Albert Bachert

[Chris]

I can't find any mention of this Bachert story on Casebook. It's from a New Zealand newspaper, the Taranaki Herald, of 24 January 1890 - no doubt copied from an English newspaper.

The letters received by Forbes Winslow are mentioned in his autobiography, Recollections of Forty Years:

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/rps.winslow.html

[ChrisGeorge]

I can't find any mention of this Bachert story on Casebook. It's from a New Zealand newspaper, the Taranaki Herald, of 24 January 1890 - no doubt copied from an English newspaper.

The letters received by Forbes Winslow are mentioned in his autobiography, Recollections of Forty Years:

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/rps.winslow.html

[ATTACH]8873[/ATTACH]

Hi Chris

This would appear to be a new mention of Albert Bachert (aka Backert). David O'Flaherty in his useful dissertation on Bachert here on Casebook notes that after a brush with the law in December 1889 the engraver was not mentioned in the press for a whole year. So this is an interesting find.

Specifically Dave states:

"The Times {London} reported on 5 December 1889 that Albert Bachert, Henry Norman, Albert Waple, and John Smith were indicted in the Southeastern Circuit for attempting to pass counterfeit florins at several public houses at Barking and Hornchurch. The jury acquitted Bachert and Norman, while convicting Waple and Smith.

"After his acquittal, Bachert did not make any known appearances in the press for nearly a year. Then in the fall of 1890, he wrote a letter to the press, which an Australian paper, the Port Philip Herald, reproduced on 22 November 1890. . . ."

Dave also notes:

"According to Evans and Skinner's Letters from Hell (p. 137), the Hemel Hempstead Gazette of 20 July 1889 reported that police had received a spate of Ripper letters, which threatened more murders. Albert Bachert's name is also mentioned as having been the target of a letter that June. Evans and Skinner report that police files preserve no such communication. "

Whether the apparently lost "Ripper" letter to Bachert of the summer of 1889 was the same as that mentioned in the Taranaki Herald, of 24 January 1890 is anyone's guess for there were apparently other Ripper missives or threats directed to him.

He was the recipient of a threatening Ripper postcard addressed to "Mr. Toby Baskett of 13 Newman Street, Whitechapel" on 20 October 1888 that read:

Dear Old Baskett
Yer only tried ter get yer name
in the papers when yer thought you
had me in the Three Tuns Hotel
I'd like to punch yer bleeding nose
Jack the Riper

(See Evans and Skinner's Letters from Hell, pp. 99-100, 240).

On the morning of Mary Jane Kelly's funeral, Bachert was the appearent target of Ripper graffiti on a wall outside on the outside wall of his home, 13 Newnham Street, Goodmans Fields, Whitechapel, that the handwriting in resembled Dear Boss and the New Zealand report might be a garbled reflection of that earlier report.

I have long found the engraver, who managed to insert himself into the case at so many points, to be one of the more curious figures in the case, and for my money somewhat of a "person of interest" for that reason.

Best regards

Chris

[Scott Nelson]

Check Wilson and Odell's ."..Summing up the Verdict" (1988). The letter was sent to Winslow and predicated another murder on November 8th or 9th.

Martin Roberts makes a case that this letter was sent by either Dr. James Gloster or his associate, Dr. Louis Tarrico, two west-end gynaecologists. He actually proposed Gloster as a potential Ripper.

Ripperana no. 30, October 1999, pp. 1-14 and no. 32, Aprill 2000, p. 17

[Scott Nelson]

Sorry Chris, posts crossed. The letter was signed P.S.R. Lunigi

[Dave O]

Hi, Chris Scott, Chris George, Scott Nelson:

Nice find, Chris Scott. Yes, there was talk of Bachert having got another letter in June, but there was also one later than that, supposed to be dated 9 October, 1889. I don't think it's included in the police files. I wonder if it's this October letter that's being referred to in the article Chris has found.

Mr. Albert Backhert [Bachert], chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, has received the following letter: "Whitechapel, 9th October, 1889. Dear Boss, - I write you these few lines to let you know, as you are the Boss of the Vigilant Society, that the last job wasn't me. You might have known it wasn't me, for I shouldn't have made such a 'botch' of it. Never mind, young man. You can keep your lamps open for the 18th of October. I am on the job again. There's no blood knocking about or I let you see some. Never mind. Look out, old man. Your a brave sort. You thought you had me once. Don't forget the 18th. - Yours in haste, JACK THE R. - Albert Backhert." The envelope bears the East London postmark, and was posted on Saturday. The writing corresponds with that in the letters received by Mr. Backhert previously. The "B" and "R" are a facsimile of those in the two letters that were sent to Mr. Backhert before the Miller's-court and Castle-alley murders, and these two letters turned out to be true. In this instance, however, the letters "J. R." are on the envelope as well as on the address. (East London Advertiser, Saturday, 19 October, 1889).

There are references to "two letters that were sent to Mr. Backhert before the Miller's-court and Castle-alley murders." Been awhile since I've looked at him, but the only communications I can recall him having received previously were the Toby Baskett letter and the graffiti at his house. Maybe we're missing one from June or July 1889. Or others! The article Chris refers to was my first attempt at one, and it's just a compilation of material that was already known about Bachert; I wrote it for Stephen Ryder as he'd asked for some articles. Chris Scott went on to locate some really fine articles about Bachert, stuff about Trafalgar Square, seeing a fellow killed on the street, and unemployment demonstrations.

Bachert's quite a character, isn't he? When it comes to Jack the Ripper, I would be hard pressed to think of someone who made more appearances in the press than he did. Very, very shifty.

Dave

[Chris]

Yes, there was talk of Bachert having got another letter in June, but there was also one later than that, supposed to be dated 9 October, 1889. I don't think it's included in the police files. I wonder if it's this October letter that's being referred to in the article Chris has found.

Some of these New Zealand news reports did refer to events that had taken place weeks and even months earlier, so I think that's quite possible.

(For the avoidance of doubt, "Chris"= Chris Phillips; "Chris Scott" = Chris Scott. It's just as well Scott Nelson doesn't post as "Scott" or it would be really confusing ...)

[ChrisGeorge]

Albert Bachert... and Screen Names Question

Some of these New Zealand news reports did refer to events that had taken place weeks and even months earlier, so I think that's quite possible.

(For the avoidance of doubt, "Chris"= Chris Phillips; "Chris Scott" = Chris Scott. It's just as well Scott Nelson doesn't post as "Scott" or it would be really confusing ...)

Hello Chris

Might I make a request to you that you post under your full real name? I have also previously mistaken you for Chris Scott, as did David just now. For the sake of clarity and of who is saying what, I really think it would be helpful.

This isn't of course just aimed at you. I am sure I am not the only one who finds screen names misleading and annoying, e.g., trying to sort out who is "Pirate Jack" and who is "Captain Jack" (are you listening, guys?). As another example, it is a mercy that Tom Wescott now posts under his own real name and not as "Red Demon" as he did when he first appeared on the Casebook message boards some years ago.

If everyone posted under their own full real name, I think it would be useful and clear. We are after all posting, hopefully, useful information here, and it would be additionally good to know who is posting that information.

Thanks for listening.

Best regards

Chris George

[Chris]

Might I make a request to you that you post under your full real name?

Given some of the nonsense that's been directed at me on these boards over the years, I prefer not to. If you look down the list of usernames, you'll see that quite a small proportion of users post under their "full real names". But this is off-topic.

[Dave O]

Sorry about that, Chris.

Dave

[lynn cates]

Kingsland murders

Hello Chris and Chris. I found this snippet about Bachert. It is from The Echo, September 29, 1890. Seems he was working as a journalist?

Any good info on these killings?

Forgive me if this has been posted already.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Kingsland murders

Hello Chris. Here is a snippet about the murders.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Hargan

Hello Chris. Here is Hargan.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Hargan released

Hello Chris. Seems he got an early release.

Cheers.
LC

[Tom_Wescott]

Seems he was working as a journalist?

Hi Lynn. It says he was writing to the newspapers, not for. Interesting stuff, and I'm now going to read the other articles you posted.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

Mead

Hello Chris. Here's another Backert fracas. Notice that Mead must be his personal solicitor.

Cheers.
LC