Montague John Druitt : Whitechapel Murderer ?

[Johnr]

Hello Jonathan Miss Anna, Gareth, Roy et al,

Having waded through Jonathan's non-turgid, non-convoluted ,but very long dissertation on Macnaghten and his prime candidate for JTR, I think you have made out a very interesting case.

I particularly like the way you have built upon Tom Cullen's early investigations and theorising.Of course, he published using the Aberconway version of the MM.

Roy Jenkins did not release the "official/unofficial" copy from the police files till 1974.

Cullen, being a journalist obviously drew on newspapers a lot.His was a book from the era before indexes. Though he did have footnotes.To be fair he could hardly draw on police files so early in the piece.

Yes, Cullen's, like McCormick's - dare I say it -is a colourful read.I think the former is a tad more honest though. Cullen tells you how many gold watches were pickpocketed on Lord Mayors Day 1888. And makes an early Druitt/Toynbee Hall link.

Jonathan, I would like to see you cut up your long post above, and repost it as two pieces on the Tom Cullen thread and Macnaghten Memo thread.

So things don't get lost.Well done. In my opinion. JOHN RUFFELS.

[miss_anna]

MacNaghten's Wikipedia biography confirms that MacNaghten was not directly involved with the ripper investigation!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melville_Macnaghten QUOTE:
Even though he was not directly involved with the investigation of the Ripper killings, like most members of the Metropolitan Police, Macnaghten took an active interest in the case. As Chief Constable he had access to police records on the case; as a result of his own investigation he wrote a confidential report dated February 23, 1894; however, the report was not publicly available until 1959 and the complete report was not available or viewing and reproduction until 2002. This report proved influential for Ripper research, for it established the canonical victims of the serial killer at five, as well as naming three possible suspects.

[Jonathan H]

Hi John R

Thanks very much for your kind and thoughtful response to my long post. Much appreciated.

I think I have already written a lot of this on the Macnaghten thread?

I'll go and check.

When you say post it on the Cullen thread, do you mean in the Books section -- where this great writer is dismissed as having about as much relevance as a gramophone?

Cheers Jonathan H