A truly industrial murderer?

[KatBradshaw]

I have always been fascinated by the Industrial Revolution and it’s impact on Britain, especially the working class. I was thinking about the places and the times of the murders, the circumstances of the women and their lives and the machinery of the police and it really struck me that this is a truly industrial crime.
If we think about the circumstances all together could these crimes have happened earlier? Would they have been discovered just a short time later? Is the line ‘People will say that I gave birth to the 20th Century’ in fact correct?
Just musing and interested in other people’s thoughts.

[Pontius2000]

I think it can definitely be argued that the world has become more and more violent as time has progressed. But as for these specific crimes, I think crimes as or more vicious occured prior.

It's commonly accepted that JTR was the "first modern serial killer" and I won't argue. But that's just due to the notoriety of it. There have been sexual serial killers since history began. hell, probably among cavemen.

That's sounds like a Geico commercial: "Sexual serial killing: So easy a caveman can do it."

[Supe]

Kat,

It could be argued that Jack's immediate global notoriety occurred because the horrible crimes happened at the confluence of many late 19th C technological advances--from inter-ocean cables to linotypes down to refrigerated rail cars--that made newspaper accounts avaiulable to readers everywhere within hours. Jack was the first worldwide "celebrity criminal."

Don.