American Jack the Ripper - True Crime Conference, Baltimore, April 7-8, 2018

[ChrisGeorge]

Still looking for an answer to this trivia question unless Mr. Phillip Walton at JtR Forums can produce information to show that H. H. Holmes lived in the Dominion of Virginia! Good luck, Phillip, and everyone else!

Here is the latest RipperCon swag-erama giveaway --

Name a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Virginia for a time and a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Maryland for a while, and you could win some bits of VA and MD history. Good luck.

As before, previous winners of RipperCon loot cannot win again.



* I just realized that this military map from 1861 shows Virginia as originally constituted before West Virginia split off!

[ChrisGeorge]

RipperCon 2018 Tours


BUS TOUR: Monday, April 9, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. $50 per person.

RipperCon 2018 will feature a bus tour of Baltimore that will include Fort McHenry, birthplace of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the grave of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, Edgar Allan Poe’s grave and house, and the Maryland Medical Examiner’s office home to the famous “Nutshell Studies” crime scene dioramas created in the 1930’s by Frances Glessner Lee. Overall tour leader will be Christopher T. George, UK-born Ripperologist and War of 1812 historian, who though he claims Liverpool, England as his birthplace has in truth lived considerably longer in Baltimore than he ever lived in the city of his birth!

Our tour of Green Mount Cemetery will be led by Bill Emmerich. Among other graves, we will visit the obelisk tomb of the Booth family where the remains of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth lie and the burial places of Baltimore-born notables such as Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, who married Napoleon’s younger brother Jerome, Walter Lord, author of A Night to Remember on the Titanic disaster, and the resting place of the man who patented the Ouija Board.

Our tour at Fort McHenry will be led by veteran retired National Park Service Ranger Scott S. Sheads. Sheads is an expert on fort history including its roles both during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

During the war between the states the fort was used by the Union Army as a prison for many of the top leaders in the city, including Mayor George W. Brown and police commander Marshal George P. Kane. These men and other Baltimoreans were viewed as southern sympathizers following a riot on Pratt Street (near today’s National Aquarium) when on April 19, 1861 a pro-Confederate mob attacked Union troops on their way to defend Washington, D.C. The riot led to Baltimore being clamped under martial law with artillery on Federal Hill famously trained on downtown Baltimore.

A detailed blow-by-blow account of the trouble Baltimore was in at the outset of the Civil War may be found in a pdf available from the Library of Congress here. As an aside, the Pinkerton Detective Agency kept a downtown office and the Pinkertons claimed to have foiled a “Baltimore Plot” to assassinate Lincoln when the president elect was on his way to his inauguration. A grim possibility postponed in spring 1861 made bloodily real just four years later at the hands of actor and Marylander John Wilkes Booth. Sic temper tyrannis!

Following the tour of Fort McHenry, we will retire for an hour to an Inner Harbor restaurant for an on-your-own lunch.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849): The circumstances of his mysterious death in Baltimore in October 1849 have never been sufficiently explained.

After lunch, we plan to go to Westminster Cemetery to see the grave of Edgar Allan Poe, his house on Amity Street, and Frances Glessner Lee’s dollhouse-scale recreations of crime scenes, “Nutshell Studies,” in the Maryland Coroners’ Office where our tour guide is expected to be, as in 2016, Bruce Goldfarb from the medical examiner’s staff.

Tour will leave the Lord Baltimore Hotel at 12 West Baltimore Street at 9:00 am promptly on Monday, April 9 and return to the same location at 5:00 pm. The price is $50 per person, payable via PayPal to editorctrip@yahoo.com. Note that space is limited to 50 people so book early!

WALKING TOUR: Friday, April 9, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. FREE.

RipperCon organizer Christopher T. George has determined that due to recent changes in traffic patterns in downtown Baltimore it will not be possible to visit Jack the Ripper suspect Dr. Francis Tumblety’s former lodging house on North Liberty Street by means of the tour bus. Instead, given that the location is within five minutes walk of RipperCon 2018 convention headquarters at the Lord Baltimore Hotel at 12 West Baltimore Street, Chris will lead a free walking tour of downtown Baltimore locations on Friday, April 6, starting from the hotel at 2:00 pm.

Leading Jack the Ripper suspect Dr. Francis Tumblety is listed as living in a lodging house at 218-220 N. Liberty Street at the time of the 1900 U.S. Census. The building is on the corner of Clay Street, a notorious “red light” district of the day as well as the scene of a disastrous 1873 fire. Even more significant, perhaps, Tumblety was living within a mile of the residence of fellow Irish American James Cardinal Gibbons, to whom “Dr. T” left $1,000 under an alleged Baltimore will, and $10,000 under a St. Louis will ultimately held to be valid by the Supreme Court of Missouri in 1908, five years after the suspect’s passing in St. Louis on May 28, 1903 at the age of 73.

The “Home for Fallen Women” on North Exeter Street in Baltimore to whom the Dr. T left $1,000 under the disallowed Baltimore document received no bequest under the St. Louis will upheld by the high court. As might be expected, some authors on the Whitechapel murders, e.g., Stewart P. Evans and Paul Gainey in Jack the Ripper: First American Suspect aka The Lodger (1995), have found it significant that the suspect would leave money to a home for prostitutes, as if he was suffering from a fit of remorse for his bloody acts in the East End of London in the autumn of 1888.

Folk on the walking tour will also see a statue of James Cardinal Gibbons as well as the residence where the prelate lived on North Charles Street, next to the 1806 Basilica of the Assumption (the first Catholic cathedral in the United States), along with the house where Edgar Allan Poe received his first major literary recognition, and the Poe Room of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, among other sites of interest in downtown Baltimore. If you are interested in the free walking tour, sign up by emailing Chris George at editorctrip@yahoo.com.

Chris George speaking to tour group at major Jack the Ripper suspect Dr Francis Tumblety’s former lodging house, 218-220 N. Liberty Street, Baltimore

Visit the RipperCon Website for complete information on the event.

[Abby Normal]

Here is the latest RipperCon swag-erama giveaway --

Name a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Virginia for a time and a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Maryland for a while, and you could win some bits of VA and MD history. Good luck.

As before, previous winners of RipperCon loot cannot win again.



* I just realized that this military map from 1861 shows Virginia as originally constituted before West Virginia split off!

Yes it’s the only thing we give those troglydites for around here. Lol

[Abby Normal]

Here is the latest RipperCon swag-erama giveaway --

Name a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Virginia for a time and a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Maryland for a while, and you could win some bits of VA and MD history. Good luck.

As before, previous winners of RipperCon loot cannot win again.



* I just realized that this military map from 1861 shows Virginia as originally constituted before West Virginia split off!

Edgar Allan Poe!!

[Abby Normal]

Hi Abby

Thanks. No the ship pictured is the Pride of Baltimore II, a replica War of 1812 schooner modeled on Captain Thomas Boyle's Chasseur which gained fame during the war and was hailed by a local newspaper as "The Pride of Baltimore" when it returned to the city in April 1815. The replica schooner operates as a goodwill ambassador for the City of Baltimore.

Cheers

Chris

Thanks Chris! Beautiful pictures Keep em comin

[ChrisGeorge]

Below we show is where Dr Tumblety was living in a lodging house at the corner of N. Liberty and Clay Streets in Baltimore circa 1900 to 1902, supposedly ill and in poverty. Nonetheless, that did not stop the aging quack from picking up male companions in local parks, including Druid Hill Park and Patterson Park, neither of which was particularly close to this location, so he probably got there by streetcar.

The location of the lodging house is also significant because it is on the corner of Clay Street, a noted "red light" district, which was also known for a major fire in 1873, and the close vicinity of the Hotel Rennert, immediately across N. Liberty Street, another place where Dr T probably picked up male company.

Tumblety's former lodging house will be visited by attendees of RipperCon 2018 on a free walking tour of downtown Baltimore sites scheduled to leave the Lord Baltimore Hotel at 18 W. Baltimore Street at 2:00 pm on Friday, April 6, led by RipperCon organizer Christopher T. George. We will also have an all-day RipperCon bus tour on Monday, April 9 of notable Baltimore locations such as Fort McHenry, the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office, and the graves of Edgar Allan Poe and John Wilkes Booth, the cost for which will be $50 per person. Full details to be announced shortly.





Hotel Rennert, W. Saratoga and N. Liberty Streets, from Cathedral Street

[ChrisGeorge]

Here is the latest RipperCon swag-erama giveaway --

Name a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Virginia for a time and a Jack the Ripper suspect who lived in Maryland for a while, and you could win some bits of VA and MD history. Good luck.

As before, previous winners of RipperCon loot cannot win again.



* I just realized that this military map from 1861 shows Virginia as originally constituted before West Virginia split off!

[ChrisGeorge]

Very cool. Very very cool.

What a gorgeous ship. Is that the actual saucy jack?

Hi Abby

Thanks. No the ship pictured is the Pride of Baltimore II, a replica War of 1812 schooner modeled on Captain Thomas Boyle's Chasseur which gained fame during the war and was hailed by a local newspaper as "The Pride of Baltimore" when it returned to the city in April 1815. The replica schooner operates as a goodwill ambassador for the City of Baltimore.

Cheers

Chris

[Abby Normal]

This trivia question was correctly answered by Diane Williams on Facebook. She correctly answered that the "Saucy Jack" was an American privateer of the War of 1812. Diane's prize was duly dispatched to her and she has just confirmed that it arrived safely.

Very cool. Very very cool.

What a gorgeous ship. Is that the actual saucy jack?

[ChrisGeorge]

RipperCon 2018 Speaker Announcement!



CASEY SMITH—“William Joseph Ibbett (1858-1934): Poet, Printer, Piquerist, Ripper Suspect?”

Dorset-born W. J. Ibbett was a minor poet in an era noted for minor poetry. He was also a self-taught printer who produced badly printed copies of his poems. On some copies, the words were so poorly inked and broken that he used an ink pen to write over the printing to make it more legible. At times, it appears that the paper he used was taken from his day job at London’s General Post Office. Some of his poetry was produced as handwritten manuscript books, not because of a desire to create a beautiful book, but because it was cheap.

However, Ibbett managed to get some of his books printed by a few notable private presses, and the famous typographic expert and Monotype Corporation publicity manager, Beatrice Warde was an admirer. Warde even wrote the preface to one of his collections of poetry. Ibbett’s friend and mentor, rare book collector Harry Buxton Forman actively promoted Ibbett. In the middle of the 20th century, Norman Colbeck, a London book dealer, systematically collected Ibbett’s works, most of which are exceedingly scarce. (A typical run of one of Ibbett’s books was less than 200 copies.) The third collector in this chain is Mark Samuels Lasner, one of the foremost collectors of late-Victorian art and poetry in the 21st century, and the person who initially got Casey Smith interested in Ibbett.

Ibbett’s poetry, and life story, as detailed in his autobiography The Annals of a Nobody, reveal a complicated and troubled figure, a man who might have been responsible for the 1888 Whitechapel murders in Whitechapel, although Smith admits there is no definitive proof of this. However, Smith believes that bizarre and disturbing aspects of Ibbett’s life make him a good candidate for him having been Jack the Ripper.

Casey Smith is a researcher, writer, and teacher based in Washington, D.C. He has a PhD in English Literature and Victorian Studies from Indiana University-Bloomington, where he concentrated on book history and material bibliography. From 1997 to 2014 he taught at the Corcoran College of Art + Design (later, from 2014-2016 at the Corcoran School of Arts and Design at The George Washington University). He has presented papers at academic conferences throughout the UK and US on the subject of Victorian book-culture and art. A former Vice-President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association, he is now an independent scholar and Associate Professor Emeritus at George Washington University in the District of Columbia.


Don’t miss RipperCon in Baltimore, April 7-8 -- the only North American Jack the Ripper - True Crime Conference in the 130th Anniversary Year of the Whitechapel Murders!

Only fifty places available! Send in your deposit today. See full information at www.RipperCon.com

[ChrisGeorge]

Still looking for an answer to this trivia question. What is the connection between the War of 1812 between Britain and the U.S. and the Jack the Ripper case? I wrote about it some years ago for Ripperologist magazine, as well as in the Journal of the War of 1812. Think water, think letters, knock twice and pray to Jesus. Good luck.

You could win a nice War of 1812 something. Stay tuned.

This trivia question was correctly answered by Diane Williams on Facebook. She correctly answered that the "Saucy Jack" was an American privateer of the War of 1812. Diane's prize was duly dispatched to her and she has just confirmed that it arrived safely.

[ChrisGeorge]

Still looking for an answer to this trivia question. What is the connection between the War of 1812 between Britain and the U.S. and the Jack the Ripper case? I wrote about it some years ago for Ripperologist magazine, as well as in the Journal of the War of 1812. Think water, think letters, knock twice and pray to Jesus. Good luck.

You could win a nice War of 1812 something. Stay tuned.

[ChrisGeorge]

RipperCon 2018 Speaker Announcement!



BRIAN W. SCHOENEMAN—“Sir Charles Warren, the Metropolitan Police, and the Whitechapel Murders”

Brian Schoeneman is an attorney, writer and veteran American political professional, with over fifteen years of government and private sector experience in government affairs. He has been studying the Whitechapel Murders since 1998, with an emphasis on the Metropolitan Police and Sir Charles Warren.

He currently serves as political and legislative director for the Seafarers International Union, the largest maritime union in the United States. He has served in the past as Special Assistant and Senior Speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, and former Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board in Virginia. In his capacity as Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board, he garnered national attention for overseeing the closest election recount in Virginia history in 2013.

Schoeneman is a graduate of the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, and receive a Masters degree in political management and Bachelor’s degree in political science from the George Washington University. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, where he was elected class leader by his peers. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is a member and former officer of John Blair Lodge #187, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Virginia.

He serves on the Vestry of historic St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., and on the Fairfax County Economic Advisory Commission. He ran for Virginia House of Delegates in 2011 and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2015. He is the former editor-in-chief of BearingDrift.com, Virginia’s leading political website.

Don’t miss RipperCon in Baltimore, April 7-8 -- the only North American Jack the Ripper - True Crime Conference in the 130th Anniversary Year of the Whitechapel Murders!

Only fifty places available! Send in your deposit today. See full information at www.RipperCon.com

[ChrisGeorge]

RipperCon 2018 Speaker Announcement!




AMY BRANAM ARMIENTO—“‘How calmly I can tell you the whole story’: Murder in Edgar Allan Poe’s Fiction”

Armiento is an associate professor of English and the coordinator of African-American Studies at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, she completed her B.A. degree at St. Francis College in Fort Wayne.

Armiento’s Master’s thesis, Literature and Killers: Three Novels as Motives for Murder, was the culmination of her studies at Ball State University. She earned her PhD in English at Marquette University, focusing her dissertation on Edgar Allan Poe.

Currently, Armiento serves as Vice President of the international Poe Studies Association. When she is not teaching or conducting research, she enjoys the many splendors of mountain Western Maryland with her husband, Frank, stepdaughter, Milana, and dogs, Smeg and Stella.

Don’t miss out on RipperCon in Baltimore, April 7-8 -- the only North American Jack the Ripper - True Crime Conference
in the 130th Anniversary Year of the Whitechapel Murders!

Only fifty places available! See full information at www.RipperCon.com

[ChrisGeorge]

Chris, re the marker of the inventor of the Ouija Board-- turns out the largest collection of "talking boards" is out here in a Denver home, AND the woman who named the Ouija Board is buried in Colorado.

http://www.9news.com/mobile/article/...rado/486418715

Thanks for that information, Pat. I will be sure to mention it when we do the RipperCon tour of Baltimore!