RIPPEROLOGIST MAGAZINE Issue 104, July 2009 QUOTE FOR JULY:

Andre the Giant. . Dennis the Menace. Each has left a unique mark in his respective field, whether it be wrestling, serial killing or neighborhood mischief-making. Mr. The Entertainer has similarly ridden his own mid-moniker demonstrative adjective to the top of the eponymous entertainment field.

Cedric the Entertainer at the Ryman - King of Comedy

Julie Seabaugh, Nashville Scene , 30 May 2009.

We would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance given by Features the following people in the production of this issue of Ripperologist: John Bennett — Thank you! Editorial E- Reading The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in signed Paul Begg articles, essays, letters and other items published in Ripperologist are those of the authors and do not necessarily Suede and the Ripper reflect the views, conclusions and opinions of Ripperologist or Don Souden its editors. The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in unsigned articles, essays, news reports, reviews and other items published in Ripperologist are the responsibility of Hell on Earth: The Murder of Marie Suchánková - Ripperologist and its editorial team. Michaela Kořistová We occasionally use material we believe has been placed in the public domain. It is not always possible to identify and contact the copyright holder; if you claim ownership of some - City Beat: PC Harvey thing we have published we will be pleased to make a prop - Neil Bell and Robert Clack er acknowledgement. The contents of Ripperologist No. 104 July 2009, including the co mpilation of al l materials and the unsigned articles, essays, Mitre Square Revisited news reports, reviews and other items are copyright © 2009 Ripperologist. The authors of signed articles, essays, letters, at Whitehall: The Rise and Fall of Tom Merry news reports, reviews and other items retain the copyright of their respective contributions. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part Adam Wood of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys - tem, transmitted or otherwise circulated in any form or by any means, including digital, electronic, printed, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other, without the prior Regulars permission in writing of Ripperologist. The unauthorised reproduction or circulation of this publication or any part Press Trawl thereof, whether for monetary gain or not, is strictly pro - Chris Scott returns with more snippets of news from the 19th century hib ited and may constitute copyright infringement as defined in domestic laws and international agreements and give rise to News and Views civil liability and criminal prosecution. I Beg to Report Reviews: Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer — Revealed, , The Autumn of Terror Ripperologist’s Bookself A new series looking at Ripperologists’ favourite books.

RIPPEROLOGIST MAGAZINE PO Box 735, Maidstone, Kent, UK ME17 1JF. [email protected]

Editorial Team Consultants Advertising Stewart P. Evans; Loretta Lay; Donald Rumbelow; Advertising in Ripperologist costs £50.00 for a full Stephen P. Ryder Executive Editor page and £25.00 for a half-page. All adverts are full Adam Wood colour and can include clickable links to your website Subscriptions Editors or email. Christopher T George; Don Souden Ripperologist is published monthly in electronic for - Managing Editor mat. The cost is £12.00 for six issues. Cheques can Submissions Jennifer Shelden only be accepted in £ sterling, made payable to We welcome articles on any topic related to Jack the Ripperologist and sent to the address above. The sim - Editors-at-Large Ripper, the East End of or Victoriana. Please Paul Begg; Eduardo Zinna plest and easiest way to subscribe is via PayPal — send your submissions to [email protected] . send to [email protected] Contributing Editor Thank you! Chris Scott Art Director Back Issues Jane Coram Single PDF files of issue 62 onwards are available at £2 each. Editorial E-Reading By Paul Begg

Earlier today I popped into the Fortify Café for a decaf skinny latte and a sandwich. I got a table and sat there with my book in one hand — sometimes I prop it open on the table, weighting the page down with my mobile phone — and while I ate I got lost for a peaceful quarter of an hour in the latest adventure of Victorian railway detective Robert Colbeck. My daily trip to the coffee shop, armed with a novel, has become an increasingly important part of my day. For me reading is a tactile experience. I like the look and feel of a book, and a book can even smell good — on JTRforums recently there was a brief discussion about how E1 , the new book by John Bennett smelt, so I know I’m not the only book sniffer around. Books are easy to carry, can be read anywhere and are always available to kill five minutes at a bus stop. A book or magazine or a newspaper is everything an electronic publication isn’t and can’t be. So, Luddite that I am, I did not warmly greet the decision a few years ago to make Ripperologist digital. The economics of publish - ing a small circulation, specialist journal made the move to digital inescapable, of course, and I think events have shown that the decision was the right one. But it wasn’t what I personally like. But publishing — indeed, all media in general — is in a parlous state: book sales have declined, once thick mag - azines, jam-packed with articles and advertising, have either ceased publication or shrunk to a quarter of their one-time size, and newspaper sales are dropping as people turn to other sources, like radio and TV, and the internet for their news fix. One reason for this is that advertising is tough to find. This is amply illustrated by ITV’s troubles. It has gone from being a licence to print money, as Lord Thompson once famously described an ITV franchise, to ITV cutting programmes, shedding jobs and looking to save money wherever it can. Apparently there is a question mark hang - ing over a second series of Whitechapel, which was supposed to begin filming this autumn, the reason being that there isn’t any advertising revenue ‘out there’. However, some commentators think that

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 1 publishing is going through a sort of rebirth, that the sort of publishing we’re used to is being replaced by on-demand publishing, Internet and on-line subscription publishing, and, of course, e-book platforms like the Kindle, the new(ish) toy for grown ups. The Kindle doesn’t appeal to me much. Apart from not being keen on reading on-screen, it’s just something else one has to carry around, another electronic device I’m going to get mugged for — I don’t imagine anyone would mug me for my copy of the latest Clive Cussler or John Grisham paperback, but they might mug me for a Kindle! But I read that e-book sales are increasing, that some newspaper giants are considering an e-reader for their newspapers, and that Borders are exploring how customers can browse e-books in their shops, then download those they fancy into their e-reader, paying at the desk or via PayPal. And, of course, you’ll be able to browse and down - load from Internet sites Some people even see e-readers as superior to traditional books because the e-reader can store a thousand books or more, enables you to search a book or books, and even annotate them — electronic marginalia! Print isn’t dead either. It’s just the traditional way in which we buy our books which is changing. There has been a massive move toward on-demand publishing and what used to be sneeringly called vanity publishing. On demand publishing means that books with a limited appeal can reach print. There are no warehousing or significant distribu - tion costs, and thanks to the Internet a limited local market can suddenly becomes the whole world. If traditional publishing declines and bookshops close, traditional book publishing will become a less attractive option for even professional writers, some of whom will no doubt see services such as Lulu.com as an attractive way of bypassing the publishing industry altogether. There’s no doubt about it, as much as I hate to say it, electronic media is the way forward and I’m rather proud that Ripperologist was one of the publications to lead the way. It’ll only be a matter of time before you’ll be able to download it into your Kindle! In fact, readers with iPhones, Blackberrys and other such devices can already take their Rip to go!

The Jeremy Beadle Prize 2009

The winner of the Jeremy Beadle Prize for 2008 was Timothy Riordan's The Nine Lives of Dr Tumblety , which featured the first known photograph of Tumblety. Our panel of judges said:

The photograph of Tumblety was fantastic, ...but of equal if less obvious value was Riordan’s analysis of Tumblety’s biogra - phies, which set them in context and drew meaning from them. This added just a little more flesh to the skeleton of Tumblety and set him more firmly in his time and place. It was a good, solid piece of historical writing.

This year's competition is already underway! Every article featured in Ripperologist between issues 100 and 109 (December 2009) will have a chance to win the coveted title, not to mention £100 cash.

And entry is free!

Send your submissions to [email protected]

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 2 Suede and the Ripper By Don Souden

Half-hidden in the Stygian dark of night, a creature crept slowly into view, a shaft of moon - light illuming her outline. The pace was slow, alert, and yet unheedful of any danger lurking anywhere near. And all the while eyes other than mine were watching . . . and waiting. Suddenly, almost too quickly to see, far less comprehend, something appeared from the inky murk, grabbed the victim by the back of her neck and in seconds she was quite dead.

* * * * * My mom’s old Victorian farmhouse had, naturally enough, a big old barn set in the back. It was a beautiful struc - ture, post and beam construction, held together throughout with pegs, and probably predated the house itself by many decades. It had been many a year since it had housed any horses but the tools of trade were still scattered about: a few horseshoes, some tack, even a huge old hay saw. We used the lower portion of the barn for cars, not horses, and the upper floor for a storage area more commodious than basement and attic combined. We also lived near a river and the barn was ever a lure, especially in winter, for river rats. Perhaps the barn was snugger than a riparian burrow or maybe the rats were drawn by an atavistic memory of when the barn had been a storehouse for oats and other tempting grains.

Whatever the reason, rats would repeatedly try Suede, in a moment of rare repose. to move in and stake a claim to our barn, but they were never very successful; certainly not as long as Suede was alive. Suede was the family cat, all black with a patch of white on her face. She was never very big, being lithe not lumbering, and like a suburban wife trekking thrice-weekly to a workout gym, Suede kept her figure despite more than a dozen litters. She was also perhaps the greatest hunter the domestic feline species every produced—she was certainly the greatest in my experience. We got Suede as a kitten from some good friends and while she was certainly a loving, gen - tle house cat, there seemed nothing unusual about her until she produced her first litter of kittens. Within days of becoming a mother,

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 3 Suede began to try to teach her young the ways of feral felines, in particular what was prey. I would doubt that a single mole, vole, shrew, mouse, rat or squirrel within a half-mile radius of home survived Suede’s tutelage of her young. Whatever time she had when not feeding her young was spent bringing back “trophies” for more “show and tell” lessons with her kittens. Oddly, perhaps, not a one from that first litter ever proved to be much of a mouser like mom. And that may be why, though Suede went through the motions with each suc - ceeding litter, she was never as assiduous in trying to train them as she had been with the first. Oh, the odd mouse or mole would be dragged up on the porch, but the Reign of Terror she had inflicted on neighborhood wildlife was never repeated. Still, she remained as deadly an adversary as any small creature could fear and she was especially harsh on the river rats. I watched her in action more than once and marvelled at her technique. Indeed, it was quite like the opening paragraph of this article. Suede would crouch, well hidden, and wait for however long it would take for Our post and beam barn. some foolhardy rat to venture into the open. Sniffing con - stantly, a rat would slink out of its lair looking for something to eat. Its head would move back and forth, its beady eyes darting left, right, up and down and yet it was all in vain. The silent Suede would simply wait until the rat entered her kill zone and then she would POUNCE! with a quickness that made her but a blur. Her front paws would freeze the rat’s progress as she sunk her teeth in the back of its neck. Then, with a practiced toss of her head she would snap the rat’s spinal cord and leave it for us to dispose of. It was quick, efficient and, well quite professional. It was those memories while talking to someone about cats that suddenly made me think of Jack the Ripper. Jack himself was quite quick, efficient and yes, professional in the way he disposed of his victims and not enough atten - tion is paid to this aspect of his deadly depredations. Oh, much is made of any number of knife attacks that occurred in the vicinity during decade of the 1880s and beyond, but there is too little discrimination between what Jack prac - ticed and the norm for blade crimes. Give someone a knife with which to attack an adversary or defend himself and in the vast majority of cases he will either wave the weapon wildly, attempting to slash his adversary almost anywhere, or he will try to stab; again with little heed for where the knife will land and likely with a self-defeating overhand motion. As it is, I had the rather unusual experience of having seen someone have his throat slashed, which is probably more than most Ripperologists who like to opine on the subject have themselves witnessed. My undergraduate college years were spent in , hard by some rather unsavory parts of Manhattan. And, being only semi-savory myself, I liked to wander some of the wilder precincts off campus. Such that one evening I came upon a heated argument between a couple of fellows that seemed to involve money and drugs, a dangerous mixture in almost any culture and particularly in one where weapons are an adjunct to daily discourse. Quicker than it takes to say, one of the protagonists pulled out a switchblade knife and, as would be predictable, started to make wild, sweeping motions with the knife. Almost by accident, one of his slashes caught the victim in the throat. The cut evidently severed an artery but not the windpipe. Blood spurting freely, he took one stumbling step forward and another backward before collapsing—all the while mumbling “Omigod, omigod.” And like Israel

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 4 Schwartz, I took off in a hurry. For those who may score the morality of my beating a hasty retreat, there were plen - ty of other witnesses who, as revealed subsequently in newspapers, were well able to identify the man with the knife. It is certainly one of my more unpleasant memories, but also one that was quite instructive. That the attacker carried a knife suggests that he was quite prepared to use it and may have used it in the past for all we know. Yet the actual attack showed no forethought and little skill; just a wild waving of the blade that, almost by serendipi - ty, caught a vital spot in the other person’s neck. It was just the sort of fatal knife attack you would expect from a street brawl, a domestic dispute or any other instance where emotion, not malice, was the motivating force. Compare that, then, to the Ripper murders. Whatever else he might have been, with knife in hand Jack became the steely-eyed professional killing machine. He knew exactly what he was doing and did it with deadly dispatch: no time or effort was wasted and his throat-cutting technique a marvel of efficiency. Indeed, all five Canonic victims suffered very similar wounds. Stride only had her throat cut once, but whatever the reason for his economy of effort in that instance, Jack knew that just one deep slash was enough to silence her forever; and she may well have been killed simply in the interests of silence. And it is instructive that Eddowes and Kelly were subsequently killed with just one deep sweep of the blade. The mutilations to four of the Canonic victims are Jack’s gift to Gothic gore and they have alternately fascinated and disgusted students of the crimes for a dozen decades now. Yet, trying to make sense of the irrational has proven something of a snare over those same 120 years. Whether Jack knew what he was doing when he disembowelled his victims or was merely indulging in some mindless groping and grabbing that gave him an insane thrill we may never be able to determine. But that he knew exactly what he was about in first killing his victims cannot be denied. Indeed, his practiced technique started even before he used his knife. A great amount of verbiage has been expended by those arguing whether Jack first “strangled” his victims, all of which avoids the pedantic point that originally the word meant to choke to death —but in an age when loan has become a verb there is little point in pur - suing that grammatical nicety. In any case, those who argue for strangling fail to realize it calls for an extended effort to throttle unto death a relatively healthy adult—on the order of as a many as five minutes—and that was an order of time Jack simply did not have. Yet, there are those who will see a protuberant tongue and other signs of strangulation in at least two of the victims. The answer is, most likely, that they see what they want to see. But, taken at its loosest definition, is it possible that Jack merely choked his victims into unconsciousness and then did his knife work unimpeded? Yes, that is certainly possible but again that would take an inordinate amount of time (and, more than men on patrol, time was normally Jack’s greatest enemy); manual choking would have left quite distinctive marks on the body and the victim would likely have fought back to some extent. Yet, the lack of any noise by the victim and the general paucity of blood spurts strongly suggest the victims were momentarily com - atose at the moment their throats were cut and that raises the question of how that was accomplished. One hates to descend into the realm of professional wrestling and the more lurid variety of thriller literature and yet the obvious answer to the question of how Jack temporarily immobilized some of his victims is the so-called “sleeper-hold.” In fact, for all the nonsense spewed by frenetic wrestling commentators, such a technique does exist. A little momentary pressure on the right spot of the human neck will stop the blood flow to the brain and thus render someone unconscious for the nonce. Even discussing it should call for the standard “Don’t try this at home, kids” warning as it is not a parlor trick but rather a dangerous stunt that could have literally fatal consequences— not that such an outcome likely would have concerned Jack. That said, the sleeper-hold would really seem the obvious first step in the Ripper’s murder game. Get close enough to his victim that he can immediately cover her mouth to stifle a scream, apply pressure to the right area to render her unconscious 1, lower her to the ground and then as quickly cut her throat, almost to the bone in sev -

1 This suggestion has often been put forward by Ivor Edwards, and is explored in his book Jack the Ripper’s Black Magic Ritual s — John Blake Publishing Ltd., 2003.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 5 Demonstrations of various choke hold and sleeper-hold techniques.

eral instances. And with that routine the Ripper would not have needed to show his knife until the victim was on the ground and quite unable to react. And the entire sequence of events would have taken much less time than it takes even to read about. Of course, if this scenario was the way the Ripper initiated his murders it adds only another layer of skill and professionalism to his endeavors. Indeed, what we see is a killer who gets quite close to a victim without any need to brandish his weapon; who without warning both muffles her mouth and renders her unconscious, and who then deftly administers one or two deep cuts to the throat. The throat slashes are, moreover, performed in darkness and yet are remarkably similar in location and severity in all instances. There are no indications of trial cuts or misdirected slashes—Jack knew exactly what he was about. Some have argued that the throat cuts, at least, called for no special skill, that anyone could do what Jack did. Obviously those folk are lucky to have never had a holiday roast hacked into just so much offal by one “anyone” after another. There is no need to talk about “surgical skill,” but even neatly taking a slice off a joint is something well beyond the ability of many a man; at least without a certain amount of practice and confidence. Suede never bothered to mutilate her kills, but clearly the Ripper did when the opportunity presented itself. In fact, those who argue for a Ripper with an “evolving technique” are on fairly secure ground in this regard. To be sure, Jack certainly left no doubt about his intentions in terms of a desire for evisceration, from Polly on through to Mary Jane; he simply got bolder as he went along. Except, of course, for Liz, but she either wasn’t a Ripper victim or there were special circumstances, something that will be examined further on. In any case, the mutilations and rummaging are not really relevant to this discussion. For the Ripper, ripping open the lower torso may have provided the real thrill, but frisson producing for us as those efforts may still be, they are but a distraction in the present examination. Rather, the focus here is on the method of murder, which was remarkably unchanged through -

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 6 out the series of killings from Nichols to Kelly. Just how unchanged? Consider the evidence. Surgeon Henry Llewellyn, who did the post mortem examination of , testified at the inquest into her death that:

There was a bruise running along the lower part of the jaw on the right side of the face. That might have been caused by a blow from a fist or pressure from a thumb. There was a circular bruise on the left side of the face, which also might have been inflicted by the pressure of the fin - gers. On the left side of the neck, about 1in. below the jaw, there was an incision about 4in. in length and ran from a point immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below, and commencing about 1in. in front of it, was a circular incision, which terminated at a point about 3in. below the right jaw. That incision completely severed all the tissues down to the vertebrae. The large vessels of the neck on both sides were severed. The incision was about 8in. in length 2.

At the inquest into the death of , Dr George Bagster Phillips stated:

[T]hat the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incisions through the skin were jagged, and reached right round the neck. . . . The incisions into the skin indicated that they had been made from the left side of the neck. There were two distinct, clean cuts on the left side of the spine. They were parallel from each other and separated by about half an inch. Mary Ann Nichols’ throat wounds The muscular structures appeared as though an attempt had been made to separate the bones of the neck 3.

The murder of marked a difference in the throat wounds, a change that would continue for the remaining Canonic Five vic - tims. Surgeon Frederick William Blackwell, who was called to the scene soon after the murder, described Stride’s neck wound thusly at the inquest:

There was a check scarf round the neck, the bow of which was turned to the left side and pulled tightly. There was a long incision in the neck which exactly corresponded with the lower border of the scarf. The lower Annie Chapman’s throat wounds edge of the scarf was slightly frayed, as if by a sharp knife. The incision in the neck commenced on the left side, 2½ in. below the angle of the jaw, and almost in a direct line with it. It nearly severed the vessels on the left side, cut the windpipe below the angle of the right jaw, but with - out severing the vessels on that side 4.

2 — Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner; The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion; Carroll & Graf Publishers (New York 2001); pp. 38-39.

3 — Ibid ., p. 97. 4 — Ibid ., p.167. Elizabeth Stride’s throat wound

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 7 G. Bagster Phillips, who conducted the post mortem, gave much the same information about the neck wound, but it should be noted that in response to a question about the wound’s similarity to those inflicted upon Annie Chapman he said: “There is a great dissimilarity. In Chapman’s case the neck was severed all round down to the ver - tebral column, the vertical bone being marked, and there had been an evident attempt to separate the bones 5.” Regardless, the cut to Stride’s throat was clean, neatly followed the line of her scarf and was sufficient unto its purpose—to silence and slay. Despite the excessive mutilations to face and torso, less than an hour later in Mitre Square Kate Eddowes’s throat also was cut only once. The throat wound was described thusly by surgeon Frederick George Brown, who was at the post mortem:

The throat was cut across to the extent of about 6in. or 7in. The sterno cleido mastoid muscle was divided; the cricoid cartilage below the vocal cords was severed through the middle; the large vessels on the left side of the neck were severed to the bone, the knife marking the intervertebral cartilage. The sheath of the vessels on the right side was just open; the carotid artery had a pinhole opening; the internal jugular vein was open to the extent of an inch and a half—not divided 6.

Finally, the Mary Kelly post mortem notes of Dr. Thomas Bond report that:

The neck was cut through the skin and other tissues right down to the vertebrae, the fifth and sixth being deeply notched. The skin cuts in the front of the neck showed distinct ecchymosis. The air passage was cut at the lower part of the larynx through the cricoid cartilage 7.

The diagrams are probably of better use to the layman than all the previous medical verbiage and they reveal a series of deep, efficient cuts to the thro at, any one of which the various doctors reported would have been sufficient to cause virtually immediate death. This is worth noting because the first two victims—Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman—received two cuts to the throat, whereas starting with Elizabeth Stride and continuing with Kate Eddowes and Mary Kelly only one cut was administered. This change could be accounted for by positing that Stride was killed simply to silence her forever (and while not so deep as the throat cuts to other victims, it was extensive enough to sever her windpipe and cause almost immediate death). And, as it seems, the mutilations after death being of more interest to Jack than the throat slitting route to murder, he almost literally applied Occam’s razor to the situation and

Catherine Eddowes throat wound henceforth settled for a single but quite deadly throat slash, the quicker to get to his mutilating games. Another difference that should be considered in passing is that whereas the first four victims had their throats cut from left to right, the last—Mary Kelly—almost assuredly had hers cut from right to left. This has led some to sugg est that her assailant was left-handed or, better yet if you want a single killer, ambidextrous 8. A southpaw slasher of Mary Kelly is, of course, quite possible as would be a killer equally adept with either hand (though true ambidexterity is rather rare regard - less of how glibly that is proposed by Ripper theorists and the

5 — Ibid ., p. 182. 6 — Ibid ., p. 229.

7 — Karyo Magellan; “Cutthroat” in Ripperologist 97 (November 2008); p. 59.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 8 writers of detective fiction). And, it is just as likely that the same old Ripper made the best of a bad situation. A glance at the photograph of Kelly lying in her bed, or at least what is left of her, makes it clear that she had been supine with her head on the far left side of the bed close to the wall. This presented something of a problem for Jack (if, as ever, it was Jack) since it was clear from his previous murders he liked to do his work—from killing to mutilating—while on the victim’s right side. Certainly this was not what Jack would have wanted and either Mary grew suspicious as he kept urging her to shift herself to the other side of the bed or otherwise tipped his hand and was forced to deviate from his preferred position. That things did not go so smoothly as in the past would seem quite apparent. Mary was not taken at all by surprise and may well have uttered the legendary “Murder!” heard by some (though I wonder if that Mary Kelly’s throat wound affected Francophile did not actually cry “Merde!” — that word seems a more appropriate expletive should your bed companion suddenly flash a carving knife). In any case, Mary had not been throttled or rendered semi-conscious like the other victims, as evidenced by the much greater arte - rial blood spray on the wall. Still, our skilled blade artist would likely have no difficulty in administering the throat cut—again a single deep slash—with his right hand if necessary. He did, after all, know what he was doing. Before moving on, a few more words about the Kelly killing. There are many—perhaps even approaching a slim majority by now—of serious Ripperologists who incline to the theory that the murder in Miller’s Court was a copy- cat crime. Examining that controversy in detail is for another time, but there is one question that has always been a puzzle. That is, if the killer was imitating the previous murders why didn’t he take away Kelly’s uterus? Take the heart, sure, but unless the copycat didn’t know a womb from a wombat, why not also abscond with her uterus? Regardless, what do seem to be the hallmarks of the Ripper’s initial, throat-cutting attacks? To begin with, they were close-in slashes, which in itself would set Jack apart from the vast bulk of mankind who, given a bladed weapon, will try to wave it witlessly and often ineffectively or else use it in an equally ineffective stabbing motion. Jack was able to get close to his victims, which alone suggests a skilled professional and not an amateur still learn - ing his trade, and then when close cut their throats cleanly. Indeed, even before applying the blade Jack seems to have rendered his victims (in four of the five Canonic instances anyway) at least semi-conscious through the use of a sleeper-hold or momentary choking (either manually or with a scarf) that again indicates something of a practiced technique. The suggestion is strong that not only had Jack done this b efore, but that he was well aware that killing in this way was not only efficient but would mean a whole lot less mess. Then, once he had his victims in a quasi-comatose condition and on the ground he speedily slashed their throats in a very similar manner. Look again at the diagrams and marvel at how similar those wounds look, remembering also that Jack was almost always operating in the inky blackness of night. The visual purple of Jack’s retinas must have been superhuman or Jack had much earlier perfected what was now an almost routine technique that he could per -

8 — Ibid.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 9 form blindfolded if necessary. There were no tentative, hesitant cuts; when two cuts were administered they are quite parallel, and when he first settled for a single cut, with Liz Stride, that slash is much like the initial cuts to his first victims: sufficient to silence and to kill. This was a man for whom there was little of a learning curve; when he approached the first of the Canonic Five, he was an efficient professional just doing his job. It is interesting to compare the neck wounds to the Canonic victims with those of Alice McKenzie who was found dead in Castle Alley on July 17, 1889. Because she was a prostitute, had her throat cut and suffered cuts to her lower torso her death immediately raised fears that the Ripper was back at his old stand in the East End. That said, the wounds to her neck, as reported by Dr. Thomas Bond are markedly different from those suffered by the Canonic Five.

I was able to form an opinion that there was no doubt that the cuts were made from left to right & as far as I was able to make out, the knife appears to have been plunged deeply into the neck on the left side of the victim below the sterno mastoid muscle & brought out by a tailed incision just above the larynx on the same side. There appeared to have been two stabs, & the knife then carried forward in the same skin wound, except that a small tongue of skin remained between the two stabs . The incisions appeared to me to be in a direction from above downwards & forwards with several small superficial cuts extending upwards & tailing off into mere scratches. The two main cuts appeared to be about 3 inches long. . . . 9 [Emphases added]

It is clear that the murderer of Alice McKenzie was not nearly so practiced as Jack the Ripper, even though Dr. Bond was quite of the opinion that her killer was indeed the same man who had killed the Canonic Five, he basing that opin - ion on the attempted mutilations as well. Regardless, the good Doctor must have had a bad day when he made the pro - nouncement since his own description of the neck wounds is at serious variance with those of the Ripper victims. To begin with, the throat wounds to McKenzie were initiated by stabs, which is quite different from the way Jack operat - ed. Also, they were not parallel, were shorter than those inflicted on any of the Canonic Five and there is evidence that there were several hesitant cuts to the neck as if the murderer, like a would-be suicide, was steeling his nerve to slice with determination. Indeed, these are just the sort of wounds ones would expect the next time out by the mur - derer of had he been an evolving killer as some suggest. Yet, Bond called the killer “skillful” which would suggest that even if he fell far short of what Jack the Ripper was capable of doing, he seemed more adept than most throat cutters Bond had encountered. And that only helps prove the argument behind this article. What conclusions may be drawn, then, from this examination of Jack and his killing technique?

1. It is quite unlikely that for all the wishing in the world Martha Tabram and Polly Nichols were killed by the same hand. One may blather all one wants about an “evolving MO,” but nothing short of a three-week cram course with the US Navy SEALS would allow the inexpert stabber of Martha to have managed the professional throat cutting done to poor Polly. In fact, as mentioned above, the wounds administered to Alice McKenzie are much more what you would expect Martha’s evolving murderer to have done. Indeed, it is much more likely that Martha and Alice were killed by the same man than they were victims of the Ripper.

2. Based solely on the evidence of the throat wounds, there is a strong evidentiary likelihood that the so-called Canonic victims were, indeed, just that—killed by the same hand. Indeed, Elizabeth Stride’s throat cut is quite sim - ilar to that administered to Kate Eddowes an hour later, especially when a difference in intentions is allowed for. As discussed at length above, if Jack’s main intention had been to silence Stride, one good cut was sufficient and in the process he may have “discovered” that, one being as deadly as two, a single stroke left him that much more oppor - tunity to eviscerate and mutilate his victims. That was clearly the case with his last two victims.

9 — Evans and Skinner; Op. Cit .; p. 503.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 10 3. Finally, it should be quite clear that Jack was no neo - phyte when it came to killing his victims. His throat cuts, all administered under conditions of low to no light, were done with a practiced professionalism. Too much attention has been paid, I would suggest, to the eviscerations and mutila - tions and not nearly enough to the killing technique used before the Ripper began to rip. Jack the Ripper knew exact - ly what he was doing when he cut a throat: the important question is how did he learn that?

Suede and Jack the Ripper were both quite effective, even professional, killers and in that regard quite alike. Both may even have thought they were ridding their com - munity of undesirables—river rats and fallen women— but of the two I have sympathy only for Suede. After all, not only was it in her nature but she also didn’t mutilate her victims. Besides, as her purr when stroked made manifest, she was capable of great love.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Jane Coram for helping provide the idea for this article as the concept occurred in the course of a chat about her Willow and our Suede. I’d also like to thank Tom Alice McKenzie’s throat wounds Wescott for his helpful suggestions after reading my manu - script.

Don is pictured with his beloved beach hat that unfortunately blew out the car window on the way home and which his mom refused to stop on a busy highway to go back and retrieve. Aside from still mourning for that lost hat he leads a reasonably happy life as a freelance writer and researcher as well as serving as an editor for Ripperologist. And anyone who thinks they may have found the hat can reach him at the magazine.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 11 From the Archives Cutthroat

Diagrams of the neck wounds sustained by the Whitechapel murder victims

By Karyo Magellan

dorsal aspect Diagram 1. Schematic representation of right left the major structures of the human neck — transverse section at the laryngeal level

1 Skin and subcutis 2 Spine of cervical vertebra 3 Trapezius and other supporting musculature 4 Spinal cord 5 Vertebral disc 6 Sternocleidomastoid muscle 7 Internal jugular vein 8 Common carotid artery 9 Oesophagus 10 Trachea 11 Thyroid cartilage

Diagram 2. Diagram 3. Neck wounds to Mary Ann Nichols Neck wounds to Annie Chapman

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 12 Diagram 4. Diagram 5. Neck wounds to Elizabeth Stride Neck wounds to

Diagram 6. Diagram 7. Neck wounds to Neck wounds to Alice McKenie

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 `13 Hell on Earth: The Murder of Marie Suchánková By Michaela Kořistová

‘Life was better in the old days’. ‘People were kinder and vicious crimes were nowhere as common as they are now’. ‘The tabloids describe murders in too much lurid detail’. Remarks such as these are often heard in conversation or read in internet discussions of the latest crimes reported in huge headlines throughout the world. But, are these remarks true? Were people a generation ago really better than we are? Were outlaws gentlemanly and crimes literate? Those who are familiar with the case of Jack the Ripper and the are well aware that violent, perhaps psychopathic individuals who commit brutal crimes have existed in all places and during every period of history. In May 1902, a murder trial was held in Hradec Králové, a town also known as Königgrätz. Both the Czech and the German names mean the same: Queen’s Castle. In those days, Hradec Králové was located in the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nowadays it is in the Czech Republic. Although the town was comparatively small, with a population of only 7,816 in 1890, it was not unusual for trials to be held in the court - room at its Baroque Palais de Justice and its population was used to the comings and goings of judges, lawyers and defendants 1. But this time the situation was different.

How Do You Like Hell?

The inhabitants of the sombre, romantic Peklo Valley like to put a question to the visitors who come to enjoy the delights of the region. ‘How do you like Hell?’ they ask, with a twinkle in their eyes. ‘We love it’, answer the visi - tors with a smile. This is not because they are devil-worshippers or black magicians, but because they understand the locals’ joke. The name of the valley, Peklo, means ‘hell’ in Czech. Yet it does not resemble hell in the least. Travellers approach the valley across a landscape of ploughed fields, meadows, pastures, copses and orchards, dot - ted here and there with farmhouses and small villages. Then the nearly flat countryside looks as though it had been abruptly hewn in two. A steep slope overgrown with thick forests of alder and beech leads travellers deeper and deeper into the valley until they reach the Metuje River, which has flown through it, fast and wild, for thousands of years. Craggy, precipitous mountainsides crisscrossed by narrow paths frame the valley on both sides. Fire salaman - ders, sand lizards and smooth snakes make their home in its marshy grounds. Black storks, eagle owls and kingfish - ers fly the skies above.

1 Ottův slovník naučný. Praha. Tom XI.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 14 Peklo Valley was first mentioned in records in 1415. Until the 19th century, only a few people working in a saw- mill on the Metuje, known as the Devil’s Mill, lived there with their families. Some 200m from the saw-mill stands a stone pyramid bearing the inscription ‘1757’. The pyramid is known as the Bridegroom’s Grave, but its existence owes nothing to the supernatural. It commemorates the passing of the Prussian army through Bohemia in 1757, dur - ing the Seven Years’ War. There are many legends and myths connected with the valley. Its inhabitants tell tales of headless horses and jack-o’-lanterns sighted in the dead of night and of burning barrels rolling up a hillside until they reach the top and explode, releasing a fire rooster. It is said that there is an entrance to hell hidden in the remotest parts of the woods. Some stories are more disturbing. People have been attacked in the valley and in 1893 a young boy was murdere d2. At present, Peklo Valley is a popular tourist destination because of its rugged terrain and natural beauty. There are some country houses and the old mill was converted into a restaurant in the early twentieth century. Yet even now many people prefer to avoid its trails, particularly after dark, when moonlight cannot reach all the way down through the thick foliage. But if one hundred years ago you lived in a village on one side of the valley and wanted to go to another village on its far side you had no choice but to cross it along one of the paths descending down the sheer hillside.

2 Národní Listy (newspaper), Prague, 28 May 1902, page 4.

The old mill in Peklo Valley. Photograph copyright M. Koristova.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 15 The Murder

Marie Suchánková was a 15-year-old girl of peasant stock who lived in a village called Mezilesí, on the edge of Peklo Valley. During September 1901, she was staying at Lipí, a nearby village, with a seamstress who was teaching her how to sew. After two weeks, she was expected back home. Although she was not overly keen to return, she set forth dutifully on her journey late in the afternoon of Saturday 21 September. She picked up a basket full of cakes and slung over her slim shoulders a woollen shawl containing a bedspread her mother would fill with goose feathers. The seamstress gave her a new skirt for a customer who lived down in the valley and a purse in case the customer paid for the skirt. Marie delivered the skirt and, at about 5 pm, started to climb the steep footpath going to Mezilesí. As the sun sank slowly over the hills, she hurried on her way. There was a feast in Lipí the following day, Sunday 22 September. Among the people who came to enjoy the good food, the drinking and the dancing was Anna Suchánková, Marie’s sister. When Anna called on the seamstress with whom Marie had stayed she was told Hradec Králové in 1912. that her sister had left the day before. Anna thought no more of it until she returned home on Monday and found out that Marie was not there. Her mother asked a forest warden called Valášek, who was a relative, and two other local men to help her search for her missing daughter. The group climbed down the footpath which led from Mezilesí into the valley. At about 11 am they ventured beyond the bushes that bordered the right side of the footpath and entered a small glade. Valášek, the forest warden, found a long dead, cold fire. Strewn about the fire were bone fragments, charred pieces of fabric and a scorched tree stump soaked with what appeared to be melted fat. A human heart lay on top of a tree stump nearby. A court-appointed committee and the local police, the gendarmes, took over the official investigation 3. In the valley they found a skull fragment, some human hairs stuck to a paper cone once used to carry groceries, an empty purse and metal ferrules of the type used to strengthen a basket frame. They also recovered a charred torso and other human remains from the river. Step by step, they put together a body from which only the lower half was miss - ing. The gendarmes noticed that two improvised shelters in the undergrowth nearby showed signs of recent occupa - tion. Near these shelters they found a heavy, hobnailed stick used for fastening roof shingles and a large, blood - stained river stone. Marie’s mother, sister and schoolmaster identified the hairs, cloth fragments and metal ferrules as belonging to her. The young girl had been murdered. At first it seemed that it would be quite easy to catch the murderer. Near the murder scene, the investigators

3 There were three types of police forces in the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, namely police, municipal police, in large cities such as Vienna or Prague, and gendarmerie , usually in small towns and villages.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 16 found a hat belonging to Josef Smrček, an alcoholic, mentally imbalanced man from a nearby village. Smrček, had left home on 19 September and had not been seen again. But soon afterwards he was found drowned in the river. It was not clear whether he had committed suicide or suffered an accident. The dead man could have been suspect ed of the murder, or even blamed for it, but there were no bloodstains on his clothes and physicians established that he had died prior to the time of Marie’s death.

The Suspect

The investigators spent several weeks questioning people, but made no progress. Finally, in early November, they focused their efforts on a vagrant and habitual thief called Jan Jaroš, a former weaver, who had been seen in Peklo Valley about the time of Marie’s death. Jaroš was a short, dark, powerfully built man with a shock of greying brown hair. He was 45 years of age, but the rough life he had led made him look much older. His common-law wife, Františka Hamerská, 31, had borne him three children. She was a weaver who owned a small house and a parcel of land. The gendarmerie knew Jaroš well. He had been first sent to prison for theft in 1880. As recently as 9 June 1900 he had been freed after serving a hard-labour term in Pardubice. One year later, in August 1901, a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with some 30 burglaries and thefts committed since his release. Jaroš’s modus operandi was always the same. He presented himself at a house under false pretences and gave an assumed name. While he talked with the homeowners he studied the house’s layout. Sometimes the owners took

The footpath Marie Suchanková followed across Peklo Valley. Photograph copyright M. Koristova.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 17 pity on his ragged appearance and invited him to spend the night. In these cases, he either stole what he could while the others slept and left before daybreak, or returned later and broke into the house, usually through the roof. He was not ashamed to rob people who were nearly as poor as he was. On 11 November 1901, a gendarme called Šoch came across a dishevelled, shabbily dressed man who was walk - ing along a path between two villages not far from the scene of Marie’s murder. At first, the man gave his name as Balcar and claimed to come from the village of Česká Čermná. When he realised he would be arrested anyway for giving a false name — a misdemeanour under Austro-Hungarian law — he admitted he was Jaroš. Under interroga - tion, he failed to produce an alibi for the day of the murder. Suspicion against him intensified when the gendarmes searched him and found in his pocket nails identical to those driven into the stick left near the murder scene. Jaroš had stolen these nails during a burglary on 6 September. The authorities considered him as a prima facie suspect and started collecting evidence with a view to bringing him to trial. Because of its brutality, Marie’s murder had received wide coverage in the press. The trial was certain to attract even more attention than the Hilsner trials of 1899 and 1900. Leopold Hilsner, a young Jew, had been charged with the murder of Anežka Hrůzová, a Christian girl. He was tried twice for this crime and sentenced to death in both tri - als, which were tainted with superstition and anti-Semitism. Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef commuted Hilsner’s sentence to life imprisonment. His successor, Emperor Karl, pardoned Hilsner, who died in 1928. The mur - der of Anežka Hrůzová remains unsolved 4. There were quite a few similarities between the murders of Anežka Hrůzová and Marie Suchánková. Both crimes had sexual overtones. The victims were young, plain-looking Christian girls from poor peasant families headed by women: Anežka’s mother was a widow, while Marie’s father had deserted his family several years earlier. They were both killed in the woods at dusk as they returned home from a dressmaker’s shop and were only found several days after their disappearance because their families had not called the gendarmes immediately. Both killers had first hit the girls in the head with a blunt instrument and later tried to dispose of the bodies. The murders were both com - mitted shortly before non-working days: Easter, in Anežka’s case, and a village feast in Marie’s case. Only circum - stantial evidence against the suspects existed. Comparing the profiles of both girls, one might wonder whether their murderer could have been one and the same, since the distance between Peklo Valley and Polná, where Anežka was killed, is only some 100 km. But Jaroš was in gaol in March 1899 when Anežka died. Furthermore, he did not fit the description of the unknown young man seen by the witnesses before her murder.

The Trial

Jaroš was charged with vagrancy, 21 thefts and burglaries between June and November 1901 and the murder of Marie Suchánková 5. His trial started on 26 May 1902 in Hradec Králové before a court consisting of a Chief Justice, Councillor Rotter, and two Associate Justices, Councillors Pospíšil and Křikava. Public Prosecutor Mattausch appeared against Scheidler, a lawyer from Prague who was counsel for the defence. The jury was composed of 12 members, of whom eight were small holders, two grocers, one a landowner and one an innkeeper, and two alternate members,

4 See Kořistová, Michaela: A Scandal in Bohemia, Ripperologist No. 65, March 2006, pp. 3-5. 5 Under Austrian Act No. 89 of May 1885, vagrancy was punished by one to three months’ hard labour. Hard labour should not exceed a total of three years. Vagrants were also sent back to their home parish, which should care for them, provide them with lodgings and employ them. Most parishes, however, did not have the means to provide such care. Austria tried hard to combat vagrancy but achieved only unsat - isfactory results.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 18 both of whom were small holders. It was expected to be a long trial as more than 120 experts and witnesses were lined up to testify 6. The defendant admitted most of the thefts and bur - glaries at once and the rest after some half-hearted attempts at denial. Indeed, once he had begun to confess he seemed eager to oblige. Dozens of different items he had stolen lay on a table in the courtroom. When wit - nesses could not identify their possessions at once, Jaroš sprang to his feet and pointed out without hesitation what he had stolen from them. Yet, while Jaroš readily admitted his thefts and bur - glaries, he would not confess to Marie’s murder. He reject - ed the indictment, denied having been in Peklo Valley on the day of the murder or even near that date, and refused to touch objects found at the murder scene although he was known to have stolen them. He also tried to divert attention from himself by asserting that Marie’s killing had been a Jewish ritual murder. His common-law-wife, Františka Hamerská, testified that after Marie’s murder he had remarked: ‘Have you heard? The Jews have slain a girl in the Peklo Valley.’ But the court rejected Jaroš’s attempts to incriminate the Jews. During the Hilsner trials, the claim that Hilsner had killed a Christian virgin in conformity with The main square at Hradec Králové. The building across the square is the Palais de Justice. The column in the centre of the square commemorates a Jewish ritual had been taken seriously. Only a few months the victims of the plague. later, the idea seemed completely ridiculous. The trial was not without surprises. Some witnesses had seen Jaroš in a checked cap and trousers; some, in a checked cap and grey trousers. In court, he was dressed in a grey cap and trousers. The problem appeared insolu - ble, since obviously Jaroš did not own any clothes other than those he had on. It seemed as if the witnesses would be unable to identify him or place him near the murder scene. Fortunately, a juror noticed his smug expression when witness after witness stumbled upon their evidence and asked him to turn his grey cap inside out. The man in the dock reluctantly complied. His cap’s lining was of a checked pattern. Soon afterwards, the mystery of the checked trousers was also solved. Jaroš had them on under his grey trousers, even during the trial. He also wore an embroi - dered woman’s jacket under his coat. ‘It comes handy in cold days,’ he said. On 31 May 1902, a convict named Josef Pozustal was called as a witness at Jaroš’s trial. During January 1902, while serving a 6-year prison sentence for incest, he had shared a cell with the defendant. Pozustal testified that Jaroš had admitted to Marie’s murder and described it in detail. Two other prisoners later corroborated Pozustal’s testimony. Antonín Šoltys, a 54-year-old carpenter who was serving an 8-month sentence for lèse majesté against

6 The trial records in the State Regional Archives in Zamrsk run to about 1,500 pages.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 19 the Emperor, had shared a cell with the defendant dur - ing May 1902. He had asked Jaroš if he had killed the girl. ‘Yes, it was me,’ had answered Jaroš. Šoltys added: ‘I said to myself, Jesus, how can they force me to share the cell with such a man! He could hurt me. After that, I kept my distance from Jaroš.’ Although this was only circumstantial evidence, it was obvious that the situa - tion did not bode well for the defendant.

The Confession

On 2 June 1902, Jaroš admitted having murdered Marie Suchánková and gave a harrowing account of his crime. As he walked along the path leading out of Peklo Valley, he had felt the need to urinate. While he relieved himself behind a nearby bush, he saw Marie walk past. He followed her and, when he caught up with her, started a conversation. Soon he felt confident enough to place his arm round her shoulders and ask her for sex. When she refused, he grabbed her arm and tried to throw her to the ground. Marie fought back, hitting him in the face with her fist and breaking one of his few remaining teeth. Enraged, he struck her in the head with his heavy stick. It is not clear whether he killed her with that first blow or later, when he drag ged her to a forest glade nearby and bashed in her skull with an axe. It was already 6 pm and night was falling rapidly. In Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. a panic, Jaroš tried to burn Marie’s body in a fire. When that proved impossible, he used the axe and a long, sharp knife to dismember the body. Approximately at 10 pm, he lit a new fire only 75 cm — two and a half feet — in diameter. This time he succeeded in burning most of the body. After several hours devoted to his gruesome labours, he threw Marie’s remains into the river. Jaroš also explained why he had left her heart on the tree stump. At first he claimed he had not destroyed it because ‘it was the heart of an innocent person’. But later he admitted he had placed it there because of a super - stition that if a killer cuts out his victim’s heart and leaves it untouched the heart will protect him. On the early morning of 22 September, Jaroš left Peklo Valley. He sought to dispose of the axe and the knife, but his greed and stupidity were such that he sold the axe and Marie’s prunella shoes at a nearby village. There were bloodstains on the axe’s handle which somebody had obviously tried to wash off. During the trial, a blacksmith called Jablonský was called to give evidence. He and his wife were friendly with Jaroš and had often sheltered him at their home when he was hiding from the authorities. Jablonský identified the axe as one he had made for Jaroš. His tes - timony was crucial to the outcome of the trial. It was in fact Scheidler, the defence counsel, who had convinced Jaroš to confess. He felt that his client was being increasingly compromised by witness testimony and feared a harsh sentence. He thought that a confession sprinkled with abundant tears might improve Jaroš’s chances and gain him some leniency. Yet, despite his efforts, the defendant was sentenced to death on 2 June 1902.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 20 No One Can Escape His Fate

But Jaroš remained calm. A court handing down a death sentence was required to make a special recommenda - tion on whether the sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment, bearing in mind such factors as the prison - er’s previous record and whether he showed regret for his crime. The court submitted its recommendation to the Minister of the Interior for transmittal to the Emperor, whose approval was necessary for the execution to proceed. But Emperor Franz Josef disliked signing death sentences, so that even the most hardened criminals could hope for a life term instead. Jaroš was sure the court would recommend the commuting of his sentence. Even though rumours circulated that the court had done exactly the opposite, he was unconcerned. One evening, three men arrived in the train from Prague and took lodgings at a local inn. Hradec Králové was a small town and the news of their arrival spread very quickly. The men were the hangman of Bohemia, Leopold Wohlschläger, and his assistants. In Austria-Hungary, as in many other countries, the position of hangman was hered - itary. Wohlschläger, however, was not born into a family of executioners. Following the death of his father, his moth - er married the hangman, Jan Křtitel Piperger. Her son became the hangman’s assistant and, after his death, suc - ceeded him, but remained a goldsmith by trade. According to the contemporary press, Wohlschläger was kind, introverted and reserved and liked to spend quiet evenings at home with his family. He was the opposite of his stepfather, a gregarious man who enjoyed discussing executions with his many friends. Wohlschläger was experien ced and followed a simple, well-established routine. He brought with him the rope, the noose and the pulley he would

Leopold Wohlschläger, Chief Executioner of the Kingdom of Bohemia use and had the local carpenter built the wooden parts of the (1888 – 1918) and Czechoslovakia (1918 – 1928). gallows to his specifications in a day’s time. Wohlschläger was hangman between 1888 and 1928, first of the Kingdom of Bohemia and, after 1918, of Czechoslovakia 7. During his 40- year-long career he carried out 20 executions; two of them, outside Bohemia 8. Under Austro-Hungarian law, prisoners sentenced to death were informed of their fate only the day before the execution. Accounts of Jaroš’s behaviour when he learnt that he would hang the following morning vary considerably. The local press stated that he was very contrite and had asked for a priest. Wohlschläger, on the other hand, said that when Jaroš learnt of his impending execution he cursed the Emperor and refused both priest and confession. He asked to see his common-law wife and his sister for the last time, but his wish was not granted. The authorities stated that it was not possible to drive the women to Hradec Králové and back to their homes in one day. Both women were poor and the authorities may have been reluctant to pay for their travel

7 There were five executioners in the Habsburg Monarchy located in Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Osijek, a city in today’s Croatia, and Graz, a city in today’s Austria.

8 Bohemia had about 9 million inhabitants in 1901.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 21 expenses. Jaroš bequeathed his scanty possessions to Františka Hamerská and their children and signed his name to prayer cards with images of the Virgin Mary and the saints for them. Jan Jaroš was hanged in the prison yard on 20 August 1902. Executions were not public in Austria- Hungary, but the law let some ‘reputable citizens’ attend them. Sixty tickets to witness Jaroš’s execu - tion were issued. The press reported that prisoners were allowed to watch from their windows. No women were present, except for the murdered girl’s mother. In his memoirs, Wohlschläger recalled that the execution had not proceeded as smoothly as usual 9. A member of the public had fainted. The spectators had started to press for ward and the soldiers that stood between them and the gallows had to push them back. Yet

Prayer card with a Czech-language prayer on the reverse. Jaroš signed Wohlschläger kept the situation under control and com - similar cards for his children before his execution. pleted his task without wavering. In Austria-Hungary, the prisoner’s head was not covered with a hood. The hangman just placed his hand over the condemned man’s face for about a minute during his death throes. Wohlschläger later remarked: ‘Jaroš was a total misfit. He had no respe ct for anything and behaved in this way till the end... But he lost his courage when he climbed the gallows; he nearly faint - ed and was as white as a sheet. He was brave only when he murdered the young girl 10 .’

9 Šindelář, Vladimír: Syn pražského kata. Praha, 2006, page 146. 10 Šindelář, Vladimír, op. cit., page 145.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Eduardo Zinna for his kind assistance in editing the text of this article. I am also grateful to my husband Milan and my son Emil who accompanied me in my searches along the old footpaths of Peklo Valley.

Michaela Kořistová was born in Brno, then located in Czechoslovakia and nowadays in the Czech Republic. She obtained a degree in History from the University of Brno. Her interest in criminals and criminology dates from her teenage years when she read her first true crime books. Michaela is married and has an 11-year old son.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 22 The Kingdom of Bohemia. Blackie & Sons Atlas, Edinburgh, 1882.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 23 City Beat: City PC 964 James Harvey By Neil Bell and Robert Clack

I went to him and asked what was the matter?

On the 29 th September 1888, at around 9.45pm, City of London police constable 964 James Harvey joined the line of police officers being marched from Bishopsgate Police Station to their respective beats. By 10pm Harvey was on his particular beat, which the man himself said started at Bevis Marks and then to Duke Street, into Little Duke Street, to Houndsditch. From Houndsditch back to Duke Street, along Duke Street to Church Passage, back again into Duke Street, to Aldgate. From there to Mitre Street, back again to Houndsditch. Up Houndsditch to Little Duke Street, again back to Houndsditch, to Goring Street, up Goring Street and to Bevis Marks 1. His beat was right in amongst the Jewish jewellery quarter, meaning that Harvey had more than his fair share of jeweller’s shops to check and make sure they were secure and safe. These, along with provision shops, such as the one belonging to oilman John David Simmons 2 of 148 Houndsditch, and various clubs and public houses, made Harvey’s night quite a varied and busy one. The area to the east of Harvey’s beat, from Middlesex Street onwards, was the jurisdiction of the police officers of the Metropolitan’s H Division-Whitechapel, who, along with fellow offi - cers in J Division-Bethnal Green, were investigating several brutal murders of women that had been occurring since the previous August. The City of London police were very aware that there was a murderer on the loose in the East End and instructed their own officers to pay particular attention to suspicious characters and couples, which was a veiled reference to prostitutes and clients. At around 1.40am Harvey stated that he patrolled down the narrow alley known as Church Passage. As he entered the passage from Duke Street, he walked past the Great Synagogue upon his right and, on his left, was a chandler’s shop belonging to Harry Richards. The shop had a gas lamp fixed high on its wall and five minutes prior to Harvey passing this spot, Joseph La wende had strolled past the same spot in Duke Street with some Imperial Club associates. He noted a couple standing directly underneath that very same lamp. His colleague Joseph Levy felt slightly suspi - cious of the couple, stating that he didn’t like going home by himself when he saw those types of characters about 3. Harvey continued his walk down the passage, noting that no one was around. The other end of the passage opened out to Mitre Square. The square was small and domi nated by four large warehouses, along with some smaller dwellings and a shop. Knowing full well that his City Police colleague Edward Watkins would be patrolling the square

1 Testimony of City of London PC 964 James Harvey made on Thursday 11th October 1888 at the Inquest into the death of Catherine Eddowes.

2 John David Simmons mainly provided oil for oil lamps along with various other day-to-day hardware goods. His shop in Houndsditch would have been one of the premises Harvey had to ensure was secured. Interestingly Simmons’s shop was still there some 24 years after the murders.

3 Testimony of City of Joseph Hyam Levy made on Thursday 11th October 1888 at the Inquest into the death of Catherine Eddowes.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 24 in the next few minutes, Harvey made a cursory look into the square. He saw “no one and heard no cry or noise 4”. With a gas lamp above him Harvey turned on his heels and walked back to Duke Street. As Harvey reached Aldgate, not far from Mitre Square and just a few minutes walk away, he turned and was returning to Duke Street when heard the unmistakeable shrill trill of a whistle. Whilst the City policemen were not equipped with whistles, he knew that his Met counterparts, as well as some nightwatchmen, did have whistles. He was therefore aware that someone was in need of assistance. As he was trying to ascertain where the whistling was coming from, he saw an elderly man, lamp in hand, appear from around the corner in Mitre Street. The man was George Morris, the nightwatchman for Kearley & Tonge, one of the four large warehouses in Mitre Square. Harvey said that “I went to him and asked what was the matter?”. The breathless Morris replied, “a woman has been ripped up in Mitre Square”. Harvey then noted PC Frederick Holland conducting his beat on the south side of Aldgate. Harvey called him over and the three men made their way to Mitre Square. Upon arrival in the darkest corner of the square, Harvey saw fellow beat officer Edward Watkins standing next to a body of a woman. She had been severely mutilated and her throat had been cut. PC Holland immediately went to fetch Dr Sequeira, whilst Harvey stayed with Watkins and Morris returned to his warehouse. Harvey then states, rather curiously, that ‘private per - sons’ were then despatched to get further assistance from other constables in the area, and that these constables arrived fairly rapidly. It was some time later that the woman was identified as Catherine Eddowes.

4 Testimony of City of London PC 964 James Harvey made on Thursday 11th October 1888 at the Inquest into the death of Catherine Eddowes.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 25 James Harvey was born on the 4th February 1855 in the village of Ashburnham 5, not far from Battle in East Sussex. Though we do not know the exact age or date Harvey started work, we do know that sometime prior to 1875 he was employed in the grocery business. He worked for a Mr David Shaw 6, grocer of 193 Eastern Road, Brighton, Sussex. In the April of 1875, Harvey left Shaw’s employment and went to work as a warehouseman for provision merchant Herbert Reeves 7 & Co Ltd of Greenham Street, Southsea, Portsmouth. Harvey was with Reeve for 18 months, leav - ing in October 1876 to become a police officer in the City of London force. The 21-year-old James Harvey completed his application for the City of London Police on the 13th November 1876, under the supervision of Chief Robert Sillcock 8. Robert A Sillcock is listed, along with his wife Susannah, two daughters Ellen and Alice and three sons Robert A Jnr, Ernest and Harry, as resident at Snow Hill Police Station in 1881. He also was to supervise Louis Robinson’s application to the City of London force some 10 years later. At the time of applying to join the force Harvey was described as being 5 feet 10 inches in height, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complex ion and was originally given the collar number 878, which was later to be changed to 964. As was commonplace at the time, Harvey’s references from his previous employers Messers Shaw and Reeves had to be checked out by the relevant police constabularies in the area. On the 15th November 1876 the chief clerk to the City Police, Mr Robert Cousins, was asked to write to the Borough of Brighton force and establish credi - bility to both the handwriting and Harvey’s character. It would seem that the same request was issued to the Portsmouth Police also. A day later, on the 16 th November 1876, Acting Chief Constable Owen Crowhurst 9 of the Borough of Brighton police force replied to Harvey’s reference from Herbert Reeves obtained by Portsmouth Police. Cousins’s letter stating that he was “enclosing a Certificate of Character” and that Harvey’s previ - ous employer, Mr Shaw, “thinks Harvey will make a very good Police Constable”. The Chief Constable for the Portsmouth Police, James Lewis, replied that Mr Reeves stated, “he has mu ch confidence in recommending the appli - cant”. Lewis also noted “nothing can be ascer - tained to his prejudice by the Police”. In other words, Harvey had a clean record.

5 Jack the Ripper Wiki — Jack the Ripper Casebook

6 David Shaw, married to Martha — Census 1881

7 Herbert Reeves was born in Staplehurst, Kent in 1840. By 1875 Reeves had set up his Provisions business in Southsea, Portsmouth. In 1881 Reeves, his wife Edith, 4 daughters and 1 son had settled in North Street Warblington, Hants. He was still there in 1891, however he had remarried to Louisa, who was 13 years his junior and was born in Kingston, Jamaica. — Census 1881/1901

8 Robert A Sillcock is listed, along with his wife Susannah, 2 daughters Ellen & Alice and 3 sons Robert A Jnr, Ernest and Harry, as resident at Snow Hill Police Station in 1881.

9 As mentioned, Owen Crowhurst was Borough of Brighton Police acting Chief Constable at the time of Harvey’s application. He was to get the job permanently a month later in December 1876 but sadly died in 1877. Dr Derek Oakensen — Historian for Borough of Brighton Police Force.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 26 1887 City Police Photograph of James Harvey — Courtesy of Don Rumbelow Left: The cover of Harvey’s application form to join the City of London Police Force.

Below: Page 1 from the application form, giving Harvey’s descrip - tion.

Photographs courtesy of Robert Clack

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 28 Upon his application Harvey marked his marital status as single and gives an address of 2 Temple Lane 10 , which is in the Temple area of London. Lying between Fleet Street to the north and Tudor Street to the south it is not far, iron - ically enough, from Old Mitre Court. Situated in an area dominated by the legal profession, Temple Lane is narrow and at its northern end stood The Welsh Harp public house. By 1886 Harvey had met and married Clara Paige 11 . We have a possible match for Clara Paige in the 1881 Census. An 18-year-old Clara Page, place of birth Ilford, Essex, is noted as being a domestic servant at High Road Ilford Terrace, Barking, Essex. The head of the household was one Algernon Smith, an ironmonger and oil colourman (mixed and provided paints for decorators) from Cambridge. By this time the couple had one child, also named James. His place of birth was given in the 1891 census as Aldgate. Therefore, it’s possible that James senior, Clara and James junior had police lodgings in that area or were living at Bishopsgate Police Station, which was a common practice for constables at that time. Harvey had been a police constable for 12 years by 1888 and was, by then, an experienced officer. Unfortunately, Harvey’s service record cannot be located but the fact that he was still in the police service by 1888 must account for something. However, one suspects that along with his wealth of experience came the knowledge of how to ‘work’ the policing system. It was not uncommon for beat PCs to make up time by skipping parts of their beat in prefer -

10 The northern part of Temple Lane was, in 1888, named Essex Street.

11 We have a possible match for Clara Paige in the 1881 Census. An 18-year-old Clara Page, place of birth Ilford, Essex, is noted as being a Domestic Servant at High Road Ilford Terrace, Barking, Essex. The head of the household was one Algernon Smith, an Ironmonger and Oil Colourman (mixed and provided paints for Decorators) from Cambridge.

1938 Goads map of Temple lane, where Harvey was living when he joined up. ence for a quick drink in the nearest public house or pot of tea with a nightwatchman. Such activities created obvi - ous risks, especially if the beat sergeant caught the PC as he did his round of checks. Most disciplinary actions came by way of a forfeit of pay, demotion to a lower rank or suspension without pay for a brief period of time. Some researchers have questioned Harvey’s testimony given at the inquest into Eddowes’s death, which read:-

James Harvey , 964 City Police, being sworn saith — “ I went on my beat at ¼ to 10 on the 29th ulto. My beat is from Bevis Marks and then to Duke Street, into Little Duke Street, to Houndsditch. From Houndsditch back to Duke Street, along Duke Street to Church Passage, back a gain into Duke Street, to Aldgate. From there to Mitre Street, back again to Houndsditch. Up Houndsditch to Little Duke Street, again back to Houndsditch, to Goring Street, up Goring Street to Bevis Marks, to where I started. At 20 to 2 on Sunday morning I went down Duke Street and down Church Passage as far as Mitre Square. I saw no one. I heard no cry or noise. When I got to Aldgate return - ing to Duke Street I heard a whistle blown and saw the Witness Morris 12 with a lamp. I went to him and asked what was the matter. He said, “ A woman has been ripped up in Mitre Square” . I saw the Constable 13 on the other side of the street. I said, “ come with me” . We went to Mitre Square and saw Watkins there and the Deceased. Constable Holland who followed me went for Dr Seque ira 14 Private individuals were sent for other Constables, arriving almost immediately. I waited there with Watkins and infor mation was at once sent for by the Inspector. I passed the post office clock between 1 and 2 minutes to the half hour. By the jury — “ I go as far as the end of Church Passage. I was at the end of Church Passage about 18 or 19 minutes to 2 ” By Mr Crawford 15 — “ I can only speak with certainty as to time with regard to the post office clock”. 16

If Harvey and the post office clock are correct in their timings, and L awend e as well in his— and if Harvey did indeed walk down Church Passage, then this would have been the closest Jack the Ripper had came to getting caught. We only have Harvey ’s word that he did indeed take that patrol down Church Passage at around 1.40am. There is no reason why he s hould not have done so. However, judging the service records of other constables, such as Louis Robinson, it wouldn’t be surprising if Harvey had taken time off his beat and missed the passage completely. This theory is supporte d by the fact that on the 1 st July 1889, less than a year after his involvement in the Eddowes murder, PC James Harvey was dismissed from the City Police force. The reasons have yet to be discovered; it could be due to one serious offence or an accumulation of offences that led to his dismissal. Alternatively, the pressure due to the knowledge that he had almost cau ght the most notorious murderer of all time may have led to his downfall. Whatever the reason was, it was decided that Harvey was to leave the force. On the same day Harvey returned his equpiment and uniform.

12 George Morris — Nightwatchman for Kearley & Tonge Warehouse, PC Edward Watkins sought his assistance upon discovering Catherine Eddowes body.

13 City of London Police Officer Frederick Holland. He was patrolling the south side of Aldgate, opposite side to Harvey.

14 Dr George William Sequeira of 34 Jewry Street, Aldgate. He was deemed the closest Doctor to the scene and therefore called for his assistance.

15 Henry Crawford. Solicitor acting for the Corporation and responsible for the City of London Police Force.

16 Jack the Ripper Sourcebook — Page 236. Stewart Evans & Keith Skinner — Robinson Books 2001+

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 30 Storerom police sergeant 57, Edwin Cossons, noted Harvey ’s height as 5 foot 11 inches 17 , grey eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. Harvey was 34 years old at the time. By 1891 Harvey had three children: James aged 5, Alice aged 2, and 5 months old William. He was living with his family at 62 Towe r Hamlets Road in the West Ham area of eastern London. It would seem that he had been living in that area around the time of his dismissal, as Alice had been born in nearby Stratford in 1889. Harvey had also reverted back to his previous employment as a warehouseman 18 . The next census in 1901 sees a 47 year old Harvey and family living at 136 Ashville Road, not far from his pr evious address of Tower Hamlets Road . Elder son James is 15 by now and is employed as an Engineers Porter. Another addition to the fam ily is noted with two-year-old Clara being mentioned. What is interesting is the Description of Harvey on the day he was dismissed from the force. fact that the Harveys were sharing 136 Ashville Road with another family of six, the Cowlands. Harvey was by now a foreman dustman. This is the final census noting him because by the end of 1903, James Harvey, the man who almost caught Jack the Ripper, had died 19 .

Acknowledgements:- Many thanks to Stewart Evans for his invaluable assistance. Photograph of PC 964 James Harvey courtesy of Don Rumbelow.

17 As with Robinson and Hutt, Harvey seems to have grown in his 13 years in the force. One suspects that either the measuring tape is faulty or that the departing Officers were measured with their boots on.

18 1891 Census

19 Jack the Ripper Wiki – J ack the Ripper Casebook

Neil Bell has been interested in the Whitechapel murders for the last 26 years and had articles published in Ripperologist , most notably with Jake Luukanen, and Ripperologist’s book compilation, Ripperology .

He was a speaker at the 2007 conference in Wolverhampton and has appeared as a guest on Rippercast, the Podcast on the Jack the Ripper Murders.

Robert Clack is from Surrey, . He has been studying the Whitechapel Murders for over 20 years. He is the author of 'Death in the Lodging House' a look at the murder of Mary Ann Austin in 1901. He is the co-author of the book The London of Jack the Ripper: Then and Now.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 31 Left: Reference from Shaw obtained by the Borough of Brighton Police.

Below: Request by City Police Clerk Robert Cousins re references check.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 32 Mitre Square Revisited

At 1.45am on the 30th September 1888, the eviscerated body of Catherine Eddowes was found in the darkest corner of Mitre Square in the City of London — but this was by no means the first violent act to have taken place in the square. Indeed Catherine’s murder on the site of an old monastery is ascribed to an ancient curse in a contem - porary penny dreadful (dreadful being the operative word) entitled The Curse Upon Mitre Square A.D. 1530-1888 by J.F. Brewer. 1 Whereas the other murder sites of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper were once pastoral and generally tranquil scenes right up until the advent of the Industrial Age 2, Mitre Square had a long and colourful his - tory dating back to Roman times, when Aldgate was one of the main thoroughfares through the City of London. It’s thought that the Aldgate was already spanning the road that led to Colchester when the City Wall itself was con - structed some time around 200AD. Mitre Square’s main claim to fame, prior to the murder of Catherine Eddowes is that it was the site of the Holy Trinity Priory, which was founded with clergy from Colchester, in 1107 or 1108 by Mathilda (Edith), queen of Henry I. Mathilda was renowned for being a righteous and virtuous soul, having spent a great deal of her life in a nunnery. Her unblemished record as a good Christian was marred slightly by the rumour that, even though she was promised to Henry in marriage, she had in fact already taken the veil and become a nun. After a great deal of debate however, it was decided she could marry Henry and her piety was restored. She spent the rest of her life replete in good works, one of them being the foundation of the priory, which she established with the advice and help of Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury 3. The Holy Trinity Priory was the first religious house established inside the walls of London after the Norman Conquest, and also one of the earliest Augustinian houses to be established in England. The priory amalgamated the four parishes of St. Mary Magdalen, St. Michael, St. Catharine, and the Blessed Trinity, which were united into one parish — the priory of the Holy Trinity called ‘Christ-church’. By 1115, the Prior apart from his religious duties also became ex officio Alderman of London, making his office not only spiritually satisfying, but also quite lucrative. The church of the Holy Cross and St Mary Madgalene had occupied the site long before the priory was built, but big was beautiful in medieval times, so the grand priory was built with a huge investment of money from the King

1 See Ripperologist , 68, 69 and 70. 2 With the possible exception of Buck’s Row, which was a notorious site of witch duckings in the 16th century 3 Austin canons: Priory of Holy Trinity or Christchurch , Aldgate, (1909), pp. 465-475.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 33 and Queen. To reinforce its importance, it had amongst its relics and ornaments yet another piece of the True Cross, and an ornate basket encrusted with gold, silver and precious gems, sent to King Henry by the Emperor Constantine, assuring them that they always had something to fall back on in hard times. Having royal patronage didn’t hurt either 4. The priory itself was built on a piece of ground upward of three hundred feet long, making it impres - sive by any standards. It lay lengthwise between the King’s Street leading to Aldgate, and the junction of Leadenhall and Fenchurch Street, sprawling outwards and covering a large area of land, with out buildings and open space around it. Mitre Street itself follows roughly the line of the nave of the priory church 5. The local population were apparently quite gener - ous to the canons in the abbey, supplying them with food and necessities until they were able to grow their own crops, and granting them many privileges, which An artist’s impression of the Holy Trinity prior in its heyday. they naturally accepted with great enthusiasm. This priory, in the process of time, became a very large church, and surpassed all the priories in the city of London or shire of Middlesex. Unfortunately, they either had an arsonist in their midst, or someone was very careless with the tinder box, because not only was the priory almost entirely burnt down in 1132, but it also suffered great loss from fire in the following few years. In the coming years, the priory was involved in several struggles with the Papacy, as well as internal struggles for supremacy, with the unfortunate result that in 1256, one prior, in a unique interpretation of the spirit of Christianity, allegedly killed another prior, and then wounded himself to make it look like self-defence. Not content with struggling with the Papacy and amongst themselves, the good canons of the priory also felt a need to struggle with King Stephen and Queen Mathilda (daughter of the Queen Mathilda that founded the priory) over the custody of nearby St Catharine’s Hospital. Possibly not a good move on their part, as they lost custody and never regained it, despite their appeals to Rome. In the 12th century, however, the priory had a reputation as a cen - tre of learning under Prior Peter of Cornwall. Notwithstanding their many ups and downs, the priory continued to flourish for the most part throughout the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, with the odd disagreements with the hierarchy, although the arrest and imprisone - ment of one of their priors in 1429 for ‘dilapidation and consumption of the goods of the house and other wrongdo - ings’ probably left them a bit downhearted. Some time before the priory of Holy Trinity was dissolved, the locals, who had been deprived of their parish

4 Burton, Monastic and Religious Orders p. 46

5 Allen, Thomas The History and Antiquities of London , Westminster, Southwark, and parts adjacent pp.709–712 (George Virtue, 1839)

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 34 churches to make way for the priory, got rather tired of having to go to the priory church for their services, finding it, in their own words ‘most inconvenient’. So they obtained permission to build a chapel in the church yard of the prio - ry, just for themselves, which was an admirable bit of foresight on their part. The priory was dissolved in February 1532, when it was given, rather reluctantly, to King Henry VIII of England; the evicted canons being sent to other houses of the same order. Although not a pleasant upheaval for the priors, it was a somewhat better fate than that suffered by some of their fellows in other abbeys and priories around that time. Good King Henry gave the priory in part to Sir Thomas Audley, who later became Lord Chancellor, as a reward for dubious services ren - dered. The rest of the buildings and land associ - ated with the priory were given, or sold, to prominent courtiers and city merchants. Audley turned the priory into a mansion, and gave it to 18th century engraving of the arches which were once the south gates of the priory. his only daughter who was married to Thomas Duke of Norfolk — the general area being called Duke’s-Place after that, albeit unofficially.The square became officially known as Duke’s Place by 1676 6. The poor old Duke of Norfolk lost his head on Tower Hill, along with quite a few other people in the 16th centu - ry, and on his death the estate went to Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who in turn sold it to the mayor and the cit - izens of London 7. The buildings themselves were broken up or fell into decay in the years following the dissolution and unfortunately, none of the buildings survive today, except for some pointed arches within the office building on the corner of Aldgate and Mitre Street. This was not the end of spirituality for the square, though. The inhabitants still had the little church they had built before the dissolution of the priory, which would seem to have been a bit of a jerry-built affair, as it fell down some time after 1572, when it was first mentioned in records. This replacement church, which must have seemed rather uninspiring after the grandeur of the priory, was called Trinity or Duke’s Place Church, being the parish church of a separate parish, established inside St Catharine’s parish 8. For a time, the local residents of Duke’s Place held their services in Woodmongers Hall, then called the Duke’s Hall, in Duke’s Place, although they had to go to other churches for ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, pre -

6 Stow, ed. 1633, 147. 7 Allen, Thomas, The History and Antiquities of London , Westminster, Southwark, and parts adjacent (George Virtue, 1839) 8 L. and P. Ed. VI., etc., Dom. S. XII. p. 649). Church consecrated 1623 (ib. X. p. 479.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 35 Late 18th century engraving showing the ruins of part of the priory. sumably because Duke’s Hall wasn’t consecrated. Unhappy with this arrangement, they petitioned King James to build them a church from the stones of the other church and from bits and pieces of the priory which still remained scattered around, and one was eventually built on the site of the Chapter House of the old priory. This was completed, consecrat - ed, and prudently dedicated to St. James (in honour of the King), on the 2nd of January, 1622. This church had better luck than the priory did under Prior Ralph, and managed to escape the Great Fire of London entirely, surviving for some years until it was pulled down in 1874 under the Act for the Union of City. The locality around Mitre Square is an interesting area in its own right. Over the years, communities have sprung up and evolved, making it a very colourful and historial area. Houndsditch is on one side of the Square, apparently being given its name because of the quantity of rubbish and dead dogs thrown in the ditch, the households around finding it a handy place to get rid of their refuse. Previously, it seems to have been referred to only by the name ‘The Ditch’, but there were obviously a surfeit of dead pooches in the area, and the prefix was added. In 1595, the city authorities irked at having to spend money keeping the ditch carcass and rubbish free, thought it might be expedient to fill the ditch in and from there on in, Houndsditch became ditchless. South of the square was the Mitre Tavern and Mitre Court, which later became Mitre Street, and to the north, a narrow passage known as ‘Dark Entry’, which was later to become Church Passage. The earliest appearence of the name ‘Mitre Square’ appears to be in 1830 9. Mitre Square was considered a fairly respectable, if rather battered, locality throughout most of the 19th cen - tury 10 .

9 C & J Greenwood, Map of London, 1827 (updated 1830) casebook wikipedia 10 Interesting to note that Church Passage was called ‘Church Court’ and St. James’ passage, ‘Mitre Passage’, a name that was later revived and is in use today.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 36 In the day it was used by street traders going to and from the Orange Market in St James’ Place and the employees of the large warehouses that dominated the square, but was almost completely deserted after office hours, an indus - trious and quiet little enclave in the City of London — until September 1888, when PC Watkin’s stumbled across Catherine’s body. The newspaper reports seemed to almost unanimously decide that Catherine was soliciting that night, and that she was murdered by a client that she had picked up, although the Daily News of 1 October was char - itable enough to call Catherine a ‘night wanderer’. It might seem incongruous that such a respectable area should be a venue for prostitutes to take clients — although from the reports, it would seem that it was certainly not notorious for it — but just a few minutes’ walk away were Aldgate High Street and St Botolph’s church, which were known pick-up points for prostitutes. St Botolph’s was situated close to the junction of Fenchurch Street, Leadenhall Street and Aldgate, and of course

11 Jack the Ripper’s London — Then and Now, Clack and Hutchinson, Bredon Books, p. 111 Copyright Jane Coram

An artist’s impression of the Mitre Street entrance to Mitre Square. Williams & Co. can be seen on the right hand side with the mounted wall lamp, and on the left, the spot where Catherine Eddowes was murdered, in the darkest corner of the square. The premises of Heydemann & Co. are just out of sight on the left hand side. was passed by pedestrians from every direction, making it an ideal spot for a prostitute to approach clients. There is no historical evidence to support the suggestion that the prostitutes continuously circled the church waiting for clients, like demented Sioux Indians circling a wagon train, although the myth has been perpetuated over the years. One suggestion for the origin of the myth was that in 1888, the force came to an arrangement with the ladies to concentrate their soliciting to the area around St Botolph’s instead of offering their goods all along the high street, and that they keep on the move 11 . Putting rather a damper on this enterprising sug - gestion is that St Botolph’s was actually under City Police, and not Metropolitan Police jurisdiction. The basis for the idea that they had to keep moving possibly arose from the fact that prostitutes would generally not be arrested for prostitution, but could be arrested for obstruction, if they didn’t keep on the hoof. By 1.30-2pm. most of the ladies would have found clients, or have gone home for the night, and the only pros - titutes left on the street were those that were the oldest and most vulnerable — the weakest of the herd, that were too late, too drunk, or too destitute to get into a doss house or find somewhere else to sleep for the night. The cof - fee stalls that lined Aldgate High Street, which catered almost exclusively for the ladies and their clients up until about 2am 12 , packed up their sandwiches and tea urns then as almost all of the trade had disappeared. We cannot be certain that Catherine Eddowes was soliciting on the night she was murdered, although the evi - dence would seem to suggest strongly that she was, and there could be few other feasible reasons for her being alone with a man in Mitre Square at that time of night, but if she was, Mitre Square would have been a very handy location for a spot of illicit sex, or for Jack, very illicit murder.

12 London Labour and the London Poor ; 1851, 1861-2; Henry Mayhew

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 38 When Catherine left Bishopsgate police station, she was last seen turning left towards Houndsditch 13 . From there it was just a short walk to Mitre Square through the back streets. If the sighting of a woman at the entrance to Church Passage by Lawende, Harris and Levy was in fact Catherine Eddowes, and it seems likely it was her, then that would appear to have been the route the unfortunate Catherine and her killer took into the square. Mitre Square had two other entrances; the main one, which was the only one wide enough to allow a carriage to drive through, was at the southern end leading into Mitre Street, a turning off of Aldgate High Street. This was the closest escape route for Catherine’s killer if he heard someone approaching from Church Passage on the other side of the square. The Evening News, 1 October, 1888 reports that the entrance to the square from Mitre Street

Contemporary newspaper sketch showing the spot where Catherine Eddowes was mud - was some 15 yards wide, and perhaps 8 yards long, ered, at the back can be seen the wooden fence of the back yard of Heydemann & Co. To the right were two empty buildings (the windows of which can be seen in the sketch. and led through to Aldgate Underground Station One of these was an empty cottage and the other, unused coffee rooms. and the usually very busy Aldgate Street 14 , an ideal escape route for her killer. The third, narrow entrance to the cobbled square was situated to the north-west, which led through to St. James’ Square (today called Mitre Passage) otherwise known as the ‘Orange Market’. This covered entranceway had two bol - lards at the opening to stop the market traders in St James’ Place (often called Duke’s Place) from using it as a short cut to push their barrows through, as the congestion would have been dreadful. Instead they were forced to walk around the square, through the back streets that linked it to Aldgate High Street and Houndsditch. St James’ Passage was another possible escape route for Catherine’s killer, although probably not as likely as the Mitre Street option. Although the square itself was cobbled, a pavement ran around all four sides, the only breaks in it being at the entrance to the Kealey and Tonge warehouse, and a section directly in front of Church Passage, to allow carts to enter and exit the warehouses. Through Church Passage was Duke Street, where the Great Synagogue was situated. This very impressive synagogue was built in 1765-6 by architect George Dance Senior, the architect of St Botolph’s, Aldgate. It was remodelled in 1790 with the use of funds provided by Judith Levy (1706–1803), the so-called ‘Queen of Richmond Green’. Unfortunately, the Great Synagogue was heavily damaged by German bombs on 10 May 1941, which forced its demoli - tion 15 .

13 Jack the Ripper — The Definitive History, Paul Begg, Pearson Longman, p. 239 14 Daily Telegraph 1 October, 1888

15 Dr Gerry Black, Jewish London: An Illustrated History . Derby: Breedon Books, 2003, p. 36. (See article by Chris George in Ripperologist 89, March, 2008

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 39 Left: The Duke Street entrance to Church Passage in the latter half of the 20th century. By this time the passage had changed considerably from the way it had looked in 1888, the main change being the building extension erected over the top of it.

Below: The Mitre Square entrance to Church Passage, showing the gas lamp mounted overhead. The counting house of Kealey and Tonge can be seen on the left. The square itself was dominated by the four large warehouses. These made up the east and part of the north sides of the square. They were rather intimidating and overpowering buildings, with little to commend them archi - tecturally, designed purely to be functional and built high to make the best use of the space. The overall effect, though, was to make the square very depressing and sombre, even on a bright sunny day. There were actually two Kearley and Tonge buildings in the square; the larger, which was solely a warehouse, dealing mainly with tea and coffee but also handling spices and confectionery. Perhaps the best feature of these warehouses would have been the smell that came from them, a pleasing mixture of aromas that would have perme - ated the whole of the square from the commodities stored there. There was another Kealey and Tonge premises on the corner of Church Passage that was used for storage and office space. The large warehouse had a small metal railing running along the front which the night watchman (and ex-Metropolitan Police constable) George Morris kept locked and secure. At the time of the murder, Morris was clean - ing the offices on the ground floor of the counting house directly opposite the spot where the murder took place, but saw and heard nothing until PC Watkins ran in shouting for his assistance after discovering Catherine’s body. Many of the buildings in the square were built at the beginning of the 19th century, whilst St James’ Church was still standing. Of the four elegant houses that were built then, only two remained by 1888, and these were very dilapidated. These were No 3 and No 4 Mitre Square (north side). In 1888, No 4 was empty and run down, the win - dow panes broken, but next door stood No 3, the home of PC Richard Pearce and family. The City PC was off-duty at the time of the murder and at home, snuggly tucked up in bed with his wife. According to one newspaper report, his wife had left a light burning in the first floor front, and the blind was halfway up, a fact that could hardly have escaped the notice of anyone entering the square 16 . If anyone had looked out from that window at the right time,

16 Star , 1 October, 1888

St James’ Place — 1884 Copyright Jane Coram

An artist’s impression of the north-west side of Mitre Square, showing the entrance to St. James’ Place. The bollards in front of the entrance ensured that hand carts could not be pushed through to and from the orange market. The street lamp was the closest to Catherine Eddowes’ body, but the light from it did not reach the corner of the square where Catherine was murdered. PC Pearce’s house would have been just out of sight to the left of the picture. there was a good chance they would have seen Jack leaving the scene of the crime. Next to PC Pearce’s home, and forming the fourth corner of Mitre Square, was the final warehouse belonging to Williams & Co. In the south-east corner, and near to the entrance from Mitre Street, was the back yard of some prem - ises which faced into Aldgate — Heydemann & Co. This partially covered yard held building supplies, and was bor - dered on the square side by a wooden fence, supported on a small wall. George Clapp, the caretaker, slept with his ailing wife in the back room on the 2nd floor, facing the square. The only other resident in Heydemann’s premises was an old nurse who attended Mrs Clapp. She slept in a room on the third floor. As often seemed the case with potential witnesses to Jack’s murders, they were all sound asleep when the murder took place and saw and heard nothing. Heydemann’s buildings and yard formed the darkest corner of the square, and it was in this spot that PC Edward Watkins found Catherine Eddowes’ body. Next to Heydemann’s, at a right angle, were three empty buildings; the first was the back of what was formerly coffee rooms, the other two were abandoned dwellings. It was just under these that Catherine was found, hidden from sight by the shadow cast by the corner of the adjoining house 17 . She was found next to a coal plate that cov - ered a coal shute, and an arched grating 18 . Had C atharine’s body been dumped down the coal shute, it is unlikely that it would have been found for some considerable time. Apart from the warehouses in the square itself, the whole neighbourhood was comprised mainly of small houses and shops, chiefly inhabited by dealers in foreign fruits and nuts, grapes, peaches, coconuts, almonds and other nuts. These businesses were predominantly run by Jews, who could not open on the Saturday because of their Sabbath, and their main trading took place on Sunday, particularly Sunday morning 19 .

17 Daily News 1 October, 1888

18 The Complete History ofJack the Ripper , Philip Sugden, Robinson, p. 177

19 Evening News 1 October, 1888

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 42 Although the square itself was very quiet after 6pm, all around it there was a teeming population usually mov - ing about at all hours 20 . Usually a busy place on a Sunday morning, Houndsditch and connecting streets presented a particularly animated appearance, men with barrows vending fruit and vegetables doing a brisk trade 21 . The Orange Market in Duke’s place accounted for a great deal of the activity, at least at certain times, and on certain days of the week; the rest of the time the place being rather soulless and quiet. The difference in atmos - phere between market times and other times was quite dramatic. Without the market, the houses were shut and shuttered, the local residents mainly indoors and the whole square quite subdued. There was a wooden fire station in the middle of the Orange Market, where three men of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade were always on duty until daybreak. They were being treated to a new fire station, which was being built at the time of Catherine’s murder, and which could possibly have something to do with the road repairs that were being done that night, with James Blenkingsop acting as night watchman. There was a public convenience in the market square as well. The Kealey and Tonge warehouse can be seen here. The door on the right hand side, which is shut in this photo - graph was open at the time of the murder, and this is where George Morris was working at the time. Moving further along to the left was the small locked entrance that lead to the yard of builders Philips & Bisiker. (Post Office Street Directory 1882 & 1895.) Henry Mayhew, writing in London Labour and the London Poor 22 , described the Orange

20 Daily News 1 October, 1888 21 Daily News , 1 Occtober 1888 22 London Labour and the London Poor ; 1851, 1861-2; Henry Mayhew

An artist’s impression of the Mitre Square entrance to Church Passage, showing the mounted gas lamp, which would have shed little light into the square as it was sheilded by the corner of the Kealey and Tonge building, shown on the left hand side of the painting.

Copyright Jane Coram Market and its occupants with unashamed frankness, and in today’s terms, political incorrectness par excellence:

Duke’s Place is a large Square yard with the iron gates of a synagogue in one corner, a dead wall forming one entire side of the court, and a gas lamp on a circular pavement in the centre... it was devoted to money-making as it was a market-place that was entirely in the hands of the Jews, although it was supported heavily by costermon - gers of all nationalities purchasing oranges, lemons and nuts to fill their carts with. In slovenly dinginess, and miry litter, contrast with the glow and the gloss of its wares — its Sunday morning - bustle with its sabbathical Saturday afternoon calm. The whole place — even to the unglazed shops — is such a squalid bit of Orientalism let into London — Jewish faces, Jewish names, now and then a turban or robe-like gar - ment; a synagoge looking down upon the market with dim eyes, and round about in husk-strewn narrow lanes, bee - tle browed Jewish houses of call, second hand Hebrew bookshops, and advertisements of Hebrew teachers, and Jewish almanacs, supplied with ‘ C.E’ equivalents to the Hebrew dates. Not the least curious of the house of call is one for Jewish Jewellers, at which at times at there is a show of gold and gems that, were London suddenly given up by blunder to plunder, would make a loot-lovers eyes sparkle as brightly as itself.

The majority of the customers at Duke’s Place were the poor Irish, and of these it was mainly women and chil - dren that sold the oranges from baskets and small hand carts. The male costers would be more likely to have bar - rows and larger hand carts, but however the oranges were sold, there was little profit in it, and life was very hard indeed for an orange seller. As an occupation it was used as a last resort when they could get no other work and was just one step up from begging on the streets. There was a great deal of resentment towards the Jews that sold in Duke’s Place, especially by the Irish who bought their goods from them, mainly for the reasons described by Mayhew — that the traders there did not seem averse to displaying their wealth, albeit hard earned, honest wealth. Local shop owners would buy their goods in both Duke’s place and in Covent-Garden; but the costermongers who

The Kealey and Tonge warehouse can be seen here. The door on the right hand side, which is shut in this photograph was open at the time of the murder, and this is where George Morris was working at the time. Moving further along to the left was the small locked entrance that lead to the yard of builders Philips & Bisiker. (Post Office Street Directory 1882 & 1895.)Photograph taken in 1928 — From The Mystery of Jack the Ripper' by Leonard Matters The Church Passage entrance to Mitre Square — 1928 From The Mystery of Jack the Ripper' by Leonard Matters sold their goods exclusively from barrows on the streets or even from hand carts and baskets, nearly all resorted to Duke’s-place because the produce was much cheaper and they could buy slightly damaged or inferior quality goods, known as ‘specks’, that could be sold on to the poorer locals.

The lighting in Mitre Square

There were only two lamps in the square itself, one attached to the wall of Williams & Co in Mitre Street 23 , which really benefited Mitre Street more than the square. The other lamp was opposite the Kearley and Tonge building, located on the pavement. This was the only freestanding gas lamp in the Square. There was another fixed gas lamp in the St. James’ Place entrance to the square, hanging from its roof, but this would not have benefited the square either, and was solely for the convenience of anyone walking through St James’ Passage to the Orange Market. The only other gas lamp in the immediate vicinity was at the entrance to Church Passage on the other side of the square. This would have provided light for anyone walking through Church Passage, but would have provided very little light in the square itself as the corner of the Kealey and Tonge building sheltered the light from the main body of the square. The lack of gas lamps, coupled with the very high and overwhelming buildings in the square, made it a very dark place, at the best of times, heavy shadows being cast on all sides. The Times of 1 October,1888, gives us some information on the lighting in Mitre Square at the time, but this quote shows how important it is not to take contemporary newspaper items in isolation:

The square is well lighted with two lamps, but the corner in which the woman was found is over-shadowed by two empty houses, but still the officer feels certain there was nothing in the corner at that time. On two sides of the square are the warehouses of Messrs. Kearney [sic] and Tonge, and adjoining them are two old houses, which exactly face the scene of the murder — the wide pavement opposite, where, it is stated, there was some deficien - cy of light from the gas-lamp.

23 Evening News 1 October, 1888

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 45 Although the square is described as being ‘well lighted’, in terms of what is expected of road lighting today it was extremely poor indeed. The Daily News of 1 October described the square as ‘an exceedingly dull, badly light - ed square’, in complete contradiction to the Times. The closest lamp to the murder spot was the freestanding one outside the Kealey and Tonge warehouse, which was about 64 feet away from the spot where Catherine was found, but the light from it would not have reached the murder spot; especially so on the night of the murder, because of the deficiency in the lamp at the time. Light from the lamp fixed to the Williams & Co building was blocked by Taylor’s shop and the one in Church Passage by Kealey and Tonge’s building. Neil Bell did an extensive amount of research into the lighting in Mitre Square that night and his conclusion was:

...gas lamps were merely markers at best. Something to focus on as you made your way and not a source of great illumination. . .On average, the light given out from the lamps would have been the equivalent of your fridge light — and those were the good lamps 24 .

It would seem, from that, that Mitre Square was an ideal spot for Jack’s purpose; heavy shadows, plunging parts of the square into almost Stygian darkness, very few people around, the opportunity to hear approaching footsteps from any direction, and a couple of good escape routes available. Today Mitre Square is hardly recognisable; although it is still cobbled, it’s not certain if the cobbles are the same ones that were there in 1888, re-laid in a different way. The spot where Catherine was found has not been built over, but the actual spot is not on the pavement there, but set a few feet nearer the back entrance to the Sir John Cass School, where the cobbles and pavement meet. The empty houses are long gone, as is Mr Taylor’s shop, and in their place are benches and flowerbeds. Church Passage remains, although today it is much wider than it was in 1888, and has been renamed St James’ Passage. The Sir John Cass School and premises back onto the square around the point where Horner & Co and Heydemann & Co yard used to be. Offices and a carpark occupy the site where both Kearly & Tonge buildings once stood. The narrow passage through to Duke’s Place is still there but renamed Mitre Passage. Although there is little remaining of the old Mitre Square, it still manages to retain some atmosphere, especially at night; and standing close by the spot where Catherine was murdered, is still chilling enough to send a shiver down the spine.

Acknowledgements: We would like to say a big thank you to John Bennett for his help with this article, and for the use of his photograph of Mitre Square in the article header.

24 Ripperologist 58 March, 2005

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 46 Mitre Square

George Morris, the caretaker, was Church Passage tapered from 18 working on the ground floor, with feet wide at its entrance in Mitre the door open at the time of Square, to 5 feet wide within a Catherine’s murder. distance of a couple of paces.

N S

PC Pearce’s House. He was asleep in bed with his wife when the murder took place.

Picture Frame making shop belong - Horner & Co, Chemical Goods ing to Mr Charles Taylor. The front Heydemann & Co George Clapp, the caretaker, was asleep in bed Sundriesmen. This was a large of this shop was actually facing Mitre warehouse and one of the four Street. (8-9 Mitre Street) with his wife at the time of the murder. (5 Mitre Street) warehouses in Mitre Square.

Empty cottage and coffee rooms at numbers 6-7 Mitre Street. Mitre Square from St James’ Passage (formerly Church Passage)

Mitre Square from Mitre Street — St James’ Passage is opposite.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 48 The entrance of Mitre Square taken from Mitre Street. Looking across Mitre Square from Mitre Street, the spot where Catherine was murdered is just behind the flower beds to the right.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 49 Whitechapel at Whitehall The Rise and Fall of Tom Merry

By Adam Wood

The Victorian period saw a raft of supremely talented artists published in satirical maga - zines, including Phil May of Punch , St Stephen’s Review , The Penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic ; ‘Spy’, aka Leslie Ward, who produced a succession of political caricatures for Vanity Fair ; John Tenniel, celebrated illustrator of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass provided many cartoons for Punch ; and Harry Furniss, whose work appeared in Punch and the Illustrated London News . Furniss edited and contributed to 1903’s Famous Crimes Past and Present Police Budget Edition , which featured the Ripper crimes illustrated by ‘F. Fissi’, believed to be Furniss, who produced the cover illustration featuring the discovery of Martha Tabram’s body. Tenniel drew two of the most famous images during the Ripper crimes, both of which appeared in Punch : ‘Blind Man’s Buff,’ published 22 September 1888 and ‘The Nemesis of Neglect,’ 29 September 1888. Added to this impressive list of artists must be Tom Merry, colour cartoonist for the St Stephen’s Review and con - tributor to the London version of Puck magazine. His cover artwork for the 21 September 1889 edition of Puck came

Left to right: ‘The discovery of Martha Tabram’ by Harold Furniss, from Famous Crimes , 1903; ‘Blind Man's Buff’ by John Tenniel from Punch , 22 September 1888; ‘The Nemesis of Neglect’ by John Tenniel from Punch , 15 September 1888.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 50 Tom Merry's ‘Whitechapel at Whitehall’ for St Stephen's Review, 17 August 1889 as fears surfaced that the Ripper had returned following the discovery of the Pinchin Street torso, and featured a number of possible personalities for the murderer. A month earlier, Merry had drawn ‘Whitechapel at Whitehall,’ the centrespread cartoon for the 17 August 1889 of St Stephen’s Review . In it, the Ripper (representing ‘Death’) and ‘Justice’ (representing ‘Life’) try to influence Home Secretary Henry Matthews in his decision over Florence Maybrick, who had just been convicted of the murder of her husband James. Alice McKenzie had been murdered a few weeks earlier, believed by some to be by the Ripper. This illustration has proved to be one of the rarest Ripper-related prints. ‘Tom Merry’ was the pseudonym of William Mecham, born in Southwark, South London in 1853 to Henry Mecham and Julia Wilcocke 1. Mecham started his working life as a seller of paper hangings with his father 2. The family background seems to be one of modest wealth with his grandmother Sophia Mecham, a widow, being a fund holder and house proprietor 3. He married Julia Maddocks in Southwark in late 1872, and in early 1873 had a daughter, Julia Ann. Sadly the infant

1 Database of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 2 1871 census. 3 1861 census.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 51 died at 6 months. In 1874 a son, William Joseph, was born, although he also died within a few months 4. Over the next couple of years Mecham developed his drawing skills, perfecting the ability to sketch caricatures of famous people of the day from memory. He adopted the stage name of Tom Merry and began appearing low on the bill of various music hall shows. The Era , a weekly newspa - per considered the actors’ ‘Bible’, reported that Merry’s ‘droll caricature’ performance at Surrey Gardens in June 1875 was ‘greatly appreciated 5.’ Merry’s act began leaning toward the goings-on at Westm inster, as revealed by the Glasgow Herald on 22 September 1875 in their listing of ‘pos - itively the last week of Mr Tom Merry, the Political Caricaturist’ at Brown’s Royal Music Hall. Merry seems to have been on permanent tour both at home and abroad over the next two years, and his fame grew as he steadily moved up the bill. The Era of 14 October 1877 reports on his performance at the Oxford music hall, Oxford Street:

Mr Tom Merry, a good-looking young fellow, who affects a peculiar style of dress, introduces what he called his “lightning portraits of people that we know,” and with marvellous rapidity, facility, and faithfulness, draws for our admiration or execration — according to our political proclivities — crayon sketches of Gladstone, Disraeli, the Emperor of Russia, Midhat Pasha, and other persons of emi - nence. The most acceptable matter that Mr Merry draws is without doubt his salary, and none who see him will dispute the statement that it is well earned.

With his career going well, Merry had further cause for celebration when Julia gave birth to daughter Violet Winifred Mecham in 1879 (died 1914) 6. An advertisement in The Era later that year indicates the success of the 26-year-old artist:

Tom Merry from The Era , 17 August 1896.

4 Database of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 5 The Era , Sunday, June 27, 1875. 6 Database of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 52 The Electric Caricaturist, Mr Tom Merry, twice daily at the Crystal Palace.

Having completed a brilliant tour through the West Indies, Mexico and Central America intends to remain in England for a few months, previous to revisiting France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Russia.

The Central American Press says: “Mr Tom Merry’s clever entertainment will always be a novelty whilst new men continue to bring them - selves into notoriety, and so provide him with fresh subjects.”

At liberty for Christmas. Sole Agent, Percy Williams 7.

Further tours followed, with Julia joining her hus - band on stage for occasional forays into acting. They appeared in the pantomime ‘Goody Two Shoes’ at Tunstall in January 1880 8 and performed together at the Alhambra Theatre, Belfast in October 9. The following year Merry announced a new act:

Mr Tom Merry, the Electric Caricaturist, wishes to announce that, notwithstanding his rapidly increasing The Oxford Theatre. business as a lithographer, he is still as liberty to accept engagements with a better show than ever, and a repertoire of many new pictures, each of which he intro - duces by singing a satirical introductory verse. Written by Oswald Allan, music by Jongmanns Esq. To managers in search of a specialitie for pantomime - Mr Merry’s performance was a gigantic success in his school scene of ‘Rothmango’ at the Alhambra Palace, Leicester Square, Brighton Aquarium next week.

Permanent address, 48 West Square, Southwark SE 10 .

The couple celebrated the birth of son Leonard Harold Mecham in 1882 11 , and Merry decided to use his talents for more than stage performances. His advertisement in The Era of 1 July 1882 invited commissions for portraits and lithographs from his studio at 48 West Square, Lambeth, and he was soon producing caricatures of various theatrical stars such as ‘cockney comic’

7 The Era , 17 August 1879. 8 The Era , 4 January 1880. 9 The Era , 3 October 1880. 10 The Era , 24 September 1881. 11 Database of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 53 Hyram Travers, the self-styled Pearly King of the stage 12 . A talent such as Merry’s was obviously going to be noticed, and in 1883 he was approached by William Allison, editor of the newly launched St Stephen’s Review . Along with Punch and the American Puck Magazine , the weekly St Stephen’s Review sought to lampoon the government through articles by leading Conservatives and its team of illustrators. Merry was a contributor alongside the likes of Harry Furniss and staff artists Phil May, Matt Morgan and Wallis Mackay 13 . Merry began producing the large colour centrespread cartoon for which St Stephen’s Review soon became famous, and by 1890 was earning a yearly salary of £500 14 . Not everyone enjoyed his cartoons, however. The North Chronicle of 25 December 1886 reported that the well-known photog - rapher Alexander Bassano was to sue the Review , claiming a cartoon of Queen Victoria drawn by Merry was copied from one of his photographs. The Chronicle poured scorn on the idea, commenting:

Considering that Mr Merry first obtained fame as ‘lightning’ car - icaturist at the Aquarium and throughout America, he is little likely to require the assistance of a photograph to enable him to sketch so well known a face as that of Her Majesty. Alexander Bassano's photgraph of Queen Victoria. The question of whether Merry’s cartoons crossed the line of good taste was even raised in Parliament, as recorded by Hansard of 20 March 1885:

MR. BERESFORD asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of , Whether his attention has been called to a cartoon representing the death of Earl Spencer, published in the last weekly edition of United Ireland; whether he is aware that the proprietors of this newspaper are Members of the House of Commons; and, whether, in view of the prevalence of crime in Ireland in recent years, he proposes to take any steps to check attacks of such a character upon Her Majesty’s representative in Ireland? MR. T. P. O’CONNOR Before the right hon. Gentleman answers that question, I would like to ask him whether his attention has been called to the cartoon in The St. Stephen’s Review representing the death of the Prime Minister, with the ghosts of General Gordon and others accusing him of murder; whether the Conservative Press has not accused the Prime Minister of this and other crimes; if the gentlemen who are the proprietors of these jour - nals are not Members of the House of Commons; and, whether any steps will be taken to prevent attacks of such a character upon the First Minister of the Crown? MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN I have not seen the publication to which the hon. Member for Galway (Mr. T. P. O’Connor) alludes; but I have seen the cartoon referred to by the hon. Member for Armagh (Mr. Beresford). It is

12 The Era , 20 January 1883. 13 The Hull Packet and East Riding Times , 3 July 1885. 14 Pall Mall Gazette , 6 August 1890.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 54 entitled “A Political Deathbed Scene.” Even when viewed in the comparatively favourable light suggested by the title, it would be condemned by most people as offending against good taste and decent feeling. On the general question, Self portait of Phil May. however, of the treatment of publications of this sort, I can only refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to a Question of the hon. Member for Wicklow County (Mr. M’Coan) on the 4th of December last. MR. SEXTON I would ask the right hon. Gentleman, whether he is aware that English journals are constantly in the habit of represent - ing the hon. Member for the City of Cork (Mr. Parnell) wearing a mask and engaged in acts of arson and assassination 15 ?

On 6 August 1890, the St Stephen’s Review ran a full-page advert in the Pall Mall Gazette , revealing the dialogue between the magazine and the Hansard printing union. Writing on behalf of the Review , Raymond Radclyffe offered the businesses of Tom Merry and the magazine’s publish - ing company to the Union for the sum of £25,000, representing ten years’ prof - its. Horatio Bottomley, who went on to found The Financial Times , replied to decline the offer, stating: “I do not see how it would be possible for me to arrange for the inclusion of your business in the extension scheme upon which I am at present engaged. 8 In whatever way the matter is put, it practically resolves itself into the production of the St Stephen’s Review , and, as I explained when I saw you such an element would be out of place in a large trading concern like ours.”

Tom Merry's cover for Puck , 21 September 1889 The St Stephen’s Review ran until 1892. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal lists an advertisement for Maria’s Christmas Annual , a collaboration between Review sub-editor Edgar Lee and artists Merry, May and Mackay 16 . This was presumably intended as the annual for the St Stephen’s Review . 34 original specimen copies of Merry’s lithographs, dating from 1886 to 1891, are held in Parliamentary archives. Each measures 56x38cm. They were presented in 1986 by one Graham Underhill 17 . A further 90 political cartoons are held by the Churchill Archives Centre, 81 of which are presentation copies of Merry’s work for the St Stephen’s Review 18 .Merry also contributed to the London edition of Puck , which ran from January 1889 to June 1890 19 . While working on the Review and Puck , Merry had stopped touring the music halls and also built up his theatrical poster design and lithographic business, advertising his Steam Colour Printing Works at 48 West Square 20 . His name began to appear on

15 www.publications.parliament.uk 16 Aberdeen Weekly Journal , 12 December 1892

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 55 Above left: Robert Paul. Above right: Birt Acres filming at the 1895 Derby.

advertisments for forthcoming performances such as the Sisters Graham in Portsmouth 21 , and a Miss Finney, who had dived off of London Bridge into the Thames in 1889 22 , for whom Merry designed a poster and litho 23 . Eventually Merry’s name appeared above that of the artiste, including the celebrated ‘Coster Comedienne’, Kate Carney 24 . In 1895 Merry was visited by Birt Acres and Robert Paul. Paul, an English electrician and scientific instrument maker, had been commissioned by Greek entrepreneurs Georgiades and Tragides to make a replica of Edison’s Kinetoscope and, on discovering that the camera was not patented in England, decided to make others for himself. With the assistance of Acres, a professional photographer, Paul designed and manufactured England’s first cinematograph camera, now known as the Paul-Acres Camera. On 29 March 1895 the first English film had been shot, showing Paul’s friend Henry Short outside Birt Acres’ home, Clovelly Cottage in North London. Until June 1895 Acres continued to film other subjects for Paul, including that year’s Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race, the Derby, Rough Sea at Dover , and Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist . Acres filmed Merry on four separate occasions, sketching Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Lord Salisbury and Gladstone. Because Merry was able to complete his caricatures in less than a minute, his act was perfect for the length of the first film reels. Less able artists took longer to complete their drawings, and as reels could not at the time be extended, simple stop-frame was introduced to ensure completion within the required minute. It is gener - ally accepted that from this simple beginning, with early animators such as Georges Méliès developing stop-start tenchiques, sprang the art of the animated cartoon film of today.

.17 Reference Historical Collection 332, www.portcullis.parliament.uk 18 Churchill Archives Centre Miscellaneous Holdings, janus.lib.cam.ac.uk 19 Simon Houfe, Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists, 1800-1914.20 The Era , 11 July 1885. 21 The Era , 24 April 1886. 22 Brisbane Courier , 25 November 1889 23 The Era , 8 February 1890. 24 The Era , 2 April 1892.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 56 Acres and Paul parted company soon after when Acres patented their design in his own name on 27 May 1895. He went on to demonstrate his Kineopticon camera and projector to members of the Royal Photographic Society on 14 January 1896 at the Queen’s Hall, London - the first public film show to an audience in the United Kingdom. Merry’s films were first shown as part of Robert Paul’s first theatrical programme at the Alhambra, Leicester Square, on 25 March 1896. Tom Merry thus became the first celebrity of any kind to appear in a British film 25 . The Acres/Paul films should have represented the peak of Merry’s fame, but instead they captured him on a downward spiral. With the wages from St Stephen’s Review disappearing with the magazine three years before, Merry struggled to make ends meet and bad turned to worse when he was unable to retain the very equipment he needed to maintain his business as a theatrical designer and lithographer. In February 1894 he had been forced to sell his printing plant and machinery in a bid to stave off debts 26 , which finally caught up with him. On 14 November 1895 a receiving order was made 27 and he was arrested and sent to Wandsworth Prison for non-payment of a £14 debt (£838 today )28 . Althou gh this was settled and Merry subsequently released, he was forced to Poster for Robert Paul's ‘Kineoptikon’ show, May 1896. appear before the Bankruptcy Court on Monday 2 December 1895. The Era of 7 December 1895 reported:

A first meeting of creditors of Mr William Mecham, better known as Tom Merry, the ‘lightning artist’, was held on Monday, before Mr Chapman, Assistant Receiver. The debtor, described as late of Felix Street, Westminster Bridge Road, scenic artist, filed his petition owing to his having been arrested and placed in Wandsworth Prison for the non-payment of a debt of £14. This was subsequently paid, and he was released. He has filed accounts showing gross debts £2,550 (£152,719 today), of which £1,780 (£106,604 ) is unsecured, and assets £35 (£2,096) . He states that he was engaged as a variety artist in the music halls prior to 1881, under the name of Tom Merry, and then started as a scenic artist. He attributes his failure to the forced sale of his plant and machinery in February last, to bad debts, law costs and losses in connection with a newspaper, the Music Hall Review , in which he had a third share in 1890. There was no offer, and the matter was left in the hands of the trustee to wind up in bankruptcy.

Merry was forced to return to his early career and tread the boards again, touring his ‘lightning caricatures’ act,

25 www.victorian-cinema.net, www.absoluteastronomy.com, British Film Institute archives 26 The Era , 7 December 1895 27 Lloyd’s Weekly Newpaper , 17 November 1895 28 Historical currency convertor at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 57 appearing at one point at the Cambridge music hall, Commercial Street 29 . With the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899, the British newspapers gave vast coverage of the conflict in the competition for circulation, many running illustrations drawn by artists using first-hand accounts. Tom Merry was commissioned in this way by Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper . His sketch of ‘The Fight of Modder River’, which appeared in the 31 December 1899 edition, was cap - tioned: Drawn by Tom Merry, from a Sketch sent from the Front . Similarly, the 17 June 1900 issue carries Tom Merry's sketch ‘The Fight at the Modder River’ for an illustration captioned: Lloyd's Weekly Paper of 31 December 1899

Mr Tom Merry has in this sketch imagined the scene described by Reuter’s correspondent when entering the Transvaal with Buller’s force. At a farmhouse flying the white flag admission was denied on the plea that the Dutch ladies were ill. The Scouts, being doubtful, made their way in, and were rewarded by finding four robust Boers hid - ing under the bed.

‘The Old Ferry at Canvey Island’ by Tom Merry, 1902. Merry’s career looked to be revived, and he was commis - sioned to provide the illustrations for Augustus Daly’s The History of Canvey Island and Surrounding Neighbourhood 30 . The book was intended as an advertising vehicle for Frederick Hester, the major developer of Canvey. Merry had completed the majority of illustrations for the book when he collapsed and died on 21 August 1902 at Benfleet Station, where the ferry to Canvey Island docked. The remain - ing five illustrations were produced by J. James Proctor, and the book was published in 1903 with a dedication to Mecham:

In memoriam of William Mecham, artist, cartoonist, and caricaturist, better known to the British public by his profes - sional soubriquet, Tom Merry, who died suddenly at Benfleet Station, Essex, on Thursday, 21 August 1902, aged 49 years.

29 The Era , 18 January 1896.

30 www.canveyisland.org

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 58 Benfleet Station.

William Mecham was a talented artist who was in the right place at the right time. He honed his sketching skills on the boards at a time when music hall acts increasingly used political material, and was employed by major polit - ical magazines at a time when circulations were booming.

This beautiful and talented showgirl, model and actress hasn't found a man who fits her rigorous specifi - cations for a husband. Says the cautious Wood: "I have no regrets.... I would rather be alone than sorry..."

(Borrowed from Some Girls album cover by the Rolling Stones)

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 59 Above: ‘Mr Gladstone and his Clerks’ by Tom Merry for St Stephen's Review , 1 May 1886. Below: ‘One-Sided Free Trade’ by Tom Merry for St Stephen's Review , 1886.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 60 CHRIS SCOTT’s Press Trawl

The Aberdeen Journal was first published as weekly title on 29 December 1747 by James Chalmers. In August 1876 it became a daily newspaper, and was renamed The Aberdeen Press and Journal in November 1922 when its parent firm joined forces with rival publisher the Free Press . It is Scotland's oldest daily newspaper.

Aberdeen Journal , 1 September 1888

The efficiency of the metropolitan police is just now being widely canvassed in connection with the atrocious murders that have been committed in the Whitechapel district. As matters stand three women have been found dead, their bodies terribly mutilated, and yet no trace of the murderers have been discovered. In the various jour - nals different theories are put forward. On the one hand, it is suggested that these brutal crimes are the work of a gang of miscreants, while in other quarters a murderous lunatic is suggested as the perpetrator of the deeds. The plucky conduct of the two constables who have just been rewarded for the capture of an armed burglar shows that there is courage and backbone in the force, but the fact that the murderers of the unfortunate women I have referred to are still at large gives rise to the feeling of uneasiness among the respectable inhabitants of the East End.

3 September 1888

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER

The police have not made any arrest in connection with the Whitechapel murder. The inquest was opened on Saturday afternoon on the woman, who was identified as Mary Ann Nicholls, formerly an inmate of Lambeth Workhouse. Edward Walker, of Albany Road, Camberwell, said the deceased was his daughter, aged 42. She married William Nicholls, printer, but they had been separated seven or eight years. Evidence having been given as to the finding of the body by Police Constable Neil, and its condition described by Dr Llewellyn, of Whitechapel, the coro - ner adjourned the inquiry until today. Late on Saturday night the body of the deceased was positively identified by her eldest son, a machinist. Subsequently the body was also identified by her husband, W. Nicholls, a machinist, employed by a firm of Fleet Street printers. The latter was greatly affected. Up to midnight no arrest had been made, but the police believed they had a clue. The Press Association says up to a late hour last night the police had made no arrests, and despite assiduous inv estigations, no satisfactory clue has yet been obtained upon which it would be possible to work with any prospect of unravelling the mystery. It has been stated in some quarters that there is some reason to suspect the existence of a murderous gang in the Whitechapel district, to which this and other tragedies might be traced, but the police give no credence to that. So far they have no witnesses to bring forward.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 61 The remains of Lambeth workhouse, where Mary Ann Nichols spent much of her time.

4 September 1888

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER

Mr Baxter, coroner for South east Middlesex, resumed yesterday morning the inquiry into the circumstances attending the death pf Mary Ann Nicholls, whose body, terribly mutilated, was found in Whitechapel early on the morning of Friday last. Inspector Helson described the condition of deceased’s clothing. The back of the bodice, he said, had absorbed a large quantity of blood, but there was none upon the petticoats. There was no evidence of the body having been washed, and there were no cuts in the clothing. It would have been possible to inflict the wounds while the clothing was on and without cutting it. He was of opinion that the woman was murdered in her clothes and that the murder was committed where the body was found. William Nicholls, of Coburg Road, Old Kent Road, said he was a machinist, and that deceased was his wife. They had lived apart for over eight years, and he last saw her alive about three years ago. He did not know where she had been during the interval. Jane Hodden, of 13 Thrawl Street, stated that deceased lodged with her for about six weeks, till eight weeks ago. On the day of the murder, witness saw her at 2.30 a.m. in Whitechapel Road, when she said she should leave her lodgings, as they allowed men and women to stay together. Witness said she did not think deceased was leading fast life - in fact, she seemed very much afraid of it. Other evidence having been given, the inquiry was adjourned for a fortnight.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 62 5 September 1888

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER

It is stated that the police conducting inquiries into the Whitechapel murder believe that they have clue to the per - petrators of the crime, and that certain persons are being kept under surveillance. No arrest, however, is expected to be made until after the adjourned coroner’s inquiry, when important evidence pointing to the murderer may be given, unless the suspected persons attempt to leave the district.

6 September 1888

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the Whitechapel murder. The numerous officers engaged in the case are still prosecuting inquiries, and they by no means despair of eventually arresting the murderer of Mrs Nicholls. Inquiries are being made in a fresh direction as the result of certain information which has been received, but up to the present they have resulted in nothing definite.

11 September 1888

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER ARREST OF TWO MEN

There is no diminution in the excitement around the scene of the latest Whitechapel murder, and police activity has been shown in various directions. About nine o’clock yesterday morning a man named John Piser, residing at 22 Mulberry Street, Commercial Road, was arrested at his home on suspicion of being the unknown man who has been described as “Leather Apron.” The arrest was effe cted very quietly, but, when it became known some time after - wards, there was great excitement. The prisoner is a bootfinisher by trade, and lives with his stepmother and a mar - ried brother. He has recently been in a convales - Sketch from the Illustrated Police News, 13th September, 1888. cent home. He is Jew about 35 years of age. The representative of the Press Association, who inter - viewed the friends and neighbours of the man, ascertained that he had the character of being entirely inoffensive, and a most unlikely person to be confounded with the description and character of “Leather Apron.” He was taken to Leman Street Police Station. He was detained there some hours while inquiries were being prosecuted by the police. These were satisfactory, and during the afternoon prisoner was quietly liberated. On this becoming known there was great rejoicing among his co-religionists, who gathered in large numbers.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 63 Meanwhile information has been received that what was believed to be an important arrest had been effected at Gravesend. On Sunday night a communication was made to Superintendent Berry that a suspicious looking individ - ual was at the Pope’s Head public house, West Street. A sergeant was despatched to the place, arrested the man, who was found to have been bitten in the hand. Prisoner, whose name was William Henry Pigott, aged 52, explained this by stating that, while going down , Whitechapel, at half past four on Saturday morning a woman fell down in a fit. He stooped to pick her up, when she bit him. He then hit her, and, as two policemen came up, he ran away. Pigott’s clothing was carefully examined by Dr Whitcombe, the divisional surgeon, and it was announced that two shirts which Pigott carried in a bundle were stained with blood, and also that blood appeared to have been recently wiped off his boots. After the usual caution, prisoner made a further statement to the effect that the woman who bit him was in the street at the back of a lodging house when seized with a fit. He added that the slept at a lodging house in Osborne Street on Thursday night, but on Friday was walking the streets of Whitechapel all night. He tramped from London to Gravesend on Saturday. He was a native of Gravesend, and told the police that he had been keeping several public houses in London. As prisoner’s description tallied in some respects with that fur - nished by headquarters of the man “wanted,” Superintendent Berry decided to detain him. In response to a telegram, Inspector Abberline proceeded to Gravesend yesterday morning and decided to bring prisoner back to Whitechapel, so that he could be confronted with the woman who had furnished the description of “Leather Apron.” On arriving at London Bridge Station, Pigott was driven to Commercial Street, and the news of his arrival having spread quickly, the Police Station was soon surrounded by an excited crowd. Pigott arrived at Commercial Street in much the same condition as when taken into custody. He wore no vest, had on a battered felt hat, and, either from drink or fright, appeared to be in a state of extraordinary nervous excitement. Mr (sic) Fiddymont, who is responsi - ble for the statement respecting a man resembling “Leather Apron” being seen at the Prince Albert public house on Saturday, was sent for, as were also other witnesses likely to be able to identify the prisoner, but, after a very brief scrutiny, it was the unanimous opinion that Pigott was not “Leather Apron.” Nevertheless, looking to his condition of mind and body, it was decided to detain him until he could give a somewhat more satisfactory explanation of Suspects being questioned at Leman Street police station. himself and his movements. After an interval of a couple of hours, the man’s manner became more strange and his speech more incoherent, the divisional surgeon was called in, and he gave it as his opinion that the prisoner’s mind was unhinged. A medical certificate to this effect was made out, and Pigott will for the present remain in cus - tody. At several of the police stations in the men suspected of being concerned in the tragedy were in custody during the day, but, on investigation, only a brief detention was found necessary, except in the two cases above noted. As an evidence of the effect which the murders have had upon the public mind, several drunken men have professed to be connected with the outrage, and in one or two instances have been taken to the police station, surrounded by an excited crowd, with the result only of wasting the time of the police and adding to the panic which prevails in some parts of the Metropolis.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 64 Inquiries made in Windsor yesterday make it highly probable that Mrs Chapman was the same woman who had been in Superintendent Hayes’s custody for drunkenness, though she was never brought before the Magistrates. It was stated at the inquest yesterday that the murdered woman was the wife of a veterinary surgeon, but it would appear from information received from Windsor that in her happier days Mrs Chapman was the wife of a respectable coachman in the service of gentleman at Clewer, near Windsor, but who was compelled to retire from his service through ill health. His illness lasted for some time, and he died at Grove Road, Windsor, at Christmas 1886. Chapman had been forced to separate from his wife in consequence of her habits. During her residence in the east end, until his death, she received an allowance of 10s a week from her husband. There were two chil - dren, a boy and a girl. The boy was admitted to a London hospi - tal, and the girl was for some time at Grove Road, Windsor, but nothing is known of their present whereabouts. Superintendent Hayes sent one of his men to London yesterday afternoon, and the policeman identified the body at Whitechapel Mortuary as that of Mrs Chapman, formerly of Windsor.

Telegraphing at a late hour last night, the Press Association says:- Detective Sergeant William Thick

In consequence of the reticence shown by the police in giving information, it was understood that the man Piser, alleged to be “Leather Apron,” had been released; but it appears from later inquiries that he is still in custody. It is stated that this prisoner is a well known character in the East End, and that the police attach considerable importance to the capture. It is stated that since the police made public his description he has been missing to the officers who knew him to frequent the neighbourhood of Whitechapel road by night, and this is considered an important circumstance in connection with the arrest. When the officers lost sight of him a vigilant search was made, but without any result until yesterday morning. Detective Sergeant Thickle (sic), who made the arrest, has been watching the house in which he was concealed for several days, and at nine o’clock yesterday morning made his final effort to secure his man. He had no difficulty in effecting this object, the man submitting quietly, and accompanying the officer through the streets unobserved. It is understood that the prisoner did not reside at the house in which he was arrested. He is detained at the Leman Street Police Station, but at midnight, as far as could be ascertained, had not been charged with any specific offence. In the meantime, howev - er, a large number of officers are directing their investigations into the man’s antecedents in every quarter. The police appear to be at a loss as to what to do with the man now that he is in custody. As was anticipated, the greatest diffi - culty is and will be experienced in bringing the crime home to any person. The local police last night requisitioned the assistance of some experts. Amongst those who came from were Detective Inspector Abbeline (sic) and Superintendent Shaw, the latter an officer who perhaps knows more about crime and criminals than any man in the detective service. The prisoner was seen by these officers, being brought from the cells to the superintendent’s office, whe re, it is stated, he was prevailed upon to make a statement. It is believed that this man, if not personally guilty, is able to throw some light on the criminal.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 65 THE INQUEST

Mr Wyne (sic) Baxter, coroner for East London, yesterday morning opened an inquest at the Boys’ Institute in Whitechapel on the body of the deceased woman. The absorbing interest taken in the case was evidenced by the large attendance of the public at the inquiry and by the crowd which had gathered outside, the services of a num - ber of constables being requisitioned for the maintenance of order. The police authorities were represented by Inspector Halson (sic) of the I Division. The jury having visited the mortuary for the purpose of viewing the body, John Davies, by whom the corpse was discovered, was sworn. He deposed that he was a carman living in Hanbury Street, , where he occupied one front room. He heard nothing unusual during Friday night, though he was awake during a considerable part of the night. When he got up just before six on Saturday morning the front door was open, but this was a frequent occurrence and did not surprise him. He went into the yard, which was separat - ed by high rails from those on either side. There was a small recess between the back door steps and the left hand fence, and in the recess he found the body of a woman lying on her back with her head towards the house, her feet towards the woodshed, and her clothes up above her thighs. He at once went out into the street and called in two men whom he knew by sight but not by name. The police said that these men had not been found, and the coroner stated that they must be produced. He added that the inquiry would be materially helped if a plan of the yard were The Working Lads’ Institute, Whitechapel, sometimes referred to as the ‘Boys’ Institute’. constructed, and the police authorities promised that one should be forthcoming on the next occasion. Witness resumed that the men, after looking into the yard, ran off to find a policeman while he himself proceeded to report the case at Commercial Street Police Station, and constables were sent to Hanbury Street. He had never previously seen the woman. He was not the first out of bed in the house on Saturday morning, since a man named Thompson was called at half past three to go to his work. He had never seen in the passage of the house women who did not live there. Amelia Farmer, the wife of an army pensioner, stated that on Saturday she saw the body lying at the mortuary, and identified it as that of Annie Chapman, whom she had known for four or five years. She was the widow of Frederick Chapman, who died about 18 months ago. Up to that time he had resided at Windsor, where he was a veterinary sur - geon, but the deceased had been parted from him for the last four or five years, and had during that time lived in var - ious places, but usually in common lodging houses. Two years ago she lived in Dorset Street with a man who made wire sieves, and from that fact was nicknamed “Sievey.” Witness last saw the sievemaker, whose name she did not know, about eighteen months since. During her husband’s life the deceased received money from him from time to time. She was in Dorset Street on Monday last. She then had a black eye and also showed witness a bruise on her chest

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 66 saying that the injuries had been caused by a woman who sold books. The deceased explained that on the previous Saturday, September 1, she was in a beer house in Dorset Street with a man named Ted Stanley — a very respectable man. Another man named “Harry the Hawker” and the bookselling woman were also there, and a quarrel arose in conse - quence of a dispute as to some money taken from the counter, this quarrel bringing about later on the struggle in which the injuries were inflicted. On the following day (Tuesday) witness again saw the deceased, who said she was bet - ter and had had nothing to eat that day, Newspaper sketch of Timothy Donovan and intimated that she meant to go into the casual ward. Chapman did crochet work and sold flowers for a living, but also she believed went on the streets at night. They again met about five o’clock on Friday afternoon, when she once more complained of illness, and said she had been in a casual ward. The deceased was an industrious woman when sober, but was often the worse for drink and had led a very irregular life. She had a mother and sister in London, but they were not on good terms, and she never stayed with them. Witness knew of no one likely to have injured the deceased. Timothy Donovan, “deputy” of a lodging house in Spitalfields, identified the body as that of a woman who had lived there during the past four months. She was not there last week except on Friday, when she came in at two o’clock in the afternoon. She then told him that she had been in the Workhouse Infirmary. About 1.45 on Saturday morning she went out saying she had no money to engage the bed she usually occupied, but asking that it might not be let to anyone else as she would soon be back. She had had drink at this time, but would walk straight. He did not see her with any man on Friday night. She had slept on other occasions with an army pensioner, and she had come to the house with other men, but he had refused her admission. The coroner inquired whether anything was known of the pensioner referred to, and the inspector replied in the negative. Witness went on to say that when the deceased left early on Saturday morning he did not see which way she went, but he believed the watchman did. He did not see her again alive. She was usually on good terms with the other lodgers, but about a week before her death she received a black eye from another woman who hawked laces &c. John Evans, night watchman at the same lodging house, said he last saw the deceased shortly before two o’clock on Saturday morning, when she left the house saying she had no money for her lodgings, but would soon be back with some. He watched her go up Paternoster Row and turn to the right, but she never returned. When she first entered the kitchen that night, she said she had been to her sister’s in Vauxhall. Witness knew that she lived a rough life but had only seen her with the pensioner who had been spoken of. This man came to the lodging house after the murder on Saturday to make inquiries about the deceased. At this stage the inquiry was adjourned until two o’clock tomorrow.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 67 THE FOUR TRAGEDIES

The first of the four recent murders in Whitechapel was that of a woman, unidentified, who was found killed by hav - ing a stick or iron instrument thrust into her body. This crime passed off quietly. It was put down as a drunken freak of some of the nameless ruffians who swarm about Whitechapel. The second was in Osborne Street. The scene was near that of the first murder. A woman was found stabbed in 36 places, lying outside George’s Buildings. The impression made by this affair soon died away. The crime was a horrible one, but not a witness was called at the inquest who could throw light on the matter. The excite - ment died from sheer lack of fact to support any theory. The third was the Buck’s Row murder, which in a week has been followed by the latest barbarity in Hanbury Street.

The Standard remarks:- The feeling of insecurity which prevails will not be removed till the author of these crimes is safely lodged in jail. It is for Scotland Yard to put him there without loss of time. A cordon should be steadily and scientifically drawn round the comparatively circumscribed district which the murderer is known to haunt, and it must be tightened will he is fairly caught in the meshes. The affair is one which should put the police authorities on their mettle, for if they bungle it their credit will be disas - trously impaired, and a serious blow given to the public confidence in their abilities. This, of course, is well under - stood at headquarters and every nerve will be strained in the chase of this bloodthirsty scoundrel, and we trust that

Photograph of the entrance of Crossingham’s lodging the pursuit will be short, sharp, and speedily successful. house taken in the 1960s — source unknown. The Daily News says:- Much depends on the police. It is hardly too much to say that the peace of a whole quarter of London is now in an especial manner in their hands. We have already commented on the inadequacy of the force in the district affected by these crimes. Hanbury Street must have been poorly patrolled if so much could have passed there in half an hour and left no trace behind. The police have a good deal of lost ground to recover. In the past year or two they have failed to bring many terrible offenders to justice. The police must somehow contrive to win this time. Whatever the event, the crimes must remain a kind of public disgrace.

The Daily Telegraph remarks that no single effort must be spared to arrest and punish the wretch who has alarmed and horrified a whole capital.

The Daily Chronicle observes:- The occurrence of four Whitechapel murders within the year and the feebleness and sluggishness with which all clues to the earlier ones were followed up, afford a ghastly comment on the bick -

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 68 erings between Sir C. Warren and the Chief of the Secret Police. In fact, the Metropolitan Police are simply letting the first city of the world lapse into primeval savagery.

The Glasgow Herald says:- They may not be all the work of one man, but the result of a murderous epidemic. Imitativeness in crime is no new thing. Murders frequently occur in groups, and suicides, it is well known, run upon certain patters suggested by one striking example. It is quite possible that the ghastly incidents of the first of the Whitechapel crimes may have excited the diseased brains of other murderously inclined creatures. This is even a more terrible theory than the other, for it suggests an indefinite number of homicidal maniacs at large instead of one. But it may be reasonably predicted that the excitement which is now stirring all London will suffice to stay the hand of the slayer or slayers. Whether the mystery will ever be solved it would not be safe to say, for it is unhappily the case that the old theory “murder will out” is not supported by the number of undiscovered murder - ers at large.

14 September 1888

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER THE INQUEST

The inquest on the body of Annie Chapman was resumed yesterday afternoon by Mr Wynne Baxter. The Court was again crowded. Inspector Joseph Chandler, H Division, said he received information of the murder shortly after six o’clock on Saturday morning. He described the discovery of the body, and said on examining the yard he found a coarse of muslin and a small tooth comb, pocket hair comb in leather case, and envelope with embossed seal “Sussex Regiment,” and a postal stamp dated 23rd August. Near the water tap was a leather apron, which was afterwards shown to the police surgeon. There was also in the yard a nail box and piece of steel, which together with the leather apron, had been identified by Mrs Richardson, the occupier of the house. There was no evidence of a man having got over the railings which divide the yards. The inspector then went on to describe the woman’s clothing. John Richardson, who gave evidence on Wednesday, was seen by witness about seven o’clock. Richardson told him he had been on the premises at an earlier hour that morning, and he was sure the woman was not there then. In reply to the foreman of the jury, Inspector Chandler said he had not been able to find the pensioner named Stanley. The Foreman — It is really very important. He has been with the woman week after week, and staying with her night after night. Inspector Chandler — The parties at the lodging house were requested to communicate with the police if the man came there. Nobody knows who he is. The Coroner — The pensioner knows his own business, but I should have thought he would come forward himself. The Foreman asked why the Government did not offer a reward for the apprehension of the guilty party. The Coroner said he believed that the money was said in a different way, but still with the same object in view.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 69 Dr George Phillips, 2 Spital Square, divisional police surgeon, said he examined the body of deceased in the yard, 29 Hanbury Street, when it was discovered on Saturday morning. He went to make a post mortem on the afternoon of the same day. He was surprised to find that the body had been stripped, and probably partially washed. Examination was very difficult in consequence. He described the injuries, which were of a frightful character. He said it seemed as if an attempt had been made to separate the bones of the neck. Death resulted from a flow of blood from the neck. The injuries must have been inflicted with a long, sharp knife with a thin blade. A slaughter - man’s knife, well ground down, would inflict similar injuries. Knives used in the leather trade would not be long enough. There was indication of anatomical knowledge, but it appeared that the work had been done in great haste. Witness said he was positive the deceased entered the yard alive. She had been dead about two hours. No trace of blood was found on the apron discovered in the yard. After further evidence, the inquest was adjourned until Wednesday next.

DR FORBES WINSLOW ON THE CRIME

The following letter from Dr Forbes Winslow appeared in Wednesday’s Times :-

My theory having been circulated far and wide with reference to an opinion given to the authorities of the Criminal Investigation Department, I would like to qualify such statements in your columns. That the murderer of the three victims in Whitechapel is one and the same person I have no doubt. The whole affair is that of a lunatic, and, as there is “method in madness,” so there was method shown in the crime and in the gradual dissection of the latest victim. It is not the work of a responsible person. It is a well known and accepted fact that homicidal mania is incurable, but difficult of detection, as it frequently lies latent. It is incurable, and those who have been the subject of it should never be let loose on society. I think that the murderer is not of the class to which “Leather Apron” belongs, but is of the upper class of society, and I still think that my opinion given to the authorities is the correct one - viz., that the murders have been committed by a lunatic lately discharged from some asylum, or by one who has escaped. If the former, doubtless one who, though suffering from the effects of homicidal mania, is apparently sane on the surface, and consequently has been liberated, and is following out the inclinations of his morbid imaginations by wholesale homicide. I think the advice given by me a sound one - to apply for an immedi - ate return from all asylums who have discharged such individuals, with the view of ascertaining their whereabouts.

THE PIMLICO MYSTERY

Mrs Potter, of Spencer Buildings, Westminster, appeared at Westminster Police Court yesterday, stating that she had reason to fear that the arm found in the river off Grosvenor Road belonged to her daughter Emma, aged 17, of rather weak intellect, who had been missing from home since Saturday morning. She stated that her daughter had given trouble by going in the streets at night. She had been Dr Neville, divisional surgeon, who remarked that the particulars she gave him would in every way correspond with the arm which had been found. Mr D’Eyncourt said he could only refer applicant to the press and the police.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 70 I Beg to Report: Telstar the Movie Blink and You’ll Miss Him!

Ripper researcher and film extra Andy Aliffe makes a very brief appearance in the recently released movie Telstar. As Crank the Mechanic Andy comes to the assistance of victim Alicia Davies as she is attacked by ‘Jack the Ripper’ with a trick blooded rubber knife. Telstar, a music-infused drama, was written and directed by Nick Moran of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels fame. Set against a backdrop of early 1960s London, it tells the story of the world’s first independent record pro - ducer, Joe Meek. The flamboyantly gay, tone deaf, songwriter-producer was an amphetamine-addicted maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal early success with Telstar, for which he won the Ivor Novello Award for the biggest selling sin - gle of 1962. Despite a successful career, depression, heartbreak and paranoia drove Meek to commit suicide after murdering his landlady in his home studio at 304 Holloway Road, North London, on 3 February 1967. Following the success of Telstar Meek made a series of bad career decisions. He turned down the chance of work - ing with The Beatles, dismissing them as ‘just another bunch of noise’. He spurned the Rolling Stones and David

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 71 Bowie, and on hearing Rod Stewart sing reportedly rushed into the studio with his fin - gers in his ears screaming until Rod left. Meek had also become obsessed with the afterlife. He would set up tape machines in cemeteries in the hope of recording voices from beyond the grave. Shaken by the death of Buddy Holly, he held séances at his flat, convinced he was talking to his idol. In October 1962 Screaming Lord Sutch, one of a stable of ‘Pop Hit’ acts signed up by Meek, recorded the spine chilling Jack the Ripper at Meek’s studio. Constantly searching for new sounds, he ordered Sutch into the toilet On the set of Telstar clutching a microphone on a long lead to get Photograph — courtesy Andy Aliffe. an echoing distant reverb. Joe encouraged Sutch to dress up with knife, cloak, top hat and Gladstone bag, and to wander around Whitechapel in the early hours to promote the single. Despite a wealth of publicity, the kitsch Jack the Ripper could not escape the radio ban which perpetually kept Sutch away from record chart success and national fame and stardom. Sutch continued to wear the Ripper costume as part of his stage act until his suicide through depression on 16 June 1999. Telstar is adapted from Moran’s hit West End play of the same name, and stars the same actor, Olivier award- winner Con O’Neill, as Joe Meek. Alongside him are a cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Pam Ferris, James Corden and Ralf Little, and three musicians: ex-Libertine Carl Barat plays Gene Vincent, while Jon Lee, former member of S Club 7, takes on Billy Fury. But it’s the cameo appearance by The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins as Screaming Lord Sutch, or ‘Jack the Ripper’ as Sutch called himself in his recording heyday, that makes the theatrical impact. “I sup - pose you’d call his ‘look’ a kind of Victorian murderer chic,” says Hawkins, admiringly. ‘Telstar’ went on general release on 19 June 2009. Official website at www.telstarthemovie.co.uk

Sutch’s iconic hearse, including a 16 ft crocodile! Photograph — courtesy Andy Aliffer

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 72 All the news that’s fit to print... I Beg to Report

DEATH OF THE KING OF POP. The world was shocked on 25 June by the sudden death of ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson from apparent cardiac arrest. The 50-year-old controversial superstar was preparing for a 50-date concert series at London’s O2 Arena. Reports varied about the state of the superstar’s health as he rehearsed for the series of shows. There were also signs that the ‘This Is It’ shows might have been in trouble. On 20 May, it was announced that the O2 Arena promoters and producers AEG Live and Kenny Ortega, Michael’s directorial partner and creative collaborator, had elected to move back a few of the opening shows. The changes were being made in order ‘to meet the challenges presented by such a massive and technically complex show,’ AEG Live said in a statement to Access Hollywood. Other dates were being moved to 2010. Plans to use live animals onstage were in doubt after coming under fire from animal rights activists with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). According to British tabloid reports, Jackson had planned a nature theme for the concerts and to feature onstage a variety of exotic creatures during his performances. Reportedly, for a jun - gle section of the show, the superstar wanted ‘to ride out on an African elephant with panthers led on gold chains.’ Jackson rose to stardom as a child singer in the Motown ensemble Jackson Five along with his four brothers. He later alleged that he had been beaten as a child by his father and that he felt he did not have a childhood, having to rehearse and record all the time. His great - est career triumph came with the release of the ‘Thriller’ album in 1984 produced by Quincy Jones and featuring a voiceover by veteran horror movie star Vincent Price. In 1987, Jackson reportedly tried to buy the bones of John Merrick, the so-called ‘Elephant Man’ who had been saved in 1884 by London Hospital physician Dr Frederick Treves from being exhibited in freak shows. Merrick, the subject of both a hit West End and Broadway show and a motion picture with John Hurt in the role of the deformed man and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Treves, spent his Screenshot from the video Leave Me Alone last years at the hospital in a cellar apart - ment in Bedstead Square with its own entrance. Michael Jackson’s fascination with the lonely Merrick seems appropriate for someone who himself was lonely and who had come to be regarded by many in the world at large as a ‘freak.’ The video for Jackson's 1987 hit Leave Me Alone would feature the star dancing with Merrick's skeleton in an attempt to ridicule the story. His career was beleaguered by legal problems that began with allegations of molestation of boys and teenagers in the 1990s settled out of court and then a law case brought by a teenage cancer survivor who had allegedly been molested by the star at his California Neverland Ranch. The star appeared with the teenager in a 2003 television interview with Granada TV’s Martin Bashir. In the inter - view, the entertainer said that he saw no prob - lems with sharing his bed with younger males, and that it was a loving thing to do and not evil. It was at this point in the interview in which he said, ‘Who’s Jack the Ripper in the room?’ meaning that he had no bad intent. Jackson also said, ‘If you’re going to be a pedophile, if you’re going to be Jack the Ripper, if you’re going to be a murderer, it’s not a good idea. That, I am not.’ During the three-month trial in 2005, the teenage cancer survivor recounted Jackson giving him wine - the singer allegedly called it ‘Jesus juice’ - before fondling him as they lay on a bed at Neverland. Jackson reportedly encouraged the boy to masturbate before groping the teen. The jury also heard from another purported victim, who testified Jackson molested him when he was between the ages of 7 and 10. The young man, the son

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 74 of a Neverland maid, received a $2.4 million settlement from Jackson. The jury also heard that in 1993, Jackson paid a $20 million settlement to a 13-year-old boy. In the end, the jury found Jackson not guilty of all charges. Jackson’s appearance changed radically over the years, from the clearly African American boy who had performed with the Jacksons, to a ghostly white pallor allegedly caused by a skin condition. It is also thought that numerous cosmetic surgeries had changed the structure of his face. What role such surgeries and/or abuse of prescription drugs may have played in the superstar’s death remained unclear at press time. A complete toxicology report on the drugs in Jackson’s system could take 4–6 weeks, it was reported.

‘Michael Jackson Postpones Opening Dates Of London Concert Series,’ Access Hollywood, 20 May 2009 http://omg.yahoo.com/news/michael-jackson-postpones-opening-dates-of-london-concert-series/22789 ‘PETA Blasts Michael Jackson O2 Concert Series Animal Proposal’, by Castina on popcrunch.com, 25 March 2009 http://www.popcrunch.com/peta-blasts-michael-jackson-o2-concert-series-animal-proposal/ ‘Sex abuse charges plagued, tarnished Michael Jackson’s career’, by Larry Mcshane, Daily News, New York, NY, USA, 26 June 2009 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/26/2009-06-26_the_stain_of_kidsex_raps_plagued_career_weird - sleepovers_with_boys_huge_payouts_.html Person close to Jacksons: Will, AEG role unclear’, by Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP News, New York, NY, USA, 27 June, 2009 http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090625/US.Michael.Jackson/

Johnny Depp as John Dillinger DEPP DOES DILLINGER — DEPP DONS THE HAT. Having played an impressive array of characters on both sides of the law including Inspector Abberline, Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd, Don Juan, Captain Jack Sparrow and Ichabod Crane, Johnny Depp opens in the USA and Canada on 1 July 2009 as John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies . The cast also includes Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, Canning Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd and Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard as Dillinger’s flame Billie Frechette. Next year will see the screening of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland , where Depp plays the Mad Hatter opposite Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat and Sir Christopher Lee as the Jabberwocky. Depp is also starring in The Rum Diary , directed and written by Bruce Robinson, the acclaimed director of cult film Whitnail and I . Robinson contributed an article on James Maybrick and the so-called Ripper Diary to Ripperologist a few years ago. (Despite its title, The Rum Diary is not about the Maybrick Diary, but is based on the eponymous novel by Hunter S Thompson). Future Depp roles may include Tonto in a new production of the Lone Ranger and the Riddler in the next Batman sequel.

He has, however, ruled himself out of playing Michael Jackson if a biopic of the late King of Pop is ever made. Although there were rumours that he had been keen to play the singer and dancer, Depp reportedly said he did not think Michael ‘would want him to’ don the famous white glove and military jacket.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 75 Public Enemies Opens on July 1st Sara Monahan Pittsburgh Film Examiner , Pittsburgh , PA, USA, 30 March 2009 http://www.examiner.com/x-6840-Pittsburgh-Film- Examiner~y2009m3d30-Public-Enemies-Opens-on- July-1st Johnny Depp: Why I Won't Be Playing Jacko Lara Lewington — , London, UK, 30 June 2009 http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Show-biz- News/Johnny -Depp-Public-Enemies-Premiere- Michael- Jackson- Biopic-Role-Is -Not- For-Me-Says-Hollywood- Star/Article/20090641532 3930?l pos=Showbiz_News_ News _Your_Way _Region _4&lid=NewsYourWay_ ARTICLE _15323930_Johnny_Depp_Public_Enemies_Premiere%3A_ Mich ael_ Jack son_Biopic_Role_Is_Not_For_Me_Says_ Hollywood _Star

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

RIPPING YARNS. It looks like there are a few newish books out there featuring the world’s most abhorred . (Actually what first came to mind was ‘the world’s favourite serial killer’, but somehow this had the wrong ring to it). Be it as it may, there is Ian Porter’s Whitechapel . Mr Porter’s publish - ers, Authorhouse , describe Whitechapel as a ‘new thought-provoking book’. A recent press release expatiates: ‘This story is set against the backcloth of the 1888 Whitechapel murders in which the question is posed whether, by focusing attention on the East End of London, the murders did more to accelerate social change than philanthropists and politicians.’ It concludes: ‘The novel asks whether the end can ever justify the most terrible of means. The story is woven around real-life characters and events, and voices are given to the strong, inde - pendent women of the slums.’ So Whitechapel serves up sociology, philosophy, history and feminism. We fervently hope it offers some thrills as well. There is also a novel by Brian L Porter who, despite the similarity in names, is a different person from Ian Porter. At any rate, this Mr Porter is the author of A Study in Red — The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper. Originally published in e-book format by Stonehedge Publishing, Porter’s novel was the winner of The Preditors & Editors Best Thriller Novel of 2008 Award. Despite this impressive accolade, Study had the misfortune of falling into the hands of Ripperologist ’s reviewers, who panned it thoroughly but, of course, fairly. Can’t very well recommend it, can we?

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 76 Then there is Blood Bar, a vampire novel — yes, you guessed it right— by Norm Applegate. Bar’s heroine is Kim Bennett, ‘whose passion for S&M led to celebrity status as a hell-and-back murder mystery sleuth who’s been there, done that, and then some’. Awesome. Kim finds herself ‘caught between a secret vampire society’s attempts to locate The Black Testament (a sacred document written by Jack the Ripper), the modern-day vampire hunters bent on their destruction, and a white knuckled journey of self-discovery that catapults her into the bowels of hell and the arms of the ultimate vampire...... courtesy of The Haven, New York’s ultimate BLOOD BAR.’ In an interview with Mr Applegate, Beverly Hills journalist Tracee Gleichner asked him ‘How much of the book is realistic?’ ‘Everything...’ he replied. Your move.

Fans of Crime Novels and Jack the Ripper Buffs—Two Great New Books Out! Diana Rubino Blog,19 May 2009 http://dianarubinoauthor.blogspot.com/2009/05/fans-of-crime-novels-and-jack-ripper.html New thought-provoking book entitled WHITECHAPEL by Ian Porter is published Press Release, Press Office, Authorhouse , London, UK, 26 May 2009 http://www.prlog.org/10243986-new-thoughtprovoking-book-entitled-whitechapel-by-ian-porter-is-published.html Interview with Norm Applegate, Author of “Blood Bar” Tracee Gleichner, American Chronicle , Beverly Hills, CA, USA, 2 June 2009. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/104633

WITH A SONG IN YOUR HEART. We always knew someone would eventually come up with a brilliant new idea: a Jack the Ripper musical! Here we are again, as Jack sings his way through a bevy of victims with Inspector Abberline in earnest vocal pursuit. Whitechapel: The Story of Jack the Ripper , better described as a drama with music than a musical drama, recently saw the limelight on the Rozsa Centre stage at the University of Calgary. Tory Doctor [sic] wrote the book, Dave Zabriskie the score and Jack Whyte the lyrics. J Michael Bailey sang the Ripper rôle and Reid Spencer that of his antagonist Abberline. Erin Breen, Deanna Dubbin [sic] and Mallory Minerson were three of Jack’s victims and Kathi Kerbes the landlady at the neighbourhood opium den. In a double tour of duty, Stephen Hair played the head of Scotland Yard and an old actor, while Neil Hardy and Jeremy Webb supplied the comic relief. It seems worthwhile to keep an eye out for this one.

Musical rife with Ripper’s unspeakable evil Louis B. Hobson Calgary Sun , Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 17 May 2009 http://www.calgarysun.com/entertainment/2009/05/17/9483121- sun.html

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR BIG BEN. has a Meccano tower, Rome a dilapidated stadium and New York a tall, green Frenchwoman holding a torch. What the choice of these symbols reveals about the national character of the French, the Italians and the Americans— well, the New Yorkers — is open to question. On the other hand, London has a clock tower and everybody thinks that’s quite appropriate. That said, every - body also thinks that Big Ben is the nickname of the four-faced chiming clock lodged in the 96-metre (310-foot) tower in Parliament Square, or even the tower itself, when in fact Big Ben is the 14-ton hour bell inside the clock. The origins of the nickname are unknown. Some say the bell

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 77 was named after the 1850s heavyweight boxer Ben Caunt while others say it was named after Sir Benjamin Hall M.P., the commissioner of works who was responsible for ordering the bell. But the real name of the bell, which turned 150 on 31 May, is a mouthful: ‘The Hour Bell of the Great Clock at Westminster’. At any rate, it looks like it’s too late to set the record straight, as most people today refer to the clock or the bell indifferently as Big Ben. The keeper of the clock, Mike McCann, says that the clock is a piece of Victorian engineering which will last for hun - dreds of years. ‘It is clockwork,’ he adds. ‘A lot of people seem to think that it’s some sort of electronic clock but it’s entirely clockwork, driven by weights which need winding. So the main maintenance work really is winding it three times a week, oiling it and keeping it accurate.’ The clock’s hour hands are made of gun metal and weigh 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The minute hands, originally made of cast iron, were too heavy and would not work. Lighter hands made of copper sheet were substituted and the clock started working on 31 May 1859. Inscribed in the clock is a Latin phrase which translated into English reads: ‘O Lord, save our Queen Victoria the First.’ The bell was cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry Whitechapel Bell Foundry on 10 April 1858 and first rung on 11 July 1859. The Fo undry is still open for business in the same building in the Whitechapel Road where it has stood since 1738. Its pres - ent owner, Alan Hughes, is the fourth-generation Hughes at its helm. Besides tower bells, the Foundry makes house bells, hand bells, horse bells and table bells. It also made the 18th-century Liberty Bell, which, rather unexpectedly, cracked. Mr Hughes conducts tours of the Foundry which must be booked well in advance. When we say well in advance, we mean well in advance. The tours are now booking for October and beyond. Whitechapel Bell Foundry, 32-34 Whitechapel Road, London E1, tel. 020 7247 2599, website www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk. Tours cost £10 per person, at 10am and 2pm, usually on two Saturdays a month (over-14s only). The shop opens weekdays from 9am to 4.15pm selling everything from miniature hand bells (£2) to bell bookends (£60). Tell them Ripperologist sent you.

Sophie Campbell Big Ben: For whom the bells toll Daily Telegraph , London, UK, 22 May 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/5367022/Big-Ben-For-whom-the-bells-toll.html Time marches on for iconic Big Ben — CNN, 31 May 2009 http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/31/big.ben.anniversary/ Big Ben marks 150th anniversary BBC, London, UK, 22 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8075833.stm

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 78 HOLD THAT POSE, MR RIPPER. Artists are known for finding inspiration in unexpected quarters. Jack the Ripper and his victims have often been the subject of paintings and drawings showing the ruthless killer at his grisly work and the ill-fated women who crossed his path in the dead of night. Now it’s the turn of the Yorkshire Ripper and his hapless impersonator Wearside Jack. Yorkshire-born artist Harland Miller has based a series of large paintings on the billboard information used by the police when trying to catch the Ripper back in 1978. At the time the police believed that the letters and tapes sent to them were from the Ripper himself when in fact they were from John Humble, a.k.a. Wearside Jack, who was jailed for eight years in March 2006 for his responsibility for the hoax. The poster that inspired Miller used samples of handwriting from the letters, a phone number to call to listen to the message left with the police and a number to report information to the police. Miller remembered seeing the posters everywhere at the time of the crimes. After the Ripper had been caught he saw the fragments of a poster left on John Humble a wall. ‘If I hadn’t known about the original posters,’ he said, ‘I would never have recog - nised them or thought twice, but it was when I saw these fragments that I got the idea. I’m not interested in serial killers per se , but it was like a collage of that whole time which I am interested in, and, as well as writing about it I always wanted to make some artwork from it, too. I’ve always liked the weathered look of things.’ In order to recre - ate the posters, Miller had to copy Wearside Jack’s handwriting. ‘There was something eerie about that,’ he said. Miller’s paintings will be at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK, until 19 July.

Marissa Carruthers Hunt for Wearside Jack inspires artist Sunderland Echo , Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK, 25 May 2009 http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/Hunt-for-Wearside-Jack-inspires.5299583.jp

VOTE RIPPER. Jim Kouri, a vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, has assembled a series of personality traits common to several professions on the basis of his law enforcement experience and data drawn from the FBI’s behavioural analysis unit. In his study Kouri points out that such traits as superficial charm, an exag - gerated sense of self-worth, glibness, lying, lack of remorse and manipulation of others are common to psychopath - ic serial killers - criminals who are psychologically capable of committing their crimes free of any concern for social, moral or legal consequences and with absolutely no remorse. ‘Ironically,’ Kouri observes, ‘these same traits exist in men and women who are drawn to high-profile and powerful positions in society including political officeholders.’ He adds: ‘While many political leaders will deny the assessment regarding their similarities with serial killers and other career criminals, it is part of a psychopathic profile that may be used in assessing the behaviors of many offi - cials and lawmakers at all levels of government.’

Oh-oh! Politicians share personality traits with serial killers: Study. Andrew Malcolm Top of the Ticket Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles, CA, USA, June 2009.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 79 LEARNED JACK. ‘If you see Jack the Ripper who wear a silk jacket with fake decoration, please stay away from them. It is rare to find a real lawyer from the UK or USA will come to work in Pattaya… In the land of tolerance, you must be wise like a serpent but harmless like a dove as we always say “Caveat Emptor”. ‘The only protection you may have from Jack the Ripper is only your wisdom.’ Thai Solicitors Ponthep and Darunee Werachon complaining about the high numbers of foreigners who work as lawyers or real estate agents in Thailand without a licence.

Jack the Ripper who jacks the whole trade Pattaya Vice Pattaya Today, Pattaya, Thailand, 2 June 2009 http://www.pattayatoday.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=6012

TALIBAN TALLY ME BANANA. ‘Like many impressive words and expressions that are of late enriching the English lan - guage, ‘ground-reality’ too is a new addition to our vocabulary — an expression coined for use as an alibi for the inefficiency and misdeeds of governments all over the world… ‘But the question does come to mind as to who created this ground reality — the reality of the longhaired, black- turbaned bloody brigade in the first place? Then, there is also the mind boggling question of the government nego - tiating and entering into a peace treaty with the Taliban — the ground reality being they were in the business of slit - ting throats and were the followers of Jack the Ripper. Was there a different ground reality when the government tried to make friends with them from what it was when the army went after them and started consigning them to you know where?’

Ground reality It’s All About Pakistan , Faisalabad, Pakistan, June 2009

JACK THE RIPPER REVEALED. The relationship between Jack the Ripper and the press was the subject of the first of six 60-minute documentary films for Five’s Revealed strand: Lion Television’s Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer , watched by 1.1 million people in Channel 5 on 24 June. Kelvin Mackenzie, a former editor of the Sun , re-examines the Ripper murders, presenting new documentary evidence and pointing the finger at a different kind of suspect: the journalists who allegedly faked evidence, printed lies and misled the police in order to keep the Ripper story on the front pages. Lion Television says: ‘As a former red-top

Kelvin Mackenzie on the trail of Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer Editor, Kelvin is familiar with the adage, “If it bleeds it leads”, but even he is astounded by the lengths the great-grandfathers of tabloid journal - ism were prepared to go to boost their circula - tion figures.’ Mr Mackenzie has recourse to histo - rians, current newspaper journalists, a top foren - sic pathologist, a graphologist and Andrew Cook, the author of the controversial Jack the Ripper, to help him separate ‘the shocking facts from the newspaper fiction’. Indeed, Tabloid Killer seems to spring from Cook’s book, in whose cover it was described as ‘a major documentary’. Following Cook, Mr Mackenzie names Star journalist Frederick Best as the author of the ‘Dear Boss’ letter and ‘the man who invented

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 80 “Jack The Ripper”’. Yet we note that, in addition to the many doubts and questions raised about the claims in and omissions from Cook’s book and the television documentary, reviewed respectively in Ripperologist 103 and in the current issue, author and researcher Stewart P Evans has observed on JTR Forums (http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=6576 ) that the all-important letter from John Brunner to Henry Massingham on which Best’s identification is largely based has the name typed below the signature ‘John J. Brunner’, whereas Brunner’s name was in fact ‘John T(omlinson) Brunner’. In TV Scoop’s 10 Things You Must Watch This Week (Monday 22 June — Friday 26 June) , Tabloid Killer made Number 7. TV journalist Paul Hirons commented: ‘As odious as Kelvin Mackenzie is (and he is, very) TV people still get him to front TV shows like this. This does sound interesting, however, as Gobshite himself takes a look at the press’s influence in creating the myth of Jack the Ripper.’ Other films in the Revealed series will be The Real Goldfinger , which suggests the James Bond story could have been based on wartime plans by the Germans to attack the Bank of England; Britain’s Nazi King , which asserts that Edward VIII, later the duke of Windsor, maintained contact with Hitler during the Second World War; The Da Vinci Shroud , which hints that Leonardo Da Vinci may have been responsible for the Turin Shroud; Head-Shrinkers of the Amazon , which explores whether heads are still shrunk nowadays in jungle backwaters; and Blackbeard’s Last Stand , which investigates the discovery of what could be the sanguinary pirate’s ship.

TV ratings: Channel Five's Revealed lures 1 million, guardian.co.uk, London, UK, 25 June 2004. Jack the Ripper heads Five’s Revealed strand Jon Rogers Broadcast , London, UK, 4 June 2009 http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/jack-the-ripper-heads-fives-revealed-strand/5002109.article Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer Lion Television, London, UK. http://www.liontv.com/London/Productions/Jack-the-Ripper—-Tabloid-Killer TV Scoop , London, UK, 22 June 2009 http://www.tvscoop.tv/2009/06/10_things_you_m_33.html Jack the Ripper Andrew Cook Reviews Ripperologist No. 103 (June 2009).

CLOSING TIME IN THE GARDENS OF THE WEST — AND THE EAST, NORTH AND SOUTH. In an article reviewing that charming summer institution, the beer garden, Chloe Scott-Moncrieff has listed the ten best beer gardens in London. East End entry The Water Poet, located at 9-11 Folgate St, The Water Poet, Wentworth Street. E1 6BX. near Spitalfields Market, tel. 020 7426 0495, web - site www.waterpoet.co.uk, checks in at number three, after The Eagle and the Imbibe Bar. Says Miss Scott- Moncrieff of the Poet: ‘The garden: An enclosed suntrap next to Spitalfields market with plants quaintly climbing up white washed walls and canvas parasols making it all feel a little bit Med.’ She adds: ‘The vibe: Bohemian, shabby-chic and a bit trendy… ’ and concludes: ‘The booze: London Pride and ESB for proper ale, the usual draught lagers (Becks, Leffe, Stella) and wines.’ Now you know what to do

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 81 next time you visit the East End and don’t feel like going to The now it neglects its Ripper heritage. The remaining entries in the beer garden list are The Pilot Inn in Greenwich, The Ship in Wandsworth, The Hawley Arms in Camden, The Fence in Farringdon , the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping, The Falcon in Clapham North and the Grand Union in Brixton. Tell them Ripperologist sent you.

Top 10 London Beer Gardens: The Eagle, Hawley Arms and The Water Poet are among London’s best Chloe Scott-Moncrieff Metrolife , 5 June 2009 http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/food_and_drink/article.html?Top_10_London_beer_gardens&in_article_id=6798 30&in_page_id=9

STEP ON IT, JACK. ‘Trying to put a green halo on this ultimate gas guzzler is like giving Jack the Ripper a medal for taking a night off.’ Environmentalist observer Fred Pierce commenting on Italian sports car maker Lamborghini’s announcement that it intends to cut 35% from the carbon dioxide emissions of its cars by 2015 in the light of the high CO2 emissions of such Lamborghini cars as the Murcielago.

Lamborghini emits some V12-powered nonsense Environment. Fred Pierce’s Greenwash. Exposing false environmental claims. guardian.co.uk, London, UK, 11 June 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/lamborghini-murcielago-greenwash

FROM COUNT TO KNIGHT. Christopher Lee, the English actor who became famous playing Count Dracula in a string of films made by Hammer Horror between the fifties and the seventies, was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his contribution to the arts. Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ, to give him his full name, was born on 27 May 1922 and has appeared in over 220 films since 1948. In his early years as an actor he played villains and supernatural characters including, besides Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, Rasputin, the Mummy and Fu Manchu. Later roles included Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973), Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Rochefort in The Three Musketeers (1974), Count Dooku in the Star Wars series and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Sir Christopher also played Sherlock Holmes, Holmes’s brother Mycroft and Henry Baskerville. According to him, however, his most important role was his portrayal of Pakistan‘s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998). Often described as ‘legendary’, Sir Christopher, who has recently turned 87, once quipped: ‘To be a legend, you’ve either got to be dead or excessively old.’ A few days after Sir Christopher was knighted, the black woollen cape he wore in the 1958 film Dracula (Horror of Dracula in America) sold for £26,400 at an auction at Bonhams in London together with a letter signed by Sir Christopher confirming the authenticity of the item and a still image of him

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 82 wearing it. The cape was one of nearly 250 lots of film and TV costumes from the theatrical costumiers Angels. Unlike Bela Lugosi, who was buried in the cape he used in Dracula , Sir Christopher had no long-term interest in his. Of all his Dracula cloaks, however, it was probably his favourite. The later ones had scarlet linings, which Sir Christopher felt gave him the air of a ‘pantomime baddie’.

Veteran horror actor Lee knighted BBC News, London, UK, 12 June 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8096881.stm Arise, Sir Dracula... and other assorted stars: Christopher Lee and Delia Smith awarded Queen’s honours Daily Mail London, UK, 13 June 2009 Lee Dracula cape sells at auction BBC News, London, UK, 16 June 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8101639.stm Diary Mandrake Weekly Telegraph, London, UK, 18 – 24 June 2009

MORE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS. East Londoners named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours include hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, 81, who was awarded a CBE. Sassoon grew up in Whitechapel and did his apprenticeship with Adolph Cohen in the Whitechapel Road. In the post-War years he was Vidal Sassoon active in the anti-Fascist 43 Group. In the Swinging Sixties he became one of London’s trendsetters with his multi-million pound hairdressing and shampoo-and-conditioner marketing empire. The Bishop of London and former Bishop of from 1992 to 1995, the Right Reverend Richard Chartes, was appoint - ed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. OBE awards were granted to Jenny Barraclough from Limehouse for her award-winning documentary films, to Dr Elizabeth Sidwell from Leytonstone, chief executive of Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation, for services to education, and to Rokhsana Fiaz from Forest Gate, director of the Change Institute, for services to black and minor - ity ethnic people. CBE awards went to Syeda Begum for services to the Bengali and Somali community in Tower Hamlets, Graham Zellick, former principal of London University’s Queen Mary College in Mile End and chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, Alwen Williams, chief of the Tower Hamlets NHS Care Trust, for services to healthcare, and Nurul Islam from Whitechapel for services to the East End’s Bengali people. MBE awards went to Susanne Powlesland from Bethnal Green for vol - untary service to black and ethnic people in East London, Bernice Burton from Walthamstow for services to the NHS in East London, Natalia Dawkins of Leyton for services to vulnerable women in

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 83 London, Violet Gostling of Leytonstone for services to the community in Waltham Forest, Ian Gray of Manor Park for services to public health, Danny Lafayette from Chingford, knife crime policy adviser at the Home Office, Sally Trotter from West Ham for services to the City of London, and Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin from Gants Hill for services to the Jewish community and the Drugsline in North East London. Congratulations to them all.

Videl Sassoon ‘heads’ East London list in Queen’s Honours Julia Gregory East London Advertiser , London, UK, 13 June 2009 http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertis - er/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlon don24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED13%20Jun%202009%2000%3A01%3A2 0%3A703

ENDANGERED WHITECHAPEL. Rupert Penry-Jones, who plays a detective that solves Jack the Ripper copycat crimes in Whitechapel , an ITV television production, has stated that the second series of the show is in jeopardy because of the drop in advertising. ‘The scriptwriters are currently writing the second series,’ he has been quoted as saying. ‘Even so, we don’t know if filming will happen in the autumn, as ITV are dependent on advertising and there just isn’t any. These are difficult times and it’s a struggle for everyone. It’s all a bit worrying.’

Rupert Penry-Jones’s detective show faces grisly end — Richard Eden telegraph.co.uk , London, UK, 13 Jun 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/5526314/Rupert- Penry-Joness-detective-show-faces-grisly-end.html

Rupert Penry-Jones

SAVE ESSEXSPEAK. Local language experts have called to the rescue of the Essex accent from the Cockney onslaught. The Essex Record Office has made a CD of the dialects recorded since 1962. Office staff member Martin Astell has said Cockneys moving into the county have been diluting the ‘soft, lyrical’ dialect of Essex. Rally round the aitch, boys!

Essex Accent Weekly Telegraph, London, UK, 18 – 24 June 2009

FROM HELL OR FROM HULL? Ripperologist contributor Mike Covell has made it to the pages of the Hull Daily Mail with his theories about the links between Jack the Ripper, Hull and the East Riding. He told the Mail : ‘I first got involved the case when I visited Ferens Arts Gallery, in Hull, and they told me they had Jack the Ripper’s paintings. I did some investigating and it led me into all sorts of different areas. There have been 120 suspects who have been

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 84 involved so far and some have strong links to Hull.’ Among them are Robert or Roslyn Donston Stephenson, who was born and raised in Hull, and Frederick Bailey Deeming, who spent his honeymoon in Hull. Mike added: ‘I’m writing a book about the connections called Jack The Ripper: , From Hull. I have all the newspaper articles published round here about the case since 1888. I would like to release them as a com - plete record.’

Was Jack the Ripper from Hull? Hull Daily Mail , Hull, Yorkshire, UK, 16 June 2009 http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Jack-Ripper-Hull/arti - cle-1079694-detail/article.html Was Jack the Ripper born in Hull?

BBC News, London, UK, 17 June 2009 Mike Covell http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8106151.stm

EARLY NEWSPAPERS GO ONLINE. On 18 June 2009, the British Library launched an online research service at http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs containing over two million pages of 19th and early 20th century newspapers, part of its vast collection. The service allows users to search 49 national and regional titles, some of which, such as the Western Mail , the Northern Echo and the Glasgow Herald , are still found on the nation’s news-stands. Searches are free and downloads are available for a reasonable fee through either a 24-hour or seven-day pass. The British Library created the service in partnership with the Joint Information Systems Committee and Gale, part of Cengage Learning. Press releases on the event have underlined the wealth of information to be gleaned from the service. Maev Kennedy of mentioned that the The British Library Morning Chronicle reported on the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815: ‘Vague reports have been made of the numbers slain on both sides ... We should not quote them if our silence could prevent the spreading of disastrous intel - ligence’. Other events included the bank crisis of 1878, the first Football Association Cup final in 1872 and the triumph of the music hall star Vesta Tilley in a talent contest. Two centuries ago, on 18 June 1809, the Examiner warned of the alarming advances of the Emperor Napoleon against the Austrians. Half a century later, on 18 June 1859, the Oxford Journal reported on Palmerston’s trying to weather a political crisis in the aftermath of the Cabinet’s

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 85 resignation. Stefano Ambrogi of Reuters recalled that, under the headline Whit Monday and Drunkenness , the Penny Illustrated reported in 1874: ‘In the afternoon and evening it was impossible to walk along the streets of London without meeting drunken men - many of them inclined to be violent and disorderly.’ Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times recalled that on 9 May 1868 the Penny Illustrated printed Charles Dickens’s speech at a dinner given in his honour at the cele - brated New York restaurant Delmonico’s by the press association. Other journalists mentioned the reporting

The interior of the British Library of other events including political scandals, wars, financial disasters, economic crashes, plunging interest rates, soaring unemployment and drunken children. None of them failed to mention that among the newspapers available in the new service is the Illustrated Police News, which offers researchers full coverage of the Whitechapel murders and the (fruitless) pursuit of Jack the Ripper.

19th century newspaper pages online News, 18 June 2009 http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/19th+century+newspaper+pages+online/3218322 British Library publishes online archive of 19th-century newspapers Maev Kennedy The Guardian , London, UK, 18 June 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/18/british-library-newspaper-archive-online Read all about it: rich resource as newspapers from the past go online Martin Williams The Herald , Glasgow, UK, 18 June 2009 http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2514985.0.Read_all_about_it_rich_resource_as_newspapers_fr om_the_past_go_online.php Remember, you read it here first — centuries ago Stefano Ambrogi Reuters India , Mumbai, India, 18 June 2009 http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINTRE55H39V20090618?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 A century of British newspapers goes online Carolyn Kellogg Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles, CA, USA, 19 June 2009 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/06/a-century-of-british-newspapers-go-online.html

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 86 THE PATTER OF BIG FEET. As Father’s Day approached, columnist Francesca Biller- Safran published a heartfelt article about the importance of fathers for the harmo - nious physical and psychical development of children. And a very impressive piece it was, peppered with quotations from Mario Cuomo, Jerry Lewis, Rodney Dangerfield, Mark Twain, baseball player Harmon Killebrew, Bill Cosby and Sigmund Freud, and disturbing statistics showing that fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, suicide, poor educational per - formance, teen pregnancy, and criminality. Miss Biller- Safran added: ‘Nearly 80% of all rapists are reported to have grown up in fatherless homes. For both boys and girls, 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes as well as 75% of all adolesce nt patients in chemical abuse centers from homes with - out fathers.’ We were quite impressed and thanked our lucky stars the old man was around when we were children. Then Miss Biller-Safran took one step fur - ther: ‘For example,’ she stated, ‘here is a list of fatherless men who grew up infamous in the worst sense of the word: Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Charles Manson, John Wilkes Booth, Jack the Ripper, Billy the Kid and Lee Harvey Oswald.’ Jack the Ripper was fatherless? That would certainly explain a lot, wouldn’t it? Better luck next time, Francesca.

Fathers Matter “Now” More Than Ever Francesca Biller-Safran When did you last see your father? Hitler, Huffington Post , New York, NY, USA, 19 June 2009 Saddam and Manson, in need of role models? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francesca-billersafran/fathers-matter-now- more-t_b_218107.html

SPINAL TAP RELEASES SAUCY JACK. Spinal Tap is probably the most popular inexistent heavy-metal band of all time. American comedian Rob Reiner created it for his 1984 ‘mockumentary’ This is Spinal Tap , which he aimed at rock ‘n’ roll excesses and general cluelessness. Yet, instead of vanishing after the joke had worn off, the band keeps resurfacing periodically. Indeed, Spinal Tap is back right now with its first new album after 1992’s Break Like the Wind and a one-off ‘world tour’. The members of the band are David St. Hubbins, a tall, British-sounding singer whose real name is Michael McKean, bassist Derek Smalls, actually named Harry Shearer, and lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, ditto Christopher Guest. Although all three are excellent musicians, they are first and foremost actors. Their new album, Back From the Dead , was recorded in January in Los Angeles and released in June on the band’s Label Industry Records, with 19 tracks, a DVD interview disc and a foldout diorama of the musicians as action figures. Among the newer songs is Warmer Than Hell , a climate change anthem written for the band’s performance at the Live Earth concert in 2007, where St. Hubbins introduced the lyrics: “Satan sat in Surrey / Sweating like a pig. / He said, “Is this just a fluke / Or maybe

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 87 something big?”’ The trio plans a one-night-only ‘world tour’ at London’s Wembley Stadium on 30 June. The Spinal Tap experience now extends to players of the Rock Band video game. Four songs, including the previous - ly unavailable Saucy Jack from their unfinished musical about Jack the Ripper, became available to download for use in the game in June.

Spinal Tap isn’t tapped out yet Steve Appleford Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles, CA, USA, 22 June 2009 http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et- spinaltap22-2009jun22,0,1223496.story

JAWS THE RIPPER. The protagonist of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s musical play The Threepenny Opera is Mack the Knife, a notorious gang-leader and stone-cold killer who treads the back alleys of London years after his alleged model, Jack the Ripper. In the song that opens the play, The Ballad of Mack the Knife , Brecht and Weill further compare Mack to anoth - er kind of deadly predator: the shark. What once could have seemed merely metaphoric has now proved to be prophetic. A study appearing this month in the Journal of Zoology , published by the Zoological Society of London, has con - cluded that sharks and serial killers possess analogous refined hunting skills. The authors of the study, entitled Hunting Patterns and Geographic Profiling of White Shark Predation , are R. Aidan Martin, of the Zoology Department, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Neil Hammerschlag, of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA; and Dr Kim Rossmo, of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation, Department of Criminal Justice, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, TX, USA. And if Rossmo’s name sounds familiar, it’s for good reasons: Rossmo, a former beat cop in Vancouver, is the developer of geographic pro - filing, a criminal investigation tool used to track a connected series of crimes and determine the most probable area for a criminal offender’s res - idence or anchor point. Besides being used in a number of police investigations, geographic pro - filing has been applied to studies of the foraging behaviour of bats and bumblebees, the spread of

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 88 infectious diseases in Africa and the structure of terror - ist cells in the Middle East. A few years ago, Martin, a Canadian shark researcher who has since died, read a thriller describing geograph - ic profiling and asked Rossmo to help him apply the criminal investigation tool to the study of shark behav - iour. In criminal investigations, a series of linked crimes — usually murder, rape or arson - is used to determine the rough location of the perpetrator’s ‘anchor point’, most often a home or place of work. Serial killers, rapists and arsonists tend to operate within a confined area round the anchor point. Police aware of a crimi - nal’s location can concentrate on suspects who live or work within certain areas. When they started to apply geographic profiling principles to these new predators, the researchers found that the parallels between sharks and serial killers were many. ‘They both have the same objective, which is to find a target or prey or victim,’ said Rossmo. ‘They have to lurk. They want to be effi - cient in their search.’ ‘They must use known travelling routes,’ added Hammerschlag. ‘For human killers, these would be things like subways, buses and freeways. For great whites, these would include channels, reef edges and other topographical features.’ There are, however, notable differences between them. Unlike serial killers, the sharks attack to feed and survive. The researchers examined location data from 340 predatory interactions between white sharks and their prey, fur seals, at Seal Island in South Africa, and plotted these attack sites using a radar chart to examine the distribu - tion of the encounters and noting where the sharks began and ended their attacks. They found that sharks did not attack at random, but stalked specific victims, lurking out of sight in an anchor point or search base located at some 100 metres from their victims and a water depth of around 25 metres. ‘As predators’, said Hammerschlag, ‘they must get close enough to check out prey and figure out their movements, but they also must be far enough away so that they themselves won’t be easily tracked.’ A deep-water starting point permits momentum, ‘allowing the shark to build up enough speed to initiate the attack.’ Oddly enough, the sharks did not choose a base of operations where prey density was greatest but attacked at strategic locations that offered a balance of prey detection, capture rates and inter-shark competition. The study also showed that sharks may refine their search patterns with experience and learn to concentrate hunting efforts in locations with the highest probability of successful prey capture. Large adult sharks had very focused anchor points from which they repeatedly launched their offensives, while younger, smaller sharks exhibit - ed less focused search patterns and were less successful hunters, perhaps because larger sharks excluded them from the best areas. As many of the features of this system are common to other instances of foraging, the conclusions of the study and the approach employed in it may have implications and applications for understanding how large predators hunt and for studying other predator–prey systems.

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 89 http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour - nal/122462617/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Geographic Profiling Works: Great White Sharks’ Hunting Skills As Refined As Jack The Ripper’s. ScienceDaily, . Retrieved 23 June 2009. http://www.sciencedaily.com /release/2009 /06/090621195618.htm Eureka! Science News , , QC, Canada, 21 June 2009 http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009 /06/21/from.jack.ripper.great.white.shark s Great whites hunt just like Jack the Ripper Seth Borenstein, Temple Daily Telegram , Temple, TX, USA, 22 June 2009 http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2009/6/22/58771 Great White Sharks Hunt Like Serial Killers Anyone got a can opener? Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News , 22 June 2009 http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/22/shark-attacks.html Sharks just like sea-rial killers Leon Watson, Sun , London, UK, 21 June 2009 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2492911/Sharks-just-like-sea-rial-killers.html

Loretta Lay Books Over 200 Jack the Ripper and associated titles on the website Baron/Shone Sickert Paintings, hbdw £75 Barry (John Brooks) The Michaelmas Girls , hb/dw £25 Beadle (William) Jack the Ripper: Anatomy of a Myth , new, hb/dw, signed £12 Beadle (William) Jack the Ripper Unmasked , new, hb/dw, signed £15 Cook (Andrew) Jack the Ripper , new, hb/dw, signed £18 Eddleston (John J.) Jack the Ripper An Encyclopedia , h/b £50 Edwards (Ivor J.) Jack the Ripper's Black Magic Rituals , softcover, 1st edn. signed £20 Evans/Rumbelow Jack the Ripper Scotland Yard Investigates , new, hb/dw, signed labels £20 MAIL ORDER ONLY Fox (Richard) The History of the Whitechapel Murders , softcover, Facsimile edn. £20 24 Grampian Gardens, Griffiths (Major Arthur) Mysteries of Police and Crime (Special Edn.) 3 vols. h/b £85 London NW2 1JG Hinton (Bob) From Hell.... new ,p/back, signed, label £15 Tel 020 8455 3069 Hudson (Sam'l E.) Compiled by: "Leather Apron" or the Horrors of Whitechapel London , 1888, Facsimile edn. £20 www.laybooks.com Jones (Christopher) The Maybrick A to Z , new, softcover, signed £15 £125 [email protected] Logan (Guy B.H.) Masters of Crime (includes the 'Ripper' murders) h/b Muusmann (Carl) Hvem Var Jack the Ripper? p/back, insc. by Adam Wood to Wilf Gregg £60 Odell (Robin) Jack the Ripper in Fact & Fiction , hb/dw, inscribed by Robin Odell to Wilf Gregg £70 Palmer (Scott) Jack the Ripper. A Reference Guide h/b £25 Raper (Michell) Who Was Jack the Ripper? limited edn. booklet, numbered 94/100 £75 Russo (Stan) The Jack the Ripper Suspects, hb £30 Smithkey III (John) Jack the Ripper. The Inquest of the Final Victim Mary Kelly, softcover £30 Wolff (Camille) Compiled by: Who Was Jack the Ripper? hb/dw, reprint, with 16 signatures some labels £130

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 90 Reviews

Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer — Revealed Five, Wednesday, 24 June. 45 mins. Presented by Kelvin Mackenzie, narrated by Michelle Collins, programme consultant Andrew Cook, Produced and directed by Nicki Stoker

T.P. O’Connor wrote in his autobiography that the circulation of The Star increased dramatically as a consequence of its coverage of the Jack the Ripper murders. Elsewhere he was more specific, writing, ‘The circulation of my paper went up from something over a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand copies, and finally to a quarter of a million or more; the newspaper presses were working at feverish haste to bring out edition after edition, which were grabbed by eager crowds outside.’ Analysis does not altogether support T.P. O’Connor’s memory of events, as writer and historian Alex Chisholm has shown (see ). The newspaper certainly increased its daily sales quite phenomenally during the Ripper crimes, peak - ing at somewhere in excess of quarter of a million (on 10 September 1888), but probably averaging around 160,000 copies. Similarly, the amount of space given to reporting the Whitechapel murders doesn’t suggest that The Star saw its coverage of the murders as its key selling Andrew Cook’s book on which the pro - gramme was based. story. The space devoted to the crimes actually dropping from 0.75 of a column on 5 September to 0.5 of a column the next day. Whatever T.P. O’Connor may have written — or perhaps more importantly, whatever he meant by what he wrote — Alex Chisholm’s analysis seems to very firmly pull the rug from under the contention made in this documentary (and in Andrew Cook’s accompanying book) that The Star exploited the murders as a circulation booster. And with this foundation of the following argument gone, the edifice built upon this theory inevitably begins to crumble. Lion Television is no second-rate production company — it has a string of successful credits to its name — so one didn’t anticipate that this programme would have a poor production quality or engage in some of the silliness we’ve seen in other documentaries anxious to find new ways of presenting old facts. In this respect the programme was fairly well made, lots of shots of presenter Kelvin Mackenzie, ex-editor of The Sun , walking around the East End, and all the talking heads atmospherically shot in what looked to be 4 Princelet Street. The only naff bit was when a pathologist drew the knife wounds Jack inflicted on a victim on an actress in the old operating theatre. But apart from the relatively high production quality, the programme had little to recommend it and overall is subject to the same criticisms we levelled

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 91 at Andrew Cook’s pretty awful accompanying book. There were lots of unsubstantiated statements. Kelvin Mackenzie opined early on, “The editor [of The Star ] discovered that the more he put in about the Whitechapel murders the higher his sales went, so not unreasonably he started to think ‘what can I do to make this even more scary...’” But that was pure speculation. And other speculation was equal - ly, if not moreso, without an ounce of supporting evidence being given. ‘With their coverage of the Mary Ann Nichols murder the Star clearly demonstrated O’Connor’s scandalous disregard of the truth,’ pronounced the narrator, Michelle Collins, who went on to talk about the newspaper’s ‘fictional reports’ and ‘sensational fabrications’. That is all well and good. We have a slightly jaundiced opinion of British tabloid journalism too – The Star being an 1888 equivalent of a tabloid — but surely such serious accusations are rather reckless unless supported by some evidence; a case of Lion Television being a bit ‘pots and kettles’! A similarly questionable statement was “ The Star called their Jewish sus - pect ‘Leather Apron’, borrowing a nickname the prostitutes used to describe a particularly rough punter.” Now, where on earth did they get that one from? There were the usual talking heads, Donald Rumbelow and Stewart Evans appearing briefly — for which they are, in retrospect, probably grateful — and looking none too comfortable. As for the other ‘heads’, one got the impression that in the main they were offering generalisa - tions , an example being when a modern day crime reporter, Martin Brunt, claimed that Victorian journalists didn’t have an official work - ing relationship with the police force and had to rely on bribing cop - The ‘Dear Boss’ letter. pers for information. Is that true? On what authority was that state - ment based? One suspects that it wasn’t based on any at all. There was a fair bit of padding too, such as Kelvin Mackenzie mocking up a modern, front page Jack the Ripper headline. What a complete waste of time that was! Overall, there isn’t much else one can say about this documentary which hasn’t already been said about Andrew Cook’s book. The main claim made at the start of the programme, that the 120 year old mystery had been solved, turned out, as expected, to be a claim that the ‘Dear Boss’ letter was written by a journalist named Frederick Best. The evidence for fingering Best differed slightly from Cook’s book in that the allegation in the main rested on the letter from John Brunner, a director of The Star , to Henry Massingham, who replaced T.P. O’Connor as its editor. This letter says that Best should have been dismissed for an ‘attempt to mislead Central News during the Whitechapel murders’. “Basically this nails Best as the guy who signed himself Jack the Ripper,” said Kelvin Mackenzie, but the reality is that it doesn’t. It’s certainly interesting, it’s maybe about as close to persuasive as one can get, and without fur - ther research nothing immediately springs to mind to suggest what else Brunner could have been referring to, but there is otherwise no reason to suppose that it was a reference to ‘Dear Boss’ and to describe ‘Dear Boss’ as an

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 92 ‘attempt’ to mislead Central News, when it mislead not only Central News but the Metropolitan Police and the gen - eral public, seems something of an understatement. As with Cook’s book, no mention was made of Best’s confession to having written the Jack the Ripper letters, surely a crucial piece of confirmatory evidence, and the confirmation that Best was the author of ‘Dear Boss’ was provided by Elaine Quigley, but it’s doubtful that the similarities she noted between ‘Dear Boss’ and a sample of Best’s handwriting were as similar as she thought, and as a graphologist her ‘evidence’ will be seriously questioned. Overall, then, the programme, like Cook’s book, may have identified the author of ‘Dear Boss’, but the claim that T.P. O’Connor knew about, sanctioned and even wrote a draft of the letter is very far from proven, as is the claim that The Star manipulated reports of the Ripper and invented stories all for the sake of increasing its circulation.

The Lodger Simon Baker, Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Shane West, Donal Logue. Written and directed by David Ondaatje PAL (Region 2), NTSC Region 1 1 disc. Classification 15 Sony Home Pictures Entertainment 91 minutes £19.99 — But the cheapest price we’ve seen is £7.73 (inc postage) from The Hut

The Lodger had a very brief theatrical release in the , but we don’t recall that it ever hit cinemas in the UK or, indeed, anywhere else. When you watch it you’ll know why. The Lodger is an all-time classic story — a series of gruesome murders are being committed and Mrs Bunting slowly begins to suspect that her lodger is the killer. Well done, the tension should mount as Mrs Bunting’s suspicions grow, as she then questions and doubts them and then gradually realises that she was right. Alfred Hitchcock made a movie from the story starring Ivor Novello, and it is a movie classic, and the John Brahm version with Laird Cregar in the title role was memorable too.. This version will be remembered, if it is remembered at all, because writer and director David Ondaatje took such a superb plot and managed to produce an inept, talentless, pedestrian, dull and plodding script. There’s a very good cast head by Alfred Molina, who is usually good in everything he does, but seemed (perhaps unsurprisingly) uncomfortable in his role as detective Chandler Manning, who is usually good in everything he does, but seemed (perhaps unsurprisingly) uncomfortable in this role. Simon Baker, perhaps best known to TV audiences as Patrick Jane in The Mentalist, is a charmingly creepy lodger; he is odd in many ways, not the least because he claims to have burned his trousers while trying to dry them on the barbecue — you know, like you do. And Hope Davis is good as the troubled Mrs Bunting, who is a bit weird herself, not the least because she accepts that people dry their trousers on barbecues. Writer Ondaatje has taken Mrs Belloc Lowndes’ classic and transferred it to modern day West Hollywood, Los Angeles, but instead of building up the claustrophobic tension of the Bunting household, he focuses instead on detec - tive Chandler Manning. This produces a plotline that’s pretty standard fare in TV movies and crime drama series: a series of horrific murders are being committed which have the same or similar MO to murders committed years ear - lier, and as a pattern emerges and public tension mounts, the police race against time to stop the death toll from

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 93 mounting. Also, it usually emerges somewhere in such a plot that the killer has issues with the leading policeman, so the hunt becomes personal. And, of course, it is obligatory that the lead detective is in conflict with his boss, the FBI, or some other figure of authority, and at some point becomes a suspect himself and only wins through because he’s trusted by his faithful sidekick. The Lodger throws in all that, plus the murderer is copying the Jack the Ripper crimes, Mrs Bunting is a nutter, as we are not-so-subtly told by her husband’s frequent reminders to take her medication. Detective Chandler Manning also has consuming marital problems — his wife can’t bear the sight of him and has hysterics when he comes near — and his cop partner is gay. This script, which is like a gravy to which more and more flour is added until it becomes a thick sludge, could be attributed to the inexperience of writer and director Ondaatje, who has only directed two previous feature films, both of which were undistinguished. Or it could simply be that he utterly failed to understand what made Belloc Lowndes’ story so good. The Lodger needs a skilled pen with a deft touch, but this script could have been written over a drunken lunch by a committee whose members each had their own idea about the way the movie should go. Not only was the storyline too ‘busy’, the dialogue was lumpen , the psychology was laughable, and the grip on reality was rather loose — not only does attempting to dry one’s trousers on a barbecue apparently sound to Ondaatje like a plausible explanation for burning them, he also thinks a newspaper would publish on its front page a life-size picture of a boot print found at the murder scene. The photography wasn’t at all bad and the film opened very promisingly with the police viewing a gruesomely murdered body in a downpour, but the promise soon faded as Ondaatje introduced cinematographic techniques like speeded-up traffic and scudding clouds — there was no apparent reason for this, and again it broke the tension. Or, rather, it would have done so if there had been any tension to break. And that’s really the downfall of this movie: The Lodger has a good cast and it’s fairly well made, but the script is utterly devoid of tension and suspense, the two things which are the foundation on which Belloc Lowndes’ story is built. Not even the actors, who are certain - ly of a calibre capable of lifting a duff script, could do much to save this. Finally, the Ripper: well, as said, the murderer is supposed to be copying the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888, but as you will probably have already guessed, the murders actually bear little or no resemblance to the Ripper crimes, even the sequence of the murders being incorrect. One point of interest, though, is that when hunting down information about Jack the Ripper, the detectives download information from Casebook: Jack the Ripper!

The Autumn of Terror A screenplay by Justin Dombrowski

A book review is relatively easy to write, as is one for a movie or stage play, because of that old computer acronym WYSIWYG— what you see is what you get. That is, a book or movie or play is a finished product and unless, in the case of a film or play, there is a remake, they are as good—or bad—as they are going to be. That is not the case, however, with a screenplay. To begin with, words on paper, however many staging directions may be included, can serve only as a pale approximation of what things will look like on the silver screen. Moreover, without actual actors to give life to the dialogue and suggested emotions, read - ing a screenplay requires a good deal of imagination and the

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 94 reader’s imagination may well be at variance with that of the director and actors involved. Thus, we were a bit uncertain when asked recently by Justin Dombrowski to review his screenplay. Dombrowski is a young (and by young we mean he has two more months as a teenager) criminal-justice student living in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. And it should be mentioned immediately that while Dombrowski is also very much a student of Jack the Ripper. His fidelity to the facts of the case is laudable, maintaining a standard of verisimilitude far greater than most mass-audience documentaries on the subject, while still weaving a plausible story. To be sure, there are some changes of recorded facts, such as bringing Inspector Abberline into the investigation of the Whitechapel murders somewhat sooner than happened and assigning a probably greater role to than he warranted, but the former, at least, is justified by the storyline. Abberline plays the lead role in the story and there is an interesting sub-plot involving the Inspector and his wife. But, unlike some Ripper films, Abberline craves neither cocaine nor Mary Jane Kelly—the two loves in his life are his wife and his job, which are often in con - flict. There are a few other niggling elements that seem out of place. Certainly, there are far more bashing of heads with truncheons by constables than the real Metropolitan police would have been allowed to inflict without impas - sioned debates in Parliament and we rather doubt Inspector Abberline would have carried a revolver, far less dis - charged one into the air. But, since Dombrowski’s chief market will be Hollywood, he may be justified in pandering to American producers and their desire for rough and tumble action. Indeed, while reading the screenplay we were struck by how little real action there was in the real Ripper drama. Except for the few brief, frenzied moments of the murders there was little going on beyond foot-slogging patrols and knocking on doors. Thus, the author is likely justified in using the pursuit and arrest of Squibby by Dew. It was entirely peripheral to the Whitechapel murders but it does provide a few on-screen minutes of mayhem and excite - ment. In the same way, Dombrowski would have been forgiven had he written in a scene of the drunken Eddowes imitating a fire engine. Almost assuredly didn’t happen, but it would have been a fun scene nonetheless. Also to his credit, Dombrowski eschews the hackneyed Ripper emerging from a fog wearing a top hat and carry - ing a black Gladstone bag. But, as we have said, he is a serious student of the Ripper crimes and should it become a movie (and isn’t totally rewritten) other students of the crimes will likely be quite pleased by its overall adher - ence to the story as we know it. On the other hand, we were disappointed that the victims were simply “extras” so to speak and that Dombrowski did not really pick a Ripper from the card deck of suspects. We would have liked to see some development of the victims as people, even if the screenplay’s focus was Abberline and the police investigation. That said, though, the verisimilitude alone of the screenplay makes it a worthy effort and we do hope some producer picks it up for film - ing—and we imagine Justin hopes so a lot more than we..

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 95 A Ripperologist’s Bookshelf

Welcome to “A Ripperologist’s Bookshelf”, a new feature of Ripperologist mag - azine. Because repeated surveys have shown that the joy of reading is shared by most of the members of our community, we thought it would be fun to share our thoughts on some of our favourite (and not so favoured) books. Jennifer Shelden, our managing editor, has volunteered to start off the feature but we are hopeful that in future months many of our readers will also share their thoughts on books—both Ripper books and those books that have meant something in their lives.

In the hot seat this month … Jennifer Shelden

What is your favourite non-fiction book of all time?

Why Children Fail by John Holt. I used to be quite into education issues so I had heard of the book and wanted to read it. I eventually I got it from my library and later I managed to buy a copy. This book moved me and I will always hold it high on my favourite books’ list I’m sure.

What is your favourite fiction book of all time?

Shelter by Chaz Brenchley. I love all of Chaz Brenchley’s thrillers, but Shelter was my favourite.

Who is your favourite author?

This is a hard one, like picking your favourite child I suspect, but if you are going to twist my arm I guess my favourite author is Jean Plaidy.

Do you remember your first Jack the Ripper book?

It was the Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper; we all have to start somewhere!

Ripperologist 104 July 2009 96 What is your favourite Jack the Ripper book?

At the moment I would probably pick Scotland Yard Investigates by Evans and Rumbelow; not only did I enjoy it but also it’s well written and current.

What was the last book you read?

Race Against Myself — my Story by Dwain Chambers, the disgraced British runner.

What book in your collection do you consider a ‘prize gem’ for whatever reason?

An Astral Bridegroom by Robert James Lees because Robert is my favourite Victorian who is not related to me! And, it is nice to have a book written by my research subject.

What book, any category, do you find yourself coming back to?

I don’t know if I have one, but if I wanted to sound intellectual I would pick The Ultimate Sourcebook by Stewart P Evans and Keith Skinner.

Have you ever given up on a book before reading it completely?

Yes, The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. I borrowed it from the library when the film came out and never finished it.

Was there a book from childhood or your teens that really changed your life?

Alfie Gets In First by Shirley Hughes. This book taught me to love to read.

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Ripperologist 104 July 2009 97 Bishopsgate police station 2009. The Swiss Re Tower (aka The Gherkin) in the background indicates the vicinity of Mitre Square. The present building dates from 1939.

48 West Square, Southwark, home to Tom Merry — Photograph Adam