October, the Month When Nothing Happened
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
October/November 2017 No. 158 KARL COPPACK looks at October, the month when nothing happened JOE CHETCUTI MADELEINE KEANE NINA and HOW BROWN Exclusive on Francis The riotous career of The American Actor who Tumblety’s final days Chicago May sought to catch the Ripper while dressed in women’s JONATHAN MENGES JAN BONDESON clothes The death of the More from the first Mrs. Crippen Casebook of a Murder THE LATEST BOOK REVIEWS House Detective Ripperologist 118 January 2011 1 Ripperologist 158 October/November 2017 EDITORIAL: CASE CLOSED? Adam Wood A NUN’S LETTER Joe Chetcuti OCTOBER 1888: THE MONTH WHERE NOTHING HAPPENED Karl Coppack CONNECTIVE TISSUE: BELLE ELMORE, H.H. CRIPPEN AND THE DEATH OF CHARLOTTE BELL Jonathan Menges CHICAGO MAY DUIGNAN, THE QUEEN OF CROOKS Madeleine Keane A RICHMOND HORROR STORY and HUSBAND MURDER AT BATTERSEA Jan Bondeson DRAGNET! PT 2 Nina and Howard Brown VICTORIAN FICTION: LET LOOSE By Mary Cholmondeley 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. 158, October/November 2017, including the compilation of all materials and the unsigned articles, essays, news reports, reviews and other items are copyright © 2017 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 158 October/November 2017 Editorial Case Closed? ADAM WOOD EXECUTIVE EDITOR Executive Editor Adam Wood EDITORS Gareth Williams Eduardo Zinna linked with the 1996 murders of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, and the attack on As I write this, news has broken that imprisoned serial killed Levi Bellfield has been EDITOR-AT-LARGE behind bars in February 2008 for killing Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange and Jonathan Menges elder daughter, Josie, who miraculously survived. Bellfield had been sentenced to a life the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. Two years later he was charged and convicted of REVIEWS EDITOR the abduction, rape and murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler, and since then has been linked Paul Begg with numerous other unsolved attacks dating from 1990. COLUMNISTS Nina and Howard Brown might perhaps not be unusual, were it not for the fact that Michael Stone had already been David Green That Bellfield has been suspected as being the murderer of Lin and Megan Russell ARTWORK forensic evidence against him, Stone’s conviction relied upon the claim of a fellow inmate, Adam Wood whotried saidand thatconvicted while Stoneof the wascrimes, on remand firstly in he 1998 had confessedand then atto athe retrial killings, in 2001. something With nohe has constantly denied. That Michael Stone has since his incarceration complained about the reliance on such a dubious assertion, it’s somewhat ironic that his lawyers have now claimed that Levi Ripperologist magazine is published six times a year and Bellfield has admitted killing Lin and Megan Russell. supplied in digital format. It is free of charge to subscribers. a manBellfield driving has, at predictably, speed from deniedthe scene confessing of the Russell all to amurders, supposed the fellow description prisoner of whomat HM Prison Wakefield, but thrown into the mix is a statement made by a witness who saw Back issues from 62-157 are available in PDF format. It will certainly be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming weeks. seems more like Levi Bellfield than Michael Stone. An index to Ripperologist The attribution of murders and other crimes to prisoners already behind bars for magazine can be downloaded from previous offences is of course nothing new, but I wonder how far the police and courts ripperologist.biz/ripindex.pdf would have gone with assigning murders to Jack the Ripper, had he been caught. To be added to the mailing list, As each case was investigated on its own merit, the Whitechapel murderer would to submit a book for review or to place an advertisement, get in touch at contact@ripperologist. “suspected”. probably have been convicted of just one killing, with the other crimes left on his file as biz. But just how victims would have been included? No doubt the police would have We welcome well-researched returned to the convicted Ripper when investigating unsolved cases such as the Torso articles on any aspect of the murders of 1887, but would they have been happy to add to the “suspected” list in order Whitechapel murders, the East to remove the “unsolved” tag from these cases? End or the Victorian era in general. 1 Ripperologist 158 October/November 2017 A Nun’s Letter By JOE CHETCUTI First of all, I would like to thank fellow Ripperologist Until this year, much of what has been known about Mike Hawley. He has kindly given me the green light Tumblety’s death at St. John’s Hospital has come from to share with the readers of this article some of the 1903 St. Louis news reports. For Ripperologists delving documentation concerning Ripper suspect Francis Tumblety which was discovered earlier this year in have been a pivotal source of information. For instance, Missouri. These documents pertain to the probate into Tumblety’s final days, those journalistic accounts when the story is told of how Tumblety broke his nose court records involving Tumblety’s estate. in a fall three days prior to his death, everybody follows One of the documents being featured today has yet closely the newspaper report of how this frail old man to appear on any internet message board. Nor will it be left his hospital room, went for a walk all by himself, got found in Mike Hawley’s upcoming book Jack the Ripper tired, sat on the front steps of the hospital and collapsed, Suspect Francis Tumblety. Ripperologist readers are causing himself a bad facial injury.1 getting the scoop on this one. We will take a look at a letter that was written shortly before Tumblety’s death by the Tumblety’s reluctance to talk with the medical staff Superioress of St. John’s Hospital in St. Louis. She mailed was also noted in the 1903 newspapers: it to Tumblety’s New York banker, Henry Clews. The letter (While at St. John’s Hospital) Dr. Tumblety refused will be shown in its entirety at the end of this article. absolutely to tell about his life or relatives.2 According to the newspaper reports, this dying man didn’t want any of his family members to know what was happening to him. The journalists made the point that the attending doctors and nurses were left in the dark by this reticent patient. But, fortunately, some Ripperologists have now seen the actual probate court testimony of the medical staff at St. John’s Hospital. This information will help us to determine if those 1903 news stories should indeed be believed. So let’s hear more about how discreet this Ripper suspect really was during his hospice days and Having read all 925 pages of the probate court let’s find out the truth about his facial injury. testimony, I can honestly say something about that old tale of how Tumblety went for a solo walk which ended in a nose-breaking fall. It is very likely that this event never 1 On 29 May 1903, the day after Tumblety’s death, both the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the St. Louis Republic reported on this story. 2 The Newark Advocate of Ohio was one of many newspapers that Henry Clews. printed this line on 30 May 1903. 2 Ripperologist 158 October/November 2017 happened. Tumblety did indeed break his nose because of a fall, but this fall did not occur after a long walk. He collapsed in his hospital room and caused his own trauma because he was trying to sleep while standing up. An attorney at the probate court brought forth a line of questioning that showed how Tumblety refused to sleep in his bed. This odd situation eventually ended with him feet. The sworn statements from members of the hospital falling to the floor after he intentionally fell asleep on his staff revealed that Tumblety fell during the night time and the attending physician declared that the incident occurred on or about Monday 25 May. As for Tumblety being a secretive man in his final weeks when it pertained to his refusal to speak about his family.