Jack the Ripper

[ChrisGeorge]

Have you read the Tom Slemen/Keith Andrews book 'solving' the Ripper case yet Chris?

I have not read the book but we ran a review of it in Ripperologist. Here's an excerpt:

"Tom Slemen has chronicled Liverpool’s weird and wonderful paranormal past for a long time, penning a series of popular books and a regular column for the Liverpool Echo. They are great fun, but it has to be said that rigorous factual analysis and historical accuracy don’t appear to be among his highest priorities, and one didn’t really expect Jack the Ripper: British Intelligence Agent? to bring us any nearer to the identity of Jack the Ripper.

"And the book met one’s expectations.

"Slemen’s theory that Claude Reignier Conder (1848-1910) was Jack the Ripper has been kicking around for over a decade and the book promised for almost as long, so researchers have had an opportunity to see if the idea has legs, and it hasn’t, not as far as folk could see, but with the instinctive desire to champion the underdog, one really hoped that Slemen had some eye-popping evidence, or at worst a compelling argument. Sadly Jack the Ripper: British Intelligence Agent? is the damp squib one thought it would be. It’s a moderately enjoyable read, but it isn’t serious history."

[ChrisGeorge]

Another news report courtesy of Howard Brown at JtR Forums:


Bristol Mercury and Daily Post
December 31, 1890
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[ChrisGeorge]

Another news report courtesy of Howard Brown at JtR Forums:

There's some question about whether the name "High Rip gang" had some influence in coining the name "Jack the Ripper." One or more gangs in Liverpool in the 19th century were dubbed in the press as "High Rip" gangs....

Here's a chap, possibly a gang member, who claimed to be "Champion of the World and the High Ripper !"

Liverpool Mercury
July 1, 1890
**********

[burkhilly]

Jack the Ripper holds no interest for me at all. Having said that those newspaper cutting were very interesting to see - I had no idea that the Liverpool connection was so strong so thanks for posting Chris.

[ChrisGeorge]

Jack the Ripper holds no interest for me at all. Having said that those newspaper cutting were very interesting to see - I had no idea that the Liverpool connection was so strong so thanks for posting Chris.

Thanks, burkhilly. It's not so much that the Liverpool connection was strong but more that the publicity given to the Ripper crimes in 1888 was so great, they garnered worldwide attention, to the extent that the name "Jack the Ripper" became a cultural phenomenon mentioned in newspapers and different contexts for years afterward, and of course down to today as well. Howard Brown who has been digging up these newspaper reports worldwide has even found some advertisements, mostly in U.S. newspapers west of the Mississippi that use the name "Jack the Ripper" in selling clothing, as in the following example.

The Atchison Daily Globe
(Atchison, Kansas)
Friday, June 14, 1889

[GeorgePorgie]

Today as well.

Youmean like thi,CG.....

What runs around shcool yards terrorising young girls?


Jack the Nipper.

[ChrisGeorge]

Many men were swept up in the police investigation into the Whitechapel murders. Here is yet another man, with Merseyside connections. Newspaper article posted courtesy of Dave James at JtR Forums. Thanks, Dave!

[dazza]

Authur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887. I've often wondered why JTR didn't feature in his case files? This surely would have been a greater challenge than anything Professor James Moriarty could throw his way?

[GeorgePorgie]

Did yer know A C Doyle was a physician and at first glance he has facial similarities to that of James Maybrick ?

[Ged]

And he believed in fairies at the bottom of the garden

[ChrisGeorge]

Authur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887. I've often wondered why JTR didn't feature in his case files? This surely would have been a greater challenge than anything Professor James Moriarty could throw his way?

Did yer know A C Doyle was a physician and at first glance he has facial similarities to that of James Maybrick ?

Hi Dazza and George

Yes I suppose in some ways as a full-faced man, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did have some resemblance to James Maybrick. But no one ever said Maybrick wrote Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle did take an interest in the case, and is known for his theory involving a female murderer dubbed "Jill the Ripper". I think it is possible that a male killer could have disguised himself as a woman. One of the mysteries of the case is how the murderer got away with it time and again. I have often thought there must have been something about him that made the victims feel at ease. Conan Doyle was also known to have been a member of the Crimes Club, also known as "Our Society". He went along on a tour of the Ripper sites with other club members on April 19, 1905.

Chris

[dazza]

Hi Chris,

Very interesting that Conan Doyle would have walked the JTR crime scenes [I wouldn't be too surprized if he'd held seances to find the killer?] I have also visited the sites with Donald Rumbelow on one of his London Walks. 'Jill The Ripper' is also an interesting addition. Perhaps a syphilitic christian housewife infected by her husband who went out on regular nocturnal vendettas?

[ChrisGeorge]

And he believed in fairies at the bottom of the garden

And he played in goal for Portsmouth.

[Ged]

And he played in goal for Portsmouth.

Well I don't know about that, thought that was David James?

[ChrisGeorge]

Perhaps this is Conan Doyle's reluctance to include a JTR mystery in Sherlock Holmes' cases. I think Authur Conan Doyle has been a suspect in the past, but way down on the suspect list. Maybe Chris will give us a more up to date view?

Yes he has been mentioned as a suspect but he's an outsider to have been "Jack". The likely suspect sitings point to a man who looked like a sailor or at least a working class man, rather than someone like Conan Doyle.