Early "Doctor in Buenos Aires" story? 1901

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

The Salt Lake Herald, 25th August 1901 has a very interesting, if colourful, article. The writer, a John T Sullivan, explains his efforts to track the Whitechapel murderer, including dressing up as a woman. However, at the end of this very long article, he says the following..

"As to the identity of Jack the Ripper, both the man and his habitat are known. But, mind you, it is only in the last three months that this fact has come out. At the time of which I write London was divided in its opinions. Some thought the work was that of a frenzied sailor-a butcher on one of the cattle transports, who had taken this form of revenge upon those outcasts for a fancied wrong. Others held that it was a physician, a reputable man in London-a perfect Jeckyll and Hyde. He had developed a homocidal mania and had been confined in a private sanitarium in a suburb of London. How he escaped was a mystery, but Scotland Yard knows the man today. He is an exile from his country. His lives at Buenos Ayres, in the Argentine republic, and there being no law of extradition between that country and England, he is entirely safe there. I have this on the best authority, although this is the first time the facts have been given to the public.
"Jack the Ripper" has not been in evidence since Dr.E- left England.I need hardly say he is under close surveillance in the Argentine capital, so there will be no repitition of his offence."

(my emphasis and underlining)

Interesting here is the Buenos Aires reference, used by Leonard Matters years later, afterwards in book form in 1929.

Is there an earlier example of this story? If not, did Matters pick it up from the same source as John T Sullivan? There are very clear similarities. Did we have a single source putting out this story to many I wonder? Here we have Dr E as opposed to Dr Stanley. (and indeed as opposed to a Dr.T as mentioned in the Littlechild letter to Sims)

The entire article can be found here

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058130/1901-08-25/ed-1/seq-10.pdf

I welcome all thoughts on this early Doctor story.

best wishes

Phil

[Phil Carter]

"...it is only in the last three months that this fact has come out....although this is the first time the facts have been given to the public."

Hello all,

Interesting co-incidence, this article came out in August 1901. Three months earlier, May 1901, Anderson resigned. That makes me curious if there were any policy changes, if any, at Scotland Yard, after Anderson's departure?.

best wishes

Phil

[Jonathan H]

I have been arguing for nearly three years that the 'Drowned Dcotor' mythos is one that shields Druitt from ever being discovered by journalists.

That Macnaghten, via Griffiths and especially Sims, used elements of Tumblety, a suspect from 1888 to create this myth, this 'shilling shocker' which so smothered the Edwardian era about the Whitechapel mystery.

Here we have an article from 1901 which is, no doubt unknowingly, mixing and matching bits and pieces of Druitt and Tumblety -- in mythical form.

By 1898, via Griffiths, Druitt has become the middle-aged physician who lives with 'friends' in a West End suburb [I have called this elegant ruse a 'Blackheath Jekyll and a Whitechapel Hyde' and, lo and behold, here is a reference in this article to the very same literary prototype for the myth].

An element of this 1901 story, that this doctor was placed in an asylum but escaped, will be partially adopted [and cleaned up] by Sims in 1902. In that latter piece Sims/Dagonet will assert that the doctor had been in an asylum [perhaps twice?] but was, scandalously, let out too early. Sims practically blames the state for the Whitechapel horrors, thus absolving his fellow, Gentile gentleman.

The difference here, of course, with this 1901 article is that the quasi-Tumblety element -- the last minute escape to the Americas -- is not in the 'Drowned Doctor' tale. Instead the alleged chief suspect, with the police dragnet inexorably closing, killed himself in the Thames on the night/next morning of Mary Kelly's murder, reduced to 'a shrieking, raving fiend' [Sims, 1907].

The reference to a sailor is garbled bits of Tom Sadler fused with William Grant Grainger, the former a contemporaneous suspect to the 1888 -- 1891 investigation, whilst the latter was apparently positively identified by the best Ripper witness [almost certainly Lawende] in 1895 -- and yet rejected as the fiend by Scotland Yard [despite what this sailor's lawyer would claim in 1910].

By 1898, Lawende's sighting of 'Jack the Sailor' was being ruthlessly airbrushed out [as was Lawende!] of the new paradigm of the 'autumn of terror', and an efficient police hunt of ten years before. The Puppet-master here is Macnaghten. For example, the Jewish witness was, thanks to Mac, replaced by Griffiths -- with Sims following -- with a new amd entirely fictitious 'best witness': a Gentile, beat cop who now saw a Polish Jew with Eddowes.

In 1913, Littlechild privately pulled back the curtain on all this Wizard-of-Oz razzle-dazzle but his rude revelation made no impact whatsoever, not even on Sims.

[Phil Carter]

Hello Jonathan,

Thank you for your reply,

I can certainly see where you are "coming from" vis-a-vis Tumblety and Druitt, etc. I see the consistenceis and inconsistencies.
When I first saw this, the immediate comparison in my mind's eye ventured towards Leonard Matters' Dr Stanley.

best wishes

Phil

[Simon Wood]

Hi Phil,

Good find. It sounds like you may have found the source of Leonard Matters' Doctor Stanley in Buenos Aires story.

Interestingly, however, is an 1888 newspaper reference to Dr Tumblety being confused with a Doctor Stanley. I'll dig it out and post it.

Regards,

Simon

[Chris Scott]

This was lost in the BIG crash...
The only bit I can find salvaged is:
View Full Version : John T Sullivan - Hunting the Ripper


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris Scott
05-23-2008, 12:17 AM
Below is the start of a VERY long article by the actor John T Sullivan published 25 August 1901
This is not in the Press Reports section - has it been posted here before?
John T Sullivan was certainly in London at the time of the murders. The press report below shows that he was performing at the Lyceum with Richard Mansfield

http://www.casebook.org/press_reports/star/s881002.html

If it has not been posted before I will transcribe and post
Chris

I did post shortly after but it was lost
Phil, thanks for making it available again
Chris S

[Phil Carter]

Hello Chris,

Thank you.
Great that it has been found again!

best wishes

Phil

[Simon Wood]

Hi Phil,

Here's the earlier article about Doctor Stanley.

San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, 23rd November 1888

"It is the belief of Chief Crowley that people in this city have confounded Dr. Tumblety with Dr. Stanley. The latter had been a surgeon in the British Army, and came to this country from Australia. He was a large, distinguished-looking man, and had his office with Dr. Sharkey, on Washington street, and was a well-known character around the Snug Saloon, under Maguire's Opera House, on Washington street. Stanley was in the habit of dressing in a peculiar manner and always wore top boots and was followed by two greyhounds whereas those who knew Tumblety during his short residence in this city say he never was the owner of any dogs during his stay. Finally Stanley did something contrary to the law and while the present Chief of Police and the late Samuel Harding were looking for him he managed to slip out of town. At the time the officers thought that he had returned to Australia, but later they learned that he had gone to New York. Owing to the short time that Tumblety resided in this city, Chief Crowley thinks it improbable that people could have become well-acquainted with his actions."

Regards,

Simon

[Phil Carter]

Hello Simon,

Thank you for posting this addition. The intertwining of the two names makes interesting reading. It means that in 1888, a Dr Stanley did exist.
The mere fact that Dr Tumblety is reported to be confounded with this Dr. Stanley, makes the Leonard Matters story slightly more plausible.
That we have a Dr Stanley directly connected, in print, to Tumblety, a possible suspect for the Whitechapel murders in 1888, then strengthened in the article from 1901, adds more food for thought. Here, the man is Dr.E-. The Littlechild letter initially refers to a Dr.D-. in 1913. In Matters' book, 1929, the doctor fled to Buenos Aires. As did this Dr.E-, reported in 1901. All very interesting.
Once again, thank you.

I wonder if it is possible to trace the Dr Stanley's practice, shared with Dr. Sharkey, on Washington St, as mentioned in the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin? I wonder what initial this Dr. Stanley had?

Having searched for a reference to a Dr Stanley, I came across this in The San Francisco Call, dated May 18th, 1901. This man seemingly came from San Francisco to New York, but here it states his name as Dr Kirk Stanley, and apparently career started in 1896 in Oakland. The article is interesting though, supplied here:-

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1901-05-18/ed-1/seq-5.pdf

best wishes

Phil

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

The Salt Lake Herald article was posted on the boards back in 2007 and there was a discussion about its possible connection with Matters's Dr. Stanley theory then.

It is clear from what Matters actually writes about Stanley that there is no connection with the information found in the Herald article. Even the name "Dr. Stanley" was made up by Matters to identify his theoretical killer since Matters's theory is based on nothing more than his own imaginings as to why the murders might have been committed.

Wolf.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi all,

It seems that John T Sullivan is confusing two suspects. Another source I have mentions three theories: 1) the cattleman 2) a lunatic at Broadmoor and 3) the doctor mentioned here, with further details. So assuming these people existed, it's probable that the doctor suspect was not in an asylum but got melded together with a different suspect in Sullivan's mind, or that of his sources.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott