Jack the Ripper was NOT a sailor because...

[Gabrielle]

Otherwise there would be no reason to come to these boards.

Ah well just blame it on my young age and the lack of experience...

[perrymason]

I believe it would be a mistake to rule out someone who works on ships.

It was a very real theory at the time, due to the time intervals and the days of the week the women died.

All Canonicals were killed on the next to last, or last day of the month, or before the 9th of the next. All Canonicals were killed on a Weekend, or a day adjacent to a weekend involving a Holiday. The only non-repetitive feature in this pattern is that the last active period, he only kills one woman during those 10 days of the month.

So....he kills only within a 10 day period, and only weekends or holidays-attached weekends....

Cattle boats came in on weekends, there were lots of boats visiting the East End docks on regular schedules. Victoria Regina herself inquired specifically about these vessels being searched.

Its possible that all the required elements are satisfied with a man like a sailor or cattleboat man.

Best regards all.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Mike,

So....he kills only within a 10 day period, and only weekends or holidays-attached weekends....

...or, he succeeds in killing at certain times, viz., around Bank Holidays and weekends. If this is a genuine pattern, then we shouldn't just focus on the Ripper - we should also consider what other people were doing (or not doing) on weekends/Bank Holidays that they'd have done otherwise. Like, for example, fewer people heading for work in the small hours of the morning - ergo, from Jack's POV, these times may have been optimal because there were fewer potential witnesses around.

You're right in saying that we shouldn't discount a sailor, however I can't see that we should favour a sailor over any others. To try and tie Jack's behaviour to a sailor's shift-pattern on the basis of dates might be about as valid as trying to determine the occupation of a burglar by noting that he tends to strike between the hours of two and four in the morning.

[perrymason]

Hi Sam,

Youve addressed what peaked my curiosity about the days of the month/week timings....and I dont have a theory on why this occurs,.... but I do think its a valid "footprint" if you will. As is the fact that they never occur at night before midnight. Maybe it is because prey are more accessible, or conditions more favourable from a military or police disguise point of view, for example on Holidays, non-active or retired military men could carry bayonets. Yes, that is an unabashed admission that I believe Martha Tabram is a part of the whole enchilada somehow.

Maybe its changes in others schedules.... as you suggest. I dont know what to make of that schedule yet, but I lean towards these being imposed rather than self governed breaks.

As far as whether a sailor might fit.....they do leave town for weeks at a time, come in town on weekends, and some boats have butchers or slaughterhouse men aboard. Who knows?

Cheers Gareth, top of the evenin to ya.

[Supe]

Michael,

they do leave town for weeks at a time, come in town on weekends, and some boats have butchers or slaughterhouse men aboard. Who knows?

Well, Edward Knight Larkins thought he knew back in 1888, for one. But then Robert Anderson concluded he was "a troublesome busybody."

Sam,
I've always wondered if we might gain some insights by changing the equation. That is, was it perhaps not Jack's own schedule but that of those around him (family or those ostensibly in his care) who made weekends and holidays most favorable. I would incline to other, more external causes, but perhaps worth pondering.

Don.

[The Good Michael]

I've always wondered if we might gain some insights by changing the equation. That is, was it perhaps not Jack's own schedule but that of those around him (family or those ostensibly in his care) who made weekends and holidays most favorable. I would incline to other, more external causes, but perhaps worth pondering.

Don.

Don,

To be fair, that still would have been HIS schedule, though based upon their schedule. Yet, I like the line of thinking, and it fits well with the Russian/Polish/Hungarian/Yiddish-speaking Jew theories.

Cheers,

Mike

[Sam Flynn]

I've always wondered if we might gain some insights by changing the equation. That is, was it perhaps not Jack's own schedule but that of those around him (family or those ostensibly in his care) who made weekends and holidays most favorable.

An equally plausible construct, Don. The key thing to bear in mind is that the pattern of killing need not have reflected Jack's particular habits, but those of others - be they family, fellow tenants or the East End populace at large.

[downonwhores]

A sailor

If he was a sailor, then would he kill in other ports of call? Any other reports in 1888 in other countries where prostitutes were murdered like the JTR "canonical 5"? I know the story about the Portugal story but no evidence of murders with the same m.o. I really don't think JTR would really voluntarily stop killing unless dead or in jail.

[Mitch Rowe]

An equally plausible construct, Don. The key thing to bear in mind is that the pattern of killing need not have reflected Jack's particular habits, but those of others - be they family, fellow tenants or the East End populace at large.

Steve Wright only killed while his wife was at work. So if we took a long shot and considered that JTR did something similar then the question arises as to what occupation a Woman would have that kept her out all night. I cant think of any. But I do know that my Grandmother cleaned theaters when she was young. That must have been in the 20s or 30s or even as late as the 40s. I dont know if that was night work or not.

[perrymason]

I just wanted to say that everyone is embracing the idea that this was a sort of pattern, by his, or his environments guidelines, and I am very pleased by that alone.

The more great minds on these cases that we have looking at the miniscule bits we might have available, like some kind of affectation of the killer with his scheduling, the better.

Sailor or Baker, maybe Candlestick maker....there is a killer in there somewhere.

Reminds me of a joke..

Parents take their two twin boys into a therapist for help...one is an eternal optimist, the other, a pessimist. They are placed in separate rooms, one filled with every toy, game and candy imaginable...for the pessimist....and one filled to almost the rafters in horse dung. They were to learn by spending an hour in these rooms about the correctness of their perceptions of life.

After an hour they open the pessimists room...and he is where they left him. Nothing is touched. His reason....things might get broken, or he might get cavities, or he wouldnt know the game rules. They open the optimists room, and he is laughing and throwing dung over his shoulder, digging into it. His reason....with all that horse dung, there must be a pony in here somewhere.

Cheers all. Best regards.

[Dan Norder]

Which are you trying to portray as covered in crap and throwing it around, the people looking for some special meaning in the dates of the murders or the people who think that there was a serial killer at work in the Ripper murders?

[perrymason]

Which are you trying to portray as covered in crap and throwing it around, the people looking for some special meaning in the dates of the murders or the people who think that there was a serial killer at work in the Ripper murders?

Your smugness is unwarranted Dan, as usual. There is nothing in the notion of a killer in motion during part of that Fall and that it may be represented in what seems to be a "pattern" of some kind, and your sacred nutjob who changes like a chameleon that are in conflict...so not to worry. It might also indicate when as Sam said, he followed through...maybe there were just passes some nights.

But I find it interesting to explore the possibilities of his being affected by something that prevented any midweek or month end/month start killings, and so do some others, ...to wonder whether these may be clues to some kind of vocation that removed him from the area at times, at regular intervals. Or a sickness. Or was it when he was inspired and was just randomly in some sort of repetitious cycle.

From the last days of the preceding month... no later than the first 9 days of the next...never on a Wednesday or Thursday, so always attached to the weekend when Holidays occurred. Never during full daylight, never before midnight.

When Martha, and the 5 Canon victims were killed.

Best regards.

[Sam Flynn]

as Sam said, he followed through...

...I'm taking magnesium tablets, Mike. I've been warned that "following through" might be a side-effect

[Dan Norder]

There is nothing in the notion of a killer in motion during part of that Fall and that it may be represented in what seems to be a "pattern" of some kind, and your sacred nutjob who changes like a chameleon that are in conflict...so not to worry.

You're just stringing random words together now and pretending that they mean something intelligent that somehow proves your point. When you can't put a coherent English sentence together and still maintain that you know more than all the experts put together you should be looking for a mental health professional to help you gain some perspective on your life.

[caz]

...But I find it interesting to explore the possibilities of his being affected by something that prevented any midweek or month end/month start killings, and so do some others, ...to wonder whether these may be clues to some kind of vocation that removed him from the area at times, at regular intervals. Or a sickness. Or was it when he was inspired and was just randomly in some sort of repetitious cycle.

From the last days of the preceding month... no later than the first 9 days of the next...never on a Wednesday or Thursday, so always attached to the weekend when Holidays occurred. Never during full daylight, never before midnight.

When Martha, and the 5 Canon victims were killed.

Best regards.

Hi Perry,

Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were talking about huge numbers of offences, considering that you drop words like always and never into your posts as if they mean something.

Even including Martha and the Vandellas - sorry, Martha and the Muffins - sorry, Martha and the Cryptkicker Five, you give yourself just five murder nights to play with. But at least it makes a change from getting your ‘pattern’ from just two or three attacks and then trying to exclude others on the basis of a less than perfect match.

Unless Jack was pretty well heeled, his personal finances were likely to dictate when he could lure potential victims with hard cash (retrievable) or drink, which could account for no midweek hits. The prostitutes would have been accustomed to expect less business in the run up to payday, with a sharp increase as soon as a man’s wages started burning a hole in his pocket. Not enough to change the world, but where there was a weekly wage packet there was a thirst for ale, sex, revelry and fisticuffs that could be satisfied, or in Jack’s case a hunger for a more specialised form of trouble-making. Trouble traditionally kicks off at weekends and bank holidays, fuelled by alcohol and adrenaline.

Love,

Caz
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