So who was Jack the Ripper.

[DVV]

My first choice would be an unknown local.
My second, William Grant Grainger, for he has been identified by our best witness (Lawende) after an attempt to rip up a woman in Spitalfields. And he was both a lunatic and somehow a sailor.
Amitiés,
David (broken-English poster)

[Observer]

Hi Joel, and Graham

We can only speculate

Surely serial killers are individuals, so it's important not to pidgeon hole them too much. Ridgeway was pressured to some extent by police activity, Sutcliffe was not, indeed Sutcliffe was interviewed on a number of occasions, but went on killing. It's these examples of their behavior however that might point us in the right direction in trying to understand what made Jack the Ripper tick.

all the best

Observer

[Graham]

My first choice would be an unknown local.
My second, William Grant Grainger, for he has been identified by our best witness (Lawende) after an attempt to rip up a woman in Spitalfields. And he was both a lunatic and somehow a sailor.
Amitiés,
David (broken-English poster)

David,

In my reading of the situation, the police could never be certain that the man seen by Lawende was actually Grainger.

Graham

[DVV]

Of course, Graham, and that's why he is my second choice!
But if JtR is somebody who has been named, he can be Grainger.
Everything fits (age, madness, location of the attack on Alice, maybe the appearance of a sailor...).
Only further information can dismiss him. But the little we know is really impressive...
Other suspects like Barnett, Kidney, Chapman havn't been recognized by nobody, and too much can be objected against their candidacy, though they are interesting.
Amitiés,
David

[Natalie Severn]

But Grainger was let go.In any case,Lawende caught only the faintest glimpse of a man in the dark all of seven [7] years previously.Within a few days of that sighting in the dark, he believed he wouldnt know the man again,so After 7 years I doubt very much things had improved!
Besides Grainger wasnt caught mutilating dead women. It was a stabbing-quite common then as now in London.
Best
Norma

[Natalie Severn]

Graham,
I agree with you.We cant be sure, but he appears to have been full of contradictions-driven by demonic urges while at the same time cool and efficient in the execution of his victims,always in control----though not in the case of Mary Kelly, where he appears to have become very heated and wild.But even in the case of Mary Kelly there was no trace of sexual activity. Therefore,given no evidence of it in any one of the crime scenes, I suspect Jack may not have been committing the murders for sexual reasons.

[DVV]

I can't deny this, but on the other hand the fact that Lawende always stated that he couldn't recognize the man, but was still used by the police so long after, is intriguing...
Besides, I think it's more difficult to describe somebody that you just saw some seconds than to recognize him.
To be frank, I also mentionned Grainger because I'm a little bit frustrated about the absence of discussion about him.
My last post about him ("other suspects...") was never answered
And when I compare him to other suspects, I think he should deserve more attention.

Amitiés,
David

[Natalie Severn]

I agree David.He was also very violent and mentally ill so he would fit the bill,especially since in build aand height at least,he must have resembled Lawende"s man.
Best
Norma

[Graham]

There was also the suspicion that Lawende recognised the man as a fellow Jew, and thus would not make any accusation against him.

Graham

[DVV]

Hello Norma,
I can't deny this, but on the other hand the fact that Lawende always stated that he couldn't recognize the man, but was still used by the police so long after, is intriguing...
And are we sure that was a case of common stabbing? The newspaper did not say so. And again, if it was so common, why did the police recall Lawende so long after?
Besides, I think it's more difficult to describe somebody that you just saw some seconds than to recognize him.
To be frank, I also mentionned Grainger because I'm a little bit frustrated about the absence of discussion about him.
My last post about him ("other suspects...") was never answered
And when I compare him to some other suspects, I think he should deserve more attention.

Amitiés,
David

[DVV]

Sorry for re-posting! my connection drives me crazy this week...
As to Graham's post, I'm afraid that will lead us to the Anderson's suspect...
And I must confess that I hate Anderson more than Jack...

[perrymason]

I would think that to cast suspicion on anyone it first must be established what Canon murders were committed by one man. Since the C5 is an unworkable concept, including victims with no mutilations post mortem, and another with almost every imaginable act of savagery performed upon her indoors, the only profile that could be considered is of a inconsistent, mentally deranged individual. Since the street loonies would be known commodities by locals and cops, it seems unlikely that the man was overtly insane, and still remained unknown to everyone.

The man who killed some of these women could walk among sane people without suspicion, and obtain victims during a "serial spree", and maybe only for those few minutes at the end of the month or before the 9th of the next, acted "bloodthirsty" or "mad". Only his victims likely ever saw that side of him. Its also possible that he never remembered what he did....fugue states are not unknown.

He easily could have been a respectable butcher, tailor, docker, or an accountant or lawyer for that matter.

Drooling madman is not the answer,...proven by 120 years of trying to make sense of the crimes on that basis.

He had some charm...to lure victims into the dark while their co-workers were being killed,... he likely showed them money, or maybe even handed some over, which he took back after the kill,... and he was capable of very fast, somewhat competent, field surgery. And he never once left a bloody boot print, or allowed anyone to see him leave.

This man may have had the heart of a devil, but he also apparently conducted himself in a manner that didnt draw attention when he was using his "day" personality.

Best regards.

[DVV]

I would think that to cast suspicion on anyone it first must be established what Canon murders were committed by one man. Since the C5 is an unworkable concept, including victims with no mutilations post mortem, and another with almost every imaginable act of savagery performed upon her indoors, the only profile that could be considered is of a inconsistent, mentally deranged individual.

Hello Michael
I think the C5 concept is less unworkable since the victim who has not been mutilated has been killed on the same night of another victim, and since the one who suffered the last "savagery" has been killed indoors... as you already mentionned...

Amitiés,
DVV

[perrymason]

Hello Michael
I think the C5 concept is less unworkable since the victim who has not been mutilated has been killed on the same night of another victim, and since the one who suffered the last "savagery" has been killed indoors... as you already mentionned...

Amitiés,
DVV

Hi DVV,

If I read that correctly, you suspect that the C5 is a sound concept because the victim with no mutilations is killed on a night when another woman has her kidney and uterus taken from her in less than 8 minutes 45 minutes later,... and the savagery of room 13 only reflects his ability to do so since he now worked indoors?

If so, thats precisely what I mean by unworkable. There is no evidence in the demeanor of Liz Stride that suggests her killer had any further intentions, or was interrupted mid-mutilation, and there is no credible information that suggests Mary met her killer while soliciting outdoors, or that her killer had any specific motives concerning her abdomen. Like 3 of the previous 4 did.

Liz Stride had her throat cut the same night 3 women did in the East End, and only one of those murders involved post morten mutilations.

Cheers DVV.

[DVV]

If I read well, I did not say "sound concept", but "less unworkable "since Stride's murder, in some respects, can be connected with JtR, and since all police officials at the time did connect it.
As to the savagery, it can be observed in all 5 murders, more or less, and the "scale" has been well noticed - not only by me. And it's obvious that indoors the murderer had more time, and was, maybe, frustrated by weeks of inactivity.
This said, I appreciate your thoughts, I respect them and bear them in mind, though I think more likely that these 5 women have been killed by the same hand.
In my opinion, by the way, Tabram is more likely to be canonical than Stride.

Amitiés,
David