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Arthur MacDonald [1893]

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  • Arthur MacDonald [1893]

    Hi All,

    Here's a translation of the chapter on the C5 Whitechapel victims [and others] from Arthur MacDonald's 1893 book published in France, "(Le) Criminel-Type Dans Quelques Formes Graves de la Criminalité" [(The) criminal standard in some forms of serious crime]. It was subsequently lifted in its entirety by Lacassagne for inclusion [with the addition of the photographs of Kelly and Eddowes] in his 1899 book, "Vacher l'Eventreur et les Crimes Sadiques".

    I apologise for the poor translation, a combination of Google and the remnants of my schoolboy French, but you'll have no trouble getting the picture and spotting some wild and wacky discrepancies. I'd certainly like to know where MacDonald got some of his information.

    Observation IX

    The cases we have to study make clear the importance of the nature of injuries. It is not necessary to discuss the following issue that the murderer is known, or even that all victims are those of a single individual. Guided by the foregoing facts, read the following results of autopsies, show the nature and pattern of crimes Mr. .. to the point of view that will not make them look so mysterious they said.

    First victim - On 1 December 1887, the corpse of an unknown woman was found mutilated in Whitechapel.

    Second victim. - On August 7, 1888, found in the same area struck a woman of 39 stab wounds.

    Third victim. - Found at four o'clock in the morning August 31, 1888, lying full length on her back, clothing in disarray, with a wound to the throat and belly open, there is a pool of blood where the neck has worn.

    Here's what the doctor said: "The lower limbs are extended, the neck injury serious, hands and wrists were cold, very little blood around the neck, there are no signs of struggle and form blood stains indicate that the body had been dragged. The abdomen was struck by large knives, five missing teeth, slight tear in the tongue contusions located at the lower jaw and right side of the face have been made by a punch or by the pressure of the thumb. There on the left side of the face a circular bruise that has been made by finger pressure. On the left side of the neck, about an inch below the jaw, there was an incision about four inches long, which started from a point immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below and about an inch in front begins a circular incision, which ends about three inches below the right side of the jaw and has subdivided all the tissue until the column vertebral it about eight inches long, large neck vessels are divided on each side.

    These cuts have been made by a long-bladed knife, moderately sharp and handled with great force. There was no blood on the front of the chest or the relevant part of clothing. We do not find on any other body injury to the lower abdomen. Here, two or three inches inside the left side, there is a very deep wound, which run ragged, the tissue was cut through and there are several incisions through the abdomen and three or four similar cuts aulres directed downward and to the right, all made by a knife and with great violence. The wounds were directed from left to right and have been made by a lefty, all from the same instrument. No missing body and there were no bruises on her arms. Injuries have been made during the murderer was on the body. The victim was known to be highly paid to drink, she was separated from her husband.

    Fourth victim. - Another woman's body was found in the same district court on the morning of Saturday, September 8, 1888. The head was almost severed from the rest of the body, the intestines were completely removed from the abdomen, the victim lay on his back, his clothes in disorder, a handkerchief wrapped around his neck as if to restrain him, there are bloodstains on the wall of the house and around the body one or more rings appear to have been torn from the middle finger of his left hand, we know she had three rings made of copper. No trace of alcohol in the stomach. Two missing teeth, extensive bruising on the right side of the head and face, we can distinguish fingerprints. The clothes are not torn, the outer jacket is stained with blood outside and inside the neck, there is also blood on the posterior wall of the house, the victim's head and three or four feet of ground. The black skirt is slightly stained in the back there's nothing at bottom clothing, but the bottom is stained, the boots are the feet.

    The legs are raised, swollen face, tongue projected between the teeth, but not exceeding the lips. There on the neck and serrated circular wounds made from the left side there were two parallel and spaced them a half-inch. The lower body mutilation presents considerable interest that the stomach was missing some parts of the abdominal organs that had been extracted. The swelling of the face and the protrusion of the tongue are signs of choking: contusions of the chin and jaw were recent. The body was mutilated, so that a description of these lesions would be impossible and can only say that he had been a deliberate manner, using a long gun from five to six inches, and with knowledge anatomical. The uterus and the bodies removed from the abdomen were found by someone who knew where to find them: there was no unnecessary incisions.

    Fifth victim. - It has been found murdered in a courtyard next to the previous case on Sunday morning, September 30, 1888, clothes rumpled, her legs folded, the trachea open the buttons of the clothing not defeated. The corpse is lying on its side, leaning on her left arm, right arm across the chest; ago near the throat of coagulated blood. The chin is hot, it takes more blood from the wound, neck and chest are still quite hot, legs and face are hardly hands are cold. The right hand is stained with blood inside and outside, left hand resting on the ground holding a small packet of cachous wrapped in tissue paper, the face is calm, her mouth ajar. The neck incision starts in the left two and a half inches below the angle of the jaw and almost on its production line, it almost cut the large vessels on the left side, cut completely in half the trachea and ended on the opposite side about an inch and a half audessous angle of the jaw and almost on her direct extension. The bleeding that lasted until death has been relatively slow, because the section was focused on vessels on one side. The dress was not defeat, even at the top. The left hand and the corresponding side of the face are stained with mud, the neck incision was six inches long.

    A doctor said: "I believe that the incision was made from left to right. The right hand of the victim was covered with blood. She must be alive an hour earlier, two seconds was enough for her bearing this injury. Part of it was catechu [?] has poured into the gutter. The murderer has not necessarily been stained with blood, because the flow of bleeding has been directed away from him. There was blood on the left side of the body. The woman should be on the ground when she was injured. The abdominal organs were removed with some knowledge of their exact situation and how to be removed, no use professional explain these maneuvers, it took more skill to remove the left kidney. The murderer had to have some time before him, otherwise he would not make cuts to the eyelid, it took at least five minutes to commit this crime, I can not assign a reason for the removal of organs outside body. We should not expect to find a lot of blood on the person of the murderer; mutilation did not have required a lot of violence and was made simply to prevent identification.

    Sixth victim. - Another murder was committed September 30, 1888. The medical expert said: "It was more than two hours, the body was on its back, head turned toward the left shoulder, arms on sides, clothes statements, the very face disfigured, her left leg removed, right leg bent on the thigh and knee, the upper part of the dress had been torn off in a small area, the abdomen was found, and all the intestines were outside and placed on the shoulder right there had a piece completely detached from the trunk and left arm. The lobule of right ear was cut obliquely in his thick, no sign of blood beneath dela half of the body. The corpse was certainly there for only a few minutes, thirty or forty, the face was much mutilated, her throat cut transversely in a stretch of six or seven inches, not to bruise the scalp. The sternocleidomastoid muscle was divided mastoid and the cricoid cartilage was severed at its middle portion below the vocal cords. The large vessels on the left side of the neck were cut to the bone, because the knife had left a mark on the vertebral cartilage, the internal jugular vein had been opened in the body of an inch and a half.

    The mutilations were made after death, the abdominal walls were opened by an incision starting from the breast, without the wall has been exceeded over the sternum, then had divided the cartilage wedge section which showed how the wound had been made: the blade had been given the tip to the right and the left sleeve, handled obliquely. The liver was concerned, her left lobe was also another vertical cut. The abdominal walls were divided on the midline up to a quarter inch of the umbilicus to the level of incision took a horizontal direction toward the right side for two and a half inches, dividing the umbilicus to the left by round, and made an incision parallel to the previous horizontal incision in the umbilicus, leaving a flap of skin connected to two inches in the lower rectus muscle on the left side of this incision took a obliquely to the right, there was in the crease of the left groin injury about an inch which penetrated the skin superficially. Below, another three-inch incision across all tissues and wounding the peritoneum in the same range. There was no significant bleeding, the wound of the abdomen was made after death, so he should not expect to find blood on the hands of the murderer.

    Seventh victim. - Found in October 1888. Mr. T. B. said: "Last Tuesday I saw the broken trunk of a woman who had been in a dark vault, the head had been separated from the trunk at dela sixth cervical vertebra, which was sawn across. The lower body and pelvis were removed and the fourth lumbar vertebra cut like neck with long curved incisions, the arms had been seconded to the shoulder joints made by several incisions below the larynx. There was no blood in the heart, so that the woman is dead or suffocation, or drowning; the small intestine was in place, but the lower part of the large intestine and the entire contents of the basin had been removed. The date of death calculated by decomposition in the open back probably six or eight weeks before the discovery of the body, the incisions were probably made after death.

    Mr. C. A. A. said: "The six or eight incisions in question had obviously been made with a very sharp knife by someone who knew what he was doing, but not by an anatomist. "
    Doctors say: "There was no poison in the stomach wounds were made by a person of great anatomical skill, we believe that the murderer had no designs on a special organ of the body.

    Eighth victim. - Found November 9, 1888, lying on her back completely naked on a bed in her room. The throat was cut from one ear to another through an incision directed downward on the spine, nose and ears were detached, the breasts were cut significantly and placed on a table beside the bed; the stomach and abdomen were opened, her face was slashed as to prevent it does recognize the kidneys and heart were also removed and placed on the table next to the breasts, the liver been detached and placed on the left thigh, the lower body and uterus were sectioned and these bodies were not found, the section has brought down her thighs. Clothes were deposited in a regular manner at the bedside. There was no apparent struggle.

    Ninth victim. - Towards the 1st June 1889, the lower trunk of a young woman was found bieu incorporated into the Thames. This debris is cut in two places, he seems to have spent some time in the water. The leg and left thigh of the woman were found a little later on the shore of Surrey. The death of this subject does not go back more than 48 hours, and the body had been dissected quite rudely by someone who had some knowledge of body joints human.

    A day later they found the upper trunk of the woman, the chest was empty, spleen, kidneys and a portion of bowel adhered to the trunk, a portion of the diaphragm below the breasts and chest wall corresponding had been severed, as with a saw, to her center, the coast also had been sawn. On Monday, June 10 after they found an arm and a right hand woman. Here's what doctors refer to Chief Commissioner of Police: "The head, lungs, heart, intestines and uterus are lacking, it seems that a ring has been forcibly removed from the ring left hand. The victim had brown hair, hands and feet well formed, but the nails on both hands were bitten or cut very short. No marks indicate that occupy themselves with handicrafts. The victim was pregnant at the time of her death, the body sections are similar to those of business pontoon Rainham. This woman was well known in many homes to tenants in the district of Chelsea, was seen alive for the last time May 31, 1888, she lived from day to day.

    Tenth victim. - Found July 17, 1889 between midnight and one o'clock in the morning by a constable in an alley in Whitechapel. Blood flowed from a wound to the throat, the stomach had a scar, and the rest of the abdomen, but these wounds were not deep. The skirt of her dress and petticoat were identified. The divisional surgeon said: "The face was still hot it was a poor woman about 40 years, a good temperament with dark brown hair and a tooth missing as another victim of this series. A nail of her left hand was partially detached. This murder is related to the seven other similar murders in recent years. There was blood at the spot oïl the victim was killed.

    Eleventh victim. - On September 10, 1889, found under an arch railway body of a woman, her head severed from the trunk, both legs missing, it is the anterior part of the stomach cuts deep through which intestines protrude.

    The medical files: "The death occurred three days. There is a dress shirt as very torn and stained with blood and a rope that was used to attach the waist. The cuts appear to have been made by a lefty. The state organs indicates that this woman was addicted to drinking, the heart is absent, there is no finger on the mark ring; hands of which looks dirty and neglected, no signs of childbirth the legs are cut under conditions that indicate a certain skill. The hands are not clenched; no evidence of struggle before death. The amputation had to be done on the corpse. The streak reported above is the only female we found with the exception of removing a small portion of the lower trunk, the fingers were long and slender.

    The coroner's file: "The shirt was not torn, but cut from top to bottom, the openings of the arms were cut to the neck.

    The assistant divisional surgeon says: The body was lying on the face, right arm folded under the abdomen, no pool of blood or signs of struggle in the vault. The shirt is torn in front and cut each side from the tip of the arm openings. There was an injury to fifteen inches long along the outer wall of the abdomen and also a number of bruises, none of ancient date. At the outer part of the left forearm, three inches above the wrist, there was a cut two inches long; another injury like a demipouce lowest, both were made after death. Throughout the body vessels are empty all organs except the spleen and liver, are very healthy, and death from hemorrhage. The post-mortem mutilations were made with a sharp knife by someone accustomed to skinning or butchering animals to see, but there is no reason to assume knowledge of human anatomy.

    The medical files: The death occurred three days. There is a dress shirt as very torn and stained with blood and a rope that was used to attach the waist. The cuts appear to have been made by a lefty. The state organs indicates that this woman was addicted to drinking, the heart is absent, there is no finger on the mark ring; hands of which looks dirty and neglected, no signs of childbirth the legs are cut under conditions that indicate a certain skill. The hands are not clenched; no evidence of struggle before death. The amputation had to be done on the corpse. The streak reported above is the only female we found with the exception of removing a small portion of the lower trunk, the fingers were long and slender.

    The coroner's file: "The shirt was not torn, but cut from top to bottom, the openings of the arms were cut to the neck.

    CONCLUSION

    The crimes of Mr. .. are distinguished by the fact that sexuality is a form especially bloody and murderous. In the previous cases except that of L. .., the victim's death was the exception, but here it is the rule. It is likely that Mr. .. cut the throats of his victims, either because even gave him pleasure, or because it brought death, which enabled him to engage in further cruelties which caused him a pleasure, as when severing the abdomen, he manipulated her intestines or disfigured or mutilated genitals. An even more perverse form of sexuality is demonstrated to us by the confessions of those who have exhumed the corpses and made them suffer similar indignities.

    In some cases, Mr. .. outweighed sexual organs, without doubt, to procure enjoyment later, either by watching or using it to masturbate. A similar case, mentioned by Krafft-Ebing, is that of a man who often gave of stabbing a girl, and procured a sexual pleasure watching ie bloody knife he kept in his room for that. We have seen that K. .. looked fiercely his knife when he hurt his victims.

    It is little reason to believe in the madness of Mr .. whatever, because he probably would have been a confession. The alienation effect is not only proud of his crimes, but it is much more honest than the criminal and usually ends by confessing. The fact that he also has avoided for so long to be discovered not pleading for the madness.

    As in similar cases, the evidence indicates that the murder involves sexual pleasure so powerful that any aversion to cruelty is offset, at least at the time, or that this repulsion is weak by itself. The idea of cruelty simply does not explain the wounds of the abdomen and sexual organs and the removal of these organs. But the fact of placing a case in the intestine on a shoulder of the victim and cut him in another case the breasts and put them on a table, these facts, I say, indicate that the killer took time ahead and have desired to make his crime as horrible as possible just for publicity. This feeling would have arisen naturally after the calming of the sexual impulse. addicted to sexual intercourse against nature. It seems she was no stranger to the murderer.

    One reason may have prevented Mr. .. being discovered. That he was conducting his work deliberately and was not shaken by leaving its victims, which did not attract attention to himself it is known. Indeed, by the experience of the police, a large number of criminals help their own discovery by demonstrating the turmoil in one way or another.

    The elements of information does not require the assumption that the murderer had anatomical knowledge, but rather that practice had gradually made him clever.

    Regards,

    Simon
    Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Simon Wood View Post
    Hi All,

    Here's a translation of the chapter on the C5 Whitechapel victims [and others] from Arthur MacDonald's 1893 book published in France, "(Le) Criminel-Type Dans Quelques Formes Graves de la Criminalité" [(The) criminal standard in some forms of serious crime]. It was subsequently lifted in its entirety by Lacassagne for inclusion [with the addition of the photographs of Kelly and Eddowes] in his 1899 book, "Vacher l'Eventreur et les Crimes Sadiques".

    I apologise for the poor translation, a combination of Google and the remnants of my schoolboy French, but you'll have no trouble getting the picture and spotting some wild and wacky discrepancies. I'd certainly like to know where MacDonald got some of his information.
    Hi Simon,

    Arthur MacDonald was awarded a fellowship in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University in 1885 but declined it. Instead he decided to broaden his intellectual pursuits and went to Europe for several years to study medicine in Berlin, Leipzig, Paris, Zurich, and Vienna He focused his attention on insanity, hypnotism, and criminology. He was particularly interested in the abnormal and weakling classes. MacDonald returned from Europe in 1889 to finish his education. He was appointed docent in applied ethics and criminology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts after studying there for two years.

    This return to the States in 1889 explains why he stops with the Pinchin Street torso. His information I presume was from English language newspapers he could get his hands on. He spoke no language other than English as far as I'm aware.

    It should be noted that his manuscript, Le criminel type dans quelques formes graves de la criminalité (1893) was written in English but only ever published in France after being translated by Dr. Henry Coutagne. Coutagne was the head of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lyon. He was close colleague and friend of Professor Lacassagne, with whom he worked on many cases.

    It's possible MacDonald met Coutagne at one of the many criminological conferences in Europe, or he may have even attended some of Coutagne's lectures in Lyon. MacDonald is not known to have ever met Lacassagne.

    All the best,

    Robert

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Robert,

      Many thanks for the extra information.

      Wolf Vanderlinden tells us that "In 1892 MacDonald petitioned the British Home Office to see all the HO and police medical reports dealing with the murders but was turned down."

      It doesn't surprise me that his petition was declined, but do you know anything more about this particular episode?

      Regards,

      Simon
      Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi Simon,

        The memo to which Wolf Vanderlinden is referring to is in the HO files and is dated October, 1892.

        In August of 1892, on behalf of the U.S. Bureau of Education, MacDonald attended the International Congress of Psychology in London. It was during this trip I beleive he made an initial unsuccessful attempt at accessing the Home Office files on the Whitechapel murders. MacDonald wanted to see the official reports, especially the medical ones, relating to the condition of the bodies of the victims of the Whitechapel murderer, which he wanted for publication. If he could not have them for publication, he wanted to know if it was possible to peruse them confidentially. If this could not be allowed, he wished to send a letter to Dr. Bond asking about the medical facts as he knew them. This request was passed on to Godfrey Lushington, Permanent Under Secretary at the Home Office, who declined to grant MacDonald the access he wished.

        Robert

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi Robert,

          Thanks again. This story gets more fascinating with every turn. Perhaps it was these refusals which finally decided him to publish his book in France and in French—an odd course for someone who did not write or speak the language. Odd, too, that the hatches were so firmly battened down at the Home Office, refusing him even written contact with Doctor Bond. What on earth could they have been wanting to hide?

          By the way, I just happened across a 2003 Casebook archive in which Chris Scott provided a translation of Macdonald's work as published in Lacassagne's book. It's way better than mine.



          Regards,

          Simon
          Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

          Comment


          • #6
            The HO wasn't hiding anything, Simon. You certainly have a conspiratorial mind. It was, and still is, standard operating procedure to make any active crime files confidential. Yes, the Whitechapel murders case was shelved in February of 1892, but unsolved murders always remain open. You can't compromise an investigation by giving access to confidential files by anyone who asks to see them.

            As to why Le criminel type was published in French just tells me MacDonald was never able to find an English language publisher for his manuscript. Also, MacDonald was employed at the US Bureau of Education and would have needed clearance from the Bureau to publish anything.

            Cheers,

            Robert

            Comment


            • #7
              Hi Robert,

              My mind is always at its most conspiratorial when dealing with some of the rubbish we've been handed down about the Whitechapel murders.

              But you're probably right in this instance. In April 1889 Macdonald's petition to witness the hanging of HH Holmes in the interests of scientific study was denied.

              Thank you for your invaluable input. It's been a real eye-opener.

              Regards,

              Simon
              Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

              Comment

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