How would YOU catch the Ripper?

[Rosella]

What if Jack was, say, a self-employed butcher? Surely he'd have some money in his tills every day. We don't know that Victorian slaughter-houses used time-cards, do we? Some slaughter houses seem to have been quite small, casually run operations. There would have been shifts which men worked until the finish, but took breaks in between in which they went for short walks outside in the fresh air.

And what if a man working there did resemble Lawende's description? It wouldn't mean anything without further back-up. Jack may well have been one of the hundreds of men questioned by the police that autumn but they didn't see anything suspicious, he kept a cool head, and escaped further investigation.

[c.d.]

If I had been the police, I think I might have tried to tie together workers' pay days and by workers I mean slaughter men or those used to working with a knife. I somehow envision a Jack with money or at least money he could flash around. That would mean a pay day. I would take Lawende's description and make the rounds of slaughter houses to see if anybody fit that description by checking with the manager and then check time cards to see if that individual got paid the day of the murders.

Yes, it would be a long shot but at least a start.

c.d.

[Fisherman]

Sounds fair, but why would Koz or Montie or the Doc or any other suspect go to visit Charlie.

They would be as curious as you are to find out what the Ripper looked like, thatīs why.
And no, Charlie did not see him in Buckīs Row, so that he was able to tell them about it...

The best,
Fisherman

[GUT]

Okay, letīs compromise. We use the mousetrap, we bait it with unfortunates - and then we put it on the bottom of the hole dug outside 22 Doveton Street.

The best,
Fisherman

Sounds fair, but why would Koz or Montie or the Doc or any other suspect go to visit Charlie.

[Fisherman]

Well I still say a giant mousetrap loaded up with "unfortunates" would work better.

Okay, letīs compromise. We use the mousetrap, we bait it with unfortunates - and then we put it on the bottom of the hole dug outside 22 Doveton Street.

The best,
Fisherman

[Amanda]

Good point..

Hi Amanda,

1) presumably it would be less than a checkpoint system that others are thinking of. And it would be relatively clandestine.

2) Could/Would Jack walk fetch during busy hours? Maybe, but maybe not.

3) You might be able to see the same person coming on the days after the crime.

Something that stuck out to me in the FBI profile was that it spoke about JTR needing somewhere private to wash his clothes. I read that and thought about how hard that would be to come by if you were living night to night in Whitechapel. No indoor plumbing and it would have cost money to replace bloody clothes with new ones (unless stealing them). And presumably having four or five new pairs of clothes in a couple of months would be a relative rarity, I would think, and could make you stick out to people who saw you regularly. And if it didn't, that could mean that JTR was relatively well off. for the area. Which would narrow the pool.

Sorry for the ramble. But I think you get the gist of where I'm coming from.

Hi Ghost,
You make some valid points there.
Regarding the clothes, remember that friends of Robert D'Onston Stephenson believed him to be the Ripper due to him supposedly having a trunk full of bloodied neckties.
You're right in saying that a local person in Whitechapel would find it hard to inconspicuously wash clothes with blood on them, perhaps we should be looking for someone who regularly stole washing off clothes lines to replace his discarded outfits...

Amanda

[GUT]

Obviously, the best way of catching the Ripper would be to dig a deep hole in the ground outside 22 Doveton Street, cover it with branches, twigs and leaves and then just wait.

The best,
Fisherman

Well I still say a giant mousetrap loaded up with "unfortunates" would work better.

[Fisherman]

Obviously, the best way of catching the Ripper would be to dig a deep hole in the ground outside 22 Doveton Street, cover it with branches, twigs and leaves and then just wait.

The best,
Fisherman

[Ghost]

Hi Ghost,
Do you have any idea how busy those public wash places would have been?

Probably hundreds of dodgy looking characters passing through every day, impossible task..

Amanda

Hi Amanda,

1) presumably it would be less than a checkpoint system that others are thinking of. And it would be relatively clandestine.

2) Could/Would Jack walk fetch during busy hours? Maybe, but maybe not.

3) You might be able to see the same person coming on the days after the crime.

Something that stuck out to me in the FBI profile was that it spoke about JTR needing somewhere private to wash his clothes. I read that and thought about how hard that would be to come by if you were living night to night in Whitechapel. No indoor plumbing and it would have cost money to replace bloody clothes with new ones (unless stealing them). And presumably having four or five new pairs of clothes in a couple of months would be a relative rarity, I would think, and could make you stick out to people who saw you regularly. And if it didn't, that could mean that JTR was relatively well off. for the area. Which would narrow the pool.

Sorry for the ramble. But I think you get the gist of where I'm coming from.

[Amanda]

Practicalities..

If I were them, I would have staked out all public washplaces/public water sources in the area on the weekends. Jack had to wash his hands/clothes sooner or later.

Hi Ghost,
Do you have any idea how busy those public wash places would have been?

Probably hundreds of dodgy looking characters passing through every day, impossible task..

Amanda

[Ghost]

If I were them, I would have staked out all public washplaces/public water sources in the area on the weekends. Jack had to wash his hands/clothes sooner or later.

[Mayerling]

I can't imagine checkpoints working in practicality. Imagine a chap needing to set off for work at 4am & then getting stopped at several checkpoints on his way out of Whitechapel. If vigilance were constant, the same man would get checked at the same points each and every morning. After a few mornings he would either have to get up an hour earlier for work, or the police at the checkpoint would recognise him as a regular & let him pass, which kind of defeats the object.

As you say, Mayerling, any real suspect could enter a place of safety and lay low until daylight or at least until the streets were too busy for the police to do constant checks.
I believe that Jack knew the area extremely well & either:
A) Lived nearby and returned to the safety of his home
B) Knew all the shortcuts to avoid being seen, down alleys & backyards or
C) Mingled with the crowds which gathered at the murder scenes so that he looked like another Joe Bloggs in the general public and then calmly walked away (bloody hands stuffed in his pockets of course)

Amanda

Hi Amanda,

You got the same feelings I do - pretty much in a nutshell. Actually if he were in a crowd I wonder if anyone would bother looking to see if his hands were bloody (he might also have cleaned them up a bit).

Jeff

[Amanda]

Not in practice...

It's a nice idea, but there seems to be a theory that the Ripper fled down various sides entrances of buildings, or alleys, and such, that might not have been under the observation of police checkpoints. Also, suppose it was a local man, who could go into a convenient "safe house" or apartment after each murder, and lay low for hours until the pressure of searching and stopping on the local police had relaxed again. Such behavior would defeat the structure of the plan.

I can't imagine checkpoints working in practicality. Imagine a chap needing to set off for work at 4am & then getting stopped at several checkpoints on his way out of Whitechapel. If vigilance were constant, the same man would get checked at the same points each and every morning. After a few mornings he would either have to get up an hour earlier for work, or the police at the checkpoint would recognise him as a regular & let him pass, which kind of defeats the object.

As you say, Mayerling, any real suspect could enter a place of safety and lay low until daylight or at least until the streets were too busy for the police to do constant checks.
I believe that Jack knew the area extremely well & either:
A) Lived nearby and returned to the safety of his home
B) Knew all the shortcuts to avoid being seen, down alleys & backyards or
C) Mingled with the crowds which gathered at the murder scenes so that he looked like another Joe Bloggs in the general public and then calmly walked away (bloody hands stuffed in his pockets of course)

Amanda

[Mayerling]

The thread asks what would you have done to catch the Ripper...and for me, since the police had already acquired the right to go door to door and enter premises checking for clues,..that they petition for the right to install checkpoints throughout the district, to be manned all night by the men that normally would have been walking beats on those nights.

Checkpoints at intersections, checkpoints along major throughways, checkpoints in places where alleys and streets converge, checkpoints at suspected Lodging houses, like the Victorian Mens Home or at Batty Street. The right to stop and question anyone. The right to search anyone who appears suspect. The right to arrest and/or question anyone who seems in any way mentally challenged or compromised.

Either they would have run into him via a checkpoint, or they would have reduced his opportunities, stopped him from going out at night, or increased his risk of capture should he be unable to stop despite the police precautions.

Cheers

It's a nice idea, but there seems to be a theory that the Ripper fled down various sides entrances of buildings, or alleys, and such, that might not have been under the observation of police checkpoints. Also, suppose it was a local man, who could go into a convenient "safe house" or apartment after each murder, and lay low for hours until the pressure of searching and stopping on the local police had relaxed again. Such behavior would defeat the structure of the plan.

[Rosella]

The British police were and are restrained by a whole series of laws, some of them centuries old, against interfering with the liberty of the subject, Habeas Corpus and all that. I believe Anderson later complained about it and pointed to the comparative freedom of police in France.

Yes I'm an extremely naive and libertarian old thing, but I don't believe in suspending such laws even to catch a serial killer.

Given the locale and lack of any kind of forensic technology I do think the police by and large did all they could. I think it would have been impossible for instance in a district where many houses had open passageways to completely block everything off. I believe they tried on one occasion and locals still kept pouring through, seemingly from nowhere.

IF we are ever able to time-travel I don't believe we would be able to change history, just observe it.