Alice McKenzie was murdered in the early hours of July 17th, 1889, and immediately speculation was rife that her death might spell the return of Jack the Ripper after a prolonged absence for the streets of the East End of some nine months.
Her body was found at 12.50am on 17th July 1889 Police Constable Walter Andrews found the body of local prostitute Alice McKenzie lying close to a lamp-post on a pavement in Castle Alley, just off Whitechapel High Street.
Her skirt had been pulled up and there was blood over her thigh and abdomen which, it transpired was coming from a zigzag, albeit fairly superficial, wound that ran from just beneath her left breast to her navel.
The Divisional Police Surgeon, Dr George Bagster Philips, was summoned and having examined the body, he pronounced life extinct.
The victim of the murder was about forty-five years of age, and was about five foot four inches in height. She had brown hair and eyes and a fair complexion.
She is believed to have been of the “unfortunate” class, but has not yet been identified.
She wore a red staff bodice, patched under the arm and a brown staff skirt. She also had on a linsey petticoat, black stockings, buttoned boots, and a Paisley shawl; but no hat or bonnet.
One peculiarity in the description may serve for purposes of identification: part of the nail on the thumb on the left hand is deficient.
On the 20th July 1889 the East London Observer reported that:
“The murder fiend is at his terribly ghastly work again. Countless pens are taken up again to write up the details of a mysterious and horrible crime in Whitechapel; and the heart of the nation is again harrowed by revolting stories of murder and mutilation. But what is there new to be said. Everything is on the same lines with the series of barbarous atrocities of last year – so nearly, indeed, does the crime tally with its ghastly predecessors that for all purposes we might as well tear out from the journals of that date a column or two describing one of last year’s murders, alter a name here and a street there, and the sad tale would be complete…”;
So was this poor women another victim of Jack the Ripper?
A new round of scientific tests of a shawl reputedly carried by a woman killed by Jack the Ripper reinforces an author’s claim that the serial murderer was an insane Polish barber named Aaron Kosminski.
But this news has not yet been widely accepted. Any theory of the identity of Jack the Ripper inevitably is met with furious debate, and this theory — and its supporting scientific evidence — is no exception. Kosminski has always been on the list of suspects. But this “proof” is questionable.
Aaron Kosminski was a Polish immigrant who police suspected at the time of being the murderer. In 1888, he was in his early twenties, living with his two brothers and a sister on Greenfield Street, just 200 yards from where Elizabeth Stride, one of the victims, was found dead on September 30th.
It is the shawl supposedly belonging to the fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, that led to this announcement. Author Russell Edwards, who first revealed that he was in possession of the shawl in 2014, said that it contained genetic material from both Eddowes and Kosminski. He bought the shawl at a 2007 auction.
Kosminski’s identity was reportedly confirmed by researchers from Liverpool John Moores University who shared their recent findings in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.
The 1894 memorandum written by Sir Melville Macnaghten, Assistant Chief Constable of the London Metropolitan Police, naming ‘Kosminski’ as one of three suspects in the Jack the Ripper case.
“We applied novel, minimally destructive techniques for sample recovery from forensically relevant stains on the evidence and separated single cells linked to the suspect, followed by phenotypic analysis,” they wrote. “The mtDNA profiles of both the victim and the suspect matched the corresponding reference samples, fortifying the link of the evidence to the crime scene.”
“Genomic DNA from single cells recovered from the evidence was amplified, and the phenotypic information acquired matched the only witness statement regarded as reliable. To our knowledge, this is the most advanced study to date regarding this case.”
Jack the Ripper is believed to have murdered five women in the Whitechapel district of London, ending with the horrific killing of Mary Jane Kelly on November 9, 1888.
A new book titled The Five is drawing a great deal of attention, with its emphasis on the lives of those women. The author, historian Hallie Rubenhold, said in an interview with The Vintage News, “My book is the first full-length biography which looks at the five women’s lives in detail, apart from their murders or the story of the murderer. It also adds badly needed context to the women’s lives. For over 130 years, our society has been more interested in solving the murders than it has been in looking at those who were murdered.”
Any narrative on Jack the Ripper always begins with the horrific murders of these women. “The narrative was not concerned with who they were, but generally regarded their deaths as a way of figuring out the identity of the murderer,” said Rubenhold. “By understanding their lives, we can now insert their stories back into this episode of history and make it less about the murderer and more of a well-rounded story about the people and the community who were effected by these terrible events.” The Kosminski family was a part of that community without question. On July 12, 1890, Kosminski’s brother placed him in a workhouse because of his behavior. He was released soon after but the following February his family committed him again, and this time he was transferred to an asylum. It was noted as part of his admission that he had threatened his sister with a knife.
He died in an asylum in 1919.
Kosminski, who suffered from auditory hallucinations, feared food, and would not wash or bathe, does not fit the image some people have of a mastermind sadist able to elude police in the densely populated Whitechapel. Nor does he seem capable of sending a series of taunting letters to the press and police signed “Jack the Ripper.”
The most famous of those letters is the “Dear Boss” missive, sent to the Metropolitan Police on September 29th, beginning with “I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track.” Another was sent on October 1st in the same handwriting, “You’ll hear about Saucy Jack’s work tomorrow double event this time…
Although the letter indicates knowledge of murdering Stride and Eddowes, it could have been written and posted after those murders were common knowledge.
Moreover, some experts take the position that the letters were a hoax, or written by a reporter to increase newspaper circulation.
Kosminski was a suspect at the time of the murders and an eyewitness on the scene identified him, but he was never arrested.
In an article about Kosminski written by Dr. Frederick Walker and posted on the Jack the Ripper Casebook, he writes, “Aaron Kosminski is one of only two suspects (the other being Joseph Barnett) against whom there is real evidence or testimony. The case against Kosminski is stronger than many of us who believe in alternate theories are generally prepared to admit — it is even stronger than those who suspect Kosminski usually dare to argue.”
The problem with the shawl is that it is never been verified that it belonged to Catherine Eddowes. The shawl was obtained from David Melville-Hayes, who is the great-great nephew of Amos Simpson — an acting sergeant in the London police who it is said recovered the shawl from the Eddowes crime scene. The weakness in this chain of evidence is, skeptics say, the shawl was not listed as evidence at the time of the murder.
Nonetheless, Jari Louhelainen of Liverpool John Moores University said in the report he has linked some of the DNA from the stains to the genetic signature of Eddowes’ distant relatives. Another DNA signature, purportedly attributed to semen on the scarf, was linked to relatives of Kosminski.
Hallie Rubenhold is highly doubtful that this shawl “news” solves the case.
“This recent paper proves nothing,” she said. “Nothing fundamental has changed about it, yet it’s being dangled in front of us as if it’s all new. Geneticists investigated the claims years ago and determined there were serious problems with the so-called results.”
She continued, “Additionally, from the historical point of view, there is absolutely nothing that connects this shawl to Catherine Eddowes — not one piece of evidence, not one document. You simply can’t make up the provenance of an object, it has to be backed up with documentation — ask any curator.”
Another skeptic, Dr. Adam Rutherford, a geneticist, said about the shawl on Twitter, “Even if it was really present at the murder scene, and bizarrely was kept (none of Catherine Eddowes’ other clothes were), and kept unwashed, the way it has been handled since would render DNA analysis cripplingly problematic.”
There have been many, many theories about Jack the Ripper but how about this one.
Did Florence kill Jack the Ripper?
Florence Maybrick may well of killed Jack the Ripper. 1889 the 27-year-old American was found guilty of poisoning her drug-addict husband James Maybrick with arsenic.
It was a shocking crime and the Daily Mirror reported the scandal.
Apparently new evidence has put Maybrick in the dock as a Jack the Ripper suspect.
A diary has been found under his floorboards and there are claims it has been written by the Ripper. And experts have managed to authenticate it was written at the right time, this could possibly mean the diary is genuine.
Florence had married Maybrick in 1881. He was 23 years her senior and lived in a middle-class home in Liverpool with their children James and Gladys. They were just seven and three when their father died – and their mother became the most notorious woman in the country.
Florence and James both committed adultery and when she ended up in court the judge James Fitzjames Stephen, was enraged. He told the jury if she was admitting adultery, she was no better than a murderess anyway and a death sentence was handed down.
Home Secretary Henry Matthews agreed to reassess her case and argued that it couldn’t be proven she had killed Maybrick in their home in Aigburth, in the suburbs of Liverpool.
His decision rescued her from the gallows, but she remained in prison for 15 years, first in Woking, Surrey at Woking Convict Prison, she endured solitary confinement, hard labour and frequent ill health. In a book she wrote after her release, she describes her experiences as “torture”, “hideous” and “tyrannous”.
And then in Aylesbury, Bucks.
Florence was finally released in 1904.
So did she kill Jack the Ripper?
I guess that question remains…but hopefully not for too much longer.
Well we don’t know whether it just one person or maybe even two?
Mei Trow believes it to be Robert Mann, a morgue attendant. Trow has used up to date CSI forensic techniques as well as current psychological profiling and also geographical profiling.
In 1988 the FBI took an examination of the Ripper case which led to an apparently rather comprehensive criminal personality profile:
This profile described the killer as lower class white man probably the product of a broken home, he had a menial job and would’ve had some anatomical knowledge. Maybe a butcher, mortuary assistant or possibly a hospital porter and because of the solitude of his job he may well of found it difficult to interact with others and could’ve been rather socially inept, possibly somewhere on the autistic spectrum.
Mann who I have never heard of was generally fatherless and spent much of his time a child in a workhouse, but then again that could describe many, many poor people.
“I wanted to go beyond the myth of a caped man with a top hat and knife, and get to the reality, and the reality is simply that Jack was an ordinary man.” states Trow.
He also believes that Martha Tabram was stabbed to death in Gunthorpe Street may well have been his first and an Alice Mackenzie may have been his last.
In terms of psychological profiling, Robert Mann is the one of the most credible suspects from recent years and the closest we may ever get to a plausible psychological explanation for these most infamous of Victorian murders.” explains Professor Laurence Alison, Forensic Psychologist from Liverpool University.
However, it is worth bearing in mind that with more than 100 suspects over the years, Robert Mann will be another identity to add to the been proposed one over the years.
It is a fascinating mystery but one we probably never get to the bottom of!
It’s been some 125 year since Jack the Ripper and now a team of historians are bringing the killings into the 21st century to mark the anniversary of the Ripper’s murders.
Of course we still hve no idea who murdered at least five women and possibly more on
the streets of Whitechapel at tail end of the 19th century, now with twitter you too can relive the events and horror of the time through the @WChapelRealTime account. This went live live today and will give real-time updates for four months which covers the time of the murders in foggy East End in 1888.
Steven Halliday who is a ripper historian or ‘ripperologist’ as some may call him is the man behind the project.
He says “Jack the Ripper attracted more attention than any other criminal before that time. His crimes were so gruesome he disembodied his victims. But he was also never caught.His antics were horrific and a microcosm of the horrors of Victorian London. It was a lawless place, with great division in society.”
The tweets are quite raw and very detailed but may well make fascinating reading. Historian Jamie Wolfendale added ‘Social media is what young people use nowadays. We hope this will engage them in history more’ which is a fine sentiment if you ask me
Jack the Ripper never seem to cease fascinate us, but why?
Well I would hazard that it is the classic ‘whodunit’, it is also the setting of poverty and squalor which all tied up in the literature of the time from Dickens to Conan-Doyle.
So to add to all this we have Tony Williams, 49, Sir John Williams great-great-great-great nephew.
He has now published a book which features the startling image of the knife, supposedly used by he ripper, his relative’s.
The Welsh surgeon Sir John Williams was a chief suspect in the Victorian murders. Sir John or ‘Uncle Jack’ as he was known to his family was (and more importantly) the surgeon to Queen Victoria who was living in London at the time of the slayings. Sir John Williams removed himself from the capital after the murders.
Back to the present day, it appears that Tony Williams has unearthed the old black-handled surgeon’s knife which he used for operations and believes it could be the murder weapon, but then again he was a surgeon and I’m sure that he had several knifes as tools of the trade so to speak.
The knife was among a number of possessions left by the Welshman which included three glass slides which contains smears of a uterus.
Mr Williams told The Telegraph:
”Why would he leave this behind? I am convinced that this is the knife used by Sir John Williams to murder those women. ”It is widely know that the person who carried out the killings would have had significant medical knowledge. ”Sir John Williams was an accomplished surgeon and routinely performed abortions on women. He held surgeries all over London at the time of the murders.” He added: ”Dr Thomas Bond, a pathologist who examined the body of Mary Kelly, said the ripper had used the same six inch knife in all the murders. ”He said it would have been at least six inches long, very sharp, pointed at the top and about an inch in width – a surgeon’s knife. ”This is the knife that fits the description that I’ve held in my hand back in the National Library of Wales.”
Tony Williams claims that the possessions including an old diary, the knife and some glass slides prove his ‘Uncle Jack’ had the medical expertise and motive for the murders.
He went to tell the Telegraph:
”I looked through the possessions that he left and found the knife along with three glass slides. ”The smears on the glass slides have been tested and are confirmed as being matter from the uterus. ”I know Sir John was obsessed by the fact that his wife, Mary Hughes, could not have children. I think that was his motive.” He added: ”I think he was a Jekyll and Hyde-type character who may have been driven to commit murder because his wife could not have children. He was also known to be working on a cure for his wife’s problem.”
So another theory to add to the ever-growing list and tine continue to feed our fascination with the most infamous serial killer of all time.
Jack the Ripper’s dead And lying in his bed He cut his throat With Sunlight soap Jack the Ripper’s dead.
The Whitechapel Murderer, Leather Apron or as he is commonly know Jack the Ripper has been a source of fear and fascination since the horrific serial murders of 1888 and although released in Jan 2011 I came across ‘Jack the Ripper – The Definitive Story’ a few nights ago on HD5.
Great CGI/real life
I have a hard time to believe that this is the ‘definitive’ story, more like another story really or opinion but it is very well put together.
It starts off informing us that jack started his attacks with Emma Smith and Martha Tabran, they were attacked around the same time, in the same area and they too were alcoholics very much other 5 known victims.
Mary Ann Nichols
Annie Chapman
Elizabeth Stride
Catherine Eddowes
Mary Jane Kelly
Initially there was some belief that a solider, a coldstream guard was the killer but that proved to be false.
An 'expert' - Bill Beadle
There are lots of ‘experts’ pop-ups, some good acting and the computer graphics are not bad really and do make good backgrounds and give you an idea of what it was like compared to Whitechapel nowadays.
There are maps with arrows showing who was where, the CGI has the lighting set as it was in 1888.
It gives the gruesome details of death and the authentic photos of the victims and lots of ‘facts’ are bombarded at you..but It was very interesting to hear the background of the victims, something we don’t often hear.
It was also interesting to see how the press dealt with it and the sensationalism around the case.
I guess my only problem was whether to believe these’ facts’ or not, and sadly I understand these were cut (no pun intended) by some 45m mins so we didn’t get the whole story anyway.
and the conclusion…well you need to watch it for yourself but all in all a great introduction to one of the defining crimes of the Victorian Era.
From the makers:
Jack the Ripper the Definitive Story. Written by Paul Begg and John Bennett. Featuring experts: Philip Hutchinson, Richard Jones, Neil Bell, Neal Shelden and many more experts.
JTR, The Definitive Story, is a two hour docudrama that sets out to portray the Jack the Ripper murders as accurately as possible. Going back to original source materials and featuring the virtual environments of Jakko Luukanen.
The program sets out to reconstruct the witness statements as accurately as possible using the latest technologies available..
Broadcast on Channel FIVE in December 2010 and HISTORY UK in February 2011, JTR The Definitive Story is set for world wide release. DVD featuring extra footage!
Our aim is to provide the most accurate portrail of the Jack the Ripper murders ever . Two hours of cats taken from original source material and in conjunction with the soon to be released Jack The RipperA to Z.
Jack the Ripper, The Definitive Story is the first HD surround sound documentary ever created by Ripperologists. A program at last dedicated to the facts surrounding the case.
On this day 123 years ago, Jack the Ripper claimed his first victim. But who was this serial killer? This new e-fit finally puts a face to Carl Feigenbaum, a key suspect from Germany.
Jack the Ripper is the world’s most famous cold case – the identity of the man who brutally murdered five women in London’s East End in autumn 1888 remains a mystery.
More than 200 suspects have been named. But to Ripper expert Trevor Marriott, a former murder squad detective, German merchant Carl Feigenbaum is the top suspect.
Convicted of murdering his landlady in Manhattan, Feigenbaum died in the electric chair in New York’s Sing Sing prison in 1894. His lawyer suspected him of the Ripper murders too.
No photos of Feigenbaum exist. So Marriott has produced this new e-fit for BBC One’s National Treasures Live, created from the description on the admittance form when he was in prison on remand in New York.
Why does Marriott think Feigenbaum is Jack the Ripper? Evidence, in the form of police documents and hundreds of letters to the authorities and newspapers, give us some clues.
The assumption has long been that Jack must have had anatomical knowledge because of the skill with which his victims’ organs were removed.
But it’s possible these were cut out in the mortuary, rather than by Jack at the scene. The 1832 Anatomy Act made it legal for medical personnel to remove organs for training purposes.
This theory is supported by documents on the fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes. The inquest report shows only 14 minutes elapsed from the time the police did their last sweep of the square in which she was killed and her body being discovered.
Was this really enough time for someone to have killed Eddowes, removed her uterus with surgical precision, and all in near complete blackness? Regardless of one’s medical knowledge, this seems a stretch.
So Marriott believes Jack wasn’t necessarily a surgeon after all.
He began to investigate other groups who might have been in the area. St Katharine and the London Docks are a short walk from Whitechapel, a place merchant seamen would have flocked to as it was an infamous red light district. Such close proximity would have made it easy for the killer to steal back to his ship unnoticed.
His decision rescued her from the gallows, but she remained in prison for 15 years, first in Woking, Surrey at Woking Convict Prison, she endured solitary confinement, hard labour and frequent ill health. In a book she wrote after her release, she describes her experiences as “torture”, “hideous” and “tyrannous”.
London By Gaslight 