No.

122 September 2011

The Tower
of London
JOE CHETCUTI examines
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PAUL WILLIAMS on the murder of Mary Connolly
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JAN BONDESON with more Amazing Dogs
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Ripperologist 118 January 2011 1
 Quote for the month
‘BREAKING NEWS: The Oregon Ducks have new uniforms. This is synonymous with “BREAKING NEWS: Jack the
Ripper kills a woman in a dark London alley” and “BREAKING NEWS: Lady Gaga wears Belgian waffle on her
head”, but for some reason people are always intrigued by every subsequent update. Oh you people.’.’
Avinash Kunnath, Nike Pro Combat Uniforms: Photos Of Oregon’s Rumored Gear For Opener Against LSU,
SB Nation Seattle, Washington, USA, 1 August 2011.
seattle.sbnation.com/2011/8/1/2338867/nike-‐pro-‐combat-‐uniforms-‐photos-‐of-‐oregons-‐rumored-‐gear-‐for-‐opener

Ripperologist 122,
September 2011
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The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in signed articles, essays, letters and other items published in Ripperologist are those of the authors and
GRQRWQHFHVVDULO\UHÁHFWWKHYLHZVFRQFOXVLRQVDQGRSLQLRQVRIRipperologist or its editors. The views, conclusions and opinions expressed in unsigned
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Ripperologist 118 January 2011
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civil liability and criminal prosecution.
 We’re Not Going to
Stand Here and
Take it Any More
EDITORIAL by
ADAM WOOD

Less than a week after we published issue 121 of Ripperologist, London saw some of the worst
widespread destruction and violence on the country’s streets in the past 30 years. Looting, arson
and disorder eventually spread to other areas in England as people followed the lead of rioters in
Tottenham, North London, on 6 August.
The chain of events began with the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan in Ferry Lane, Tottenham, by Metropolitan Police
on Thursday, 4 August. Two days later, relatives and local residents staged a peaceful demonstration in the form of a
PDUFKIURP%URDGZDWHU)DUPWR7RWWHQKDP3ROLFH6WDWLRQ/DWHUWKDWHYHQLQJVRPHFURZGPHPEHUVVHWÀUHWRWZR
police cars, lighting the touchpaper for four days of rioting, beginning with major looting in Tottenham on Saturday, 6
$XJXVW7KHIROORZLQJHYHQLQJ(QÀHOG,VOLQJWRQ:RRG*UHHQDQG%UL[WRQVDZVHYHUHGLVWXUEDQFHVDQGKRXUVODWHU
on Monday 8 August, widespread looting, arson and violence broke out in many parts of the capital. In those four days,
ÀYHSHRSOHGLHGDQGGR]HQVZHUHLQMXUHG6RPHFULPHVZHUHFRPPLWWHGDFURVV/RQGRQZLWKDQHVWLPDWHG…
million worth of damage caused to property. By the end of the month over 2,000 people would be arrested, more than
half of whom were charged.

For those of us living here, it seemed that London

had become a lawless state. Media reported that some
residents and local businesses accused the police of
standing by as people looted their property. However,
while many felt powerless to stop the disorder, after
WKUHH GD\V RI XQUHVW VRPH /RQGRQHUV EHJDQ WR ÀJKW
back against the wave of violence.

While the media dubbed them ‘vigilantes’, the

group of Turkish shopkeepers in Stoke Newington were
more intent on defending their places of business than
taking the law into their own hands, but, armed as
they were with weapons including a rubber hose and
metal vacuum cleaner attachments, the shopkeepers
were prepared to do whatever it took: “Every man
is entitled to defend his castle and we’ll defend the
The riots in London
shop against anybody” said one. Similar scenes were
seen the following evening in Southall, where hundreds of Sikh men stood guard armed with swords, cricket bats and
hockey sticks to protect local jewellery shops and temples. The Mirror of 11 August reported that the online sale of
baseball bats had risen by 6,000% the previous day.

Sadly, three men were killed in a hit-‐and-‐run incident in Birmingham as they patrolled the streets in an attempt to
deter rioters. The driver and two passengers were remanded in custody, charged with murder.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 1

 A different kind of group were shown on television on
the evening Tuesday 9 August, as startling live footage
VKRZHGPHQZDONLQJWKHVWUHHWVRI(QÀHOGQRUWK
London, actively searching out rioters and looters.
Dean Nelson, a 33-‐year-‐old boiler technician, said:
“We’re not going to stand here and take it any more.
It’s about time we stood up -‐ not for violence but just
to stand here and show we’re not going to take it any
more.” This was echoed by comments by another of the
group, Matt Skooly: “We’ve been cheered by locals and
the police. Hopefully this is going to cap it, this is the
last of the kids coming out and wrecking stuff, we’ll
(QÀHOGYLJLODQWHV look after our own streets in a responsible way.” An
interview with a third, however, revealed more sinister
undertones: “Get the water cannons out, rubber bullets, whatever [the police] need to do to protect us. If they don’t,
this is what’s going to happen.” Watching the group on television, the feeling was that these men would be happy to
take the law into their own hands. These were true vigilantes.

7KLVJURXSIURP(QÀHOGZDVVLPLODUWRWKH:KLWHFKDSHO9LJLODQFH&RPPLWWHHDVSRUWUD\HGLQWKH79ÀOPJack the
Ripper, in which its Chairman, George Lusk, appears as a violent troublemaker.

The real Lusk would have had more in common with Abdul Jalil, owner of Deshi Fish opposite the East London Mosque
on Whitechapel Road. On 8 August, Bengali youths arriving for evening prayers at the Mosque chased more than 70
masked rioters out of the area. Jalil said: “There’s a real sense of community here, especially during Ramadan when
people look out for each other. The shutters will come down this evening but I’m going to stick around in case the
rioters come again.”

7KHSROLFHUHVSRQVHWRWKHSXEOLF·VUHVLVWDQFHZDVSUHGLFWDEOHDQGVHHPLQJO\DLPHGDWWKHPREIURP(QÀHOG'HSXW\
Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh commented: “What I don’t need is these so-‐called vigilantes, who appeared
to have been drinking too much and taking policing resources away from what they should have been doing -‐ which
is preventing the looting. These are small pockets of people. They’re frustrated, they’re angry, and that’s totally
XQGHUVWDQGDEOHWKHVXSSRUWWKDWZHQHHGLVWRDOORZWKRVHRIÀFHUVWRSUHYHQWORRWLQJDQGSUHYHQWFULPHµ

$ÀJKWEDFNZKLFKWKHSROLFHPRVWGHÀQLWHO\DSSURYHGRIZDVWKHQH[WGD\FOHDQXSRSHUDWLRQVRUJDQLVHGRQTwitter
and Facebook, which saw hundreds of residents take to their local streets with brooms and rubbish sacks. One of the
main focal points of the operations was riotcleanup.com, a website which announced meeting points and subsequent
help appeals for those shopkeepers affected most by the riots.

Another form of modern technology initially hailed as a major help in the days following the riots was face recognition.
2QOLQHJURXSVGXEEHG¶GLJLODQWHV·ERDVWHGWKDWLGHQWLÀFDWLRQFRXOGEHPDGHXVLQJDQDSSZKLFKZRXOGPDWFKIDFHVRI
rioters with Facebook photos. The app proved to be spectacularly unsuccessful. People with no involvement in the riots
were rated as 50% likely to have been involved, on the strength of their Facebook pictures alone.

5,33(52/2*,67H%22.
You can now read Ripperologist on a Kindle, Nook, Smartphone or any other eBook Reader.
If you’d like to try a sample, email us at contact@ripperologist.biz

5,33(52/2*,67,1+$5'&23<
You may notice that this issue of Ripperologist has fewer pages than usual.
This is because we’ve reduced the type size to produce a shorter issue
in preparation for offering hardcopy format via Print on Demand.
Pricing and ordering details will be released shortly.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 2

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Assisted by DR GEOFFREY PARNELL,
former Keeper of Tower History

When reviewing the Tower of London’s involvement in the Whitechapel mysteries of 1888,
Ripperologists usually relegate it to a minor role. By most appearances, the Tower’s participation
in the pursuit of an East End killer did not go beyond the brief rendering of assistance to Detective
Inspector Edmund Reid of Scotland Yard. Just hours following the Tuesday, August 7 murder of
0DUWKD7DEUDPLQ*HRUJH<DUGDQGWKUHHRWKHUGD\VVRRQDIWHU5HLGHQWHUHGWKH7RZHURQRIÀFLDO
business. Each time he received respectful help from the sergeant major on duty.
On August 7, Reid took Police Constable Thomas Barrett to the Tower to view out-‐of-‐uniform soldiers who were in
the guardroom for disciplinary action. Their punishment was probably a result of their antics on the streets of London
during Bank Holiday night, August 6.

On Wednesday morning, August 8, Reid and Barrett arrived once again and were presented with a line-‐up of uniformed
privates and corporals who had been on leave at the time of the George Yard murder.

On Thursday night, August 9, Reid returned to question a corporal who had been AWOL.

On Monday, August 13, Reid brought Mary Ann Connelly to view a line-‐up of Grenadier
Guardsmen.1

Reid’s visits were all that was publicly known of the Tower’s role in the Whitechapel
drama. And generally speaking, people were willing to go along with the notion that the
investigation of Tabram’s murder was strictly a police matter and received nothing more
than normal military cooperation upon request.

That viewpoint was invited to change in July 2006 when Ripperologist published an
article pertaining to a Royal Artillery colonel who informed the American press that he
had initiated an investigation into the George Yard murder.2 After I discussed the article
with numerous colleagues, I reached the conclusion that the investigation could not have
EHHQFDUULHGRXWZLWKRXWWKHSHUPLVVLRQRIWKH7RZHURI/RQGRQ7KHRIÀFHUFRQGXFWLQJ
the investigation was Colonel Francis Charles Hughes-‐Hallett, MP for Rochester, Kent,
DQH[SHULHQFHGPLOLWDU\FRPPDQGHUZKRNQHZSURWRFRO+HZDVDQRIÀFHUZKRZRXOG
QRWSHUVRQDOO\HQJDJHLQDFULPLQDOPDQKXQWZLWKRXWÀUVWJRLQJWKURXJKWKHDSSURSULDWH
military channels. This would especially hold true in a civilian murder case involving an
enquiry into British Army guardsmen. The commander who had the authority to permit
the George Yard assignment was the Constable of the Tower, Field Marshal Sir Robert
Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala, GCB, GCSI, CIE, FRS (1810–1890).

Lord Napier

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2 Joe Chetcuti, “The Belle of Philadelphia,” Ripperologist 69, July 2006.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 3

 &RORQHO+XJKHV+DOOHWWDQG/RUG1DSLHUERWKKDGGRQHGLVWLQJXLVKHGVHUYLFHLQ,QGLDDQGZHUHSURPLQHQWÀJXUHVLQ
the Pall Mall club scene during the 1880s. According to The Times,ERWKRIÀFHUVZHUHRQWKHFRPPLWWHHRID:HVW(QG
establishment called The Imperial and American Club.3 The two men were also members of the United Service Club,
and a statue of Lord Napier still stands today in Westminster at the location where the club had been. In 1888, Hughes-‐
Hallett’s attention was drawn to a fellow Pall Mall clubman whom he suspected as having been the perpetrator of the
George Yard murder as well as the “Jack the Ripper” atrocities committed in August and September. Colonel Hughes-‐
Hallett made it apparent that he did not harbor criminal suspicions against any Grenadier Guardsman nor Coldstream
Guardsman in the Tabram case. The Tower would have certainly welcomed the colonel’s premise, and therefore the
permission to conduct the George Yard investigation was probably granted without any resistance.

The search for surviving documents relating to possible August 1888 correspondence between Lord Napier and Colonel
Hughes-‐Hallett began over six years ago. We can learn much if Lord Napier’s Order Book from that month were to be
reviewed. But, realistically, the prospect of obtaining British Army information of this nature seemed remote at best.
$GGLQJWRWKHSUREOHPZDVWKHIDFWWKDW,IRXQGLWGLIÀFXOWWRFRPPXQLFDWHZLWKWKHKLHUDUFK\DWWKH7RZHURI/RQGRQ
Personal letters were not answered and email addresses were not provided. Then, in early 2006, an attempt was made
to make progress by making an enquiry with the Wellington Barracks where Reid had taken Mary Ann Connelly to view
Coldstream Guardsmen on August 15, 1888. A written request was sent to see if a folder had been preserved which told
of that particular event. The following letter4 was returned.

Since the Wellington Barracks seemed

oblivious to the matter and the military
personnel at the Tower of London were
not responsive, it became easy to see why
this research slowed down to a crawl. The
National Archives at Kew was contacted,
but no items appeared under the subject
heading “Hughes-‐Hallett” in their online
catalogue. There were, however, a handful
of personal letters from Lord Napier, but
unfortunately the letters did not deal
with anything involving the Whitechapel
murders.5

It was decided that the best way to

advance with this enquiry was to wait until
a more cooperative atmosphere developed
inside the Tower of London. As a result, our
project had to remain stagnant for a long
period. During the wait, a somewhat cynical
question was addressed: Is it anything
more than wishful thinking to believe that
the Tower of London had privately set
aside and preserved the 1888 paperwork of
the George Yard investigation? The honest
answer was yes. There were legitimate
reasons to think that such military records
would have been purposely kept by the
Tower. This can be explained.

3 The Times, July 4, 1885, p. 10.

4 The “General Steele” referred to in the letter was Sir Thomas Montagu Steele (1820-‐1890). The Wellington Barracks were
under his command in 1888.
5 The Lord Napier letters at Kew can be viewed by logging into the third listed item in the Internet Sources section at the end
of this article.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 4

 The British military is its own entity, and it is not obligated to hand over the paperwork of its lawful activities to
Scotland Yard. The written report of an August 1888 military investigation may not have been attached to the missing
:KLWHFKDSHOPXUGHUFDVHÀOHV2QHPDMRUUHDVRQZK\LWZRXOGQ·WKDYHEHHQDWWDFKHGWRWKHSROLFHPDWHULDORQWKHFDVH
was the fact Colonel Hughes-‐Hallett openly despised the way the CID handled the Ripper murders and he would not have
wanted his name linked with the investigative methods used by the police during the crisis. The Colonel wanted the West
End to be the focus of police activity, and not the East End. He clamored for undercover detectives to work the Pall Mall
clubs and thoroughfares. He boldly declared that the CID was in need of new leadership and claimed he would gladly
vacate his Rochester seat in Parliament to become the head of the CID. Given that this was the outspoken attitude of
the lead military investigator into the Tabram murder, it is highly unlikely the Colonel would have submitted the records
of his George Yard investigation to the police. I took the reasonable gamble that these records always remained under
the control of the Tower of London.

The lesson I learned from my previous dealings with Westminster is that if an outsider wants to achieve anything in
3DOO0DOOWKHQLWZRXOGEHEHVWWRÀUVWHVWDEOLVK\RXUVHOIZLWKWKHSHRSOHRQWKHLQVLGH

While conducting Westminster research in the past, I attained success by acquainting myself with a VIP in the West
End. He was a Pall Mall author named Anthony Lejeune. The man took an interest in my work, and as a result, Pall
Mall records became accessible. The acquired information was shared in an earlier article, “Knocking on Pall Mall’s
Door” in Ripperologist issue 87.6 The lesson learned from the experience was valuable. In late 2010, an attempt was
once again made to contact the Tower of London, but this time I decided to use the same method which had worked for
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London, then hopefully I could converse with the man and have him take a personal interest in the endeavor to locate
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QRWGLIÀFXOW%HIRUHORQJDSDUWLFXODULQGLYLGXDOVWRRGRXW

Dr Geoffrey Parnell has written extensively on the Tower of London for decades. (A listing of his published
works can be found in the Internet Sources section at the end of this article.) A highly respected archaeologist,
Dr Parnell has conducted excavations at the Tower and previously held the position of Keeper of Tower
History. He also assisted in an eight-‐part television documentary about the Tower.

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RQ 1RYHPEHU   'U 3DUQHOO ZDV FDOOHG WR WKH VFHQH RI WKH ÀUH DORQJ ZLWK PDQ\ ÀUHÀJKWHUV +H
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KH ÀQDOO\DJUHHGWRZULWH DQ DFFRXQWRIWKHWUDJLFHYHQW7KHIROORZLQJH[FHUSWIURPKLVSXEOLVKHGWH[W
expressed his sentiments quite well:

The situation in the Upper Ward was almost indescribable as soldiers and members of the palace staff
were bringing out numerous paintings from the Waterloo Chamber. Some of the great portraits painted
by Sir Thomas Lawrence were extremely large and were literally torn out of their frames and rolled on
poles to be loaded to an army truck and ferried away to a store in the Great Park. Some of the fabulous
gilded frames that normally would be handled by conservators wearing gloves were left leaning against a
toilet block and standing in running water. It was all too much for a senior member of the palace staff who
collapsed with a heart attack and was subsequently ferried away through the dark melee in an ambulance.7

Dr Parnell has an intense dedication to his work that often gets revealed in his writing. He is very helpful
to those who want to learn more about Britain’s storied Tower of London. If a researcher is looking for
information concerning Tower documents pertaining to a George Yard military investigation, then Dr Parnell
is the man who should be contacted. I had poor luck with the Tower in the past, but much time had since
elapsed. Then in December 2010, I used a simple approach by logging onto the Tower’s website, and I asked
WREHSXWLQWRXFKZLWKWKHRIÀFHRIWKHKeeper of Tower History. My request was forwarded and a courteous
reply was promptly delivered. The Tower’s new tourist-‐friendly attitude was a big improvement compared to
P\LQLWLDOH[SHULHQFHZLWKWKHSODFHÀYH\HDUVHDUOLHU7KHFKHHUIXOFRRSHUDWLRQEHLQJH[WHQGHGZDVPRUH
than welcome.

6 Joe Chetcuti, “Knocking on Pall Mall’s Door,” Ripperologist 87, January 2008.
7 Geoffrey Parnell, “Friday, 20 November, 1992. A Day to Remember and a Day to Forget,” Stereo World, Volume 36,
Number 3, November/December 2010 issue, pp. 20-‐31.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 5

 7KHRIÀFHFODLPHG'U3DUQHOOKDGUHWLUHGIURPWKHSRVLWLRQRIKeeper of Tower History in 2009 and was no longer
involved in the everyday operations of the monument. As for my question regarding the status of old Tower paperwork
pertaining to the correspondence of August 1888 between Lord Napier and Colonel Hughes-‐Hallett, I received this reply:

Unfortunately, the Tower archives are more limited than people imagine and do not encompass the correspondence
you seek. I can only suggest you turn your attention to the National Archives at Kew... I am in touch with Dr
Parnell and I will ask if he has come across anything that might indicate a fruitful line of enquiry for you, but I
suspect that he too will suggest TNA. I am sorry not to be of more assistance, but wish you well in your research.

Bridgett Clifford
Keeper of Collections
(South) & Tower History

Lanthorn Tower
HM Tower of London

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but it was disappointing to learn there is only a limited amount of material still preserved in the Tower archives.
The suggestion about contacting the National Archives at Kew to seek the information, I do not need add, was uninspiring
to say the least. As mentioned before, when looking for Lord Napier – Hughes-‐Hallett paperwork at the National Archives
in the past, nothing was achieved. It now appeared my only chance rested upon hearing from Dr Parnell and maybe
receiving some sound advice from him. The fact he is an archaeologist wasn’t lost on me. Before I sent my letter to
the Tower, I talked with Tumblety researcher Tim Riordan who happens to be the head archaeologist at St Mary’s City,
Maryland (that state’s colonial capital). I purposely left the option open for Dr Parnell to speak directly with Tim as
opposed to speaking with me. One archaeologist talking to another, as it were. I later learned that Dr Parnell had
previously visited St Mary’s City during a trip to Maryland, so a mutual interest existed amongst us, and this resulted in
DIULHQGO\OLQHRIFRPPXQLFDWLRQ%HIRUHORQJ'U3DUQHOOFRQWDFWHGPHEDFNE\HPDLO,WWXUQHGRXWWREHWKHÀUVWRI
many correspondences between us. Eventually Dr Parnell and Tim Riordan corresponded with each other as well, thus
making it a healthy exchange of thoughts on the topics of Ripperology and archaeology. In a kind gesture, Dr Parnell also
provided many email attachments containing his previous published work on the Tower of London. If there is another
person who knows more about this subject matter, I have yet to meet him. As shown in the following letter, I was quickly
SRLQWHGLQWKHULJKWGLUHFWLRQDQGDQRSSRUWXQLW\WRPDNHSURJUHVVLQRXU*HRUJH<DUGUHVHDUFKÀQDOO\EHJDQWRHPHUJH

Dear Joe Chetcuti,

Bridget Clifford kindly passed on your enquiry to me at my home address. I fancy the only source of records that
might throw some light on your area of interest is the Constable Papers now lodged in the National Archives at
.HZ7KHVHDUHWKHLQWHUQDOUHFRUGVRIWKHGD\WRGD\UXQQLQJRIWKH&RQVWDEOH·V2IÀFHDQGLQFOXGH DZHDOWK
of material handled by his various deputies such as the Lieutenant and the Major of the Garrison.

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PXFKWLPHLQWKH3XEOLF5HFRUG2IÀFHVLQFHWKHODWHVDQG,FDQDVVXUH\RXWKDWDQHQTXLU\ZLOORQO\GLUHFW
you to the reference I have given you; the Kew staff will not undertake any sort of detailed search I’m afraid.
7KH:DU2IÀFH3DSHUVDUHRQHRIWKHODUJHVWFROOHFWLRQVLQWKH1DWLRQDO$UFKLYHVDQGWKH&RQVWDEOH3DSHUVDUH
almost certainly the smallest part of it.

I hope this snippet of information is of some help. Do let me know if I can assist in any other way.

Yours as ever,

Dr. Geoffrey Parnell FSA

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 6

 That letter worked like a shot of adrenaline, so plans were immediately
made to have the Constable Papers in :2checked into. I had previously
sought to check the Lord Napier letters at Kew and found nothing of
VLJQLÀFDQFHIRXQGLQWKHPEXW,UHDOLVHGQRZWKDW,VKRXOGKDYHVHDUFKHG
for the Constable Papers instead, given that Lord Napier was Constable
of the Tower in 1888. It would have been nice if the folder containing the
Lord Napier letters provided some kind of a reference to the Constable
Papers, thus notifying its researchers about how there is further Lord Napier
information available at the National Archives. But things were not set up
that way, therefore our endeavor remained in an unproductive state for a
long time until Dr Parnell alerted us to the :2 documents. Kew’s online
National Archives, Kew FDWDORJXHSURYLGHGDV\QRSVLVZKLFKFRQÀUPHG'U3DUQHOO·VZRUGV

Record Summary WO 94
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&RYHULQJGDWHV
Held by The National Archives, Kew
Language. English
Physical description. 110 volumes

So an opportunity presented itself for us to possibly learn more about the role of the Tower
of London during the crisis in regard to the Whitechapel murders. At this point it becomes
challenging not to let your imagination run away with you. Thoughts pop in the head about how
WKH&RQVWDEOH·V2IÀFHUHFRUGVPLJKWFRQWDLQPDWHULDOFRQFHUQLQJ'HWHFWLYH,QVSHFWRU(GPXQG
Reid’s visits to the Tower, the George Yard investigation, Colonel Hughes-‐Hallett’s Pall Mall
VXVSHFWHWF7KHQDIWHUFRPSRVXUHLVUHJDLQHGWKHUHDOLW\VLQNVLQWKDWWKH&RQVWDEOH·V2IÀFH
papers in :2 is a collection consisting of 110 volumes which encompass a period of over 330
years. The task laid before you is quite large, yet the research needs to be done. You just have
WRZLVKVRPHWKLQJVLJQLÀFDQWZLOOJHWGLVFRYHUHGWKXVHQDEOLQJRXUÀHOGRI5LSSHURORJ\WREHQHÀW
IURPLW,ÀJXUHGVRPHSDSHUZRUNSHUWDLQLQJWR5HLGPD\EHIRXQGLQWKRVHSDSHUV because his
YLVLWVWRWKH7RZHUZHUHQRVHFUHWDQGLQIRUPDWLRQH[LVWVLQWKH0HWURSROLWDQ3ROLFH0(32ÀOHV
DWWKH1DWLRQDO$UFKLYHVFRQÀUPLQJKLVDFWLYLW\DWWKH7RZHULQ$XJXVW

$PRQJWKHÀUVWWKLQJVZHFKHFNHGLQWKH:2 were the Muster Rolls. They were discovered in

Section 39. Although I am in agreement with Colonel Hughes-‐Hallett in regards to the innocence
of Grenadier and Coldstream Guardsmen in regard to the Martha Tabram murder, I still would
Detective Inspector Edmund Reid
like to view a list of the soldiers stationed at the Tower in August 1888. As shown in the synopsis
below, the date range in Section 39 was not to the liking of Ripperologists:

Piece Reference WO 94/39

Scope and content. Muster Rolls
&RYHULQJGDWHV
Held by The National Archives, Kew
Legal Status: Public Records

WRITE FOR RIPPEROLOGIST!

We welcome contributions on Jack the Ripper, the East End and the Victorian era.
Send your articles, letters and comments to contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 7

 It was disappointing to see the volume end in 1887. It came up one year short. There were additional Muster Rolls
found in other parts of the :2EXWXQIRUWXQDWHO\WKH\UHÁHFWHGXSRQWKH\HDUVSULRUWR7KHUHLVDVHFWLRQLQ
the collection which contains maps and drawings of the Tower. It is Section 72. Oddly enough, it also culminated in the
year 1887. Although it was tempting to become leery of there being some reason for the 1887 cut-‐off date, and that
our search might not be fruitful, we tried to think positively as the search continued. Excitement developed when an
2UGHU%RRNZDVORFDWHG,WZDVLQ6HFWLRQ:HWKRXJKWLWZDVFULWLFDOWRÀQG/RUG1DSLHU·V2UGHU%RRNEHFDXVHLWFRXOG
possibly include interesting commands given in August 1888. Orders involving such things as the parade of guardsmen for
Reid and Connelly. Even documents permitting Colonel Hughes-‐Hallett’s East End probe may have found its way into the
book. The following synposis was taken from Kew’s online catalogue:

Piece Reference WO 94/21

Scope and content. Order Book
&RYHULQJGDWHV

Two other Order Books were found, but they only covered the years 1900-‐1920. The writing was pretty much on
the wall now. The year 1888 just did not get well represented in the :20\JXHVVLVWKH&RQVWDEOH·V2IÀFHZDV
not obligated to submit the report of the George Yard investigation to Scotland Yard, nor did it deem it necessary to
have its 1888 records placed on display in the National Archives. Of the 110 sections in the :2 there were 19 sections
listed as “closed” while another 83 sections did not cover the 1880s time period. As for the other eight sections, I
have mentioned three of them, and the year 1888 was barely excluded from the date range in each.

2IWKHÀYHUHPDLQLQJVHFWLRQVWKHUHZHUHWKUHHWKDWGLGQRWYHQWXUHEH\RQGWKH\HDU2QHRIWKHPZDV6HFWLRQ
99. It was looked into, but 99 only contained a warning letter issued to the Tower in January 1881 pertaining to a possible
dynamite attack that probably involved the Fenians.

$VIRUWKHÀQDOWZRVHFWLRQVRQHFRYHUHGWKH\HDUV,WGHDOWZLWK´YROXQWHHUUROOVµ6RWKDWOHIWXVZLWKRQH
ÀQDOYROXPH,WZDV6HFWLRQ7KLVZDVWKHRQO\VHFWLRQLQWKH:2ZKLFKVSHFLÀFDOO\LQFOXGHGWKH\HDU. It was
WKH3D\%RRN+HUHZHFDQYLHZWKHZDJHVHDUQHGE\RIÀFHUVVWDWLRQHGDWWKH7RZHULQ

It was decided to have the WO 94/33 thoroughly researched, if for any other reason, it would enable us to learn
WKHQDPHVRIWKHPHQZKRZHUHFORVHWR/RUG1DSLHUGXULQJWKH:KLWHFKDSHOPXUGHUV$ÀQH(QJOLVKJHQWOHPDQ/HH
Richards, went to Kew on our behalf and obtained all the information we need from the WO 94/33. Lee does this work at
affordable prices, and he makes things convenient for American researchers
who need to have material copied at Kew. Lee sent me a duplicate of the
Tower’s Pay Book for the months of July-‐September 1888. Lord Napier was
OLVWHGDWWKHWRSDQGWKH/LHXWHQDQWRIWKH7RZHUZDVLGHQWLÀHGDV*HQHUDO
Frederick Augustus Thesiger, the 2nd Baron Chelmsford.

There are numerous descendants of Lord Chelmsford who are living

throughout the world. Shortly prior to submitting this article, I was able to
locate two of them. Both men are great grandsons of the general. A letter
was sent to each of the great grandsons, one in New Zealand and the other
in British Columbia, Canada. Each letter was delivered with the hope that
private paperwork written by Lord Chelmsford has been preserved by his
descendants. Of course any of his personal memoirs which are dated August-‐
November 1888 could possibly turn into something special for a Ripperologist.
But it sure looks like any further advancement in our study will have to come
IURPWKHDLGRISULYDWHIDPLO\UHFRUGV,WLVEHFRPLQJLQFUHDVLQJO\GLIÀFXOW
WRVHHKRZ.HZRUDQ\SROLFHÀOHZLOOVKHGOLJKWRQ&RORQHO+XJKHV+DOOHWW·V
LQYHVWLJDWLRQ7KHRIÀFLDOUHFRUGRIWKHHYHQWLWVHHPVZLOOUHPDLQVHFOXGHG
in the military’s domain. Right now we are checking to see if the Lieutenant
of the Tower in August 1888, Lord Chelmsford, had left behind anything of
interest. Sadly he was not given the opportunity to get his affairs in order
before he passed away. The man died suddenly in 1905 while playing billiards
Lord Chelmsford
in the United Service Club.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 8

 The reason why this research is being done is because there is something
mysteriously alluring about Colonel Francis Charles Hughes-‐Hallett who
came to America during the height of the Autumn of Terror. A sitting Member
of Parliament who claimed to have hunted for Tabram’s West End killer
shortly after the George Yard murder occurred. Any 1888 paperwork that
provides further clarity in regard to the Colonel’s mission is worth looking
for.

Shortly before the article went to press, I received some relevant

information from Ripperologist Simon Wood. Simon has conducted research
on Hughes-‐Hallett’s activities in August 1888 and would like to share them.
Here is Simon’s report:

On the morning of August 8, we can place Hughes-‐Hallett in the Chancery

Division of the Law Courts. As a director of the Genoa Water Company, he
ZDV SDUWO\ GHIHQGLQJ D FODVVDFWLRQ E\  VKDUHKROGHUV ZKR KDG DFFXVHG
the company of over-‐sweetening its original share prospectus.8

2QWKHDIWHUQRRQRI$XJXVWZHÀQG+XJKHV+DOOHWWLQWKH+RXVHRI
Commons. On that day, the Speaker took his seat at 12:30 pm. Hughes-‐
Hallett took part in a vote.

We can locate Hughes-‐Hallett in the House of Commons on August 11,

when he presented a petition.

We can also place Hughes-‐Hallet on August 6 in Records of the Infantry

0LOLWLD%DWWDOLRQVRIWKH&RXQW\RI6RXWKDPSWRQIURP$'7RE\

Colonel Francis Hughes-‐Hallett

Colonel Lloyd-‐Verney, commanding the Third Battalion of the Hampshire
Regiment and Records of the Artillery Militia Regiments of the County of
6RXWKDPSWRQIURP$'7RE\/LHXW&RORQHO-0RXDW)+XQWRIWKH'XNHRI&RQQDXJKW·V2ZQ+DPSVKLUH
and Isle of Wight Artillery. I quote—

“The brigade [2nd Brigade Southern Division, Royal Artillery] assembled for twenty-‐seven days’ training on August
DW)RUW(OVRQ*RVSRUWXQGHUWKHFRPPDQGRI&RORQHO+XJKHV+DOOHWWWKHVWUHQJWKEHLQJWKLUWHHQRIÀFHUVDQG
QRQFRPPLVVLRQHGRIÀFHUVDQGPHQDQGLWZDVLQVSHFWHGE\&RORQHO+0D[ZHOO5REHUWVRQ5R\DO$UWLOOHU\
FRPPDQGLQJ$X[LOLDU\$UWLOOHU\6RXWKHUQ'LVWULFWRQ$XJXVWDQGµ9

Question: How did Hughes-‐Hallett excuse himself from his military duties at Gosport in order to attend to his
parliamentary duties?

Excerpt from Military Rules—

´$QRIÀFHURUVROGLHUKDVWKHVDPHULJKWDVDFLYLOLDQWRYRWHDWDQHOHFWLRQIRUPHPEHUVRI3DUOLDPHQWDQGLIKLPVHOI
elected, is entitled without leave or order to attend the House of Commons.”

So Hughes-‐Hallett travelled back to London in time for his various duties on August 8. How and why does he manage
WRÀQGWLPHWRLQYHVWLJDWHWKH7DEUDPPXUGHU"

8 The Times, August 9, 1888.

9 George Hope Lloyd-‐Verney, J Mouat F Hunt, Records of the Infantry Militia Battalions of the County of Southampton from A.D.
 7R(London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1894), p. 389.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 9

 $IWHUZRUGE\-RH&KHWFXWL
For the past few years, I have known that Hughes-‐Hallett was the commander of a four-‐week army training exercise
in Gosport, Hampshire, commencing on August 6, 1888. But this was a case where the constant physical presence of the
brigade commander was not required at Gosport.

I agree with Simon that Hughes-‐Hallett can be placed in London on the morning of August 8 at the Chancery Division
of Law Courts and on the afternoon of August 8 in the House of Commons. According to the Colonel’s own words, it was
strongly implied that his George Yard investigation commenced late at night on August 7, went past the midnight hour,
and concluded in the early hours of August 8. This investigation should not have disrupted the Colonel from performing
his duties in London after daybreak on August 8. The Colonel spoke of his George Yard investigation claiming,

“...after a great deal of persuasion (the policeman) described the appearance of the latest victim, where she was
found a few hours before, bleeding like an abattoir...” [emphasis mine]

The duration of time that elapsed between Tabram’s pre-‐dawn August 7 murder and the Colonel’s midnight George
Yard investigation was not marked by weeks or days, but instead, by hours. This means that he would have begun the
investigation late at night on August 7.

$FNQRZOHGJHPHQWV
Joe Chetcuti would like to thank Lee Richards for going to Kew and copying the relevant material from :2.
Appreciation also goes out to Robert Linford for his assistance in locating the descendants of Lord Chelmsford. And a
special thanks goes to Dr Geoffrey Parnell and Bridgett Clifford. Thanks also to Simon Wood for supplying information on
Colonel Hughes-‐Hallett’s movements in August 1888.

,QWHUQHW6RXUFHV
www.offtolondon.com/images/TowerLondon.jpg; ZZZFROXPELDHGXLWFPHDODFSULWFKHWWURXWHVGDWDBUHYROW
britportraits/lordnapier.jpg; ZZZQDWLRQDODUFKLYHVJRYXNQUDVHDUFKHVVXEMHFW9LHZDVS",' 3; arcre.com (website of Lee
Richards); www.royalarmouries.org/assets-‐uploaded/documents/Geoff_Parnell_Bibliography.pdf; www.soldiersofthequeen.com/
page13p-‐LordChelmsford.html.

JOE CHETCUTI is a retired hospital worker who resides on the San Francisco Peninsula. He is a current member
of the Jack the Ripper Writers web site. Joe has donated articles to Ripper journals for the past seven years,
and he looks forward to conducting more Whitechapel research this autumn.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 10

 &DWVDQG'RJV
LQ3KRHQL[3ODFH
$QDFFRXQWRI SRVVLEO\WKHRQO\
UHFRUGHGLQFLGHQWRI D3ROLFH'HWHFWLYH
GLVJXLVHGDVDZRPDQWRKXQW-DFNWKH5LSSHU
By J G SIMONS

In 1888, Clerkenwell was a component of the Borough of Finsbury.

Two-‐and-‐a-‐half kilometres northwest of Whitechapel, it was known as
London’s Little Italy because of the large number of Italians living in the
area.
Just after midnight on the morning of Tuesday, 9 October 1888, Detective Sergeants
John Robinson and Charles Mather of G-‐Division are on duty in the Eyre Street district
of Clerkenwell.
The detectives work together regularly, but for tonight’s shift Robinson is disguised
in female clothing, wearing a cloak and hat which he has borrowed. Mather is in plain
clothes.
On Eyre Street Hill the detectives are approached by three or four Italians, who
notify them of a suspicious man they have been watching in the nearby Gunmakers
$UPVSXEOLFKRXVH7KHVWUDQJHUKDGÀUVWDURXVHGVXVSLFLRQZKHQVHYHUDOSHRSOHLQ
the house remarked that his appearance answered the description of the supposed
perpetrator of the Whitechapel crimes. At closing time, when the man invited a
woman to accompany him from the house, a number of men in the bar followed.
Appraised of the situation, the detectives are quickly on the trail of the stranger “A disguised detective ready for
the Whitechapel Monster.”.
and his female companion and they are soon tracked down to nearby Phoenix Place. The Illustrated Police News, 3 November 1888
Phoenix Place is about 150 metres long. On the right is the Clerkenwell House of
Correction, while on the other side are some cabinet works and a cab yard in which
the stranger and the woman are traced. The spot is a dark one, of itself a suspicious
fact, and the suspicion is heightened by the conduct of the female, who appears
alarmed by the actions of her companion and hastily makes off.
At 12.25am the detectives and Henry Doncaster, a local man who has heard
the rumour that Jack the Ripper is in the neighbourhood, enter the cab yard. It is
dark but they can see several men washing cabs nearby. The detectives separate,
and Robinson and Doncaster secrete themselves behind a cab to observe the man
through its windows.
Watching nearby are Italian ice-‐cream makers Giuseppe Molinari and Michaelo
Rainole with two or three other Italians from the Gunmakers Arms who have followed
the detectives into the yard.
At 12.40am Robinson and Doncaster are approached by two men who ask them
what they are doing there. Robinson tells them he is a policeman and the two men
go away. A moment later, cabwashers William Jarvis and James Phillips, who work The Gunmakers Arms

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 11

 /HIW3KRHQL[3ODFHRQ&KDUOHV%RRWK·V3RYHUW\0DSDQGULJKWDPDSGDWHG

with the other men in the yard for Mr Kite, approach Robinson. Jarvis asks
him “what he was messing about here for?” Robinson removes the woman’s
hat he is wearing and tells Jarvis that he is a detective and that the other
men are with him. Jarvis would later claim that the detective actually told
KLPWRPLQGKLVRZQEXVLQHVVDQGWKUXVWKLPEDFNE\SXWWLQJKLVÀVWDJDLQVW
his chin.
Jarvis tells Robinson he must “clear off” as they will protect their
master’s premises. Robinson asks Jarvis to be quiet and Jarvis replies, “Oh,
I know who you are, you are -‐ ‘tecs’ and ‘frogs’” (slang term for detectives
DQGIRUHLJQHUVDQGVWULNHV5RELQVRQDYLROHQWEORZZLWKWKHÀVW
Handing his cloak and hat to one of the Italians, Robinson seizes Jarvis
by his coat, but Jarvis pulls out a knife and stabs Robinson over the left eye
with the buckhorn handle. Robinson falls to the ground, pulling Jarvis down
with him, and Jarvis stabs him again, this time on the bridge of the nose.
Lying on his back, Robinson draws out his truncheon and strikes Jarvis
several times on the head. He will later claim that he was attempting to
knock the knife out of Jarvis’s hand. Robinson gets the better of Jarvis and
some of the watching cabmen cry out to Robinson “Shame! Leave off hitting
him”.
$V WKH\ VWUXJJOH RQ WKH ÁRRU -DUYLV·V PDWH -DPHV 3KLOOLSV ZHLJKV LQ
and kicks Robinson on the arm and in the ribs. Robinson defends himself by
hitting Phillips with his truncheon.
On hearing Robinson shout out that he’d been stabbed, Henry Doncaster
“Shadowed by a detective disguised as a female.”
The Illustrated Police News, 3 November 1888
bravely comes to the aid of the Sergeant. Jarvis rises and makes a run for
the stables but Doncaster intercepts him, only for Jarvis to stab him in the face with the handle of his knife,
causing Doncaster to cry out “I am stabbed”.
Giuseppe Molinari and Michaelo Rainole step in to help and Jarvis and Phillips back off, Jarvis shouting out
“C’mon George, cats and dogs”, and several other men step out into the yard with pitchforks and other implements.
In an instant, Sergeant Robinson is joined by Sergeant Mather who has come to the aid of his partner at the
cost of letting the man they were observing escape. They are quickly joined by Constable Frank Mew 301G and
another constable, who are called to the yard by some Italians. The constables take Phillips and Jarvis, who
is bleeding heavily, to the Kings Cross Road police station where they are charged with cutting and wounding
Sergeant Robinson. A number of the men armed with pitchforks are also taken into custody but later released
without charge.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 12

“Stabbing a disguised detective who was after Jack the Ripper.”
The Illustrated Police News, 3 November 1888

At 1.30am Divisional Surgeon Doctor John Alexander Miller, who lives nearby in Percy Circus, is called to the
police station to attend to the wounds of Sergeant Robinson and Henry Doncaster. Dr Miller notes that Robinson
has a wound which penetrates to the bone above the left eyebrow. The wound is irregular and star-‐shaped, three-‐
quarters of an inch in length. Doncaster has a wound on the left jaw similar to the wound on Robinson’s forehead,
and his right jaw is dislocated.
Dr Miller also attends to the prisoners Jarvis and Phillips. Jarvis is bleeding heavily and upon examination Dr
0LOOHUÀQGVWKDWKLVULJKWH\HLVFRQWXVHGDQGVZROOHQ2QWKHULJKWVLGHRIKLVKHDGWKHUHLVDFRQWXVHGZRXQG
about an inch in length. James Phillips also has a wound on the back of the head.
The prisoners, William Jarvis and James Phillips, are kept in
the cells and later that day, Tuesday, 9 October, they are taken
before Metropolitan Police Magistrate James Reader Bros at
the Clerkenwell Magistrates Court, which is housed in the same
building as the police station on Kings Cross Road.
The prisoners appear with heads bound with bloodstained
bandages. Sergeant Robinson’s face has surgeon’s straps around
the left eye, and Henry Doncaster appears with his head and face
bandaged.
Dr Miller gives evidence of dressing the wounds of the prosecutors
and of the prisoners, stating that the wounds on Robinson’s and
Doncaster’s faces were “star-‐shaped” and might have been caused
by the metal end of a pocketknife handle. A blow with the knife
closed would have produced the wounds.
Mr Ricketts, solicitor, appears for the prisoners and in asking
for bail said he expected to be able to show that the struggle was
caused by a misunderstanding owing to the failure to inform the
prisoners that Robinson was a detective by producing his warrant
card.
Mr Bros remands the prisoners, refusing bail.
That afternoon, at the close of the magisterial examination, a
reporter conducts an interview with Detective Sergeant Robinson,
who states that the strange man who entered the cab yard with
a woman took advantage of the affray between the sergeant and
the man now under remand and made good his escape, but the
detective has information to hand which he considers will warrant
+HQU\'RQFDVWHUFLUFDDWWKHZLQGRZRIKLVKRXVH
a most zealous search after the suspect. Accordingly, investigations
at 6 Coldbath Square, Clerkenwell.
will be entered on without delay. Courtesy Janice James of the Doncaster Family.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 13

 On Tuesday, 16 October, Jarvis and Phillips again appear
before Mr Bros at the Clerkenwell Magistrates Court. Mr Keith
Frith appears for the defence. The prisoners, who reserved
their defence, were committed for trial, Jarvis on the charge of
unlawfully wounding, and Phillips for assaulting the police. Mr
Bros consented to allow bail, two sureties in £20.
Jarvis and Phillips appear before the Assistant Judge at the
Middlesex Sessions, The Old Session House, Clerkenwell Green
on Tuesday 30 October. Mr Purcell appears for the prosecution
and Keith Frith again represents the defendants. James Phillips is
acquitted and William Jarvis is found guilty of wounding Robinson
and Doncaster, but the jury recommend him to mercy on account
of his previous good character and the provocation which they
believed him to have received. The Assistant Judge agrees, and
taking this and the severe punishment Jarvis had already received
during the affray into consideration, passes the lenient sentence
of six weeks imprisonment with hard labour.
Clerkenwell Magistrates Court.
Courtesy SilverTiger.

*****

0RUH,QIRUPDWLRQRQWKH3HRSOH,QYROYHG

'HWHFWLYH6HUJHDQW-RKQ5RELQVRQ*'LYLVLRQ
At the Old Bailey on 1 March 1880 Detective Robinson would appear alongside Inspector Abberline in a case of
deception. By 1895 Robinson would be an Inspector G-‐Division.

'HWHFWLYH6HUJHDQW&KDUOHV0DWKHU*'LYLVLRQ
41-‐year-‐old from Greenwich. Married to Eliza who was from Portsmouth, they lived at 21 Cumming Street,
&OHUNHQZHOO$WWKHDJHRIÀIWHHQKHLVDQDSSUHQWLFHVHDPDQDERDUGWKHVKLSRanger. In 1881 he is a Constable
living at 32 Napier Street, Deptford and by 1886 is a G-‐Division Detective. Detectives Mather and Robinson worked
as a team on four trials at the Old Bailey between 1886 and 1890. Dies in Greenwich, April 1898. Eliza would live
on until 1921.

Antonio Giuseppe Molinari

21-‐year-‐old Italian ice-‐cream vendor from Borgo Val di Taro, Emilia-‐Romagna. Married to Louisa from Holborn in
October 1891. In 1901 he is a bootmaker and they live at 2 Northampton Street, Clerkenwell. In 1911 he is living
at 1 Northampton Street. Dies in Holborn, June 1923.

0LFKDHOR5DLQROH
Italian ice cream vendor.

James Phillips
37-‐year-‐old cabwasher.

:LOOLDP-DUYLV
40-‐year-‐old cabwasher who lived on the Hackney Road.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 14

+HQU\'RQFDVWHU
26-‐year-‐old cabinet maker from Clerkenwell. Charles Henry is married to 25-‐year-‐old Emily Dee
from Clerkenwell and they live at 26 Warner Street, Clerkenwell. The son of a blindmaker from
Lambeth, he grew up at 5 York Street, Clerkenwell. His elder brother is a carpenter and Henry
follows in the trade. In 1901 they are still living at 26 Warner Street and he now makes lawn tennis
rackets. He dies at the age of 72 on 1 March 1935 in Coldbath Square, Clerkenwell and Emily lives
on till 1938. Henry’s great-‐grandaughter, Janice James, told this author: ‘My mother, who is nearly
\HDUVROGDQGP\XQFOHZKRLVUHPHPEHUWKHLU*UDQGIDWKHUZHOOEXWZHUHQRWDZDUHRIWKH
incident he was involved in. The photograph shows him at the window of his home at 6 Coldbath
Square and as children my mother and uncle would walk past him at the window smoking his pipe
+HQU\'RQFDVWHUF
on their way to school and had to say “Good morning Grandfather”. I still have the pipe he used
Courtesy the Doncaster Family.
to smoke too.’

3ROLFH&RQVWDEOH)UDQN0HZ*
24-‐year-‐old son of a miller’s carter from the Isle of Wight. At 18 he is working as a farm labourer on the Isle. In
1891 he and his wife Emily are living at 13 Leeke Street, St Pancras. By 1901 he is a general labourer and they are
living in Battersea. Dies in Wandsworth, March 1953.

Dr John Alexander Miller

40-‐year-‐old Scotsman from Beith, Ayrshire, Divisional Police Surgeon for Finsbury, G-‐Division. He lives at Percy
House, 15 Percy Circus, Clerkenwell with his 38-‐year-‐old wife Carrie, born in Bombay, and their children.

James Reader W Bros

Metropolitan Police Magistrate. 46-‐year-‐old from St James Place, Westminster. In 1891 he is living at 31 Elm
Park Gardens, Chelsea and married to Emily. They are married in Kensington, April 1871. In 1881 he is a barrister
and they are living at Elm Park Gardens. Dies in Northleach, Gloucestershire, December 1923.

0DULVFKDO.HLWK)ULWKDND0DULVFNHO
37-‐year-‐old Barrister of Law. Born on the Isle of Wight, the son of a Rector. In July 1874 he married Agnes,
from Ipswich, in Kensington. In 1881 the family live at 187 Goldhawk Road, Fulham. By 1891 the family live at 62
:LQGVRU5RDG(DOLQJ'LHVLQ/LWWOH&DQÀHOG(VVH[LQ

$FNQRZOHGJHPHQWV
Ancestory.co.uk; casebook.org; Howard Brown for making the Illustrated Police News illustrations available on
jtrforums.com; The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden; The Doncaster Family; fullpint.com;
UDQGRPSXEÀQGHUFRXN; Colin Roberts; Silver Tiger. Special thanks to Janice James of the Doncaster Family for
photographs of Henry Doncaster. Finally, thanks to Adam Wood for his invaluable assistance with the maps and
illustrations and the Ripperologist team for considering and publishing my recent short run of articles.

6RXUFHV
Daily News, 10 October 1888; Daily Telegraph, 17 October 1888; East London Advertiser, 13 October 1888; Freeman’s Journal and
Daily Commercial Advertiser, Dublin, 10 October 1888; The Illustrated Police News, 3 November 1888; The Illustrated Police News, 10
November 1888; Irish Times, 10 October 1888; Islington Gazette, 10 October 1888; Manchester Guardian, 10 October 1888; Morning
Advertiser, 10 October 1888; The Star, 9 October 1888; The Star, 17 October 1888; St James Gazette, London, 9 October 1888; The
Times, 31 October 1888; oldbaileyonline.org, Refs: T18800301-‐284.T18861025-‐1010. T18880130-‐288. T18890624-‐586. T18900519-‐446.

J G SIMONS lives in Cheshire, England.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 15

7HUULEOH7UDJHG\
DW$EHUJDYHQQ\
7KH0XUGHURI 0DU\&RQQROO\

%\3$8/:,//,$06

On 19 September 1892 the Cardiff Western Mail and various other newspapers reported a
shocking murder in the town of Abergavenny. Initially there were rumours that Jack the Ripper
was involved. Whilst the killer was not responsible for the Whitechapel murders he was, unlike the
majority of Ripper suspects, convicted of murdering an unrelated prostitute by cutting her throat.
The victim was Mary Connolly, a 21-‐year-‐old with a history of drunkenness and disorderly conduct1. She had been
released from a month’s imprisonment on the morning of Friday, 16 September 1892. That same evening she was back
looking for clients, one of whom proceeded to kill her.

Her body was discovered just after eight o’clock in the evening. Edward Wilkins, a brakesman employed by the
London and North Western railway, found Mary lying in the gutter of a quiet road. Her throat had been cut from ear to
ear with a razor and her head all but severed from her neck.

The inquest began the following evening and was adjourned for two days, pending a full post-‐mortem. Meanwhile, an
RIÀFLDOGHVFULSWLRQZDVFLUFXODWHGRIDPDQVHHQZLWK0DU\EHIRUHKHUGHDWK7KHVXVSHFWZDV“aged about 30, 5ft 7in
KLJKVWRXWÀJXUHIUHVKFRPSOH[LRQOLJKWKDLUDQGPRXVWDFKHORVWIURQWWHHWK+HZDVGUHVVHGLQDGDUNFRDWYHVWDQG
trousers, hard black bowler hat, stand up collar and light tie. He was of respectable appearance.”

Police Sergeant Davies arrested William Saunders, an army deserter, who matched that description. Saunders admitted
spending time with Connolly that evening and had no alibi. Fortunately for him, another man came forward voluntarily
to confess and direct police to the location of the razor. He was Thomas Edwards, a 30-‐year-‐old labourer and ex-‐soldier.
It is not known if he and Saunders were acquainted.

At the reconvened inquest twelve witnesses were called to report that they had seen Connolly with Edwards on the
night of the crime. Edwards’ full confession read:

“I met with a girl on Friday night in Tudor-‐street about seven pm. She
asked me to go with her. Called in a public house on the bank in another
street. I had a glass of beer there, she had some liquor, and I gave her a
shilling there and she paid for the drink. We were in the bar with a small
window. I gave her other money besides the shilling. She asked me to go
DORQJZLWKKHUDQGVKHWRRNPHLQWRVRPHJDUGHQRUÀHOG7KHUHZHUH
fences there, wire fences. She laid down and I cut her throat there. I
had no immoral intercourse with her. I knew her, about two months ago
and then she took more than £2 from me and she had also given me the
bad disorder. I left her on the ground. I came back to the same public

Tudor Street, Abergavenny 2011.

DQG KDG D JODVVRIEHHU, ZDVKHG P\ KDQGV LQVRPHZDWHULQD ÀHOG ,
Google Images kept the razor until yesterday when I put it away and am willing to show

1 The “Radnorian” blog (tredelyn.blogspot.com) relates, in an article entitled A Radnorshire Ripper, that Connolly was the
“23 year-‐old daughter of the Irish Diaspora, living with her Cork-‐born father in Pant Street [Lane], Abergavenny”, which was
apparently “a little disreputable lane”.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 16

 the place. I remained in the town until after
eleven o’clock on Friday night. I slept in some
buildings on the road to the asylum. I threw the
collar away down by the river and took it away
\HVWHUGD\DQGFRXOGÀQGLWDJDLQ,KDGDSDSHU
parcel at the same public-‐house I called at with
the girl and fetched it the same night, when I had
DJODVVRIEHHU,OHIWDERXWÀYHR·FORFN,WKLQN
it is about six or seven years ago since Colonel Abergavenny Asylum 1852.

Findall [Fendall], commanding the Shropshire

regiment, was murdered in Birmingham by one of these loose girls. Since then my mind has always been against
these girls, I was formerly in the Shropshire regiment. If I had a good chance I could have killed one before. I
intended going to Newport and killing one or two there. I should have gone, only I had no money. I served in the
Egyptian campaign and got invalided from there and suffered from pain in my head before I committed the deed.
I have a mother, Elizabeth Edwards, in the Abergavenney asylum since I was a child. She has been in twice. She
FDPHIURP6LQJOHWRQWKHÀUVWWLPHDQGWKHVHFRQGWLPHIURP:KLWWDPµ

In view of this statement a verdict of Wilful Murder against Edwards was returned and he was remanded in custody.
His remarks about Colonel Fendall were largely ignored by the media. Now, however, we can revisit an apparent
miscarriage of justice which outraged contemporaries.

The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry were formed in 1881. They fought in Egypt in 1882 and, after a spell in Malta,
DW WKH 5HG 6HD LQ  7KH ÀUVW (J\SWLDQ FDPSDLJQ ZDV OHG E\ &RORQHO )HQGDOO ZKR UHWLUHG RQ  'HFHPEHU
1882 after 30 years service in the military. As it is unlikely that Edwards knew the Colonel socially, it was a decade-‐old
memory, and loyalty, that helped persuade him to cut Mary’s throat.

The Colonel, incorrectly referred to as a major in some

press reports, died in Birmingham on 27 February 1887.
He had been to the opera on the previous night and then
went drinking in the Great Western Hotel. He left there
with the intention of catching a train back to Shrewsbury.
He was later seen with a prostitute, Theresa Rooney, in
another Birmingham pub. They were driven in a cab to
Rooney’s house in Bagot Street, pausing to buy a bottle of
champagne with the Colonel’s money on the way. A man
called Joseph Lester followed them and the sounds of two
men arguing were heard. Fendall was taken to hospital but
died. Rooney claimed that he had fallen down the stairs, but
JDYHFRQÁLFWLQJDFFRXQWVDQGHYHQDIDOVHDGGUHVV/HVWHU
and Rooney were charged with murder and Lester’s parents
charged with being accessories after the fact as they had,
Great Western Hotel, Birmingham.
two days after the murder, helped dispose of the Colonel’s
coat and some of his money.

Despite strong evidence that the Colonel’s injuries were caused by violence, the jury decided to convict Lester
and Rooney of manslaughter only, which displeased the judge Mr Justice Hawkins. He proceeded to sentence Rooney
and Lester to three months imprisonment and Lester’s parents to one week, which meant that they were immediately
discharged. Rooney and Lester were married in August 1887 and made their way to London. The feeling that this was
a robbery with violence inappropriately punished led to a question in the House of Lords from Lord Ellenborough on 14
February 1888 proposing the appointment of a public prosecutor.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 17

 The trial of Thomas Edwards took
place on 1 December 1892. The medical
superintendent of the Abergavenny lunatic
asylum said that Edwards was of sound
mind, an opinion shared by the medical
RIÀFHU RI 8VN *DRO DQG DOVR WKH PHGLFDO
RIÀFHU LQ FKDUJH RI WKH 6KUHZVEXU\
regimental depot, who had known Edwards
between 1881 and 1887. The defence called
several relations and friends in an attempt
to reveal a history of insanity in the family,
which might include the accused. This did
not impress the jury or judge; Edwards
was found guilty and sentenced to death.
The Home Secretary
saw no reason to grant Usk Gaol

clemency.

Thomas Edwards was hanged in Usk Gaol by James Billington on 22 December 1892. No reporters
were admitted to the execution. It will never be known if Edwards’ primary motive was revenge
against a woman who stole from him, an ideological hatred of prostitutes based on the belief that one
caused the death of Colonel Fendall, or a general insanity.

6RXUFHV
Cardiff Western Mail, 19 September 1892; Freemans Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser,
20 September 1892; Cardiff Western Mail, 20 September 1892; Cardiff Western Mail, 21 September
1892; The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, 2 December 1892; The Pall Mall Gazette, 22 December
James Billington 1892; The Times, 8 March 1887; Lords Debates, 14 February 1888.

PAUL WILLIAMS is a writer best known for his study of the wolf in England, Howls of Imagination,
published by Heart of Albion in 2007. He has contributed 44 short stories to magazines and anthologies
LQDGGLWLRQWRSRHWU\DQGQRQÀFWLRQDUWLFOHV+LVZHEVLWHLVDWwww.freewebs.com/wehrwulf. Originally
from the UK, he now lives in Australia.

WRITE FOR RIPPEROLOGIST!

We welcome contributions on Jack the Ripper, the East End and the Victorian era.
Send your articles, letters and comments to contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 18

 :KLWHFKDSHOV
RI WKH$PHULFDQ:HVW
$*OLPSVHRI :HVWHUQ1DPHVDNHVRI WKH/DWH9LFWRULDQ3HULRG
3DUW:KLWHFKDSHOLQ3RUWODQG2UHJRQDND´5LS&LW\µ
By HOWARD and NINA BROWN

,QWKHÀUVWLQVWDOOPHQWRIWKLVWKUHHSDUWVHULHVRQ$PHULFDQFLWLHVZLWKQHLJKERUKRRGVZKLFKIRU
a brief time beginning in the early 1890s were known as “Whitechapel”, we examined the pride of
the Potato State, Idaho— Boise, that state’s capital city, which for better or worse (mostly worse)
had such a dubious neighborhood.1 In this installment, we’ll read about a similar “Whitechapel”
in Portland, Oregon, that in that rough and tumble frontier town garnered headlines on an almost
daily basis.

$%OLJKWHG$UHD'HVFULEHGLQWKH3DJHVRIThe Oregonian
In 1889, the year that Alice Mackenzie was murdered in Castle
Alley in London’s East End, the Portland’s prominent newspaper,
The OregonianFDOOHG3RUWODQG´WKHPRVWÀOWK\FLW\LQWKH1RUWKHUQ
States” due to its unsanitary sewers and gutters. Similarly, The West
Shore reported that “The new sidewalks put down this year are a
disgrace to a Russian village.”2

Portland is divided in two by the Williamette River, one of the

major tributaries of the Columbia River. Until the railroad afforded
direct access to Seattle following the line being pushed through the
Stampede Pass in the 1890s, Portland was the major seaport of the
American Northwest. Men at the tables in the card room at Erickson’s Saloon, Portland,
2UHJRQFD$XJXVW(ULFNVRQ·VHVWDEOLVKPHQWZDVORFDWHGRQ6:
2nd and Couch in Portland’s Skid Row area.
Between the Morrison
Street and Burnside Bridges existed a neighborhood known up until the early
1890s as the North End. In the early 1890s, this rundown and rowdy section
of Portland was rechristened, deservedly so given its seedy reputation, as
“Whitechapel,” just as the center of Boise received the same designation for
similar reasons at just about the same time.

Stories mentioning Portland’s Whitechapel were typically about robberies of

customers by prostitutes or else about loose women who were caught in the
act of solicitation—generally lurid fare, frequently found and duly noted in the
pages of The Oregonian, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the
3DFLÀF1RUWKZHVW

1 Howard Brown, “Whitechapels of the American West. A Glimpse at Western

Namesakes of the Late Victorian Period. Part I. Whitechapel in Boise, Idaho,”
Ripperologist 121, July 2011.
2 E Kimbark MacColl, The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon
 WR. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press Company, 1976.
,QWKHHDUO\VWKHHQFLUFOHGDUHDRI3RUWODQG·V1RUWK(QG
was rechristened “Whitechapel” by the powers-‐that-‐be, the Ripperologist 122 September 2011 19
press and locals.
 The Oregonian was founded as The Weekly Oregonian in 1850. It was begun by businessmen whose goal was to
HVWDEOLVK D :KLJVODQWHG QHZVSDSHU WR SURPRWH WKH FLW\ RI 3RUWODQG7KH SDSHU ZDV IRXQGHG E\ 6WHSKHQ &RIÀQ DQG
:LOOLDP:&KDSPDQZKRUHFUXLWHG7KRPDV-HIIHUVRQ'U\HUD6DQ)UDQFLVFRUHVLGHQWWRVHUYHDVWKHQHZVSDSHU·VÀUVW
editor.3

7KRVHRI\RXZKRUHDGWKHÀUVWLQVWDOOPHQWLQWKLVVHULHVPLJKWUHFDOOWKHQDPH*HRUJH/HY\ZKRZDVIRXQGJXLOW\RI
the October 3, 1891 murder of Davis Levy, a Boise entrepreneur and pimp although no relation. Instead of quitting the
United States for good—a condition of his 1911 release from jail—a year later, Levy found a way of returning to Portland
accompanied by two Parisian prostitutes. It’s therefore very likely that Levy had various useful connections in Portland’s
Whitechapel just as he had in Boise’s Whitechapel.

The Shanghai Tunnels of

Portland
In the late 19th century, Portland’s
ZDWHUIURQW ZDV LQ LWV KH\GH\ ÀOOHG
with passing ships, prostitutes, and
sailors back from sea temporarily—or
so they thought. Apparently a popular
practice was for ship’s captains to
SD\ PLQLRQV WR ÀQG D GUXQN DEOH
bodied young man at a local bar,
drug him, and “shanghai” him which
meant sneaking him through a series
of underground tunnels that led to
the city’s waterfront. He was sold,
unconscious, for slave labor and
awoke confused the next day on a
slow boat to China where he would
likely spend the next three to six
years.4

In 1990, an area businessman was quoted in

The Oregonian as saying that these “shanghai
tunnels” ran underneath “Northwest Couch,
Davis and Everett streets.” These streets were
in the center of Portland’s “Whitechapel.”

Since the following selected newspaper

articles from The Oregonian are self-‐
explanatory, by way of introduction to the
series of sordid stories, I felt we would allow
the author of the next article to lead us
through the muddy streets of Stumptown (an
early nickname for Portland) and from a safe
distance take a look at the day-‐to-‐day events
which occurred in that seedy area of yet
another Far West river-‐city.

Map showing Old Town (earlier known as “Whitechapel”), Portland in 2011

3 E Kimbark MacColl, 7KH*URZWKRID&LW\3RZHUDQG3ROLWLFVLQ3RUWODQG2UHJRQ². Portland, Oregon: The Georgian

Press Company, 1978.
4 Sdona, “The Shanghai Tunnels of Portland,” Travel Suggestions on Jaunted.com, August 4, 2005, available at
ZZZMDXQWHGFRPVWRU\WUDYHO7KH6KDQJKDL7XQQHOVRI3RUWODQG

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 20

 ´(YLO'HHGVRI'DUNQHVVµ

7KH2UHJRQLDQ0D\
PORTLAND BY NIGHT
THE EVIL DEEDS OF DARKNESS
$Q(YHQLQJLQ:KLWHFKDSHODQG
,WV&HOHEUDWHG5HVRUWVRI&ULPHDQG'LVVLSDWLRQ

When darkness has settled down upon the western heights and blotted from sight the near and distant scenes of
which Portlanders love to toll, there is still presented to the eye a beautiful view, for art takes possession of the
landscape nature leaves to rest. Spread out at one’s feet is a vast sea of deep, mysterious darkness, interspersed with
glistening points of radiance -‐ brilliant arcs scattered here and there, long rows of glowing incandescent and twinkling
VWDUVRIKRXVHKROGOLJKW+RZGLYHUVHDUHWKHVFHQHVXSRQZKLFKWKHVHÁDPHOHVVÀUHVVKHGWKHLUUD\V6RPHVKLQHRXW
from homes of splendor, some light the way of hurrying steps over the pavements, some stand out serene and high
DERYHWKHULYHU·VGDUNO\ÁRZLQJWLGHDQGRWKHUVFDQVFDUFHO\SLHUFHWKHJORRPRIWKHUHVRUWVRIFULPHDQGWKHDERGHV
of misery and squalor. Sundry forms of municipal legislation and a general scarcity of spare money for the past three
years have made Portland’s night scenes quite humdrum affairs to what they were when three or four variety theaters
were thriving, and half a dozen big gambling houses within a stone’s throw of each other were running all-‐night games.
What does go on, however, is about the same in kind though less in extent. Twelve o’clock is about the time when
good people fade almost utterly from the street. There are those, of course, whose duties keep them out -‐ policemen,
street sweepers, reporters, but aside from these, those who “roam the streets” after that hour should be elsewhere.
1RRQHZKRKDVZLWQHVVHGDJUHDWÀUHDWRUR·FORFNLQWKHPRUQLQJFDQKDYHIDLOHGWRZRQGHUDWWKHSUHVHQFHRIVR
many people who have evidently not retired, but appear in their evening dress without a trace of dishabille. Wherever
WKH\FRPHIURPWKH\VKRZXSLQVXIÀFLHQWQXPEHUVWRSURYHWKDWDODUJHSURSRUWLRQRIWKHFLW\·VSRSXODWLRQÀQGRWKHU
occupation than sleep for the night hours. Many of those, of course, have duties of the day which will suffer for the
dissipation, but still the night side of Portland affords honest work for many toilers. Most of it, to be sure, is furnished
by those in questionable pursuits. Protection against lawlessness is the chief mission of the police at night; and the
hack men and messenger boys who scurry hither and thither do so almost uniformly at the instance of the criminal
HOHPHQWRUWKH´VSRUWLQJµFODVV$IWHUWKHWKHDWHUJRHUVKDYHÀQLVKHGZLWKWKHLUMRVWOLQJEXWVKRUWOLYHGSURFHVVLRQV
and the “last cars” have whisked away with their belated loads, quiet settles over the streets. The last place to close
up, except the saloons and restaurants, are the cigar and refreshment stands. About 12 their folding doors are put
together, and windows put up and a solitary light burning is all that tells of their previous activity. But within the
saloons there is still life and activity. They are at any time the brightest of places along the street. From out their
KLGGHQP\VWHULHVÁRDWVRXQGVRIPHUU\FOLQNLQJJODVVHVVQDWFKHVRIODXJKWHUDQGVRQJDQGVRPHWLPHVYRLFHVLQZRUG\
GLVFXVVLRQ :LWKLQ JURXSV RI PHQ EHIRUH WKH EDU DUH UHÁHFWHG LQ EXUQLVKHG PLUURUV RWKHUV VLW DW WKH FDUG WDEOHV
busy with pasteboard and chips. Down in the North End there are more people on the streets. The varieties are in full
blast, and a constant stream of patrons pour in and out of them and the saloons which thickly besprinkle the section
from Pine street north to Hoyt. Some of these places are frequented by a very low class of customers -‐ “friends” of
variety actresses and women of the town, hobos, petty criminals, back number bartenders, relics of brighter days
from all classes of employment, sailors and longshoremen. To cater to this class of trade, music (so-‐called) is provided.
6RPHWLPHVDSLDQRVXIÀFHVLQRWKHUUHVRUWVWKHUHZLOOEHDYLROLQDQGSLDQRRUKDUSDQGSLDQRDQGLQRQHSODFHRQ7KLUG
street there is furnished nightly an unique picture. A big burly negro saws away monotonously on a violin, eyes closed
LQREOLYLRQDKDOIFRQVXPHGFLJDUHWWHLQKLVPRXWK%\KLVVLGHDZKLWHPDQSRXQGVÀHUFHO\XSRQDSLDQRWKDWKDVVHHQ
better days, while from a neighboring eminence a Jap doles out Irish stew of fearful and wonderful composition as a
“grand free hot lunch every night with one glass of beer.” The guests sit around the sloppy tables, and while the night
wanes the “Irish Washerwoman” and the grand free lunch go down with the beer.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 21

 THE FRENCH QUARTER

Other places have feminine attractions. Most of these are the French cribs with a saloon attachment. These are
generally conducted in colonies -‐ three or four ostensibly distinct establishments working under a common headquarters,
generally a corner saloon. In this central establishment is the saloon, and in its rear a dinning-‐room and kitchen
where the ladies on the block board and buy their cognac and claret. All have connection with the source of supplies
and will bring drinks for their thirsty guests in the twinkling of an eye. At the corner of Fourth and C is a typical
colony of this sort. The proprietress, a dark, voluptuous Frenchwoman of 33 or thereabouts, has a lease on the entire
quarter-‐block. The houses on both streets from the corner to the center of the block are cut up into small rooms, the
occupants renting from her, boarding with her and patronizing the corner bar for red wine, strong brandy, absinthe
and Benedictine. Those immediately adjoining the saloon of ten come into the common parlor, which connects with
the barroom, and vary the monotony of their window campaign by hanging around the bar and accosting the chance
customer with, “Can’t I have a drink, mister?” Their request is rarely unsuccessful, for those who go into such places
to drink know what they will meet, and expect to be sociable. The French girl has her faults, but they are not those
of her Anglo-‐Saxon co-‐laborer. She does not squander her money in riotous living, make night hideous with drunken
orgies, or brazenly parade the streets to advertise her calling. Generally her slender earnings go to her macquereau,
who manages her as exactingly as the sideshow proprietor does his freaks, and frequently punishes her shamefully for
ill success, whether occasioned by sickness or slack business methods. There are many saloons where English-‐speaking
women have connecting rooms. These usually spend much of their time in the barroom or its adjoining “parlor.” They
are clamorous in their pleas for drinks, though it is usually done for the sake of their percentages rather than from a
state of ceaseless thirst. It is not uncommon, however, to see them the worse for liquor, and as long as they are jovial
and increasing their “jag” they do not want for friends to ply them with liquor until they become maudlin.

But not all the women who are out late can be found in saloons. Some are in the private rooms of fashionable
restaurants, elated with champagne and oysters, talking wildly, laughing immoderately, experimenting with cigarettes
and essaying skirt dances. They have plausible excuses for parents or husband in the morning about missing the last
car and staying with a lady friend. There is another large class known to the police as “grafters,” who lure their
prospective victims into wine-‐rooms, reached by the frequent sign, “Private Entrance,” “Ladies Entrance” or “Family
(QWUDQFHµZKHUHZLWKGULQNVPRUHRUOHVVGRFWRUHGDQGZLWKGHIWÀQJHUVWKH\UREWKHLUFRPSDQLRQ6RPHWLPHVWKH\
take him to their lodgings, where silent hands through a panel, or hooks through a transom, do the work she despaired
of in the wine-‐room.

One of the jolly combinations one meets on the street is that of the drummer and his country customer. Be sure the
merchant sees all the sights at night, from the luxurious bagnio to the Whitechapel den, from the tiger to the crap
game, and that the house defrays all the expense of the excursion. Night is not the professional gambler’s time for
taking pleasure walks. He is assiduously employed, dealing, on the lookout, or perhaps playing his own “systems” from
WKHRXWVLGH:KHQKLVZRUNLVGRQHKHLVJODGHQRXJKWRVHHNKLVUHVW7KHPHQRQWKHVWUHHWDUHFKLHÁ\KDQJHUVRQRI
various places, variety roustabouts, saloon keepers, hobos pure and simple, alert to sponge meals or drinks or assist
in petty misdemeanors which will give him a pittance. Curiously enough, the beggars have vanished. They must rest
VRPHWLPHIURPWKHDUGXRXVGXWLHVRIWKHLUSURIHVVLRQDQGDWQLJKWWKH\ÀQGWKHPRVWFRQJHQLDOFRPSDQ\LQZKLFKWR
spend their incomes. “Sure thing” men at cards or dice are active, keenly on watch for possible victims. Back and forth
among these scenes, the hacks and messenger boys hurry, the street cleaners’ machine goes along its wake of dust and
subsequent shovelers with their carts, policemen patrol their beats, picking up an occasional drunk or sneak thief, until
the gray dawn streaks the eastern sky, and another day is ushered in, the rattle of the produce and milk vendors wagons
is heard over the bridges and the streets become alive with laborers going to their early morning tasks.

´$0XUGHURXV$WWDFNµ
Although no Ripper-‐like murders took place Portland, at least one knife assault on a prostitute occurred and made
front page news in the summer of 1890. It is interesting and curious to note that, in addition to the two French
prostitutes that accompanied George Levy to Portland after his release from prison in 1911, many of the prostitutes
involved in incidents that occurred in the city’s Whitechapel district were French (or pretended to be French), including
the victim of said knife attack, as was the man who attacked her.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 22

The Oregonian,
$XJXVW
ROW IN WHITECHAPEL
)UHQFK*LUO0XUGHURXVO\$WWDFNHGLQ%URDG'D\OLJKW
7+(0$1:+2',',75$1$:$<

7KH,QMXULHV1RW'DQJHURXV$0DQ:KR3UHWHQGHGWREHD'HWHFWLYH
0DGH+LPVHOIDW+RPHLQWKH:RPDQ·V+RXVH

The unholy precincts of Whitechapel were thrown into a fever of excitement at 1 o’clock yesterday afternoon by a
murderous assault upon Marie Diane, a French denizen of the district.

Marie is 23 years old and lives in the double house at 68 ½ North Fourth street, between D. and E. Her story of the
assault differs from the theory of the police. She says that she was sitting in the window of the house, and solicited a
PDQZKRSDVVHGE\+HHQWHUHGWKHKRXVHDQGGHOLEHUDWHO\RSHQHGDSHQNQLIHDQGDWWDFNHGKHULQÁLFWLQJDSDLQIXOEXW
not dangerous wound in the breast, and another in the abdomen. She screamed, and the man broke away. She followed
him to the door and continued her cries for help, to which a number of men responded. Meanwhile the man walked up
Fourth street and, turning into C. disappeared. Dr. Corey was summoned and dressed the injury.

Marie described her assailant as a tall, heavy man with light brown mustache.

“Do you know him?” she was asked.

“No.”

“Ever see him before?”

“No.”

“What cause had he to assault you?”

“None, whatever. He came in the house and immediately attacked me.”

“Did you have any trouble with him about money or any other matter?”

“There was no trouble of any kind.”

Captain Gritzmacher, of the detective force, has a different idea. Marie, he says, had made up her mind to return
to France, which angered the man she was living with, and he attacked her. He describes the assailant as a man about
ÀYHIHHWWHQLQFKHVKLJKZHLJKLQJSRXQGVZLWKIXOOIHDWXUHVDQGDOLJKWEURZQPXVWDFKH+HZDVGUHVVHGLQDOLJKW
suit of clothes, with a stiff brown hat.

When Detective Day and a reporter called at the girl’s house there was a half drunken fellow sitting at Marie’s
bedside, bossing the Chinese cook around and occasionally paying his respects to a bottle of spirits on a table beside the
LQMXUHGZRPDQ+HZDVYHU\RIÀFLRXVDQGLQWHUUXSWHGDOOTXHVWLRQVSURSRXQGHGZLWK´7KDW·VQRQHRI\RXUEXVLQHVVµ
+HÀQDOO\H[DVSHUDWHGWKHGHWHFWLYHZKRWROGKLPWRNHHSVWLOO

“Who is this man?” the detective asked Marie, after the man had made a number of interruptions.

“I do not know him,” replied the woman.

“What is he doing here?”

´,GRQRWNQRZWKDW+HFDPHLQZLWKWKHRIÀFHUVDQGZKHQWKH\OHIWKHEHJDQPDNLQJWURXEOH,DVNHGKLPZKRKH
was, and he told me he was a detective. He made the cook bring him a bottle of wine, and beside he helped himself to
P\YHUPRXWKDQGEUDQG\7KHQKHWRRNFHQWVZKLFKZDVRQWKHWDEOHDQGQH[WDVNHGPHIRUDGROODU,DVNHGZK\,
should give him a dollar, and he said he was a detective. I refused to give him the money.”

Detective Day ordered the fellow to leave, but he would not go and was arrested. At the jail he gave the name of
Thomas Moore. A charge of drunkenness was booked against him.

The police have a good description of the murderous assailant and kept a vigilant lookout for him last night.
Detectives were at all outgoing trains but the man did not show up.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 23

 His name is Marchand Renard and he is a Frenchman. Three months ago he arrived in San Francisco from London. He
was in Portland a few weeks ago and went to Seattle, remaining there but a short time. He returned to Portland about
WKUHHZHHNVDJREULQJLQJ0DULH'LDQHZLWKKLP7KHSROLFHDUHQRZVDWLVÀHGWKDW5HQDUGDQG0DULHTXDUUHOHGRYHU
the latter’s proposed return to France.

Renard speaks very little English. He knows enough to say, “Give me some beer” when he goes into a saloon but very
little more.

The police have learned that when Renard turned into C street he walked to Third, and entered Watson’s saloon,
remaining a short time. He did not speak to anyone in the saloon, and after he left it he walked to Collins’s saloon on
Second and C streets, where he remained a short time. All trace of him is lost after he left that place.

7KHLQMXUHGZRPDQZDVUHPRYHGWRWKH3RUWODQGKRVSLWDOODVWQLJKW,ILQÁDPPDWLRQGRHVQRWVHWLQVKHZLOOFRPH
out all right.

3ROLFH5DLGVLQ3RUWODQG·V:KLWHFKDSHO

The Oregonian,
-XO\
5DLG2Q:KLWHFKDSHO

&DSWDLQ(:6SHQFHUWKHQHZFKLHIRISROLFHPDGHWKHÀUVWRIDVHULHVRIFRQWHPSODWHGUDLGVRQWKH:KLWHFKDSHO
GLVWULFWODVWQLJKW+HZLWK2IÀFHUV&ROOLQV6WLWWDQG-RKQVRQVZRRSHGGRZQRQWKH&RPELQDWLRQVDORRQDQGGDQFH
KDOORQWKHZHVWVLGHRI6HFRQGEHWZHHQ&RXFKDQG'DYLVVWUHHWVDUUHVWHGWKHWZRSURSULHWRUVRWKHUPHQDQG
women. C. R. Salars.

The Oregonian,
-XO\
WHITECHAPEL RAIDED AGAIN
&KLHI6SHQFHUDQG)RXU2IÀFHUV9LVLWHG7ZR3ODFHV
and Captured Twenty-‐Three Persons.

&KLHIRISROLFH6SHQFHUZLWKRIÀFHUV&ROOLQV(FNVWHLQ-RKQVRQDQG6WLWWPDGHDQRWKHUUDLGRQ:KLWHFKDSHOEHWZHHQ
DQGR·FORFNODVWQLJKWDQGDUUHVWHGPHQDQGVL[ZRPHQ&KLHI6SHQFHUDQGRIÀFHUV&ROOLQVDQG(FNVWHLQÀUVW
visited Edward Kaiser’s combination house on Fourth, between Davis and Everett streets, and arrested the proprietor
DQGÀYHRWKHUPHQDQGWZRZRPHQ$ERXWPLQXWHVODWHUWKHFKLHIDQG2IÀFHUV6WLWWDQG-RKQVRQFDOOHGDW(GZDUG
0HLVVRQLHU·VSODFHRQ)RXUWKDQG'DYLVVWUHHWVDQGDUUHVWHGWKHSURSULHWRUDQGRWKHUPHQDQGIRXUZRPHQ$OO
were taken to the city jail, and Meissonier and Kaiser were charged with keeping houses of prostitution, and the others
were booked for frequenting such houses. Ten were bailed out by friends and the others were locked up for the night
in default of bail.

-HQQLHWKH7KLHI´1HOOLH%O\µDQG2WKHU*UDIWHUVRI:KLWHFKDSHO

The Oregonian
$XJXVW
&+$5*(':,7+52%%(5<

-HQQLH-RQHVDUHVLGHQWRI:KLWHFKDSHOZDVDUUHVWHGE\2IÀFHU&ROHPDQODVWQLJKWRQDFKDUJHRIKDYLQJUREEHG
*XV-RKQVWRQRI-RKQVWRQFODLPVWKDW-HQQLHHQWLFHGKLPLQWRKHUSODFHDQGUREEHGKLP7KHFDVHZLOOFRPHXSLQ
the police court today.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 24

The Oregonian,
2FWREHU
1RWRULRXV+RXVHLQ:KLWHFKDSHO5DLGHGE\2IÀFHUV/DVW1LJKW

The continual complaints made against the disreputable dens in Whitechapel, where bold robberies are committed
HDFKHYHQLQJVLQFHDFKHFNZDVSXWRQWKHSROLFHRIÀFHUVKDVUHVXOWHGLQWKHFRXQW\RIÀFLDOVWDNLQJWKHPDWWHULQ
KDQG/DVWQLJKWDERXWR·FORFN&RQVWDEOH&RQQRUPDGHDUDLGRQWKHQRWRULRXV´JUDIWLQJµSODFHVDWò
and 271½ Couch street, between Third and Fourth, and succeeded in capturing Jennie Derot, Bella Emerson, Catherine
-HURPHDQG1HOOLH$GDPVDOLDV1HOOLH%O\ZKRZHUHFKDUJHGZLWKEHLQJLQPDWHVRIDEDZG\KRXVH7KHLUEDLOZDVÀ[HG
at $200 each, and being unable to give this they spent last night in county jail. Their cases will come up in Justice
McDevitt’s court this afternoon at 2 o’clock.

District Attorney Hume is thoroughly in sympathy with the movement inaugurated to put a stop to the depredations
FRPPLWWHGLQWKH:KLWHFKDSHOGLVWULFWDQGKDVSURPLVHGWRDVVLVWWKHRIÀFHUVLQWKHLUHIIRUWV

The Oregonian,
$XJXVW
$55(67(')25/$5&(1<

A woman named Nellie Brown, occupying one of the booths in Whitechapel row, on C street, between Third and
)RXUWKZDVDUUHVWHGE\'HWHFWLYH+ROVDSSOH\HVWHUGD\DIWHUQRRQRQDFKDUJHRIVWHDOLQJIURPDPDQQDPHG2VFDU
Chilberg, who had dropped in to pay her a friendly call. The case will come up in the police court this afternoon.

The Oregonian
2FWREHU
TO WIPE OUT WHITECHAPEL
3ROLFH:LOO7U\WR6XSSUHVV/DZOHVVQHVVLQ7KDW'LVWULFW

7KHDUUHVWRI5RVD1HYLQVD:KLWHFKDSHOZRPDQE\2IÀFHU0RRUH7KXUVGD\QLJKWIRU´VROLFLWLQJµKDVFXOPLQDWHG
in a determination on the part of the police authorities to take vigorous steps toward putting a stop to the lawlessness
that is continually complained of as existing in that district. Scarcely a night passes but what some unsophisticated
FRXQWU\PDQEULQJVLQIRUPDWLRQWRWKHSROLFHVWDWLRQWKDWKHKDVEHHQLQYHLJOHGLQWRVRPHGHQDQGUREEHG,WLVGLIÀFXOW
to secure a conviction in case an arrest is made, for the women are too experienced and work their games in such a
manner as to leave no chance for the detectives to get a hold on them. Their success has so emboldened them that they
RIWHQJRRQWRWKHVLGHZDONDQGHQGHDYRUWRFRD[WKHXQVXVSHFWLQJÁ\LQWRWKHVSLGHU·VSDUORU

Chief of Police Spencer, upon assuming authority, made an attempt to compel these women to keep within their
houses, and not molest passers-‐by, and nearly every day in the police court one or more were there to answer to
FKDUJHV RI ´VROLFLWLQJµ -XGJH &DUH\ KDV EHHQ YHU\ OHQLHQW ZLWK WKHP DQG LQ HDFK LQVWDQFH ZKHUH LW ZDV WKH ÀUVW
RIIHQVHDÀQHRIZDVLPSRVHG%XWWKH\VHHPHGWRKDYHQRIHDURIWKHODZDQGNHSWFRPLQJLQ

The Oregonian
2FWREHU
7:2025(9,&7,06
:KLWHFKDSHO:RPHQ&RQWLQXHWR3O\7KHLU9RFDWLRQ

L. E. Norgood, a tailor who works in North Portland, paid a visit to Whitechapel Friday night. While passing the
notorious den at 273 Couch street, he was prevailed upon by some of the women who were in the door and on the
sidewalk to enter the house. He remained there some time, and after leaving found that his pocket had been picked of
a $20 gold piece. He returned to the place but the woman whom he suspected of having committed the theft could not
be found, and of course he got no satisfaction. Norgood told his story to a friend, and much to his surprise, ascertained
that the friend had also been inveigled into the same den that night and robbed of $20 in currency. The matter was
reported to the police, but it was the same old story. The victims could not produce evidence that would convict the
women, and they escape punishment. Complaints continue to come in regarding the boldness of these women. Since

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 25

the police have been prevented from arresting them for “soliciting,” which really means going out on to the sidewalks
or standing in their doors and windows, and inducing unsophisticated strangers to enter their dens, they have been
doing a lucrative business. The commissioners have ordered that arrests of these women must be made by policemen
RQO\ZKHQLQXQLIRUPEXWDVWKH\DUHDOZD\VRQWKHLUJXDUGIRURIÀFHUVLWLVDOPRVWLPSRVVLEOHWRFDWFKWKHPDWWKHLU
work.

The Oregonian,
2FWREHU
TROUBLE IN WHITECHAPEL
&RPSODLQW0DGH7KDWWKH'LVWULFW,V1RZ:RUVH7KDQ(YHU

Whitechapel is rampant once more, and the denizens of that district are carrying on their work with all their old-‐
time boldness. Night after night complaints are made at police headquarters of robberies committed by women in that
ORFDOLW\EXWWKHRIÀFHUVDUHSRZHUOHVVWRUHQGHUDQ\DVVLVWDQFHWRZDUGSXWWLQJDVWRSWRWKHQXLVDQFH6XQGD\QLJKWD
countryman reported to the police that he had been inveigled into a den on Couch street, near Third, and had a $20
gold piece taken from his pocket by one of the shrewd female manipulators. As they were alone at the time, he could
not bring witnesses to prove his charge, consequently it was useless to prosecute the case.

Last night a man complained that he was approached by a woman on Fourth street, near Davis, and asked if he had
any money. He drew forth $1.50, which the woman grabbed and ran into a house, closing and locking the door behind
her. He tried to get in, but could not effect an entrance. There was no help for him, because he had no witness.

6XFKZRUNKDVEHHQJRLQJRQIRUPDQ\PRQWKV&KLHI6SHQFHUSXWDWHPSRUDU\VWRSWRLWE\VHQGLQJRXWRIÀFHUV
dressed in citizens’ clothes to arrest all women who openly “solicited.” He had them all frightened for a while.
Whitechapel was as quiet and orderly as any other business section, but for some reason the arrests ceased. It is
UXPRUHGWKDWWKHFRPPLVVLRQHUVKDGDKDQGLQLWDQGLQWLPDWHGWKDWDUUHVWVLQVXFKFDVHVVKRXOGEHPDGHE\RIÀFHUV
only when in uniform. Of course there was no chance to catch the women then, for they are always on the lookout for
a policeman. So, emboldened by the lack of police vigilance, they have resumed operations, and Whitechapel is now
regarded as dangerous as ever, if not more so.

A gentleman who owns property in this locality, and conducts business there, declares that the matter will go before
the city council at the next meeting, and an effort be made to obtain relief.

No particular objection is made to the saloons and houses being there, provided they are conducted in a half decent
manner, but it is an injury to the interests of property owners to have that section of the city looked upon as it now is.

The Oregonian
-DQXDU\
%$')257+(´*5$)7(56µ
-XGJH&DUH\·V'HWHUPLQDWLRQWR6WRS:KLWHFKDSHO5REEHULHV

Judge Carey has decided upon a course that will have the effect of putting a check upon Whitechapel women who
have been so successfully robbing or “grafting” of late. It is an unusual step, and one that has never been taken before
in this city, but the judge is fully warranted in his action, and many favorable comments upon it were made by the
police authorities yesterday.

Complaints are continually made at the station regarding robberies committed by these women. Strangers are
inveigled into their houses and robbed. Their tale of woe is poured into the ears of the police captains and the women
are arrested. They give bonds, and immediately proceed to “square” the matter. The victim is always willing, upon his
PRQH\EHLQJUHIXQGHGWRUHIXVHWRSURVHFXWHDQGZKHQWKHFDVHLVFDOOHGXSLQFRXUWWKHVWDWHRUFLW\DWWRUQH\ÀQGV
himself without any evidence, and the defendant is discharged.

Yesterday Lottie Williams was in court charged with stealing $20 from Charles Gorman, who visited her at her place
on Fourth street. Through her attorney, she asked for a continuance until Monday. Judge Carey agreed to this, but said
that he would take the testimony of the complaining witness then. This was something unusual, and was objected to

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 26

E\FRXQVHOIRUWKHGHIHQVHEXWWKHMXGJHZDVÀUPDQGFDOOHG*RUPDQWRWKHVWDQG7KHZLWQHVVWROGKRZ/RWWLHKDG
gone through his pockets and taken money. He admitted that he saw another woman there, but he was Lottie’s guest.
The case then went over until Monday.

The court stated that he had no desire to act harshly, but he had been imposed upon in these cases, and was
determined to put a stop to this thieving business. Hereafter he would hold a session of court whenever women were
DUUHVWHGRQVXFKFKDUJHVVRDVWRJHWWKHWUXWKRIWKHPDWWHUEHIRUHDQRSSRUWXQLW\ZDVJLYHQWR´À[µWKHFRPSODLQLQJ
witness.

The Oregonian,
-DQXDU\
TAXING WHITECHAPEL WOMEN

$':LOOLDPVD\RXQJPDQZDVDUUHVWHGE\2IÀFHU6QRZODVWQLJKWDQGERRNHGDWWKHSROLFHVWDWLRQRQDFKDUJH
of obtaining money under false pretenses. He had been working Whitechapel women by representing himself to be a
VSHFLDORIÀFHUDQGFROOHFWLQJPRQH\IRUKLVVHUYLFHV

0DVFRW0HQXDQG*DEULHOOH0HQLFN 7ZR7HHQDJH%R\V

The Oregonian
6HSWHPEHU
Two Whitechapel women, giving the rather peculiar names of Mascot Menu and Gabrielle Menick, were arraigned
on a charge of soliciting. The prosecuting witnesses were A.L . and W. H. Flower, boys of 16 or 18. Before going into
court they told Chief Hunt that they had only passed the women’s house once, and were shocked at the boldness with
ZKLFK 0DVFRW DQG *DEULHOOH DFFRVWHG WKHP ,Q FRXUW KRZHYHU WKH\ WHVWLÀHG WKDW WKH\ IUHTXHQWO\ SDVVHG WKURXJK
Whitechapel, and that the women had addressed them in French, a language which they did not understand. The
defendants were discharged and the boys told to keep away from the North End.

The Oregonian
0DUFK
A WHITECHAPEL BLAZE
1HDUO\*RHV8SLQ6PRNH7KLV0RUQLQJ

$IHZPLQXWHVDIWHUR·FORFNWKLVPRUQLQJÁDPHVZHUHVHHQWREXUVWIURPWKHUHDURIDWZRVWRU\IUDPHEXLOGLQJ
RQWKHVRXWKZHVWFRUQHURI)LIWKDQG'DYLVVWUHHWV$QDODUPZDVWXUQHGLQVLPXOWDQHRXVO\IURPER[HVDQG$IWHU
DVWXEERUQÀJKWWKHÀUHPHQVXFFHHGHGLQFRQWUROOLQJÁDPHVEXWQRWXQWLOWKH\KDGDOPRVWGHPROLVKHGWKHEXLOGLQJ
DQGDOVRVHULRXVO\GDPDJHGDQRWKHUEXLOGLQJLQWKHUHDURIWKHÀUVW7KHEXLOGLQJVZHUHRZQHGE\07UDFH\DQGFRVW
DERXW7KH\ZHUHGDPDJHGSUREDEO\WRWKHH[WHQWRI7KHORZHUSDUWRIWKHFRUQHUEXLOGLQJZDVRFFXSLHG
E\WZRVDORRQVRQHRZQHGE\D0U&KDSPDQDQGWKHRWKHUE\0DQJKDP /H-HXQH7KHODWWHUÀUPDOVRKDVDOHDVH
RQWKHXSSHUÁRRUDQGUHQWHGIXUQLVKHGURRPVWRFRORUHGSHRSOH&KDSPDQ·VORVVLVDERXWZLWKQRLQVXUDQFH0U
Mangham estimated the loss to his saloon and lodging-‐house at about $1000. The insurance is about $200. There were
half a dozen roomers in the lodging-‐house, but they were warned in time and made their escape from the building
LQ VDIHW\ VRPH RI WKHP ZLWK WKHLU SHUVRQDO HIIHFWV 7KH RULJLQ RI WKH ÀUH LV QRW NQRZQ EXW LW LV VXSSRVHG WKDW LW
originated in the rear of Chapman’s saloon in a room where a number of lamps were kept and cleaned.

The Oregonian
6HSWHPEHU
WOMEN IN SALOONS

Judge Munly has quite properly called the attention of the new grand jury to the offenses of the “Whitechapel”
district, although it is not likely any good will come of it. Whatever cognizance the grand jury takes of the dens of
the North End will in all probability come to it through the medium of the municipal court. The police department

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 27

will continue to handle the social evil in its present desultory way until the mayor shall have power under which he is
directly responsible for this branch of the city’s administration. His appointment of the police commissioners will give
him a power in the exercise of which we shall have a right to expect better things.

Of course, no one supposes that the common vices of mankind can be wholly eradicated in a city the size of Portland;
EXWWKH\FDQEHDQGVKRXOGEHFRQÀQHGLQWKHLUORFDWLRQDQGH[WHQWRIRSHUDWLRQVRDVWREHOHDVWKDUPIXOWRWKH
XQZDU\OHDVWLQMXULRXVWRWKHFLW\·VDSSHDUDQFHDQGOHDVWFRUUXSWLQWKHLULQÁXHQFHXSRQVRFLHW\

One important measure of reform which has been effectively maintained in other cities, and is possible of enactment
in all old-‐settled communities, is to divorce the brothel from the saloon. They should be separated , not only in
individual instances, but as to their location in the town. To their union is directly due nearly all the brawls and
robberies of “Whitechapel,” which Judge Munly says furnishes half the criminal business of the municipal court.
Women should not be allowed in saloons or adjoining apartments. The practice is essentially foreign and need have no
H[LVWHQFHLQDQ$PHULFDQFLW\7KHUHLVQRWURXEOHDERXWPRYLQJWKHZRPHQ,WZDVGRQHHDVLO\HQRXJKLQ

0RUH&URRNHG&KDUDFWHUVLQ3RUWODQG·V:KLWHFKDSHORIWKHV
The Oregonian
-DQXDU\
&522.('&+$5$&7(56
$OORI7KHP'R1RW)UHTXHQWWKH:KLWHFKDSHO'LVWULFW

There is a prevailing opinion among persons not acquainted with the police business that the worst class of criminals
is always to be found among the low saloons and dives about the city. This is in a measure true, for the records will
show that the great majority of arrests are made in the Whitechapel district, but the trained burglar, and certain
other kindred classes of the “profession,” comprising the most dangerous element of the criminal community, rarely
ever frequent saloons or public places of amusement. They are, as a rule, moderately well dressed and quiet and
unassuming in demeanor. They often times frequent hotel corridors and public reading-‐rooms, and conduct themselves
as if they took an interest in their surroundings, and had some important business on hand. To the average observer
these men have nothing about them that would cause suspicion, yet a trained detective can pick them out almost at a
JODQFH7KHUHLVDQLQGHÀQDEOHVRPHWKLQJDERXWWKHH\HRIWKHH[FRQYLFWDVWHDOWK\PRYHPHQWDERXWKLVZDONDQGD
habit he has of making a rapid survey of all who come about him, that immediately establishes his identity with those
accustomed to dealing with him.

A few days ago one of the city detectives discovered a noted and dangerous burglar, who has served several terms
for crimes, in a down-‐town free reading-‐room frequented by an honest and industrious class of men. A number of these
fellows have recently made their appearances in town, and are probably responsible for a number of recent burglaries.
They must be hunted up, their identity established and then either driven from the city or kept under the strictest
surveillance. During the past 10 days a great deal of this work has been accomplished by the police department, but as
there are constantly fresh arrivals from all parts of the country, the detectives always have their hands full.

*****

Today, Portland is known in some circles as “Rip City.” The infamous area of iniquity once known as Whitechapel is
now called Old Town. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977.5

5 Dwight Jaynes, “The day Rip City ruled the Rose City.” The Portland Tribune, November 26, 2008.

HOWARD and NINA BROWN are the proprietors of JTRForums.com.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 28

 Amazing Dogs
7KH$GYHQWXUHVRI /RQGRQ-DFN
WKH&HOHEUDWHG&ROOHFWLQJ'RJ
By JAN BONDESON

In the third of a six-‐part series, Jan Bondeson reveals the amazing deeds, often criminal or heroic, of dogs of
the Victorian era.
In early 1907, life was not good for Mrs Alice Rayner. Her husband Horace was a work-‐shy cad
who beat and abused her, and carried on affairs with other women. Since he did not support her,
the family was near destitute, and they had two children and a third on the way. Could things get
any worse?
Yes, they certainly could! The demented Horace Rayner
tried to extort money from the wealthy shopkeeper
William Whiteley, whose illegitimate son he believed
himself to be. When rebutted, he produced a pistol and
murdered Whiteley, on the spot, before shooting himself
in the head. Thus the desperately poor, heavily pregnant
$OLFH 5D\QHU ZDV QRZ WKH ZLIH RI D WHUULEO\ GLVÀJXUHG
murderer, who might well be facing the death penalty.
What would she do? Scream and curse God, or poison
herself and the children? Or perhaps employ a ‘collecting
dog’ in an attempt to raise money for her starving family?
Happily for all concerned, as the illustration shows, Mrs
Rayner chose the third
of these alternatives. A Horace Rayner shooting Mr Whiteley,
IURPWKH,OOXVWUDWHG3ROLFH1HZV)HEUXDU\
trained collecting dog was
hired and set to work in central London. It walked about with a sign ‘For Rayner’s
wife and children’ strapped on its back, inviting passers-‐by to put money into its
collecting box. Since there was widespread public sympathy for Mrs Rayner, the
dog collected 33 shillings in less than three hours. Then a police constable came
up to ask the dog’s owner whether this was really a licensed collecting dog. This
turned out not to be the case, so the collecting dog was sent home with its tail
EHWZHHQLWVOHJVE\WKHRIÀFLRXVFRQVWDEOH

*****

What is this nonsense about collecting dogs? I can hear the reader exclaiming:
surely there were no such animals at the time? But it is a forgotten aspect of
canine history that from 1860 until 1960, numerous collecting dogs were active
throughout Britain. The enthusiasm for these dogs was highest in London and the
Mrs Rayner’s Dog Friend, from the Illustrated
Home Counties, and lower in Scotland and the North of England; the idea never
3ROLFH%XGJHW$SULO seems to have caught on abroad.
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 29
 There were two kinds of collecting dogs. Some were privately owned dogs, trained
to carry a sign and a collecting box on their back, and to invite people to put money
in the box by various stratagems. Whenever some person believed he or she had a
claim for charity from the general public, they could hire a collecting dog for a fee.
The dog was either led around by its owner, or let loose in a market square or a
railway station. Anyone could rent a collecting dog, although takings were probably
better if the sign on the animal’s back said ‘For the Red Cross orphanage’ or ‘For
Rayner’s wife and children’, rather than ‘For buying Jock Scroggins a Jug of Ale’.
Another, more numerous troop of collecting dogs were owned by railway or
KRVSLWDOFKDULWLHV7KHVHGRJVZHUHSHUPDQHQWO\EDVHGLQVSHFLÀFUDLOZD\VWDWLRQV
or hospitals, and collected for one charity only. These railway dogs became quite
an institution in Victorian and Edwardian life. The dogs collecting at London’s major
stations became celebrities: notices of their activities were published in the Times
and other newspapers, and they featured on numerous postcards. Many of them
were stuffed after death, to continue collecting for their charities.
The earliest collecting dog: ‘Rover’ begging
The earliest collecting dog upon record was ‘Rover’, described in a magazine as money from a gentleman in an illustration
“an active little dog belonging to Mr W Edwards, oil and colourman.” Rover had been from The Children’s Friend, January 1 1863.

trained to beg from well-‐dressed gentlemen, by jumping up and pawing at their

pockets, whining as if he was saying ‘Give me a ha’penny, please, Mister!’ When he
was successful, Rover took the money in his mouth and ran to a nearby shop, where
he exchanged it for a cake or bun. This sagacious dog never troubled the poor, and
avoided women altogether. Mr Edwards had philanthropic interests, and wanted to
help the victims of the Lancashire cotton famine. He had a card printed with the
words ‘For the distressed operatives in Lancashire’, tied it around Rover’s neck,
and set the dog to work. Soon, Rover had collected twenty shillings. When giving an
interview to a children’s magazine in 1863, Mr Edwards told an amusing anecdote.
Rover had once been out collecting, returning with three halfpennies. He dropped
two of them, but insisted on retaining the third in his mouth, evidently thinking that
A scarce contemporary Mulberry plate depicting
he deserved some reward for his philanthropic zeal. Rover in action, with his trophies in the
background.

*****

In 1880, the veteran railway guard John Climpson trained a two-‐year-‐old collie
named ‘Help’ to become the earliest collecting dog to gain proper fame and
renown. This docile, intelligent dog proved ideally suited to the task, travelling
with Climpson on the London to Brighton train, to collect money for the Railway
Servants’ Orphan Fund. The dog wore an elaborate silver collar with a medallion
bearing the inscription “I am Help, the railway dog of England, and travelling agent
IRUWKHRUSKDQVRIUDLOZD\PHQZKRDUHNLOOHGRQGXW\0\RIÀFHLVDW&LW\URDG
London, where subscriptions will be thankfully received and duly acknowledged.”
Help proved quite a success and many people donated money to the orphan’s fund.
Climpson let his dog travel with other railway guards, throughout England, Scotland
and Wales, carrying a piggy-‐bank to collect money. It was said that Help had worked
every railway line of the country, and visited every principal town in England and
Wales. When Help died in 1891, Climpson had him stuffed and put him in a glass
case on the platform at Brighton Station.
In the 1880s, being employed by the railways was a perilous way of earning one’s
John Climpson and ‘Help’, living: engines collided or exploded, signalmen were run over, and guards fell off
DGUDZLQJIURP<RXQJ(QJODQG0DUFK the trains. There was a need for a reasonably effective charity organisation to take
care of crippled railwaymen, and the widows and orphans of those killed on duty. The example of Help seems
WR KDYH VHW PDQ\ UDLOZD\ FKDULW\ RIÀFLDOV WKLQNLQJ &ROOHFWLQJ GRJV ZHUH FOHDUO\ PRUH VXFFHVVIXO WKDQ KXPDQ
mendicants, since they were a novelty that appealed very much to the animal-‐loving Victorians. By the mid-‐1880s,
collecting dogs had become all the rage. It would appear as if a not inconsiderate proportion of Britain’s canine
population were undergoing training as professional mendicants.
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 30
 But not all Victorians were good, honest and charitable. The sight of a collecting dog
trotting by, the coins rattling in its collecting box, was sometimes too strong a temptation
for various criminal elements. After some incidents when the dogs had been robbed of
their collecting boxes, the charities made sure the boxes were attached to strong leather
harnesses, which were padlocked underneath the dog’s belly. In 1896, two thieves were
caught in the act of holding the Paddington collecting dog ‘Tim’ by the legs upside down
and shaking his body over an empty suitcase, in the hope that some coins would fall out
through the slot in his collecting box. After being so shamefully treated, one cannot
blame Tim for sinking his teeth into the calf of one of the thieves as soon as he had been
The Paddington collecting dog ‘Tim’,
from a faded old postcard. liberated from their clutches.

*****

In the 1890s, the most famous of all collecting dogs was the Labrador retriever
‘London Jack’. After being trained as a collecting dog by the railwayman Mr Wickins
in 1894, London Jack became a familiar sight at Waterloo Station for many years to
come. Not content with just patrolling the platforms, he jumped into the carriages,
barking and shaking his collecting box to attract attention. Sometimes he travelled
on the local trains to Vauxhall and back, collecting from the passengers. Once, he
jumped on to the express train by mistake, but was recovered and sent back by the
UDLOZD\ RIÀFLDOV DW %RXUQHPRXWK :KHQHYHU -DFN KHDUG WKH 6DOYDWLRQ$UP\ EDQG
playing, he jumped up and tried to grab his harness and collecting box, since he
knew he was likely to be taken for a walk to collect among those listening to the The collecting dog ‘Southampton Jack’,
DSRVWFDUGVWDPSHGDQGSRVWHGLQ
band.
In 1899, the railway orphanage had four canine collecting agents: London Jack,
Basingstoke Jack, Bournemouth Nell and Southampton Gyp. London Jack completely
eclipsed the other three. He was one of the celebrities of London, and his doings
were regularly reported in the press. When London Jack disappeared in early August
1899, there was immediate newspaper interest. Resigning himself to the loss of the
collecting box, Mr Wickins feared that his famous dog was being held for ransom.
But the weeks went by without any blackmailing letter containing a tuft of dog’s
IXU DUULYLQJ DW WKH UDLOZD\PDQ·V RIÀFH$IWHU /RQGRQ -DFN·V GHVFULSWLRQ KDG EHHQ
circulated in the newspapers, there were alleged sightings of the famous dog all
The collecting dog ‘Spot’ at Bexley,
over Britain. Numerous stray Labradors were sent to Waterloo, but the disconsolate DSRVWFDUGVWDPSHGDQGSRVWHGLQ
Mrs Wickins recognised none of them as London Jack.
In early September, a sharp young lad went to the King’s Road police station. He had read in the newspapers
about the recent epidemic of dog thefts in London, he said, and at an empty house near where he lived, in
Brewer Street, mysterious men had been coming and going after dark, and there was much barking both day
and night. Might there be a connection? The very same evening, the house in Brewer Street was raided by a
party of constables. There were 62 dogs on the premises, of every size and description, from Great Danes to
toy poodles. One of them was London Jack, who barked and jumped up when he saw Mr Wickins. Four thieves
were apprehended: three young thugs and a librarian named William Clements. The latter turned out to be the
mastermind of the gang, if such an inept criminal deserved that name. In spite of obviously lacking the means of
SURÀWDEO\GLVSRVLQJRIWKHGRJVWKHJDQJKDGNHSWRQVWHDOLQJWKHVHDQLPDOVXQWLOWKHKRXVHZDVFRPSOHWHO\IXOO
The thieves were convicted and received lengthy prison sentences; the dogs were reunited with their owners.
There was much relief in the newspapers that London Jack had been found safe. He received letters of
congratulation from all over the country, and the demand for his likeness was so high that the railway orphanage
paid to have him photographed. But after a month in the hands of the Chelsea dognapping librarian and his
dastardly gang, poor Jack was very thin and nervous. Although kind Mr Wickins took him to Bournemouth, where
KHFRXOGHDWDVPXFKÀVKDQGFKLSVDVKHZDQWHGDQGVZLPLQWKHVHD/RQGRQ-DFNQHYHUTXLWHUHFRYHUHG+H
retired in 1900 and was taken care of by an old railwayman living in the Isle of Wight.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 31

 Mr Wickins had made sure that before retiring, London Jack had been mated with
a handsome half-‐bred Newfoundland bitch. He had taken care of the most attractive
of the puppies, and in 1901 London Jack II took his father’s place at Waterloo. It
was said that whenever Jack II was equipped with his collecting box and led out to
start work on the Waterloo platforms, he always stopped to greet the stuffed body
of his father inside its glass case. When Sir Robert Baden-‐Powell was returning to
South Africa in December 1901, Jack II was led up to him when he departed from
Waterloo. The celebrated general patted and ‘shook hands’ with the equally famous
collecting dog, and gave him a Christmas box. In 1905, a newspaper article described
Jack II as the most famous collecting dog in the world. The railway orphanage had
presented him with a handsome silver collar, adorned by a number of solver medals,
each representing a collection of £100. Jack abhorred drunkenness, always barking
IXULRXVO\ ZKHQ KH VDZ DQ LQHEULDWHG SHUVRQ 2QFH KH EURNH XS D ÀJKW EHWZHHQ
drunken navvies all by himself. In June 1907, Jack fell ill with a swelling on his back;
he had an operation at the Westminster Bridge Animal Hospital, but died from cancer
a few months later, just after receiving another medal from the directors of the
railway orphanage for collecting £1,000 throughout his career.
Jack II was succeeded by his son London Jack III, who looked very much like a The collecting dog ‘Weymouth Bruce’.
black Labrador, and lived to be very old. He was not allowed to roam free, but was
accompanied everywhere by Mrs Wickins, perhaps to dissuade dognappers who had
designs on Jack and his collecting box. Nevertheless, he had twice beaten his father’s
record monthly collection of £28. According to an article in the Animal World of 1909,
Jack III’s philanthropic efforts had to date gathered £386. The £1,900 collected by the
three Jacks had come in very handy when the new railway orphanage was erected at
Woking. Jack III’s son London Jack IV was active throughout the 1920s. In 1929, Jack IV
was still going strong at the age of ten, in spite of failing eyesight; it was said that if
he collected another £60 before retiring, his lifetime takings would amount to £4,000
in all. He was replaced by his son London Jack V, who ended this famous dynasty of
The tiny Southville Beau, who was active
collecting dogs when expiring without issue in 1931. Like most of his predecessors, he throughout the Great War, collecting 10,000
was stuffed by an expert taxidermist to keep collecting after death. pennies for the Soldiers & Sailors Wool Fund.

*****

In the 1960s and 1970s, ‘modernisation’ was all the rage in British Rail. There was
DIHHOLQJWKDWVLQFHWKH$JHRI6WHDPZDVQRZÀQDOO\DWDQHQGWKH$JHRI(OHFWULFLW\
and Diesel should also make a clean sweep of the remainder of Victorian railway
paraphernalia. The result was wholesale destruction of British railway heritage. No
building was safe from the British Rail vandals, not even Euston Station itself. The
canine collectors were not spared by these railway philistines. Dogs collecting money
had no part to play in the modern railway, they declared, enlisting some mawkish
busybodies from the ‘cruelty’ brigade, who argued that it was degrading for dogs to
be used in this way. These individuals ignored that the collecting dogs were healthy
and well cared for. The black Labrador ‘Sandy’ was collecting at Exeter as late as
1952, and the Airedale terrier ‘Laddie’ was active at Waterloo until 1956, but after London Jack III, also referred to as
‘Waterloo Jack the Third’ in the
that time, no further collecting dogs were recruited. Some of the stuffed dogs were Illustrated Police Budget.
sold or given to collectors of curiosities, but the vast majority were simply destroyed.
Complaints from the public, who liked the collecting dogs, and from the railway
orphanage superintendents, who lost much funding as a result of the dogs being
‘phased out’, went unheeded.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 32

 But in spite of this wholesale vandalism, a few stuffed collecting dogs
have been saved for posterity. Two of the stuffed London Jacks have
survived. One of them is likely to be Jack V who expired in 1931. A
burly Golden Labrador wearing his collecting box and a number of gold
and silver medals, he now collects in the waiting room of the Bluebell
Railway in Sussex, raising about £30 a year for the Woking Homes.
Finally, the original London Jack, who was once stolen and recovered
during his lifetime, is still in existence. After being stuffed, he remained
at Waterloo until 1915, and then collected at Southampton Station
until 1965, when he was given to Sir William McLain. In 1996, he was
purchased by Potter’s Museum of Curiosities at Jamaica Inn in Cornwall.
After this eccentric museum closed in 2003, the contents were sold at
auction. In spite of an estimate of £2,000-‐£3,000, Jack was bought by
an anonymous bidder for £1,600. The stuffed dog then appeared on an
internet auction site, before ending up at the Natural History Museum The original London Jack on display
in Tring, where he has been restored to his former glory and again put at Tring Natural History Museum.
on public display, wearing his heavy brass collar and collection box on
leather mounting.

This is an edited extract from Jan Bondeson’s book Amazing Dogs (Amberley Publishing 2011).

Cartoon of a bogus collecting dog, source unknown.

JAN BONDESON is a senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at Cardiff University. He is the author
of The London Monster, The Great Pretenders, Blood on the Snow and other true crime books, as well as
the bestselling Buried Alive.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 33

&+5,66&277·6

3UHVV7UDZO
Daily Express
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If the Thames could tell its life story what unsolved mysteries, what strange tales of crime and tragedy, of
ruined lives and grim revenges it would reveal.
In the old days, the days of Rogue Riderhood and Gaffer Hexham, that sinister bird of prey, and in the older
London before them, men were lured by subtle bait into the ramshackle old houses straddling on the edge of the
murky river.
There cut-‐throats did their ghastly work, and the tide carried away all evidence, until the Thames Police,
patrolling the water highway day and night, as they have done since 1779, found the bodies, and brought them
ashore. But they rarely brought home the crime to the perpetrators.
1RWDOZD\VKRZHYHUGRHVWKHVZLIWO\ÁRZLQJEURZQVWUHDPJLYHXSLWVGHDGDQGHYHQZKHQLWGRHVPDQ\RI
the river mysteries remain unexplained.
Within quite recent times there have been strange and gruesome discoveries on which the acutest minds of
Scotland Yard have been unable to throw even the faintest glimmer of light.
There was the astounding case of the naked man whose body, trussed like a fowl with a hundred turns of
strong cord, was recovered in the London area. He was a man, apparently, of gentle birth and, as far as could be
discerned through the ravages made by the river, well knit, well nourished and handsome.
What monstrous story of vengeance or punishment lay behind the discovery? What was his crime that his judges
should have wrapped him up like a mummy and cast him into the Thames?

-DFNWKH5LSSHU
Then there was the beautiful young auburn haired woman, clad in a single garment of cambric, and with
pinioned hand and foot, of whom nothing could be discovered save that she had been strangled before she was
thrown into the water.
The records of missing men and women, and inquiries far and wide, yielded no aid in solving either of these
grotesque and terrible riddles of the river.
There was a mysterious case in January 1923, when two bodies were washed ashore by succeeding tides at
DOPRVWWKHLGHQWLFDOVSRWDW3XUÁHHWRQHRIDPDQLGHQWLÀHGDVDSURPLQHQWHVWDWHDJHQWDQGKRXVHRZQHUDQG
the other of a well dressed woman.
They had never known each other in life. Both had been unaccountably missing, the man for a month, the
woman for a week; both had ben killed before being thrown in the water, the man chloroformed, the woman
battered on the head, and both had ben robbed.
Searching inquiries spread over many weeks failed to trace the movements of either or to reveal any motive
for murder or to afford any clue to the murderer.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 34

 3HUKDSVRQHRIWKHJUHDWHVWRIP\VWHULHVRIWKH7KDPHVFRQFHUQHGWKHÀQGLQJRIDERG\ZKLFKUHPDLQHGIRU
VRPHWLPHXQLGHQWLÀHGEXWZDVHYHQWXDOO\GHFODUHGWREHWKDWRID/RQGRQGRFWRUZKRKDGEHHQVWULFNHQE\
madness.
Investigations conducted through various channels with great patience and minuteness were held to establish
his identity with Jack the Ripper.

La Prensa (Texas)
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$IWHU\HDUVWKH%ULWLVKSROLFHVHHPUHDG\WRUHYHDOWKHQDPHRIWKHFULPLQDO
In a metal box, enamelled in black, on which dust has accumulated for about 50 years in the secret archives of
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refer to the identity of the most mysterious and sensational murderer of the last 100 years -‐ jack the Ripper. And
at the present time the problem has arisen of deciding whether the contents of the box in question should be
made public. Opinion in England would not be that interested in the subject were it not that recently there arose
three coincidences in which the newspapers have taken an interest and which are connected in a certain way with
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2I WKH FRLQFLGHQFHV PHQWLRQHG LQ WKH QHZVSDSHUV WZR UHIHUUHG WR WKH GHDWKV RI SHRSOH ZKR KDG ÀJXUHG
SURPLQHQWO\LQWKHGUDPDRIPXUGHUDQGPXWLODWLRQZLWQHVVHGE\WKH/RQGRQGLVWULFWRI:KLWHFKDSHO7KHÀUVWRI
these persons had been an eminent doctor who practiced his profession in the metropolis during the days of the
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mistaken by a crowd for the terrible Jack, having only just been saved from perishing at the hands of the populace
by the timely arrival of the police. The other death on which the papers have reported recently, was that of an
old woman, Hannah Kelly, mother of Mary Jane Kelly, the seventh -‐ but not the last -‐ victim of the monster.
Dr Dutton and Mrs Kelly died on the same day, almost at the same hour, only 15 minutes apart; both were in
the most frightful, miserable condition, and both were 89 years of age.
The third strange coincidence lay in the fact that in the same editions of those newspapers which made the
deaths we have mentioned their business, they announced the publication of a sensational book, “Crime and the
Supernatural,” by Edwin T Woodhall, who for many years gave his services to Scotland Yard. In this book the author
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Police, after this same organisation had established the identity of the killer and was making ready to arrest him.
The charges that Woodhall makes in his book have had repercussions among the Labour members of Parliament,
and as a result the demand is growing for the publication of the secret documents concerning Jack the Ripper,
DVDQDFWRIMXVWLFHDQGPD\EHWRYLQGLFDWH6FRWODQG<DUG,QGHHGLWVHHPVWKDWPDQ\SROLWLFDORIÀFHUVRIWKDW
SHULRGVWDUWLQJZLWKWKDWVDPH&KLHIRI3ROLFH6LU&KDUOHV:DUUHQZHUHVDFULÀFHGWRSXEOLFRSLQLRQDQGWKHLU
careers cut short by members of the Government, who were not only trying to protect themselves but also to
protect the Ripper from the vengeance of the law.
Concerning the various theories which have been formulated about the identity of the Whitechapel murderer,
Woodhall says the following in his book:
“He was never taken before a judge to answer for his crimes, believing, as was the common opinion, that the
police were as ignorant as the public itself about the identity of the monster. But, even then, there existed in
Scotland Yard gifted men of vision and imagination; and when the fruitlessness of their investigations had reduced
them to desperation, they did not hesitate to investigate the trail indicated by a well known clairvoyant, with an
unexpected result.”
According to Woodhall, jack the Ripper was discovered by a clairvoyant named Robert James Lees, who
informed the authorities of many surprising facts, concerning one of which we quote the following extract:

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 35

 “About 50 years ago there was formed without the knowledge of the public a panel formed of about a dozen
of the most well known and respected members of the medical profession, to investigate the supposed insanity
of Jack the Ripper. At that time it was established beyond doubt that this diabolical person was a famous doctor
who lived in a select area of the West End of London. When the identity of the killer was beyond doubt, as was
his homicidal mania, all the doctors who had gathered for the investigation promised to keep the secret.”
,QWKHVDPHERRNLWLVUHFRXQWHGWKDWWKHFODLUYR\DQWGXULQJDWUDQFHRUYLVLRQVDZKRZWKHÀUVWFULPHRIWKH
5LSSHUKDGWDNHQSODFHWKHPXUGHURIDQXQIRUWXQDWHZRPDQLQ6SLWDOÀHOGV,WDSSHDUVWKDW/HHVZDVVRKRUULÀHG
by this vision that he set off immediately to communicate to Scotland Yard what he had sensed with his occult
H\HV+LVDFFRXQWZDVUHFHLYHGZLWKGLVEHOLHIEXWWKHRIÀFHURQGXW\WRRNQRWHRIWKHSODFHDQGWLPHLQGLFDWHG
by Lees.
While the clairvoyant was on holiday in France the Ripper killed two more women. When Lees returned to
London, says Woodhall, it happened that while he was travelling in an omnibus with his wife, he saw a person enter
the vehicle, and in that moment the clairvoyant experienced the same sensation as before. As he approached the
seat in which the stranger had sat, Lees felt his blood run cold when his eyes met those of the new passenger. The
clairvoyant whispered to his wife: “The man in that corner is Jack the Ripper.” When the stranger alighted from
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RIÀFHUEXUVWRXWODXJKLQJDQGDGYLVHG/HHVWRPLQGKLVRZQEXVLQHVV'XULQJWKLVWLPHWKHPDQKDGWDNHQDFDE
leaving without anyone stopping him.
Shortly after this episode, the Ripper committed a new crime, and then the psychic Mr Lees was taken to
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clairvoyant as if in a trance, examined the place indicated and without saying a word, headed off, after a few
PRPHQWVLQDZHVWHUO\GLUHFWLRQ,QVLOHQFHIROORZHGE\WKHRIÀFHUV/HHVZDONHGPLOHDIWHUPLOHXQWLOKHDUULYHG
at a street in the West End. There, outside an imposing looking house, he stopped and as if himself the victim of
DQDWWDFNKHZDVDERXWWRIDOOWRWKHJURXQGZKHQDSROLFHRIÀFHUFDPHWRKLVDLGHQDEOLQJKLPWRH[FODLPLQD
faltering voice: “There, in that house, is the killer.”
$VWKHSROLFHE\WKLVWLPHKDGIDLWKLQWKHFODLUYR\DQWWKHSROLFHRIÀFHUVWRRNWKHULVNRIFDOOLQJDWWKHKRXVH
he indicated to them, and, according to Woodhall, were met by the wife of the Ripper, and she confessed the
truth to them: “This man, one of the most distinguished doctors in London, had a double personality. Normally
he dedicated his talent and his efforts to alleviating the ills of his fellows. But abnormally -‐ and of this he had
no recollection -‐ he was the mad, sadistic monster who had brought terror to Whitechapel, to London and to all
(XURSH:KHQWKHVWUDQJHPDGQHVVRIWKHGRFWRUZDVSURYHGKHZDVFRQÀQHGLQDSULYDWHDV\OXPDQGWRH[SODLQ
his sudden disappearance , it was announced that he had died suddenly of a disease of the heart, and they even
performed a funeral for him.”
Thereafter, according to Woodhall’s book, the clairvoyant received until he died a pension from the Royal
Family for the outstanding service which he had performed identifying the killer.
It can be stated that the Whitechapel crimes arouse today almost as much interest as when they took place in
1888 and 1889, and the mystery of the identity of the killer will continue to intrigue the British public all the time
it is not solved. So, let us turn our gaze back and refresh the memory of our readers, almost all of whom will have
heard at some time mention of this intriguing series of crimes.
A little after 3 o’clock on the 7th August, a driver named Albert Crow was going up the staircase of George
Buildings, in Whitechapel, to sleep after long hours in the driver’s seat of his cab, when he saw the shape of a
woman who seemed to be <ILLEGIBLE> of the staircase. Crow had lived in that building for years and when this
happened it seemed to bring out in him a certain tolerance of the foibles of his fellow tenants, for he carried on
up the steps that led to his bed... However, some two hours later, another tenant, John Reeves, was going down
the staircase on his way to the street to seek work, and he also saw the woman, noting, furthermore, that she
was laying “in the middle of a pool of blood.” He drew near to see what had happened to the unfortunate woman,
and what he saw was soon the great sensation across London for the following months. Jack the Ripper had made
his appearance.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 36

 Martha Turner, just like the future victims of the Ripper was, to speak bluntly, a prostitute of the lowest class.
The wounds on her body were identical to those which would be discovered on the other women who by ill luck
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them the object of the next phase of his diabolical ferocity, evidenced by many stab wounds, and a deliberate
bestiality expressed by mutilations the description of which would be repulsive.
Certain indications on this last aspect of the crimes made it clear that the killer was perfectly acquainted with
anatomy and knew how to handle the scalpel.
The death of Martha Turner aroused only a passing interest. At that time, the inhabitants of Whitechapel were
so accustomed to acts of violence, that no one was seriously troubled by the death of the unhappy prostitute. But
one month later, Mary Ann Nichols, aged 42, was found knifed, like her predecessor, in an alleyway that opens out
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Bucks Row.
This third victim, Annie Chapman, aged 49, had perished in exactly the same fashion as her predecessors, but
in her case it was noted in addition that the items that the victim carried in her pocket had been laid out at her
feet forming a geometric shape. With the third murder being committed, it was impossible for the police and
the public not to conclude that in that district there was at work a killer of incalculable ferocity and cunning.
The yard in which the body of Annie Chapman was found was situated next to the windows of a house with many
tenants who rented by the day; a sort of low class hotel. No less than sixteen rooms had windows overlooking the
yard in question, and as it was impossible to know in advance what the occupants of these rooms would be doing
at any given hour of the day or night, the daring and the accomplishment of the killer cannot fail to be seen as
extraordinary, otherwise he would not have dared to carry out his crime in such a dangerous place.
Panic gripped the whole East End of London. Vigilance committees were formed, and the police carried out
arrests here, there and everywhere, but without any progress towards the discovery of the killer.
But there was one man who knew how to take advantage of this situation, and that man was the owner of the
low hotel whose windows overlooked the yard in which the crime had been carried out. This wise man announced
his offer, subject to a suitable payment, to make available to those who sought a strong thrill the chance to view
from the windows of his establishment the scene of the crime. Hundreds of people answered the call of the hotel
keeper.
One month later, a certain social club in his East End rented for a dance a room in a building at a short distance
from Commercial Road. It was a Saturday night, and at one o’clock in the morning one of the most important
members of the club, whose work as a travelling salesman had prevented him from arriving at the event earlier,
arrived with his cart pulled by an ass at the yard to the rear of the building where the dance was taking place,
doubtless meaning to make up for lost time. The ass pulled back away from something, and a moment later the
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Elizabeth Stride, aged 48 years, had sought out for the last time the seclusion of that yard. The terrible ritual
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it is even highly likely that he would have been carrying out his gruesome work when the steps of the ass in the
entrance to the yard forced him to stop.
However, a few minutes later he was in full diabolical action again in Mitre Square, about half a mile distant,
making it obvious that here he met no obstacles or dangers. A policeman passed through Mitre Square every 20
minutes, and in one of these intervals the killer came across Catherine Eddowes, a woman aged 45, on whom he
repeated yet again the practice that was already becoming legendary.
,WZDVDIWHUWKLVGRXEOHPXUGHUWKDWWKHQDPH-DFNWKH5LSSHUZDVÀUVWXVHGIURPDVLJQDWXUHDWWDFKHGWR
a postcard that the killer sent to the Central New Agency in London. The author of the note apologised for not
completing his work in the case of the unfortunate Elizabeth Stride, and at the same time promised that on the
next occasion he would do better...

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 37

 7KDWSURPLVHZDVIXOÀOOHGYHU\IXOO\LQWKHSHUVRQRIRQH0LVV0DU\-DQH.HOO\OHVVWKDQÀYHZHHNVODWHUZKLFK
makes it impossible to suppose that the postcard could have been the work of hoaxer.
Miss Kelly occupied a room in Miller’s Court, near Commercial Road. She was only 24 years of age, fairly pretty
and very carefree. At the beginning of November 1888 she was very behind with the rent for her room. At 10.30
on the morning of the 9th of the said month, a messenger from the landlord arrived to give the young lady an
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discharge as quickly as possible his unpleasant task, drew back the piece of cloth with which the window was
covered and looked into the room. It is near certain that for the rest of his life he was not able to forget the
spectacle that met his eyes.
The last nocturnal visitor of Miss Kelly had enjoyed what was, for him, a long uninterrupted period, and it is
not necessary to say more except that he made the most of the available time.
A note should be made of one of the characteristics noted in the form of that room. This passion for geometric
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victim’s feet what she had been carrying in her pocket, was also expressed in the assault on Miss Kelly in a form
so excessive that it bordered on the grotesque.
During the eight months that followed the death of Miss Kelly no new killings occurred, and the terror which had
reigned in Whitechapel began to subside, when on 17th July 1889 there was found the stabbed and mutilated body
of Alice McKenzie. It was obvious that in this case the killer had been interrupted in his work, for the body of the
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preventing the escape of anyone who might be there. A minute search was undertaken, house by house, without
any result. The killer had managed to slip away. With his disappearance, the killings stopped. But that orgy of
blood had lasted for 15 months...
1RZ\HDUVDIWHUWKHWUDJLFUHLJQRI-DFNWKH5LSSHUWKH%ULWLVK+RPH2IÀFHDUHVHULRXVO\FRQVLGHULQJWKH
appropriateness of publishing the secret documents about the killer, whose true story has still not been written.

“Historia”, Spain


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E\-RUJH7KXLOOLHU
In the 19th century, crime was something normal and common in Whitechapel, the darkest and most sordid
district in Old London. In its narrow and twisting alleyways, made even darker by the nocturnal fog, its inhabitants
moved about secretively, human wrecks, murderers, thieves and villains of every type. In the late hours of the
night, hordes of so called Amazons, members of the oldest profession in the world, practiced that profession
freely, under cover of the thick mists.
Whitechapel has had its great criminal exponents who have managed to distinguish themselves despite the
tough opposition. One of them, the unfortunately famous John Williams, wiped out in 1812, in the course of one
hour, two entire families. He went on the attack time and again, and threw the whole East End into a frenzy of
terror that lasted for weeks. He always followed the maxim that “one should choose a friend to kill, and, in the
absence of a friend, a commodity sometimes in short supply, an acquaintance,” as thereby the victim is usually
taken unawares. Finally, after a bloody reign, Williams fell into the hands of Justice and was condemned to death;
but he escaped the hangman’s rope, hanging himself in his cell with his own braces.
The record of Williams survived intact for 70 years. And in that very Whitechapel, which had by then become
the epicentre of evil and corruption, arose a new criminal who was to surpass by far the deeds of his predecessor,
with a perfect series of murders, bloodily carried out, and which remained unsolved.
Today, Whitechapel is no longer the same. The means at the disposal of the modern English police have brought
to a halt the reign of the criminal. But its streets are still dark and wretched, tortuous and menacing. And the
LPDJLQDWLYHQLJKWRZOPLJKWIDQF\KHVHHVLQWKHÁLFNHULQJDQGJKRVWO\OLJKWRIDJDVODPSDÁHHWLQJDQGVLQLVWHU
shadow: the shadow of Jack the Ripper.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 38

 *****

On Monday, 9th August 1888, in the depths of the night, there was found on Osborne Street, in the heart of this
very Whitechapel, the body of Emma Smith, a woman with a troubled life who met her death while walking the
streets in search of clients. The killer, who seemed to have some knowledge of anatomy, had horribly mutilated
WKHERG\E\LQÁLFWLQJVWDEZRXQGVPRVWRIZKLFKZHUHRIQHFHVVLW\OLIHWKUHDWHQLQJ7KHOXQJVKDGEHHQSLHUFHG
in seven places and the heart also bore a deep wound, as did the liver and the stomach, which had received seven
terrible injuries.
It was a matter of a frightful crime, hard to accept in its monstrous reality. The murderer must have been a
real wild animal to torment a defenceless woman in this way.
Not long had to pass before a second attack took place. In the dawn light of the 1st of September, Constable
Neill (sic) found on Bucks Row, also in Whitechapel, the motionless body of a woman who belonged to the same
profession as her predecessor. Thinking that she was in a drunken condition, the constable leant over to pick her
up and discovered to his horror that the unfortunate woman’s throat had been brutally cut almost from ear to ear.
7KHYLFWLPZDVODWHULGHQWLÀHGDV0DU\$QQ1LFKROV
7KHSROLFHWKRXJKWDWÀUVWWKDWWKH\ZHUHGHDOLQJZLWKDJDQJRIUXIÀDQVVHHNLQJWRH[SORLWYLFHZKRZHUH
exacting bloody vengeance on women who refused to hand over money that was demanded. Two further murders,
VHHPLQJO\ LGHQWLFDO LQ FKDUDFWHU DQG VHWWLQJ VHHPHG WR FRQÀUP WKDW WKHRU\ DQG 6FRWODQG <DUG UHGRXEOHG LWV
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“This is the fourth. I will kill 16 more and then I will give myself up.”
It was signed Jack the Ripper.
Whitechapel was seized with panic. The members of the police force desperately chased that phantom that
always evaporated just before they reached the scene of the crime. There was one detective, certainly not very
bright, who undertook to photograph the pupils of one victim, thinking thereby, as was the popular belief at that
WLPH WR ÀQG WKH LPDJH RI WKH NLOOHU 2WKHU SROLFH RIÀFHUV GLVJXLVHG WKHPVHOYHV ZLWK IHPDOH FORWKHV DQG ZLJV
and walked the streets of the wretched district without result. The killer continued to send mocking messages,
written in blood, ridiculing Scotland Yard for their inability to catch him. In one he also loftily informed them that
“decent women had nothing to fear and were perfectly safe.”
Jack continued to give evidences of his undoubted anatomical knowledge, which did not seem to match the
dreadful handwriting used in his letters to the police. The majority of his victims bore indescribable wounds,
FOHDQO\LQÁLFWHGZLWKDYHU\VKDUSLQVWUXPHQWSUREDEO\DVFDOSHO1RZQRRQHEHOLHYHGLQWKHH[LVWHQFHRIDQ
organised gang; it was clearly the work of a single individual. Public opinion reacted violently against the failure
of the police and its chief, Sir Charles Warren, felt obliged to hand in his resignation.
Through all this Jack continued his frightful career. He sent a letter to the Central News Agency, informing them
that on his next job he would cut off the woman’s ears and send them to the police headquarters. A woman was
found with throat cut that night, and Scotland Yard received a note, couched in the following terms:
“I was not joking when I wrote my previous letter, dear boss; but she cried out a bit and I had to leave her
immediately. You will get more news of me tomorrow, and this time I hope to have time to get the ears and send
them to you as a reminder.”
He kept his word at the foot of the letter.
7KHSROLFHIRUFHVWLOOGLGQRWNQRZZKLFKFRXUVHWRIROORZ3ROLFHRIÀFHUVZHUHHTXLSSHGZLWKERRWVZLWKUXEEHU
VROHV WR SUHYHQW WKH PRQVWHU KHDULQJ WKHP DSSURDFK DQG LQFUHDVH WKH SRVVLELOLW\ RI KLV FDSWXUH$ VLJQLÀFDQW
reward was offered for the killer and a host of people of dubious antecedents were arrested who had to be
released for total lack of proof. It was also ordered that bodies should not be touched, that a veterinary (sic)
surgeon from the southeast district should be sent immediately to the scene of the crime, that there was kept in
readiness a group of specially trained bloodhounds, in the hope that they would pick up the trail of the criminal.
The only outcome was a letter, sent this time to Mr George Lusk, a member of Whitechapel Vigilance Committee:
“I am writing this with black ink because at the moment I don’t have any of what I normally use. You at
Scotland Yard are asleep, you and your bloodhounds, as I will show you tomorrow night. I am going to work again,
but not in Whitechapel, as that district has become too hot for me. Until the next time, Jack the Ripper.”

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 39

 Jack went to work that night. The victim was found, indescribably mutilated, missing various internal organs.
And the letter sent to Mr Lusk was not long in coming, accompanied by a small cardboard box. The message read:
“I write this to you from Hell, Mr Lusk. I send you half the kidney that I took from the woman last night, which
,KDYHNHSWIRU\RXWKHUHVW,IULHGDQGDWHLWÀQGLQJLWH[FHOOHQW,PD\VHQG\RXWKHNQLIHZLWKZKLFK,GLGLW
if you have the patience to wait. Catch me if you can. Jack the Ripper.”
Dr Oppenshaw (sic), who examined the contents of the box, stated that the horrible trophy was really part of
a human kidney, which had belonged to a person who had abused drink.
It is easy to imagine the state of mind created by this uninterrupted chain of crimes, not only in Whitechapel,
EXWLQDOO/RQGRQ7KHKDUGHQHGPDOHIDFWRUVRIWKH(DVW(QGZHUHWHUULÀHGE\WKHGUHDGIXOGHHGVRIWKDWFKDPSLRQ
of evil who seemed inspired and protected by Satan himself. The sinister fame of Jack the Ripper extended
WKURXJKRXWWKHZRUOGDQGHYHQLQRXUWLPHKLVQDPHLVDV\PERODQGSHUVRQLÀFDWLRQRILQVDQHFUXHOW\1HZVSDSHUV
RIWKHWLPHJDYHKRUULÀFGHWDLOVRIKLVIHURFLW\DEOHWRVKDNHWKHPRVWUHVROXWHPLQG
We here transcribe part of as report published on 10th November of that fateful year of 1888:
“During the early hours of dawn there took place a new murder of truly repulsive and diabolical character. The
scene of this last crime is 26 Dorset Street. This buildings, like its neighbours, is occupied by persons of very low
social class.
The unfortunate victim was lying on her wretched bed, completely naked. Her throat had been cut from ear to
ear, so deeply that the spinal column was exposed to the air. The nose and ears had been cleanly cut off, as were
the breasts, which were placed on a table which was beside the bed. The stomach and abdomen had been opened,
and the face had been mutilated in such a way that it was impossible to recognise the features. The kidneys and
KHDUWKDGEHHQFXWRXWDQGDOVRSODFHGRQWKHWDEOH7KHPXWLODWLRQVLQÁLFWHGRQWKHVWRPDFKRIWKHXQIRUWXQDWH
woman are beyond description. It is impossible to imagine a more frightful spectacle.”
And Jack the Ripper was never captured. At the beginning of 1889 other killers began to imitate him, with the
result that confusion multiplied. It is likely that he came to kill 20 women, as he promised, and that, with his
monstrous appetite sated, he declined to continue.
Who was this mythical killer? A fanatic who believed himself commanded to wipe out vice by such direct methods?
A medical student? A doctor, perhaps? A deranged sculptor? Endless conjectures have been put forward regarding
his enigmatic personality. Some investigators point out the fact that just two years before the appearance of
Jack the Ripper in the streets of Whitechapel, Robert Louis Stevenson had published his celebrated novel “Doctor
Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” which could have caused an indelible impression on a delicately balanced mind, to the point
of tipping it into the abyss of crime. Others believe it is a matter of a young doctor, made insane by a venereal
disease which he contracted in the East End. Yet others believe it was a mad Russian doctor who escaped at that
time from an asylum without being found.
Only one man had sight of Jack the Ripper. On the body of one of the victims there was found a packet of grapes
ZKLFKZDVLGHQWLÀHGE\DIUXLWVHOOHUQDPHG3DUNHUVLF7KHWUDGHUVZRUHWKDWWKHSDFNHWKDGEHHQERXJKWLQKLV
shop a few hours before by a man of about 30 years of age, about 5 feet 7 inches in height, stocky, with a swarthy
complexion. He was accompanied by the unfortunate who was to die at his hands and, it seemed, he bought the
grapes to gibe them to her. The police paid Parker to close his fruit shop and devote all his time to walking the
streets in search of the killer. When the eighth night of his search was beginning, just as dusk was falling over the
city and lamps were being lit, Parker saw the Ripper wrapped in a large black coat which reached to his knees and
wearing a wide hat. The fruit seller summoned help immediately.
,WZDVWRRODWH5HDFWLQJZLWKWKHIXULRXVVSHHGRIWKHZLOGEHDVWVKHVRFORVHO\UHVHPEOHG-DFNWKH5LSSHUÁHG
into the dank embrace of the London fog, which has never given him up.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 40

Weekly World News
-XO\

0\VWHU\RIKLVWRU\·VPRVWQRWRULRXVVHULDONLOOHUVROYHG
-$&.7+(5,33(5·60800<)281'
E\.HYLQ&UHHG:HHNO\:RUOG1HZV
London.
:RUNHUVWHDULQJGRZQDQROGEDNHU\KDYHGLVFRYHUHGWKHPXPPLÀHGUHPDLQVRIKLVWRU\·VPRVWQRWRULRXVVHULDO
killer -‐ bloodthirsty Jack the Ripper!
7KHERG\LGHQWLÀHGDVWKDWRI'U1LJHO7RUPHZDVIRXQGLQDVHFUHWFKDPEHUEHQHDWKWKHEDNHU\DORQJZLWK
WKHFRUSVHVRIWZRXQLGHQWLÀHGZRPHQZKRKDGEHHQVWDEEHGDQGGLVVHFWHG
Experts say it was probably the constant dry heat from the ovens that had kept the bodies preserved since the
turn of the century.
7KHEXLOGLQJZDVRQFHWKHKRPHRI'U7RUPHZKROLYHGWKHUHGXULQJWKHODWHVZKHQÀYHSURVWLWXWHVZHUH
killed in London’s East End and countless others were reported missing.
It was converted to a bakery after the doctor disappeared in 1900.
The infamous Ripper murders remained unsolved for 112 years.
But now experts are sure they have indisputable evidence.
“We found the bloody surgical knives beside the body,” said noted French criminologist and Ripper expert, Dr
Jeanne Benot, who was called in by British authorities.
“And the woman in the cellar were killed in exactly the same vicious way as the Ripper’s prostitute victims,
who dies in 1888.
“But most damning of all is the fact that the overcoat he was wearing perfectly matches a piece of material
that was found at one of the murder scenes.
´7KDWSLHFHRIPDWHULDOGHÀQLWHO\FDPHIURPWKDWFRDWµ
Dr Benot says a small amount of poison was found in a vial by the body. She believes Dr Torme’s death was a
suicide, prompted by the unbearable guilt he felt over his crimes.
“Dr Torme was never a suspect so he was never questioned in the case,” says the respected researcher.
“Everyone probably through he simply left town.
“However, when the workers found those women’s bodies and the knives with him, we guessed he was probably
responsible for the Ripper murders. But what really tipped me off was that he wearing that coat.
“I asked myself why would he be wearing a coat in that heat?
“Then I realized that it was his way of confessing -‐ he knew we’d match the coat with the cloth fragment the
authorities had.”
2IÀFLDOVEHOLHYH'U7RUPHEXLOWWKHVHFUHWGHDWKFKDPEHUEHQHDWKWKHKRPHEURXJKWWKHZRPHQWKHUHDQG
killed them. Later, he withdrew from society to live below the bakery for the last few years of his life.

WRITE FOR RIPPEROLOGIST!

We welcome contributions on Jack the Ripper, the East End and the Victorian era.
Send your articles, letters and comments to contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 41

6SLWDOÀHOGV/LIH
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´,QWKHPLGVWRIOLIH,ZRNHWRÀQGP\VHOIOLYLQJLQDQROGKRXVH
beside Brick Lane in the East End of London.”
These are the words of The Gentle Author, whose daily blog at VSLWDOÀHOGVOLIHFRP has captured
WKHYHU\HVVHQFHRI6SLWDÀHOGVVLQFH$XJXVW:HDWRipperologist are delighted to have the
The Gentle Author’s blessing to collate these stories and republish them in the coming issues for
your enjoyment. We thank The Gentle Author and strongly recommend you follow the daily blog
atZZZVSLWDOÀHOGVOLIHFRP.

7KH6SLWDOÀHOGV1RERG\.QRZV
Earlier this year it was my pleasure to collaborate with artist Joanna Moore; conceived in homage to Geoffrey
Fletcher and The London Nobody KnowsZHVKDOOLQWURGXFH\RXWROHVVHUNQRZQFRUQHUVRI6SLWDOÀHOGVDQGWHOO
you their stories, each one illustrated with drawings by Joanna.

The Old St Patrick’s School in Buxton Street, dating from the 1860s,
stands upon the grass of Allen Gardens beside the Georgian vicarage
of the former All Saints church – the last survivors of the nineteenth
century streets that once stood here, long before the park was laid
out. Enfolded by its lofty garden wall, containing huge exotic shrubs
DQGGULSSLQJZLWKFOLPELQJSODQWVWKLVÀQHO\SURSRUWLRQHGFOXVWHURI
buildings rises with tall attenuated chimneys, like some mysterious
castle of romance. St Patrick’s School is a tantalising enigma to those
who walk through here regularly and have heard tales of the secret
tropical garden over-‐run with tortoises which is rumoured to exist The Old St Patrick’s School
behind these implacable walls. Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk

The Watchhouse on the corner of St Matthew’s Churchyard in Wood Street

was built in 1754 and, with the growing trade in human corpses for dissection,
in 1792 it was necessary to appoint a watchman who was paid ten shillings and
sixpence a week to be on permanent guard against resurrectionists. A reward
of two guineas was granted for the apprehension of any body-‐snatchers
DQGWKHZDWFKPDQZDVSURYLGHGZLWKDEOXQGHUEXVVDQGSHUPLVVLRQWRÀUH
from an upper window, once a rattle had been sounded three times. The
churchwarden who lives there today told me that, according to the terms of
his lease, he still holds this right – and the blunderbuss and rattle are stored
in the house to this day. The small structure at the rear originally housed
WKHSDULVKÀUHHQJLQHLQWKHGD\VZKHQLWZDVMXVWDQDUURZFDUW,Q
The Watchhouse
the Watchhouse gained notoriety of another kind when fascist leader Oswald
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk Mosley stood upon the step to give his last open air public speech.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 42

 Gibraltar Walk off the Bethnal Green Road is a handsome terrace of red
brick nineteenth century artisans’ workshops that once served the furniture
trade when it was the primary industry in this area. Of modest construction,
yet designed with careful proportions, the terrace curls subtly along Gibraltar
Walk, turning a corner and extending the length of Padbury Court, to create
one long “L” shaped structure. These appealing back streets still retain their
cobbles and there are even a couple of signs left from the days of furniture
factories, but, most encouragingly, the majority of these premises are still in
use today as workshops for small industries, keeping the place alive.

In Emanuel Litvinoff’s memoir Journey Through a Small Planet, describing

his childhood in Cheshire Street in the 1920s, he recalls the feared Pedley
Street Arches where, “Couples grappled against the dripping walls and Gibraltar Walk
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk
tramps lay around parcelled in old newspaper. The evil of the place was in
its gloom, its putrid stench, in the industrial grime of
half a century with which it was impregnated.” And
today, with a gut-‐wrenching reek of urine, graced by a
SURIXVLRQRIJUDIÀWLDQGVFDWWHUHGZLWKSLOHVRIEXUQW
rubbish, the place retains its authentic insalubrious
atmosphere – a rare quality now, that is in demand
by the numerous street fashion photo shoots, crime
dramas and pop videos which regularly use this
Pedley Street Arches location. There is a scheme to turn the Great Eastern
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk
Railway Viaduct into a raised park – like the High Line
LQ1HZ<RUN²EXWLQWKHPHDQWLPHZLOGOLIHÁRXULVKHVSHDFHDEO\XSRQWKHVHJUDFHIXOGHFD\LQJVWUXFWXUHVGDWLQJ
from the earliest days of the railway, constructed between 1836 and 1840 to bring the Eastern Counties Line from
Romford to the terminus at Shoreditch High Street.

Nestling at the base of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s monumental spire

IRU&KULVW&KXUFK6SLWDOÀHOGVLVWKHWLQ\SULYDWHURRIJDUGHQRQ
the top of 3 Fournier Street, where what was once planted as a
FDPRPLOHODZQKDVJURZQWREHFRPHDZLOGÁRZHUPHDGRZZLWK
pink campions, oxeye daisies and sorrel abounding. The pitched
roofs on three sides entirely conceal this verdant arbor from the
street and create a favoured climate where freesias, carnations,
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OHWWXFHVÁRXULVKVXUURXQGHGE\HVSDOLHUIUXLWWUHHVDQGUDPEOLQJ
roses, all unknown to those who tread the dusty pavements of
Commercial Street far below. Built in 1754 by Peter Le Keux, a
silkweaver, this elegant old house follows the same Tuscan Order
of architecture that was Hawksmoor’s guiding principle, and as
you ascend the staircase endlessly winding up to the roof garden, Roof garden on 3 Fournier Street
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk
you come upon subtle intricate details, like banisters with square
capitals, that match those across the road at the church.

7KH:RUUDOO+RXVHRILVWKHTXLQWHVVHQFHRIWKH6SLWDOÀHOGV
nobody knows – built in a secret courtyard between Fournier Street
and Princelet Street by Samuel Worrall, the builder responsible for
many of the surrounding houses, it can only be approached through
a narrow passage behind a heavily-‐encrusted door. When you step
through this door, into the dark cobbled alley lined with ancient
planks covered with paint and tar that has not been renewed in over
DFHQWXU\\RXIHHO²PRUHWKDQDQ\ZKHUHLQ6SLWDOÀHOGV²WKDW\RX
have stepped back in time. Here Samuel Worrall built a handsomely
proportioned yet modest house for himself in his own builders’ yard.
The Worrall House
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk Ripperologist 122 September 2011 43
Just one room deep with a pedimented door and stone balls atop the gateposts, it resembles a perfect lifesize
dolls’ house. Facing East and constructed of a single layer of bricks, it only receives sunlight in the morning
and is not a warm building in Winter, yet there is an irresistible grace and mystery about this shadowy house of
enchantment, presiding silently upon this quiet courtyard that is outside time.

Joanna Moore’s drawing of Victoria Cottages in Deal

Street was done upon the spot where Geoffrey Fletcher,
author of The London Nobody Knows, sat and drew the same
view in May 1977, when this terrace was threatened by
bulldozers. Built in 1855 by the Metropolitan Association for
Dwellings for Housing the Industrious Poor, after the design
of Prince Albert’s Model Cottages for the Great Exhibition
of 1851, these are one of the earliest examples of two
storey cottage apartments. Scheduled for demolition in a
slum clearance scheme, they were saved in 1978 through
the intervention of Peter Shore who was both local MP and
Environment Minister. If Geoffrey Fletcher came back today
he would be delighted to step through the old iron gate and
discover well-‐tended cottage gardens where the fragrance
RIÁRZHUVKDQJVLQWKHDLU3DLUVRIQHDWZKLWHIURQWGRRUV
OHDG HLWKHU WR WKH JURXQG RU ÀUVW ÁRRU GZHOOLQJV ZKLFK Victoria Cottages
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk
although designed as the minimum in the nineteenth
FHQWXU\DSSHDUJHQHURXVDQGV\PSDWKHWLFE\FRQWHPSRUDU\VWDQGDUGV7RWKHUHDULVDSHDFHIXOÁDJJHGFRXUW\DUG
where residents hang their laundry, tend the shared garden and hold wild annual parties that are the talk of
6SLWDOÀHOGV

-RDQQD0RRUH$UWLVW
When I arrived to meet Joanna Moore at the end of an afternoon’s drawing
LQ &KULVW &KXUFK 6SLWDOÀHOGV D VPDOO FURZG KDG JDWKHUHG WR SHHU RYHU KHU
shoulder at her work. As you can see from the photo opposite, it is an interior
that presents a considerable challenge to an artist. I would not choose to sit
down with a pen and paper and try to draw it, but this was precisely what
-RDQQDKDGGRQH,WZDVKHUÀUVWDWWHPSWDQGLQDVLQJOHVHVVLRQODVWLQJMXVWD
couple of hours, she succeeded with such style that as the drawing approached
completion, people stopped to marvel at her facility with lines.

I took Joanna to the Market Coffee House afterwards, to celebrate her

remarkable afternoon’s work, of which she appeared modestly unaware. In
the Coffee House she opened a portfolio to show me her other drawings of
6SLWDOÀHOGV/DVW\HDU-RDQQDFDPHWROLYHLQDQROGKRXVHLQ+DQEXU\6WUHHW
for a couple of months and while she was here, something extraordinary
happened. She discovered a compulsion to draw. “Life started changing
and I went part-‐time in my job because I needed to see how well I could
draw. I realised that if I didn’t do it now, I’d never do it. And this coincided
ZLWKPRYLQJWR6SLWDOÀHOGV²,IRXQGLWVRLQVSLULQJKHUHµ explained Joanna,
recalling the harsh Winter of 2009, which proved such a cathartic and creative
Joanna Moore
Courtesy The Gentle Author time in her life.

$V-RDQQDSURGXFHGDQDUUD\RIWKHÀQHGUDZLQJVIURPKHUSRUWIROLRZKLFKUHFRUGKHUWLPHKHUHVKHVSRNHRI
the excitement of the circumstances from which they arose. “It was lonely living here in this beautiful old house,
EXW,ZDVGHWHUPLQHGWRGUDZ²VHSDUDWHGIURPWKHSHRSOHDURXQGPH,GLGQ·WNQRZDQ\RQH,ZDVMXVWUHQWLQJD
EDVHPHQW,ERXJKWP\VHOIÀQJHUOHVVJORYHVWRZRUNRXWVLGHEXWLWZDVVRFROG,FRXOGRQO\GRDQKRXU·VGUDZLQJ
at a time. You can deal with the cold in your head and body, though when your hands get cold, then you can’t
FRQWURO\RXUÀQJHUVWRGUDZDQ\PRUHµ
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 44
 ,WZDVDSSDUHQWIURPWKHVHÁXHQWGUDZLQJV
that Joanna’s achievement was far greater
WKDQVLPSO\UHWDLQLQJ FRQWURORIKHUÀQJHUV
but more than this, I was inspired by the
personal discovery these works manifested.
The nest of lines within these quiet yet
sophisticated drawings trace the birth of
a vibrant talent. Within the pluralism of
contemporary art, there is a resurgence
of drawing and a recognition that a talent
and facility for draughtsmanship – which
Joanna has found within herself – is not to be
underrated. In architectural drawing, most
people struggle to get their lines in the right
place when attempting to record structures,
but for Joanna this is second nature, she can
Princelet Street do it with ease, and brings wit and humanity
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk along too.

Joanna never set out to draw, she trained as an architect

yet became alienated at the idea of life in front of a computer
terminal, switching to Art History in the middle of her studies.
Since leaving Cambridge in 2007, Joanna worked as an
architectural historian but found herself increasingly fascinated
with looking at the buildings she was working on. Now, at twenty-‐
ÀYH\HDUVROG-RDQQDKDVGLVFRYHUHGZKRVKHLVDQGH[DFWO\ZKDW
she wants to do, embarking on a year’s course at the Prince’s
Drawing School in Shoreditch this September.

“Now I’ve started, the more I draw, the faster I get and the
IUHHU,JHW²VRZKHQ,JRWRGUDZLQJVFKRRO,ZDQWWREHSXVKHG
because it’s something I have to do.” admitted Joanna, her eyes
gleaming with determination and passion for her chosen course
in life. The loss of income will mean moving back home to South
London to live with her parents, though as both her mother and
father also possess the talent for drawing, this could turn out to
be the supportive environment Joanna needs to launch herself
upon her new path.

“It’s a very pure pleasure,” said Joanna with a gentle smile,

FRQVLGHULQJ KHU SRUWIROLR DQG DVSLULQJ WR ÀQG ZRUGV IRU WKH
dynamic experience of drawing, “That’s why I’m driven, it’s the
SXUHVWDUWIRUP\RXFDQJHW²WRUHFRUGZKDW·VLQIURQWRI\RX,
don’t want to use my drawings as the basis for paintings because
I’m more interested in drawing the next thing.”
Petticoat Lane Market
Too few people follow their enthusiasms, and so I was inspired Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk
to meet Joanna Moore at this crucial moment in her life. In
OHDUQLQJ RI WKH VSHFLDO PHDQLQJ WKDW 6SLWDOÀHOGV KDV IRU -RDQQD , HQFRXQWHUHG D \RXQJ ZRPDQ RI ZLOOSRZHU
intelligence and talent commencing a great journey, astute yet open to all the possibilities that life can bring.

You can see more of Joanna’s drawings on her website www.town-‐mouse.co.uk and follow her blog at
thetownmouse.wordpress.com/category/london.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 45

 Wentworth Street
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk

6SLWDOÀHOGV$QWLTXHV0DUNHW
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk

Fournier Street
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk Ripperologist 122 September 2011 46
Christ Church
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk Ripperologist 122 September 2011 47
 The Return of Joanna Moore
This quiet drawing captures the spirit of one of
P\ IDYRXULWH SODFHV LQ 6SLWDOÀHOGV 'LQR·V &DIH LQ
Commercial Street next to Christ Church. The location
of frequent 6SLWDOÀHOGV /LIH interviews, it boasts the
egalitarian distinction of being the cafe with the widest
range of clientele – where builders sit at one table with
bankers at the next table, all gathered here as equals
to enjoy an honest breakfast.

On the basis of Joanna Moore’s drawings of

6SLWDOÀHOGV SXEOLVKHG LQ 6SLWDOÀHOGV /LIH, she was
offered an exhibition at the Townhouse in Fournier
Street. It was the ideal opportunity to catch up, so I
went along early to have a chat with Joanna before
the crowds arrived, and found her in the empty gallery
surrounded by her pictures, accompanied by her dad
ZKRKDGFRPHDORQJWRRIIHUPRUDOVXSSRUW:KHQ,ÀUVW
met Joanna in the Summer, she was about to quit her
job and pursue drawing full time, and this September
she commenced a year’s course at the Prince’s Drawing
School in Shoreditch.

“I moved to Wapping in October, I have a studio in

the Tea Building on the corner of the Bethnal Green
Road and I work one day a week at the Society for
Dino’s Cafe the Preservation of Ancient Buildings in Spital Sq, so
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk
my whole life is in the East End now,” Joanna told me,
JORZLQJZLWKDQWLFLSDWLRQIRUWKHRSHQLQJRIKHUÀUVWH[KLELWLRQ>'HFHPEHU@“You’re never going to see
this show again,”VKHFRQÀGHGGHOLJKWLQJLQWKHUDSLGHYROXWLRQWKDWLVWDNLQJSODFHLQKHUGUDZLQJ“Since I left
P\MRE,KDGD6XPPHURIGUDZLQJDQG,GUHZLQWKHZD\,KDYHGRQHIRUWKHSDVWWHQ\HDUV²FDSWXULQJ/RQGRQ
GHWDLOV²EXWWKHPRUH,GUHZWKHIUHHU,JRWDQGWKHORRVHUP\GUDZLQJVEHFDPHµ

The thirty drawings in the exhibition were all done between February and October this year and are remarkable
for their exuberant sense of discovery, recording an artist exploring her abilities and pushing the boundaries of
her own capability. Joanna is blessed with a natural gift of draughtsmanship and keen sense of proportion – and
she has a strong sense of architecture, which was her chosen subject of study for many years – but the developing
theme throughout this body of work is the presence of people.

“I used to put people in the background to give a sense of scale to the architecture,” she admitted, explaining
that at the drawing school she has been encouraged to go out and draw people at work, at butcher’s shops and in
bakeries, at orchestral rehearsals and ballet. “Drawing people feels very new to me, after drawing buildings for
ten years,” she revealed, widening her eyes in excitement, “In the old days, I drew buildings because they stayed
still. But now my drawings are becoming more populated, with the buildings secondary and the people central.”

:HVWRRGLQWKHEHDXWLIXOO\SURSRUWLRQHGRXWKRXVHDWWKHUHDURIQXPEHUÀYH)RXUQLHU6WUHHWWKDWZDVEXLOWLQ
1820 as a doctor’s surgery, surrounded by Joanna’s handsome drawings lining the walls – a series of visions that
DUHWKHVXEVWDQFHRIKHU\HDU·VDFKLHYHPHQW,WZDVWKHERWKWKHHQGRI-RDQQD·VÀUVWWHUPDWWKHGUDZLQJVFKRRO
and the opening of the show which begins her career too, incarnating an auspicious moment. Joanna reminded
PHWKDWLWZDVWKHLQVSLUDWLRQRIEHLQJLQ6SLWDOÀHOGVODVW:LQWHUZKLFKIRUPHGWKHFDWDO\VWIRUKHUWRFRPPHQFH
drawing seriously, in way that led her to change the direction of her life. And we agreed it completes the year
perfectly to have this exhibition in Fournier Street now, in celebration of a remarkable formative twelve months
and a courageous departure that brought Joanna Moore to live and work in the East End.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 48

 “Now and then, I like drawing something I feel won’t
be there for long and, in this case, these ruins and
scaffolding were as beautiful as the surrounding
buildings in Commercial Road, although I’m sure
WKH\·OOEHUHSODFHGE\GXOOÁDWVIDLUO\VRRQ7KHVWUHHW
opposite turned out to be a fortunate perch, as I had
ÀUHPHQSHHNLQJRYHUP\VKRXOGHUDVWKH\FDPHLQWR
ZRUNDWWKHÀUHVWDWLRQEHKLQGPHµ

Commercial Road
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk

“After drawing St Paul’s I was in the mood for

something simpler but no less monumental.
Drawing straight onto paper in pen was harder
WKDQ,WKRXJKWZLWKWKLVVXEMHFW²LW·VVR
precisely, even coldly formed that it’s important
to get the proportions just right.”

Christ Church
Courtesy Joanna Moore. www.joanna-‐moore.co.uk

THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S PROMISE: Over the coming days, weeks, months and years, I am going to write every single
GD\DQGWHOO\RXDERXWP\OLIHKHUHLQ6SLWDOÀHOGVDWWKHKHDUWRI/RQGRQ+RZFDQ,HYHUGHVFULEHWKHH[XEHUDQW
richness and multiplicity of culture in this place to you? This is both my task and my delight. I do not think there
ZLOOEHDQ\VKRUWDJHRIPDWHULDOWKRXJKLWPD\EHGLIÀFXOWWRFKRRVHZKDWWRZULWHRIEHFDXVHWKHSRVVLELOLWLHV
DUHLQÀQLWH7UXO\DOORIKXPDQOLIHLVKHUHLQ6SLWDOÀHOGV
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 49
 0,.(&29(//·6

-DFNWKH%ORJJHU
It has been a busy time recently in Ripperology with numerous blogs, forums and webpages
covering the case. A number of suspects have been discussed, with suggestions ranging from Carl
Feigenbaum to Frederick Abberline.

-DFNWKH()LW

Once again Jack the Blogger comes across some more Trevor Marriott, this time
with headlines on blogs and websites asking “is this the face of Jack the Ripper?”
Personally, I believe it should have been asked whether this was the face of Carl
Feigenbaum, a suspect named by Trevor but of whom we have no photograph. The
BBC ran the story in August1 to coincide with a documentary, and the Londonist2
followed, along with pieces in History Today3, Cosmic Log4, Discovery News5,
Inquisitir6, Dundee.com7, Hot Online8, Now Public9, 7KH +XIÀQJWRQ 3RVW10, The
Random Forest11, Psycho Watcher12.

-DFNWKH'UDPD6WDU

The BBC announced that a new drama is to be made about the people who lived
during and after the Autumn of Terror and how they dealt with life in the East End.
The show, whose working title is Ripper Street, will be executive produced for
Tiger Aspect by Will Gould and Head of Drama Greg Brenman and for Lookout Point
by Simon Vaughan (Parade’s End, Titanic). Polly Hill will executive produce for the
BBC. Shooting commences in Spring 201213,14,15,16.

1 www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-‐europe-‐14207581
 ORQGRQLVWFRPMDFNWKHULSSHUVXVSHFWUHYHDOHGLQHÀWSKS
3 www.historytoday.com/blog/2011/08/new-‐picture-‐emerges-‐jack-‐ripper-‐suspect
4 cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/01/7558386-‐was-‐this-‐the-‐ face-‐of-‐
jack-‐the-‐ripper
5 news.discovery.com/history/face-‐jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐110902.html
 ZZZLQTXLVLWUFRPMDFNWKHULSSHULGHQWLÀHGFDUOIHLJHQEDXP
7 www.dundee.com/news/university-‐expert-‐asks-‐face-‐jack-‐ripper.html
 ZZZKRWRQOLQHQHWWKHÀUVWMDFNWKHULSSHUSKRWRVWKHVHULDONLOOHU
 ZKRKRUULÀHGWKHZRUOG
9 www.nowpublic.com/world/carl-‐feigenbaum-‐jack-‐rippers-‐face-‐2831815.html
 ZZZKXIÀQJWRQSRVWFRPMDFNULSSHUIDFHUHYHDOHGBQBKWPO
11 therandomforest.com/jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐face
12 psychowatcher.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐case-‐solved-‐again
13 www.seenit.co.uk/new-‐bbc-‐drama-‐to-‐explore-‐aftermath-‐of-‐ripper-‐murders/0915177/
14 www.bestbritishtv.com/?p=1586
15 www.madblackcat.com/2011/09/ripper-‐street-‐drama-‐bbc/
 ZZZKXIÀQJWRQSRVWFRXNEEFFRPPLVVLRQVBQBKWPO
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 50
$EEHUOLQHWKH5LSSHU

Another story that dominated message boards and websites recently was the release of a book by Spanish writer Jose
Luis Abad, 84, in which he names Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline as the Ripper. The book, Jack the Ripper: The
Most Intelligent Murderer in History, was published in Spain. A number of sites featured the story including, The Daily
Mail17, The IB Times, Los Angeles18, Sign of the Times Net19, About Paranormal20, Friggin Loon21, Golden Age Paintings22
and Hipocryshit23.

Simon Pegg

On 18 August British comedian and actor Simon Pegg appeared

on Twitter and Tweeted that he had been on a Jack the Ripper
Tour24. The announcement was discussed on JTRForums25 and
FanShare26. It is believed that the tour was a form of research
for the Shaun of the Dead and Spaced star, who is signed on to
appear in A Fantastic Fear of EverythingDÀOPDERXWDQDXWKRU
writing about a Victorian serial killer.27

3HWHU+RGJVRQ·V5LSSHU

Peter Hodgson, author of Jack the Ripper: Through The Mists Of Time, appeared in the Blackpool Gazette discussing
the updated version of this book and who he thinks was Jack the Ripper. Sadly he didn’t reveal his suspect, but did claim
to show that the Ripper of stage and screen is different to the murderer28.

-DFNWKH5LSSHU%ORJ

The Jack the Ripper Blog is back! A post last appeared on the
site in January 2001 and for 10 years it lay dormant, until a post
appeared in August 201129.

17 www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-‐2022896/Is-‐Jack-‐Ripper-‐Scotland-‐Yards-‐Chief-‐Inspector-‐Frederick-‐Abberline-‐named.html
 ORVDQJHOHVLEWLPHVFRPDUWLFOHVMDFNWKHULSSHULGHQWLW\LGHQWLÀHGKWP
19 www.sott.net/articles/show/233116-‐Is-‐this-‐Jack-‐the-‐Ripper-‐Scotland-‐Yard-‐s-‐Chief-‐Inspector-‐Frederick-‐Abberline-‐named-‐as-‐
serial-‐killer-‐in-‐new-‐investigation
20 aboutparanormal.com/2011/08/05/the-‐secret-‐behind-‐jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐solved
21 frigginloon.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/could-‐jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐be-‐the-‐chief-‐inspector
22 goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-‐this-‐jack-‐ripper.html
23 hipocryshit.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-‐this-‐jack-‐ripper.html
24 https://twitter.com/#!/simonpegg
25 www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=13144
26 www.fansshare.com/news/simon-‐pegg-‐fascinated-‐by-‐jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐legend
27 www.imdb.com/title/tt2006040
28 www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/on_the_tail_of_jack_the_ripper_s_trail_1_3725898
29 www.jacktheripper.co.uk
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 51
0\JUDQGPRWKHU·VJUHDWJUHDWXQFOHZDV-DFNWKH5LSSHU«PD\EH

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the bookstore, Tony Williams is back, and with him is Uncle Jack, the
infamous book in which Mr Williams claims that his grandmother’s great great uncle was Jack the Ripper. Surely the title
should be “my grandmother’s great great uncle was Jack the Ripper”. The book, which is a reissue, fails to answer any
of the questions raised by Ripperologists and is a word for word reprint with a new introduction and a end piece which
acts as a question and answer section. The story appeared on the Wales Online30 and Real Life Monsters webpages31.

&KXUFKLOOWKH5LSSHU

Lord Randolph Churchill as Jack the Ripper was a popular topic of discussion recently, with a number of sites discussing
his candidacy as a Ripper suspect. Among them were Accrington Web32, Henry Makow33 and What Really Happened34.

.RVPLQVNL:DV+H-DFNWKH5LSSHU"

$SDSHUDSSHDUHGRQOLQHLQ6HSWHPEHUZKLFKZDVÀUVWZULWWHQDQGSXEOLVKHGLQORRNLQJDWWKHFDQGLGDF\
of Kosminski. The paper, published by The Psychiatrist (formerly the Psychiatric Bulletin) was written by S K Lekh, A
Langa, P Begg and B K Puri35.

<RXUIDYRXULWHWKHRU\

The top theories were also discussed at GothNet recently, with several posters discussing their favourite theory and
suspect. It certainly makes for interesting, colourful reading36.

-DFNWKH,QWHUYLHZHH

And if you’re fed up with suspects you can read an interview with the man himself? Seriously! The Hub Pages feature
an interview with Jack the Ripper!37

Christopher George the Blogger

The Rip’s own Chris George has been posting on a couple of blogs recently, with some fantastic Ripper-‐related posts.
Chris’s work on PC George Hutt, and early commentators on the Ripper case in America, can be found online at his
Casebook blog38. Or one can join Chris on the trail of the Ripper on his Blogspot blog39. Both are packed full of interesting
articles and well worth searching for.

30 www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-‐to-‐read/2011/08/14/author-‐claims-‐my-‐grandmother-‐s-‐great-‐great-‐uncle-‐was-‐jack-‐the-‐
ripper-‐91466-‐29225899
31 psychowatcher.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/sir-‐john-‐williams-‐was-‐jack-‐the-‐ripper
32 www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f69/jack-‐the-‐ripper-‐was-‐winston-‐ churchills-‐father-‐58648.html
33 www.henrymakow.com/jacktheripperwas.html
34 whatreallyhappened.com/content/jack-‐ripper-‐was-‐winston-‐churchills-‐father
35 pb.rcpsych.org/content/16/12/786.full.pdf
36 goth.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=345026
37 drbj.hubpages.com/hub/Interview-‐Jack-‐the-‐Ripper
38 blog.casebook.org/chrisgeorge
39 christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/2011

MIKE COVELL is a happily married father of two. He has appeared on the Rippercast podcast and JTRForums Ripper Radio,
as well as BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Look North discussing the case. He has appeared in Hull Daily Mail and the Hull
Advertiser discussing both Jack the Ripper and Local History. He is a Moderator on JTRForums.com, and has lectured in Hull
at the Hull Heritage Centre on the Whitechapel Murders. Mike was a speaker at the 2010 Jack the Ripper conference in
London. During his spare time he can be found propping up the desks in the Hull History Centre, blogging, or building model
WW2 vehicles with his son.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 52

9LFWRULDQ)LFWLRQ
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,1752'8&7,21
Many Victorians found they could make a living, and a comfortable one at that, from their
writing. Bernard Capes was among them. During his lifetime he published nearly forty books in
a variety of genres and contributed numerous articles and stories to virtually every magazine in
sight. Yet appreciation of his work seemed to have expired together with him. For sixty years
after his death in 1918 he was completely forgotten. Like many another grateful reader, I owe
my acquaintance with Capes to my good friend Hugh Lamb, possibly the foremost expert on
Victorian ghosts and ghouls, who single-‐handedly rescued him from oblivion and neglect. In
1978, Hugh included Capes’s story The Moon Stricken in his anthology Forgotten Tales of Terror.
The following year he published Capes’s The Green Bottle and An Eddy on the Floor in his
Tales from a Gas-‐Lit Graveyard. Finally, in 1989, he edited Capes’s story collection The Black
Reaper, continuing his task of resuscitating for the pleasure of contemporary readers the work
RIDVXSHUEVWRU\WHOOHUZKRPKHFRQVLGHUVDVRQHRIWKHÀQHVWZULWHUVRIPDFDEUHÀFWLRQRIWKH
Victorian era.
Bernard Edward Joseph Capes was born, one of eleven children, in London on 30 August 1854. His sister
Harriet was a noted translator and author of children’s books, and his sister Lucy Mary was the wife of Herbert
Rose Barraud, the celebrated photographer known for his portraits of Charles Darwin, Arthur Conan Doyle, John
Ruskin, Sir Charles Warren, Sir Garnet Wolseley – the inspiration for Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘very model of a modern
Major-‐General’ -‐ and many more eminent Victorians. Capes’s grandfather had converted to Roman Catholicism,
and Capes himself was educated at Beaumont, a Roman Catholic college, though his faith does not seem to have
made a lasting impression on him.
Capes’s early years were marked by a series of personal calamities, including a botched attempt to breed
rabbits and other failed ventures, which left in him the permanent underpinning of sullenness and resentment
which often pervades his work. Although he contributed to magazines, wrote a couple of novels under a nom de
plume and from 1890 to 1893 edited The TheatreDPRQWKO\UHYLHZRIWKHGUDPDPXVLFDQGWKHÀQHDUWVKH
did not become a successful author until past the age of forty. In 1897 he entered a $30,000 literary competition
sponsored by the Chicago Record where he won second prize for his mystery novel The Mill of Silence. The
following year, the RecordUDQDJDLQWKHFRPSHWLWLRQ7KLVWLPH&DSHVZRQÀUVWSUL]HZLWKThe Lake of Wine, a
novel about an eponymous priceless ruby, the plots and counter plots it inspires and the evil passions it stirs.
Following the success of his prize-‐winning novel, Capes became a full-‐time and, considering his late start,
DUHPDUNDEO\SUROLÀFDXWKRU$PRQJWKHPDJD]LQHVWKDWSXEOLVKHGKLVZRUNGXULQJWKHQH[WWZHQW\\HDUVZHUH
Blackwood’s, 7KH%XWWHUÁ\, Cassell’s, The Cornhill Magazine, Hutton’s, The Illustrated London News, Lippincott’s,
Macmillan’s, Literature, New Witness, Pearson’s Magazine, The Idler, The New Weekly, The Pall Mall Magazine,
The Queen and The Sketch. His books included Adventures of the Comte de la Muette During the Reign of Terror,
The Mysterious Singer, Our Lady of Darkness, From Door to Door: A Book of Romances, Fantasies, Whimsies, and
Levities, The Secret in the Hill, A Castle in Spain: Being Certain Memoirs, Thus Entitled, of Robin Loïs, Ex-‐Major
RI+LV0DMHVW\·VWK5HJLPHQWRI)RRW, The Green Parrot, The Romance of Lohengrin: Founded on Wagner’s

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 53

opera, Bembo: A Tale of Italy, Amaranthus: A Book of Little Songs, The Love Story of St Bel, Historical Vignettes:
1st and 2nd Series, The Pot of Basil, Gilead Balm, Knight Errant: His Adventures in Search of the Truth, The
Story of Fifne and A Fool’s Passion and Other Poems – a list which offers ample evidence of Capes’s imagination,
versatility and stamina.
Capes’s last novel, The Skeleton Key, was published posthumously. In his Introduction, G K Chesterton wrote
WKDWLWPLJKWVHHPDSDUDGR[WRVD\WKDW&DSHVZDVLQVXIÀFLHQWO\DSSUHFLDWHGEHFDXVHKHGLGSRSXODUWKLQJVZHOO
‘But it is true,’ he continued, ‘to say that he always gave a touch of distinction to a detective story or a tale of
adventure; and so gave it where it was not valued, because it was not expected. In a sense, in this department
of his work at least, he carried on the tradition of the artistic conscience of Stevenson; the technical liberality
of writing a penny-‐dreadful so as to make it worth a pound.’
Chesterton went on: ‘It is a good general rule that a poet can be known not only in his poems, but in the very
titles of his poems. In the case of many works of Bernard Capes, The Lake of Wine, for instance, the title is
itself a poem. And that case would alone illustrate what I mean about a certain transforming individual magic,
with which he touched the mere melodrama of mere modernity.’ Chesterton remarked that many crime novels
had been concerned with a lost or stolen jewel called The Sun of the Sultan or The Eye of Vishnu or The Star
of Bengal. But even in the choice of a title such as The Lake of Wine, which was also the name of a jewel, an
‘indescribable and individual fancy’ was felt; ‘a sub-‐conscious dream of some sea like a sunset, red as blood and
intoxicant as wine.’
‘The detective or mystery tale, in which this last book is an experiment,’ said Chesterton
about The Skeleton Key, ‘involves in itself a problem for the artist, as odd as any of the
problems which it puts to the policeman. A detective story might well be in a special sense
a spiritual tragedy; since it is a story in which even the moral sympathies may be in doubt. A
police romance is almost the only romance in which the hero may turn out to be the villain,
or the villain to be the hero.’ He proceeded: ‘I have too great a love or lust for the roman
policier to spoil sport in so unsportsmanlike a fashion; but I cannot forbear to comment on
the ingenious inspiration by which in this story, one of the characters contrives to remain
really an unknown quantity, by a trick of verbal evasion, which he himself defends, half
convincingly, as a scruple of verbal veracity.’ Indeed, Chesterton had to tread carefully not
to reveal too much about the characters in The Skeleton Key, since Capes’s last novel would
become notorious for being one of the few to infringe successfully one of the basic rules
JRYHUQLQJGHWHFWLYHÀFWLRQ
Capes died on 2 November 1918 in Winchester, after a brief illness resulting from the
LQÁXHQ]DHSLGHPLFZKLFKVZHSW(XURSHLQWKHDIWHUPDWKRIWKH*UHDW:DU+HLVUHPHPEHUHG
LQDSODTXHDIÀ[HGWRWKHZDOODWWKHQRUWKWUDQVHSWRI:LQFKHVWHU&DWKHGUDOQHDUWKHGRRUWKDWOHDGVWRWKH
crypt. The plaque bears the epigraph Where England sets her feet does not the primrose break?ZKRVHÀUVWZRUGV
were also the title of one of Capes’s last novels, the Elizabethan romance Where England Sets Her Feet, which
appeared in 1917.
The present story, Dark Dignum, appeared in the June 1897 issue of Pearson’s Magazine and was later collected
in At a Winter’s FireDQDQWKRORJ\RI&DSHV·VVXSHUQDWXUDOVWRULHVSXEOLVKHGLQ$WÀUVWVLJKWLWLVDVLPSOH
narrative of rivalry and hatred, cold-‐blooded murder and terrible vengeance. It abounds on crumbling graveyards,
bells ringing in submerged churches and smugglers battling an enraged sea in the dead of night, and features
a tale within a tale about Dark Dignum, a black-‐hearted, charming villain, and his incorruptible enemy. Hugh
Lamb has pointed up the startling similarity Capes’s work bears to the plots of later writers. His story The Moon
Stricken resembles closely M P Shiel’s The Place of Pain and his story The Black Reaper is almost identical to Ray
Bradbury’s The Scythe$VIRUPH,KDYHDOVRIRXQGVRPHDIÀQLWLHVEHWZHHQDark Dignum and more modern yarns.
To my mind, what it resembles most is the E C Comics of the Fifties. When the words of the old, decrepit and
perhaps unreliable narrator are italicized to indicate the moment when his tale reaches its most dramatic peak,
they recall those splendid black-‐and-‐white chronicles of decaying avengers from beyond the grave illustrated by
‘Ghastly’ Graham Ingels or Jack Davis. The narrator himself could spend a convivial evening with the Crypt Keeper,
the Old Witch and the Vault Keeper, trading awful puns with his companions and chuckling quietly at the little
twist he’s put in the present tale. But Dark DignumDOVRUHÁHFWV&DSHV·VVFHSWLFLVPJOXPQHVVDQGVXSSUHVVHG
anger in its veiled remarks on organized religion, its whimsical comments on small-‐town corruption and the thread
RIEODFNKXPRXUZKLFKUXQVWKURXJKLWVIDEULF,WDOVRRIIHUVVRPHWKLQJHOVH¶0HQPD\ZHOOJREDFNWRÀQGWKH
poems thus embedded in his prose’, said Chesterton of Capes.
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 54
 '$5.',*180
‘I’d not go nigher, sir,’ said my landlady’s father.
I made out his warning through the shrill piping of the
wind; and stopped and took in the plunging seascape from
where I stood. The boom of the waves came up from a vast
distance beneath; sky and the horizon of running water
seemed hurrying upon us over the lip of the rearing cliff.
‘It crumbles!’ he cried. ‘It crumbles near the edge like as
frosted mortar. I’ve seen a noble sheep, sir, eighty pound of
mutton, browsing here one moment, and seen it go down the
next in a puff of white dust. Hark to that! Do you hear it?’
Through the tumult of the wind in that high place came a
OLTXLGYLEUDQWVRXQGOLNHWKHPXIÁHGVWURNHRILURQRQDQDQYLO,WKRXJKWLWWKHJREEOHRIZDWHULQFODQJLQJ
caves deep down below.
‘It might be a bell,’ I said.
The old man chuckled joyously. He was my cicerone for the nonce; had come out of his chair by the
ingle-‐nook1WRWDVWHDOLWWOHWKHVDOWRIOLIH7KHQRUWKHDVWHUÁDVKHGLQWKHZKLWHFDWDUDFWV RIKLVH\HV
and woke a feeble activity in his scrannel2 limbs. When the wind blew loud, his daughter had told me, he
ZDVDOZD\VUHVWOHVVOLNHDQLPSULVRQHGVHDJXOO+HZRXOGEHXSDQGRXW+HZRXOGULVHDQGÁDSKLVROG
draggled pinions3DVLIWKHJUHDWDLUIDQQHGDQH[SLULQJVSDUNLQWRÁDPH
‘It is a bell!’ he cried—’the bell of old St Dunstan’s, that was swallowed by the waters in the dark times.’
‘Ah,’ I said. ‘That is the legend hereabouts.’
‘No legend, sir -‐ no legend. Where be the tombstones of drownded mariners to prove it such? Not one to
forty that they has in other sea-‐board parishes. For why? Dunstan bell sounds its warning, and not a craft
will put out.’
‘There is the storm cone,’ I suggested.
He did not hear me. He was punching with his staff at one of a number of little green mounds that lay
about us.
‘I could tell you a story of these,’ he said. ‘Do you know where we stand?’
‘On the site of the old churchyard?’
¶$\VLUWKRXJKLWVWLOOERUHWKHQDPHRIWKHQHZ\DUGLQP\ÀUVWPHPRU\RILW·
‘Is that so? And what is the story?’
He dwelt a minute, dense with introspection. Suddenly he sat himself down upon a mossy bulge in the
turf, and waved me imperiously to a place beside him.
‘The old order changeth,’ he said. ‘The only lasting foundations of men’s works shall be godliness and
law-‐biding. Long ago they builded a new church -‐ here, high up on the cliffs, where the waters could not
reach; and, lo! the waters wrought beneath and sapped the foundations, and the church fell into the sea.’
‘So I understand,’ I said.
‘The godless are fools,’ he chattered knowingly. ‘Look here at these bents4 -‐ thirty of ‘em, may be.
Tombstones, sir; perished like man his works, and the decayed stumps of them coated with salt grass.’

1 ingle-‐nook… ingle-‐nook: chimney corner (OED).

2 his scrannel limbs… scrannel: weak.
3 his old draggled pinions… pinion: terminal segment of bird’s wing, (poet.) wing (OED).
4 these bents… bent: An area of grassland unbounded by hedges or fences.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 55

 He pointed to the ragged edge of the cliff a score paces away. ‘They
raised it out there,’ he said, ‘and further -‐ a temple of bonded stone.
They thought to bribe the Lord to a partnership in their corruption,
and He answered by casting down the fair mansion into the waves.’
I said, ‘Who -‐ who, my friend?’
‘They that builded the church,’ he answered.
¶:HOO·,VDLG¶,WVHHPVDFHUWDLQIRROLVKQHVVWRVHWWKHHGLÀFHVR
close to the margin.’
Again he chuckled.
‘It was close, close, as you say; yet none so close as you might think nowadays. Time hath gnawed here
like a rat on a cheese. But the foolishness appeared in setting the brave mansion between the winds and
its own graveyard. Let the dead lie seawards, one had thought, and the church inland where we stand. So
KDGWKHEHOOUXQJWRWKLVGD\DQGRQO\WKHFKDUQHOERQHVÁDNHGSLHFHPHDOLQWRWKHVHD·
‘Certainly, to have done so would show the better providence.’
‘Sir, I said the foolishness appeared. But, I tell you, there was foresight in the disposition -‐ in neighbouring
the building to the cliff path. For so they could the easier enter unobserved, and store their kegs of Nantes
brandy in the belly of the organ.’
‘They? Who were they?’
‘Why, who -‐ but two-‐thirds of all Dunburgh?’
‘Smugglers?’
¶,WZDVDQHVWRI¶HPWUDIÀFNHUVLQWKHHWHUQDOÀUHR·ZHHNGD\VDQGRQWKH6DEEDWKZKRVRVDQFWLPRQLRXV"
But honesty comes not from the washing, like a clean shirt, nor can the piety of one day purge the evil of
six. They built their church anigh the margin, forasmuch as it was handy, and that they thought, ‘Surely the
Lord will not undermine His own?’ A rare community o’ blasphemers, fro’ the parson that took his regular
toll of the organ-‐loft, to him that sounded the keys and pulled out the joyous stops as if they was so many
spigots to what lay behind.’
‘Of when do you speak?’
‘I speak of nigh a century and a half ago. I speak of the time o’ the Seven Years’ War and of Exciseman
Jones, that, twenty year after he were buried, took his revenge on the cliff side of the man that done him
to death.’
‘And who was that?’
‘They called him Dark Dignum, sir -‐ a great feat smuggler5, and as wicked as he was bold,’
‘Is your story about him?’
‘Ay, it is; and of my grandfather, that were a boy when they laid, and was glad to lay, the exciseman
GHHSDVWKH\FRXOGGLJIRUWKHVLJKWRIKLVVRRW\IDFHLQKLVFRIÀQZDVZRUVHWKDQDEDGGUHDP·
‘Why was that?’
The old man edged closer to me, and spoke in a sibilant voice.
‘He were murdered, sir, foully and horribly, for all they could never bring it home to the culprit.’
‘Will you tell me about it?’
He was nothing loth. The wind, the place of perished tombs, the very wild-‐blown locks of this ‘withered
apple-‐john’6, were eerie accompaniments to the tale he piped in my ear.

5 a great feat smuggler… feat: (archaic) adroit, smart, dextrous.

6 ‘withered apple-‐john’… apple-‐john: A preserved apple which has lost the majority of its water content and thus appears
wrinkled and shrivelled. cf. ‘I am withered like an old apple-‐john.’ Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV, iii, 3.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 56

 ‘When my grandfather were a boy,’ he said, ‘there lighted in Dunburgh Exciseman Jones. P’r’aps the
village had gained an ill reputation. P’r’aps Exciseman Jones’s predecessor had failed to secure the
FRQÀGHQFHR·WKHH[HNLWLYH$WDQ\UDWHWKHQHZPDQZDVOLWWOHWRWKHIDQF\RIWKHYLOODJH+HZDVDJULP
sour-‐looking, brass-‐bound galloot7; and incorruptible -‐ which was the worst. The keg o’ brandy left on his
doorstep o’ New Year’s Eve had been better unspiled8 and run into the gutter; for it led him somehow to the
LGHQWLÀFDWLRQRIWKHLQQRFHQWWKDWGRQHLWDQGKHKDGKLPE\WKHKHHOVLQDWZLQNOLQJ7KHVTXLUHVQRUWHG
at the man, and the parson looked askance; but Dark Dignum, he swore he’d be even with him, if he swung
for it. They was hurt and surprised, that was the truth, over the scrupulosity of certain people; and feelin’
ran high against Exciseman Jones.
‘At that time Dark Dignum was a young man with a reputation above his years for profaneness and
audacity. Ugly things there were said about him; and amongst many wicked he was feared for his wickedness.
Exciseman Jones had his eye on him; and that was bad for Exciseman Jones.
‘Now one murk December night Exciseman Jones staggered home with a bloody long slice down his
scalp, and the red drip from it spotting the cobble-‐stones.
‘“Summut fell on him from a winder,” said Dark Dignum, a little later, as he were drinkin’ hisself hoarse
in the Black Boy. “Summut fell on him retributive, as you might call it. For, would you believe it, the man
had at the moment been threatenin’ me? He did. He said, ‘I know damn well about you, Dignum; and for
all your damn ingenuity, I’ll bring you with a crack to the ground yet.’”’
‘What had happened? Nobody knew, sir. But Exciseman Jones was in his bed for a fortnight; and when he
got on his legs again, it was pretty evident there was a hate between the two men that only blood-‐spillin’
could satisfy.
‘So far as is known, they never spoke to one another again. They played their game of death in silence
-‐ the lawful, cold and unfathomable; the unlawful, swaggerin’ and crool -‐and twenty year separated the
ÀUVWPRYHDQGWKHODVW
¶7KLVZHUHWKHÀUVWVLUDV'DUN'LJQXPOHDNHGLWRXWORQJDIWHULQKLVFXSV7KLVZHUHWKHÀUVWDQGLW
brought Exciseman Jones to his grave on the cliff here.
‘It were a deep soft summer night; and the young smuggler sat by hisself in the long room of the Black
Boy. Now, I tell you he were a fox-‐ship9 intriguer -‐ grand, I should call him, in the aloneness of his villainy.
He would play his dark games out of his own hand; and sure, of all his wickedness, this game must have
seemed the sum.
‘I say he sat by hisself; and I hear the listening ghost of him call me a liar. For there were another body
present, though invisible to mortal eye; and that second party were Exciseman Jones, who was hidden up
the chimney.
‘How had he inveigled him there? Ah, they’ve met and worried that point out since. No other will ever
know the truth this side the grave. But reports come to be whispered; and reports said as how Dignum
had made an appointment with a bodiless master of a smack10DVQHYHUÁRDWHGWRPHHWKLPLQWKH%ODFN
Boy and arrange for to run a cargo as would never be shipped; and that somehow he managed to acquent
Exciseman Jones o’ this dissembling appointment, and to secure his presence in hidin’ to witness it.
‘That’s conjecture; for Dignum never let on so far. But what is known for certain is that Exciseman
Jones, who were as daring and determined as his enemy -‐ p’r’aps more so -‐ for some reason was in the
chimney, on to a grating in which he had managed to lower hisself from the roof; and that he could, if
JLYHQWLPHKDYHVFUDPEOHGXSDJDLQZLWKGLIÀFXOW\EXWZDVGHEDUUHGIURPJRLQJORZHU$QGIXUWKHUWKLV
is known -‐ that, as Dignum sat on, pretendin’ to yawn and huggin’ his black intent, a little soot plopped
GRZQWKHFKLPQH\DQGVFDWWHUHGRQWKHFRDOVRIWKHODLGÀUHEHQHDWK
7 brass-‐bound galloot… EUDVVERXQGJDOORRWRUJDORRW$QLQÁH[LEOHULJLGPDQ
8 unspiled… VSLOHDVSLJRWRUDVPDOOZRRGHQSHJXVHGWRFRQWUROWKHÁRZRIDLULQWRDQGFDUERQGLR[LGHRXWRIDFDVNRI
ale.
9 he were a fox-‐ship intriguer… fox-‐ship or foxship: foxiness, craftiness.
10 bodiless master of a smack…VPDFNVLQJOHPDVWHGVDLOLQJYHVVHOULJJHGOLNHVORRSRUFXWWHUIRUFRDVWLQJRUÀVKLQJ

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 57

 ‘At that – “Curse this waitin’!” said he. “The room’s as chill as a belfry”; and he got to his feet, with a
secret grin, and strolled to the hearthstone.
¶´,ZRQGHUµVDLGKH´ZLOOWKHODQGORUGREMHFWLI,YHQWXU·XSRQDJOLQWRIÀUHIRUFRPIRUW·VVDNH"µDQGKH
SXOOHGRXWKLVÁLQWDQGVWHHOVWUXFNDVSDUNDQGZLWKQRPRUHIHHOLQ·WKDQKH·GH[SUHVVLQOLJKWLQJDSLSH
VHWWKHÁDPHWRWKHVWLFNV
‘The trapt rat above never stirred or give tongue. My God! What a man! Sich a nature could afford to
bide and bide -‐ ay, for twenty year, if need be.
¶'LJQXPZRXOGKDYHHQMR\HGWKHVRXQGRIDFU\EXWKHQHYHUJRWLW+HOLVWHQHGZLWKWKHJULQÀ[HGRQ
his face; and of a sudden he heard a scrambling struggle, like as a dog with the colic jumping at a wall; and
presently, as the sticks blazed and the smoke rose denser, a thick coughin’, as of a consumptive man under
EHGFORWKHV6WLOOQRFU\QRUDQ\DSSHDOIRUPHUF\QRQRWIURPWKHWLPHKHOLWWKHÀUHWLOODKRUULEOHUDWWOH
come down, which was the last twitches of somethin’ that choked and died on the sooty gratin’ above.
¶:KHQDOOZDVTXLHW'LJQXPKHNQRFNVZLWKKLVIRRWRQWKHÁRRUDQGVLWVKLVVHOIGRZQEHIRUHWKHKHDUWK
with a face like a pillow for innocence.
‘“I were chilled and lit it,” says he to the landlord. “You don’t mind?”
‘Mind? Who would have ventur’d to cross Dark Dignum’s fancies?
‘He give a boisterous laugh, and ordered in a double noggin of humming stuff.
‘“Here,” he says, when it comes, “is to the health of Exciseman Jones, that swore to bring me to the
ground.”
‘“To the ground,” mutters a thick voice from the chimney.
‘“My God!” says the landlord – “there’s something up there!”
‘Something there was; and terrible to look upon when they brought it to light. The creature’s struggles
had ground the soot into its face, and its nails were black below the quick.11
‘Were those words the last of its death-‐throe, or an echo from beyond?
Ah! we may question; but they were heard by two men.
‘Dignum went free. What could they prove agen him? Not that he knew there was aught in the chimney
ZKHQKHOLWWKHÀUH7KHRWKHUZRXOGVFDUFHO\KDYHDFTXHQWKLPRIKLVSODQV$QG([FLVHPDQ-RQHVZDV
hurried into his grave alongside the church up here.
‘And therein he lay for twenty year, despite that, not a twelvemonth after his coming, the sacrilegious
house itself sunk roaring into the waters. For the Lord would have none of it, and, biding His time, struck
through a fortnight of deluge, and hurled church and cliff into ruin. But the yard remained, and, nighest
the seaward edge of it, Exciseman Jones slept in his fearful winding sheet and bided his time.
¶,WFDPHZKHQP\JUDQGIDWKHUZHUHD\RXQJPDQRIWKLUW\DQGPLJKW\FORVHDQGFRQÀGHQWLDOZLWK'DUN
Dignum. God forgive him! Doubtless he were led away by the older smuggler, that had a grace of villainy
DERXWKLP¶WLVVDLGDQGXVHG/RUG&KHVWHUÀHOG·VSULQWHGOHWWHUVIRUZDGGLQJWRKLVEXOOHWV12.
‘By then he was a ramping, roaring devil; but, for all his bold hands were stained with crime, the
memory of Exciseman Jones and of his promise dwelled with him and darkened him ever more and more,
and never left him. So those that knew him said.
‘Now all these years the cliff edge agen the graveyard, where it was broke off, was scabbing into the
VHDEHORZ%XWVWLOOWKH\XVHGWKLVZD\RIDVFHQWIRUWKHLUXQJRGO\WUDIÀFDQGRYHUWKHUXLQRIWKHFOLIIWKH\
had drove a new path for to carry up their kegs.

11 its nails were black below the quick…TXLFNWHQGHURUVHQVLWLYHÁHVKEHORZVNLQRUHVSQDLOV2('

12 XVHG/RUG&KHVWHUÀHOG·VSULQWHGOHWWHUV«&KHVWHUÀHOG3KLOLS'RUPHU6WDQKRSHWK(DUORI&KHVWHUÀHOG²
 ZDVDQ(QJOLVKVWDWHVPDQDQGGLSORPDWFKLHÁ\UHPHPEHUHGQRZDGD\VIRUKLV/HWWHUVWRKLVVRQ

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 58

 ‘It was a cloudy night in March, with scud13 and a
ÀWIXOPRRQDQGWKHUHZDVDVORRS14LQWKHRIÀQJDQG
under the shore a loaded boat that had just pulled
LQZLWKPXIÁHGURZORFNV15. Out of this Dark Dignum
ZDV WKH ÀUVW WR VOLQJ KLVVHOI D EUDFH RI UXQGOHWV16;
and my grandfather followed with two more. They
made softly for the cliff path -‐ began the ascent -‐
was half-‐way up.
‘Whiz! -‐ a stone of chalk went by them with a
skirl, and slapped into the rubble below.
‘‘Some more of St Dunstan’s gravel!’ cried Dignum, pantin’ out a reckless laugh under his load; and on
they went again.
‘Hwish! -‐ a bigger lump came like a thunderbolt, and the wind of it took the bloody smuggler’s hat and
sent it swooping into the darkness like a bird.
‘‘Thunder!’ said Dignum; ‘the cliff’s breaking away!’
¶7KH ZRUGV ZDV KDUGO\ RXW RI KLV PRXWK ZKHQ WKHUH ÁHZ VXFK D YROOH\ RI FKDON VWRQHV DV PDGH P\
grandfather, though none had touched him, fall upon the path where he stood, and begin to gabble out
what he could call to mind of the prayers for the dying. He was in the midst of it, when he heard a scream
come from his companion as froze the very marrow in his bones. He looked up, thinkin’ his hour had come.
‘My God! What a sight he saw! The moon had shone out of a sudden, and the light of it struck down on
Dignum’s face, and that was the colour of dirty parchment. And he looked higher, and give a sort of sob.
‘For there, stickin’ out of the cliff side, was half the body of Exciseman Jones, with its arms stretched
abroad, and it was clawin’ out lumps of chalk and hurling them down at Dignum!
‘And even as he took this in through his terror, a great ball of white came hurtling, and went full on to
the man’s face with a splash -‐ and he were spun down into the deep night below, a nameless thing.’
The old creature came to a stop, his eyes glinting with a febrile excitement.
‘And so,’ I said, ‘Exciseman Jones was true to his word?’
The tension of memory was giving -‐ the spring slowly uncoiling itself.
¶$\· KH VDLG GRXEWIXOO\ ¶7KH FOLII KDG ÁDNHG DZD\ E\ GHJUHHV WR KLV
very grave. They found his skelington stickin’ out of the chalk.’
‘His skeleton?’ said I, with the emphasis of disappointment.
¶7KH ÀUVW VLU WKH ÀUVW$\ KLV ZDV WKH ÀUVW 7KHUH·YH EHHQ D PDQ\
exposed since. The work of decay goes on, and the bones they fall into
the sea. Sometimes, sailing off shore, you may see a shank or an arm
protrudin’ like a pigeon’s leg from a pie. But the wind or the weather
takes it and it goes. There’s more to follow yet. Look at ‘em! look at these
bents! Every one a grave, with a skelington in it. The wear and tear from
the edge will reach each one in turn, and then the last of the ungodly will
have ceased from the earth.’
‘And what became of your grandfather?’
‘My grandfather? There were something happened made him renounce the devil. He died one of the
elect. His youth were heedless and unregenerate; but, ‘tis said, after he were turned thirty he never
smiled agen. There was a reason. Did I ever tell you the story of Dark Dignum and Exciseman Jones?’

13 with scud… scud: driving shower of rain, gust of wind.

14 and there was a sloop… sloop: small one-‐masted fore-‐and-‐aft-‐rigged vessel.
15 ZLWKPXIÁHGURZORFNV« rowlock: pair of thole-‐pins or other contrivance on boat’s gunwale serving as point of support
for oar.
16 a brace of rundlets… rundlet: (archaic) a unit-‐like size of wine casks once used in Britain.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 59

 Dear Rip
<RXU/HWWHUVDQG&RPPHQWV

Dear Rip,
Ripperologist 72: Harry Jonas
I am enormously grateful to you for sending me this issue of Ripperologist with the article
on Harry Jonas by John Savage. I am currently editing the letters between my grandfather’s
fourth wife, Joan Lamburn, and an American editor, Alyse Gregory, written in the 40s and
50s. Joan had a very close relationship with Jonas whom she met at the beginning of the War,
and his name crops up fairly regularly in the correspondence. But I’ve been unable to gather
anything but the sketchiest of details about him. This article has now not only provided me
with a detailed account of his painting career but also shown me other possible paths for future
research.

I can’t afford to subscribe to your magazine, and in any case my interest is not in the Ripper
case, but I shall certainly pass on information of Ripperologist to an ex-‐work colleague who is
in the process of writing a play about one of the Ripper victims. And I shall credit John Savage
and your magazine in my own MS -‐ though I somehow doubt if it’s the kind of thing I can interest
a publisher in these days.
Ripperologist 72 October 2006 1

Again, many thanks indeed.

Chris Wilkinson

Dear Chris,
Our pleasure. It never ceases to amaze us how many research paths cross with that of the Ripper case, such as a
few years back when Executive Editor Adam Wood learned details of Coroner Wynne Baxter’s parents from a researcher
who’d spent years looking into the life and career of Wynne’s uncle, the artist George Baxter. Good luck with your future
work, and we look forward to hearing about your colleague’s play!

Rip

*27620(7+,1*726$<"

We love to hear your thoughts and comment.

Get in touch at contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 64

I Beg To Report
7+(:+,7&+$3(/62&,(7<&21)(5(1&(2&72%(5
5HSRUWE\&+5,6723+(57*(25*(

The Whitechapel Society held a well run and informative conference at the City Hotel, Osborn
Street, on Saturday and Sunday, October 1-‐2. Both days were packed with lively talks by informed
speakers, the days was professionally moved along by emcee Philip Hutchinson who accepted the
mantle of the late Jeremy Beadle. Mr Beadle who would have been proud that the weekend raised
thousands for his favoured charity, the Childhood Leukaemia Society.
:KLOHWKHFODLPRIFKDLUPDQ%LOO%HDGOHWKDW¶7KLVLVWKHÀUVWFRQIHUHQFHWREHKHOGLQWKHYHU\KHDUWODQGRIWKHPXUGHUV
of 1888’ might not be exactly true, given that the conferences of 2009 and 2010 held at the King’s Stores, Widegate
Street, were held in the murder area as well, within a stone’s throw of the murders of Mary Jane Kelly in Miller’s Court
and Kate Eddowes in Mitre Square, that the Whitechapel Society weekend was in the midst of the crime area was
undeniable and made the venue important. Speaking personally, I also thought the choice of the City Hotel was an
H[FHOOHQWRQH7KHURRPVZHUHZHOODSSRLQWHGWKHVWDIIHIÀFLHQWDQGKHOSIXODOOPHDOVDQGUHIUHVKPHQWVZHOOUHFHLYHG

Saturday kicked off with Yours Truly talking about ‘Early Theatrical Depictions of Jack the Ripper’ and I was set up for
the talk by the technical expertise of Steve Rattey who kept the audiovisual side of the weekend moving smoothly. The
room was packed with some 45 delegates. As with all such events, it was a delight to meet both old friends and make
QHZDFTXDLQWDQFHVDVZHOO5LSSHUFRQIHUHQFHVDOZD\VWXUQRXWWREHLPSRUWDQWIRUWKHLQWHUÁRZRILQIRUPDWLRQDVZHOO
as making new contacts. The weekend attracted people from around the world and no one seemed disappointed with
what they saw and experienced. Saturday continued with Ray Joyce on the Montague JackÀOP&OLYH%ORRPZLWK¶-DFN
the Ripper at the Movies’, Jeff Leahy showing a revised version of -DFNWKH5LSSHU7KH'HÀQLWLYH6WRU\ and David
Wickes and Sue Davis talking about the 1988 TV mini-‐series Jack the Ripper starring Michael Caine as Chief Inspector
Abberline. After a sumptuous buffet dinner in the City Hotel’s The Kapok Tree Pan Asian Restaurant, emcee Hutchinson
entertained the audience with early recordings, sone hard to hear but amusing and a number of them related to the case
or about crimes depicted in Madame Tussauds including classic recordings by Tod Slaughter. As with all the speakers, Phil
Hutchinson’s presentation was engaging and informative. Phil then went on to introduce veteran comedian Roy Hudd
ZKRVHSUHVHQWDWLRQRQ¶7KH+LVWRU\RI0XVLF+DOO·DV7KH-HUHP\%HDGOH/HFWXUHZDVDGHÀQLWHKLJKOLJKWRIWKHZHHNHQG
While not exactly related to the case, the talk was both amusing and interesting, dealing with what was happening in
the streets and music halls of the area. Mr Hudd explained that Wilton’s Music Hall, off what used to be known as the
Ratcliffe Highway, rechristened in these more PC times as ‘The Highway’ is the only remaining music hall in a city that
once had some 200 such venues.

Sunday morning kicked off with Trevor Marriott talking about ‘The Secret Police Flies on the Whitechapel Murders’ as he
H[SODLQHGWKHOHJDOZUDQJOLQJLQZKLFKKHKDVEHHQHQJDJHGLQWU\LQJWRJHWKHDXWKRULWLHVWRUHOHDVHWKHÀOHVZKLFKKH
H[SODLQHGFRQVLVWWRGD\RIDOHGJHUZKLFKVXPPDUL]HVWKHRULJLQDOFDVHÀOHVIRUWRWKHRULJLQDOÀOHVKDYLQJ
presumably been destroyed. He mentioned that his present-‐day ongoing efforts followed those of Lindsay Clutterbuck
of the University of Portsmouth who discovered the existence of the ledger while researching his book An Accidental
History$OWKRXJKWKHHIIRUWWRJHWWKH6SHFLDO%UDQFKÀOHVUHOHDVHGLVSUHVHQWO\VW\PLHG7UHYRUKDVKRSHVRIODXQFKLQJ
an online public petition to get Parliament to debate releae of the information. Donald Rumbelow followed up with a
presentation on ‘Jack the Ripper -‐ An Historical Overview of the Suspects.’ Don made a good case that Stride should
not be considered among the Ripper suspects because everything seemed to show from the witness statements that she
seemed to be involved in some type of domestic dispute with one or more men, presumably pointing to Michael Kidney
or some other boyfriend. As for the Ripper himself, perhaps Joseph Lawende had the best or only view of the killer as he
and his two companions came out of the Imperial Club in Aldgate and saw a man with Catherine Eddowes. The witness
statement given by Lawende would seem to point to a local man rather than someone from outside or from a higher

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 65

social strata, Don concluded. Robin Odell gave a presentation of a case from 1953 involving a shooting in Croyden that
involved the shooting of a policeman. A man named Bentley with low intelligence went to the gallows although he was
not the gunman, his companion who did the shooting being under age at the time. Robin’s talk elicited a number of
questions from the audience. Linda Stratmann gave a colourful presentation on 7KH,OOXVWUDWHG3ROLFH1HZV,
putting the famous illustrations published in the tabloid-‐type publication in context with the panoply of sensational
crime stories and oddities carried in their pages. Adrian Morris ended the two days of presentations with a full discussion
of the mystery of suspect Montague John Druitt as a kick-‐off to the launch of the Whitechapel Society’s Jack the Ripper
-‐ The Suspects published by the History Press. Adrian’s presentation, ‘The Life and Times of Montague John Druitt’,
emphasized the fact that the suspect was involved in a number of complex law cases in 1888 that could have led to
depression and his dismissal from Mr Valentine’s school at Blackheath, where he was a part-‐time teached. Although
Druitt is mentioned as a prime suspect in Sir Melville Macnaghten’s famous memorandum of 1888 it is unclear on what
grounds he was suspected of the crimes, other than that the information came through the family somehow. Adrian
mentioned that Macnaghten was himself distantly related to the Druitts, though it seems suspicious to this reviewer
that the Scotland Yard man thought Druitt was a doctor -‐ of course he wasn’t, he was the son of a Dorset doctor but not
a doctor himself. His depression and exhaustion from working on those big cases combined with the known insanity of
his mother could have sent him over the edge. And maybe after all, he had the misfortune to take his life at the wrong
WLPHZKLFKÀWVZLWKWKHROGLGHDWKDWWKH5LSSHUPD\KDYHGRQHDZD\ZLWKKLPVHOI'LG6LU0HOYLOOH0DFQDJKWHQKDYHLW
terribly wrong and smear the name of an innocent man?

In all a successful conference which well ranks with one of the best such weekends that began way back in 1996 with
the conference in Ipswich organised by Rosemary Howells. The delegates had a superb time and can now go onward to
look forward to the next such occasion. The Whitechapel Society did Ripperology proud.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 66

I Beg To Report
ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT...
AND SOMETIMES NOT

IT’S FRED’S HEAD NOT NED’S. In July’s issue of Ripperologist, Mike Covell revealed
the undercover research work he’d been carrying out on the activities of Ripper
suspect Frederick Deeming, and that he’d been assisting an Australian TV company
with their documentary on the Rainhill Murderer and his links down under. Mike also
revealed that DNA tests had been performed to ascertain whether a skull claimed to
be that of Ned Kelly belonged in fact to Deeming. The skull had been presented by a
farmer named Tom Baxter, who said he’d been handed the relic shortly after it had
been stolen from Old Melbourne Gaol in 1978. Initial comparisons of the skull with
death masks of criminals executed at the Gaol indicated it was likely to be that of
either Ned Kelly or Frederick Deeming. When Leigh Olver, great-‐grandson of Kelly’s
sister Ellen, offered a DNA sample for testing, it was proved that the skull was not
that of the infamous bushranger. However, scientists from the Victorian Institute
of Forensic Medicine found a positive match with a near-‐complete skeleton taken
from a mass grave of 34 prisoners in Pentridge Prison. The skeleton, which bore
injuries consistent with those suffered by Kelly during the ambush which led to his
capture, will be laid to rest according to his family’s wishes. It is hoped the still-‐
missing skull can be located and reunited with the remains before burial. In the
PHDQWLPH RIÀFLDOV DUH VHHNLQJ WR H[KXPH RQH RI )UHGHULFN 'HHPLQJ·V EURWKHUV
Frederick Deeming’s death mask
from their resting place in England to attempt a DNA match with the skull. at Old Melbourne Gaol

Kelly skull linked to Jack the Ripper suspect

Malcolm Quekett, The West Australian, Australia, 2 September 2011.
DXQHZV\DKRRFRPWKHZHVWDEUHDNLQJNHOO\VNXOOOLQNHGWRMDFNWKHULSSHUVXVSHFW
1HG.HOO\·VUHPDLQVLGHQWLÀHGDIWHU\HDUV
Bonnie Malkin, The Telegraph, Sydney, Australia, 1 September 2011.
ZZZWHOHJUDSKFRXNQHZVZRUOGQHZVDXVWUDOLDDQGWKHSDFLÀFDXVWUDOLD1HG.HOO\VUHPDLQVLGHQWLÀHG
after-‐130-‐years.html

EAST END’S FIRST JEWISH MATERNITY HOSPITAL UNDER THREAT

OF DEMOLITION. A campaign to save an historic hospital building
which pioneered home help in the 19th century has been
launched after it was sold to the Peabody Trust earlier this year
and plans were revealed to develop the former hospital into a
new low-‐cost housing complex. The Jewish Maternity Home at
24 Underwood Road, off Vallance Road, began life in 1895 as the
Sick Room Help Society. Founded by Alice Model, a pioneering
campaigner for mother and infant welfare, the Society sent local
ZRPHQWRKHOSFRQÀQHG-HZLVKPRWKHUVE\WDNLQJRYHUGRPHVWLF
chores such as cooking and cleaning. The Society evolved into the
Jewish Maternity Home and was opened in 1911 after donations
from Sir Marcus Samuel, Ada Lewis-‐Hill and S Harris Lebus. The
building was extended to incorporate neighbouring homes, and a
Former Jewish Maternity Home at Underwood Road.
midwifery training school was built. The Home, known locally as
Courtest Julian Walker

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 67

0RWKHU/HY\·VDIWHURQHLWVÀUVWPDWURQVHYHQWXDOO\FORVHGLQDQGZDVVXEVHTXHQWO\XVHGDVFRXQFLORIÀFHVXQWLOLWV
sale earlier this year. Campaigners are seeking reassurances from the Peabody Trust that the building will be preserved.
Clive Bettington, Chairman of the Jewish East End Celebration, said: “Many famous people were born here like Arnold
Wesker, Lionel Bart and Alma Cogan, while Hannah Billing, known as the Angel of Cable Street for her work among the
SRRULQWKHVDOVRZRUNHGLQ0RWKHU/HY\·Vµ A spokesman for the Peabody Trust said that plans for the building had
\HWWREHÀQDOLVHGDQGLQWHQGHGWRKROGDSXEOLFFRQVXOWDWLRQEHIRUHWKHSODQQLQJDSSOLFDWLRQLVVXEPLWWHGLQQH[WPRQWK
“We understand this is a sensitive site. We’re working with the community in developing this project.”

An online petition to save the building can be signed at UHVLGHQWVÀUVWFRXN"S .

Campaign to save East End’s historic maternity home Mother Levy’s
Mike Brooke, East London Advertiser, London, UK. 5 September 2011.
www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/campaign_to_save_east_end_s_historic_maternity_home_mother_
OHY\BVBB
Lost Hospitals Of London
ezitis.myzen.co.uk/jewishmaternity.html

3/$48(&200(025$7(65,33(56863(&7:$/7(56,&.(57·6+20($JUHHQSODTXH
was erected at 1 Highbury Place, Islington, the artist’s home and studio from 1927-‐
1934, by his nephew Henry Lessore on 30 July 2011. It was at this address that
Sickert had a renaissance of fortunes, and it was this that Mr Lessore preferred
to remember than the claims that his ancestor may have been Jack the Ripper,
branding the allegations in Patricia Cornwell’s Portrait of a Killer “absolutely
disgusting. I was really annoyed about [the Ripper theory] but it’s also kept
Sickert’s name before the public, so in the long run it hasn’t done him any harm.
Sickert would have just had a good laugh at it.” Ripperologist wonders if Sickert
would laugh even harder at the idea of a commemorative plaque if he had indeed
been Jack the Ripper.
Plaque honours artist stalked by Ripper slur.
Simon Wroe, Islington Tribune, London, UK. 5 August 2011.
www.islingtontribune.com/news/2011/aug/plaque-‐honours-‐artist-‐stalked-‐ripper-‐ Henry Lessore, centre, with the green plaque
VOXUZDOWHUVLFNHUWZRXOGKDYHKDG(JRRGODXJK( erected on his uncle Walter Sickert’s home

REAL-‐LIFE INSPIRATION FOR DICKENS’ ARTFUL DODGER FOUND? When

Ripperologist was a boy, one of his favourite movies was 2OLYHU, the
1968 musical adaptation of Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist. When not
Reviewing the Situation or learning how to Pick a Pocket or Two, young
Master Rip would marvel at the lovable characters such as Nancy, Fagin
and even Bill Sykes, it was the cheeky cockney pickpocket played by
Jack Wild which really caught the eye. A recent discovery by historian
Cameron Nunn, however, seems to show that the inspiration for
the Dodger was a real-‐life teen felon named Samuel Holmes. While
researching child convicts sent to Australia at the National Archives
in Kew, Mr Nunn unearthed a report from 1836 written by magistrate
William Miles which revealed startling similarities between Holmes
and Jack Dawkins, the Dodger. 13-‐year-‐old Holmes had been arrested
for stealing a bullock’s tongue, three doves and a pigeon, and at his
appearance at the Old Bailey on 6 July 1835 was sentenced to seven
Report on Samuel Holmes
\HDUV·WUDQVSRUWDWLRQWR3RLQW3XHUWKHÀUVWMXYHQLOHMDLOLQ7DVPDQLD
He was eventually released in 1850. Holmes was one of several convicts
interviewed by magistrate Miles on the prison ship HMS Euryalus shortly
before its departure, and the young criminal’s comments could be
describing life in Fagin’s den:

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 68

Two boys took me to a house in Stepney, kept by a Jew, and he agreed to board and lodge me for 2/6 a week provided
I brought and sold to him all that I might steal. He has about 13 boys in the house on the same terms. The landlord
KDVDOVRWKHDGMRLQLQJKRXVHDQGWKHEDFNNLWFKHQLVÀWWHGZLWKDWUDSGRRUWRKHOSHVFDSHDQGLQRQHFRUQHURIRQHRI
WKHEDFNNLWFKHQVLVDVOLGLQJÁRRUXQGHUQHDWKZKLFKSURSHUW\LVKLG,ZDVDERXWDIRUWQLJKWLQWUDLQLQJDQGDIWHUZDUGV
went out to assist and screen the boys where they picked pockets.

Dickens’ Oliver Twist was published in 1838. Near the end, it’s inferred that the Artful Dodger is transported to Australia.
Holmes himself was eventually released in 1850 aged 27. Whether he ever read Oliver Twist and recognised himself in
its pages is uknown.

For more on the real Artful Dodgers, see Ripperologist 66.

Child thief who was ‘real Artful Dodger’.
Luke Heighton, The Sun, London, UK. 10 September 2011
ZZZWKHVXQFRXNVROKRPHSDJHIHDWXUHV&KLOGWKLHIZKRZDVUHDO$UWIXO'RGJHUKWPO
2OG%DLOH\2QOLQHÀOHUHIHUHQFHW
www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=def1-‐1676-‐18350706&div=t18350706-‐1676#highlight

NATIONAL ARCHIVES ‘MISLAYS’ VITAL DOCUMENTS. In a surprising announcement revealed by freedom of information
laws, it recently came to light that thousands of historical documents have been misplaced by National Archives staff
rather than stolen by ‘over-‐enthusiastic’ researchers. The NA website states a total of some 2,134 documents being
UHSRUWHGDVPLVVLQJLQDVL[\HDUSHULRGEHWZHHQ-DQXDU\DQG0DUFK2IWKHVHZHUHORFDWHGDQGÀOHG
in their correct position, while the rest remain ‘lost’. Among the oldest missing papers are exchequer rolls from the
1220s and a Papal Bull from Pope Clement V in 1309, documents from the courts of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Charles
,7KHPDMRULW\UHODWHWR:DUWLPHÀOHVZKLOHDJODQFHDWWKHOLVWVKRZVDÀOHUHODWLQJWRWKH.UD\WZLQV·´KDUERXULQJDQ
HVFDSHGSULVRQHUDQGPXUGHUµPHDQLQJ)UDQN0LWFKHOO2QHLVLQFOLQHGWRVXVSHFWWKLVÀOHHQGHGXSLQWKHFROOHFWLRQ
of a souvenir hunter. Documents which were reported as ‘lost’ for more than a year, but which have been subsequently
located, include the British plans for D-‐Day and the operations record book for the Dambusters, 617 Squadron.

Senior historians were scathing in their rebuke of the NA, with Dr Andrew Roberts, saying: “It should be a top priority of
*RYHUQPHQWWRHQVXUHWKHVHÀOHVDUHWUDFNHGGRZQDVVRRQDVSRVVLEOHEHFDXVHWKH\DUHRIWKHÀUVWLPSRUWDQFH7KHUH
LVQRWKLQJPRUHIUXVWUDWLQJDVDKLVWRULDQWRFDOOXSSDSHUVIURPDQDUFKLYHDQGÀQGWKDWWKHUHDVRQ\RXFDQQRWKDYH
WKHPLVQRWEHFDXVHRID²\HDUUXOHSUHYHQWLQJGLVFORVXUHEXWEHFDXVHRIEXUHDXFUDWLFQHJOLJHQFHRULQFRPSHWHQFHµ

A spokesman for the NA said while they took the missing documents very seriously, it should be remembered that
DSSUR[LPDWHO\PLOOLRQUHFRUGVDUHFXUUHQWO\KHOGDQGWKHPLVVLQJÀOHVUHSUHVHQWRIWKHFROOHFWLRQ7KHPDMRULW\
of the missing papers were thought to be at its depository in Kew.

A list of the missing documents can be downloaded in Excel format from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/foi/stolen-‐
missing-‐records.htm.

In a rare case of a document-‐pilferer being caught and charged, historian and author Barry Landau was arrested in
Baltimore, USA, in July 2011 after an employee of the Maryland Historical Society noticed him putting a document inside
a laptop case and leave the building. Police found keys for a locker in a nearby building which contained 60 documents
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Landau, a collector of US presidential memorabilia, stole documents including papers signed by Abraham Lincoln,
numerous inaugural ball invitations worth $500,000 and signed commemorations of the Statue of Liberty and Washington
Monument.
Hundreds of historic papers lost from National Archives
Matthew Holehouse, the Telegraph, London, UK, 8 August 2011.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8688070/Hundreds-‐of-‐historic-‐papers-‐lost-‐from-‐National-‐Archives.html
Presidential Historian and Colleague Arrested in Theft of Documents in Maryland
SABRINA TAVERNISE, New York Times, New York, USA, 12 July 2011.
www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/us/13historian.html?_r=3

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 69

 RIPPING YARNS

5HYLHZV
-DFNWKH5LSSHUDQG%ODFN0DJLF9LFWRULDQ&RQVSLUDF\7KHRULHV
6HFUHW6RFLHWLHVDQGWKH6XSHUQDWXUDO0\VWLTXHRIWKH:KLWHFKDSHO0XUGHUV
Spiro Dimolianis
Foreword by Stewart Evans

Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2011

www.macfarlandpub.com
softcover, 228pp, illus; notes; biblio; index
,6%1
…

It is probably true to say that at no time in recorded history did people face a more severe or
sudden challenge to their view of the world than did the Victorians and one manifestation of this
was a widespread interest in what might loosely be described as “magic”, and in that age when
motiveless murder was barely understood it was inevitable that some people would seek to explain Jack the Ripper in
a supernatural context. An overview of this important, albeit peripheral aspect of the crime has been much overdue.

I deeply regret having to say that Spiro Dimolianis has adopted such a pretentious, pseudo-‐academic writing style
WKDWLQSODFHVWKLVERRNLVDOPRVWLPSHQHWUDEOHDQGWKLVLVQ·WKHOSHGE\SRRUZULWLQJDQGPLVXVHRIZRUGV)URPWKHÀUVW
paragraph of the preface – “Jack the Ripper was a leading and international conspiracy theory of the late Victorian and
premodern period” -‐ you know you are in for a tough read, and as much as this greatly spoilt the book for me, when
Dimilianis stops trying to be clever and gets down to telling his story his book is informative and offers up some rewards.

Apart from the outrageously high cover price, which is ever expected from McFarland, the only other major criticism
of this book is that it isn’t for the neophyte: as Stewart Evans observes with polite generosity in his foreword, the reader
must be au fait with the subject and even have The Jack the Ripper A to Z or The Complete History of Jack the Ripper
to hand.

That’s the downside.

There are seven chapters: Ghosts of the Ripper Wake; Sacred Prostitution; Faith and Occult Crimes; Suspect Dr
Roslyn D’Onston; Vittoria Cremers and the Lodger; Hexes, Hoaxes and the Beast; and Whitechapel Secret Service. In
WKHÀUVWWKUHHFKDSWHUV'LPROLDQLVJLYHVDFFRXQWVRIWKHWKHRULHVRI$QGHUVRQ6ZDQVRQHWDOZLWKDORWRIVRFLDODQG
KLVWRULFDOEDFNJURXQGPDWHULDOOHDGLQJWKURXJK%ODYDWVN\WRFKDSWHUVIRXUDQGÀYHZKLFKFRQFHQWUDWHRQ5RVO\Q'RQVWRQ
Stephenson, an odd character, one of the many that a study of the Whitechapel murders throws up, and a writer of
imaginative supernatural experiences for the newspapers and supposedly a practicing black magician. Touted by some
as a “police suspect”, which there is no evidence that he ever was, at least not in any way different to the countless
number of men who came to the attention of the police for looking funny or talking funny or generally just looking
suspicious.

Hexes, Hoaxes and the Beast begins by telling us that “Conspiracy theories were born in the furnace of medieval
GLFKRWRP\RQIDLWKDQGUHDVRQRIIDFWDQGÀFWLRQ7KH9LFWRULDQDQDORJ\IRUSROLFHLQTXLULHVDQGWKHSUHVVSRUWUD\DO
RIWKH:KLWHFKDSHOPXUGHUVZDVWKHQVHW$VHDFKSLHFHRIWKHSX]]OHLVSUHFLVHO\VKDSHGUDUHO\GRHVLWÀWWKHODUJHU
picture, induce an exercise in resolution or provide relevant or conclusive leads. The exposure of historic hoaxes
emerging in this cryptic vacuum adds further distractions contrary to the facts of an unsolved serial murder case that
SHUSHWXDWHVEHOLHIVLQDKLJKSURÀOHFRQVSLUDF\RIVLOHQFHµ,KDYHQRLGHDZKDWDOOWKLVPHDQVDQGDVIDUDV,DPDZDUH

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 70

you can’t have a dichotomy “on” anything, only “between, but otherwise this is a fairly straightforward but almost
certainly incomprehensible to the neophyte,account of Vittoria Cremers, Betty May, and Aleister Crowley on Roslyn
Donston. It’s good stuff, not necessarily new, although I don’t recall seeing Richard Whittington-‐Egan’s Donstonian notes
before.

'LPROLDQLVWKHQWRXFKHVEULHÁ\RQ6WHSKHQ.QLJKWDQGVXEVHTXHQWZULWLQJVEHIRUHJHWWLQJKLPVHOILQWRDPHVVZKHQ
recounting the story of James Monro’s “hot potato”.

He begins by saying that James Monro’s unpublished memoir has “been relegated to the conspiracy theories outbox”,
which it most certainly hasn’t been. What Dimolianis probably means is that the “hot potato” story has been consigned
to the outbox, and that story is only very peripherally connected to the memoir. It was in fact a tale told by Christopher
Monro, James’s grandson. But the mess gets worse when Dimolianis tells us: “Christopher Monro, grandson of James,
wrote to authors Robin Odell and Colin Wilson after reading their 1987 book Jack the Ripper: Summing Up and Verdict.
Previous correspondence with Odell during the period 1967-‐68 had suggested that James Monro was Jack the Ripper.
&KULVWRSKHU0RQURIXUWKHUWROG2GHOOKHEHOLHYHGKLVJUDQGIDWKHUFDPHXSDJDLQVWDQRIÀFLDOFRQVSLUDF\RIVLOHQFHµ

I was stopped dead in my tracks: Christopher Monro had corresponded with Robin Odell in 1967/68 and said he
believed James Monro was Jack the Ripper!

What Dimolianis means is that an unnamed correspondent had advanced this Monro-‐was-‐the-‐Ripper theory in 1967/8,
Wilson and Odell had written of it in Summing Up and Verdict, and Christopher Monro had contacted them after reading
of it in their book. Phew! That’s a completely different complexion on things.

Dimolianis is also confused about how Howells and Skinner discovered the Monro memoir, suggesting that they went
looking for it after Christopher Monro had told them about it. In fact Christopher Monro had referred to it in a letter to
the Radio Times in August 1973 and it was not for more than a decade before the indefatigable Keith Skinner tracked
down the memoir, only then making contact with Christopher Monro. Furthermore, the memoir was not the document of
which Christopher had written, and it is questionable whether the “notes” he referred to in Radio Times ever actually
existed.

'LPROLDQLVEULHÁ\UHIHUVWRWKHVRFDOOHG0D\EULFNGLDU\ZKLFKKHVXJJHVWVZDVZULWWHQE\DPDQQDPHG)UDQN6
Stuart, and there is a photograph captioned “Ghostwriter Frank S. Stuart, who may have authored the Maybrick diary
in the 1950s.” The story is that the memoir of a stage illusionist and magician named Jasper Maskelyne was ghost
written by Frank S. Stuart, both apparently represented by the Rupert Crew Literary Agency, which also represented
Shirley Harrison and Michael Barrett in the sale of the diary. Dimolianis speculates that the technique of using invented
facts, dubious provenance and so on, was common to the work of Stuart, McCormick and Morland, may mean they
knew each other, and although he does not say so, the obvious inference is that the diary came from or via the Crew
agency. Dimolianis concludes, “Perhaps Frank Stanley Stuart fabricated the original manuscript of the diary and perhaps
he did not. [Should that be “or” he did not?] Either way, the Maybrick Diary stands as a testament to the convoluted
postwar contractual arrangements of ghostwriters.â Except it doesn’t. The subject of ghostwriters emerged because of
efforts by a military historian, Richard Stokes, to establish the authorship of Maskelyne’s memoirs. This led him via the
publisher’s archives to Doreen Montgomery of Rupert Crew, who explained that the publisher usually contracted with
the “author”, who in turn independently made arrangements via the agent with a collaborator (ghost writer). As the
diary has no known connection with ghost writers, pre-‐war, post-‐war, or during war, it does not “stand as a testament”
to anything to do with ghost writers whatsoever.

,QWKHÀQDOORQJFKDSWHUWhitechapel Secret Service Dimolianis delves into secret societies of various sorts and whilst
the links are strong between some of these and the black magic thrust of the book, they are nevertheless somewhat
removed, especially when it gets down to the Fenians.

Overall, Dimoianis’s book is an interesting and necessary look at a largely neglected aspect of the Ripper crimes, but
WKHFRPELQDWLRQRISUHWHQWLRXVDQGEDGZULWLQJVSRLOVLWDQGIRU…,GRQ·WH[SHFWWRKDYHWRZRUNWRRKDUGWRÀQGD
few nuggets.

Paul Begg

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 71

 -DFNWKH5LSSHU7KH6XVSHFWV
Edited by The Whitechapel Society

Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011

www.thehistorypress.co.uk
VRIWFRYHUSS
,6%1
…

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we hope that it will be the start of a fruitful relationship between them and The History Press, but
one cannot help but wonder if the subject matter was the wisest of choices, the suspects being
fully covered in the new A to Z, Russo’s The Jack the Ripper Suspects, Morley’s Jack the Ripper: The
Suspects, and even Holgate’s Jack the Ripper: The Celebrity Suspects.

The subject matter is therefore well-‐trodden ground and only four of those discussed are known to ever have been
suspected. The essays in this book are on the Kosminski (written by Philip Marquis), Druitt (Adrian Morris), Tumblety (Joe
Chetcuti), and George Chapman (Sue Parry), William Bury (Christine Warman), Joseph Barnett (Mickey Mayhew), William
Gull (M J Trow), James Maybrick (Chris Jones), Joseph Sickert (Ian Porter) and Prince Albert Victor (M W Oldridge). Bill
Beadle concludes the book with a roundup of other suspects: J K Stephen, Roslyn Donston Stephenson, David Cohen and
George Hutchinson, Stephen and Stevenson getting short shrift.

Some of the authors think their suspects were Jack, others don’t, and it was nice to see that most of the contributors
wrote about suspects that haven’t previously championed – M J Trow writing about Gull and Bill Beadle not writing about
Bury, for example. Unsurprisingly, nothing new is forthcoming about Kosminski and Druitt, although there is a previously
unpublished photo of Druitt from the Winchester College archives. Joe Chetcuti paints a rather one-‐sided picture of
Tumblety as a sociopath, which is possibly an incorrect picture of a man based largely on his own self-‐publicity and
hostile newspaper reports. Ostrog is absent, which is understandable as it is now known that he was in prison when the
murders were committed, but he was nevertheless a true suspect, was, with Tumblety, suspected in 1888, and being in
the frame perhaps indicates the direction in which the police were looking.

It’s questionable whether Gull, Maybrick, Sickert and Prince Albert Victor should have been included, but they
probably are the suspects with whom a general reading public are most familiar and Chris Jones presents a typically fair
case against Maybrick and Ian Porter undertakes a general, non-‐Cornwell, account of Sickert’s candidacy.

The brief history of the Whitechapel Society could and should have been longer as it is the book’s raison detre, and it
was good to see Paul Daniel’s editorship of the club magazine recognised. He turned the club’s newsletter into a fully-‐
ÁHGJHGPDJD]LQHDOWKRXJKWKDWPDJD]LQHZDVRipperologist, churlishly unmentioned, not the Whitechapel Journal, as
is implied.

The book kicks off with an introduction by Robin Odell which contains a couple of questionable observations: that the
quack knew how to use a scalpel (Tumblety was essentially a travelling herbalist and seller of a pimple cream, so would
he have done?) and that Macnaghten’s description of Druitt as a sexual maniac indicated his sexual orientation (a view
H[SUHVVHGE\$GULDQ0RUULVEXWLWGRHVQ·W%XW5RELQ·VÀQDOZRUGVDTXRWHIURP6LU)UDQFLV%DFRQDUHSHUWLQHQW´WKHUH
is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little”. He might well have included the continuation, “and
therefore men should remedy suspicion, by procuring to know more,”

Paul Begg

5($'620(7+,1*:(6+28/'5(9,(:"

,I\RX·YHUHDGVRPHWKLQJWKDWEHORQJVKHUHOHWXVNQRZ
Email us at contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 72

 8QFOH-DFN$9LFWRULDQ0\VWHU\
Tony Williams

Cambridge: Pegasus, 2011

www.pegasuspublishers.com
6RIWFRYHUSSLOOXVELEOLR
Originally published, London: Orion
,6%1
…

7KLVLVVXSSRVHGWREHDQXSGDWHGHGLWLRQRIDERRNÀUVWSXEOLVKHGE\2ULRQLQEXWZLWKRXW
making a page-‐by-‐page comparison it looks as if the text hasn’t changed. All we have is an new
introduction and a half-‐hearted response to the criticisms of Ripperologists.

In Uncle Jack Tony Williams attempted to identify his uncle, the distinguished doctor Sir John
Williams, as Jack the Ripper, but the book was unfavourably received by Ripperologists, notably the distinguished
crime writer Robin Odell in the Whitechapel Journal (June 2005), and Jennifer Pegg in Ripper Notes (October 2005 and
January 2006). Their criticisms were as serious as criticisms can get: the book was shown to have reproduced documents
that had been tampered with and that certain statements made in response by the publisher, Orion, were based on
untrue information provided by the authors. In comparison to such damning facts, that the claims concerning Sir John
were based on minimal and utterly unpersuasive ‘evidence’, questionable reasoning and doubtful conclusions paled.
Williams’ credibility is zero and he -‐ and, frankly, the new publisher, Pegasus, -‐ needed to give a frank, honest, and
robust response to these criticisms.

They didn’t.

:LOOLDPVGRHVQ·WLQVSLUHFRQÀGHQFHZKHQKHVD\VWKDWKH´NQHZQRWKLQJDERXWµ5LSSHURORJLVWVXQWLOKHKDGSXEOLVKHG
his book, but the bibliography in every edition of Uncle Jack lists Sugden, Rumbelow, Feldman, The Jack the Ripper A
to Z, and The Mammoth Book of Jack the RipperVRLWLVGLIÀFXOWWRLPDJLQHKRZ:LOOLDPVFRXOGKDYHXVHGWKHVHERRNV
without coming across Ripperologists.

Williams then resorts to the cheap and tawdry defence of belittling Ripperologists, who according to him live in a
“macabre world” in which the “obsession of their lives is the case of Jack the Ripper”, the only suspects they regard
as relevant are the ones they “believe committed the murders”, who subject theories to undue critical examination if
they are not presented by someone who is “not part of their inner circle”, and who were sent “into a frenzy and they
seemed quite confused...” “when a suspect -‐ Sir John Williams -‐ appears whom they never knew existed, with fresh
evidence they had never seen...”

None of the foregoing is true, but the fact overlooked by Williams is that Ripperologists are also the best able to
knowledgeably assess his arguments, so, with his credibility already in the gutter, this misrepresentation of his foremost
critics is about as ill-‐advised as it is possible to imagine. What he thinks of Ripperologists is neither here nor there,
however. What matters is whether he and Pegasus want to give a sincere and honest presentation of the facts and a full,
IDLUDQGDFFXUDWHUHVSRQVHWRWKHERRN·VFULWLFVWRWKHJRRGSHRSOHZKRLQWKHVHÀQDQFLDOO\KDUGWLPHVDUHIRUNLQJRXW
their hard-‐earned cash.

Sadly, it appears that they don’t.

The tampered-‐with document is reproduced correctly, as it was in the Orion paperback, but no mention is made of
how a tampered-‐with version came into existance to begin with, let alone how it came to be reproduced in the Orion
hardback, nor is there any explanation for the incorrect statement by the book’s publisher, based on information from
Williams’ co-‐author, that the handwriting of an all-‐important entry naming Mary Anne Nichols (sic), which was different
from that of other entries on the page, matched the handwriting on the facing page of the document.

A letter to someone called “Morgan” was criticised for having no established provenance, to which Tony Williams
response is that that it was left to his family, which suggests that he doesn’t really comprehend that an established
provenance is rather more than his assurance that it’s an heirloom, especially when he’s already been caught out
publishing a tampered-‐with document!

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 73

 But the real criticism of the letter to “Morgan” is that it shouldn’t have been preserved among Sir John’s correspondence
at all. It is the original letter, not a copy, and the content was an unimportant note cancelling a meeting, not something
Sir John is likely to have kept, so why would it have been among Sir John’s papers if it was sent to “Morgan”? And if it
wasn’t sent to “Morgan”, was it because the all-‐important circumstances causing the cancellation had changed?

:LOOLDPVVD\VKHKDGLGHQWLÀHGWKH0DU\.HOO\ZKRZDVNLOOHGLQZLWKD0DU\.HOO\OLYHGLQDQDUHDRI'HQELJK
“denigrated” by Sir John, but he seems unaware or at least doesn’t answer the critics who point out that this woman
was probably still alive in 1891, and that the Jonathan Davies, touted by Williams as the husband of the victim Mary
Kelly and whose death in an accident initially propelled her towards prostitution, London and Jack’s knife, was alive at
least as late as 1901.

Tony Williams also drew attention to George Hutchinson’s description of the man he saw with Mary Kelly, noting
Hutchinson’s claim that there was “a red stone on the man’s coat” and likening this to a description of Sir John’s usual
London attire which included a tie pin “set with a red hat stone”. Robin Odell pointed out that Hutchinson made no
such reference, to which Williams says The Times and The Star of 14 November 1888 ‘did indeed mention a red stone’.
Which is true, they did, but they referred a “massive” watch chain and “a big seal with a red stone hanging from it”,
not to “a red stone on the man’s coat” or to a tie-‐pin “set with a red hat stone”. Now, it is possible that Tony Williams
regards this detail as pettifogging and unimportant, and he’s entitled to that opinion, but there is also an obligation to
provide his readers with the facts so that they can judge for themselves, because a witness description is important and
a “massive” watch chain with a “big seal” and a “red stone hanging from it” was presumably a very distinctive accessory
WKDWQRERG\ZRXOGPLVUHPHPEHUDVDWLHSLQZLWKDKDWVWRQHDIÀ[HGWRLW

The case against Sir John Williams is shoddy and poorly made. It always was. This new edition does nothing to improve
it. Tony Williams does not answer his critics, he doesn’t even seem to understand the criticisms, or be aware of how
serious they are. Nor does he seem to have kept abreast of them. Frankly, the overall impression is that Tony Williams
has scant regard for his theory, his book or his readers, and whilst one understands that publishing is a business and that
Pegasus may see in Uncle Jack an opportunity to get a necessary few quid in the coffers, one must question whether in
the long run it pays to be that mercenary.

Paul Begg

-DFNWKH5LSSHU7KH6LPSOH7UXWK
Bruce Paley

Kindle Edition
File Size 1706 KB
Amazon Media
www.amazon.co.uk
£1.70

One of the best Ripper books published in the 1990s, Paley not only provides and admirable
evocative picture of the East End of 1888, but also provided a lot of new information about Mary
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expensive to get a copy of Paley’s book, but this Kindle edition is nevertheless unbeatably priced at
only £1.70.

Paul Begg

5($'620(7+,1*:(6+28/'5(9,(:"

,I\RX·YHUHDGVRPHWKLQJWKDWEHORQJVKHUHOHWXVNQRZ
Email us at contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 74

 %DWWOHIRUWKH(DVW(QG-HZLVK5HVSRQVHVWR)DVFLVPLQWKHV
David Rosenberg

Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications, 2011

ZZZÀYHOHDYHVFRXN
softcover, 268pp, illus; further reading, index
,6%1
…

On 4 October 1936 East Enders barricaded their streets in a successful effort to halt a provocative
march by the increasingly anti-‐Semitic and physically intimidating British Union of Fascists. This year is
the 75th anniversary of this iconic event in British history and to commemorate the event Five Leaves
KDVSXEOLVKHGÀYHERRNVRIZKLFK%DWWOH)RU7KH(DVW(QGLVRQHNQRZQDVWKH%DWWOHRI&DEOH6WUHHW

For some time Sir Oswald Mosely’s British Union of Fascists had been terrorising the Jewish community
in the East End and its planned march for 4th October through Stepney, home to the largest Jewish population in
England, had provoked protests and petitions for it to be banned, but the Conservative government allowed it to go
ahead and drafted a large number of police into the area to protect the marchers. As a result people of varied faiths
and backgrounds, largely united by the communists, came together to block the streets and prevent the marchers from
proceeding. What then happened is a mixture of myth and reality; for some the marchers were turned back by hastily
erected barricades in the streets, but the reality appears to be that the police ordered Mosely to abandon the march
and he did so, but that the police themselves then sought to dismantle the barricades and encountered stiff resistance.
It was the police who therefore caused most of the disorder and were responsible for the damage done to individuals
DQGSURSHUW\7KHDIWHUPDWKGLGQRWUHÁHFWZHOORQWKHDXWKRULWLHVHLWKHUIRUWKH\GROHGRXWVWLIISHQDOWLHVWRWKRVH
who were arrested and there were reports of police brutality suffered while in custody, but the Battle of Cable Street
has gone down in history as a moral lesson that the government and the police are the servants of the people. The
Battle of Cable Street was not a purely local East End event. It led to The Public Order Act of 1936 and more importantly
contributed to the decline in popularity of the odious Mosley and the British Union of Fascists.

Many books have been written about the British fascists, how fascism was seen as the better alternative to communism,
and about the charismatic Mosley himself, but few have looked at how the community came together to oppose him.
David Rosenberg, East End tour guide, primary school teacher, and a writer with a deep commitment to the East End,
takes on this challenge in this extremely well written book which can offer something to our understanding of the
attitude towards the Jews in the 1880s – even in the 1930s as anti-‐Semitism swept Germany and Eastern Europe, the
Jewish ChronicleIHOWZDV´DZHHGZKLFKIRUWXQDWHO\LWLVGLIÀFXOWWRSODQWLQ%ULWLVKVRLOµDVZHOODVRIIHULQJOHVVRQV
for today when economic and general insecurity can cause people to blame the marginalised immigrant communities.

Paul Begg

8QHDUWKLQJ/RQGRQ7KH$QFLHQW:RUOG%HQHDWKWKH0HWURSROLV
Simon Webb

Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press Ltd, 2011

www.thehistorypress.co.uk
softcover, illus, inc. colour plates, biblio, index
,6%1
…

It is nice to imagine that long ago a shaggy-‐haired real-‐life Fred Flintstone abandoned his nomadic
hunter-‐gatherer lifestyle and built a permanent home that in time he was joined by others and
that the community of Bedrock was born, but that isn’t always what happened. A while back I was
researching the origins of a town and it was clear that despite claims that it had been both a Roman
and Anglo-‐Saxon settlement, the archaeological support for such a conclusion was minimal. Instead
the settlement seems to have grown up around what the scant records suggest was an important
minster church, founded a century or thereabouts after the Augustinian Mission. The question, though, was why an
important religious foundation would have been built where there wasn’t an infrascructure to support it, in other words

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 75

a settlement, and one possibility is that it was built on or near an important pagan site, the Pope having instructed that
in order to avoid alienating the native population the Church should appropriate pagan sites and ceremonies instead of
destroying them.

This is pretty much the thesis advanced by Somon Webb in Unearthing London. It is generally accepted that Britain’s
Capital City was a Roman new town called Londinium and that insofar as the ruling tribe of the area had a capital, it was
was Colchester. London was no more than unhealthy marshland, uninhabited except by a handful of intrepid tribesmen
and water fowl, but there is evidence to suggest that it was a lot more important than that. For example, perceptions
of London were changed in 1993 when the remains of a wooden bridge and pier were found near Vauxhall. Why would a
few wandering tribesmen and marshland water fowl have needed a bridge, or, indeed, had the resources to build one?
$QGZKHQGHVFULELQJWKH&ODXGLDQLQYDVLRQ&DVVLXV'LRGHVFULEHGWKH5RPDQIRUFHVPDUFKLQJÀIW\PLOHVIURPWKH7KDPHV
to Colchester (Camulodunum) along a road (a via). Who would have wanted a road leading to a largely unpeopled,
PRVTXLWRÀOOHGPDUVKODQG,WLVHYLGHQFHVXFKDVWKLVWKDW6LPRQ:HEEXVHVWRDUJXHWKDWORQJEHIRUHWKHFRPLQJRIWKH
Romans London was part of an important ritual landscape .

And just what is a ritual landscape? An expression often heard on Time Team when archaeologists dig up a bunch of
stuff and haven’t the faintest idea what it is, it was born in the 1970s to describe large areas of land whch show few if
any remains of human settlement but contain a large number and variety of ancient sacred monuments and structures
Salisbury Plain with Stonehenge is one such place and the Medway Megaliths near Maidstone is another.

Webb presents a persuasive argument in this highly readable book, well-‐illustrated and with a section of colour
plates, and whilst knowledgeable readers will undoubtedly take issue with some of his interpretations, that’s the nature
RIWKLQJVQRWRQO\ZKHQWU\LQJWRLQWHUSUHWWKHDUWHIDFWVDQGKRZWKH\ÀWWHGLQWRWKHEHOLHIV\VWHPVRISHRSOHZKROLYHG
PLOOHQQLDDJREXWZKHQWU\LQJWRÀJWRJHWKHUWKHMLJVDZRILQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKH5LSSHUFULPHV1HYHUWKHOHVV:HEE
GRHVPDNHDJRRGFDVHIRUWKHDQFLHQWORVWVLJQLÀFDQFHRI/RQGRQ

Paul Begg

Disasters on The Thames

Michael Foley

Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011

www.thehistorypress.co.uk
softcover, 160pp, illus; biblio; index
,6%1
…

The primary interest of this book for students of the Ripper case is the Princess Alice disaster
in 1878. Unfortunately, Michael Foley states that Elizabeth Stride survived the disaster, whereas it
is probable that her story of having survived whilst he husband and children died was a complete
fabrication. That’s really a minor point, as the chapter devoted to Princess Alice is a good, potted
account of that terrible accident.

Sadly he doesn’t throw any light on the mystery of the fate of the Bywell Castle, with which the Princess Alice had
collided. At the conclusion of his book about the case, The Great Thames Disaster, published in 1965, Gavin Thurston
notes that the steamship was last sighted near somewhere called Cape Corvoevis on 29 January 1883, after which
neither the vessel nor any member of her crew was ever seen again.

Paul Begg

5($'620(7+,1*:(6+28/'5(9,(:"

,I\RX·YHUHDGVRPHWKLQJWKDWEHORQJVKHUHOHWXVNQRZ
Email us at contact@ripperologist.biz

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 76

 7KH$UVHQLF&HQWXU\
+RZ9LFWRULDQ%ULWDLQZDV3RLVRQHGDW+RPH:RUN 3OD\
James C Whorton

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011

www.oup.com
6RIWFRYHUSSLOOXVQRWHVLQGH[
published in hardback, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
,6%1
…

$UVHQLFLVDQHIIHFWLYHSRLVRQDQGVLPSOHWRXVH*HWWLQJLWFDQEHGLIÀFXOWEXWLQ9LFWRULDQWLPHV
that wasn’t an obstacle. Arsenic was everywhere. You could openly buy it, even openly threaten
murderer with it – Wharton claims that in the aftermath of the Ripper murders when husbands
WKUHDWHQWRULSSHUWKHLUZLYHVWKHZLIHZRXOGWKUHDWHQWR´ZKLWHSRZGHUµWKHKXVEDQGÀUVW²EXWDUVHQLFZDVXVHGLQD
vast number of everyday products from beer to food colouring, from pesticides to wallpaper, from make-‐up to medicine.

Dr James C Wharton is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington
School of Medicine and he writes with little regard for the squeamish (or maybe he does regard the squeamish but that
WKHVXEMHFWLVMXVWWRRXQSOHDVDQWWRZULWHDERXWZLWKJHQWLOLW\EXWLI,VD\WKDWSXVÀOOHGERLOVLVWKHOHDVWRILW\RX·OO
understand what I’m on about.

The use of arsenic to poison people goes back beyond antiquity and is known to have been used in Roman times, but it
was expensive until the 19th century, at which time it was cheap enough to be the poison of choice as a pest control and
thus easily obtainable for homicide. The Marsh Test in the 1830s made murder easier to detect, albeit not necessarily to
SURYH0RVWDUVHQLFDOGHDWKVZHUHDFFLGHQWVDUVHQLFEHLQJHDVLO\PLVWDNHQIRUVXJDURUÁRXU

The most unlikely subjects can grip you and Wharton’s history of arsenic grips. Highly recommended.

Paul Begg

7KH$VFHQWRIWKH'HWHFWLYH3ROLFH6OHXWKVLQ9LFWRULDQDQG(GZDUGLDQ(QJODQG
Haia Shpayer-‐Makov

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011

ukcatalogue.oup.com
KDUGFRYHUSSLOOXVQRWHVELEOLRLQGH[
,6%1
£30

Schpayer-‐Makov suggests that in the later 1880s was a time of crisis for the detective department
at Scotland Yard, but she doesn’t really defend this claim beyond citing the Jack the Ripper murders.
Indeed, in 1886 the Daily News had carried an article, the “London Detectives”, in which it had described
them as “a very useful and a highly creditable branch of public service”. The gross mishandling of
the Trafalgar Square riots in 1887 did much to tarnish the reputation of the police as a whole and
this carried over into 1888 when much opprobrium was heaped on the detectives and again on the police as a whole for
WKHLUIDLOXUHWRÀQG-DFNWKH5LSSHUEXWE\WKHVWKHSUHVVDQGSXEOLFZHUHIDUPRUHLQGXOJHQWRIWKHSROLFHWKDQ
they had been during and in the immediate aftermath of the Autumn of Terror. The problem for the police was more
internal, discipline having been a major problem which the generally welcomed appointment of Sir Charles Warren as
Commissioner in 1886 was intended to resolve. Warren appears to have been no lover of the detective, and as Robert
Anderson recalled in his memoirs, the Commissioner’s Report for 1887 ignored the C.I.D. and instead concentrated on
the uniformed police. This was in effect a policy issue at the heart of policing, and one which still affects the police
and society today, namely whether the role of the policeman is the prevention or detection of crime, the latter being
perceived as a failure – the police should stop crimes from happening, not detecting the perpetrator after the crime
KDGEHHQFRPPLWWHG7R$QGHUVRQDWOHDVWWKHHIÀFLHQF\RIWKH&,'ZDVLPSDLUHGE\WKLVDWWLWXGHDQGKHSRLQWHG
to the increase in crime reported in the crime returns for 1887 and 1888 at proof of this. As it happened, James Monro,
ZKREULHÁ\VXFFHHGHG:DUUHQZDVYHU\GHWHFWLYHRULHQWDWLRQDQGWKHEDWWOHEHWZHHQSUHYHQWLRQGHWHFWLRQZDVZRQ

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 77

 Curiously, whilst the detective has ever since been a special focus of attention in print and visual media, fascinating
WKHSXEOLFLQERWKÀFWLRQDQGIDFWDOPRVWGRPLQDWLQJRXU79VFUHHQVLVWKHUHD79VHULHVDERXWXQLIRUPHGSROLFHDQ\PRUH
– or, indeed, many uniformed police?), they have no been given a lot of attention by academics, who have instead
concentrated on the uniformed police. The Ascent of the Detectives redresses the balance, studying the development
of the detective in from 1842-‐1914. It isn’t exclusively about the C.I.D. at Scotland Yard but they provide the most easily
accessible data. The books begins with the socio-‐economic background, the public hostility to an non-‐uniformed police,
the hows and whys of becoming a detective, how the detectives were perceived and perceived themselves as different
from and superior to the uniformed policeman, the relationship between the detective and the criminal fraternity and
the public, and how gradually the detective achieved almost a pop star status.

Professor Haia Shpayer-‐Makov, who has published extensively on policeing, notably The Making of a Policeman
(2002) and co-‐edited with Clive Emsley 7KH3ROLFH'HWHFWLYHLQ+LVWRU\, and currently teaches history at the
University of Haifa, concludes by looking at the relationship between the detectives and journalists, at once an uneasy
tolerance and symbiotic, and the detective in literature.

7KLVLVDQDFDGHPLFERRNZLWKDOOWKHEHQHÀWVDQGIUXVWUDWLRQVWKDWHQWDLOVDTXDUWHURIWKHERRNLVWDNHQXSE\QRWHV
a select bibliography and an index, the notes alone running to over 70 pages, but it is clearly written and enjoyable
reading.

Paul Begg

$*ULP$OPDQDF2I6RXWK:DOHV
Nicola Sly

Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011

www.thehistorypress.co.uk
KDUGFRYHUSSLOOXVQRWHVELEOLRLQGH[
,6%1
…

In common with most of her childhood friends young Nicola Higginson used to play with dolls.
However unlike her chums who were busy arranging Barbie’s wardrobe or organising tea parties,
Nicola was busy performing autopsies on hers. While they were watching Blue Peter or Magpie, Nicola
was being fascinated by the adventures of Marius Goring as Dr John Hardy in The Expert.

As far back as she could remember she had always wanted to be a pathologist, the mysteries locked
inside a body held her attention like nothing else. Alas it was not to be. Later in life she found she had what I term Doc
Martin’s syndrome, a total aversion to blood, which is a bit of a drawback if your chosen career means you spent most
of your time wading around another person’s insides.

Her fascination with criminology and forensics never waned and later on she graduated with a Masters in Forensic and
Legal Psychology. She is now a lecturer in these subjects.

Somehow in spite of her busy life she has also found the time to write twenty books (some with her co-‐author John
Van der Kiste) on the subject of true crime. A Grim Almanac of South WalesZLOOEHKHUWZHQW\ÀUVW

The Almanac has a unique format in that it lists crimes and other tragedies on a daily basis, starting with January the
1st you have an event for every day of the year. Of course the years in which the events happened are different each
time, so you have a cross selection of incidents ranging from the early 19th century right up to modern times.

Reading through them you are struck by the appalling litany of murder, disaster and accident which our forefathers
lived through, from brutal murders to mining disasters and exploding buckets of tar, and all in the relatively small area
of South Wales. Of course as Nicola’s other books will testify it wasn’t just in South Wales.

The year starts with a brutal domestic murder which happened on 1 January 1888. Neighbours of the victim were
awoken by cries of ‘Murder’, a grim forecast of another incident in the East End of London eleven months later when
Jack the Rippers last victim woke the neighbours with the same cry. This time though it was the man who was brutally
murdered by his wife.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 78

 The book is full of excellent photographs which are hauntingly atmospheric. I look at them and wonder what happened
to the people in the pictures, perhaps some of them became victims in future tragedies.

$QH[FHOOHQWERRNDQGZRUWK\RIDSODFHLQDQ\RQH·VWUXHFULPHOLEUDU\,ÀQGWKHWUXHYDOXHRIERRNVOLNHWKHVHLV
to point the way to further, more detailed research. And this leads me to utter a word of caution. Nicola has used the
newspapers for the details of the incidents and as such it would not be wise to rely on the accounts for absolute accuracy.
For me this is not a problem as any author worth his/her salt would check and re-‐check the information in any event.

Well presented and with an extremely comprehensive index and bibliography I give this 5 quills out of 5.

Bob Hinton

6FRWODQG<DUG·V*KRVW6TXDG7KH6HFUHW:HDSRQ$JDLQVW3RVW:DU&ULPH
Dick Kirby

Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Wharncliffe Books, 2011

www.pen-‐and-‐sword.co.uk
6RIWFRYHUSSELEOLRLQGH[
,6%1
…

Back in the early 60s there was a television series called Ghost Squad -‐ not to be confused with the
late 90s series called The Ghost Squad – about which I recall little except for the eerie theme tune. It
was very loosely based on John Gosling’s book The Ghost Squad (1959) about an undercover operation
launched by Scotland Yard at the end of WWII.

The end of the was obviously greeted with rejoicing, but ahead stretched an unknown time of
continuing austerity and extensive rationing, and as Al Capone and his ilk serviced an unhappily “dry” United States
following Prohibition, so gangsters stepped seized the opportunity to service the needs of a post-‐war population who
who wanted a little luxury. The black market “exploded” as thieves broke into warehouses, hi-‐jacked lorries, ransacked
railway yards, stole or forged ration coupons, and much else, many often armed. Scotland Yard, over 6,000 of its men
having been called up, reeled before the body blows of increasing crime.

The response was the Special Duties Squad, a team of detectives, John Capstick, Henry Clark, Matt Brennand and
-RKQ*RVOLQJEHLQJDPRQJWKHÀUVWZKRZHQWGHHSXQGHUFRYHUVXEPHUJLQJWKHPVHOYHVLQWKHXQGHUZRUOGWRJDWKHU
information and secretly pass it back to headquarters. Known popularly at the Ghost Squad, these men in roughly four
years were behind 789 arrests, the solution to 1,506 crimes, and the recovery of property valued at £250,000 (roughly
£10 million in today’s money).

'LFN.LUE\ZKRLVDELWRQWKHSUROLÀFVLGHDWWKHPRPHQWRQO\DQLVVXHRUVRDJRUHYLHZLQJKLVThe Guvnors, provides

and brisk and entertaining history of this unique group of men. It’s thoroughly recommended.

Paul Begg

%ULWLVK6SLHVDQG,ULVK5HEHOV%ULWLVK,QWHOOLJHQFHDQG,UHODQG
Paul Mcmahon

Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2011

www.boydellandbrewer.com
softcover, 515pp, illus, notes, biblio, index
First Published: Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2008
,6%1
…

The intelligence war between Britain and Ireland is so crucial to the history of the intelligence
services and particularly the foundation of the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police that an
overview has long-‐been needed, and whilst this excellent volume doesn’t delve into 19th century
origins that would most interest Ripperologist readers, it provides an excellent insight into its legacy,
the secret world it established.

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 79

 This comparatively inexpensive edition is most welcome, the hardback published in 2008 being prohibitively expensive
at nearly £60, and it is to be hoped that successive volumes in Boydell’s “History of British Intelligence” series will be
as good. A second volume in the series has been published -‐ The Spy Who Came In From The Co-‐op -‐ the story of Meltia
1RUZRRG DQ HIÀFLHQW .*% VS\ ZKR ZDV JUHDWJUDQGPRWKHU E\ WKH WLPH WKH %ULWLVK IRXQG RXW DERXW KHU HVSLRQDJH
activities with the defection of Vasili Mitrokhin in 1992.

Leonard Burt, who was Commander of the Special Branch from 1946-‐1958, remarked in passing in his book Commander
Burt of Scotland Yard, “Without the Irish there would possibly have been no Special Branch”. He was correct, although
the tentative “possibly” is probably wrong: had the Irish not existed then it is still likely that some form of political
policing would have emerged in the late 19th century.

In British Spies and Irish Rebels 'U 3DXO 0F0DKRQ ZDV DEOH WR GUDZ RQ QHZO\RSHQHG LQWHOOLJHQFH ÀOHV LQ %ULWLVK
and Irish archives and has produced a very well researched history which picks up the reigns as the British collection
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movements to the extent that they were riddled with informers and consequently knew almost everything they were
doing, thus the hastily planned 1848 rising by the Young Ireland movement was quickly suppressed and the 1867 raid
on Chester Castle and subsequent uprising in Ireland so rapidly descended into something approaching farce. But by
the end of the century a relaxation of intelligence gathering, especially in Ireland, had left Britain seriously impaired
when it came to facing fresh challenges. “Our secret service is simply non-‐existent,” wrote Field Marshal Lord French,
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the end of 1919, “What masquerades for such a service is nothing but a delusion and a
snare.” Meanwhile, Irish groups like the IRA under Michael Collins built an extensive counter-‐intelligence network, even
LQÀOWUDWLQJ'XEOLQ&DVWOHDQGWKH'XEOLQ0HWURSROLWDQ3ROLFH&ROOLQVIDPRXVO\EHLQJVPXJJOHGLQWRWKH'03·V*'LYLVLRQ
WKHGHWHFWLYHGHSDUWPHQWGRFXPHQWURRPZKHUHKHVSHQWWKHQLJKWH[DPLQLQJSROLFHÀOHVLQFOXGLQJKLVRZQ

,QGHHGZKHQRQHUHDGVDERXWWKHHDUO\GD\VRIWKHVHFXULW\VHUYLFHVLWLVGLIÀFXOWWRHVFDSHWKHIHHOLQJWKDWWKH
welfare of the nation was largely in the hands of a bunch of over-‐privileged silly arses who ought not to have been allowed
out without care attendants. As the world headed towards War, the British were lamentably ill-‐informed about Ireland
and misunderstood and badly misjudged the situation there. In the built up to WWI the head of MI5, Vernon Kell, was
DOOWRRSUHSDUHGWRDFFHSWWKHRIWHQ/H4XHX[IHGDQGJHQHUDOO\ULVLEOHUXPRXUVDERXW*HUPDQVSLHVLQÀOWUDWLQJHYHU\
level of British life and society, and whilst Basil Thomson (1861-‐1939), who in 1913 succeeded Sir Melville Macnaghten
as Assistant Commissioner in charge of C.I.D., was less inclined to accept such stories in general, he nevertheless came
to rely on alarmist reports from spy-‐obsessed loyalist residents. Fears that Germany would send agents and armaments
to Ireland and foment rebellion was very real and given weight by the Easter uprising in 1916, but there was no German
DFWLYLW\ LQ ,UHODQG ZRUWK VSHDNLQJ DERXW DQG WKH H[HFXWLRQ RI ÀIWHHQ UHEHO OHDGHUV RI WKH (DVWHU XSULVLQJ VHUYHG WR
exacerbate tensions and fuel support for Sinn Féin.

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socialists, suffragettes, trade unionists and East End Jews -‐ Thomson probably authored anti-‐Semitic articles for the
odious Maundy Gregory’s Westminster Gazette -‐ and who was involved in spreading the infamous “Black Diaries” against
Sir Roger Casement and so ensuring that appeals for clemency were silenced and his execution for treason a few months
after the 1916 rising went ahead. Thomson also possibly withheld from Dublin Castle received intelligence of the Easter
Uprising (he denied it, but unconvincingly). An empire builder and an appalling self-‐publicist who claimed for himself
much of the work done by MI5, being described by Reginald Drake, MI5’s head of counter espionage until 1917, as a “dirty
dog” who twisted facts to claim credit for himself, Thomson fell foul of the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, in 1921
DQGZDVUHPRYHGIURPRIÀFH7KRPVRQFODLPHGLQKLVDXWRELRJUDSK\The Scene Changes that Lloyd George demanded
his head after four young Irishmen gained access to Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country residence, and chalked “Up
Sinn Fein” on the wall of a summer-‐house. Thomson questioned the men and concluded they had just been skylarking,
but this didn’t satisfy Lloyd George. Thomson’s downfall was almost complete when in December 1925 he was arrested
in Hyde Park and charged with “committing an act in violation of public decency” with a young woman named Thelma
de Lava -‐ they were kissing and vague references were made to his lap and her hand noticeably moving. Thomson gave
a false name, tried to bribe the arresting policeman and claimed in court that he was doing research for a book about
YLFHLQ/RQGRQ+HZDVIRXQGJXLOW\DQGÀQHG…6RPHKDYHVXJJHVWHGWKDWKHZDVVHWXSEXWLWVHHPVLPSUREDEOH

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 80

 Another character encountered in the early part of McMahon’s book is Colonel Ormonde de l’Epee Winter who in
May 1920 was appointed Deputy Chief of Police and Director of Intelligence for Ireland at Dublin Castle, under whose
commend the infamous Black and Tans came, and who, from his photograph, looks a Bertie Wooster-‐type silly arse with
VOLFNHGEDFNKDLUDPRQRFOHDQGDIDWFLJDUHWWHLQKLVPRXWK²WKH\ZHUHDSSDUHQWO\DSHUPDQHQWÀ[WXUH²EXWKHZDV
a dangerous man, described by one who knew him as looking “like a wicked white snake” and “probably entirely non
moral”. Apparently one of his proudest boasts was that in his youth he had been tried for murder and acquitted. If this
was a reference to the death of 15-‐year-‐old Sydney Hawkins in 1904, whom he struck and killed with a sculling oar, the
inquest jury giving a verdict of manslaughter, it was hardly something to be proud of. He retired from the army in 1924
and later joined the British Fascisti (British fascists), an organisation which was absorbed by other fascist groups. It has
been suggested that he was and agent provocateur within the rabidly anti-‐Bolshevik (and anti-‐labour) group. One of his
ÀUVWLGHDVVD\V0F0DKRQZDVWRSKRWRJUDSKWKHZKROHSRSXODWLRQRI,UHODQGWRDLGWKHLGHQWLÀFDWLRQRIUHEHOVDQRWKHU
was the importation of 50 bloodhounds from London. He also recruited some sixty “agents”, among them J L Gooding, a
fraudster and career criminal who got himself out of prison by offering to spy against the IRA and immediately tried to
play double-‐agent, ending up being a publicity coup and lucky not to be killed by one side or the other.

Men like Thomson and Winter belonged to a different generation, a different time, at once constrained by the British
revulsion of political policing, yet forced to adopt “dirty” tactics against men like Michael Collins who in many ways
UHSUHVHQWHGWKHWKFHQWXU\DQGWKHFROODSVHRIWKH(PSLUH+RZGLIIHUHQWWKHLUZRUOGZDVIURPRXUVLVSHUKDSVW\SLÀHG
E\DPDQQDPHG-RKQ%\UQHVRQHRI7KRPVRQ·VDJHQWVZKRLQÀOWUDWHGWKH,5$EXWZDVXQFRYHUHGWKURXJKWKHORRVH
lipped boasting of a detective inspector at Dublin Castle. He was executed on 2 March 1920, one of the gunmen, Paddy
'DO\ODWHUUHFDOOLQJWKDWZKHQ%\UQHVZDVWROGKH·GEHHQLGHQWLÀHGDVDVS\DQGZDVDERXWWREHVKRWKH´MXPSHGWR
attention immediately and said, “You are right. God bless the King. I would love to die for him.”

Paul Begg

7KH)LUVW*UHDW7UDLQ5REEHU\
David C Hanrahan

London: Robert Hale, 2011

www.halebooks.com
+DUGFRYHUSSLOOXVELEOLRQRWHV
,6%1
…

Michael Crichton, who died earlier this year, gave us some great stories, notably Jurassic Park and
Timeslip, but for me one of his most elegantly crafted novels was The Great Train Robbery. Whilst it
took liberties with the historical facts, Crichton’s documentary writing style perfectly complimented
the meticulous planning and execution of the robbery, and managed to recreate a real feeling of time
and place. It’s a compelling story of the perfect crime and has cried out for a full and factual retelling,
ZKLFKKDVÀQDOO\EHHQGRQHE\'DYLG&+DQUDKDQZKRSUHYLRXVO\ZURWHColonel Blood (2003), who pinched the Crown
Jewels, and next year is publishing The Assassination of the Prime Minister about the assassination of Spencer Percival.

If only there really was honour among thieves then the Great Bullion Robbery of May, 1855, would probably rank
among the great impenetrable mysteries of crime. The gold was put into three wooden boxes bound with iron hoops,
weighed, and then taken to London Bridge station where they were put into iron safes secured with two Chubb locks
and placed in the guard’s van of the South East Railways train to Folkestone, then across the Channel to Boulogne and
thence to Paris. At Bolougne the boxes were weighed again and one was found to be 40lb lighter than it should have
been, but there was no sign of the box having been tampered with and the gold continued its journey to Paris, where
WKHER[HVZHUHRSHQHG²DQGIRXQGWRFRQWDLQOHDGVKRW,QYHVWLJDWLRQVDWLVÀHGWKHSROLFHWKDWWKHUREEHU\KDGWRKDYH
taken place whilst the train was travelling between London Bridge and Folkestone, but no clues were afforded as to how
the robbery had been effected or who had committed it.

In 1855 a professional criminal named Edward Agar was convicted of passing a false cheque and was sentenced to
transportation to Australia. He arranged with a criminal confederate for money to be given to his common-‐law wife,
Fanny Kay, but with transportation delayed and while languishing aboard a prison hulk in England, Agar learned that he
had been betrayed and that Fanny was destitute. Agar talked and the story of the robbery emerged into the cold light
of day.
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 81
 Hanrahan takes you step-‐by-‐step through this fascinating and gripping story, from the initial idea for the robbery,
through its meticulous planning and execution, to the investigation and the aftermath, giving a good insight into the
world of the professional criminal in early Victorian England which is on a par with Ben Macintyre’s The Napoleon of
Crime. A great story, told well. Who could ask for more?

Paul Begg

Empire of Crime: Organised Crime in the British Empire

Tim Newark

Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 2011

www.mainstreampublishing.com
www.timnewark.com
softcover, 268pp, Illus, notes, biblio, index
,6%1
…

Tim Newark’s last book was the much praised Lucky Luciano and after reading that book I could
hardly wait for the release of Empire of Crime which, disappointing insofar as it is mainly concerned
with the 20th century, when the heyday of the British Empire was all but over, is nevertheless a trail
blazer of a book resplendent with some extraordinary people.

It was in 1888 that anti-‐opium campaigner Benjamin Broomhill formed and became secretary of the Christian Union
IRUWKH6HYHUDQFHRIWKH%ULWLVK(PSLUHZLWKWKH2SLXP7UDIÀFDQGEHJDQWROREE\SDUOLDPHQWWRVWRSWKHRSLXPWUDGH
It was not until 1908 that Britain agreed to end its lucrative export of opium from India to China and in so doing, just as
Prime Minister Gladstone had earlier predicted, opened the way for organised criminals to supply the drug and caused
major headaches for colonial governors such as Sir Cecil Clementi, who in 1920 became a major dealer in Hong Kong as
the only way he knew to control the consumption of opium and keep the sale of it out of the hands of smugglers.

By the 1920s opium and the use of other drugs like cocaine was widespread and deaths from overdoses, such as that of
Billie Carleton and nightclub dancer Freda Kempton, made newspaper headlines. Most dealers kept out of the limelight,
but Brilliant Chang didn’t and was the focus of police attention, eventually locating himself in the East End until he was
ÀQDOO\GHSRUWHG

Newark’s book is a gem, easy to read, full of good stories, and an eye-‐opening look at the underbelly of the British
Empire.

Paul Begg

%ORRG%URWKHUKRRGV7KH5LVHRIWKH,WDOLDQ0DÀDV
John Dickie

London: Sceptre, 2011

www.hodder.co.uk
KDUGFRYHUSSLLOXVVRXUFHVLQGH[
,6%1
£20

2VVR0DVWURVVRDQG&DUFDJQRVVRZHUHWKUHH6SDQLVKNQLJKWVZKRÁHGWR,WDO\DIWHUDYHQJLQJWKH
rape of one of their sisters by a nobleman, and there they created the Honoured Society, a brotherhood
they introduced to Italy. Osso founded the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, in Naples Mastrosso established the
Camorra, and in Calabria Carcagnosso began the N’drangheta, three criminal organisations often
MXVWUHIHUUHGWRDVWKH,WDOLDQ0DÀD$V-RKQ'LFNLH3URIHVVRURI,WDOLDQ6WXGLHVDW8QLYHUVLW\&ROOHJH
London, says in his preface, Osso, Mastrosso and Caragnosso are about as real as the three bears, but
WKHFUHDWLRQVWRULHVDUHLPSRUWDQWWRWKHPDÀDVDQG'LFNLHDUJXHVVKRXOGEHHTXDOO\LPSRUWDQWWRXVIRUXQGHUVWDQGLQJ
ZKDWWKHPDÀDVDUHDQGZKHUHWKH\FDPHIURPLVDQHFHVVDU\WRROLQWKHÀJKWDJDLQVWWKHP

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 82

 Author of the best-‐selling Cosa Nostra, Dickie unquestionably knows his stuff, and this enthralling history goes back
to before the creation of Italy itself to trace the murky origins of these “mobs”, revealing a great deal of information
hitherto little known outside specialist academic communities, and also the fruits of original research. Highly readable,
at times reading like a hard hitting detective novel, it is at once fascinating and terrifying, for these organisations
dominate every facet of Italian life, in some cases they are Italian life. And, as we know, their tentacles spread beyond
Italy.

Blood Brotherhoods is about as far from Jack the Ripper as crime history can get, but this is a must read book.

Paul Begg

7KH+LVWRU\RIWKH0DÀD
Nigel Cawthorne

London: Arcturus Publishing Ltd, 2011

www.arcturuspublishing.com
large format softcover, 208pp, illus; index
,6%1
…

Nigel Cawthorne must be glued to his desk chair given the number of books he has to his credit! And
the range of subjects he writes about must mean that when not busy at his keyboard he’s got his nose
stuck in books doing research. In Ripperologist alone we’ve reviewed his Brief History of Robin Hood
and collaboration with David Monaghan, Jack the Ripper’s Secret Confession. Now we’ve got a History
RIWKH0DÀD and if you want a fairly straightforward, easy to read, and liberally illustrated history of
the mob, this is the book for you.

Cawthorne begins his tour through the bloody history of the goodfellas with the story of the mother in French-‐
dominated 13th century Sicily who, as her daughter was being raped by a French soldier, ran through the streets of
3DOHUPRVKRXWLQJ´0\GDXJKWHUP\GDXJKWHUµRULQWKH6LFLOLDQGLDOHFW´0DÀDPDÀDµDQGWKXVJDYHWKHUHVLVWDQFH
its rallying cry. As Cawthorne acknowledges, whilst there was indeed an insurrection, the story of the mother’s plaintive
cry for her daughter almost certainly isn’t true. The book concludes with the FBI’s crackdown on organised crime in
-DQXDU\VR\RXFDQ·WVD\WKLVERRNLVQ·WDVXSWRGDWHDVLWFDQEHZKHQDOOHJHG0DÀDPHPEHUVZHUHDUUHVWHG
in New York, New Jersey and New England, the largest roundup of Cosa Nostra bosses and soldiers in US history, smashing
the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese families in New York, and the New Jersey-‐based DeCavalcante
family. The charge sheet was great, with nicknames like Whiney (Fed Alesi), Tony Bagels (Anthony Cavezza), Mousey
(Giovanni Vella), Bobby Glasses (Bartolomeo Vernace).

A “coffee-‐table” book, not a patch on Dickie, but easy, blood spattered reading.

Paul Begg

$O&DSRQHDQG+LV$PHULFDQ%R\V0HPRLUVRID0REVWHU·V:LIH
,QFOXGLQJDQHYHUEHIRUHSXEOLVKHGPDQXVFULSWE\*HRUJHWWH:LQNHOHU
William J. Helmer

Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2011

www.iupress.indiana.edu
www.gangstersandoutlaws.com
Hardcover, 376pp, illus; index
,6%1
…


William J Helmer is widely respected as a historian of Prohibition-‐era crime and has authored and
co-‐authored books like Dillinger: The Untold Story, The Gun That Made the Twenties Roar and The St
Valentine’s Day Massacre, but here he all but abandons his own pen to let Georgette Winkler do the talking. She was the
wife of gangster Gus Winkler, a St Louis-‐based robber and contract killer hired with other freelancers by Al Capone to

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 83

KDQGOHWKH6W9DOHQWLQH·V'D\PDVVDFUHWKHPXUGHURIÀYHPHPEHUVRI%XJV0RUDQ·V1RUWK6LGH*DQJDQGDKDQJHURQ
named Reinhardt Schwimmer a garage at 2122 North Clark Street, Chicago, on 14 February 1929. These shooters were
known as Capone’s “American Boys”.

When Capone was sent down for tax evasion in 1931 Winkler found himself without protection and the subject of
jealousy, and on 9 October 1933 he was gunned down, apparently on the orders of Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti. Georgette
Winkler intended revenge when she penned her expose of the Chicago Syndicate, but it seems that somebody had a chat
with her publisher, after which he thought publication wasn’t such a good idea. Georgette turned to the FBI, but her
PDQXVFULSWODQJXLVKHGIRUVL[W\\HDUVLQWKH)%,ÀOHVXQWLOOLEHUDWHGE\+HOPHU

It’s a fascinating account of gansterdom almost from the inside and reveals some important new information, such
as the identities of the St Valentine’s Day shootists, and Helmer concludes the book by publishing some revealing
correspondence and interviews Georgette Winkler had with the FBI. The book ends with several pages of biographies
and historical notes.

2YHUDOODYDOXDEOHÀUVWKDQGDFFRXQWRIDFKDSWHURI$PHULFDQFULPHKLVWRU\([FHOOHQW

Paul Begg

7KH'HYLO+LPVHOI
Eric Dezenhall

New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2011

www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
KDUGFRYHUSS,6%1


It’s late 1982, the Reagan administration needs to combat terrorism and wants the tips and tricks
HPSOR\HG E\ WKH 0DÀD LQ LWV ZDU DJDLQVW WKH 1D]L·V GXULQJ ::,, )RUWXQDWHO\ D :KLWH +RXVH DLGH
named Jonah Eastman is the grandson of an Atlantic City gangster named Mickey Price whose best
IULHQGZDVFULPHERVV0H\HU/DQVN\7KLVQRYHOKDVLWVIHHWÀUPO\SODFHGLQDPXFKTXHVWLRQHGDQG
often disputed historical fact, but fact nonetheless, of the Lucky Luciano’s “war” against the Nazis.

'XULQJ ::,, WKH 86 *RYHUQPHQW JUHZ FRQFHUQHG DERXW 1D]L VSLHV DQG VDERWHXUV LQÀOWUDWLQJ SRUWV DORQJ WKH
northeastern seaboard and causing disruption and destruction, and under the umbrella of what was unimaginatively
FDOOHG2SHUDWLRQ8QGHUZRUOGLQVWUXFWHG&RPPDQGHU&KDUOHV5+DIIHQGHQRIWKH861DY\2IÀFHRI1DYDO,QWHOOLJHQFH
WRVHHNWKHFRRSHUDWLRQRIRUJDQL]HGFULPHÀJXUHVSULQFLSDOO\&KDUOHV¶/XFN\·/XFLDQRDQG0H\HU/DQVN\,WLVE\QR
PHDQVFHUWDLQWKDW/XFLDQRDQG/DQVN\ZHUHSDUWLFXODUO\LQÁXHQWLDOLQSURWHFWLQJWKHSRUWVEXWWKDW·VWKHIRXQGDWLRQ
RI'H]HQKDOO·VQRYHO$QGÀFWLRQWKLVLVEXWLQKLVLQWURGXFWLRQKHFODLPVWKDWKDQGZULWWHQQRWHVOHIWE\0H\HU/DQVN\
were found by his granddaughter in 1997 and were made available to him. Dezenhall admits to having taken liberties
with the facts, but quotes Hemingway’s preface to A Moveable Feast to the effect that there is always a chance that a
ERRNRIÀFWLRQPD\WKURZVRPHOLJKWRQZKDWKDVEHHQZULWWHQDVIDFW

Paul Begg

'HDWKO\'HFHSWLRQ7KH5HDO6WRU\RI2SHUDWLRQ0LQFHPHDW
Denis Smyth

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011

www.oup.com
Softcover, 367pp, illus; appendix; notes; biblio; index
originally published in hardback Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
,6%1
…

In the early hours of 10 July 1943, allied troops stormed the coast of Sicily in what would be
perceived as a pivotal moment in the war, and taken utterly by surprise the Germans, though they
fought back robustly, were defeated with a remarkably small loss to the allied forces. The success was
Ripperologist 122 September 2011 84
put down to a dead man, dummied up papers on his body, and a hair-‐brained scheme too daft to work. It had the silly
code name ‘Operation Mincemeat’.

Ben McIntyre’s Operation Mincemeat, which appeared in hardback just six months before Denis Smyth’s Deathly
Deception, overshadowed Smyth’s weighty and more academic look at this famous World War Two deception in which
the British arranged for a corpse with a briefcase full of bogus secret documents to be found off the coast of Spain, the
documents convincing ed the Nazis that the Allies intended to invade Sardinia and the Balkans, not Sicily as they really
intended. The story, originally told by Ewen Montagu, one of the organisers of the deception, as The Man Who Never Was
ZDVÀOPHGDQGEHFDPHDVWDSOHRI6XQGD\DIWHUQRRQZDUPRYLHVZKHQ,ZDVJURZLQJXS

Whilst Ben McIntyre is a great writer, his Napoleon of Crime about the life and crimes of Adam Worth, a criminal
Moriarty contemporary with the Ripper murders is essential reading, Denis Smyth brings a scholarly eye to this gripping
story. A Professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto and editor of a number of volumes in the
British Documents on Foreign Affairs series, Smyth has accessed the archives of the Special Operations Executive to
produce as gripping and enthralling account of as McIntyre’s Operation Mincemeat, but one that is less populist in
approach. Smyth is focused more on the intelligence organisation, on how the Germans were deceived than is Macintyre,
who concentrated more on the personalities of those involved, otherwise both tell the same story and draw upon the
Ewan Montague papers and other papers, so many of the incidents they describe are the same.

Paul Begg

2SHUDWLRQ*DUER
Juan Pujol Garcia and Nigel West

London: Biteback Publishing, 2011

www.bitebackpublishing.com
Softcover, 272pp, appendices; index
)LUVWSXEOLVKHGDV*DUER/RQGRQ:HLGHQIHOGDQG1LFROVRQ
,6%1
…

This is the personal story of WWII double agent known as ‘Garbo’, real name Juan Pujol Garcia.The
DFWLYLWLHVRI´*DUERµDVGRXEOHDJHQW-XDQ3XMRO*DUFLDZDVFRGHQDPHGDUHFKLHÁ\UHPHPEHUHGIRU
his part in another WWII deception, in this case Operation Fortitude, the Allied effort to mislead the
Nazis about the location and timing of the invasion of Normandy, the false information supplied by
Garbo and his string of non-‐existent agents led the Nazies to deploy forces in the Pas de Calais.

Born in Barcelona, his experiences in the Spanish Civil War led him to detest both fascism and communism and after
VRPH GLIÀFXOW\ KH FRQYLQFHG WKH *HUPDQV WKDW KH ZDV OLYLQJ LQ DQG WUDYHOOLQJ DURXQG %ULWDLQ JDWKHULQJ LQIRUPDWLRQ
whereas in reality he never left Lisbon and garnered his information from freely available sources there. Eventually he
approach the British, who were by now aware the somebody had been feeding the Nazie’s false information, and the XX
Committee took him on.

The story of “Garbo” is told here by Garcia himself and veteran author on intelligence subjects Nigel West in a long
RYHUGXHUHSXEOLFDWLRQRIWKHELRJUDSK\RQHRIWKHÀUVWWLWOHVLQ%LWHEDFN·V´(VSLRQDJH&ODVVLFVµVHULHV

Paul Begg

*UH\IULDUV%REE\7KH0RVW)DLWKIXO'RJLQWKH:RUOG
Jan Bondeson

Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley, 2011

KDUGFRYHUSSLOOXVQRWHVLQGH[
,6%1
£20.00

When I was a child I saw two movies on television which tickled my sense of curiosity and have
continued to do so ever since. One, called The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956), was all about an
American woman who was hypnotically regressed to a previous life as a young girl who lived in Ireland

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 85

in the early 1800s. The truth, when I eventually found out what it was, was more interesting than the original story,
although considerably less sensational.

The other movie was a 1961 Walt Disney weepy called Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog. All about a faithful
Skye terrier which refused to leave the graveside of his master in the Greyfriars churchyard in Edinburgh. The movie
ZDVEDVHGRQDEHDXWLIXOO\FUDIWHGDQGKLJKO\LQÁXHQWLDOQRYHOE\(OHDQRU$WNLQVRQZKLFK,ERXJKWPDQ\\HDUVODWHU
and whilst Bobby was real, I wasn’t altogether sure that the affecting story of the little dog was everything Atkinson and
Disney made it out to be. And I didn’t really want to be sure either. It’s a great story, a beautiful story, a story full of
elegance and charm. I had approached Jan Bondeson’s condensed version of the tale in his excellent Amazing Dogs with
trepidation, so was prepared for this superb book wholly devoted to the Greyfriars Bobby story.

So, you already know pretty much what the book is all about. Bobby, the little Skye terrier, kept vigil at his master’s
graveside in an Edinburgh churchyard for 14 years and died in 1872, the monument commemorating the little fellow’s
remarkable devotion receiving thousands of visitors every year. But behind this popular story lies a characteristic of
WKH9LFWRULDQFKDUDFWHUDEHOLHILQFDQLQH ÀGHOLW\ZKLFKOHGWRSHUKDSVDVPDQ\DVFHPHWDU\GRJVWRULHVDOPRVW
DOORIZKLFKKDYHIDOOHQLQWRREVFXULW\DQGEHKLQGWKDWDQKLVWRULFWUDGLWLRQDERXWWKHIDLWKIXOKRXQG,WDOVRUHÁHFWV
the growing concern about animal welfare, the birth of the RSPCA, and Britain’s international reputaton as a nation of
animal lovers.

It’s probably too much to believe that a dog would stand vigil at his master’s grave for 14 years, braving wind and rain,
hail and snow, and the sight of a can of Pedigree Chum would probably put a lie to that tail, er, tale, but as shaggy dog
stories go, only the story of Gelert comes close to Greyfriars Bobby for international appeal, and if you want to know
the truth behind the tale, you’ll have to read the book.

Paul Begg

.LQJVDQG4XHHQV
Quite a few excellent books about British monarchs have been published recently and there are others in the
pipeline. As it never harms to step outside the Victorian period, police and crime…

6KH:ROYHV7KH:RPHQ:KR5XOHG(QJODQG%HIRUH(OL]DEHWK
Helen Castor

London: Faber and Faber, 2011

www.faber.co.uk
www.helencastor.com
Softcover, illus., notes on sources, index
First published in hardback, London: Faber and Faber, 2010
,6%1
…

It’s a pity that all history books aren’t as good as this. Scholarly and elegantly written, Helen
&DVWRU·VERRNJDUQHUHGKLJKSUDLVHZKHQÀUVWSXEOLVKHGODVW\HDU,QLW&DVWRUWDNHVFLUFXLWRXVURXWHV
to tell the story of Matilda, Eleanor, Isabella, and Margaret.

Castor garthers what little is known about the formidable Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror and
daughter and heir of Henry I, who should have succeeded her father to the throne but was usurped by her cousin Stephen
of Blois. The country was plunged 20 years of civil war – the background to the Brother Cadfael series of novels and
TV series – and only ended when Stephen agreed to leave the throne to Matilda’s son, who became Henry II, and which
saved England from being ruled by a King Eustace (Stephen’s son, about whom the surviving chronicles are less than
complimentary; “He was an evil man and did more harm than good,” says the Peterborough Chronicle, so we wouldn’t
have wanted him in charge!)

Eleanor of Aquitaine comes next, wife of Matilda’s son Henry II and mother of Richard the Lionheart and John, and a
ÀJXUHRIHQRUPRXVSRZHUDQGSROLWLFDOVNLOO

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 86

 ,VDEHOOD RI )UDQFH EHDXWLIXO DQG LQWHOOLJHQW 4XHHQ &RQVRUW RI (GZDUG ,, WDNHV XV WR WKH PXUGHU RI WKH NLQG
traditionally but almost unquestionably mythically, by having a red hot poker inserted up his rectum – the nearest
chronicles to the event suggest that he was strangled or suffocated, but he was murdered by agents of Isabella!

$QGÀQDOO\0DUJDUHWRI$QMRXZLIHRIWKHLQWHUPLWWHQWO\LQVDQH+HQU\9,ZKRUXWKOHVVO\KHOGKHUKXVEDQG·V.LQJGRP
together until his arrest and probable murder. Margaret herself was captured and ransomed by the Yorkists, dying in
1482.

Castor concludes as she began with the horrible death of young Edward VI, the only son of Henry VII, and his deathbed
GHFLVLRQWRQDPHWKHHTXDOO\\RXWKIXO/DG\-DQH*UH\DVKLVVXFFHVVRU6KHUHLJQHGIRUQLQHGD\VWKHÀUVW´OHJLWLPDWHµ
queen of England, before being executed and succeeded by Mary I.

Paul Begg

0DU\,(QJODQG·V&DWKROLF4XHHQ
John Edwards

London: Yale University Press, 2011

www.yalebooks.co.uk
Hardback, 387pp, illus; biblio; index
,6%1
£25

Mary I has not received a good press and Antonio Moro’s portrait which adorns the cover of John
Edwards’ new biography doesn’t convey the impression of a fun-‐loving young woman either. The
only surviving daughter of Henry VII and Catherine of Aragon, and half-‐sister of Elizabeth I, Mary’s
accession was launched on the blood of Lady Jane Grey and came to the throne.

There is no shortage of biographies about Mary I, most recently Anna Whitelock’s excellent introduction to this
FRPSOH[PRQDUFKZKRVHÀYH\HDUUHLJQLVPDUNHGE\WKHEORRG\EXUQLQJRI3URWHVWDQWVDVVKHVRXJKWWRUHVWRUHWKH
Catholic faith to England, or is absolutely overshadowed by her half-‐sister Elizabeth I. The eldest child of Henry VIII and
Katharine of Aragon, her relations with her half-‐brother Edward soured as she remained steadfast in her Catholicism and
he determined to disinherit her, ultimately being coerced into disinheriting his other half-‐sister, Elizabeth, in favour of
the ill-‐fated Lady Jane Grey. Mary prevailed, however, but her rule was unhappy and strained. She died aged 42.

In this new biography of Mary I, John Edwards, a Modern Languages Faculty Research Fellow in Spanish at the
University of Oxford, argues that Mary’s Spanish background is hugely important in any assessment of her life. This is
usually only considered in the context of her late marriage to Philip II, but her politics, religious beliefs and cultural
tastes were inherited from her mother, Spanish-‐born Katharine of Aragon.

Edwards also presents a reappraisal of Mary’s relationship with Elizabeth.

This is a major new biography of Mary I which in many respects puts others in the shade. Scholarly, insightful and
well-‐written, it repays the reader on almost every page.

Paul Begg

&QXW(QJODQG·V9LNLQJ.LQJ
M K Lawson

Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011

www.thehistorypress.co.uk
softcover, 255pp, appendices; select biblio; genealogical tables; index

Originally published as Cnut: The Danes in England in the Early Eleventh Century. London:
/RQJPDQUHYLVHGDQSXEOLVKHGDV&QXW(QJODQG·V9LNLQJ.LQJ6WURXG7HPSXV3XEOLVKLQJ



…

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 87

 King Cnut, sometimes spelt Canute to avoid the impression that somebody meant to write a very rude word, is one
of the kings who ruled between Alfred the Great and Harold who would probably be forgotten by the majority of people
were it not for the story of him pratting around on the seashore arrogantly trying to make the waves go back and getting
ZHWZKHQWKH\GLGQ·W%XWHYHQWKLVVWRU\LVDPLVUHPHPEHUHGJDUEOLQJRIDVWRU\ÀUVWWROGE\DWKFHQWXU\FKURQLFOHU
named Henry of Huntingdon; it wasn’t arrogance but precisely the opposite for Cnut was demonstrating “how empty
and worthless is the power of kings”, for it was God alone could hold back the tides. Cnut was a pious man and this
VWRU\UHÁHFWVWKDWEXWWKHWDOHLWVHOILVWROGRIRWKHUVVXFKDV6W,OOWXGDQGHYHQ0DHOJZ\QRI*Z\QHGGDQGLVDOPRVW
certainly apocryphal.

&QXWWKHVRQRI6ZHLQ)RUNEHDUG.LQJRI'HQPDUNSDUWVRI1RUZD\DQGEULHÁ\RI(QJODQGUXOHV(QJODQGIRUQLQHWHHQ
years, but did not originally have a reputation for piety and piece, but for cruelty and ruthlessness, and as a remorseless
warrior.

Books about Cnut are almost as rare as hen’s teeth, although our own M J Trow did a book about him for The History
3UHVVDIHZ\HDUVDJREXW/DZVRQ·VWH[WLVDUHVSHFWHGFODVVLFÀUVWSXEOLVKHGE\/RQJPDQLQDQGDJDLQE\7HPSXVLQ
2004, and this new and affordable edition is well worth grabbing. It begins with a look at the land before Cnut’s conquest
in 1016, moves on to provide a thorough examination of the sources, before settling down to an account of the great
man’s reign. Five appendices include relevant texts from the Anglo-‐Saxon Chronicle and a charter from Cnut dated 1018.

A must have book if you are in any way interested in the time when England was ruled by the Ethels and Eds, before
things got complicated by Normans and Williams and Henrys. Top stuff.

Paul Begg

MAIL ORDER ONLY 24 Grampian Gardens, London NW2 1JG. Tel 020 8455 3069, mobile 07947 573 326
www.laybooks.com lorettalay@hotmail.com
29(5-$&.7+(5,33(5$1'$662&,$7('7,7/(621 0LOOHU9DQGRPH0F%UHZVWHU(G; Jack the Ripper
7+(:(%6,7(,1&/8',1* (Alphascript Publishing); softcover; £30
%DUEHU-RKQThe Camden Town Murder; new softcover; 2GHOO5RELQ Written and Red; new softcover Ltd Edn.
signed; £11 signed and numbered; £15
&KLVKROP'L*UD]LD<RVW; The News from Whitechapel; 3HUULQJ:LOOLDP-; The Seduction of Mary Kelly; hb/dw;
softcover; signed by Dave Yost and Paul Begg (wrote signed; £35
Foreword); £30
3OLPPHU-RKQ); In the Footsteps of the Whitechapel
Colby-‐Newton (Katie); Jack the Ripper Opposing Viewpoints Murders; 1st edn.; hb/dw; £80
:LOI*UHJJ·VFRS\KEÀQHFRS\ZLWKSHUVRQDOESODWH…
5LRUGDQ7LPRWK\%3ULQFHRI4XDFNVQHZVRIWFRYHU…
&RQQHOO(YDQV; The Man who Hunted Jack the Ripper; new
6WHWWOHU-DPHV; The Diary of Jack the Ripper: Another
softcover; signed; £14
Chapter; new softcover; signed; £18
'LPROLDQLV6SLUR; Jack the Ripper and Black Magic; new
6WHZDUW:LOOLDP Jack the Ripper: A New Theory; h/b no
softcover; signed; £33
dw; 1st edn.; £750 (ono)
+RGJVRQ3HWHU; Jack the Ripper Through the Mists of Time
7URZ0-; The Thames Torso Murders; new; hb/dw; signed;
Revised/Updated Edn.; new softcover; signed; £10
£20
+RXVH5REHUW; Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland
7XUQEXOO3HWHU The Killer Who Never Was (Wilf Gregg’s
Yard’s Prime Suspect; new softcover; £14
FRS\KEÀQHFRS\ZLWKSHUVRQDOESODWH…
-RQHV&KULVWRSKHU; The Maybrick A-‐Z; new softcover;
Wolff (Camille); Who Was Jack the Ripper; Ltd Numbered
signed; £15
1st Edn.; hb/dw; with 53 signatures; £300
0HLNOH'HQLV Jack the Ripper The Murders and the
:RRGV%DGGHOH\; Saucy Jack; new softcover; £12
Movies; new softcover; signed; £20

Ripperologist 122 September 2011 88

Jack the Ripper’s Mummy Found,
according to the Weekly World NewVRI-XO\

See Chris Scott’s Press Trawl.