If you could only ask five yes-or-no questions...

[Damaso Marte]

1. Was Eddowes killed by the same person as Nichols?
2. Was Kelly killed by the same person as Nichols?

These are my first two questions. Unlike similar questions such as "did the same killer kill the C-5", both a yes an a no answer immediately teach me something.

Based on the responses here, I would probably start asking about various eyewitnesses, asking if they saw the killer. I am less optimistic than the rest of you about being able to find the identity of the real killer based on 5 questions, so I would aim to solve mysteries about the cases rather than ID the killer.

[Beowulf]

Beowulf's first question "Was it Kosminski?" is the correct strategy but should be used in all five questions. I would ask Tom the omniscient entity five "Was it (insert suspect)?" questions.

Best case scenario: The identity of Jack the Ripper is revealed.

Worst case (Next best?) scenario: Most of our favorite theories are decimated. Could you imagine if Kosminski, Druitt, Hutch, Kelly, and Cross were conclusively eliminated as suspects? Would Casebook survive? Would we be left debating if Lechmere is still viable because the question asked about Cross?

Seriously, the addition by subtraction advantage of asking about five "suspects" is the way to go in my opinion.

I originally thought to ask this regarding other suspects, all too well known here, but truthfully I do not believe the others to be viable contenders and so I left it at just the one I have considered likely. But rethinking this it would be a wonderful way to get past all the guessing. Just pick the 5 we most suspect, and rule out rule out rule out...wonder if any of them would surprise us with a yes answer.

I did briefly consider two other questions: Is the killer a male? With the thought maybe it was a female, though I do think that unlikely but hey, I could be wrong. The other question I wondered was: Is the killer an Englishman? I would've asked this but the ones I asked seemed more important, however I did wonder if that would upset anyone. I mean, would it? The JTR character seems to be so ingrained in the image of the Englishman with his cloak and hat...

[martin wilson]

Yes, very much so, the image of a top hatted, becloaked Ripper shrouded by fog has become a cliche and probably the default image for those who haven't studied the case.
Would a definitive answer be the end? I don't think so. unless positive proof was offered for all the C5 then arguments and theories would continue about who was a ripper victim, as they do now, and there are other mysteries, the torso murders, the Thames murders and as I've discovered in plodding through newspaper reports that are too upsetting to continue, innumerable assaults and murders of children. which postulate the disturbing possibility, only a possibility mind that something like the Moors Murderers existed in the Victorian era.
Plenty to research and miles to go then, but I look at the photographs of the ragged children and exhausted people living in the slums and I believe the ripper was amongst them and of them, holding no perverse glamour but a sordid, desperate, and fortunate individual.

[Robert]

This matter is complicated further by the scientific aspect, e.g. you might have to ask, say, 'is there a universe in which Aaron Kosminki is JTR?' and if you get 'yes' you might ask 'is that my universe?' and you might get 'no.'

[Steadmund Brand]

Gowns are actually sold by height and if you are say 5'11" one size fits all from the anorexic to extreme obese.

I had a mate with a wild Afro and his wig sort of sat up on top of this 6" of hair.

nice... well I am 6'5'' so i should be ok and my hair isn't as big as it once was.. just still very long and curly so the wig would look awesome on top of my locks ok...now i need a wig and robe!!!!


Steadmund Brand

[Robert]

Save money on the wig and wear one of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauliflower

[The Cenci]

Let's see...

1) Of all the witnesses in the annals, is there one who definitely 100% saw him?
2) Does the murderer's name appear on the one the suspect list?
3) Did the murderer have an accomplice (Pipe man, Hutchinson?)
4) Where the attacks random or planned?
5) Is there a document anywhere that correctly names the killer (I.e does anyone know who it was?

[Pcdunn]

All right, I'll take a serious try at this now:

1) Are there geniune documents yet to be discovered that will correctly name Jack the Ripper?
2) Were the canonical five victims all murdered by the same killer?
3) Were there additional victims murdered by Jack the Ripper?
4) Did an identification of a suspect seen with a victim take place at a Seaside Home?
5) Did Jack the Ripper continue killing women in the United States after the murder of the woman identified as Mary Jane Kelly?

[GUT]

nice... well I am 6'5'' so i should be ok and my hair isn't as big as it once was.. just still very long and curly so the wig would look awesome on top of my locks ok...now i need a wig and robe!!!!


Steadmund Brand

The only reason I spent 4 years studying law.

I can go one better though the missus did her PhD just because at her first graduation she thought the outfits looked cool

[lynn cates]

Leibniz

Hello Robert.

"you might have to ask, say, 'is there a universe in which Aaron Kosminki is JTR?'"

Which, of course, is otiose IF the possible worlds are disjoint.

But if they are not, then one must spell out criteria for trans-world identity. (Just sayin'--heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

The only reason I spent 4 years studying law.

I can go one better though the missus did her PhD just because at her first graduation she thought the outfits looked cool

I had a job interview once where the woman interviewing me was so obnoxious I decided that there was no way that I would take the job even if it was offered to me. So I decided to have a little fun with her. She asked me what my major in college was and I said English Literature. She then asked me why I picked that and I said that I already knew how to read when I got to college so I figured how hard could it be. You should have seen the look on her face. Priceless.

c.d.

[lynn cates]

interview

Hello CD.

"I had a job interview once where the woman interviewing me was so obnoxious I decided that there was no way that I would take the job even if it was offered to me."

Good for you!

"So I decided to have a little fun with her."

Even better. Had a few of those myself.

Cheers.
LC

[c.d.]

Hello CD.

"I had a job interview once where the woman interviewing me was so obnoxious I decided that there was no way that I would take the job even if it was offered to me."

Good for you!

"So I decided to have a little fun with her."

Even better. Had a few of those myself.

Cheers.
LC

Hello Lynn,

She also asked me if I had ever been convicted of a felony. I didn't answer right away and then said convicted, right? I then said no. She just stared at me. It was pretty funny.

c.d.

[Hercule Poirot]

I would tend to ask questions related with different sub-groups(suspects, victims, Scotland Yard, living areas) where each answer would maybe allow me to overlap it with the answers coming from each other sub-group and possibly converging towards a center point being the murderer.

For example:
Had some or all of the victims met the Ripper before being killed?
Did the victims know the suspects?
Did some or all of the major suspects know who the Ripper was?
Did Scotland Yard know who was the Ripper?
Was the Ripper known by a certain number of people from Whitechapel and Spitalfieds?



Of course, I would try to ask one last question: Should I change my medication?

[Harry D]

I originally thought to ask this regarding other suspects, all too well known here, but truthfully I do not believe the others to be viable contenders and so I left it at just the one I have considered likely. But rethinking this it would be a wonderful way to get past all the guessing. Just pick the 5 we most suspect, and rule out rule out rule out...wonder if any of them would surprise us with a yes answer.

I think a more viable route would be:
* Is the suspect mentioned in the Macnaghten memoranda?
This either rules in, or rules out three suspects right away (Kosminski, Druitt & Cutbush). We already know Ostrog's a non-starter.