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A detailed suspect description from the Pall Mall Gazette

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  • A detailed suspect description from the Pall Mall Gazette

    This description I hadn't seen before and was interested in the degree of detail given about the alleged suspect

    The Pall Mall Gazette
    11 September 1889

    THE WHITECHAPEL TRAGEDY
    WHI IS THE MURDERER?
    A CURIOUS DREAM.

    A correspondent sends us the following curious statement about his theory of the murder:-
    "I dreamed on Sunday night that I saw a man whom I know well, and have suspected for some time, killing a woman. The dream was so vivid that I mentioned it next morning to my friend. Hence I was not surprised when today the body of the latest victim was discovered. The detectives are devoting their efforts and the skill they possess mainly to the tracking of this very man with reference to whom information was communicated to them shortly after the murder of Mary Kelly in Miller's Court, Dorset Street, on the 9th November last year. That information included an array of facts and circumstances relating to the individual suspected, which pointed more strongly to his being Jack the Ripper than any of the many persons who have been arrested or shadowed by the police. Since the end of November the detectives have tried in every conceivable way to trace the whereabouts of this suspect, but without success. He was seen in the East End immediately after the Berner Street and Mitre Square murders, not long before the Miller's Court tragedy, and also, it is stated on reliable authority, the Saturday evening preceding the Castle Alley deed, and then within a stone's throw of that place.
    The murderer is supposed by the most experienced detectives to be a man calculated not to attract special notice, and who is so cautious and artful that he can guard himself against suspicion. Though not a muscular specimen of humanity, he is not of slim build. He is between twenty eight and thirty years of age, about five feet six in height, and is somewhat round shouldered. His forehead is low, but extremely broad and smooth; his hair is black; his complexion sallow. His eyes, perhaps, form the most distinctive feature about him. They are of a deep brown colour, and large for the size of the face in which they are set. Though they usually betoken determination and firmness, they sometimes soften to even a girl's tenderness of expression. He wears no beard. Like his hair, his moustache is black, and though heavy and full grown, it fails to hide a mouth garnished by rows of pearly white teeth, because they are revealed by his thick lower lip, which hangs somewhat loosely.
    This suspect knows the East End intimately, and stayed for some considerable time in Spitalfields, in close proximity to the Columbia Meat Market. He was born in England, but is of Jewish parentage. The peculiar features, however, which commonly characterize the Hebrew race are not so clearly stamped in his face as in the case of the average Jew. He is a man of culture, and one of his favourite pursuits is said to be study of anatomy, of which, theoretically speaking, he has as extensive a knowledge as the average surgeon. He is of somewhat eccentric habits. He has a great dislike of the opposite sex, avoiding the company of females. He has also made low life in London a special study. It used to be a hobby of his to get himself up in all sorts of disguises - and in this he was an adept - and explore the most notorious parts of the East End, particularly Spitalfields and Whitechapel, visiting the low public houses, mixing with all and sundry, and frequently spending the night in common lodging houses, in order to see for himself the routine of the dosser's life. It is not at all likely that he would appear in Whitechapel in the ordinary dress he used to wear, which consisted of a black diagonal coat, with vest to match, dark tweed trousers, and either a hard or soft felt hat."

  • #2
    This suspect knows the East End intimately, and stayed for some considerable time in Spitalfields, in close proximity to the Columbia Meat Market.

    Can anyone tell me where the Columbia Meat Market was, please?
    Thanks

    Comment


    • #3
      Chris,

      COLUMBIA MARKET.

      In the belief that one of the crying needs of London was ampler market provision, the philanthropic Baroness Burdett-Coutts had Columbia Market built in Bethnal Green, in the Columbia Road, off the Hackney Road, near Shoreditch Church. The structure, which includes a fine Gothic hall, cost something like £200,000; and it was proposed that meat, fish, and vegetables should he sold here. But for some reason or other the Market never prospered ; and the place is not now used for its original purpose, although a small market is held further down the Columbia Road, to the left of our picture. The correct name of the lofty residential buildings enclosing the market-place is Georgina Gardens, although they are often called the "Baroness Burdett-Coutts Buildings."


      The Queen's London : a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896

      Heres the link:-



      Monty
      Monty

      https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...t/evilgrin.gif

      Author of Capturing Jack the Ripper.

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1445621622

      Comment


      • #4
        And heres a photo

        Heres a photo of it.
        Attached Files
        Monty

        https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...t/evilgrin.gif

        Author of Capturing Jack the Ripper.

        http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1445621622

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi Monty
          That was very quick!
          and very useful
          Many thanks

          Comment


          • #6
            I found it interesting that the description alleges that the suspect was of Jewish parentage but born in England
            Does this fit any known suspect?

            Comment


            • #7
              I'm not sure I have as much faith in this guy's dreams as you do, Chris. He didn't even leave his name.

              Yours truly,

              Tom Wescott

              Comment


              • #8
                Tom,
                I didn't say I believed it.
                I said I found it interesting.
                Chris

                Comment


                • #9
                  another LA DE DA type suspect, but this time from a dream, so it's even worst than HUTCH's twaddle.......

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Chris Scott View Post
                    I said I found it interesting.
                    Chris
                    Indeed, very interesting.
                    And the author of this letter is as much mysterious as his suspect.
                    He seems to know the case well, especially the witnesses testimonies. Look at how he can't decide between a Jewish and a Brit suspect: Jew, but born in England, and not looking like the "average Jew".
                    And again, not a real toff (this is not clear), but someone playing the role of a dosser.
                    Reading this communication (and it makes a good reading), I felt halfway between the automn of terror and the legend.
                    Thanks Chris and Monty.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Chris Scott View Post
                      I found it interesting that the description alleges that the suspect was of Jewish parentage but born in England
                      Does this fit any known suspect?
                      The only one who immediately springs to mind is John Pizer, but it's obviously not him.

                      This did remind me in some respects of the account by "Mentor" (Leopold Greenberg) of a young Jewish author he suspected of being the murderer, and about whom he told the police:

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hi Chris,
                        what springs to my mind is rather a cocktail. Among the various ingredients: Cutbush, The Lodger, Sickert, and, you're right, the mentor's suspect...
                        Pizer? Hmmmm....a bit crude and venal...

                        Amitiés,
                        David

                        Comment


                        • #13

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Chris Scott View Post
                            Hi Monty
                            That was very quick!
                            and very useful
                            Many thanks
                            No worries Chris.

                            Monty
                            Monty

                            https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...t/evilgrin.gif

                            Author of Capturing Jack the Ripper.

                            http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1445621622

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              This was the Times description for the "man in the passage" Hanbury St story :

                              The following official notice has been circulated throughout the metropolitan police district and all police-stations throughout the country:--"Description of a man who entered a passage of the house at which the murder was committed of a prostitute at 2 a.m. on the 8th.--Age 37; height, 5ft. 7in.; rather dark beard and moustache. Dress-shirt, dark vest and trousers, black scarf, and black felt hat. Spoke with a foreign accent."

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