No. 124 February 2012 The Aberconway Version ADAM WOOD with a History of the Macnaghten Memorandum JOHN BENNETT on the Autobiography of James Carnac NEIL and TRACEY I’ANSON look at Jacob Levy’s asylum records DR GEOFFREY PARNELL on the riddle of the Tower of London’s Ravens Victorian Fiction from CHARLESRipperologist DICKENS 118 January 2011 1 Quote for the month “London had Jack the Ripper. Chicago had Al Capone. Medellin had its own infamous son: Pablo Escobar. At the time of his death in 1993 at age 44, Escobar was the world’s most notorious criminal. He blew up a civilian airliner, bombed the government’s security ministry, assassinated at least one presidential candidate and waged a war on the state that killed thousands, including dozens of judges and hundreds of policemen. But in the afterlife, Escobar has suddenly become something new: a tourist attraction.” Dan Molinski, In Medellín, Notorious Figure Becomes Tourist Attraction. The Wall Street Journal, 13 December 2011. Ripperologist 124, February 2012 EDITORIAL: ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR JOY EXECUTIVE EDITOR by Eduardo Zinna Adam Wood EDITORS A HISTORY OF THE MACNAGHTEN MEMORANDUM Christopher T George, by Adam Wood Gareth Williams, Eduardo Zinna THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES CARNAC EDITOR-AT-LARGE Paul Begg by John Bennett COLUMNISTS JACOB THE RIPPER? Howard Brown, Mike Covell, by Neil and Tracy I’anson Chris Scott ARTWORK RIDDLE OF THE TOWER RAVENS ALMOST RESOLVED Adam Wood by Dr Geoffrey Parnell AMAZING DOGS by Jan Bondeson CHRIS SCOTT’S PRESS TRAWL SPITALFIELDS LIFE: THE RATCLIFFE HIGHWAY MURDERS Follow the latest news at www.facebook.com/ripperologist by The Gentle Author VICTORIAN FICTION: SUBSCRIPTIONS. Ripperologist is NURSE’S STORIES published bi-monthly in PDF and by Charles Dickens Kindle formats. The cost is £12.00 for six issues. Visit our website to THE TRUTH subscribe: www.ripperologist.biz by Glen L Bledsoe BACK ISSUES. Single PDF files of issue 62 onwards are available at £2 each. 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The unauthorised reproduction or circulation of this publication or any part thereof, whether for monetary gain or not, is strictly prohibited and may constitute copyright infringement as defined in domesticRipperologist laws and international118 January agreements 2011 and give rise2 to civil liability and criminal prosecution. One for Sorrow, Two for Joy EDITORIAL by EDUARDO ZINNA There is a question that lingers in the mind of everybody who has ever heard of Jack the Ripper, and there are no prizes for guessing what it is. Who was Jack the Ripper? This is the first question we ask ourselves on learning that the Ripper really roamed the dark streets of London; this is the first question we ask ourselves on learning that his victims were not the handsome, lusty wenches that grace film posters and paperback covers but ageing, feeble women who went to their lonely death not knowing and perhaps not caring why. It is a beginner’s question, but also a youthful one; it is a question full of vigour, self-assurance and hope. We come to the Ripper case confident that its solution is at hand, that someone will soon unravel the mystery, that a long misplaced document will presently throw final and conclusive light on the old, shop-worn enigma. Almost inadvertently, we have entered Ripperworld, the murky, treacherous realm of inadequate evidence and unpersuasive theory. For many of us, there is no way out. The truth, the sad truth, is that nothing is known with any certainty about the Whitechapel murders. Between 7 August and 9 November 1888, six women were found murdered in the East End of London. It is not known whether all of them died by the Ripper’s hand or one or more fell prey to other killers. It is not known whether a single killer committed all the murders or several killers were active in the same small area of London at the same time. Some theorists assert that the murders ended in November 1888. Some claim to have found traces of the murderer in other places and at other times. No one knows who Jack the Ripper was; perhaps no one ever knew. As 1888 moved forward and the murders continued, more and more policemen worked against the clock to bring the killer to justice. But by the end of the year, when it was clear that the murders had stopped, no progress had been made in unveiling the identity of their perpetrator. In later Who was the Ripper? Unknown and unnamed in Pandora’s Box. years, some of the policemen involved in the investigation, including senior officials, made claims to the contrary. Others who were also in a position to know admitted that they had no clue as to the Ripper’s identity – and hinted that nobody did. We ask ourselves other questions. What was Jack the Ripper? Prince or pauper? Englishman or foreigner? Victim or villain? The range of suspects is remarkable: tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, rich men, poor men, beggar men, thieves – not to mention butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. The sheer number and variety of suspects obscures the fact that not only no one knew who the Ripper was, but no one knew what he was - or where to look for him. Ripperologist 124 February 2012 1 Nor does conclusive evidence pointing to a solution to the mystery exist. What remains - reports, letters, news items, post-mortem reports, photographs, sketches, published and unpublished memoirs - may keep the search for the killer alive but will not bring closure to it. In the years since the murders, documents have surfaced which have named, not the Ripper, but plausible Ripper suspects: the Macnaghten Memorandum - which makes a special appearance in the present issue of Ripperologist - the Littlechild Letter, the Swanson Marginalia. More recently, several Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch registers and ledgers listing communications received from a variety of sources emerged, long after they had been thought lost, pulped or destroyed during the Second World War. Tantalisingly, these documents contain the names of several individuals allegedly connected with the Whitechapel murders. Regrettably, the Metropolitan Police continue to resist, so far successfully, every effort to obtain full access to them. It is open to question, however, whether the information accompanying the names will move us closer to the solution of the mystery. Much has been written about the Whitechapel murders, and quite a bit of it is admirable. But alongside solid studies of the case there are books which can boast of little more than a name, a prayer and an irresistible urge to pierce the mystery. There is no need to look too far for an example. It suffices to recall what may be the most entertaining as well as the most outlandish account of the murders. A fast-moving tale of royal dalliance, high-level conspiracy and cold- blooded murder based almost entirely on the improbable stories told by an unreliable narrator, it enjoyed a brief vogue as an historical narrative and far greater popularity as the plot of films and comic books, but collapsed in the presence of systematic, critical analysis. Still, new theories about the Ripper’s identity crop up virtually every day, more often than not based on insubstantial or inexistent evidence and contentious interpretation. Which brings us to yet another question. What moves people to propose bizarre, far-fetched theories? Are they hoaxers, con artists or lunatics? Not really. Frank Kermode, the literary critic, discussed in Sense of an Ending our deep-rooted need to be rewarded with conclusions. There is a need to speak of a life’s importance in relation to time - a need in the moment of existence to be related to a beginning and to an end. Fictions of Apocalypse, of the ways in which we have imagined the end of the world, provide clues to the ways in which fictions, whose ends are consonant with origins, and in concord, however unexpected, with their precedents, satisfy our needs. Perhaps Ripper theorists, like armchair detectives, whodunit readers and crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, abhor unsolved mysteries – narratives, real or fictional, which deny us a satisfactory conclusion.