Mile End Vigilance Committee

[YankeeSergeant]

I was on yesterday looking for information on George Lusk and a thought occured that in everything I've read I don't remember reading anywhere exactly what the Mile End Vigilance Committee did besides request the home office to lift the government ban on offering rewards and raising a reward of their own. Did they patrol the east end or actively try to find Jack teh Ripper or was it basically petitioning the government and holding meetings at the Crown Public House?

[Wickerman]

I was on yesterday looking for information on George Lusk and a thought occured that in everything I've read I don't remember reading anywhere exactly what the Mile End Vigilance Committee did .........

Here is one report from the Evening News, October 8, 1888.

Extraordinary precautions had been adopted by the police to prevent or detect any repetition of the horrors of last week. Not only are members of the regular force displaying the utmost activity, but in their arduous labours they are receiving valuable aid from the volunteer police of the Vigilance Committee. Last night, and on Saturday every nook and corner of the district was watched, and persons of at all suspicious appearance were tracked until reason for suspicion had been cleared away. The police and the men employed by the Vigilance Committee work very well together. As a proof of the thorough way in which they have respectively been carrying out their duties, it may be mentioned that in several instances some of the plain clothes men who were strange to the neighbourhood were watched by members of the Vigilance Committee, while they in their turn came under the scrutiny of the detectives.

http://www.casebook.org/press_reports/evening_news/18881008.html?printer=true

If you click on the 'Press Reports' in the column on the left of your screen you can use the Search feature which is exclusively for the Press Reports.
Enter 'Vigilance' you get a host of articles.

[Monty]

Neil,

If you require more info, just mail or PM me.

Monty

[YankeeSergeant]

Vigilance

Here is one report from the Evening News, October 8, 1888.

Extraordinary precautions had been adopted by the police to prevent or detect any repetition of the horrors of last week. Not only are members of the regular force displaying the utmost activity, but in their arduous labours they are receiving valuable aid from the volunteer police of the Vigilance Committee. Last night, and on Saturday every nook and corner of the district was watched, and persons of at all suspicious appearance were tracked until reason for suspicion had been cleared away. The police and the men employed by the Vigilance Committee work very well together. As a proof of the thorough way in which they have respectively been carrying out their duties, it may be mentioned that in several instances some of the plain clothes men who were strange to the neighbourhood were watched by members of the Vigilance Committee, while they in their turn came under the scrutiny of the detectives.

http://www.casebook.org/press_reports/evening_news/18881008.html?printer=true

If you click on the 'Press Reports' in the column on the left of your screen you can use the Search feature which is exclusively for the Press Reports.
Enter 'Vigilance' you get a host of articles.

Wickerman, Thanks! I just came across the information they patrolled in an article by Adrian Phypers on Public houses "The House Where Jack Swilled" Whilst looking for information on the Crown. I'll be checking the press reports as well. Again thanks,

[Adam Went]

It really should be remembered that Lusk and the MEVC were not the fire-burning, rabble-rousing, gang attack mob that they have been portrayed as in the past, notably in the 1988 mini-series with Michael Caine. They did well to organise themselves as they did. Receiving the kidney and "From Hell" note in the mail obviously had a major affect on Lusk though, which is completely understandable.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Supe]

Yankee Sergeant,

Do take Monty up on his offer if you have not already. He is the Vigilance Committees expert without peer on the boards.

Don.

[Tom_Wescott]

He is the Vigilance Committees expert without peer on the boards.

Without peer, you say?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[ChrisGeorge]

It really should be remembered that Lusk and the MEVC were not the fire-burning, rabble-rousing, gang attack mob that they have been portrayed as in the past, notably in the 1988 mini-series with Michael Caine.

Very true, Adam. The committee was made up of local businessmen. Their objective therefore, along with trying to capture the killer, would be to help the police keep order rather than to be rabble rousers themselves.

Chris

[mariab]

The WVC's major objective was also to become able to “stand on their own feet“ and to get subsidized.

And to To Adam:
No worries, no one's basing their perception of the Ripper case on non-documentary TV miniseries, Michael Caine nonwithstanding.

[Tom_Wescott]

The committee was made up of local businessmen. Their objective therefore, along with trying to capture the killer, would be to help the police keep order rather than to be rabble rousers themselves.

Quick reality check about the WVC. They were in it to make money. Nothing wrong with that, but let it be said. They had three objectives - petition the public for money, petition the government for reward money, catch Jack the Ripper. If they catch Jack they get all the money, if they fail to catch Jack, then keep the public's money. In the interim, they publicized their own businesses. It was a win/win for them.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mariab]

The WVC was also interested in collaborating with the IWEC or with other political clubs, at least in using their premises for meetings, as The Daily Telegraph of September 11, 1888 documents. This despite the WVC having Joseph Aarons' The Crown tavern at 74, Mile-End Road at their disposition. Clearly the WVC was interested in expansion AND public attention, both through the various political clubs and the press.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Maria,

While I'm clearly not the expert on the WVC that Monty is, I believe I can state that the WVC did not use the Berner Street club as a 'meeting place', but instead would have taken the stage to speak to the attendees about becoming patrolmen for the WVC.
As Monty could no doubt confirm, the Berner Street club would often hold open air speeches on the Mile End Road and lead marches that would terminate there. This is where Joseph Aarons' pub was located. Aarons would be quoted in anarchist newspapers, suggesting sympathy with the cause. All this and the fact that their respective premises were only a mile apart suggests the top brass of the IWEC and the WVC were well-known to each other.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[ChrisGeorge]

Quick reality check about the WVC. They were in it to make money. Nothing wrong with that, but let it be said. They had three objectives - petition the public for money, petition the government for reward money, catch Jack the Ripper. If they catch Jack they get all the money, if they fail to catch Jack, then keep the public's money. In the interim, they publicized their own businesses. It was a win/win for them.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Hi Tom

To say "They were in it to make money" seems a bit superficial. Weren't they also genuinely interested in ridding the community of a killer who was bad for business? Do you really think they're aim was to get the reward money or did they want to capture the killer? And how much publicity did they realistically get for their businesses through being part of the committee? Not much I would say.

Chris

[mariab]

That the top brass of the IWEC and the WVC were well-known to each other is precisely what I want to research, Tom, as you know that I have my suspicions about Le Grand's physical description (as Pipeman) having turned up so prominently in Schwartz' testimony. It will take quite a while to research this, in the newspapers, in the William Wess archive, in Der Arbeter Fraint (if we manage to get more issues translated). I'm also waiting to receive Eduardo Zinna's old Rip article on Rombro.
What I always wanted to know more about is the Saint John's Working Men's Club on Sander Street and Backchurch Lane (one block Northwest off the IWEC). It appears to have had a quieter reputation than the IWEC, but whom was it involved with?

To Chris George:
There have been suspicions issued that the Lusk letter cum kidney might have been a hoax organized by Joseph Aarons and his sidekicks. For Aarons' sidekicks there is plenty of evidence of a criminal past. Aarons himself needs to be researched better.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Chris,

The WVC was the brainchild of Joseph Aarons, a pub owner. Lusk was the 'face man'. He fixed up theaters. Neither of these men would have suffered one iota of business loss because of the murders. By contrast, the big meetings at the Crown (at which the public was always encouraged to attend) would have been a boom for Aarons, whose pub was constantly advertised. It goes without saying that these men would not want a woman killer roaming the streets, but I think it's clear that money was the obvious motivator here. Aarons was a publican who hired Le Grand, a career criminal and pimp. Le Grand frequented Mile End pubs. You think Aarons didn't know who and what he was hiring? Of course he did. Lusk did not, however, though he eventually found out when he got a gun in his face. As I discussed in another thread, there's a clear chain of evidence that shows Le Grand (almost certainly in concert with Aarons) hoaxed the From hell letter/ kidney. Aarons's motive? To drum up more publicity and money.

Motivation aside, forming a vigilance committee was a very civic idea. But the end result of their efforts are three (or more) of the biggest hoaxes in Ripperology that succeeded in sending police off on the wrong track - Packer, the Batty Street Lodger, and the From hell kidney.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott