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Hamilton Williams and the knives
Some of this has probably already been mentioned by others but anyway, there has been a theory for a while that the knives used by the Phoenix Park assassins turned up again in the Ripper case.
It has been argued (notably by Nick Warren) that Francis Tumblety and Hamilton Williams, the man who imported the Phoenix Park knives are the same person. The Phoenix Park knives and the Jack the Ripper knives were both manufactured at John Weiss and Son, 287 Oxford Street (Warren 1999: 382). The reviewer in Ripperologist of M: MI5's FIRST SPYMASTER points that the Demerara, British Guyana connection makes it unlikely (2005: 45). In addition the fact that we know that he served in the British Army, was educated in Trinity College, was a notorious dynamitard, was touted in the press as O'Donovan Rossa's successor and died in 1896 pretty much proves that he was not Tumblety.
While it looks very unlikely that Dr. Williams was Tumblety under an alias, the knives remain an important link. Until you look at the facts about the Phoenix Park murder knives. They were chosen as the weapons for committing the murders by Patrick Carey. P.J. Sheridan posing as a Father Murphy agreed to arrange the procurement of the knives and Captain McCafferty suggested wrapping cord around the handles to allow for a better grip. It was decided that Frank Byrne would collect them and he arranged for Williams to help. Williams bought the knives from Weiss under the pretence that he was going to serve in the colonies again. The knives were temporarily left with an old Fenian named Morris Collins, so that the sheaths could be made. After this they were kept Byrne in his Westminster office until his wife who was seven months pregnant at the time transported them to Dublin, and they were then distributed.
Immediately after the murders both the authorities and the terrorists were in disarray, there was a widespread belief the weapons were bowie knives and this meant that the main suspects were Americans and the Liffey was dredged for the knives. The Invincibles in the mean time panicked and the knives "were broken up into little pieces and burnt" (Corfe 1968: 200). The only knives to survive were found in Carey's loft at South Cumberland Street by his lodger John Fitzsimons. Shortly before the murders an Invincible named Larry Rinkell, who was also another lodger, left the two knives and a rifle after the Invincibles had suffered a number of setbacks . These knives became a key exhibit in the prosecution of the Invincibles. If the knives were destroyed then clearly they could not have reappeared in 1888 and therefore the Jack the Ripper knife and the Phoenix Park knives cannot be related unless by coincedence or the transposition of one murder narrative onto artifacts connected to another.
Some of this has probably already been mentioned by others but anyway, there has been a theory for a while that the knives used by the Phoenix Park assassins turned up again in the Ripper case.
It has been argued (notably by Nick Warren) that Francis Tumblety and Hamilton Williams, the man who imported the Phoenix Park knives are the same person. The Phoenix Park knives and the Jack the Ripper knives were both manufactured at John Weiss and Son, 287 Oxford Street (Warren 1999: 382). The reviewer in Ripperologist of M: MI5's FIRST SPYMASTER points that the Demerara, British Guyana connection makes it unlikely (2005: 45). In addition the fact that we know that he served in the British Army, was educated in Trinity College, was a notorious dynamitard, was touted in the press as O'Donovan Rossa's successor and died in 1896 pretty much proves that he was not Tumblety.
While it looks very unlikely that Dr. Williams was Tumblety under an alias, the knives remain an important link. Until you look at the facts about the Phoenix Park murder knives. They were chosen as the weapons for committing the murders by Patrick Carey. P.J. Sheridan posing as a Father Murphy agreed to arrange the procurement of the knives and Captain McCafferty suggested wrapping cord around the handles to allow for a better grip. It was decided that Frank Byrne would collect them and he arranged for Williams to help. Williams bought the knives from Weiss under the pretence that he was going to serve in the colonies again. The knives were temporarily left with an old Fenian named Morris Collins, so that the sheaths could be made. After this they were kept Byrne in his Westminster office until his wife who was seven months pregnant at the time transported them to Dublin, and they were then distributed.
Immediately after the murders both the authorities and the terrorists were in disarray, there was a widespread belief the weapons were bowie knives and this meant that the main suspects were Americans and the Liffey was dredged for the knives. The Invincibles in the mean time panicked and the knives "were broken up into little pieces and burnt" (Corfe 1968: 200). The only knives to survive were found in Carey's loft at South Cumberland Street by his lodger John Fitzsimons. Shortly before the murders an Invincible named Larry Rinkell, who was also another lodger, left the two knives and a rifle after the Invincibles had suffered a number of setbacks . These knives became a key exhibit in the prosecution of the Invincibles. If the knives were destroyed then clearly they could not have reappeared in 1888 and therefore the Jack the Ripper knife and the Phoenix Park knives cannot be related unless by coincedence or the transposition of one murder narrative onto artifacts connected to another.
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