foreign crimes

[FutureM.D.]

Can someone give me a quick detail on the "Ripper" victims in Manigua, Germany and the U.S.? Is there a wide concensus on whether or not these are Ripper crimes, copycat crimes or just random sadist murders?

[Frank]

As far as I know the Managua murders are a newspaper hoax, please correct me if I am wrong. For the other cases it would be helpful if you would mention which murders you mean, e.g. the Austin axe murders or Carrie Brown's murder in New York

[sdreid]

Wasn't there also a murder in France in something like 1886 that some have tried to tie to the Ripper?

[Uncle Jack]

The supposed murders linked, or are similar in some way, to the Whitechapel murders are:

The Niguagra (sp?) murders, which have never been proven.

There were American murders such as:

1. Lottie Morgan, who was hacked in the head with an axe on 11th April 1890.

2. The murder and mutilation of Carrie Brown, found in the East River Hotel in New Jersey.

3. On January 31st 1892 a 73 year old woman named Elizabeth Senior, who had her throat cut and was stabbed repeatedly.

4. Hannah Robinson, who was just strangled.

5. Mary Anderson, who had her throat cut and was shot.

There are some Europe murders:

1. A woman was found murdered and mutilated 'similar to Mary Kelly' in Benthan, Germany, in April 1890.

2. In Switzerland, a "servant girl" was found murdered and mutilated.

3. and 4. Two murders occured in Berlin in October 1891 and April 1892. Both supposed victims were prostitutes. One had her throat cut and had her abdomen ripped open, the latter was merely strangled.

What you have to take into account is that nearly all researchers discount these murders as being by the Ripper and some are not even proven. One writer, Trevor Marriott, in his book Jack the Ripper: 21st Century Investigation, believes he committed them and R. Michael Gordon, in The American Murders Of Jack the Ripper, believes Jack did the USA murders.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

On the 23rd of January, 1889, the New York Sun published the story that not only had three women been murdered in Jamaica in a style similar to those in Whitechapel but that a note – “Jack the Ripper. Fourteen more then I quit” – had been pinned to the first victim. Then, on the 6th of February, 1889, the Sun stated that six similar murders had occurred in Managua, Nicaragua as well. However, by the 13th of February reports out of London stated that the two supposed murder series were hoaxes.

The Jamaican “series” certainly was a hoax, as Stephen Ryder has shown, as there was only one murder, that of Estina Crawford, and her murderer, Benjamin Ranger, was quickly arrested, tried, convicted and hanged. This is important to keep in mind since no evidence, either proving or disproving, the Managua murders has ever been found. Several researches, including myself, have been unable to find any indication that the Managua murders ever happened, not even in oral tradition, but it has been pointed out that the country of Nicaragua has suffered through war, revolution and devastating earthquakes and original documents are missing. My personal feeling is that the Managuan murder series never happened.

Germany has been a hotbed of supposed Ripper crimes including:
The supposed murder and mutilation of a prostitute in Flensburg, Germany, in October, 1889. However, this supposed Ripper-like murder has also turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by New York newspapers. The victim was a young girl and not a prostitute and she was killed in an accident.

The murder and mutilation of a woman in Beuthen (not Benthan), on 27 April, 1891 (not 1890). The victim was the wife of a tailor named Imielaw (also Imielawa or Imlelaw) and she was having an affair with a local surgeon named Dr. Kudelko. Kudelko was eventually arrested and this appears to have been a lovers triangle gone bad rather than a Ripper murder.

The murder of a prostitute named Hedwig Nitsche in Berlin on the 25th of October, 1891. Nitsche’s throat was cut and a long incision was made in the body from the throat down. The killer was interrupted and forced to flee but several people got a good look at him and an unemployed clerk named Schulze was eventually arrested.

The murder of a prostitute in Berlin on the 2nd of April, 1892. The woman was found strangled. Also the murder of a second woman in Berlin on 27th of September, 1892, also found strangled. Obviously these were not Ripper crimes.

“Several” murders in Frankfort, including the murder and mutilation of a fifteen year old boy named Winter in mid-March, 1900. I have no other information.

Up to eighteen assaults and mutilations in Ludwigshafen in 1900/01. A butcher named “Damian” was arrested “red-handed” but was subsequently released.

As for American murders that supposedly had some connection with the Ripper, there are too many to mention here but I will comment on those Uncle Jack posted.

Although the murder of “Lottie Morgan” in Hurley, Wisconsin, in April, 1890, was described at the time as “equalling in horror any of the Whitechapel crimes,” she wasn’t considered a possible Ripper victim. Trevor Marriott made this claim in the paperback edition of his book Jack the Ripper the 21st Century Investigation (2007) when trying to connect his suspect, Carl Feigenbaum, to Ripper-like murders in the U.S. Morgan was killed by a blow to the head from an axe and it was an open secret at the time that she was probably silenced because she knew too much about the robbery of the Iron Exchange Bank of Hurley in October of 1889. This murder had nothing to do with Feigenbaum or Jack the Ripper.

The closest American murder to those committed in Whitechapel is that of Carrie Brown, murdered and mutilated in the East River Hotel, New York, on the 24th of April, 1891. However, the autopsy report shows that her throat was not cut and although there were two deep penetrating wounds to Brown’s body the majority of the wounds were slight; some being characterized as mere scratches. Moreover, the murder took place in an hotel where the murderer allowed himself to be seen and where he left his weapon – a broken and ground down table knife. All the evidence considered it is unlikely that Brown was killed by Jack the Ripper.

The murders of Hannah Robinson, Elizabeth Senior and Hester Mary Anderson also had no connection with the Whitechapel murders until R. Michael Gordon fancifully connected them with his suspect, George Chapman, in his 2003 book The American Murders of Jack the Ripper. However, robbery seems to have been the motive in both Robinson and Senior’s deaths not mutilation as in the Whitechapel Murders. Robinson’s killer is unknown but may have been a drifter named Clarence Almy while Senior’s killer was very likely Augustus Lentz who was arrested for the crime but released due to lack of evidence. The murderer of Anderson, her boyfriend at the time of her death, reportedly confessed to the crime on his death bed some years later. None of these were Ripper crimes.

Wolf.

[Uncle Jack]

Wolf, as usual, very informative. I just got little snippets from Marriott's book. Lol

[Trevor Marriott]

Wolf, as usual, very informative. I just got little snippets from Marriott's book. Lol

Wolf is always very informative but sadly i think its time he removed the rose tinted spectacles.

The fact is that all of the murders referred to in Germany and The USA were all unsolved and to this day are still unsolved and therefore an open mind must kept be in relation to them.

It was not un-common then and still is the case today where persons are arrested in connection with murders and are interviewed and then released either due to lack of evidence or they were simply not involved.

As an example John Pizer was arrested and interviewed in relation to the murder of Chapman he was released without charge. I wonder if Wolf based on his comments would now suggest that Pizer was in fact guilty of the murder ? even though we know he was not !

It would be foolish to readily dismiss the suggestion that any of the aformentioned murders were not linked to The Whitechapel murders especially when it is a known fact that Carl Feigenbaum was working as a merchant seaman and travelling back and forth bewteen The USA and Germany at the time of the murders.

[sdreid]

That "Paris Outrage" or whatever you want to call it was in November of 1886. I don't believe the woman was ever identified. It looks rather more like a torso murder actually. I have it briefly in my notes but I don't recall where I got the information.

[Uncle Jack]

The Paris murder of 1886 is featured in Gordon's book The Thames Torso Murders Of Victorian London. I used to have a copy of this book but it got lost and now it is pretty pricey to buy, which pi**es me off! Lol

[Uncle Jack]

It would be foolish to readily dismiss the suggestion that any of the aformentioned murders were not linked to The Whitechapel murders

I wouldn't out and out dismiss the murders as being connected to the Whitechapel series but in my personal opinion, it is very unlikely that the same killer is responsable. I would say there is only about 1% chance of them being connected.

when it is a known fact that Carl Feigenbaum was working as a merchant seaman and travelling back and forth bewteen The USA and Germany at the time of the murders.

I wouldn't say it was a known fact that he was and even if we could prove Feigenbaum was travelling from one country to another, it still doesn't mean he was Jack the Ripper or even a serial killer. The only 'known fact' about Feigenbaum is that he killed one victim, which was almost certainly done with a motive of robbery in mind. Interesting as Feigenbaum is, there is nothing to conenct him to Whitechapel or any other murders. I used to be a supporter of the Feigenbaum theory but I tend to disagree with it nowadays, even though I still like your book and thought your other book, The Evil Within, was great.

The best Trevor.

[sdreid]

The Paris murder of 1886 is featured in Gordon's book The Thames Torso Murders Of Victorian London. I used to have a copy of this book but it got lost and now it is pretty pricey to buy, which pi**es me off! Lol

I haven't seen that book. It's in A-Z so that's likely where I first saw it in some detail. The first I saw mention of it was in Rumbelow's original book.

[Jeff Leahy]

Didnt someone try to connect Maybrick to a series of murders in America?

A series of Black american women if I remember correctly?

Pirate