Jack the Catholic?!

[Simon Wood]

Hi Observer,

The RMN story was datelined 2nd January 1892.

Abberline tendered his resignation on 7th January 1892, the day before his 49th birthday, and commenced his retirement on 7th February 1892.

Do you think it at all possible that he was the "garrulous official who has since been severely reprimanded for his indiscretion"?

Regards,

Simon

[DVV]

Very nice find Simon.

Could it be Father Brown accusing Hercule Flambeau ?

Amitiés,
David

[mklhawley]

Very nice find Simon.

Could it be Father Brown accusing Hercule Flambeau ?

Amitiés,
David

You know Chesterton was a teenager at the time of the Whitechapel murders. I think you're on to something David!

Mike

[Roy Corduroy]

Do you think it at all possible that he (Abberline) was the "garrulous official who has since been severely reprimanded for his indiscretion"?

Good question Simon. And thank you for the article you shared. But before asking that question, shouldn't we first ask ourselves was there -

"A royal commission is to investigate the now almost forgotten Whitechapel murders"

That would be a biggie if so. If not, then what else in the article is not true?

Roy

[Simon Wood]

Hi Roy,

To the best of my knowledge the Royal Commission never took place, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't mooted.

A Royal Commission [which is what Parnell originally demanded to clear his name] is a heavy-duty political inquiry created in the name of the Monarch and formally appointed by Letters Patent, so what event in 1891 could have precipitated such an idea?

If this story is true [and I'm still digging as I write] the idea of a Royal Commission certainly wasn't to establish the guilt of an insane Polish Jew or a not-that-prominent barrister. Possibly it was to examine Scotland Yard's high-profile, costly, labour-intensive, embarrassing and ultimately fruitless investigation.

But as the commission never got off the ground another question worth asking is why, if the story is true, did the idea get quashed?

Regards,

Simon

[Roy Corduroy]

What Catholic churches (if any) were located in that part of the city?

St Anne, Underwood Rd, Mile End New Town
St Boniface (German) Adler St, Whitechapel
The English Martyrs, Prescott St, Tower Hill
St Mary and St Michael, Lukin St, Commercial Road
Guardian Angels, 377 Mile End Rd, Mile End
Our Lady Immaculate, 636 Commercial Rd, Limehouse
St Mary and St Joseph, Pekin St, Poplar
Our Lady and St Catherine of Siena, 179A Bow Road, Bow
St Edmund, 297 West Ferry Rd, Millwall

[Observer]

Hi Observer,

The RMN story was datelined 2nd January 1892.

Abberline tendered his resignation on 7th January 1892, the day before his 49th birthday, and commenced his retirement on 7th February 1892.

Do you think it at all possible that he was the "garrulous official who has since been severely reprimanded for his indiscretion"?

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon

It is possible I suppose, however Abberline dosn't strike me as an officer who would leak documents. Also when interviewed by the Pall Mall Gazette in 1903 Abberline stated that he was still in touch with Scotland Yard, if he had resigned under a cloud I would have thought that all contact with his former employers would have ceased.

Therefore I am of the opinion that Abberlines resignation, and the garrulous officer's reprimand is mere coincidence.

It makes you think though does it not? More needs to be done I'd say to ascertain the identity of the garrulous officer.

all the best

Observer

[Roy Corduroy]

'It is understood that the death of a Catholic priest in the East End of London has placed some important revelations in the hands of the police. There can be no doubt that the priest, under the seal of confession, died possessed of information that might have led to the arrest of the murderer or murderers of the wretched women known as "Jack the Ripper's" victims. That the priest had qualms of conscience regarding the sanctity of confession, even in connection with such atrocities, is evinced by the sealed packet he left behind him addressed to Sir Edward Bradford, chief of London's police department. On the package was inscribed, in the dead priest's handwriting, 'This is to be opened after my death - my lips must never reveal it.'

Again, this is an interesting arcticle you shared, Simon. I wonder if Alfred Hitchcock, who grew up in the East End, heard of it. Watch carefully - (click here)

Roy

[Roy Corduroy]

Another to the list - St Patrick in Wapping. Although I've heard it said Wapping is an island

Photo of St Anne, Underwood Road

[Roy Corduroy]

Every one of the "East End" churches listed were open at that time and still are today. And one more, Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Bow Common.



Well Simon, that's quite an article you found from Denver. But no other one like it? Hmmm

If coincidence counts for anything, Cardinal Manning and Prince Albert Victor both passed away Jan 14, 1892.

Roy

[ghoulstonstreet]

The Jewish Theory

There is no evil Jew theory. There is a story about a lower class immigrant who happens to be of Jewish descendency, but not one about someone who killed because he's Jewish; not a valid one anyway.

Mike

Heythere, I just read Stewart Evans' THE MAN WHO HUNTED JACK THE RIPPER, and I highly recommend it. It's about Edmund Reid, one of the many obscure detectives who worked the cases at the time. The book has a few pages on the Jewish suspect question. The ironic upshot is that anti -Semitism can be blamed for the failure to bring forth a possible Jewish suspect, if there was one. Both the authorities and the Jews themselves were quite fearful of an uprising or some other kind of violence against the Jews should one be named the Ripper. So if this (very justified) fear had not been part of the equation we might now know who the Ripper was, had he been a Jew.

[ghoulstonstreet]

What is a Catholic footprint? Or is this a joke?

[Roy Corduroy]

Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone but the family lived for a time in Limehouse, where the Hitchcock grocery and fish market operated on Salmon Lane, near Our Lady Immaculate Church. But "Hitch" and family usually attended Sunday services in Stratford because that is where Father John, his father's nephew said Mass.

Photo of Our Lady Immaculate, Limehouse. The statue on the church is known as the "steering Christ" as it acted as a navigation aid to sailors coming into the docks.