[MorningGlory]

MYSTERIOUS CRIMES AT WHITECHAPEL

The Unknown Assassin Again at Work--A Panic in the District--A Man Arrested on Suspicion

LONDON, September 30--This morning the whole city was again startled be the news that two more murders had been added to the list of mysterious crimes that have recently been committed in Whitechapel. At an early hour it was known that another woman had been murdered and a report was also current that there was still another victim. This report proved true. The two victims, as in the former cases, were dissolute women of the poorest class. That the motive of the murderer was not robbery is shown by the fact that no attempt to despoil the bodies. The first murder occurred in a narrow court off Berners street at an early hour this morning, beneath the window of a foreigners Socialist club . A concert was in progress and many members of the club present, but no sound was heard from the victim. The same process was followed as in the other cases. The woman had be seized by the throat and her cries choked, and the myrderer with one sweeping cut had severed her throat from ear to eat. A club man on entering the court stumbled over the body, which was lying only two yards fro the street. A stream of warm blood was flowing from the body into the gutter. The myderer had evidently been disturbed before hd had time to mutilate his victim.

News reports and witness testimony

Any theories on who he was and why he did it?

[Off Duty Cop]

I believe he was a Police Officer, or someone acting on behalf of the police. The motive? Either the prostitutes had blackmail on someone high up in the chain of command, or they suddenly refused to pay kickbacks for protection.

[lilpeanut]

I am very intrigued by Jack ol boy. I know one lady wrote a book on him with quite a bit of evidence and I am not sure was it Patricia Cornwell? Not sure, but she says she can 100% identify who he was.
I personally think he was either a doctor/surgeon to be able to cut the way he did, or someone who embalmed and cut open things for a living. Apparently he was very skilled with his cutting and taking out the organs.
What did he do with the organs?

[MorningGlory]

a couple more links about the killer.

http://hosted.ray.ea...s/whitecha.html

http://www.casebook.org/intro.html

[Off Duty Cop]

I am very intrigued by Jack ol boy. I know one lady wrote a book on him with quite a bit of evidence and I am not sure was it Patricia Cornwell? Not sure, but she says she can 100% identify who he was.
I personally think he was either a doctor/surgeon to be able to cut the way he did, or someone who embalmed and cut open things for a living. Apparently he was very skilled with his cutting and taking out the organs.
What did he do with the organs?

I believe that it was in the "From Hell" letter, that he wrote that he ate part of a kidney, and perhaps mailed the rest back to the police.

[MorningGlory]

Ewww! Are you saying Jack ate parts of his victims or is that just fiction?

[Off Duty Cop]

Ewww! Are you saying Jack ate parts of his victims or is that just fiction?

If I'm remembering correctly, he claimed to have eaten part of an internal organ that was removed from one of the bodies.

Edited to add:

Here's a transcript of the letter - (Keep it mind that it could have been a hoax)

From hell.
Mr Lusk,
Sor
I send you half the Kidne I took from one woman and 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

signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk

[MorningGlory]

Has anyone ever done any DNA testing to see if the kidney actually came from the victim or has too much time passed?

[Off Duty Cop]

Has anyone ever done any DNA testing to see if the kidney actually came from the victim or has too much time passed?

According to my information, the kidney was tested and found to be "similar" to the one removed from the victim. Unfortunately, the tests were ultimately inconclusive.

[Ráichéal]

Has anyone ever seen the movie "From Hell" with Johnny Depp? It's got a very interesting theory in it, and it's a good movie annnnnddd, it's got Johhny Depp, so how could you go wrong? This one has a very good twist to it.

[Helena]

So many theories, so little evidence!!! Our friend ODC is correct in what he has posted about Jack.

There is also a theory that it actually wasn't Jack the Ripper, but Jill The Ripper. Or, that Jack was a butcher or a doctor, or someone with extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the body.

Some say that it was a member of the royal family, others claim that Jack actually emigrated to the States and continued with his crimes there.

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, ensured that he also had his piece of the JTR infamy. His claim that he was JTR was cut short by his plunge through the trap door of the gallows as he hung for the poisoning of prostitutes in London.

As for Cornwell, her book "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed" she implicated post-impressionist painter William Sickert in the crime. She claims to have the DNA evidence to back up that claim as well. Her evidence "proves" that the DNA found could have belonged to Sickert, and thousands of other people. I have my doubts that this case will ever be solved. It's been 120+ years cold.

These are just a few theories of hundreds that people over the years have had on the JTR case.

[Off Duty Cop]

There are a large number of theories out there, and after doing a little research, I thought I'd share some ideas with you that make me come to the conclusion that Jack the Ripper was a Police Officer.

1) During the murders, the Metropolitan Police stepped up foot patrols in the White Chapel district, putting more officers on the street in that district than ever before. With all of these Officers walking a beat, it would have been increasingly hard for a stranger to lurk in and out of the alleyways at night. UNLESS, the killer was someone the officers in the area all knew, such as a uniformed officer or detective. If a patrolman came across another officer walking out of an alleyway in the middle of the night, he'd be alot less suspicious of him than he would be of a civilian.

2) Officers in the White Chapel district put gum on the bottom of their shoes in order to silence their footsteps on the cobblestone streets and alleyways, so that the killer couldn't hear them approach. Apparently, the killer was almost as equally silent. Perhaps this is because like his fellow officers, he had placed gum on the bottom of his shoes under the guise of sneaking up on the killer.

3) Almost all of the letters sent to the authorities by persons claiming to be the killer showed an obvious lack of education. Higher education was not important for members of the law enforcement community to have back then like it is today.

4) One mystery victim, in some circles considerd to be a Ripper victim, and in others not thought to be, was found in the basement of the Metropolitan Police Department which was under construction at the time. It would be mighty brazen of a civilian to attempt to sneak into a police headquarters and stash a body, even if it was still under construction.

5) One victim was found mutilated inside of her own home, but I don't believe there were any signs of forced entry. This victim has NEVER been proven to have been a prostitute. With that in mind, if a single woman lives in a neighborhood where a deranged killer is one the loose, how many people is she going to be willing to open her door for in the middle of the night? Unless, of course, her unknown visitor was a uniformed police officer.

6) Immediatelty after the last accepted murder, all of the increased police patrols in White Chapel were called off. Authorities had received no known communication from the killer implying that this murder would be the last, so why would they call off the increased patrols? Perhaps because they had first hand knowledge from one of their own that there would be know more deaths...

[Helena]

You make a lot of very valid points ODC. There is also a theory out there, (this is a little off-the-wall) but it goes along with what you are saying. The theory is that the killer was part of the Russina tsar's secret police effort to make the English police look ineffectual. It certainly goes along with what you are saying. Who better to cover up a crime than those that are supposed to stop it?

[asylum_souljah]

You know what, after all the speculation, and the consipiracy theories; the rumors why he stopped and why he targetted hookers - when it all comes down to it - the mystery has gotten bigger than the criminal.

I think he was a Londoner; I think he was a doctor or may have had medical training or an interest in medical reading. I think he died or was imprisoned for something else and died incarcerated.

And I think that apart from all that; he was no one famous, there was no conspiracy and he was the first noticible perpetrator of the serial killer code.

Everything else has been perpetuated since his deeds and death. Speculation can and will continue beyond all our own passings and no one will ever know now I dont think.

[Paranormal_pi]

If you ever go to London i recommand that you take The Jack the Ripper guided tour...It's fascinating. Also visit London Dugeons...in there you are taken through his steps of killing...there are remaks of the streets where the victims were found and well dressed manaquins..multimedia ambience..you literaly just go back in time.

I bought a book one time from the so many tours of jack the ripper that i took contaning all sort of weird stories with black and white pictures and on jack the ripper there's a copy of the written letter sent in to the police by supposedly Jack the ripper...and the letter Starts with.."From hell mister Lusk sir....I send you one of the kidney i took out ..the other i ate"......i don't remember the rest. But it was written in a slahing way...caracters were written in a slashing way i mean. That's where the "From Hell"..the movie was taken from.

One other theory of who he was is that there was another killer known as Jack The Stripper.....and after killing several women they caught up with him...he was sentenced to be hanged....and just about the door dropping open beneath his feets..he Yelled " I'm Jack The......."...he didn't finish it. So some beleive that he was also Jack The Ripper.

[lovingsoul]

Yes you do make alot of good points ODC. In my opinion it was either a cop or a doc. And the reason for the murders was because Ill bet he once paid for sexaul favors from a hooker and contracted Siphalis(sp) which was rampent back then...and he was angery and knew he was goin to die and he went off the deep end and started to kill hookers for vengince(sp)..for giving it to him ...or something to that effect. And the reason why it stoped was that he died of the Siphalis(sp) or was put in a nut house basicly..alot of times back in those days you were put away when you started to lose your mind because of that awful disease.
lovingsoul

[Augustine]

The police officer theory does sound like one of the more plausible possibilities. Was this theory floated around at the time of the killings at all?

[ILoveDaleJr]

I love Cornwell's fictional novels. But I was disappointed with her book on Jack the Ripper. It was compelling, sure. But I did a bunch of research on it and it turns out that she dismissed a lot of key evidence because it didn't fit with her theory. There is an entire website that pulls apart her theory but I cannot remember where it is. I had it saved to favorites but it isn't there. Sorry. I just lost a lot of respect for her after realizing she would so carelessly dismiss actual facts because they didn't further her own agenda.

[asylum_souljah]

Here's a recent little article with a link to the archives area again, and a neat picture of a newspaper cover from the era:

The cover of the Sept. 21, 1889, issue of Puck magazine featured cartoonist Tom Merry's depiction of the unidentified Whitechapel murderer, Jack the Ripper.
Image: Courtesy of Whooligan

Nov. 9, 1888: Jack the Ripper Strikes for the Last Time ... Or Does He?

1888: The mutilated body of Mary Jane Kelly is found on the bed of her squalid room in the Spitalfields-Whitechapel area of London's East End. She is generally considered to be the fifth and final victim of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

In fact, Kelly -- a tall, amiable young woman who dabbled in prostitution to make ends meet -- may not have been the Ripper's final victim at all. Although five is the number accepted by most so-called "Ripperologists," no exact body count has ever been established. The killer's identity likewise remains unknown, defying even current research using the tools of modern forensic science.

Trying to discover Jack the Ripper's identity remains one of criminology's enduring puzzles. Several potential suspects exist, and have existed since the murders were committed. But the relatively primitive police work of the day -- forensic science as we know it didn't exist in Victorian England -- and the loss of physical evidence over time means the mystery may never be solved.

That hasn't prevented a cottage industry of Ripper sleuths, Ripper enthusiasts and Ripper nut balls from thriving. Books purporting to have solved the Whitechapel murders (there were 11 in all, not all of them associated with the Ripper) appear from time to time, alongside fictional accounts and more-scholarly works, but most are completely worthless except as titillation.

Whether the killer was a member of the royal family, as one popular theory has it, or a surgeon with a grudge, at least two things are certain: Jack was skilled with a knife and certainly a sexual psychopath. All the Ripper's victims had their throats cut and all were sexually mutilated: the unfortunate Ms. Kelly worst of all. When discovered by her landlord's rent collector, she was barely recognizable as a human being.

Nearly 120 years later, research continues. In fact, there's more of it being done now than at any time since the case was officially closed in 1892. With modern forensic techniques, a few new details have emerged, including the fact that in carving up Mary Jane Kelly, the Ripper used an ax as well as a knife.

As to where that will lead us, who knows?

Source: http://www.wired.com.../dayintech_1109

[asylum_souljah]

Revealed at last: the Ripper case book
Police files giving step-by-step details of 1888 killings go on public display

'PC.97J. NEIL reports at 3.45.a[m] 31st inst, he found the dead body of a woman lying on her back with her clothes a little above her knees...' So begins a vivid account on lined notepaper, by a Superintendent J Keating, under the heading 'Metropolitan Police'. The ink seems as fresh as a morning newspaper. Yet it is dated 31 August, 1888.

This is one of the police reports filed just hours after Jack the Ripper claimed another victim in London's East End. It is one of numerous documents relating to the Victorian killer which, after more than a century in the archives, are to go on public display for the first time.

Handwritten accounts from the scenes of the crimes, detectives' case reports, coroners' inquiry records, witness statements, photographs and letters will form the centrepiece of a major exhibition, 'Jack the Ripper and the East End', at the Museum in Docklands, London. Visitors will not be spared graphic descriptions, such as 'her throat cut from ear to ear', in the retelling of the bloody and gruesome crimes.

'They are absolutely amazing,' said Julia Hoffbrand, curator of the exhibition. 'They were written on the day each woman was found, so as a step by step account you get a real sense of what happened. The documents bring home the fact that these are real people and real events. They are very moving.'

The files were first kept at Scotland Yard, then transferred to the National Archives in Kew, west London. But due to their fragile condition they could only be viewed on microfiche. 'It's a rare opportunity to see the actual documents in the original ink,' Hoffbrand said.

The police report of 31 August 1888 continues: Dr. Llewellyn, No.152 Whitechapel Ro[ad]... arrived quickly and pronounced life to be extinct, apparently but [a] few minutes, he directed her removed to the mortuary, stating he would make a further examination there, which was done on the ambulance. It has since been ascertained that the dress bears the marks of Lambeth Workhouse and deceased is supposed to have been an inmate of that house.'

Jack the Ripper is believed to have killed five prostitutes in or near Whitechapel in 10 weeks between August and November 1888. More than 170 names have been put forward as suspects including the Duke of Clarence, the artist Walter Sickert, who had a morbid obsession with the killings, Montague John Druitt, a barrister who took his own life just after the last murder, and Michael Ostrog, a Russian thief. Books, plays, films and musicals have mythologised the killer and every night tourists walk the same streets on a guided Jack the Ripper walk.

A letter purportedly from the Ripper to the police will also be on display. Dated 7 November 1888, the handwritten scrawl states: 'Dear Boss, I am writing you this while I am in bed with a sore throat but as soon as it is better I will set to work again on the 13th of this month and I think that my next Job will be to polish you off and as I am a member of the force I can soon settle accounts with you I will tear your liver out before you are dead and show it to you.' The letter, signed Jack the Ripper, has a crude drawing of a man, but remains one of many tantalising clues.

Among the documents are witness statements to coroners as well as contemporary press reports. At the inquest into the death of Catherine Eddowes, whose mutilated body was found in Mitre Square in Aldgate, her daughter Annie Phillips tells of her father's separation from her mother: 'He had no ill will to my knowledge against Deceased [Catherine Eddowes]. He left Deceased between 7 & 8 years ago entirely on account of her Drinking Habits.'

Like Eddowes, Mary Ann Nichols was found with her throat cut, in Buck's Row, Whitechapel. On her last evening alive, she is reported as having said: 'I'll soon get my "doss" money; see what a jolly bonnet I've got now.'

The exhibition, which opens on 15 May, will also feature maps and recordings from people who grew up in the slums of Whitechapel. Donald Rumbelow, a leading expert on the Ripper and co-author of Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates, welcomed the exhibition. 'To see the documents out of the mounts will be quite something.'

Source: http://www.guardian..../mar/09/ukcrime


It would be something to see alright! I wish they would bring it here!