I have to write an article for a magazine about Jack, where to start?

[nancyrowina]

First off I'd like to thank everyone who's put this site together it's amazing resource for studying this case.
I've offered to write a series of articles about British serial killers for an American magazine, I wanted to do them in chronological order so I'm starting with one about Jack the Ripper as he was the first serial killer to be reported by the media and have a huge frenzy surrounding him, though he probably wasn't the first serial killer in Britain.
As you all know the information on this case could and has filled volumes of books so writing a short article is quite difficult, I want to cover the modern theories rather than the Royal conspiracy Theory and such, I was thinking of something like this.

p1 talk about London at the time (autumn 1888) and how hard it was for women without financial support to live without turning to prostitution, and mention how dangerous it was as there were other killers out there besides Jack the Ripper and it wasn't possible to catch them unless they were caught in the act or confessed.

p2 Talk about the canonical victims and the order they were killed in and the MO (they don't want pictures they have an artist who does paintings to go with the articles)

P3 Talk about the Police's main suspects as revealed when the letters were discovered, and also discuss Tumblety.

P4 Discuss the Jill The Ripper theory as an after thought as there is not enough evidence to associate her with the victims to support her as a true suspect but it would explain so much if the killer was another woman.

Do you think something like that would be sufficient or have I left out anything really important? They've told me there's no word limit so I could include a section at the end about all the hoax's like the letters sent to the police at the time (which will tie in with my later article about the Yorkshire Ripper) and the ripper diaries.

[Ally]

Out of curiousity, why have you singled out Tumblety? Does this plan to be a suspect oriented article or a bias-free, neutral POV article?

[Roma]

I like the plan you have chosen, nancyrowina, but I think the Jill theory doesn't need a whole page : she's just a suspect, and not a main suspect (I mean, the readers could think that you are biased.)

And by the way, too bad that they don't want pictures, pictures are more realistic than paintings.

[George Hutchinson]

Nancy - this bit about JTR being the first serial killer to kick up a frenzy is only partially true. Both the larger numbers killed by William Palmer and Mary Ann Cotton had earlier Victorians spitting out their tea. The difference was that their crimes were not suspected until much later. The bodies were already under the ground, having died of 'natural causes'.

The difference with JTR is that his victims were almost certainly strangers and they were found as a series of murder victims with no suspect. They were in a densely populated, small area and all died in a short space of time with largely extensive mutilations. That is why the frenzy happened during the period and not with the previous serial killers.

PHILIP

[nancyrowina]

Thanks for all your advice, the only reason I mention Tumblety seperately is because he was named in another letter and has only comparatively recently come to light as a suspect. I will try and make the article as unbiased as possible giving arguments for and against the suspects I mention. Though personally I do think Tumblety is one of the strongest suspects,but I'll discuss that in another thread so as not to derail this one too much
And by the letter p I don't mean whole page just a part of the article, so I won't give that much space to the Jill The Ripper theory but it is an intriguing one so I thought it deserved a mention, though I may change my mind and leave it out depending on the length I have, really it would suit an article all of it's own but I believe that has already been done.

[nancyrowina]

Nancy - this bit about JTR being the first serial killer to kick up a frenzy is only partially true. Both the larger numbers killed by William Palmer and Mary Ann Cotton had earlier Victorians spitting out their tea. The difference was that their crimes were not suspected until much later. The bodies were already under the ground, having died of 'natural causes'.

The difference with JTR is that his victims were almost certainly strangers and they were found as a series of murder victims with no suspect. They were in a densely populated, small area and all died in a short space of time with largely extensive mutilations. That is why the frenzy happened during the period and not with the previous serial killers.

PHILIP

I wasn't aware of a killer called William Palmer though Mary Ann Cotton rings a bell, I'm supposed to be writing a series of articles about British Serial killers in chronological order so I'll look into these other cases and see if they warrant an article of their own seperately thanks for pointing this out.

[Ravenstone]

I believe William Palmer - Palmer the Rugeley Poisoner - was the first murder trial heard at the Old Bailey, and indeed, the reason why murderers were tried away from the scene of their crimes.

The publicity is alleged to have caused the people of Rugeley to petition the Prime Minister to change the name of their town so they could get away from the evil connection. He said they could as long as they changed it to his name - Palmerston.

One of those stories that, if not true, should be.

[nancyrowina]

I quickly googled the name and found a website dedicated to the case, looks like he was hung on insufficient evidence at least if not completely innocent.
I also found this site which lists all the serial killers from the UK, it seems there were more than I thought looks like I've got my work cut out for me if I'm going to do an article about each one.

http://www.murderuk.com/serial_killers.html

[nancyrowina]

The publicity is alleged to have caused the people of Rugeley to petition the Prime Minister to change the name of their town so they could get away from the evil connection. He said they could as long as they changed it to his name - Palmerston.

One of those stories that, if not true, should be.

That is a good one, that'll teach them to petition the Prime Minister.

[Ravenstone]

I quickly googled the name and found a website dedicated to the case, looks like he was hung on insufficient evidence at least

Palmer? Innocent?

Might be a good idea to look up other websites.

[nancyrowina]

From what I read it said that the one person he was actually tried and hung for killing had no trace of strychnine in his body he just died form symptoms that could have been caused by strychnine, but lots of illness's caused symptoms similar to strychnine poisoning too that's why it was so popular with poisoners. Check out the site for yourself:

http://www.williampalmer.co.uk/

[nancyrowina]

Nancy - this bit about JTR being the first serial killer to kick up a frenzy is only partially true. Both the larger numbers killed by William Palmer and Mary Ann Cotton had earlier Victorians spitting out their tea. The difference was that their crimes were not suspected until much later. The bodies were already under the ground, having died of 'natural causes'.

The difference with JTR is that his victims were almost certainly strangers and they were found as a series of murder victims with no suspect. They were in a densely populated, small area and all died in a short space of time with largely extensive mutilations. That is why the frenzy happened during the period and not with the previous serial killers.

PHILIP

Just wanted to know if you are the author of "the complete history of jack the ripper" or is it just coincidental you are called Philip too? I've just bought the book you see for my research, it seems like the most concise one and will save me reading hundreds of others.

[Dan Norder]

Hi Nancy,

This Philip is an author, but not the one you are thinking of. Philip Hutchinson wrote (with Rob Clack) the book Jack the Ripper's London: Then and Now, which is well worth tracking down. He's also a well respected Jack the Ripper tour guide and one of the speakers at this year's Jack the Ripper conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.

[claire]

Hi Nancy,

Sounds like you've managed to get your work cut out for you!

Two things: firstly, to get the numbers down to manageable size, why not focus on the serial killers who were considered, in some way, 'landmark,' for whatever reason? For example, JtR, certainly, but then, say, first male/female serial killer couple, first trial using X type of evidence, first trial post capital punishment and so on? Makes it easier to organise the individual pieces.

Secondly, with regard to your schema (1. outline of Victorian London, 2. the victims et cetera), to be honest, I'd probably start with the crimes themselves. Let's face it, that's why most readers are going to open the mag to the serial killer page...you can ease into the background once the down and dirty stuff is out of the way.

Sounds fascinating...but I don't envy you! Good luck!

[nancyrowina]

Hi Nancy,

Sounds like you've managed to get your work cut out for you!

Two things: firstly, to get the numbers down to manageable size, why not focus on the serial killers who were considered, in some way, 'landmark,' for whatever reason? For example, JtR, certainly, but then, say, first male/female serial killer couple, first trial using X type of evidence, first trial post capital punishment and so on? Makes it easier to organise the individual pieces.

That's an interesting idea I could write an article about the last serial killer to be hung followed by the first to be spared the death penalty.