Aaron Kosminski was Jack The Ripper and Scotland Yard Knew it at the time.

To quote the two top American FBI profilers, John Douglas and Roy Hazelwood, if it wasn't Aaron Kosminski, then it was someone exactly like him.   http://www.casebook.org/  

Polly, Mary Anne Nichols, Jack the Ripper's first victim

The scene of Mary Anne "Polly" Nichols Murder, The Board School(1876) looms in the background and is still standing, the spot of her murder today.

Polly in life and in death. There is no provenance for the life photo, but it was included on several crime websites. The death photo is from the morgue.

Second victim, Annie Chapman with husband John, long before her alcoholism destroyed their marriage; the murder scene, the back yard of the boarding house at 29 Hanbury Street, Whitechapel.

           

47 year old Annie Chapman from a photo taken by the coroner in the Morgue

Police inundated Whitechapel with officers after the first murders, but Jack struck again, coincidentally at a place that Aaron knew well, within a few feet of the home of his sister, Betsy and her husband Wolf/Woolf Abrahams, a tailor, with whom Aaron lived. It was Wolf who helped commit him in 1888. When ticketed for walking his dog without a leash/muzzle, Aaron gave his name to the officer as Abrahams. Casebook Jack the Ripper: http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=7074

The relevant portion of this court docket reported in the paper, the only time Aaron's name ever appears in the press:

Aaron Kosminski was summoned for a similar office/offense. Police Constable Bower said he saw the defendant with an unmuzzled dog and when asked his name gave that of Aaron Kosminski which his brother said was wrong---as his name was Abrahams. Defendant said the dog was not his, and his brother said it was found more convenient  here to go by the name Abrahams, but his name was Kosminski. Sir Polydore de Keyser imposed a fine of 10s(shillings) and costs, which the defendant would not pay as it was the Jewish Sunday(Saturday?), and it was not right to pay money on Sunday. He was given until Monday to pay.

Catherine Eddowes Shawl was found in Mitre Square in the City of London on the night of September 29,1888, after her murder was discovered, according to the family of Sargeant Amos Simpson, badge number 4911(1846-1919). Amos was on duty that night, as were all Metropolitan Police. His normal assignment was Islington.  He indicated that he was assigned to surveillance near an alley in Whitechapel, near Mitre Square. Family folklore indicates that he picked up the shawl after coming to the scene of the crime in response to the police whistle blown by night watchman and former police officer, George Morris, then security guard of Kearly and Tonge's warehouse on Mitre Square, after being alerted by Police Officer Watkins whose beat included Mitre Square. Supposition is that the shawl was thrown off the body by Jack or dropped by Catherine in the first moments of the attack.

Catherine's Grave

The Whitechapel Morgue where Catherine Eddowes was taken for autopsy

Catherine Eddowes shawl found in Mitre Square contained traces of her blood and semen from Jack the Ripper. DNA matches blood on the shawl to Catherine Eddowes and mitochondrial DNA in the semen to Aaron Kosminski of Whitechapel. Who had once lived less than a hundred yards, at Sion Square, from the scene of the first murder of prostitute Annie Chapman. He would later live  at two other addresses, each address could be tied closely to the location of one of Jack's murders.


Escape by Carriage?
I have followed the case of Jack the Ripper since I was a kid.
I remember an article in 1972 which proposed that that Albert Victor, the Prince of Wales, was the murderer. It certainly made great reading. A few years later, another book came out which suggested that associates of the Prince, including Queen Victoria's surgeon Sir William Gull, committed the murders to cover up the fact that Albert had gotten a Catholic girl, Annie Crook, pregnant; she had a daughter by Albert, who would have then been the heir to the English Throne, or so the story goes. Mary Jane Kelly(the last Ripper victim) was a friend of Annie's, her torture murder to find where baby Alice was, so she could be murdered, helping the Royal Family's hold on the crown and continue English Society's prejudice against Catholics.
Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution by Stephen Knight(Catholic Theory) Dr. Thomas Stowell who, in 1970, published an article in The Criminologist called "A Solution". It created a sensation by his veiled accusation of Prince Eddy as the killer. Stowell apparently used the private papers of Sir William Gull as his primary source material and it was these papers which led him to devise his theory. Throughout his article, the killer is referred to as "S", but there is enough internal evidence to identify Eddy as his chief culprit.(Jack the Ripper: Casebook)

Fascinating reading, but unconvincing in terms of the arguments put forth.

But two facts, did seem to have merit.  First, both books stressed that the solution was to be found in how the murderer was able to disappear and avoid capture. Which is actually the question which needs to be answered first. Scotland Yard and the London Police flooded Whitechapel with Bobbies, many as decoys, yet they weren't able to catch him in the act.
After that, the motive must be analyzed. Was this the fulfillment of some perverted sex act or an act of revenge by one man against a class of women because a 15-year-old boy had caught a venereal disease from one of their co-workers?

These new theories accounted for the possibility of escape right in front of the eyes of the police. No one would expect someone very wealthy of having committed these grisly murders among the poorest of the poor, therefore, an expensive coach would be allowed to pass unchallenged by police. The second issue, the letters to the press may not have come from Jack and had nothing to do with the crime and more interesting that the Goulston Street Graffiti was used by Jack to mislead London Police and Scotland Yard.


Escape to the Queen Anne Docks 10 minutes away?
Carl Feigenbaum, from Sing, Sing Prison documents at the time of  his execution:
Age 54. Complexion medium. Eyes grey. Hair dark brown. Stature 5ft 4 1/2. Weight 126 pounds, 57kg. Medium sized head, hat 6 7/8 or 7. Shoes 8. Hair grows thin on top of head. Small slim neck. Eyes small and deep-set. Eyebrows curved. Forehead high and heavily arched. Nose large, red and has raw pimples. Teeth poor + nearly all gone on left sides. Anchor in India ink on right hand at base of thumb and first finger. Round scar or birthmark on right leg below left knee.

Another theory not alluded to in the books, was the proximity of Whitechapel to the Queen Anne docks, which were flooded with ships and sailors from foreign ports. A ten minute walk could guarantee escape. Trevor Marriot of Scotland yard proposed merchant seaman Carl Feigenbaum as a likely suspect since he committed a similar murder in New York. Marriott came across records which showed that Feigenbaum sailed the line for Nord Deutsche Line out of Bremen, Germany, which had a ship called the Reiher docked in London at the time of the murders. Carl had been listed as having served on the Reiher. Interesting possibility, certainly because he did commit a similar murder in New York. Carl was executed by electrocution, "Old Sparky", at Sing Sing Prison, up the river from New York City in Ossining, New York, April 27, 1896.
After his execution, his lawyer, William Sanford Lawton, claimed that Feigenbaum had admitted to having a hatred of women and a desire to kill and mutilate them. Lawton further stated that he believed Feigenbaum was Jack the Ripper. But there was a suspicion that this was as much to promote himself as a counselor as anything else.

Carrie Brown, called "Old Shakespeare", a New York City prostitute, who was murdered on April 23, 1891. She was mutilated in almost exactly the same way as Jack's victims by a long knife with  fatal slashes but also included cuts simply to mar the victim's body. Her body was found in the East River. Carl was caught after murdering his landlady Juliana Hoffman at 544 East Sixth Street. Her 16-year-old son, Michael, was asleep in another room,  but raised the alarm when he heard his mother's screams which led to Carl's capture as he tried to escape through the alleys and streets of the East Village.

Carl Feigenbaum, when arrested the police also recovered the murder weapon, a long surgical type knife, the same kind which inflicted wounds on Carrie Brown and the Ripper Victims.

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?  Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in The Sign of Four

At the Coroner's Inquest into Catherine Eddowes' murder it was established that it took 12-14 minutes for the constable on duty to walk his beat. So the murder had to have been committed between 1:30 AM or 1:32AM and 1:44AM when the body was discovered.

At 1.44 AM London City Constable Edward Watkins walked down  Mitre Street, and then bore right and entered Mitre Square.  His commander that night had ordered that he run his tour of duty "Left-Handed",  backwards, doing all left hand turns to throw anyone, especially prostitutes off-guard. Shining his lamp around the square he was startled to find the dead body of Catherine Eddowes, nearly disemboweled in the darkest corner of the square.

One definite contribution to the debate from Inspector Marriott is his research showing that there was a thriving market for human body parts out the back door of coroner's offices. These were used in medical school anatomy courses and by enterprising medical students who needed to bone up on their course work with real illustrations, as opposed to poor quality drawings in a Anatomy book.
Inspector Marriott proved that not even an excellent, much less a competent, surgeon could have committed the murder, then removed Catherine Eddowes kidney with the expertise required in less than 10 minutes in the most remote, darkest corner of Mitre Square. This puts to rest the butcher theory as well.   The senior medical expert who reviewed all the case documents came to the same conclusion. That 10-12 minutes, the amount of time between the Constable Watkins making his rounds through the Square governs and is the fact for which all theories must take account. Because it is not factually possible, that also means that it didn't happen that way.

 

Catherine Eddowes in the Morgue

Crime Scene Drawing used by the Police

Very convincing evidence exists that the Dear Boss Letter was written by The Star Reporter, Frederick Best. Horror of horrors, could he or one of his brethren,  have bribed a coroner's assistant to give him Catherine Eddowes kidney and sent the famous/infamous From Hell Letter which included, a kidney, apparently Catherine's, in a box to Whitechapel activist Mr. Lusk?

George Lusk, Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Residents of Whitechapel felt that the police weren't doing enough to protect them, so they organized the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee to provide self-protection and lobby for more officers on the ground in the East End of London.

But, most theories always came back to a denizen of White Chapel being the criminal. The escapes  were narrow, especially on the night of the double event, when police had flooded Whitechapel with Bobbies and undercover officers. World famous FBI profiler John Douglas says it is far more likely that Jack the Ripper was lucky than smart.

Logically, the only inference was that the murderer knew the territory and barely escaped being caught.

A  Psychic Leads Detectives to Queen Victoria's Surgeon William Gull

Second, what is the story behind the psychic Robert Lees. He supposedly led investigators to the home of Sir William Gull, Queen Victoria's surgeon.  Lees' story is interesting, but if Jack was Aaron, then it leads no where. Other than asking the question, was Robert Lees like "journalist" Frederick Best of The Star, a man who could recognize a good opportunity when he saw it-----if not blinded by the pound note signs dancing in his head.

Psychic Robert Lees

A Chicago Herald article claimed that over a number of years Lees had been troubled by psychic visions of Jack the Ripper killing his victims. Each of these visions came true. Lees became disturbed by the visions and sought medical advice, going abroad as a result, where he no longer had the visions. Back in London, he and his wife Sarah were travelling on an omnibus when a man got on at Notting Hill. Lees turned and told his wife that the man was 'Jack the Ripper'. Even though his wife laughed at him, when the man got off the bus at Marble Arch Lees followed him. Finding a Police Constable on the way Lees told him of his suspicions, but the Constable also laughed at him. After more murders Lees was able to convince the Police of the truth of his visions and led them to a fashionable house in London which was home to a noted physician who had treated members of the Royal Family. On being found in incriminating circumstances, the doctor was put in a lunatic asylum under the name of Thomas Mason 124, and a mock funeral held. According to the Chicago Herald, the tale had been related by a Dr. Howard of London, who, when drunk, had told the story to a man who then told the newspaper.
Some Ripperologists disregard the story but in 1970, Dr. Thomas Stowell, a surgeon who worked with Theodore Dyke Acland, wrote in The Criminologist magazine that Acland's wife, daughter of Sir William Gull, told him of a visit to her parents' home in Mayfair of a police inspector and a man calling himself a medium. Wikipedia

Lees' story was woven into the plot of the Sherlock Homes movie, "Murder By Decree", which portrayed a royal conspiracy to remove Prince Albert Victor's illegitimate Catholic daughter, by White Chapel resident Annie Crook.

Aaron Kosminski Was Jack the Ripper

Aaron Kosminski's Birth Certificate 1865 from Poland then a part of the Russian Empire

The Swanson note, which establishes Kosminski as the suspect as being Jack the Ripper

Which leads to Aaron Kosminski, who if the recent DNA tests are to be believed, was Jack the Ripper. He was insane, though I dislike Inspector Anderson's logic that this was due to the solitary vices(masturbation). As the prejudice against gays, led to the suspicion of Quack Francis Tumblety, a prejudice against self-abuse is no reason to suspect Aaron, though his escalating insanity would be.
When he was later determined to be a paranoid schizophrenic in a clinical setting, at the Colney Hatch Insane Asylum, a much better understandable and justifiable case can be made as to his guilt.  And he apparently caught Syphillis from a prostitute when he was only 15-years-old, which probably caused him to hate prostitutes as a class. The only witness who got a good look at Jack talking to one of his victims, Israel Schwartz would prove pivotal in the final chapter of the real story.

Schwartz's statement was taken on September 30th, the day of the murder, by Chief Inspector Donald Swanson:

12.45 a.m. 30th. Israel Schwartz of 22 Helen Street, Backchurch Lane, stated that at this hour, on turning into Berner Street from Commercial Street and having got as far as the gateway where the murder was committed, he saw a man stop and speak to a woman, who was standing in the gateway. The man tried to pull the woman into the street, but he turned her round and threw her down on the footway and the woman screamed three times, but not loudly. On crossing to the opposite side of the street, he saw a second man standing lighting his pipe. The man who threw the woman down called out, apparently to the man on the oppos- ite side of the road, 'Lipski', and then Schwartz walked away, but finding that he was followed by the second man, he ran so far as the railway arch, but the man did not follow so far.

Schwartz cannot say whether the two men were together or known to each other. Upon being taken to the Mortuary Schwartz ident- ified the body as that of the woman he had seen. He thus describes the first man, who threw the woman down:- age, about 30; ht, 5 ft 5 in; comp., fair; hair, dark; small brown moustache, full face, broad shouldered; dress, dark jacket and trousers, black cap with peak, and nothing in his hands.

Second man: age, 35; ht., 5 ft 11in; comp., fresh; hair, light brown; dress, dark overcoat, old black hard felt hat, wide brim; had a clay pipe in his hand.

If Schwartz is to be believed, and the police report of his statement casts no doubt on it, it follows ... that the man Schwartz saw and described is the more probable of the two to be the murderer.

As reported in Casebook: Jack The Ripper Forum citing;The Jack the Ripper A-Z, 1996. (pg 385-386)

Israel Schwartz was a Hungarian, apparently of Jewish descent, who in 1888 claimed to have witnessed an assault on a London woman that is believed to be tied to the Jack the Ripper slayings.
Schwartz told police that, shortly after midnight on September 30, he was walking down a street when he saw a man stop and speak to a woman who was standing in a gateway. Schwartz stated that the man then threw the woman to the ground. Schwartz crossed the street and began walking away when the attacker saw him. The attacker called out the name "Lipski" — apparently an Anti-Semitic insult related to Israel Lipski's murder of a woman the year before. Schwartz reported seeing a man smoking a pipe nearby at the time, and the other man started walking towards Schwartz, possibly following him. Schwartz ran away.
Shortly after the time Schwartz reported witnessing this incident, the body of Elizabeth Stride was found in the same location. That same day Schwartz identified Stride's body as that of the woman he had seen attacked and gave testimony to the police about what he had seen. He was able to give descriptions of both men but was unable to say whether they knew each other or had been working together.
Several years after the crimes, Commissioner Robert Anderson claimed in his autobiography The Lighter Side of My Official Life that the Ripper had been identified by "the only person who ever had a good view of the murderer." Chief Inspector Donald Swanson, in marginalia found in his personal copy of Anderson's book, stated that the witness in question was Jewish. Some Ripperologists have concluded that Schwartz was most likely the man being referred to, although a number of other people, primarily Joseph Lawende, have been suggested as well. Some authors dispute Anderson's claims of there having been a witness who identified the Ripper as being a self-serving distortion of events to try to cover up Scotland Yard's failure to catch the killer.
Anderson's assertion that a Jewish witness identified a Jewish suspect can hardly be true. Schwartz was sent on his way with the anti-Semitic insult "Lipski", which suggests that the man he saw attacking Stride was an anti-Jewish gentile. Lawende, the only other Jewish witness, told Swanson that he doubted if he would again recognize the man he saw with a woman who might have been Catharine Eddowes, ten minutes before her body was found. Swanson (in his "marginalia") said that Anderson's suspect was identified in secret at a police convalescent home that he referred to as "the seaside home" and he named him as "Kosminski", thought to be Aaron Kosminski. He said that Kosminski was taken back to his brother's home in Whitechapel but kept under surveillance until he was taken to a workhouse infirmary, from which he was quickly sent on to the Colney Hatch asylum. Records of the Mile End Old Town workhouse infirmary showed that Kosminski was taken there and transferred to Colney Hatch in February 1891. That was over two clear years from Lawende's sighting of the man with Eddowes and if Lawende doubted then that he would recognize that man if he saw him again, he was hardly likely to have "unhesitatingly have identified him the moment he was confronted with him" as Anderson said in his book.
Wikipedia
One private note of my own, the use of a slur, would indicate that the person was betraying a Jew, which would logically justify one Jew referring to another with that epitaph.
As Inspector Swanson and Anderson indicate, Israel Schwartz was taken to the police retirement home, The Seaside Home, where he immediately identified Aaron Kosminski as the man he had seen with Liz Stride. But indicated to them, as a Jew, he could not testify in court in any proceeding to which the death penalty was attached. They had their man, but no proof which could be used in court. From that moment on, Aaron Kosminski, though released from
Police Custody, was under constant observation, until his family committed him to the insane asylum
Inspector Anderson and Swanson's recorded remarks about Aaron Kosminski ring true. Israel Schwartz apparently did identify him as the perpetrator.
I am now convinced that the plethora of suspects mentioned by various police officials, each appearing to have his own favorite, was a deliberate effort to mislead, an act of misinformation. As Sir Charles Warren wiped away the most tantalizing clue, he offered the best logical reason for what happened afterwards. The wave of Jewish immigrants to White Chapel had created a lot of friction with the denizens of neighborhood. What would finding out that Jack the Ripper was a Jew from Poland have done? No telling, but the risk of a pogrom like happened in the Russian Pale was real. No intelligent person could discount it.
So my conclusion is, that Tumblety, Druitt and the others mentioned at the time as suspects were simply to "keep a lid" on the story. Druitt, a totally inappropriate suspect for a variety of reasons(no one can see what happened to Mary Jane Kelly and not know the perpetrator was totally insane) deserves an apology or at least his family does.
But the main thing to come out of all this, is that the Police were much better at this investigation than they have been credited having been. And the useful fiction that they employed, in hindsight is excusable under the circumstances. Hats off, to Sir Charles, Inspectors Anderson, Swanson and Abberline for a Job well done.

This currently standing building was built in 1892, too late for Aaron and Israel Schwartz's confrontation in November/December 1888. Aaron resisted being taken into custody before the line-up(parade)

But the previous building which was both a convalescent home and orphanage serving the London Law Enforcement Community fits perfectly.

Goulston Street Graffito

 Surely, everyone in the area knew about the writing, if it had been there for any length of time. What better way to mislead the investigation than to drop a part of Eddowes' apron in front of the curiously worded Anti-Semitic Graffiti.

 "The Juwes are the men who will not be blamed for nothing. "

Actually graffiti was quite common in Whitechapel, it could have been written by Jack or been there for weeks. A great deal of the graffiti was incendiary and prejudiced. If Aaron knew it was there, what better way to mislead the investigation, than leave the rag which he used to wipe off his knife there. As someone once said, crazy doesn't mean stupid.

Dear Boss,

I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont 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 shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. 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 cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send 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. My knife’s so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck.
Yours truly
Jack the Ripper
Dont mind me giving the trade name
PS Wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it No luck yet. They say I’m a doctor now. ha ha




An odd little fact, apparently the letter naming the murderer, Jack the Ripper, was probably written by a reporter, Frederick Best. London was experiencing a ferocious press fight for subscribers. This gimmick, the Ripper Letters, was designed to help his new newspaper, The Star, win the fight. In 1931, according to witnesses  Best confessed to authorship and christening the Whitechapel Murderer Jack the Ripper.  Recently, handwriting expert Elaine Quigley was shown "The Dear Boss Letter" and other handwritten material from Best. She concluded they were written by the same hand. The brilliant touch was using red ink for the letter and giving history the name "Jack the Ripper".

Enterprising Journalist Frederick Best confessed to having written The Dear Boss Letter in 1931. More evidence turned up, when the following letter was discovered from Liberal Party Politician and Later Baronet John Tomlinson Brunner to Henry Massingham (editor of The Star, 1890-1), dated 7th July 1890, stating:

"Furthermore, Mr. Best's attempt to mislead Central News during the Whitechapel Murders should have led to an earlier termination of his association with the newspaper."

Supposition and Proof, Ms. Quigley surmised from the handwriting that it was not a spontaneous document, written on the fly, but instead, pre-written, then copied and mailed. The only fact presented was that Best wrote it. Some have suggested that the Star editor TP O'Connor was behind it, but it isn't even a question of insufficient, there is no proof that this is true.
Although O'Connor could be a rascal:
A crafty operator, O’Connor was not above journalism’s dark arts. After being erroneously identified as Jack the Ripper by an injudicious Star sub-editor, an East End man known universally as “Leather Apron” demanded £100 in compensation.
Under O’Connor’s permiture, he was given £50 and told where another £50 could be easily found: by approaching another Fleet Street paper that had repeated the Star’s insinuations. “Leather Apron” accepted the offer and took no legal action.

TP O'Connor had a distinguished career in journalism and later politics. He became a champion of the Irish and Irish Home Rule, which increased his paper's circulation immensely. As no other London paper had taken up their cause.


Several of the letters were written with an Irish dialect, but the actual murderer, Kosminski, spoke English with a heavy Yiddish accent and was barely literate. Apparently, using the Irish dialect would appeal to the prejudices of 19th century England, no matter how unjust they were.

The grave of Jack the Ripper, Aaron Kominski, at East Ham Jewish Cemetery on the Eastern outskirts of London. Forever Jack the Ripper will be imprisoned behind a 10 foot brick wall.

A contemporary sketch of Jack/Aaron, from Israel Schwartz's description, the only eyewitness who got a good look at a man who may have been Jack The Ripper.  When brought to the Seaside Policemen's Retirement Home(away from the public and observation by the press), Israel immediately identified Aaron as the man he saw with Liz Stride immediately before her murder.

The murder happened in Dutfield's Yard, in the alley under the wagon wheel mounted on a building which housed a Jewish Socialist Social Club, which was quite popular in the neighborhood. In the next building down, the first two-story building, lived tailor Woolf/Wolf Abrahams, his wife Betsy and their children----and his brother in law Aaron Kosminski.

Liz Stride (née Gustafsdotter) (27 November 1843 – 30 September 1888) as a young girl in her native Sweden,  she was well educated and spoke two languages fluently.  She had once run a successful coffeehouse with her English husband John Stride, but then turned to drink.

In death, after meeting Aaron Kosminski, witnessed by Israel Schwartz and identified as the  man talking to Liz minutes before her murder. Israel said he saw the man push Liz and moments later heard three cries for help(very common in Whitechapel) from the woman he saw.

Liz's Grave.

Abberline's original unmarked grave, a marker was added about 50 years later, then a group, including me, began a collection to give him a marker worthy of his diligence, devotion to duty and unbending integrity. 

I posed the question on the Casebook Jack the Ripper Forum whether anyone had found a picture of Frederick Abberline in all the years since Jack the Ripper. That one post led to a flurry of activity which narrowed down the search to this Scotland Yard photo, with the shy, retiring, but diligent Inspector was finally found peering over the shoulder of a London uniformed officer. 

I believe that Scotland Yard found out that insane Aaron Kosminski was the murderer, but to prevent a panic and the persecution of innocent Jews in Whitechapel, Scotland Yard engaged in misdirection to let the matter rest with a plethora of other "suspects". Aaron was safely committed to the Colny Hatch Insane Asylum never to be a free man again, dying 1919.

Valentine School Blackheath

An English School PE Class from around 1900

I wrote about the Cleveland Street Scandal and how Inspector Abberline was the only one who wanted all those involved sent to jail, but was overruled by his superiors who protected the rich, some noble, some possibly royal visitors to the male brothel.

https://briankeithohara.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-cleveland-street-scandal-british.html

Ergo Hoc, Propter Hoc

As much a victim of Jack the Ripper was lawyer Montague Druitt. He had been fired from his teaching job at  a boy's school, The Valentine School in Blackheath, which he used to subsidize his meager legal income. Suspicion has arisen, without foundation, that he was caught having sex with one of the boys, he taught boys 12 to 14-years-old, at the school, which prompted his dismissal. Curiously, though he had been fired, on his body when recovered from the Thames, was a large amount of money and a check from his employer, The Valentine School.

This has always been a conundrum, if he had been fired for impropriety, then it is highly unlikely that he would have been given severance pay. It may be more logical to assume that he was having a mental health issue, with erratic behavior, which forced his employer to let him go, as opposed to suspected reprehensible behavior of sex with a boy under 15-years-old as has been supposed in the last 100 years.

It is know that he had been depressed about his mother's insanity, which ran in the family. Members of his family committed suicide before and after his suicide.  Montague committed suicide in December 1888, about the same time Aaron was committed to the insane asylum. Druitt's estate was valued in probate at £2,600 (equivalent to £252,700 today). Discovered among his papers was a note to his brother, William, which included the following: "Since Friday I felt that I was going to be like mother, and the best thing for me was to die."

An odd fact often overlooked is a Times report that Montague Druitt, the supposedly struggling attorney, but won his last two cases before the bar on approximately November 20 and 28th 1888. And that the reason he was fired was that he may have been away without leave, which puts a much different spin on his story.

On 31 December 1888, his body was found floating in the River Thames, off Thornycroft's torpedo works, Chiswick, by a waterman named Henry Winslade. Stones in Druitt's pockets had kept his body submerged for about a month. He was carrying a return train ticket to Hammersmith dated 1 December, a silver watch, a cheque from Valentine's Boy School for £50 and £16 in gold (equivalent to £4,900 and £1,600 today). It is not known why he should have carried such a large amount of money, but it could have been a part of his final payment from the school, as the check certainly was.^{(Wikipedia, passim)}

Francis Tumblety was a quack who sold home remedies, who was also gay. He was suspected because of this "deplorable character". And in fact he is the supposed model for the character of the "Lodger"(the Batty Street Lodger), both in the Victorian Horror Story and the Alfred Hitchcock Film. 

The Metropolitan Police arrested Francis Tumblety on 7 November 1888 on unrelated charges of "gross indecency", apparently for having been caught engaging in a homosexual encounter, which was illegal at the time with the following individuals:

1) John Doughty
2) Arthur Brice
3) Albert Fisher
4) James Crowley

Whilst awaiting trial on this charge on bail of £300 (equivalent to £29,000 today), and knowing that Scotland Yard was increasingly interested in him with regard to the recent murder spree in Whitechapel, he fled England for France on 20 November under the false name of Frank Townsend, and on 24 November 1888 he returned to the United States.

Already notorious in the United States for his self-promotion and previous brushes with the law, Tumblety's arrest in London was reported in The New York Times as being connected to the Ripper murders. American newspaper reports that Scotland Yard tried to extradite him have not been confirmed by research in the contemporary British press or the London police files. However, English police inspector Walter Andrews travelled to America, perhaps partly to trace Tumblety. The New York City Police, who had him under surveillance, said "there is no proof of his complicity in the Whitechapel murders, and the crime for which he is under bond in London is not extraditable". Tumblety published a self-aggrandizing pamphlet titled Dr. Francis Tumblety – Sketch of the Life of the Gifted, Eccentric and World Famed Physician, in which he attacked the rumors in the press but omitted any mention of his criminal charges and arrest. Wikipedia

The issue with prosecution of Tumblety in London, was that the gross indecency charges were misdemeanors, but prosecution depended on two things, first that the men he was charged with engaging in indecent conduct would have to prove that the act was done under threat of force(problem: they were apparently paid for the service), otherwise they would have been charged as having engaged in the conduct as well. They would choose to  remain silent as a defense, thus gutting the case against Tumblety. British authorities probably allowed Tumblety to escape, because that is what they wanted all along, to remove him from the country.

From the Brooklyn Citizen Newspaper November 23, 1888

Tumblety is referred to in the dispatch in the following manner: “He says he is known to you, Chief, as Brooklyn’s Beauty.”
Tumblety was arrested in London some weeks ago as the supposed Whitechapel murderer. Since his incarceration in prison he has boasted of how he had succeeded in baffling the police. He also claimed that he was a resident of Brooklyn, and this was what caused the Deputy Chief of Police to communicate with Superintendent Campbell. The superintendent gave the dispatch immediate attention, and through Captain Eason, of the Second Precinct, has learned all about Tumblety. He came to this city in 1863 from Sherbrook, Canada, where he said he had been a practicing physician. He opened a store on the southeast corner of Fulton and Nassau streets, and sold herb preparations. He did a tremendous business and deposited in the Brooklyn Savings Bank at least $100 a day. He was a very eccentric character, six feet high, dark complexion, large and long flowing mustache, and well built.
Note, the description of Tumblety in no way matches any witness statements of men seen talking to Jack's victims.
Despite references to him in official documents, Tumblety had a perfect alibi for the murder of Mary Jane Kelly on November 9th, he was in jail for the morals charge. After November 9th, police lost interest in him and allowed him bail and to flee the jurisdiction.

Neither man was violent and there was no evidence against either, but they have always been favorite suspects---just the wrong ones.

Solicitor/Lawyer/Teacher Montague J. Druitt

"Doctor" Francis Tumblety, American Quack

Oh, the time, oh the morals, Cicero

Inspector Littlechild later indicated the grounds for suspecting Tumblety. About as solid as the reason for suspecting Montague J. Druitt, who committed suicide in December 1888, therefore he(Druitt) must have been Jack the Ripper, because the murders stopped at about the same time, November 9, 1888.

Jack the Ripper's last victim, Mary Jane Kelly murdered November 9th. If there is any proof of insanity, this is it. No sane person did this.



The Littlechild Letter  (Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, about 25 years after the murders)

8, The Chase
Clapham Common S.W.,
23rd September 1913

Dear Sir,
I was pleased to receive your letter which I shall put away in 'good company' to read again, perhaps some day when old age overtakes me and when to revive memories of the past may be a solace.Knowing the great interest you take in all matters criminal, and abnormal, I am just going to inflict one more letter on you on the 'Ripper' subject. Letters as a rule are only a nuisance when they call for a reply but this does not need one. I will try and be brief. I never heard of a Dr D. in connection with the Whitechapel murders but amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T. (which sounds much like D.) He was an American quack named Tumblety and was at one time a frequent visitor to London and on these occasions constantly brought under the notice of police, there being a large dossier concerning him at Scotland Yard. Although a 'Sycopathia Sexualis' subject he was not known as a 'Sadist' (which the murderer unquestionably was) but his feelings toward women were remarkable and bitter in the extreme, a fact on record. Tumblety was arrested at the time of the murders in connection with unnatural offences and charged at Marlborough Street, remanded on bail, jumped his bail, and got away to Boulogne. He shortly left Boulogne and was never heard of afterwards. It was believed he committed suicide but certain it is that from this time the 'Ripper' murders came to an end. With regard to the term 'Jack the Ripper' it was generally believed at the Yard that Tom Bullen of the Central News was the originator, but it is probable Moore, who was his chief, was the inventor. It was a smart piece of journalistic work. No journalist of my time got such privileges from Scotland Yard as Bullen. Mr James Munro when Assistant Commissioner, and afterwards Commissioner, relied on his integrity. Poor Bullen occasionally took too much to drink, and I fail to see how he could help it knocking about so many hours and seeking favours from so many people to procure copy. One night when Bullen had taken a 'few too many' he got early information of the death of Prince Bismarck and instead of going to the office to report it sent a laconic telegram 'Bloody Bismarck is dead'. On this I believe Mr Charles Moore fired him out. It is very strange how those given to 'Contrary sexual instinct' and 'degenerates' are given to cruelty, even Wilde used to like to be punched about. It may interest you if I give you an example of this cruelty in the case of the man Harry Thaw and this is authentic as I have the boy's statement. Thaw was staying at the Carlton Hotel and one day laid out a lot of sovereigns on his dressing table, then rang for a call boy on pretence of sending out a telegram. He made some excuse and went out of the room and left the boy there and watched through the chink of the door. The unfortunate boy was tempted and took a sovereign from the pile and Thaw returning to the room charged him with stealing. The boy confessed when Thaw asked whether he should send for the police or whether he should punish him himself. The boy scared to death consented to take his punishment from Thaw who then made him undress, strapped him to the foot of the bedstead, and thrashed him with a cane, drawing blood. He then made the boy get into a bath in which he placed a quantity of salt. It seems incredible that such a thing could take place in any hotel but it is a fact. This was in 1906. Now pardon me -- it is finished. Except that I knew Major Griffiths for many years. He probably got his information from Anderson who only 'thought he knew'.Faithfully yours, J. G. Littlechild
George R. Sims Esq.,
12, Clarence Terrace,
Regents Park N. W.

American Millionaire Harry Thaw, mentioned above, in the Tombs NYC Jail after murdering world famous architect Sanford White for sleeping with his wife the beautiful Evelyn Nesbit.

The incredibly beautiful Evelyn, Harry and Evelyn during the Sanford White Murder Trial and a newspaper account of the scandal.

All of these materials have been sourced through Casebook Jack The Ripper and Wikipedia, the two best sources for the truth.

In 1910, Police Commissioner Robert Anderson wrote his memoirs entitled, “The Lighter Side of My Official Life”, and in those memoirs he stated:

“Undiscovered murders are rare in London, and the Jack the Ripper crimes do not fall into this category. I am almost tempted to disclose the identity of the murderer but no public benefit would result from such a course. In saying that he was a Polish Jew I am merely stating a definitely ascertained fact. I will merely add that 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 testify.”

Chief Inspector Swanson wrote in his copy of Anderson's Memoirs, that the suspect was Kosminski who was identified as Jack the Ripper by an eyewitness(must be Israel Schwartz)"the moment he was confronted with him" but refused to testify. Swanson clarified this by writing -

"...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...after the suspect had been identified at the Seaside Home where he had been sent by us with great difficulty in order to subject him to identification, and he knew he was identified. On suspect's return to his brother's house in Whitechapel he was watched by police (City CID) by day & night. In a very short time the suspect with his hands tied behind his back, he was sent to Stepney Workhouse and then to Colney Hatch and died shortly afterwards - Kosminski was the suspect - DSS" 

Donald Swanson finally named the insane Aaron Kosminski as Scotland Yard's number one suspect. Swanson indicated that there was some resistance by Aaron before he was taken to the Seaside Officers Home for the witness parade in front of Israel Schwartz. By then even Aaron knew his game was up.

Sir Robert Anderson head of Scotland Yard wrote that the Jack the Ripper case had been solved, but revealing the murderers identity would serve no purpose. From his book. 

Jack the Ripper stalking the streets of the East End, from Punch Magazine

The only error in Inspector Swanson's statement is that Kosminski died, "shortly afterwards", when, in fact, Aaron did not die until 1919, thirty years after the murders.

The Mcnaghten Memo

Confidential

The case referred to in the sensational story told in 'The Sun' in its issue of 13th inst, & following dates, is that of Thomas Cutbush who was arraigned at the London County Sessions in April 1891 on a charge of maliciously wounding Florence Grace Johnson, and attempting to wound Isabella Fraser Anderson in Kennington. He was found to be insane, and sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure.

This Cutbush, who lived with his mother and aunt at 14 Albert Street, Kennington, escaped from the Lambeth Infirmary, (after he had been detained only a few hours, as a lunatic) at noon on 5th March 1891. He was rearrested on 9th idem. A few weeks before this, several cases of stabbing, or jabbing, from behind had occurred in the vicinity, and a man named Colicott was arrested, but subsequently discharged owing to faulty identification. The cuts in the girl's dresses made by Colicott were quite different to the cut(s) made by Cutbush (when he wounded Miss Johnson) who was no doubt influenced by a wild desire of morbid imitation. Cutbush's antecedents were enquired into by C.Insp (now Supt.) Chris by Inspector Hale, and by P.S. McCarthy C.I.D. -- (the last named officer had been specially employed in Whitechapel at the time of the murders there,) -- and it was ascertained that he was born, and had lived, in Kennington all his life. His father died when he was quite young and he was always a 'spoilt' child. He had been employed as a clerk and traveller in the Tea trade at the Minories, and subsequently cavassed for a Directory in the East End, during which time he bore a good character. He apparently contracted syphilis about 1888, and, -- since that time, -- led an idle and useless life. His brain seems to have become affected, and he believed that people were trying to poison him. He wrote to Lord Grimthorpe, and others, -- and also to the Treasury, -- complaining of Dr Brooks, of Westminster Bridge Road, whom he threatened to shoot for having supplied him with bad medicines. He is said to have studied medical books by day, and to have rambled about at night, returning frequently with his clothes covered with mud; but little reliance could be placed on the statements made by his mother or his aunt, who both appear to have been of a very excitable disposition. It was found impossible to ascertain his movements on the nights of the Whitechapel murders. The knife found on him was bought in Houndsditch about a week before he was detained in the Infirmary. Cutbush was the nephew of the late Supt. Executive.

Now the Whitechapel murderer had 5 victims -- & 5 victims only, -- his murders were

(1) 31st August, '88. Mary Ann Nichols -- at Buck's Row -- who was found with her throat cut -- & with (slight) stomach mutilation.
(2) 8th Sept. '88 Annie Chapman -- Hanbury St.; -- throat cut -- stomach& private parts badly mutilated & some of the entrails placed round the neck.
(3) 30th Sept. '88. Elizabeth Stride -- Berner's Street -- throat cut, but nothing in shape of mutilation attempted, & on same date
Catherine Eddowes -- Mitre Square, throat cut & very bad mutilation, both of face and stomach.
9th November. Mary Jane Kelly -- Miller's Court, throat cut, and the whole of the body mutilated in the most ghastly manner --

The last murder is the only one that took place in a room, and the murderer must have been at least 2 hours engaged. A photo was taken of the woman, as she was found lying on the bed, withot seeing which it is impossible to imagine the awful mutilation.

With regard to the double murder which took place on 30th September, there is no doubt but that the man was disturbed by some Jews who drove up to a Club, (close to which the body of Elizabeth Stride was found) and that he then, 'mordum satiatus', went in search of a further victim who he found at Mitre Square.

It will be noted that the fury of the mutilations increased in each case, and, seemingly, the appetite only became sharpened by indulgence. It seems, then, highly improbable that the murderer would have suddenly stopped in November '88, and been content to recommence operations by merely prodding a girl behind some 2 years and 4 months afterwards. A much more rational theory is that the murderer's brain gave way altogether after his awful glut in Miller's Court, and that he immediately committed suicide, or, as a possible alternative, was found to be so hopelessly mad by his relations, that he was by them confined in some asylum.

No one ever saw the Whitechapel murderer; many homicidal maniacs were suspected, but no shadow of proof could be thrown on any one. I may mention the cases of 3 men, any one of whom would have been more likely than Cutbush to have committed this series of murders:

(1) A Mr M. J. Druitt, said to be a doctor & of good family -- who disappeared at the time of the Miller's Court murder, & whose body (which was said to have been upwards of a month in the water) was found in the Thames on 31st December -- or about 7 weeks after that murder. He was sexually insane and from private information I have little doubt but that his own family believed him to have been the murderer.

(2) Kosminski -- a Polish Jew -- & resident in Whitechapel. This man became insane owing to many years indulgence in solitary vices. He had a great hatred of women, specially of the prostitute class, & had strong homicidal tendencies: he was removed to a lunatic asylum about March 1889. There were many circumstances connected with this man which made him a strong 'suspect'.

(3) Michael Ostrog, a Russian doctor, and a convict, who was subsequently detained in a lunatic asylum as a homicidal maniac. This man's antecedents were of the worst possible type, and his whereabouts at the time of the murders could never be ascertained.

And now with regard to a few of the other inaccuracies and misleading statements made by 'The Sun'. In its issue of 14th February, it is stated that the writer has in his possession a facsimile of the knife with which the murders were committed. This knife (which for some unexplained reason has, for the last 3 years, been kept by Inspector Hale, instead of being sent to Prisoner's Property Store) was traced, and it was found to have been purchased in Houndsditch in February '91 or 2 years and 3 months after the Whitechapel murders ceased!

The statement, too, that Cutbush 'spent a portion of the day in making rough drawings of the bodies of women, and of their mutilations' is based solely on the fact that 2 scribble drawings of women in indecent postures were found torn up in Cutbush's room. The head and body of one of these had been cut from some fashion plate, and legs were added to shew a woman's naked thighs and pink stockings.

In the issue of 15th inst. it is said that a light overcoat was among the things found in Cutbush's house, and that a man in a light overcoat was seen talking to a woman at Backchurch Lane whose body with arms attached was found in Pinchin Street. This is hopelessly incorrect! On 10th Sept. '89 the naked body, with arms, of a woman was found wrapped in some sacking under a Railway arch in Pinchin Street: the head and legs were never found nor was the woman ever identified. She had been killed at least 24 hours before the remains which had seemingly been brought from a distance, were discovered. The stomach was split up by a cut, and the head and legs had been severed in a manner identical with that of the woman whose remains were discovered in the Thames, in Battersea Park, and on the Chelsea Embankment on the 4th June of the same year; and these murders had no connection whatever with the Whitechapel horrors. The Rainham mystery in 1887 and the Whitehall mystery (when portions of a woman's body were found under what is now New Scotland Yard) in 1888 were of a similar type to the Thames and Pinchin Street crimes.

It is perfectly untrue to say that Cutbush stabbed 6 girls behind. This is confounding his case with that of Colicott. The theory that the Whitechapel murderer was left-handed, or, at any rate, 'ambidexter', had its origin in the remark made by a doctor who examined the corpse of one of the earliest victims; other doctors did not agree with him.

With regard to the 4 additional murders ascribed by the writer in the Sun to the Whitechapel fiend:

(1) The body of Martha Tabram, a prostitute was found on a common staircase in George Yard buildings on 7th August 1888; the body had been repeatedly pierced, probably with a bayonet. This woman had, with a fellow prostitute, been in company of 2 soldiers in the early part of the evening: these men were arrested, but the second prostitute failed, or refused, to identify, and the soldiers were eventually discharged.

(2) Alice McKenzie was found with her throat cut (or rather stabbed) in Castle Alley on 17th July 1889; no evidence was forthcoming and no arrest were made in connection with this case. The stab in the throat was of the same nature as in the case of the murder of

(3) Frances Coles in Swallow Gardens, on 13th February 1891 -- for which Thomas Sadler, a fireman, was arrested, and, after several remands, discharged. It was ascertained at the time that Saddler had sailed for the Baltic on 19th July '89 and was in Whitechapel on the nights of 17th idem. He was a man of ungovernable temper and entirely addicted to drink, and the company of the lowest prostitutes.

(4) The case of the unidentified woman whose trunk was found in Pinchin Street: on 10th September 1889 -- which has already been dealt with.

M.S. Macnaghten
23rd February 1894

Macnaghten was Chief Constable and later Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard