Pet theories

[lynn cates]

blotches

Hello Damaso. The "blotchiness" refers to red patches. It is often the result of excessive eating/drinking.

Cheers.
LC

[Spotty]

Septicemia, meaning he would probably die sooner rather than later, therefore ending the murders. Yeah it's certainly possible, along with so many other scenarios...
Sorry for double post.

[Spotty]

Septicemia, meaning he would probably die soon...

[Damaso Marte]

Oh yeah, my favorite pet theory about blotchy is that the blotchiness is from septicemia contracted from the Eddowes murder scene

[Spotty]

So, would it be fair to say that the majority of you believe that jtr WAS suspected or interviewed at the time? I am also of the opinion that Blotchy was probably the last person to see MK alive - his description seems so similar to other "sightings". I find it curious that no pub sightings or leads were documented when they had clearly been drinking together somewhere! Maybe the blotchy face and carrotty moustache (so unfortunate) had resulted in a few hurtful rebuffs along the way, hence his use of prostitutes and apparent desire to rob them of their power? (Uterus, heart being particular to MK).
Maybe jtr got friendzoned once too often!

[Varqm]

I think there is a high probability that one of the men she was with that night was her killer. Why go looking for suspect X, especially in the case of Kelly, when there is zero evidence, of any other man being with her that night, other than the four the witnesses describe?

Abby Normal


Yes but for one thing the man Sarah Lewis saw at around 2:30 A.M. was/is not known .He may have been trying to get an opportunity to sneak in. It's not proven it was Hutchinson by any means.

[Mayerling]

I made an error. Guldensuppe's killer was Martin Thorne, not Thorpe.

[Mayerling]

I have a few pet theories but they are about clues and not individuals. Although recent work on Druitt and Macnaughten is intriguing to me, I can't wrap my excitement around any particular suspect at this time. All are interesting, but none are flawless.

The prominence or infamy of some of the handpicked suspects has me wondering a bit:

Famous: Duke of Clarence (ironically more famous now since Dr. Stowell hinted he should be a suspect); Sickert, Lewis Carroll, Vincent Van Gogh, Dr. Sir William Gull, Richard Mansfield (due to his performing "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" some people - a really small number - suggested him), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I thought he was busy trying to be a successful writer), Prime Minister Gladstone (at the time he was actually out of power - he was briefly looked at because he had tried to reform some "fallen women" while he was Prime Minister - I'm not making that up!)....

Infamous: Bury, Cream, Deeming, Chapman, Mrs. Pearcey (very briefly - the discovery of the bodies of Phoebe Hogg and her baby in the perambulator was seen by some that "Jack" was up to his old tricks), Mrs. Dyer (an evil old woman - but forget her victims were babies), H.H.Holmes (was he even in England in 1888?)

On these characters I do note Dr. Gull as curious. He was involved in the 1876 Bravo Poisoning, as he was sent for to try to save Charles Bravo's life (his conclusion about what happened is intriguing - since Bravo (in Gull's opinion) did not cooperate, Gull felt Bravo was hiding guilty knowledge and had committed suicide). But what fascinates me more is that if some physician of the time of real prominence was needed for being a suspect I would not have chosen Sir William Gull. Not only is this his physical condition (he suffered a stroke before the murders, and died in 1890), but I could suggest a better medical candidate of high standing: Sir James Paget. Paget (whose biography is in "Wikopedia") actually did have an open interest in murder cases - he made the famous quip regarding the "Pimlico Poisoning Case" of Adelaide Bartlett: "Now that she is found not-guilty, and cannot be tried again, in the interest of science she should tell us how she did it [poison her husband Edwin Bartlett with liquid chloroform, which is highly fiery]!" The Bartlett Case was in 1885/86. Paget died around 1899.

By mentioning Paget don't start a study of the gentleman - I am simply voicing my curiosity that Gull ended up looking like a promising famous medical suspect, while Paget actually showed a real interest in crime.

Of the infamous figures, none (except possibly Bury) makes me curious - and Bury is really known for the killing of his wife and the suspicions at the time. The others do not make me think of the Whitechapel case. Cream's victims were mostly poison victims (though many were prostitutes - one however, Daniel Stott, was a man). Deeming liked to hide his victims. Holmes had financial motives (he was an ace con artist as well) and his best known murder site was something that only he concocted - the Murder Castle he built during the Chicago World's Fair of 1893-94. Chapman was a suspect like Bury, but somehow fell out of police attention (at least that is how it seems). An interesting side point regarding Chapman was that his sojourn in New York City's area from 1889-1892 is linked to the murder of "Old Shakespeare" and other "mutilation murders" in the area at the time.
Actually I don't think other mutilation murders have panned out, but there was a significant mutilation murder in Queens, New York in 1897, where the victim was cut up, and parts thrown into the East River, and gradually collected. The victim, though, was a man named Willie Guldensuppe, who was a masseur at a Turkish bath. What interests me is that his killer was one Martin Thorpe, a man of Polish background and a barber - just like Chapman. Thorpe would end up in the electric murder of his victim in 1898.

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Aha and maybe that's what everyone reported as a leather bag. Eureka.

The thing to find out to prove this: if evidence surfaces that a witness thought he heard the leather bag meow.

[Cogidubnus]

kind of going through the motions...

[Damaso Marte]

The closest thing I have to a pet theory (and it's a theory that I don't necessarily believe, but merely find not implausible) is that some of the post-Kelly killings that somewhat resemble Ripper killings but had much less mutilation, is the result of the original ripper trying to get back into his old hobby, but finding that he lacked either the will, the strength, or the interest to truly rip again.

I suppose it's colored by my personal experience: often, I abandon my hobbies when I've either tired of them or reached a major milestone, and my attempts to later come back to these hobbies are often sad and pathetic, either because my skills have deteriorated or because I've truly lost interest and am just going through the motions.

[lynn cates]

pubs

Hello Pat, GUT. Actually, the police investigated local pubs to see if any recalled filling Blotchy's beer device. No luck.

Cheers.
LC

[No Luck Yet]

Ha ha! Have to admit, if I was the last one seen with a woman who'd been brutally murdered, I don't know if I'd care to stick my neck out, whether I did it or not! 'Sides, what would any potential Mrs. Blotchy or Mrs. A think if he came out and confessed to spending a night with a prostitute? I think I'd just hope to stay under the radar...

I myself have no particular theory, either. I write fiction, and every Ripper piece winds up with a different take on Jack.

[Errata]

I have several pet theories, most of which are contradictory, and none involve a specific suspect. Well one does in terms of type, but not name.

[GUT]

Does anyone know if the police actually stated that Blotchy Man had not been found....I mean I know we assume he wasn't found but could they have just discounted him ?

Pat......................

I've never seen any report of them finding him, but there are so many reports missing, I haven't so far even found any real mention in the papers of them looking for him.

I find it a little surprising that they didn't place ads asking for him or Astrakhan man to come forward.