Jack The Ripper (Compendium Thread)

[Naughty_Felid]

I don't disagree with the thrust of your point, but would you consider his evident ability to commit these crimes (largely) unwitnessed in a densely populated urban environment with the public on high alert in any way remarkable?

Or would you attribute it to sheer luck?

I agree with CJ.

I don't think we can imagine these days how bad it was and how easy it was to get away with it.

 

[Victory]

No author, investigator or police person, then or since, has been able to establish anything more than coincidental links between the victims. Using the same lodging houses on occasion, and occasionally using the same alias, was as much of a link as could be found. Hardly the basis of a theory.

As for Masonic element — this has been comprehensively and serially debunked.

There is no evidence whatsoever, in the three sister constitutions of England, Ireland and Scotland, for example, of the three ruffians of the Hiraf Abif legend being referred to as the Jewes/Juewes/Juwes etc.

As as for the mutilations conforming to the gruesome 'ancient penalties.' while the entrails plucked thence and thrown over the left shoulder does resonate, again, it is a very small detail on which to base an entire theory. It is also one that does not carry any further. No masonic punishment for breaking an oath could be meted out to a non-member. Therefore, by virtue of their sex, the women could not be silenced for breaking an oath that they were ineligible to take in the first place. The only proponents of the Masonic theories are the ones who don't know the history or context of relevant Masonic elements.

And as for motive, if the killer was a serial offender, then motive is tied up with the psychological state, not financial or passion based.
Ted Bundy was not financially motivated, nor was he committing crimes of passion.

As has been asserted, the killer was lucky, and audacious. That combination has often led to criminals getting away with things for years, or decades. It does not turn the killer into a phantom or wraith.

In just the same way that Denis Nilson was only caught when he became careless to the point of arrogance, his crimes were chiefly among a marginalised, silenced community of people who were ignored and disenfranchised, and thus unable to voice their experiences of being preyed upon. The Whitechapel murders fall into a similar category.

Whilst no link between the victims has been established, they have not been conclusively ruled out.

Masonic element?

A Masonic punishment of mutilation for breaking an oath might not be allowed to be administered to a non-member.
But what if the murderer lacked normal boundaries...was insane or taking narcotics or wanted to frame the Masons?

The Masonic element in my opinion also depends on whether the Goulston Street graffito was written by the Ripper or someone connected to the Ripper...or was nothing to do with the case.

I agree that the most likely motive was psychological state. But again, not certain.


@Cochise

Those look likely suspects of the known suspects, though I would also include John Mann and Michael Maybrick.

 

[Ascalon]

Whilst no link between the victims has been established, they have not been conclusively ruled out.

Masonic element?

A Masonic punishment of mutilation for breaking an oath might not be allowed to be administered to a non-member.
But what if the murderer lacked normal boundaries...was insane or taking narcotics or wanted to frame the Masons?

The Masonic element in my opinion also depends on whether the Goulston Street graffito was written by the Ripper or someone connected to the Ripper...or was nothing to do with the case.

I agree that the most likely motive was psychological state. But again, not certain.


@Cochise

Those look likely suspects of the known suspects, though I would also include John Mann and Michael Maybrick.

While I take your point on the drugs/mental instability points, the same could be said of a lot of things: the Thuggees, Assassins, etc.
The Goulston Street graffito is not a Masonic connection. This was a misinterpretation from later references, it is not part of Masonic lore.

Not familiar with John Mann, references?

Cheers.

 

[Victory]

@Ascalon

If someone wanted to frame the masons, the Goulston Street graffito might have been a crude attempt to do so?

John Mann (Apology for typo) I meant Robert Mann.


http://www.jackripper.co.uk/Robert-Mann-a-new-FBI-suspect.php

https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/robert-mann.htm

 

[Ogdred Weary]

I agree with CJ.

I don't think we can imagine these days how bad it was and how easy it was to get away with it.

When you say, easy to het away with it. Do you mean remaining undetected or doing the murders in (mostly) public places and not happened upon in the duration? I can completely see the with the former and wouldn't disagree with the latter either, though I'm no expert in the facts with this case.

 

[MorningAngel]

My fuller review of The Five:

Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five is probably the most important book in the field of Ripperology in recent years.

Rather than some further, near pointless, final solution, it gives up sensationalism for hard graft and scholarly work.

It presents the canonical five women for the first time ever in the level of detail that was reserved previously for suspects.

It is reminiscent of the methodical, thoughtful and meticulous work of Philip Sugden, and sets a new standard for empathetic, but never sentimental, historical detective work.

Rubenhold manages at once to provide a deep context and historical placement for each of the women, and then weaves the complex fabric of society around each, with their differing backgrounds and series of developments that brought them to Whitechapel, and ultimately to their utterly undeserved ends.

The author does not go into details about their deaths, only to document their lives in vivid detail, right up to their final moments where possible, and it is here that some true insights for the field come about.

Rubenhold comprehensively illustrates how the police forces of London at the time were overwhelmingly biased against the poor and destitute women of the East End, to the point where each one found homeless or drunk was immediately assumed to be at least a casual, if not fully professional, prostitute.

This was such an issue that a legal case was brought and won by a woman, prompting the Met Police Chief Sir Charles Warren to issue instruction on the matter. This was in 1887. Suffice to say, Rubehold makes a fairly watertight case for police bias in the field.

Secondly, she comprehensively proves that for both Annie Chapman and Catherine Eddowes, there is no evidence at all to support, and indeed much more to refute, the notion that they engaged in even casual soliciting. And there, for me, is the major impact from her work for the field.

Eyewitness testimony has always been an issue in the Ripper case. However, the best sightings have generally been believed to be that of Annie Chapman on the street in front of 29 Hanbury Street, and Catherin Eddowes in the passage leading to Mitre Square. Both seemed to suggest soliciting on the part of the two women, which was assumed to be a john who may or may not have been JTR in both cases.

In fact, the Eddowes sighting is the basis for the entire JTR in the asylum theory, complete with later eyewitness identification.

However, Rubenhold, in both cases, blows the idea out of the water — neither woman was given to casual soliciting. Therefore, we must question whether it was Annie who was stood with her back to the wall as a stranger said “Will you?”

Similarly, was it really Catherine Eddowes that Joseph Lawende saw by Church Passage, with her hand playfully on the chest of a fair complexioned man?

Lawende only identified Eddowes by the clothes she wore, post mortem.

If, as Rubenhold’s work now sets out, neither Annie nor Catherine were given to soliciting, then it must be assumed that JTR managed to get them to the respective secluded places to carry out his crimes.

It is now very reasonable to argue that both Annie and Catherine may have been sleeping rough and were not the women seen by either Elizabeth Long, or Joseph Lawende. Were their two murders just JTR’s opportunistic luck? Did he, in fact, throttle them on the ground, and then use the knife?

Rubenhold’s work is solid enough to reassess these two cases in particular, and re-examine their circumstances beyond the traditional narrative of soliciting the wrong man.

The Five brings vividly to life the stories of these women, who were mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. They lived in harsh times and suffered even harsher conditions before their awful, utterly undeserved deaths. But each one too once had happy times and joys, though short lived. This book reminds us that behind the grisly fascination with the murderer, are real people murdered, and real families left behind. That in itself is enough to make this a great book. But to take the study of this case a significant step further in terms of our overall understanding, is an outstanding achievement.

I’ve just finished The Five. It was very interesting. This quote made me sick though ‘Edward Fairfield, a senior civil servant in the Colonial Office, described the Ripper in a letter to The Times in October 1888 as an “unknown surgical genius” who was performing a valuable service by “clearing” the East End of its “vicious inhabitants”.’

I really wish they would make a TV series of this book. These women were humans with interesting lives which people should know about. They weren’t all prostitutes but they were all down on their luck.

 

[Frideswide]

@MorningAngel I just don't know what to say about that quote. Simultaneously horrified and not remotely surprised I think.

 

[Cochise]

@MorningAngel I just don't know what to say about that quote. Simultaneously horrified and not remotely surprised I think.

Given my ancestors on my mother's side were Whitechapel residents at the time I can only agree. As against that there were many late Victorians who were genuinely altruistic and laid the early foundations for the Welfare State and universal education.

 

[MorningAngel]

Given my ancestors on my mother's side were Whitechapel residents at the time I can only agree. As against that there were many late Victorians who were genuinely altruistic and laid the early foundations for the Welfare State and universal education.

I did find out that one of the woman passed through my town.

 

[WeeScottishLassie]

I’ve just finished The Five. It was very interesting. This quote made me sick though ‘Edward Fairfield, a senior civil servant in the Colonial Office, described the Ripper in a letter to The Times in October 1888 as an “unknown surgical genius” who was performing a valuable service by “clearing” the East End of its “vicious inhabitants”.’

I really wish they would make a TV series of this book. These women were humans with interesting lives which people should know about. They weren’t all prostitutes but they were all down on their luck.

Another book for me to buy but what a horrific thing of that person, to say that about those poor women!!

 

[Ascalon]

@Ascalon

If someone wanted to frame the masons, the Goulston Street graffito might have been a crude attempt to do so?

John Mann (Apology for typo) I meant Robert Mann.


http://www.jackripper.co.uk/Robert-Mann-a-new-FBI-suspect.php

https://www.jack-the-ripper.org/robert-mann.htm

Thanks for that.

Familiar with the Robert Mann suspect, and Mei Trow makes a good case. However, if memory serves, Mann's declining health due to debilitating tuberculosis may rule him out. Also, the lack of documentary evidence to place him anywhere near the crime scenes is also frustrating. Plus, he never came to the attention of the police, and so is hard to assess from the criminal context of the time.

As for the Goulston Street graffito being an effort to frame the masons, for me it does not follow.

From my researches, the three ruffians of masonic lore were not known collectively as the Juwes in the English Constitution. Therefore, the reference would not have been associated with the masons by either a non-mason or a member. The term being applied to the three ruffians seems to have come from the US anti-mason political movement from earlier in nineteenth century. While there could certainly have been some cross knowledge, the widespread membership of the masons, particularly among the higher ranking police and politicians would mean that knowledge of the story would be widespread but under an entirely different reference. So if the graffito was intended to throw suspicion towards the masons, it would have been a very obscure reference, unknown to the vast majority of masons in the country, and perhaps only accessible to a small number of people who would have been familiar with the short lived anti-masonic sentiment of the mid century US political scene. As the masonic order in the UK was since the C18, supported by royalty, it never experienced the same political disapproval as that in the US. As such, the anti-masonic material got little traction or distribution in the UK. Would a lowly, probably illterate, or at the very least, poorly educated man in London's east end in 1888 be familiar with US anti-mason literature?

Sir Charles Warren himself, a mason of long standing, was concerned the graffito would incite race riots, not a backlash against masons.
There is also the statement from Warren who argued that the chalk graffito looked faded, and the only reason it was even considered was the presence of the piece of Eddowes' apron beneath. It is entirely possible the fleeing killer simply discarded the apron there, as a dark spot, and never even saw the graffito.

There is actually no compelling evidence to link the graffito with the killer. Hence it has remained as one of the more controversial pieces of evidence in the case. I am not discounting the graffito as evidence, but rather, taking it in the broader context of likelihoods, it does not add up to a masonic taunt, or taint, but rather more likely comes from some incitement antisemitism that may or may not be associated with the murders. Unless the graffito was supported by several other elements of evidence, it must be taken with great caution.

 

[Victory]

@Ascalon

A point well made.
I accept, it is more possible the graffito was anti-Semitic in intent.

 

[Yithian]

I’ve just finished The Five. It was very interesting. This quote made me sick though ‘Edward Fairfield, a senior civil servant in the Colonial Office, described the Ripper in a letter to The Times in October 1888 as an “unknown surgical genius” who was performing a valuable service by “clearing” the East End of its “vicious inhabitants”.’

I really wish they would make a TV series of this book. These women were humans with interesting lives which people should know about. They weren’t all prostitutes but they were all down on their luck.

A little late to post this, but the excellent podcast Rippercast did an episode on the book here:

I have to say, the discussion of the interpretative fictionalisation of scenes sets alarm bells ringing for me:
http://www.casebook.org/podcast/listen.html?id=222

 

[Coastaljames]

remaining undetected or doing the murders in (mostly) public places and not happened upon in the duration?

Sasha Johnson was shot dead in public, in London in May. No witnesses have come forward at all. Even now, it's not always very difficult to "get away" with stuff...

There is actually no compelling evidence to link the graffito with the killer.

I agree. I have never felt they were connected. Or if the graffiti even existed at all.


@MorningAngel @Frideswide @WeeScottishLassie - there was a lot more nuance and context to Fairfield's quote. Interesting article below -

"Being fair to Fairfield" - https://www.orsam.co.uk/beingfairtofairfield.htm

 

[Mythopoeika]

Sasha Johnson was shot dead in public, in London in May. No witnesses have come forward at all. Even now, it's not always very difficult to "get away" with stuff...



I agree. I have never felt they were connected. Or if the graffiti even existed at all.


@MorningAngel @Frideswide @WeeScottishLassie - there was a lot more nuance and context to Fairfield's quote. Interesting article below -

"Being fair to Fairfield" - https://www.orsam.co.uk/beingfairtofairfield.htm

She's actually still alive.

 

[Nosmo King]

She's actually still alive.

4 people have been arrested so far in connection with her shooting also

 

[Coastaljames]

She's actually still alive.

Good news, thanks.

4 people have been arrested so far in connection with her shooting also

Just ignore me on this one, apologies!

 

[maximus otter]

I was unaware of this biography of Donald Swanson until it was advertised in my latest NARPO magazine:

Swanson: The Life and Times of a Victorian Detective.​

Publisher's blurb:

"Donald Sutherland Swanson was born in the remote far north of Scotland, leaving for London in 1867 at the age of 19 and initially working as a City clerk.

The following year he joined the Metropolitan Police and began patrolling the streets of the capital as a uniformed constable. 35 years later he retired as Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department, the top detective in the country.

Set against the backdrop of the developing Metropolitan Police, this book tells the story of a life and career which included railway murderers, grave robbers, fraudulent mediums, Jack the Ripper, the Philosopher’s Stone, Fenian dynamite campaigns, shocking revelations about the aristocracy and a crazed captain with sea serpents in a bottle.

Linking it all together is Donald Swanson, whose application letter to the Metropolitan Police spoke of a desire for “a good opening”. After reading his story, the reader will be left in little doubt that he made the most of the opportunities which came his way."

(No connection with the author; I haven't read the book.)

maximus otter

 

[Yithian]

I was unaware of this biography of Donald Swanson until it was advertised in my latest NARPO magazine:

Swanson: The Life and Times of a Victorian Detective.​

Publisher's blurb:

"Donald Sutherland Swanson was born in the remote far north of Scotland, leaving for London in 1867 at the age of 19 and initially working as a City clerk.

The following year he joined the Metropolitan Police and began patrolling the streets of the capital as a uniformed constable. 35 years later he retired as Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department, the top detective in the country.

Set against the backdrop of the developing Metropolitan Police, this book tells the story of a life and career which included railway murderers, grave robbers, fraudulent mediums, Jack the Ripper, the Philosopher’s Stone, Fenian dynamite campaigns, shocking revelations about the aristocracy and a crazed captain with sea serpents in a bottle.

Linking it all together is Donald Swanson, whose application letter to the Metropolitan Police spoke of a desire for “a good opening”. After reading his story, the reader will be left in little doubt that he made the most of the opportunities which came his way."

(No connection with the author; I haven't read the book.)

maximus otter

Swanson: A Life On The Margin

This link has a preview:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swanson-Li...084M462QN&revisionId=6d71a0a&format=1&depth=1

Foreword by Paul Begg is a token of quality, but 792 pages is... a little much!

He has recently published a much shorter book exclusively on the Swanson connection with the Ripper case:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swanson-Id...c6179&pd_rd_wg=zW5uE&pd_rd_i=1914277090&psc=1

Interview with the author here:

 

[Ascalon]

Have been enthralled by the podcast from the book, The Five, by Hallie Rubenhold. It's called Bad Women.

Apart from some terrible 'Murican style advertising breaks, it is most excellent.

To hear the scholarly work, additional voices and some hamfisted attempts at rebuttals by famous ripperologists — in their voices — is quite something.

Available fro Pushkin, or from Spotify with a sub.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

So what is the opinion here of Aaron Kosminski, the Polish Jewish immigrant whose dna was apparently found on Catherine Eddowes' shawl? Is he still a Jack The Ripper suspect?

 

[Ascalon]

So what is the opinion here of Aaron Kosminski, the Polish Jewish immigrant whose dna was apparently found on Catherine Eddowes' shawl? Is he still a Jack The Ripper suspect?

In a word, no.
The supposed Eddowes Shawl is more like a shaggy dog story.
Its provenance is highly dubious, and even if it was Kate's, its reliability as a source of DNA is even less trustworthy. Also, the analysis of the DNA that was collected from the shawl was found to be deeply flawed.

The shawl aside, Kosminski is a poor suspect. I refer you to the assessment by Sugden and his excellent scholarly appraisal.

Kosminski, as he is recorded in the sources, does not fit what is known. There is much to suggest there might be two potential Kosminski suspects, but there is not enough in the historical records to distinguish them sufficiently.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

In a word, no.
The supposed Eddowes Shawl is more like a shaggy dog story.
Its provenance is highly dubious, and even if it was Kate's, its reliability as a source of DNA is even less trustworthy. Also, the analysis of the DNA that was collected from the shawl was found to be deeply flawed.

The shawl aside, Kosminski is a poor suspect. I refer you to the assessment by Sugden and his excellent scholarly appraisal.

Kosminski, as he is recorded in the sources, does not fit what is known. There is much to suggest there might be two potential Kosminski suspects, but there is not enough in the historical records to distinguish them sufficiently.

Perhaps one day in the future when science and technology has made advances, that shawl will be analyzed again for definite dna results, that would be interesting.

 

[DrPaulLee]

The shawl probably can't provide any clues: it has decades worth of DNA contamination on it!

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

The shawl probably can't provide any clues: it has decades worth of DNA contamination on it!

Yes, I would expect that - but who knows what future technology might reveal?
A few decades ago, dna technology did not even exist.

 

[Ascalon]

The story of how the shawl came to be in the possession of the policeman in question is highly dubious. It is not recorded anywhere in police evidence, nor is it consistent with its owner.
Eddowes was short 4d for her doss. The shawl, if memory serves, was a reasonably good quality piece of material, and quite a lot more of it than a normal shawl. It would easily have fetched enough for doss money for both Kate and her partner. Having just walked back, penniless from a failed hop picking expedition that earned them nothing, they would not have hesitated to pawn such an item. They had already pawned Kelly's boots.
Also, if memory serves, the PC in question wasn't even assigned to the case or the district, again casting further doubt on provenance.
Added to all of this is the fact that the shawl has been handled and displayed for a century, meaning that any kind of analysis is going to face the challenges of degradation and contamination.
The shawl is an interesting cultural artefact, but not likely to ever contribute materially to the case.

 

[Ascalon]

Having read the work of Halle Rubenhold, The Five, and listened to her subsequent podcast series, where she fairly comprehensively debunks the old assertion that all the Ripper’s victims were prostitutes, I have been pondering the implications.

On a very simplistic level, and not wishing to take away from her scholarly work at all, she fairly comprehensively proves that both Annie Chapman and Catherine Eddowes were not prostitutes and there is no evidence whatsoever that they even engaged in casual sex work. In fact, the picture that emerges from her entirely evidential work is that they both were of a disposition to leverage any and all other means of making money. Catherine in particular, had spent years with her partner, travelling the country in a sort of entertainment role, where they performed, sold sheet music and generally lived off their wits. As such, soliciting would have been far from her mind, and even abhorrent.

So, taking that as a starting point, we must look specifically at the eyewitness testimony, because in both cases, the major evidence appears to be from the two in question allegedly being seen soliciting.

Annie was reportedly seen standing against the wall outside 29 Hanbury Street, talking to a man that says “Will you?”

Catherine was supposedly seen with her hand on a man’s chest near Mitre Square, minutes before she was found brutally murdered. In Annie’s case, the eyewitness is quite certain of the ID, in the case of Catherine, it is much less so, and relies on how she was dressed.

The latter ID, near Mitre Square, was actually the basis of almost the entire case against Kosminski. So, if Catherine was not soliciting, if it was not her that was seen by Joseph Lawende, where does that leave us in terms of an eyewitness account and a physical description?

Well, oddly enough, the Lawende description feeds into the sailor narrative, but the Hanbury street witness, Mrs Elizabeth Long, establishes the shabby genteel foreigner.

If both are now removed from the canon, where does that leave the case?

There is no suspect ID or account from witnesses in the Polly Nichols case, and Elizabeth Stride reports are problematic because of the altercation she was involved in before her death. Mary Kelly’s case is also problematic because her erstwhile partner, Joseph Barnett, has admitted hanging around her room, and so it is difficult to distinguish the suspect IDs from observations of Barnett himself.

All we are left with now is the account of Mary Cox, a resident of the court in which MJK lived, and her account of a portly, shabby genteel gentleman carrying a pall of beer. It appears this was a john being taken to MJK’s room, as she was known to be a sex worker. However, this was several hours before the time of death and cannot necessarily be taken as the killer. Also, this is the only, time that the attribute of “portly” has entered the arena.

Also, it does not tally with the George Hutchinson account, which also fits the shabby genteel image, but is often taken as fabricated, though Inspector Frederick Abberline is reported to have taken it seriously.

As Rubenhold robustly demonstrates, much of what is recorded in later works on the case as eyewitness accounts are actually repeated accounts circulated by the press, which have been sometimes embellished, sensationalised, or otherwise gone through a less than rigorous process. Going back to police reports, insofar as possible, narrows things down, but alas, yields no strong evidence.

Other implications of this work are that soliciting, in the case of Annie and Catherine, cannot be seen as the method by which the killer brought the women to the scene of their awful murders. In both cases, the sleeping rough theory has been cited. While this may have been plausible for Annie in the yard of 29 Hanbury Street, it does not fit quite so well for Catherine. Though Mitre Square would certainly have been dark enough for the purpose, it is known that the night watchman that police alerted on finding the body of Catherine, and ex-PC himself, was assiduous in keeping the area clear of rough sleepers and casual traders. As such, it is unlikely that Catherine would have bedded down there for any length of time. Also, we have the testimony of the PC who was on the beat and passed through the square mere minutes before Catherine entered and met her terrible end.

What other methods might be considered? Catherine might have been lured on the promise of earning money in some other way. She was an accomplished street performer, who no doubt would be a good judge of a crowd’s mood, but in desperate times might have let her guard down.

In any case, the facts now established force the reconsideration of what might have been accepted physical descriptions and possible methods of entrapment. Alas, what Rubenhold’s work accomplishes is to add significantly to the real facts of the case, but not to its ultimate conclusion.

 

[Yithian]

Hallie Rubenhold has been interviewed by 'The Murder Squad' Podcast.

Consensus is that she put in a poor performance and said a number of untrue things, but make up your own mind.

'Monstered in the comments' is a description I heard recently that made me smile.

Edit: I'm re-listening to this now. I'm no Ripperologist, but I know a fair bit about Victorian London and the most charitable description I can manage of her sketch of the background to the killings is 'detail light'.

Edit 2: The interruption from one of the hosts to state that 'We use sex-worker' was wholly jarring--he can use whatever he likes! One does not request an interview and then dictate the language that the interviewee uses to express herself.

Edit 3: She simply says she doesn't know anything much about the women's wounds, which is... refreshing!

Edit 4: This podcast and its hosts are a bit crap.

Winter Distraction: The Victims of Jack the Ripper with Hallie Rubenhold, Part 1​

JANUARY 17TH, 2022 | 38:05 | S3:E45
SHAREEMBEDRECASTSUBSCRIBE

EPISODE SUMMARY​

Author and historian Hallie Rubenhold joins Billy and Paul to discuss her book The Five. The three discuss the five canonical victims--Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes, and Mary Kelly--of Jack the Ripper in England 1888.

EPISODE NOTES​

Author and historian Hallie Rubenhold joins Billy and Paul to discuss her book The Five. The three discuss the five canonical victims--Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes, and Mary Kelly--of Jack the Ripper in England 1888.

Source:
https://jensen-and-holes-the-murder...-ripper-with-hallie-rubenhold-part-1-HWTlaJRS

===========================================================

Winter Distraction: The Victims of Jack the Ripper with Hallie Rubenhold, Part 2​

JANUARY 24TH, 2022 | 33:32 | S3:E46
SHAREEMBEDRECASTSUBSCRIBE

EPISODE SUMMARY​

Paul and Billy continue their conversation about Jack the Ripper's victims--Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes, and Mary Kelly--with author and historian Hallie Rubenhold. This week they concentrate on the last victim and Hallie's latest project.

EPISODE NOTES​

Paul and Billy continue their conversation about Jack the Ripper's victims--Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes, and Mary Kelly--with author and historian Hallie Rubenhold. This week they concentrate on the last victim and Hallie's latest project.

Source:
https://jensen-and-holes-the-murder...-ripper-with-hallie-rubenhold-part-2-sHkR6m7R

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

That shawl is of interest if it actually has Catherine Eddowes' blood on it, and also Kosminski's semen -
and police records from those times are certainly not the same as today, with chain-of-evidence requirements, etc.

 

[Ascalon]

Cheers for that, @Yithian
Will give that a whirl.
Interested to hear how her work stands up, because some supposedly authoritative voices have somewhat dirtied their bibs in trying to tackle her.