Possible Repercussions from Anderson Revealing the Ripper's Identity

[c.d.]

What would the repercussions have been (both good and bad) had Anderson revealed the Ripper's indentity in his book? A few immediately come to mind.

Good Repercussions:

1. Anderson becomes an instant celebrity for a while. He could write newspaper aritcles and give lectures detailing how he tracked down the Ripper. I would think that it could have been fairly lucrative.

Bad Repercussions:

1. He is hit with a liable suit by the family of the individual named as Jack.

2. His old Scotland Yard friends turn on him and publicly accuse him of being a fraud.

I think those will do for starters.

c.d.

[lynn cates]

repercussions

Hello CD. Good idea for a thread.

I think that your #2, under bad, is pretty well it. In fact, this is about what happened when some other police officials weighed in on his Polish Jew theory.

Cheers.
LC

[Trevor Marriott]

What would the repercussions have been (both good and bad) had Anderson revealed the Ripper's indentity in his book? A few immediately come to mind.

Good Repercussions:

1. Anderson becomes an instant celebrity for a while. He could write newspaper aritcles and give lectures detailing how he tracked down the Ripper. I would think that it could have been fairly lucrative.

Bad Repercussions:

1. He is hit with a liable suit by the family of the individual named as Jack.

2. His old Scotland Yard friends turn on him and publicly accuse him of being a fraud.

I think those will do for starters.

c.d.

His book publishers offered to pay any libel costs incurred in revealing the identity of the person he was referring to in his book

[c.d.]

Hello Trevor,

That is quite interesting. I did not know that. Now do we know that for a fact or is it something that Anderson himself said?

c.d.

[PaulB]

Yes, it is very interesting. What is your source for that, Trevor?

[Wickerman]

Anderson did suggest this as a possible route in Blackwoods, pt. VI, March 1910; "..provided the publishers would accept all responsibility in view of a possible libel action."

I assumed that, 1) they never did, or that, 2) this was a ploy by Anderson to cover the fact he was only guessing at the identity of the killer.

Jon S.

[Phil Carter]

Anderson did suggest this as a possible route in Blackwoods, pt. VI, March 1910; "..provided the publishers would accept all responsibility in view of a possible libel action."

I assumed that, 1) they never did, or that, 2) this was a ploy by Anderson to cover the fact he was only guessing at the identity of the killer.

Jon S.

Hello Jon,

The lack of comment after Blackwood's would suggest that publishers did consider it- and may well have realised, or been told, that Anderson was combining his penchant for 'moral guilt' and an unfinished, unprovable story.

The question always returns to Anderson's words. Are they trustworthy? Are they embellished? Are they wishful thinking? Are they made to make him look better? Are they false?

To me, opinion only- the way Anderson embellished and changed the manner of his departure from Scotland Yard, as proven by Simon Wood's research of official papers has shown Anderson's clear first impulse to colour his own reputation.

I therefore suggest that Anderson's words are not trustworthy, making the original question by c.d. redundant, imho.

Best wishes

Phil

[PaulB]

Wickarman,
Thanks. Precisely.

[c.d.]

From a strictly financial standpoint, the money generated by sales of a book that names the identity of the Ripper could far outweigh the fear of a possible libel suit. The key word here being possible. If the named killer came from a poor family, they might not have the resources to hire an attorney and furthermore they might not want the resultant publicity. They might opt instead to keep as low a profile as possible.

On the other hand, a reputable publishing company might want to protect its reputation and would not chance being involved in any way in a libel suit.

c.d.

[Scott Nelson]

There would have been repercussions against Kosminski families living in London at the time.

[Robert]

Yes indeed. Even c110 years later, Aaron Kosminski's grave was defaced when the shawl theory came out.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Yes indeed. Even c110 years later, Aaron Kosminski's grave was defaced when the shawl theory came out.

I didn't know that.

Londoners certainly know how to hold a grudge

[Robert]

Actually Michael, I possibly have to correct myself. Perhaps I was thinking of the virtual flowers feature here :

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=135577377

[Scott Nelson]

Then, of course, the question may be: did workhouse and asylum authorities document Kosminski by an anglicized name, say "Cohen", or something else to protect the Kosminski namesake?

Swanson and Macnaghten used the name "Kosminski" only in private writings.

[Robert]

Hi Scott

Do you still hanker after Isaac of Goulston St?