Jack the Ripper Tech

[Simon Wood]

Happy New Year, Stan



Regards,

Simon

[The Grave Maurice]

The best-known example, Stan, is the Savoy Theatre.

[sdreid]

Were there any electric lights, either arc or incandescent, anywhere in London in 1888?

[sdreid]

I believe the last execution in England by something other than hanging was in 1941. That was by firing squad.

That is, the last execution there under English law of one Josef Jakobs.

There were two executions by firing squad in England during 1944 but they were American soldiers condemned under U.S. Military jurisdiction for murder. They were Alex Miranda and Benjamin Pyegate.

[sdreid]

In this era, profiling basically amounted to psychological perceptions of the time.

[sdreid]

The place to discuss recent developments that Jack and his pursuers had at their disposal.

Starting off with forensics:

Crime scene photography-Received limited use
Tracking dogs-Considered but not used
Bertillion's-May not apply unless some unidentified suspicious person was captured
Chemical poison testing-As far as we know would not apply
Fingerprinting-Had been discovered but no one had figured out its importance for crime solving

I might add that they also were trying a primitive type of profiling, both suspect and geographic, even though they didn't know what to call it yet.

[sdreid]

Hook Babbage's analytical engine to Morse's telegraph and you have the 1888 internet.

[sdreid]

The most advanced submarines of Jack's time were powered either by compressed air motors or electric motors with energy coming from batteries. Both types had a relatively short range but were fully capable of operating while totally submerged.

[sdreid]

The first airship flew over forty years earlier and was propelled by a steam engine.

[sdreid]

The only powered flight Jack had at his disposal were the primitive airships of the time. In 1888, they were propelled either by gasoline engines or electric motors and had gas bags filled with either helium or hydrogen.

[sdreid]

Heinrich Hertz demonstrated a primitive radio transmitter and receiver in 1888 but he had not yet found a practical use for his discovery.

[sdreid]

I would assume that tests for additional heavy metal murder weapons like mercury, antimony and thallium were soon discovered after the path was laid by the arsenic finding.

[sdreid]

For arsenic, they had the Marsh Test. I don't know about other poisons.

[sdreid]

I believe the first lie detector was built in 1885 although, since it only measured blood pressure, it was a monograph rather than a polygraph.

[sdreid]

I believe, right on both counts Yank.