1909 Crime Writer On 'The Real Perpetrator' of Ripper Murders

[Archaic]

I don't think this has been posted before. This passage is taken from Charles Greene Cumstom's piece titled 'The Crime, The Criminal and The Police' which was published in the Albany Medical Annals in 1909.

It discusses the "real perpetrator" of the Whitchapel Murders and names three possible suspects: "a Polish Jew Lunatic", "a Russian Physician"
and "a Physician" who drowned himself in the Thames. (It's not too hard to figure out who his unnamed source was.)

The first sentence baffles me because it declares that
"the real perpetrator of the famous 'Jack the Ripper ' murders was, to some extent, known to the London police".
I don't don't know how a 'real' perpetrator can be 'known' if it is only 'to some extent', especially if you then go on to point the finger of suspicion at three different people; that seems quite illogical to me.

But what do I know? This guy is a crime expert.

Best regards, Archaic

[lynn cates]

Dr. Anderson

Hello Archaic. Could he have gotten his information from brave, brave Sir Robert? This sounds like his way of putting things.

The best.
LC

[Stephen Thomas]

Could he have gotten his information from brave, brave Sir Robert? This sounds like his way of putting things.

No, Lynn. This is just a garbled version of the Macnaghton Memorandum which we know he showed to his pals. Anderson, circa 1910, simply said that an un-named Polish Jew was responsible and whether he was telling the truth or lying, we know not. Thanks for posting that, Archaic.

[Chris]

This is just a garbled version of the Macnaghton Memorandum which we know he showed to his pals. Anderson, circa 1910, simply said that an un-named Polish Jew was responsible and whether he was telling the truth or lying, we know not.

The text is quite close to that of Arthur Griffiths's version of the memorandum, in Mysteries of Police and Crime (1898):

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-spe.html

[lynn cates]

cop vs cop

Hello Stephen. Yes. Now I see that it looks like Sir MM's conjectures. I was thinking about the "almost had him" line of Sir Robert. (Or was his, "Should have had him"?)

The best.
LC

[Maggyann]

In the first part it says

"This man was said to look like the murderer ..... namely the police constable in Mitre Court"

I didnt think the police had seen anyone/anything suspicious in Mitre Court?

[perrymason]

In the first part it says

"This man was said to look like the murderer ..... namely the police constable in Mitre Court"

I didnt think the police had seen anyone/anything suspicious in Mitre Court?

Its a contentious comment maggyann, and it appears in Macnaghtens Memorandum. Most believe that he was misremembering his details and he might have confused PC Smith at Berner Street with perhaps Lawende, Levy and Harris at the second murder site.

There is a long press story concerning this comment that I believe appears in the write-up of a retiring city officer in the early 1900's....but I cant recall his name,....Sgt Stephen White perhaps? Some should know this if Im incorrect.

Best regards maggyann

[Archaic]

re: Charles Greene Cumstom

Hi, everyone.

Chris, I noticed that Charles Cumstom's text was quite a bit like "Mysteries" too.
It seems Cumstom's entire paper was highly derivative of other works, yet he never cited any sources.

I looked Cumstom up and didn't find anything other than a line in this same medical journal stating that he was an M.D. who presented this paper on crime at a medical society meeting.

As Stephen pointed out, even this short excerpt is rather confused and garbled. It suddenly appears midway through his long rambling discourse. Cumstom goes on for pages about cases of Wire Fraud & Forgery in minute detail as if was there, throws in a couple of short paragraphs on the Ripper and the Battersea/Waterloo Mysteries, and in the very next sentence starts talking about Jewel Thieves!

I posted the excerpt from Cumstom concerning the Battersea Mystery on a thread of the same name with a number of other old articles,
if anyone's interested.

Here's the link:http://forum.casebook.org/forumdisplay.php?f=90

Best regards, Archaic

[Phil Carter]

Hello Archaic,

I don't think this has been posted before either..

THE REAL RIPPER.

The Kensington murder having, in a small way, revived the "Jack the Ripper" scare, the authorities have thought it well to acknowledge - what many have long suspected - viz., that the mysterious hero of the Whitechapel horrors is dead. The Sun, you will recollect, made a rare to-do over the supposed discovery of this assassin some months back, but the police quietly pooh-poohed its wonderful yarn. The Sun's maniac undoubtedly posed as "the one and only original Ripper," who, like the Christy Minstrels, had "never performed out of London," and his admiring relatives warmly supported his claim. The police, however, pointed out that there were self-confessed Rippers in every asylum in Great Britain. The character is a favorite one even yet with madmen, as Saunderson's case shows. When, however, the statements of these self-confessed "Jacks" were examined they invariably went to pieces, and the Sun's allegations proved no exception to the general rule. They looked plausible enough in print, but half the testimony proved unreliable and the rest was obviously invented. The real Jack, it seems, belonged, as many suspected all along, to the medical profession, or rather was a student. His friends at last discovered the horrible truth, and had him confined in a private asylum. When he died a year ago the evidence in their possession was submitted to Scotland Yard, and convinced them they had at last found the genuine "Ripper."

Source: Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 10226, 4 February, 1895, Page 2

best wishes

Phil