The Results Are In...totally unscientific classroom study

[Syrius]

Hello everyone,

As promised, here's the results of my class's study of the Ripper killings.

They had to decide on a motive (the only two options were "prostitutes as easy targets" and "some sort of a grudge against prostitutes"), the validity of "from hell", "Dear Boss" and "Saucy Jack", the usefulness of the GSG, the Whitechapel Road knife and the Eddowes Apron, and the helpfulness (or otherwise) of witness statements. I then asked them to choose the killer from a shortlist of 14 candidates, selected on no more scientific basis than my own opinions, plus a couple of red herrings (Lewis Carroll being one.)

The class had 13 students in it, all 13-14 years old, and they named the killer as...

George Chapman - 5 votes
Joseph Barnett - 3 votes
James Kelly - 2 vote
Royal Conspiracy - 2 votes
William Bury - 1 vote

Thomas Cream, Lewis Carroll, Aaron Kosminski, Hyam Hyams, Michael Ostrog, Montague Druitt, Frederick Deeming, James Maybrick and Charles Lechmere all failed to gather a single vote.

I find it quite interesting that Chapman, so long thought of as a likely candidate and then essentially discounted for so long, reemerges as a contender here.

Anyway, thanks everyone for all your help and pointing out my error regarding the timing of the Whitechapel Knife.

Incidentally, I had a bit of time left this year so asked them to guess who was the "only one man who ever got a good look at the Ripper". Most of them selected Lawende, with Schwartz a close second.

[Abby Normal]

Hello everyone,

As promised, here's the results of my class's study of the Ripper killings.

They had to decide on a motive (the only two options were "prostitutes as easy targets" and "some sort of a grudge against prostitutes"), the validity of "from hell", "Dear Boss" and "Saucy Jack", the usefulness of the GSG, the Whitechapel Road knife and the Eddowes Apron, and the helpfulness (or otherwise) of witness statements. I then asked them to choose the killer from a shortlist of 14 candidates, selected on no more scientific basis than my own opinions, plus a couple of red herrings (Lewis Carroll being one.)

The class had 13 students in it, all 13-14 years old, and they named the killer as...

George Chapman - 5 votes
Joseph Barnett - 3 votes
James Kelly - 2 vote
Royal Conspiracy - 2 votes
William Bury - 1 vote

Thomas Cream, Lewis Carroll, Aaron Kosminski, Hyam Hyams, Michael Ostrog, Montague Druitt, Frederick Deeming, James Maybrick and Charles Lechmere all failed to gather a single vote.

I find it quite interesting that Chapman, so long thought of as a likely candidate and then essentially discounted for so long, reemerges as a contender here.

Anyway, thanks everyone for all your help and pointing out my error regarding the timing of the Whitechapel Knife.

Incidentally, I had a bit of time left this year so asked them to guess who was the "only one man who ever got a good look at the Ripper". Most of them selected Lawende, with Schwartz a close second.

smart class

[barnflatwyngarde]

Syrius,
It must have been an interesting experience to watch a group of people bounce the various theories around with no preconceived notions and no axe to grind.

[Syrius]

Syrius,
It must have been an interesting experience to watch a group of people bounce the various theories around with no preconceived notions and no axe to grind.

Definitely!

A couple of them had some really interesting ideas. For instance, unprompted, one of them asked about the 'k' in 'knif', the 'g' in 'signed' and the 'h' in 'whil' in the "from hell" letter. I'd heard the point about the 'k' before but this student put the 'g' and 'h' in there too, presumably without being party to that discussion...

And then another one asked, "if you took all the letters that are missing or wrong, do you think you could rearrange them to get a clue?".

Well, my own view is "probably not", but as an idea it still compares favourably to some of the theories people have...!

[AlanG]

Syrius,
It must have been an interesting experience to watch a group of people bounce the various theories around with no preconceived notions and no axe to grind.

Like when I was chatting to someone with no prior case knowledge, who said the fact MJK was murdered in doors is surely a result of the ripper almost being caught during the double event.

[MysterySinger]

All very interesting - thanks for sharing that with us Syrius. I expect your generation of interest in the case may lead to future members of this forum.

I note that Hutchinson doesn't appear on any of the lists (either as someone who saw JTR or as a suspect). Perhaps a statement of his reliability. Fact is there are so many persons of interest, you did well with the list you put together.

With regard to a suspect, I change my mind often, with writers putting together fairly convincing theories about different folks. Good that this site can put those theories to the test.

[StevenOwl]

smart class

Royal Conspiracy - 2 votes

Well, most of them anyway!

[Syrius]

Yes, I sighed inwardly at the Royal Conspiracy...! Still, no-one picked Lewis Carroll, so that's a plus...

I did include Hutchinson (George Hutchinson, I guess?) as a witness regarding Mary Jane Kelly; a couple of students (I'm still marking!) seem to have believed his description, but the majority so far object that the description was SO detailed that he was probably making it up...none of them yet have took it to the next level, which is I guess that he made it up to move suspicion away from himself?

If anyone had suggested that I'd probably have included him as one of the suspects on the long-list (they got all 14 names, and physical descriptions, then narrowed it down to 3, whose biographies they got, and then they picked one) despite him not being there originally...