Joseph Isaacs-Person of Interest

[Michael W Richards]

Hello all,

I was surprised to find that a man sought in connection with the Millers Court murder had no Suspects file created for him.

This fellow seems very interesting indeed....according to Mary Cousins, landlady of a lodging house on Little Paternoster Row, Mr Isaacs moved into her house a single man a few nights before the Millers Court murder. He was said to act strangely while there, pacing about while in his room. The night of Mary Janes murder he disappeared, leaving behind a violin bow. He apparently had a few instruments, none of which he played.

There is an article in the Daily News of December 8th that sheds some more light on this story...

"At Worship street Police court yesterday, Joseph Isaacs, 30, who said he had no fixed abode, and described himself as a cigar maker, was charged with having stolen a watch, value 30s., the goods of Julius Levenson. The prisoner, who was brought up in the custody of Detective Sergeant Record, H Division, is the man who was arrested in Drury lane on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of being connected with the Whitechapel murders. It transpired during the hearing of this charge that it was committed at the very time the prisoner was being watched as a person "wanted." The prosecutor Levenson said that the prisoner entered his shop on the 5th inst. with a violin bow, and asked him to repair it. Whilst discussing the matter the prisoner bolted out of the shop, and witness missed a gold watch belonging to a customer. The watch had been found at a pawnshop. To prove that the prisoner was the man who entered the shop a woman named Mary Cusins was called. She is deputy of a lodging house in Paternoster row, Spitalfields, and said that the prisoner had lodged in the house as a single lodger for three or four nights before the Dorset street murder - the murder of Mary Janet Kelly, in Miller's court. He disappeared after that murder, leaving the violin bow behind. The witness on the house to house inspection gave information to the police, and said she remembered that on the night of the murder she heard the prisoner walking about his room. After her statement a look out was kept for the prisoner, whose appearance certainly answered the published description of a man with an astrachan trimming to his coat. He visited the lodging house on the 5th and asked for the violin bow. It was given to him, and the witness Cusins followed him to give him into custody as requested. She saw him enter Levenson's shop and almost immediately run out. Detective Record said that there were some matters alleged against the prisoner which it was desired to inquire into. Mr. Bushby remanded the prisoner. "

I have put the underline and bold characters in there, but consider the possible ramifications here.

We know Mary was seeing someone named "Joe" aside from Barnett, many assume it was Flemming, we have a sighting of someone with Mary wearing an astrakan coat, ....and, more obscurely, we have a few references to someone commonly know as "Isaacs" accompanying Louis Diemshutz when he goes for the police....most reports suggest this was actually Isaac Kozebrodski. But an interesting sidebar here is that Joe Isaacs is a cigar maker, and we know cigar makers lived in the cottages in the passage to Dutfields Yard.

He was 30, a cigar maker, and an immigrant Polish Jew. And he was incarcerated for stealing on Dec 14th and sentenced to 3 months hard labor. Interesting to note that the next murder after Mary Kelly that some thought Jack the Ripper guilty of came in the Spring of 1889.

Does anyone have any additional information on this fellow that they could share here?

My best regards

[Hunter]

Hi Mike,

I have a little, but as I'm at work and on an android right now it might be tonight before I can access it.

By the way, have you rreadThe fox and the flies?

[Bridewell]

isaac(s)?

We know Mary was seeing someone named "Joe" aside from Barnett, many assume it was Flemming, we have a sighting of someone with Mary wearing an astrakan coat, ....and, more obscurely, we have a few references to someone commonly know as "Isaacs" accompanying Louis Diemshutz when he goes for the police....most reports suggest this was actually Isaac Kozebrodski. But an interesting sidebar here is that Joe Isaacs is a cigar maker, and we know cigar makers lived in the cottages in the passage to Dutfields Yard.

Hi Michael,

Morris Eagle, in his testimony at the Stride inquest, says about his checking of the body:

"Another member, named Isaac, was with me at the time."

"Isaac", without the final "s", suggests a forename, but he refers to others (Gilleman & Jacobs) by their surnames only. I wonder if he actually said "Isaacs" but was misheard?

[Bridewell]

The Telegraph

According to "The Ultimate" the Northern Daily Telegraph published the following on the day before the Evening News article:

THE LONDON HORRORS.
A BIG THING AT LAST.

ARREST OF A POLISH JEW.

The Metropolitan Police yesterday made a singular arrest, which was reported to be in connection with the Whitechapel murders. It appears that during the afternoon a man, described as a Polish Jew, was arrested near Drury-lane, but for what offence is not quite clear. This individual, who is of short stature, with black moustache, was taken to the Bow-street Station, where he was detained for a time. A telegraphic communication was forwarded thence to Leman-street Police Station, the headquarters of the Whitechapel division, requesting the attendance of one of the inspectors. Detective-inspector Abberline immediately proceeded to Bow-street, and subsequently brought away the prisoner in a cab, which was strongly escorted. The detectives at the East End made every inquiry in the neighbourhood concerning the suspect, who is well known in the locality, although he is stated to have been absent lately. It was subsequently ascertained that the man was apprehended for stealing a watch, with which offence he has been charged. The police, however, were led to believe that he was connected, not with the mutilations, but with the recent attempt to murder a woman in George-street, Spitalfields. Exhaustive inquiries were made, but as far as can be ascertained the man could in no way be connected with that outrage. It is further stated that the inspector was heard to say to one of his subordinates: "Keep this quiet; we have got the right man at last. This is a big thing.”

Whose was the attempted murder in George Street?

[Bridewell]

I'll make some enquiries of Ancestry.

[Bridewell]

In the 1881 census there's a Joseph Isaacs, Cigar Maker, aged 23 living with his father, David, at 144, Wentworth Street, which I think an interesting location, depending on where exactly on Wentworth Street No.144 was situated. He's shown as having been born in Whitechapel, but his father is Polish.

[Bridewell]

There's another, aged 20 in the same census, also a cigar maker, living with his parents and three sisters at 16, Boyd Street, St George in the East - so just round the corner from Dutfields Yard. Next door are Patrick Kelley and his wife, Mary, both of them born in.......Limerick! (Unfortunately she's 64 - but I guess she could be a relative of MJK?). Maybe??

[Michael W Richards]

Hi again,

Some interesting bits there BW. By the by, many of the press reports for the Berner murder stated that an "Isaac[s] accompanied Diemshutz. Even some members apparently used the "s". Which makes me think its possible they were referring to an Isaacs who was a member,...particularly since Isaac Kozebrodski was interviewed that night and stated that he went for help alone, at Louis's request.

I look forward to what you have Hunter, although I should preface my enthusiasm to say that I dont really believe the stories that try to associate this Isaacs with Joseph Lis or Joseph Silver.

Cheers

[Debra A]

Roy Corduroy has a fair amount of knowledge of Isaacs as far as I remember.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

"Isaacs has been fingered by both Paul Roland, in his error filled book The Crimes of Jack the Ripper (Arcturus, 2006) and Charles Van Onselen, who believes that Isaacs is an alias of his suspect Joseph Lis/Silver, in his book The Fox and the Flies (Jonathan Cape, 2007). Roland points out that Isaacs was handed over to Inspector Abberline and taken in a closed carriage under heavy guard as proof that he was an important suspect. News reports that Abberline was supposed to have stated “Keep this quiet; we have got the right man at last. This is a big thing” are also used as evidence for Roland’s theory.
Van Onselen points out that Lis/Silver was a Polish Jew who used many aliases, was later connected to cigar shops in New York, which were, he claims, fronts for prostitution rings, and who had syphilis which made him do unpredictable things like stealing a watch on the spur of the moment when all he wanted was to get his violin bow repaired. That Isaacs obviously used the bow as a ruse to occupy the pawnbrokers time while he grabbed the watch and ran is a possibility that doesn’t seem to enter Van Onselen’s mind.
Still, Joseph Lis/Silver aside, Isaacs was wanted by the police and in connection with something bigger than a stolen watch.
He was arrested near Drury Lane and taken to the Bow Street Police Station which then contacted Leman Street. Inspector Abberline himself (although at least one report states that it was Detective Sergeant William Record) went out to transfer Isaacs back to Leman Street and he did so with Isaacs under heavy guard. He seems to have been suspected of complicity in at least the Kelly murder and the attack on Annie Farmer and he was said to resemble the description given by Hutchinson of the man in the astrakhan trimmed coat.
Also, his conduct at his lodging house was so strange that the lodgers specifically mentioned him to the police during house to house searches after the Kelly murder and one of the lodgers, a woman named Catherine, made “serious allegations against him.” It was pointed out by the deputy of the lodging house, Mary Cusins, that Isaacs had suspiciously left the house shortly before, or shortly after states one account, the Kelly murder, and had disappeared (although in actuality he had been arrested). A lodger named Cornelius Oakes stated that he heard Isaacs threaten violence to “every woman above 17” and that he used to change his clothes often and that “sometimes he would wear a hard felt hat, and at other times a double-peaked cap,” both of which had been seen on Ripper suspects.
Oakes also stated, significantly, that he had actually been asked by the police to try and keep a lookout for Isaacs and had even been “out with the police in search of him.”
All this points to Joseph Isaacs being an important suspect (if only briefly) in the Whitechapel Murders. It was subsequently discovered that he had been arrested shortly after the Kelly murder and in jail when Farmer was supposedly attacked and when Rose Mylett was murdered in Poplar."
(From my suspect file)

Wolf.

[Michael W Richards]

Roy Corduroy has a fair amount of knowledge of Isaacs as far as I remember.

Then I hope from your keyboard to Roy's eyes Debra. Ive been wondering something lately, if its possible that the killing at Berner Street was a spontaneous act by someone who intended, and succeeded, killing someone else later on that night.

The reason I brought the Berner Street investigation into this thread was a possible tie in with this Isaacs fellow, he would have had to have come from somewhere before showing up at Ms Cousins establishment. Which I understand was like 2 minutes walk from Millers Court, on Paternoster. Interesting BW mentioned someone living about the same distance from Berner Street.

This chap seems to have eluded being named as Joseph Silvers alias while in London, and I know a case has been made for his candidacy. Silver doesnt appear on record until 1891 I believe, and Id sure like to know if this Isaacs fellow can be traced in the area. He seems a good fit for almost every aspect of the suspect particulars in the various witness statements, he fits the proclamation of Anderson in terms of Nationality and Ethnicity, and he has recorded odd behavior just prior to a "Ripper" murder just around the corner, before disappearing that same night.

I also find it interesting that despite the statements that suggest Abberline or any other detective found Hutchinsons story unreliable shortly after it was provided, it appears that they were following someone until early December that matched the Astrakan mans description.

Ive formed opinions over the years, I think thats natural ...about Hutchinson,..I think his story is fabricated.... about how many murders were really committed by one man on the Double Event night, ...I dont see any compelling evidence that would include Stride in the assumed spree,...but I am so open to the materials researchers like yourself come up with, even if it means Ive been wrong about something to this point.

Like...what if Astrakan man was real, one Joseph Isaacs, just as described, and was also Mary's mysterious second "Joe". The one who its said treated her ill. Thats got the inside job angle like Ive felt was the case based on the evidence in that room, and yet it authenticates someone who Ive neglected as immaterial for some time now. What if Stride WAS killed by the same man as Kate Eddowes but Liz's Strides murder was a spontaneous act and Kates wasnt? Ive always seen different motives there....well, maybe thats a possible reason why....there were different motives, just not necessarily different hands.

The best thing I can say about this study is that there are only a few provably correct answers available at the moment, so continued exploration is a must, not a frivolity.

Cheers Debra, best regards

[Michael W Richards]

Excellent post Wolf, thank you.

Cheers mate

[Hunter]

Hi Mike,

Wolf has pretty much summarized it.

I will simply add that after the Kelly murder, on Nov. 12, he was prosecuted and convicted for petty larceny in the Barnet Police Court and sentenced to 21 days of hard labor. He had only been out for 48 hours when he returned to 6 Little Pasternoster Row and asked for the violin bow that he had left there. The police looking for him in Spitafields didn't even know about it.

Isaacs was a petty thief and probably a part time nose for the local police when he got into trouble. Having a collection of musical instruments that he couldn't play seemed to be his MO.

Howard Brown found this press report from 1887:

http://www.jtrforums.com/showpost.php?p=89590&postcount=-3

[Ben]

I also find it interesting that despite the statements that suggest Abberline or any other detective found Hutchinsons story unreliable shortly after it was provided, it appears that they were following someone until early December that matched the Astrakan mans description.

But there's no evidence that the police were interested in Isaacs because of his appearance, Mike. The alleged Astrakhan-Isaacs similarity was a press observation only. Bear in mind that whatever he may have looked like, he could not have escaped suspicion. Besides his crime of theft, he was also alleged to have threatened violence to all women over the age of 17, which naturally warranted police attention. The fact that he was a cigar maker of "no fixed abode" would suggest that he was somewhat less than a dead ringer for the affluent-looking Astrakhan man. Maybe they shared the same pale/dark complexion and slight/heavy moustache?

It has been suggested in the past that the Isaacs arrest indicates a sustained interest in the Astrakhan description on the part of the police, but that's most assuredly not the case.

All the best,
Ben

[Roy Corduroy]

Thanks Debra. I dont' have anything to add beyond what's here. Detectives satisfied themselves he was not their man. He did seem a little unhinged. Ranting in his room, stealing things seemingly on impulse. Shades of Joe Lis. You know what would be bizarre? If Van Onselen truly discovered that Joe Lis used the alias Isaacs, and did these things, but ... he wasn't Jack the Ripper.

Roy