder Mary Jane Kelly and then free the country. A number of observers feel that Tumblety was too flamboyant a figure and, as a homosexual, unlikely to have been the lust-murderer of women that Jack was.

Tumblety's candidacy remains interesting but not proven. It is not clear that Tumblety was the reported Batty Street lodger with blood-stained cuffs as Gainey and Evans allege.

All my best

Chris

Hello DaisyChains

I have been for over a decade in communication with Stewart P. Evans, co-author of The Lodger: The Arrest and Escape of Jack the Ripper, which was republished in the U.S. as Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer., although have not had the fortune to meet him in person. In the book, Stewart and his co-author, Paul Gainey, put forward a good case for Irish-American quack doctor Dr Francis Tumblety as having been Jack the Ripper.

Certainly Tumblety was in London at the time of the Ripper crimes. He was arrested in early November for homosexual offences with several men (such activity being illegal at the time). He was supposedly given bail which might have enabled him to murder Mary Jane Kelly and then free the country. A number of observers feel that Tumblety was too flamboyant a figure and, as a homosexual, unlikely to have been the lust-murderer of women that Jack was.

Tumblety's candidacy remains interesting but not proven. It is not clear that Tumblety was the reported Batty Street lodger with blood-stained cuffs as Gainey and Evans allege.

All my best

Chris

Thanks Chris
I haven't read the book yet. It's interesting that the authors think he was the lodger in question...do we know a positive identity on the Batty St lodger?

Thanks Chris
I haven't read the book yet. It's interesting that the authors think he was the lodger in question...do we know a positive identity on the Batty St lodger?

No. It's speculaton on the part of the authors that the lodger was Tumblety.

Chris

Hello DaisyChains

I have been for over a decade in communication with Stewart P. Evans, co-author of The Lodger: The Arrest and Escape of Jack the Ripper, which was republished in the U.S. as Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer., although have not had the fortune to meet him in person. In the book, Stewart and his co-author, Paul Gainey, put forward a good case for Irish-American quack doctor Dr Francis Tumblety as having been Jack the Ripper.

Certainly Tumblety was in London at the time of the Ripper crimes. He was arrested in early November for homosexual offences with several men (such activity being illegal at the time). He was supposedly given bail which might have enabled him to murder Mary Jane Kelly and then free the country. A number of observers feel that Tumblety was too flamboyant a figure and, as a homosexual, unlikely to have been the lust-murderer of women that Jack was.
Tumblety's candidacy remains interesting but not proven. It is not clear that Tumblety was the reported Batty Street lodger with blood-stained cuffs as Gainey and Evans allege.

All my best

Chris

I don't think Jack liked women or lusted after them in a conventional way. Interesting term 'lust-murderer'.

I've just been listening to an interview with Richard Jones on radio Merseyside.

Not sure if it's already posted here but there's a link to his web-site :

http://www.london-walks.co.uk/54/jack-the-ripper-treasure-.shtml


has anyone here been on the London tour?

I don't know much about the Ripper Case (well, to be honest, nothing really), but twisted murderers are not confined to the heterosexual community.
It's conceivable that a homosexual who hated women could have done the murders.
I hasten to add that most Gays like women.

Chris an old friend of mine from Essex was researching the Ripper case is name is Ian Griggs, I havent heard from him in a while, Do you know him or of him?Thanx

I don't know much about the Ripper Case (well, to be honest, nothing really), but twisted murderers are not confined to the heterosexual community.
It's conceivable that a homosexual who hated women could have done the murders.
I hasten to add that most Gays like women.

Hi Philip

I suppose anything is possible but as you say, a trait among many gays is that they do like women and get on well with them. Dr. Tumblety, the American quack doctor who had an affair with writer Henry Hall Caine in Liverpool in the 1870's, is said to have been been a woman hater by some accounts and according to a 1913 letter (http://www.casebook.org/official_documents/lcletter.html) by former Special Branch Chief Inspector John George Littlechild held to be a "likely suspect" in the murders.

Chris

Chris an old friend of mine from Essex was researching the Ripper case is name is Ian Griggs, I havent heard from him in a while, Do you know him or of him?Thanx

Hi Scanner

Many thanks for telling me about him. The name did not strike a bell with me at first but I now I see that it was Mr. Griggs who took the photographs of the graves of the Whitechapel murder victims on the Casebook: Jack the Ripper site (http://www.casebook.org/victims/graves.html) that I frequent.

Chris

Hi all

Just to keep the pot simmering. And I still don't think it was Mister Maybrick. The following is copied from another site.

I stumbled upon this site by accident entitled Democratic Underground.com and found this debate.

It's full of little links but worth reading as the woman involved claims to have solved the case.

This the debate page,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5868019

This is the direct link to her blog where she claims to have solved the case.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/jack-the-ripper-the-end_b_34606.html

:boxing:


Thanks, Mike. This case has been "solved" by so many people!!!!

If you're a soccer fan, it's like all the sides Jurgen Klinsmann is going to coach and never does. I wonder if he is paid a retainer just to have his name mentioned whenever there's a coaching vacancy for a top soccer club. :rolleyes:

Chris

I reckon he just 'dives' in there.

Proof of the Joseph Sickert claim regarding Jack the Ripper, the identity of Mary Jane Kelly, the complicity of Sir Charles Warren and Inspector Abberline in the Whitechapel murders, and much more, are outlined in a new book on eBooks-UK by Peter Londragan.

Proof of the Joseph Sickert claim regarding Jack the Ripper, the identity of Mary Jane Kelly, the complicity of Sir Charles Warren and Inspector Abberline in the Whitechapel murders, and much more, are outlined in a new book on eBooks-UK by Peter Londragan.

Er....thanks Pete.

Wasn't Tumblety followed back to the USA by the Metropolitan Police?

Hi all

Just to keep the pot simmering. And I still don't think it was Mister Maybrick. The following is copied from another site.




Thanks, Mike. This case has been "solved" by so many people!!!!

If you're a soccer fan, it's like all the sides Jurgen Klinsmann is going to coach and never does. I wonder if he is paid a retainer just to have his name mentioned whenever there's a coaching vacancy for a top soccer club. :rolleyes:

Chris

Larisa's blog makes a lot of sense.. and a very interesting compelling read.. George Chapman, hanged for such brutality and insanity.. amazing stuff there Chris.. ta for the article...

Wasn't Tumblety followed back to the USA by the Metropolitan Police?

Yes he was, apparently, although the case against him seems less strong than it was some years ago. Tumblety himself seems to have had a hand in publicizing the fact that he was a suspect in the Ripper case. It enabled him, as an Irish nationalist ,to lampoon Scotland Yard and also disguise that the charges they had him up on was for what was then termed "unnatural practices" with several other men. He also used publicity when he was arrested at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to put out a pamplet proclaiming his innocence and pushing his quakery, so in 1889 he similarly put out a pamphlet saying he was innocent to promote his business.

Chris

Sort of related, certainly with the Ripper/Maybrick collection. If this is an innapropriate thread could the mods please move it to where it should be.

Tuesday April 15th

from www.williamsontunnels.co.uk

The Florence Maybrick Trial

Drama Students from Liverpool John Moores University will be recreating the trial of Florence Maybrick (for the murder of her husband James).

After an hour of listening to the evidence and a short interval (when refresments will be on sale) the audience will be asked to decide the verdict.

Tickets, priced £2, are available from the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre or from the Joe H Makin Drama Centre, Pilgrim Street.

Sort of related, certainly with the Ripper/Maybrick collection. If this is an innapropriate thread could the mods please move it to where it should be.

Tuesday April 15th

from www.williamsontunnels.co.uk

The Florence Maybrick Trial

Drama Students from Liverpool John Moores University will be recreating the trial of Florence Maybrick (for the murder of her husband James).

After an hour of listening to the evidence and a short interval (when refresments will be on sale) the audience will be asked to decide the verdict.

Tickets, priced £2, are available from the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre or from the Joe H Makin Drama Centre, Pilgrim Street.

When is this? 15th April?

I think it is the 15th of April. I can't find anything else online about it but apparently the audience get to vote on finding Florence guility or innocent!

Not bad for £2.

I think it is the 15th of April. I can't find anything else online about it but apparently the audience get to vote on finding Florence guility or innocent!

Not bad for £2.


She was well stitched up. Tried for her morals more than anything. He used arsenic regularly. It was used for treating VD at the time but I am not sure if that was the reason?

She was well stitched up. Tried for her morals more than anything. He used arsenic regularly. It was used for treating VD at the time but I am not sure if that was the reason?

I agree with you there in that time married women having an affair were treated with ****ation