DI Henry Cox.

[spyglass]

Hi all!
Having just read the article on how D I Henry Cox watched and followed a JTR suspect as told to Thompsons Weekly ( a city suspect ).

Who of the many suspects fit the description.
I would be intrested to hear your views

[belinda]

I have just discovered this suspect.I'm not sure any known suspect fits but I think this one is worth tracking down and knowing much more about.This is the kind of local nobody we're probably looking for.

[spyglass]

Hi!
Having read the article a few times now, I feel that it is proberbly true because of the amount of detail. And therefore certain popular suspects dont fit the bill, ie. Druit,Kosminski,Tumblety, Barnet.
However Hutchinson has always come over as a shady character, and Flemming also.
Of course this would'nt make them JTR, but good suspects.

[belinda]

I don't think it was Hutchinson. At that time he was still in good standing as a witness as far as I know.

I think this is a "new"one

[spyglass]

HI,
But if Abberline treated Hutchinson with suspicion ( as he should have ) then it is more then likely he would have had him watched.
I can also imagine Hutchinson knocking around with the criminal element of the East End, just like the character Cox was watching.

[belinda]

There's no real reason why Hutchinson should have been treated with suspiscion.

Frederick Abberline was not stupid if he thought Hutchinson had anything to do with the crimes he'd have done something about it.

They had access to more information about Hutchinson than we do.I'm sure Abberline would have had his background checked at the time.


I wonder if Cox told the name of the suspect he was watching to any family members or left notes behind.

We need to trace the family to see what material if any they have left and are willing to share

[spyglass]

You have said it yourself "Abberline was not stupid if he thought he had anything to do with the crimes he'd have done something about it"
This is what im saying possibly happened.
Other historians like Paul Begg have suggested that possible imfomation on people like Hutchinson would be very hard to find by the police, and that it was possible Hutchinson was'nt his real name, possibley an alias.

[Chris]

I wonder if Cox told the name of the suspect he was watching to any family members or left notes behind.

I have been tracing Cox's descendants for a while, and have made contact with some of them - with a lot of help from a great-great-niece who posted a message on Casebook. Unfortunately there is no sign of any family information about the Ripper suspect yet.

It is worth noting that the Ripper article in Thomson's Weekly News was only one instalment (the twelfth) in a lengthy series by Cox, entitled "Famous Cases from my Notebook", which ran to at least seventeen weekly parts.

[Ben]

Just a general observation regarding suspect investigation 1888: there was only so much "checking" that the police could realistically have hoped to achieve into the background of any individual treated with suspicion, especially transient dossers. That's not to say they wouldn't have done their best, but there were obvious limitations. As such, any dismissal of a potential suspect on the basis that the police MUST have checked X or Y out, that their checking MUST have delivered results, and they MUST have determined the innocence of said suspect is based on an unrealistic threefold assumption.

Best regards,
Ben