April/May 2018 No. 161 KARL COPPACK examines George Hutchinson: The Reluctant Witness JOE CHETCUTI SPOTLIGHT ON RIPPERCAST: PAUL WILLIAMS Photography and The Whitechapel Murders DANIEL HOOBERRY DAVE M GRAY VICTORIAN FICTION THE LATEST BOOK REVIEWS NINA and HOW BROWN Ripperologist 118 January 2011 1 Ripperologist 161 April / May 2018 EDITORIAL: THE BIG QUESTION Adam Wood COURTHOUSE NOTES Joe Chetcuti GEORGE HUTCHINSON: THE RELUCTANT WITNESS Karl Coppack THE STORY OF A MIS-SPENT LIFE By William Onion With an Introduction and Notes by Paul Williams Spotlight on Rippercast CAPTURING THE VICTIMS: PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS FEIGENBAUM’S DEMURE DEFENDER: HUGH OWEN PENTECOST AND JACK THE RIPPER Nina and Howard Brown I BEG TO REPORT The Victorian Kitchen FROM KETSIAP TO CATSUP TO KETCHUP Daniel Hooberry BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT Dave M Gray VICTORIAN FICTION: THE MAN OF MANY CRIMES By Guy Boothby Eduardo Zinna BOOK REVIEWS Paul Begg and David Green Ripperologist magazine is published by Mango Books (www.MangoBooks.co.uk). The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in signed articles, essays, letters and other items published in Ripperologist Ripperologist, its editors or the publisher. The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in unsigned articles, essays, news reports, reviews and other items published in Ripperologist are the responsibility of Ripperologist and its editorial team, but are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, conclusions and opinions of doWe not occasionally necessarily use reflect material the weopinions believe of has the been publisher. placed in the public domain. It is not always possible to identify and contact the copyright holder; if you claim ownership of something we have published we will be pleased to make a proper acknowledgement. The contents of Ripperologist No. 161, April / May 2018, including the compilation of all materials and the unsigned articles, essays, news reports, reviews and other items are copyright © 2018 Ripperologist/Mango Books. The authors of signed articles, essays, letters, news reports, reviews and other items retain the copyright of their respective contributions. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise circulated in any form or by any means, including digital, electronic, printed, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other, without the prior permission in writing from Mango Books. The unauthorised reproduction or circulation of agreements and give rise to civil liability and criminal prosecution. this publication or any part thereof, whether for monetary gain or not, is strictly prohibited and may constitute copyright infringement as defined in domestic laws and international Ripperologist 161 April / May 2018 Editorial The Big Question ADAM WOOD Executive Editor As everyone with even a passing interest in the Whitechapel murders knows, EXECUTIVE EDITOR there are innumerable questions surrounding the case, and not just the Adam Wood identity of the Ripper. EDITORS Did witnesses Matthew Packer and George Hutchinson lie about seeing the Gareth Williams killer? (See Karl Coppack’s article in this issue). Was Elisabeth Stride killed by the Eduardo Zinna same hand as Catherine Eddowes? How many were victims of ‘Jack the Ripper’? EDITOR-AT-LARGE Were any of the letters sent by the killer? And what was the exact wording of the Jonathan Menges REVIEWS EDITOR Many, many years ago (May 2005 in fact - I feel old!) we published a feature on Paul Begg Goulston Street graffito? COLUMNISTS Nina and Howard Brown whether the graffiti found in a doorway in Wentworth Model Dwellings, Goulston importance to the case, while Neil Bell took the opposite viewpoint. It proved to David Green beStreet a fascinating should be exercise, used as evidence.with those Howard two learned Brown gentlemen gave a defence both providingof the graffiti’s well- ARTWORK thought out arguments. You can read their conclusions here: www.casebook.org/ Adam Wood dissertations/rip-gsgdebate.html For some time we’ve been mulling over reviving this style of debate, and we’re pleased to report that this will happen from the next issue, although in a much Ripperologist magazine is shorter format. published six times a year and supplied in digital format. It is free of charge to subscribers. capture the thoughts of our Ripperological correspondents is to feature short In this age of quick-fire social media commentary, we feel the best way to Back issues from 62-160 are contributions in a new regular feature to be called The Big Question. In each issue available in PDF format on our we’ll ask a simple question on an important aspect of the case or Ripperology in website. general, and invite you, our readers, to submit a short essay of up to 500 words An index to Ripperologist with your thoughts for publication in the next edition. With a cross-section of ideas magazine can also be downloaded. presented side-by-side, we anticipate an illuminating insight into the thoughts of Ripperologists. To be added to the mailing list, to submit a book for review or to place an advertisement, get in touch at contact@ripperologist. With thisDID is mind, THE wePOLICE now inviteKNOW contributions THE IDENTITY on the OF firstTHE Big RIPPER? Question: co.uk Please send your responses to [email protected] by 10th July. We’ll We welcome well-researched make a selection of the most thought-provoking and these will appear in our next articles on any aspect of the Whitechapel murders, the East issue, when we’ll set the next poser. End or the Victorian era in general. We look forward to reading your thoughts! www.ripperologist.co.uk 1 Ripperologist 161 April / May 2018 Courthouse Notes By JOE CHETCUTI The City Hall building in New York is the oldest city continued to seek the New York spotlight, carrying out his hall in America which still conducts governmental plan in the grandest manner imaginable. When President- functions. Officially designated a National Historic elect Abraham Lincoln rode down Broadway during a Monument, it is located on a prime choice of land procession in his honor on 19 February 1861, Tumblety in lower Manhattan and has always been the center seized the opportunity to acquire further notoriety. of attention in its neighborhood. During the 19th Emerging from his place of business, he hopped aboard century, the building was the home of a judicial body his horse and brazenly joined the procession, trotting his known as the Marine Court of the City of New York. equine directly behind Lincoln’s moving barouche. The stunt understandably drew the attention of thousands of onlookers.2 But once all the attention-grabbing antics are set aside, what we had was an unabashed plaintiff who single-mindedly sought to win an upset victory against an Francis Tumblety vs The Chemical Bank was a strange old and trusted New York banking firm. case, but an alluring one. A newsman working for a periodical called The New York Evening Express thought this matter deserved extensive coverage. He brought his notepad and writing utensils with him to the Marine Court on the morning of 1 April 1861, determined to take shorthand notes of the testimonies given from the witness City Hall, New York stand. He then transcribed the shorthand writing into On 1 April 1861, shortly before the start of the American common print and had the words published in the evening Civil War, journalists gathered in that courtroom to attend newspaper. Those courthouse notes will be shared with an unusual trial. Local newspaper coverage in February our readers in this Ripperologist article. and March 1861 had alerted the public to a pending civil I could just picture Tumblety emerging from his room in the luxurious Fifth Avenue Hotel on that spring morning the Chemical Bank. The sum in dispute was only $400, and riding a horse-drawn trolley car to the City Hall lawsuit against an honorable financial institution called but the popularity of the upcoming trial had grown large building off of Broadway. Once again he was the feature owing to the presence of an eccentric plaintiff. ‘Dr’ Francis attraction in Manhattan as he prepared to do legal battle. Tumblety was a publicity seeker who had arrived in New York City four months earlier. He opened a medical Court, the Evening Express reporter wrote as fast as the When he testified on the witness stand in the Marine wind to get every word down on his pad. In this monetary explicit images in a fashion that was considered grossly office on Broadway and boldly decorated its exterior with inappropriate, thus earning himself a questionable 1 Vanity Fair reported that people who walked by Tumblety’s reputation with his new community as well as with the certain anatomical pictures.” See page 122 of Mike Hawley’s The 1 office on Broadway were “daily outraged by the exhibition of New York press. Ripper Haunts. In the weeks prior to his court date, Tumblety 2 The Charleston Daily Courier, 23 March 1861. 2 Ripperologist 161 April / May 2018 dispute, Tumblety targeted a young man, a 17-year-old brackets a few times in his article to explain a physical court named Charles Whelpley. He had originally met Whelpley action that was taking place. As for myself, I inserted bold- the previous summer in St Johns, New Brunswick, Canada. faced bracketed text into the article on some occasions for In December 1860, after spotting the lad once again, this the purpose of clarity. time in the streets of New York, he recruited the teenager into his personal employment. But by the end of that The New York Evening Express month Whelpley seemed to have had enough of his new Monday April 1, 1861 employer.