On
The Trail Of Jack The Ripper
By
Colin Veacock
If
the sadistic Whitechapel murderer, better known as Jack the Ripper, achieved
anything of note, it was to bring peoples attention to the terrible conditions
that existed in the East End in 1888. George Bernard Shaw for instance, was
quoted by The Sun newspaper as calling the Ripper; "An independent genius,
due to the attention he brought to the East End". Jobs were scarce,
life was cheap and crime and poverty where at an all time high. Into this
depressing, gas lit back drop appeared Jack the Ripper, a loathsome creature who
stalked and butchered the sad pathetic prostitutes of Whitechapel. There
have been many theories as to the identity of Jack, ranging from the ridiculous
to the sublime, and the reasons why he took it upon himself to rid the Evil
Quarter Mile of the local prostitutes. Was he a Freemason, a Royal, a Jew, or a
woman? What follows is most, if not all, of the relevant information concerning
the victims and the suspects and finally my theory as to what was going on in
Whitechapel in the Autumn of 1888. Time
Scale of the Ripper Murders Victim Date Anniversary. Emma
Smith 3rd April 1888 Feast of
Cybele, the Earth Mother Martha
Turner (Tabram) 6thAugust 1888 Birthday of the Duke of
Edinburgh MaryAnn Nichols 31st August 1888 Birthday of Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Annie Chapman 8th September 1888 Feast of St Adrian Elizabeth
Stride 30th September 1888 Feast of St Jerome Catherine
Eddowes 30th September 1888 Mar
yKelly 9th November 1888 Birthday of the Prince Annie
(Amelia) Farmer 21st November 1888 Birthday of the
Empress Frederich. Mallet(?) 28th December 1888 Feast of
the Holy Alice
McKenzie 16th July 1889 Anniversary of the Duke Of Clarence's
Inauguration as a Freeman of
London Unknown
Torso 10th September 1889 Frances
Coles 13th February 1891 Ides of February
The
Victims MaryAnn Nichols, Thrawl Street, Spitalfields MaryAnn Nichols, 42, had five children and was separated from her husband. She
was found in Bucks Row on Friday 31st August 1888, laying in the gateway of a
stable. Her throat had been cut and she had been disemboweled. It was thought by
the Doctor in attendance, Dr Llewellyn, that she had been murdered at 3.00am.Walter King who lived at Essex Wharf opposite the stables in Bucks Row
heard nothing, and Harriet Lilley whose house was two doors away from the scene of
the murder heard whispering in the Street at 3.30am. She and her husband also
thought they heard moans but a passing train drowned them out. Patrick Mulshaw
who was a night watchman at a warehouse 100 yards away from Bucks Row claimed to
have seen no one enter or leave Bucks Row while he was having a smoke in the
street between 2.30am and 3.30am. The press began to play up the murderers
phantom-like qualities, while Harold Furniss, a journalist, said that he
believed the body had been dumped in Bucks Row. Annie
Chapman, Dorsett Street, Spitalfields Annie
Chapman, 47, had two children and was separated from her husband. Her body was
found at the rear of 29 Hanbury Street at the foot of some steps on Saturday 8thSeptember 1888. Her throat had been cut, there was a bruise on the right side
of her face, her tongue was swollen, her abdomen opened and the intestines
severed from their mesenteric attachments. The uterus was missing. An envelope was
found next to the body with the seal of the Sussex Regiment containing the letter
M, and a piece of paper containing two pills and two rings where found at her
feet which had been removed from the victim. Doctor in attendance, Doctor
Phillips, believed there had been no struggle and that Chapman had been murdered between 5- 6 am. Seventeen
people lived at 29 Hanbury Street, five of which occupied the attic, yet nobody
heard a thing. John Davis had entered the house an hour before the body was
found, about 4.40am/4.45am at which time both front and rear doors were
closed. He had sat on the rear steps and removed a piece of leather from his shoe with
a knife, and stated that the woman's body wasn't there at that time. Chapman
had last been seen by Mrs. Elizabeth Lang at 5.30am in Hanbury Street. She saw
Chapman and a man standing outside the front entrance of 29 Hanbury Street while
she was on her way to work at Spitalfields Market. As she passed by, the man
said to Chapman, "Will you?", to which Annie replied yes. Between 5.20amand 5.30am a
Mr. Cadosh had entered the rear of 27 Hanbury Street and had heard a woman say, No, followed by a bump against the fence. All Cadosh had to do
was peer over the fence and he would have seen the Ripper. Elizabeth Stride, Flower & Dean Street, Spitalfields "Liz Stride, 45, had nine children and was separated from her husband. Her body was found at 40 Berner Street on Sunday 30th September 1888, with it's throat cut and bruises on both the shoulders and chest. A bag of cachous was tightly gripped in her hand. There were no mutilations as it is widely believed that the Ripper had been disturbed and may have still been present in the shadows when Louis Diemschultz returned to Dutfield Yard, off Berner Street, with his horse and cart. The Doctor's in attendance, Dr Blackwell and Dr Phillips estimated her time of murder at between 12.35am and 12.55am. At12.45am an unnamed witness watched a man drag Stride into the street and shout
"Lipski" at her while a second man left a public house opposite and
watched the commotion from the shadows. William Marshall, 64, of Berner Street,
saw Stride talking to a man at 11.45pm who was described as, middle aged,5'6"inches tall, stout, round peaked cap, cutaway coat with dark trousers. He
heard the man say, "You could say anything but your prayers". Two
other witnesses saw the same person later that same night, and James Brown, who
was staying late in a Chandlers shop on Berner Street, saw a man and woman
standing by the boarding school. Two
descriptions appeared in the Police Gazette due to the fact that Stride had been
murdered on Metropolitan Police territory rather than the territory of the City
Police. At1:00 am a man was seen,
aged
about 28, height 5'8" inches, dark complexion, dark small moustache, black diagonal coat, hard felt hat, collar and tie, carrying a
parcel wrapped up in newspaper under his arm. At12.45am a man was seen aged about 30, 5'5" inches tall, fair complexion, dark hair,
small brown moustache, full face, broad shoulders, dark jacket and trousers and
a black peaked cap. Catherine Eddowes, Dorsett Street and Thrawl Street, Spitalfields Catherine
Eddowes, 43, had three children and was separated from her husband. Her body was
found in Mitre square by P.C. Watkins at 1.45am on Sunday 30th September 1888.
The constable had walked through the square fifteen minutes earlier at 1.30am
and all was well. Her throat had been cut while the victim had been laying on
the ground, the abdomen was opened and the left kidney and uterus had been
removed and taken from the scene of the crime. Her face had been severely attacked.
The lips had been sliced, her cheeks punctured and her nose was cut off. When
Eddowes' body was finally removed her nose fell off into her clothing. Doctor's
in attendance were Doctor Sequiera, Brown, Phillips and Saunders. The next day
Eddowes long bladed knife, which she is thought to have carried for protection,
was found in Whitechapel Road covered in dried blood. This has lead some Ripper
researchers to suppose that Eddowes was killed with her own knife... A large
piece of Eddowes' apron had also been torn off and was missing. This turned up,
covered in blood and faeces, in a passageway in Goulston Street where a chalk
written message reading, °THE JUWES ARE THE MEN WHO WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR
NOTHING, was removed on the orders of Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir
Charles Warren. Joseph
Lawende and two friends who had spent the evening in the Imperial Club in Duke
Street, saw a man age about 30, 5'7" inches tall, fair complexion, medium build, pepper
and salt loose jacket, grey cloth cap with peak, reddish neckerchief tied in a
knot, who had the overall appearance of a sailor. He had been standing with a woman
at the entrance to Church Passage. Mary Kelly, 13 Millers Court, Spitalfields Mary Kelly, 25, had two children and was a widower. Her body was found on Friday 9thNovember 1888 in her home by Thomas Bowyer, a rent collector who worked for lodging house keeper, John McCarthy. The body had been totally reduced to a mass of flesh and some organs had been cut out of the body and placed on the bedside table. Doctors in attendance, Phillips, Bond and Brown estimated the time of her murder at between 3.30am and 4.00am. MaryAnn Cox, a prostitute who lived at 5 Millers Court, saw Mary Kelly entering
the Court with a man at 11.45pm. The man was carrying a pail of beer and was
described as being; Short and stout, shabbily dressed wearing a round Billy
cockhat, blotchy face and carroty moustache. As they entered 13 Millers court
she said goodnight to them both and then heard Kelly singing, "Only A Violet
I Pluck From My Mothers Grave". This lasted from 12.00am till 1.00am. Later, at6.15 am, she heard footsteps below in the Court but these could have been
caused by local people on their way to work at the markets. Above
Mary Kelly, in 20 Millers Court, lived Elizabeth Prater. She told of how she hadbeen disturbed at 3.30am and 4.00am by her pet cat which became agitated. At thesame time she heard a low cry of murder coming from the Court below. Sarah
Lewis who lived at 24 Great Pearl Street, called at number 2 Millers Court,
opposite number thirteen, at 2.30am. She had spotted a man at the door of a
lodging house on Dorsett Street almost opposite the archway which lead through
to Millers Court. She described him as a stout man wearing a black wide hat. At4.00am she had been dozing in a chair when she heard a low, barely audible
cry of murder. Meanwhile,
at 2.00am, Mr. George Hutchinson was walking by Thrawl Street and Commercial
Street when just before Flower & Dean Street he met Mary Kelly who asked him
for sixpence. As she left him, heading towards Thrawl Street, a man coming in
the opposite direction tapped her on the shoulder and spoke to her, after which
they both burst out laughing. He watched as the man hid his face as he passed
him by. Alarmed by the strangers suspicious nature he followed and waited for
three quarters of an hour at the entrance to Millers Court for them to return,
but they never did. A
Mrs Paumier, a seller of roasted peanuts, told her story to a reporter which
appeared in The Times on the 10th November 1888. She said that on midday, on the
day of the Mary Kelly murder, a gentleman had asked her if she had heard about
the Dorsett Street murder. Politely she said she had before he turned to her and
said something which froze her to the spot. "I know more about it than
you..." Mrs
Paumier watched him as he wandered away from her stall on Widegate Street, only
two minutes away from Millers Court. She described the man as 5'6" inches tall,
black silk hat, black coat, speckled trousers carrying a shiny black bag. She
also described how she had seen the very same man accost three young ladies on
the Thursday night (8th November), after they had asked him what was in his bag. "Something
the ladies don't like!" was his chilling reply. Were there any other victims? The
theory that there were only five Ripper victims is one which has caused
controversy and has been debated for more than a century. Nichols, Chapman,
Stride, Eddowes and Kelly have become the acknowledged victims but there were
other unfortunate prostitutes who met a similar end, and bore the same Ripper
trademark wounds on their bodies. Fairy Fay, Spitalfields Unsubstantiated
rumours still persist in the darkest realms of Ripper lore that a victim known
only as Fairy Fay, was found mutilated in an alley off Commercial Road, on
Boxing Night, 1887. She supposedly spent the evening in the Mitre Square pub...Inspector Reid, known as the shortest man on the force, headed the
investigation but seemingly soon lost interest leading some to theorise that Fairy Fay
never really existed. Emma Smith, 18 George Street, Spitalfields Emma
Smith was aged 45, a widower who had two children. On the 3rd April 1888, Easter
Monday, Smith was attacked less than a hundred yards from where Martha Tabramhad been murdered, by four men in Osburn Street who punched her to the
ground and robbed her. When she returned to her home she held a cardigan between
her legs to mop up the blood as her attackers had inserted an object, possibly apiece of wood, into her body causing massive internal tissue MarthaTurner
(Tabram) Martha
Turner, 35, also known as Martha Tabram, was a married woman who earned a living
prostituting herself in the East End. She was last seen with her friend, a
fellow prostitute named Pearly Poll, (Mary Ann Connelly) talking to two soldiers
near the entrance to an alleyway. Pearly Poll took one of the soldiers into one
alleyway while Tabram wandered into the other. Not much later, during the early
hours of the 6th August 1888, she was stabbed 39 times in the chest and left to
die on the first floor landing of 35 George Yard Buildings. At 3.30am, cabdriver Albert Crow, stepped over her on his way home thinking that she
was drunk. It was not until 5.00am that John Reeves, a market worker, bothered
to try and wake her and found, much to his horror, that she had been brutally
murdered. UnknownTorso On
the 10th September 1888, a naked body wrapped in sacking, missing its legs and
head, thought to be a prostitute named Lydia Hart, was found beneath a railway
arch on Pinchin Street. Most Ripperologists claim the torso is nothing to do
with the Whitechapel murders yet the torso bore the same groin to chest cut so
typical of the Ripper. Annie Farmer Annie
Farmer was lucky to survive her brief meeting with the killer on the 22 November1888. She was able to give a description of her assailant to the police and
is thought by most to be the victim of a prostitute/client argument and nothing
what so ever to do with the Ripper. Mallet? On
the 28 December 1888 a woman called Mallet is thought to have been killed by the
Whitechapel murderer although details about the incident are non-existent. Alice
McKenzie, 52 Gun Street, Spitalfields. Alice
McKenzie, also known as Clay Pipe Alice, lived at 52 Gun Street with a man named
John McCormac. Her body was found by P.C. Walter Andrews at 1.00am on the 16th July1889, in Castle Alley, a passage which ran parallel to Goulston Street.
Her throat had been cut, she had been stabbed several times and there where
bruises on her chest. A jagged incision ran from the right side of her chest to
her naval and there where stab wounds and cuts around her genital region. Frances"Carroty Nel" Coles, Thrawl Street, Spitalfields "Frances
Coles was found barely alive in Swallow Gardens, by P.C. Benjamin Leeson and P.C.Ernest Thompson at 3.00am on the 13th February 1891. She was last seen in
the company of a ships fireman named James Saddler who never denied being with
her. Coles throat had been cut and there where numerous stab wounds to her
lower body. Annie Millwood Annie had once been married to a soldier named Richard Millwood but had fallen on hard times when he died. She was stabbed in the legs and the lower torso several times but made a full recovery. Her attack is similar to the crazed attack on Martha Tabram. Elizabeth Jackson Elizabeth
Jackson lived at Sloane Square. She is thought to have died on the 25thJuly 1889 as pieces of her body where found floating in the Thames. Carrie Brown Brown,
also known as Old Shakespeare, was a prostitute who was found strangled and
mutilated in The East River Hotel, Manhattan, on the 23rd April 1891. The Doctor
who was called to the scene of the crime thought that the murderer had tried to “gut” his victim. Word soon spread around the United States that Jack
the Ripper had relocated. In response, the New York Police, who had been highly
critical of Scotland Yard during the Whitechapel Murders, quickly arrested Ameer
Ben Ali. The Mediums Story Since
Victorian London was a hive of séance rooms and medium's parlours it is not
surprising that the spiritualists should raise their head when it comes to the
Whitechapel murders. According to persistent Ripper lore, R.J. Lees, a psychic
medium, was responsible for the capture of Jack the Ripper. Lees was plagued by
psychic visions. One day, when Lees was traveling home by bus along Bayswater
Road, he suddenly realised that Jack the Ripper was sitting opposite him. He
carefully followed the man home to 74 Brook Street, a large mansion in the West
End and then went to notify the police of his suspicions. The police checked out
the address and immediately dismissed Lees claims due to the fact that the
mansion in question belonged to an eminent doctor whose patients included
royalty. However, with Lees persistent accusations the police traveled to the
address and interviewed the doctor's wife who immediately confessed that she
thought her husband was slowly going insane. With this new information, the
police set up an around the clock surveillance of the mansion and soon took the
doctor into custody one evening when he was leaving his home carrying a small
black leather bag. Inside the bag the police found a long thin bladed knife
identical to that used by the killer. Accordingto Lees, the doctor, thought to be Dr William Gull although he is
never mentioned by name, was incarcerated in an asylum after which the murders ceased. How
much credence we can put on this story is difficult to assess. It is true that
the name of Sir William Gull, the Royal Physician, does crop up time and time again where the ripper is mentioned and it is
clear that if he wasn't the ripper, then he may have known who was! The Ripper Letters The
first letter, known as 'The Dear Boss' letter was sent to the Central News
Agency in London. It was dated the 25th September and postmarked on the 27th
September. In this letter the Ripper refers to 'the last job', meaning his killing
of Annie Chapman, and also mentions that he is going to attempt to cut the ears
off his next victim. The next victim, Catherine Eddowes did indeed have
mutilations to one of her ears. It is in this letter that he gave the press the name
which sold millions of newspapers world wide; Jack The Ripper. Dear
Boss, I
keep on hearing the police have caught me but they won't fix me just yet. I have
laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That
joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shan't
quit ripping them till I do get bucked. Grand work the last job was. I gave the
lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to
start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some
of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with
but it went thick like glue and I can't use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha
ha. The next job I do I shall clip the lady's ears off and send them to
the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do
a bit more work, then give it out straight away. My knife is nice and sharp I
want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck. Yours
truly, JACK
THE RIPPER Don't mind me giving the trade name. Wasn't good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it. No luck yet they say I am a doctor now, ha ha. The Postcard On
the 1st October 1888 the Central News Agency received an undated postcard, the contents of which were made public on the 2nd October. The police considered this postcard to be from the killer as
it was sent from the same district, at the same time, as where the blood smeared
knife was found. I
was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip. You'll hear about saucy
Jack's work tomorrow. Double event this time. Number one squealed a bit.
Couldn't finish straight off. Had not time to get ears for the police. Thanks
for keeping last letter back till I got to work again. JACK THE RIPPER 'The Lusk Letter George
Lusk was the Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee at the time of the
Ripper murders and was extremely outspoken when it came to the inadequacies of
the police force. He had already received many letters which had supposedly come
from the killer which were rightly dismissed, but on the 16th October a small
cardboard box with an attached note was delivered to his home in Alderney Road
off Globe Road, Mile End. Mr
Lusk, Sir, I
send you half the Kidne I took from one woman prasarved it for you tother piece
I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it
out if you only wate a whil longer. Catch
me when you can Mr Lusk.' The Dr. Openshaw Letter The
kidney sent to George Lusk was not taken seriously by the police who dismissed
it as being from a dog. However, Dr Thomas Openshaw decided to take a look and
declared it as being from someone who had Bright's disease, a condition brought
on by drinking too much gin. Immediately Dr Openshaw declared the kidney as
being human in origin he received another letter, supposedly from the ripper. Old
Boss you was rite it was the left kidny i was goin to hoperate again close to
your ospitle just as i was going to dror mi nife along of er bloomin throte them
cusses of coppers spoilt the game but i guess i wil be on the job soon and will
send you another bit of innerds. JACK THE RIPPER O
have you seen the devle with his mikerscope and scalpul a-lookin at a kidney
with a slide cocked up. The
one thing that becomes plainly evident when one scrutinises the Ripper letters
is that the writer is doing his level best to disguise his identity by purposely
mis-spelling certain words while spelling them correctly elsewhere. For
instance; in the Openshaw letter the Ripper spells Kidney, k.i.d.n.y, while in
the last line he spells it correctly. Words you could forgive him for spelling
incorrectly, such as scalpel, he has no problem with. Most academic
ripperologists now dismiss the Ripper letters as being the work of an
industrious journalist attempting to raise the profile of the crimes yet it
cannot be ignored that the half a human kidney sent to George Lusk likely came
from Catherine Eddowes, and therefore, the accompanying letter was written by
the Whitechapel murderer. 'The Ripper Suspects The
first thing which becomes plainly obvious on first looking at the 1888Whitechapel murders is that the role call of suspects confuses the issue
and sheds very little light on the crimes. Some of the named suspects are
clearly ridiculous. Names like Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, Virginnia Woolf and
even Arthur Conan Doyle have all been mentioned by various authors as probable
Jack the Ripper's, but the evidence against them is slight and tenuous to say
the least. John
Pizer (Leather Apron) Pizer
was a Jewish boot finisher who lived with his stepmother and sister-in-law at 22Mulberry Street, off Commercial Road. He had a criminal record because a year
before, he had attacked a man with a knife and only weeks before the murders,
had threatened several local prostitutes. Was he the Ripper?... Definitely not. 'Thomas Cutbush Thomas
Cutbush's name emerges as a Ripper suspect in notes written by Sir Melville
Macnaghten on the 23rd February 1894. Apparently, Macnaghton had strong
suspicions that Cutbush was the killer yet we have no information as to why. In
the notes Macnaghten exonerates Cutbush who was eventually found to be insane
and jailed on her Majesties pleasure after attacking two girls. When the police
visited his home, 14 Albert Street, Kensington, where he lived with his mother
and aunt, they found several drawings of mutilated women. Was he the Ripper?... Definitely not. Montague.
J. Druitt Druitt
was a 31 year old successful barrister and school teacher, who came from a
family of doctors, who is thought to have committed suicide on the 10th November1888. His body was found floating in the Thames on New Years Eve of the
same year, and was finally interred in Wimborne, Dorset. When the police
interviewed his family they admitted that they thought he was the ripper. Was he the Ripper?...Seems to be implicated. Aaron Kozminski When
a top F.B.I profiler studied all the existing Ripper evidence he came to the
conclusion that Aaron Kozminski, a Polish Jew, was Jack the Ripper. Kozminski
hated women and had strong homicidal tendencies. He was also implicated in the
murder of Elizabeth Stride by a Hungarian Jew named Israel Schwartz who claimed
to have seen Kozminski attack Stride and force her to the floor, and even picked
him out in a police line-up. He later retracted his testimony saying that he
wouldn't testify against a fellow Jew. After being followed by under cover
police officers for several weeks Kozminski was finally committed to an asylum
in March 1889. Was he the Ripper?... Dismissed by most Ripperologists. Michael Ostrog Thought
by most to be too old to be the Ripper, while some have him in France during the
murders. Ostrog was an insane Russian conman who had, in the past, passed
himself off as a priest and a surgeon. He had also spent considerable time in an
asylum. Was he the Ripper?... No. George Chapman Chapman,
real name, Severin Antoniovitch Klosowski, was a barber who had poisoned his
three wives. Inspector Frederick Abberline thought he was the Ripper and spent
considerable time following him. Was he the Ripper?... Definitely not. Sir William Gull Gull
was the Royal Physician and a lecturer in physiology and anatomy. Was
implemented in the Ripper murders by Victorian medium, R. Lees who followed him
home after accidentally meeting him on a bus. A year before the murders Gull
suffered a stroke. Whether the good doctor was physically fit enough to wield a
knife and carry out the murders is debatable. Was he the Ripper?...Implicated more than once! J.K. Stephen Close
friend of the Duke Of Clarence, cousin of Virginia Woolf and the son of eminent
judge, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, the judge who passed sentence to Florence
Maybrick in St Georges Hall, Liverpool. Stephen lived with his parents at DeVere Gardens, Kensington and was suspected of being the Duke Of Clarence's
lover. In 1886 he was knocked unconscious in a riding accident and was treated by
Sir William Gull. Some say that the head injury was the catalyst of Stephen's
madness which eventually lead him to be committed to an asylum in October 1890.Died in 1892. Averse entitled, Kaphoozelum, appeared in one of his books which hints
that Stephen knew more about the Ripper than most. For
though he paid his women well, This
syphilitic spawn of hell, Struck
down each year and tolled the bell, For
ten harlots of Jerusalem. Was he the Ripper?... Definitely played some part. Nicolas Vassili A
junior surgeon who was born in Torshok, Tver, Russia in 1857, Vassili was wanted
in Paris for murdering a woman in 1886. He was also wanted for murdering a woman
in Petrograd in 1891. Vassili has been confused with another Ripper suspect
named Pedachenko, and may well have been using this name as an alias in
London. He was finally arrested in Petrograd, 1891, dressed as a woman. He ended up in
a Russian asylum. Was he the Ripper?... No. Madame Petrovna Blavatsky The
infamous Beast 666, Aleister Crowley, once named the worlds most wickedest man,
named Blavatsky as the Ripper and claimed the murders were part of a black magic
ritual. She eventually became well known as a psychic medium and spent much of
her time in Victorian London's séance rooms apparently contacting the dead... Enough said! Wass he the Ripper?... Be serious... Doctor Thomas Neil Cream Cream was born in Glasgow, 1850, before emigrating to Canada with his parents in 1854.In October 1876 he came to London before finally traveling to Australia, where he spent time in a Sydney jail, and America. Doctor Cream was a morphine and cocaine addict. On
the 15th November 1892, Cream's past caught up with him and he was sentenced to
hang for committing murder on both sides of the Atlantic. While he stood on the
scaffold with the Hangman, James Bellington, waiting for the trapdoor to open he
shouted; "I am Jack the..." With those words the trapdoor opened and
Doctor Cream plummeted to his death. He may have tried to admit to theWhitechapel murders in some misplaced act of bravado as it is very unlikely
that he was even in the United Kingdom during the murders and was in Joliet
prison, Illinois. Was he the Ripper?...No. Dr Morgan Davies Davieswas a physician who lived in Castle Street, Houndsditch and was
London Hospital's House Physician. The medical directory has him living in 9
King Street, Finsbury Square. Named as a suspect by Roslyn D'O Stephenson after
Davies had perfectly imitated the Ripper in front of five other doctors. Was he the Ripper?... No. Doctor Stanley Dr
Stanley's story is a tale of revenge. Stanley, a Harley Street surgeon, nursed
his son through venereal disease which he had caught from East End
prostitutes. It is claimed that his son had met Mary Jeanette Kelly at the Cafe Monico in1886, and based on this dubious information, set about killing prostitutes as
an act of revenge. He eventually fled to Argentina where a Mr. Leonard Matters
claims to have found his confession in a local Spanish newspaper. Was he the Ripper?...Doubtful. Edward, Duke of Clarence. Prince Albert Victor Prince
Albert Victor was the Son of Edward VII, the Prince of Wales and the Grandson of
Queen Victoria, and heir to the throne of England. He was also the Right
Worshipful Master of the Royal Alpha Lodge… He was known by the press as Eddie
or 'Collar and cuffs'. At the time of the Kelly murder in Millers Court, the
Duke of Clarence was away at Sandringham celebrating his fathers birthday but
this hasn't stopped his name being continually mentioned and associated with the
Ripper. He was almost certainly a homosexual whose long time partner was J.K.
Stephens, and was also implicated in the Cleveland Street Scandal. Wa she the Ripper?...Certainly had something to do with it. Joseph Barnett A
labourer and porter at Billingsgate, who lived with Mary Kelly at Millers Court
for eighteen months until he left after a vicious fight on the 30th October 1888.When he left, Mary found her front door key missing and had to open the door
by reaching through a broken window pane to unlock the door. When the killer
left her mutilated body on the bed, he locked the door behind him with the key!
This tenuous piece of evidence is all that implicates Barnett with the murders.
Joseph Barnett died in 1926 aged 68. Was he the Ripper?...I'm afraid not. Dr Merchant Not
much is known about Merchant except that he had a Liverpool connection (the
genuine Ripper letters where thought to have been posted in Liverpool). He was
born in India in 1851 and came to London in 1886. Eventually died of
tuberculosis in December 1888, mere weeks after the murder of Mary Kelly. Was he the Ripper?...No. Olga Tchkersoff The
Tchkersoff's where refugees who arrived in England on the 22 February 1887 with
her father, Ivan, and her younger sister, Vera who was 19. Olga had to watch as
her sister, Vera, became a prostitute and began to associate with the notorious
prostitutes of the East End. Eventually Vera Tchkersoff became pregnant and
consented to an abortion which went terribly wrong. She contracted Sepsis and
died on the 28th July 1888. Olga swore that she would hack to pieces the women
who had lead her sister astray. Shortly after the Whitechapel murders began... Was she the Ripper?...No. Dr Francis Tumblety An
American quack who had no formal medical training, a homosexual, pornographer
and Fenian who collected uteruses which he kept in large glass jars. It is said
that the mere mention of a woman could send him into a violent fit of rage.
Shortly before the murder of Mary Kelly, Tumblety was arrested and charged with
gross indecency with another man. He was being closely followed by officers from
Scotland Yard as he was a known Fenian supporter who was in London at the time
that Scotland Yard was blown up. Mere days after Kelly was murdered he skipped
bail and fled to America pursued by British detectives. In New York, American
detectives waited at the dockside for him to walk down the gangplank but he
avoided them and vanished. It is interesting to note that Tumblety was thought
to be Jack the Ripper by American journalists. Was he the Ripper?... Too closely followed by detectives to be the Ripper. James Maybrick Maybrick
was a Liverpool cotton merchant who was married to Florence. They lived at
Battlecrease House in Aigburth with their children. In 1889 Florence was tried
and convicted of her husbands murder in St Georges Hall. James was an arsenic
addict and a hypochondriac who visited his Doctor up to seventy times a year. He
also spent a lot of time in London's East End. Maybrick
came to light as a Ripper suspect in 1991 when Mike Barrett was given a 63 page
leather bound diary by his friend, Tony Devereux. The diary turned up shortly
after electricians had lifted the floorboards in Maybrick's home. Both the
electricians and Devereux visited the Saddle Inn public house. The diary appears
to be the ramblings of a broken man and is finally signed, Jack the Ripper. Was he the Ripper?...No. 'G.W.B.' A
tenuous link to the Whitechapel murders which comes from Blackpool. Was he the Ripper?...No. Frederick Bayley Deeming Deeming
was born in Birkenhead in 1853 and ran away to sea at the age of fourteen. He
married a Birkenhead girl named Marie James and on the whole seemed happy with
family life. However, he eventually murdered his family by cutting their throats
and burying them under the floorboards of his home, Durham Villas, in Rainhill
in 1891. He is also said to have murdered people on three different continents
and received a letter from Catherine Eddowes while he was living in Nova
Scotia. When he was eventually executed the locals sang this rhyme; On
the twenty third of May, Frederick
Deeming passed away, On
the scaffold he did say, Ta-ra-da-boom-di-day, Ta-ra-da-boom-di-day, This
is a happy day, An
East End holiday, Jack the Ripper's gone away. Was he the Ripper?..No. William Sickert Sickert
was a famous Victorian painter who lived in Cleveland Street, Soho. He was a
good friend of the Duke of Clarence. (See Edward, Duke of Clarence.) Was he the Ripper?...No. Dr Rosyln D'Onston A
writer who wrote under the pseudonym, 'Tautriadelta', who supposedly confessed
to a baroness that he was Jack the Ripper. He is said to have given the blooden
crusted neck ties he wore on the nights of the murders to Aleister
Crowley. During the murders he lived at 29 Castle Street near St Martins Lane and on the26th December, 1888, he wrote a letter to Scotland Yard accusing Dr Morgan
Davies of being the Ripper. Was he the Ripper?...No. David Cohen Not
much is known about Cohen. Shortly after Mary Kelly's murder, Cohen had a
violent fit in the street and was taken into custody by the police who seemed to
be following him at the time. Cohen was certified insane and incarcerated inC
olney Hatch Asylum where he eventually died. Was he the Ripper?...No. Frank Miles Miles
lived in Salisbury Street above his good friend, and some say lover, Oscar
Wilde. Miles was a homosexual artist whose cousin was equerry to the Duke of
Clarence. One of his closest friends was Lillie Langtry. After Wilde and he fell
out and grew apart, he moved on to Chelsea where he lived in number 3 Tite
Street. His death is confusing as some say he died in March 1888, but he
actually died of General Paralysis of the insane in a Bristol asylum on the 15th
July 1891. Was he the Ripper?...No. Claude Raignier Conder The
latest Ripper suspect to come to light thanks to the dedicated research of
Liverpool writer, Tom Slemen. Conder was a good friend of Sir Charles Warren and
served with him in the armed forces where he was considered to be an expert in
stealth. It is theorised that the disemboweling so common of the Ripper murders
was a reflection of how the Zulu Warriors released evil spirits from their slain
enemies by ritual disemboweling. Was
he the Ripper?...Needs more research but early signs are promising. For a critical analysis of Tom Slemen's theory that Claude Raignier Conder was the ripper click here William Henry Bury Bury
was hanged in April 1889 in Dundee, Scotland for the murder ofhis wife, Ellen. He has been named as a suspect due to the fact that the
wound she inflicted on his wife's body were identical to those on Martha Tabram. Was
he the Ripper?…. No. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Dodgson,
better known to you and me as Lewis Carroll, was born on the 27 January 1832. He
was the third child in a family which consisted of eleven children. He has beennamed as the Ripper by Richard Wallace who says that both Dodgson, and his
good friend, Thomas Vere Bayne were responsible for the murders. Was
he the Ripper?…. No. James Kelly Kelly
died in 1929 after spending thirty years in Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum. Considered
by some to be the Ripper due to the way he murdered his wife by stabbing her int
he neck. Was
he the Ripper?…. No. Francis Thompson Thompson
was a poet who was born on the 18 December 1859 in Preston, and died in 1907 in
London after living rough on the docks for many years. After a promising career
in the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Francis became an opium addict. He is
suspected of being the ripper due to a short story he wrote called, “FinisCoronat Opus”, or End Crowning Glory, which details the gory sacrifice
of women on a pagan altar. Was
he the Ripper?…. No. George Hutchinson George
Hutchinson, you may remember, was a witness at the Mary Kelly inquest. He has
had the finger of suspicion pointed squarely at him due to the revelation that
he couldn’t have seen in such detail the man who was lurking outside Mary
Kelly’s lodging house. Was he trying to mislead the police? That’s what
Allan Moore and Edward Campbell suggest in their comic book retelling of the
Ripper story "From Hell", which is soon to become a film starring Johnny
Depp. Was
he the Ripper?…. Doubtful. Pastor Jack Gibson Gibson
left London in December 1888 after which the Whitechapel murders ceased. When he
arrived in New Jersey similar murders occurred so Scotland Yard officers where
dispatched to help investigate. Pastor Gibson then moved on to San Francisco
where identical murders took place in his church! Wa she the Ripper?…..Doubtful. Jack the Ripper - The Truth To
understand what was going on in Whitechapel in the Autumn of 1888, you have to
look and study the witness statements, and most importantly, the nature of the
crimes... The victims were not randomly chosen. They weren't prostitutes who
just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; they were stalked,
hunted and observed by their killer until the time was right to strike. Mary
Kelly, for instance, was being closely watched by a man who stood in the doorway
of a lodging house in Dorsett Street, almost opposite the archway which lead
through to Millers Court. This was most probably the same man who George
Hutchinson supposedly observe walk up behind Kelly and tap her on the shoulder
before they both left together, laughing loudly, until they entered Millers
Court. There is more than enough evidence to suggest that the victims were
butchered because they knew something which 'someone' didn't want getting out into the public domain. The
biggest clue as to what the Ripper murders were all about comes in the way that
the murderer disposed of his victims. Their throats were cut from left to right
and their torso's ripped open before their internal organs were removed and
placed about the corpse. In some instances the body parts were taken away from
the scene of the crime. In the ancient Masonic texts there is a reference to how
King Solomon sacrificed three Jews who had murdered his master mason, Hiram
Abiff, the man who had built the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. "Their throats were cut from left to right, their breasts burst open and their innards scattered". The similar description of the ancient Masonic ritual and the Whitechapel murders is not purely coincidental. Neither was there a Jack the Ripper! When we mention the Whitechapel murderer we should use the term, 'Jack the Rippers'... From the description of the murderer given by witnesses who had seen the victims walk away with a gentleman shortly before their murder, it seems we are looking for a; 'Short, tall, stout, fair, dark man with a carroty, dark, fair moustache who has a clear, blotchy face. He looks wealthy, he looks like a sailor, is of Jewish appearance and also looks foreign'. Obviously
we are talking about more than one man! A group of Freemasons who were
protecting a secret that the victims had come across quite by accident. So when
Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Charles Warren, himself a Freemason,
entered the alleyway on Goulston Street, where Catherine Eddowes blood and
faeces stained apron had been found, and saw written in chalk on the wall; 'The
Juwes are the men who will not be blamed for nothing', his heart must have
missed a beat... Jews on the wall was spelt, JUWES, exactly as it is spelt in
the Masonic texts, and he would have known it! It is of little wonder that he
immediately ordered the message to be erased incase there was an anti Jewish
backlash. That was just a cover story. As a Freemason he was honour bound to
help fellow Masons in any way possible, and he was now in no doubt that the
Whitechapel murders were part of some Masonic ritual. No wonder the police were
ineffectual and ineffective. Their own police Commissioner, backed by the Prime
Minister, Lord Salisbury, (Robert Cecil) who was also a Mason, was leading them
in entirely the wrong direction, while the real killers had inside information
concerning the local constable's time tables and routes. Chief Inspector Walter
Dew, the policeman who eventually captured Crippen, had a macabre love affair
with the Ripper case. The one thing he could never come to understand was how the killer remained invisible… He came to the rather
startling conclusion that Jack the Ripper was never caught because “he was
above suspicion”. So
what deadly secret had the unwitting Whitechapel prostitutes stumbled across? Perhaps
Joseph Sickert, Son of the famous Victorian painter, William Sickert, had the
answer. William Sickert lived on Cleveland Street, Soho, and was a very good
friend of Edward, Duke of Clarence, or to give him his proper name, Prince
Albert Victor. According to Joseph Sickert, the Duke of Clarence became besotted
with one of his fathers models, a shopkeeper named Annie Elizabeth Crook who
lived at 6 Cleveland Street. In fact, they became so close that they were
married and soon had a daughter named Alice Margaret. Unfortunately, not only
was Crook a commoner but a Catholic commoner at that! Because of this, the
marriage was kept secret and a nanny, a young Irish girl named Mary Kelly (the
fifth Ripper victim) was hired. Eventually the truth leaked out and the Prime
Minister, Lord Salisbury, Queen Victoria and several close and loyal Royal
advisors, including the Royal Physician, Sir William Gull, decided that
something had to be done. According to Sickert, that something included Annie
Crook being abducted and incarcerated in an asylum by Dr Gull in 1888, while the
Duke was given a strong lecture by his Grandmother, Queen Victoria, who he was
rightly terrified of. The baby, Alice Margaret, it is said, was sent to live
with her nanny, Mary Kelly, in the East End until she left for Dieppe with
Sickert. It
is a very convincing story which is, I'm sorry to say, destroyed by one major
flaw. Sickert confused Annie Elizabeth Crook with Elizabeth Cook who was living
in Cleveland Street right up to 1903, when she worked for Cross and Blackwells.
Cook finally died in the Lunacy Ward of the Fulham Road Workhouse in 1920.However, we should thank Joseph Sickert because not only does he adequately
showt hat the Duke of Clarence was visiting Cleveland Street, he also shows that
Mary Kelly was there as well! There
is now ample evidence to suggest that the Duke of Clarence was a homosexual. His
best friend and tutor, and probably his lover, was J.K. Stephen, the son of Sir
James Fitzjames Stephen, the man who tried and convicted Florence Maybrick. So
many past Ripper suspects have been named as the killer, not because the police
believed them to be Jack the Ripper, but because they were either Freemasons or
homosexuals. And as you are about to see, the Ripper murders appear to be an
abomination spawned by Londons homosexual community and covered up by the
Masons.... Just
before the Ripper murders began, London society was rocked by a scandal. Number19 Cleveland Street, owned by Charles Hammond, was revealed to be a
homosexual brothel which was frequented by many notable Victorian figures. It becomes
clear why so many past Ripper suspects were homosexual. If you were gay and resided
in London in the late 1880s, then you would have certainly visited the brothel
in Cleveland Street. Prince Albert Victor, J.K. Stephens, Frank Miles and even
Dr Francis Tumblety, who was arrested for gross indecency with a man during the
murders, almost certainly where seen and observed by the police entering the
brothel. When the Cleveland Street scandal was being investigated, the Assistant
Public Prosecutor actually mentioned Prince Albert Victor as being a regular
visitor. While visiting the brothel, Albert Victor contracted Gonorrhoea.
Perhaps he in turn passed the disease on to J.K. Stephens? We know that a Dr Alfred
Fripp prescribed drugs commonly given for the treatment of gonorrhoea, to the
Duke when he was suddenly taken ill while holidaying in Scarborough, and we also
know that Sir William Gull wrote in his medical papers on the 3rd October that he
had informed the Prince of Wales that his son was dying of syphilis of the brain. In1892 he finally passed away. While
all this was going on, Mary Kelly was visiting Number 6 Cleveland Street where
she helped look after Alice Margaret. As she went about her daily duties she
would have seen important figures of the day slipping in and out of number
nineteen across the street. When Mary eventually became a prostitute and an
alcoholic, spending much of her time in public houses and standing in doorways
with other prostitutes, the talk could have got around to what she had seen in
Cleveland Street. People began to talk... A
plan was hatched by the Freemasons, who had infiltrated the Royal Society in1660. They decided that they had to protect the Royals from the scandal
which would undoubtedly blow up in their faces if the truth of Albert Victor's
involvement in the Cleveland Street scandal ever got out. The Monarchy had to
prevail and this meant that the prostitutes who were spreading the malicious
rumours would have to be silenced, permanently. So the Freemasons set
about their quest with devastating results. There never was one Jack the Ripper. MaryAnn Nichols could have been killed by Sir William Gull and his coach
driver, John Netley, before being unceremoniously dumped in Bucks Row. Detectives
noted the small amount of blood at the crime scene considering the extent of
Nichol's injuries, and a local journalist named Harold Furniss also believed that she
was killed elsewhere before being left in Bucks Row, and publicly said so.
George Hutchinson, witness at the Kelly murder, and Joseph Lawende at the
Eddowes murder, both seem to be describing the same man wearing a red neckerchief
who, from the description given by these men, could have been either Montague
John Druitt or the Duke of Clarence as the two looked quite similar. For
over a hundred years Ripperologists have searched for the true identity of the
Ripper and all have fell into the same trap. They have concentrated their search
for just one suspect, yet they came up with the same names time and time again!
People who were either associated with the Cleveland Street scandal and
therefore were homosexuals who had been observed by the police and were named in
various police files, or Freemasons who plotted to cover up the Royals
involvement in the scandal. Celebrated Ripperologist and crime historian, Martin
Fido, has said that the Whitechapel murders ceased for one of three reasons. (A) The killer was secretly caught and incarcerated. (B)The killer died. (C) The killer moved elsewhere where his crimes went unnoticed. What
I’m theorising is that the hideous Ripper murders came to an abrupt halt due
to the fact that the Freemasons had achieved their objectives and silenced those
who were spreading rumours about Prince Albert Victor. In the end the identity of Jack the Ripper is as elusive as trying to capture ones own shadow. We can only speculate as to what was the driving force behind the Whitechapel murders and what those investigating the murders actually knew about what was going on. There is clearly more to the Jack the Ripper myth than meets the eye… |