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  • Article on Abberline's opinions

    I was sent the article below by Simon Wood and will be sending it for inclusion in the Press Reports section

    Chris

    Los Angeles Times
    19 April 1903

    RIPPER JACK JUST HANGED.
    Executed Pole Connected with Whitechapel Horrors.
    Fiend Convicted of Poisoning Three Female Consorts.
    Scotland Yarder Believes He was Wizard Murderer - Queer Theory of Coroner.

    By Curtis Brown.
    (Staff Correspondent of The Times.)

    London, March 25.
    It is doubtful if a more extraordinary development ever took place in connection with the prosecution of a criminal than that by which Severino Klosowski (alias George Chapman,) condemned to die April 6 for poisoning three woman in succession, is indicated as the world famous assassin "Jack the Ripper," as well as the author of similar crimes in America.
    Although a brief statement of the fact has been sent by cable, the details are worth giving in full. Klosowski, a Pole, who, as George Chapman, kept a saloon in the East End of London, was arrested on the charge of killing pretty Maude Marsh, his barmaid and nominal wife, by poisoning her. Then it was discovered that two former wives of Klosowski's had died in suspicious circumstances, and when their bodies were exhumed, large quantities of antimony, the poison used by the murderer in killing Maude Marsh, were found in them. Klosowski's trial left no possible doubt that he had put all three women out of the way as he had grown tired of them, and he was condemned to be hanged.
    It was first suggested that klosowski might be "Jack the Ripper" when at his trial it came out that when the Pole reached London in 1888 - the year of the Ripper crimes - he went to live in George Yard, Whitechapel, where the first of the famous murderer's many women victims was found dead, and that this was his home during all the time when the assassinations were being committed. At the trial, too, a woman named Lucy Braderski, whom the police discovered and who proved to have been the murderer's first and real wife, testified that he once attempted to kill her with a long knife - precisely such a weapon as that with which the "Ripper" is supposed to have muitilated his victims. The woman also testified that she and Klosowski once made a trip to the United States and lived there for several months. Soon after returning to this country, they separated.
    Since Klosowski's conviction, Scotland Yard, whose officials never have taken any stock in the stories that the "Ripper" was dead, or a lunatic, but who always have hoped to wipe off a stain on their record by nabbing him, have been working quietly on the clew thus gained.
    It is F.C. (sic) Abberline, former Chief Detective of the Scotland Yard forces, who now declares publicly his conviction that Klosowski was the "Ripper." And Ex Inspector Abberline is the exact man who might be expected to take the greatest interest in this part of the murderer's record, as he it was who had charge of criminal investigations at the time of the Whitechapel crimes.
    Briefly, these are the reasons which the retired sleuth hound has just given to the Conmmissioner of Police for his belief that Klosowski and the "Ripper" are identical: To begin with, there is the fact that the date of Klosowski's arrival in London and residence in Whitechapel was coincidental with the beginnning and duration of the Ripper murders.
    Then there is the circumstance, which was brought out at the murderer's trial, that he studied medicine in Russia and was once an assistant surgeon. One of the features of the "Ripper" murders was the horrible precision with which the assassin's victims' bodies were mutilated - which at the time gave th idea that the criminal must be a physician.
    At Klosowski's trial, too, it was stated that, when he lived in Whitechapel, he was in the habit of wearing a peaked cap. Such a cap was worn by the "Ripper." The "Ripper," like Klosowski, was a man of middle height, and it is stated also that each of the few persons who claimed to have seen the Whitechapel murderer, described him as a "foreign looking man."
    There also is the circumstance that Klosowski once attempted to kill the only one of his wives who escaped from him alive by attacking her with a knife. But what hs impressed ex Inspector Abberline most strongly of all is the fact that toward the end of 1888 Klosowski went to the United States to live; for one of the most sensational developments of the "Ripper" mystery was that, shortly after the murders ceased in Whitechapel, a series of crimes of the same sort began in America. At the time it was supposed that some American pervert merely had been inspired to imitate the London assassin's example.
    There is still another link in the chain with which, as the author of the Whitechapel murders, the ex Scotland Yarder is seeking to forge about the Pole, Klosowski, and curiously enough, it is also particularly of interest to Americans.
    "While the Coroner was investigating one of the East End murders," says ex Inspector Abberline, "he told the jury a very queer story. You will remember that the divisional surgeon, who made the post mortem examination, not only spoke of the skilfulness with which the knife had been used, but stated that there was overwhelming evidence to show that the criminal had so mutilated the body that he could possess himself of opne of the organs. The coroner, on commenting on this, said that he had been told by the sub curator of the pathological museum connected with one of the great medical schools that some few months before an American had called upon him and asked him to procure a number of specimens. He stated his willingness to give $100 for each. Although the strange visitor was told that his wish was impossible of fulfilment, he still urged his request. It was known that the request was repeated at another institution of a similar character in London. The Coroner at the time said 'Is it not possible that a knowledge of this demand may have inspired some abandoned wretch to possess himself of the specimens? It seems beyond belief that such inhuman wickedness could enter into the mind of any man; but, unfortunately, our criminal annals prove that every crime is possible.'"
    "It is a remarkable thing," Abberline pointed out, "that after the Whitechapel horrors America should have been the place where a similar kind of murder began,as though the miscreant had not fully supplied the demand of the American agent."
    It was only yesterday that the veteran Scotland Yarder's remarkable theory was made public, and at this time it cannot be said what steps will be taken towards confirming it. When convicted of the poisoning of his three wives, Klosowski, who so far had assumed a careless attitude, broke down completely and wept as sentence was being passed upon him. His lawyer, who visited him in the condemned cell the other day, reported that the criminal was employed in writing out a lengthy statement of some kind, so that there is a possibility that Klosowski has decided to reveal himself as one of the most famous of modern criminals and is the man of all men upon whom the London police have, since the commission of the ghastly series of butcheries in Whitechapel, been most anxious to lay their hands.

  • #2
    Hi Chris,
    Thank you so much for sharing this article! I appreciate this site so much and all the members here. I have learned more than I could have ever dreamed of about this case from this site alone, and of course everyone here. This article is definitely an interesting read.
    Thanks again Chris!
    nickie

    Comment


    • #3
      More clues connect this man to the Whitechapel murders than anyone else.
      FBI and other criminologist agree that in crimes of this type the perpetrator will live in the immediate vicinity, Chapman did right in the middle of all of the killing scenes.
      It does take someone with medical and surgical knowledge to remove a womens womb, and other organs from the body while being accomplished in a distinct and deliberate manner as to prevent blood from soaking the guilty person. Doing all of this in a very stressfull and time restricted situation proves it was not some unknowledgeable novice, do not discount this important fact.
      Chapman had received medical training, and at one time had been a surgeon.
      The murders in Whitechapel began when Chapman moved to England and into the area in 1888.
      It ceased temporarily when he left for the United States, but resumed when he returned, this to me is very informative.
      A serial killer that targets women is heterosexual never homosexual, and will have strong sexual tendencies. Chapman was known to have a very strong sexual libido.
      Chapman proved he was a murderer by killing his own wive's.
      A wife that survived claimed he attempted to kill her with a long knife, this proves he was able to kill and was not restricted to any one particular method.
      The butchering and viciousness of the Ripper crimes exhibited his extreme violent tendencies and hatred of prostitutes, he also enjoyed shocking and tormenting the police and public.
      Chapman was foreign and Jewish, and he fit the description of eyewitness's.
      The statement that was chalked on the wall at one murder scene was in my opinion left by the murderer, and the spelling of Jews as Juwes was a red herring. ( The Juwes will not be blamed for nothing )
      I just do not buy the theory that the message was there before, or after the murder by an innocent bystander.

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi John,
        Originally posted by John Witney View Post
        Chapman was foreign and Jewish.
        He wasn't Jewish, though.
        A wife that survived claimed he attempted to kill her with a long knife, this proves he was able to kill and was not restricted to any one particular method.
        If that story is true, I'm afraid it only shows that he was capable of threatening his wife with a knife. This puts him in the company of millions of other men and does not signify that he was of the "cutting" type of killer at all, still less the "cutting-and-eviscerating" type.
        Kind regards, Sam Flynn

        "Suche Nullen" (Nietzsche, Götzendämmerung, 1888)

        Comment


        • #5
          He always seems to be a good favourite but the thing that troubles me is the sudden change to the way he murders if he was the ripper, from a knife with what seems like increasing malice to poison seems to much of a switch in styles of murder and a massive switch in personality.

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi John and welcome,

            To be fair, we don't know that the ripper was especially bothered by "shocking and tormenting the police and public", and he didn't fit the eyewitness descriptions very well at all.

            It does take someone with medical and surgical knowledge to remove a womens womb, and other organs from the body while being accomplished in a distinct and deliberate manner as to prevent blood from soaking the guilty person
            Well, that's if he was doing it in a "distinct and deliberate" manner as opposed to slashing and grabbing whatever looked interesting. If he wanted to prevent the blood from soiling his garments all he had to to was tilt the body away from himself when cutting the throat, and it appears he did precisely that.

            The murders in Whitechapel began when Chapman moved to England and into the area in 1888.
            We don't know that he moved into the area in 1888, unfortunately.

            The statement that was chalked on the wall at one murder scene was in my opinion left by the murderer, and the spelling of Jews as Juwes was a red herring.
            In what sense?

            All the best,
            Ben

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by John Witney View Post
              It ceased temporarily when he left for the United States, but resumed when he returned, this to me is very informative.
              Not strictly true John. Unless you count McKenzie and Coles (which very few of us do) then the murders ceased in November 88. It wasn't until about the spring of 91 that Chapman moved to the States. And contrary to one popular myth, there was only one American murder (Carrie Brown) that was remotely Ripper-like. It is far more plausible that the Ripper murders ceased in November 88 because something happened to the killer to cause him to stop (and there is nothing in Chapman's well documented life to account for that) and that McKenzie, Coles and Brown were the work of 'copy' killers who had read about the Ripper's crimes in the newspapers.

              I am not aware of any English murders post-Chapman's return which have been regarded as similar to the 88 atrocities. As has been hammered out on these message-boards time and time again murdering his partners by poison is about as different in every way it is possible to be from the original Ripper crimes.

              Comment


              • #8
                Modus Operandi

                Hi All, I do not for one minute think that Chapman was a stupid man. The idea that any man responsible for multiple murder of his wives by the same dispatch that the Ripper murders involved, would be simply ludicrous. As Abberline pointed out, the methods of murder would be completely in order with the victims' status. Obviously the slow poisoning was intended to be undetectable and not cast suspicion. If Chapman had chosen the method of Jack, suspicion would have been immediate, he would be a suspect and a link to the Whitechapel murders would have been investigated.
                " ON A HOT SUMMERS NITE, WOULD YOU OFFER YOUR THROAT TO WITH THE RED ROSES ?"

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by miles View Post
                  He always seems to be a good favourite but the thing that troubles me is the sudden change to the way he murders if he was the ripper, from a knife with what seems like increasing malice to poison seems to much of a switch in styles of murder and a massive switch in personality.
                  Welcome, Miles. I think you'll find that the switch in the MO bothers not a few people here. There have certainly been a number of discussions about it!

                  One thing I see with his use of poison is that he was closely associated with the poison victims and would probably be the first suspect if they died similarly to the Ripper victims.

                  Of course there have been killers who have changed their killing style.

                  Best to you. Enjoy yourself here.

                  Celesta

                  Oops. Gizmo, I didn't see your post until I had done this one. Like minds, I guess, though you were more eloquent.

                  Hi John,

                  Welcome aboard. Klosowski was Catholic, as was pointed out to me not too long ago by Natalie and Sam. I hope you enjoy your time here.
                  Last edited by Celesta; 06-17-2008, 03:10 AM.
                  "What our ancestors would really be thinking, if they were alive today, is: "Why is it so dark in here?"" From Pyramids by Sir Terry Pratchett, a British National Treasure.

                  __________________________________

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by gizmo View Post
                    Hi All, I do not for one minute think that Chapman was a stupid man. The idea that any man responsible for multiple murder of his wives by the same dispatch that the Ripper murders involved, would be simply ludicrous. As Abberline pointed out, the methods of murder would be completely in order with the victims' status. Obviously the slow poisoning was intended to be undetectable and not cast suspicion. If Chapman had chosen the method of Jack, suspicion would have been immediate, he would be a suspect and a link to the Whitechapel murders would have been investigated.
                    Hi. If Chapman were Jack he would have used a knife. He didn't. Good post.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The article appears to be another loose "reprint" or the original as printed in the Pall Mall Gazette.
                      Those two (what I feel are very important) articles can be found at the bottom of this page:


                      I encourage everyone to read them carefully. There will be a test on them tomarro!

                      OK..Conerning Chapman:

                      I think Abberline makes it clear that it is only a hunch he has that Chapman is the Ripper. Although I think Abberline to be one smart cookie and that he was telling the truth about the lack of real suspects in the Ripper cases I dont think Chapman is the Ripper.

                      Why?

                      Because we know know that Sexually Motivated Serial Killers dont usually kill and mutilate like the Ripper did and then change to poisoning. I guess it could happen but it would be sort of rare.

                      However Abberline is not promoting Chapman as being motivated to kill the victims as sexual objects. He is saying Chapman was motivated to collect female organs for his personal collection of female organs.

                      Thats fine but there is one hitch that Abberline seems to forget.
                      Why the facial mutilations if Chapman just wanted the organs? Why totally destroy MJKs body if just for her organs?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Maybe the change in method is irrelevant. Maybe Chapman merely wanted to kill women.He could hardly slash his victims (wives) to death in his own house and expect to get away with it.Maybe it was "horses for courses" method....discreet in his own backyard (poison) ,but when "out there" discreetness, in the method used at least, obviously wouldnt have been as important(as regards getting away with it).Simple,quick and satisfying no doubt. though I guess he could have gone round the pubs tipping poison into prostitutes drinks
                        Not that I think chapman was the ripper, i dont.
                        regards

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Hi Mitch,

                          Well, to answer your questions...I think it is clear that Abberline was simply stating his gut feeling which is something that we all do from time to time.

                          Switching from throat cutting to poisoning, while rare, is certainly possible and you only need one case to disprove the rule.

                          I don't think the Ripper was motivated by profit. But I am willing to venture that anyone who was willing to cut women's throats and take out their organs so he could sell them probably didn't have too high an opinion of women. So anger towards women and using them for profit are not mutually exclusive and could account for the facial mutilations.

                          c.d.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Hi Dougie,
                            Originally posted by dougie View Post
                            Maybe the change in method is irrelevant. Maybe Chapman merely wanted to kill women. He could hardly slash his victims (wives) to death in his own house and expect to get away with it.
                            ...but he could still have continued to commit other mutilation murders in the 9 years that elapsed between 1888 and his first wife-poisoning.
                            Kind regards, Sam Flynn

                            "Suche Nullen" (Nietzsche, Götzendämmerung, 1888)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Sam Flynn View Post
                              Hi Dougie,...but he could still have continued to commit other mutilation murders in the 9 years that elapsed between 1888 and his first wife-poisoning.
                              SAM,
                              Yes, of course, but serial killers have stopped for indeterminate periods,for whatever reason.And he could have been responsible for the other two murders that arent generally accepted to be the rippers. could even maybe have changed his methods several times,could have been responsible for others we cant even guess at.impossible to know I guess.
                              Druitt has always fitted the bill ,for me anyway but thats a different issue of course,and not relevant to this thread.
                              regards

                              Comment

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