Was the Ripper abroad during October 1888 ? POLL

[halomanuk]

Hello all,

Yes its another beloved Friday and if any of you out there got caught in the London Underground Tube strikes on Wed,Thurs,this week as i did then well done for getting through it.

Anyway,just a short poll to take us away from the Toppy/Hutch forum that this is at the moment.....

Do you think the reason the Ripper was not active at all in October 1888 was because he was on duty abroad, either military or shipping etc .

Or was the heat too much and he lay low for a while ?

Simple...straight to the point,and any comments as usual most welcome.

[smezenen]

I voted Not sure on this one. Both theories (away or laying low) are reasonable but neither is supported nor excluded by any firm evidence so only Jack knows why he didnt kill in Whitechaple in October of 1888.
Since you mentioned it in the survey, I do believe he has militay training in his past.
Maybe one of the British citizens that came to America and fought during the Civil War. They fought on both sides but some of those guys where pretty nasty characters when they where doing their buisness especialy any that rode with Quantrill's and his Raiders (same group that spawned the James-Younger gang). both American and British soldiers of that group where known as rough and dangerous men.

Or a soldier that fought in the Zulu wars. I havent read much about that yet.

[babybird67]

i voted no

i think he was probably a local, and the opportunity maybe didn't arise.

[perrymason]

Hi Barry,

I believe its possible that his absence in October was just our first look at his regular pattern of coming to and leaving London.

I think he may have left London after Annie and returned to London at months end. I think he may have arrived in London first at months end in August. And left within 10 days, before Sept 10. He returns at Septembers end, and leaves at Octobers start, before Oct 10. He is back in town at the end of October, early November, and leaves town after Marys murder is he was involved in that one.

I"m not saying this is my theory on the man, just that teh above if true matches the murders and explains how he evades detection in between them.

Many legitimate people had reasons for a schedule like that, being in the field of Transportation for one, but also people who has means could hop here and there with return trips to London on a regular basis.

My friend Jerryd on here once showed me evidence that a man was arrested in Belfast for the Whitechapel Murders just after the Double Event...and due to his means, he frequently visited the major cities around the UK. Business, pleasure, whathave you.

Best regards all.

[smezenen]

Just to put a twist in here I'll combine Babybird and Michaels post and pose the thought, Maybe he grew up local but by 1888 he had a job/fortune that afforded him the travel opurtunity. explains how he avoids detection in between and how he knows the streets to avoid capture right after.

[Supe]

While Jack may have been abroad is certainly a possibility among the dozen or more reasons advanced on these boards in the past year to explain his "inactivity" in October, too little attention, I feel, is paid to the nrighborhood patrols organized by the vigilance committees. This is a point I made in "Why No October Surprise?" in Ripperologist 96 (October 2008), which was strongly influenced by Neil Bell's masterly "Defenceless Whitechapel" in Ripperologist 95 (September 2008).



The vigilancecommittee patrols could well have been his worst nightmare

incarnate. They need not have caught him in the act
anymore than the police might in order to scare him into
resisting mightily his murderous urges. The patrols need
only have seen Jack when and where that seemed very,
very strange to start tongues wagging and Jack’s heartbeat
racing at near-coronary-event level.

You can easily imagine the confrontation: three in the
morning on a quiet night when a lone male wandering on
the street is suddenly accosted. The police might ask him
his business and if he answered satisfactorily he would be
quickly on his way without their making any note of his
presence. Stumbling upon a vigilance patrol, however,
might be something else again.

“Well now, look who’s ‘ere, it’s Mikey [or Ikey]. What are you doin’ so far from ‘ome on a night like this mate?” Enough to chill the very marrow of Mikey’s [or Ikey’s] bones. The first night he might well come up with a reasonable excuse like walking off a drunk or a bad toothache or anything else reasonably plausible. But a second time would be less easily explained and a third perhaps impossible to talk his way out of adequately.

Even if the immediate patrol members were satisfied at the moment they would be likelyto talk (“Guess where we found Mike last night?”) and quickly the community would have heard. Definitely the last thing Jack would want is for the people in his own “backyard” to be talking about his nocturnal peregrinations and that is just what the vigilance committee patrols might have made him fear the most. Perhaps they even scared him into a forced “vacation” during October and then caused him to kill indoors the next time (and wreak all his month-long pent up fury on Kelly).

As it was, the three separate vigilance patrols gathered numbers and momentum throughout Ocotober and had more than 100 men patrolling the area nightyly, If, as many believe, Jack was a local (or even just frequently in the area) the members of these patrols were his "homies" and their presence could make his deadly prowls awkward if not extremely dangerous..

If nothing else, something worth more thought.

Don.

[Mascara & Paranoia]

I vote no.

After killing Eddowes, Whitechapel was crawling with police and vigilantes (or however it's spelled). His reason for not killing in October doesn't have to be anything more than just not wanting to risk the very real possibility of actually being caught.

[Mr Chumley]

laying low

Interesting thread...

I had wonered some time back if Jack was a local lad who had gone to sea as a merchantman, or fisherman and thus allowed him to take out his hobby for whatever reason on the ladies of Whitechapel when he had a run ashore...

Possibly he lived elsewhere and commuted to London to do his work over this period, and as it had got too hot did lay low somewhere else, maybe killing without the crime being detected, just another missing person...

Perhaps he was ill....

Maybe he had a bucket and spade holiday on the South coast..

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
It has been suggested that Mjk may have been murdered by a copycat, that being the case the crimes of Jack the Ripper, may have ceased after the double event, for reasons unknown to us to date.
Regards Richard.

[perrymason]

Hi,
It has been suggested that Mjk may have been murdered by a copycat, that being the case the crimes of Jack the Ripper, may have ceased after the double event, for reasons unknown to us to date.
Regards Richard.

Hi Richard,

I think that is one possible answer myself, though not precisely as you phrased it. Jack the Ripper absence in October until possibly November 8th, represents the single largest gap in his alleged murder spree. Polly to Annie is 10 days, Annie to Liz and Kate is approx 3 weeks...Kate to Mary is 5 weeks.

If the murder of Mary Kelly was an act that was disguised as a Ripper crime after she was killed, I don't think that really fits "copycat", in that he may not even have set out to kill let alone "copy" anything. Perhaps in a sober moment after an intoxicated and angry attack that ends up with a dead woman, I could easily see someone doing damage control by causing more damage to the corpse.

Almost everyone to this day suggests the evidence that Mary Kelly was The Rippers victim is shown in her mutilated remains....when that portion of the evening could have literally been accomplished by anyone with a knife.

But I dont imagine more than 1 in 1000 men at that time in those neighborhoods knew how to cut a uterus free with minimal knife use, while in the dark.

Best regards all.

[Celesta]

I just can't say on this one. Interesting question though since most of us have pondered this, and interesting results so far.

[DVV]

I voted no, of course.
Though I should have voted yes, abroad meaning "out of Provence".

Amitiés all,
and Celesta first of all,
David

[Celesta]

Fair enough, David!

I've considered the cattle boat theory but of course there's no proof.

Best to you, my friend.