Is the Texas Ripper the Listowel Ripper?

[mklhawley]

Greetings all,

In 1894 sixty miles west of Toronto a thirteen year old girl by the name of Jesse Keith was mutilated ripper-style. Her throat was cut and then was eviscerated with a number of her organs missing. They tried and convicted a French-speaking man named Almede Chatelle from Quebec. He was picked up about 45 miles east near Toronto, but admitted being in Listowel during the time of the murder. His behavior was quite unusual which got the authorities attention. He was even found wearing women’s underwear. He was a frequent traveler and braggart claiming even to have visited Jesse James while in Texas.

http://merlynscave.bravepages.com/listowel.htm

I confirmed this event. In the Omaha Daily Bee (1895) it says:
Almede Chatel was hanged Friday at Stratford, Ontario, for the murder of little Jesse Keith.

A few years prior to the Whitechapel killings in 1884/1885, a series of ripper-style mutilations occurred in Austin, Texas.

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-austin.html

They were so similar to the ripper killings it caused a number of people to wonder if they were one and the same. Might Chatelle have murders these women in Texas? The Texas murders are unsolved to this day. If Chatelle did indeed kill a 13-year old girl so brutally, he may certainly have killed others. He claimed to have been in Texas.

Any thoughts?

Mike

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Mike

You say, "He claimed to have been in Texas." Well first it's a long way from having claimed to have been in Texas to having been in Texas and having done the Austin servant girl murders, isn't it?

Also it would appear to me that there is a distinct difference between the murders done in Austin, which all involved, I believe I am correct in saying, older black servant women killed with an axe to both the Ripper murders and the murder of the 13-year old girl in Canada, which involved white victims and a knife. The website you cited implies that a pocket knife with blood on it was the murder weapon in the murder of Jessie Keith.

Chris

[mklhawley]

I can't argue with you on those points Chris, especially if we assume the killer prefers to use the same kind of weapon and kill the same kind of female. The author of this article even claims Chatelle was wrongly accused, although I'm not sure I agree with him. If he was in Texas at the time of the murders, at least we know of one person who has the stomach to do such a thing.

Mike