"Flagged" worthwhile Ripper researches still to be done?

[eclectic browser]

I have read only very little about JtR so far and have been following this forum sporadically, so I might raise an issue already discussed before.

I would like to know if there are some researches into some important aspect of the Ripper case which students know how to do and would like someone to do (by the way, since my mother tongue isn't English, I hope that "flagged" in the title is fit to convey this concept in this case), for example in some public records of some country, but which no one has so far undertaken for various reasons (lack of funding, time, bureaucratic reasons).

For example, I don't know if anyone has ever researched the plausibility of claims about the existence of a "Nicaraguan Ripper", and if this issue is considered worthy of investigation.

If there are such researches, maybe the Casebook site could feature of list of them.

Besides, has anyone so far written some (short) handbook for the Ripper researcher and made it available on the internet?
Thank you for your attention.

[George Hutchinson]

Hello, EB, and welcome.

By 'short handbook', I am not sure what you mean. Do you mean a guide to research, or a very condensed book all about the murders? You would find, one way or another, everything you need on this site but the best items for making research are the A-Z and the SOURCEBOOK. The A-Z is out of date and quite hard to find, but a new version is due at some point.

If you are looking for a simple but accurate book about the case, I would always recommend finding a small second-hand copy of the tiny TIMES AND CRIMES OF JACK THE RIPPER by Philip Sugden, which is a tiny book and not to be confused with his much bigger COMPLETE HISTORY OF JACK THE RIPPER.

I think your question is a good one - one thing that springs to mind for me is trying to find this supposed book in Australia about Montague John Druitt that is rumoured to exist.

PHILIP

[eclectic browser]

Thank you for your useful reply, Philip. I meant a guide to research, in the sense of a manual which explains, for example, what public records, newspaper archives, etc... might contain undiscovered information relevant for the case, and how to consult them.

[George Hutchinson]

Ah, I see. Nothing like that exists. I'm sure if there were anyone in the field who knew where to look for things, they would have done it or got someone else to do it, rather than write it down for others to discover.

PHILIP

[eclectic browser]

Ah, I see. Nothing like that exists. I'm sure if there were anyone in the field who knew where to look for things, they would have done it or got someone else to do it, rather than write it down for others to discover.

PHILIP

Well, by "guide to research, in the sense of a manual which explains, for example, what public records, newspaper archives, etc... might contain undiscovered information relevant for the case, and how to consult them" I meant a guide which would list (categories of) possibly useful sources such as those mentioned at http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=63896 (like magistrate papers, police statements, inquest reports, census returns, burgess rolls, polling books, trade directory entries), and explain in a general way how to consult them (how data are ordered, how to get permissions if needed...).

[Chris]

I started a small section on research resources in the wiki section, but so far it's confined to online newspaper archives and resources for Jewish genealogy:

http://wiki.casebook.org/index.php/Category:Research_resources