Was the Ripper German?

[lynn cates]

foreign sounding

Hello Chris. Thanks.

Or, perhaps, "foreign sounding"?

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

opinion

Hello Rob. Thanks.

"What does that mean exactly? Can you elaborate?"

Well, since it is another man's opinion, perhaps I'd better not try to interject my interpretation.

Cheers.
LC

[Chriswald]

Philip Sugden's book is an excellent choice. What's the name of the German forum please?

Hello Bridewell,

I enjoyed reading Sudgen's book a lot. The name of the German forum ist www.jacktheripper.de

[Chriswald]

[B]
By the way, on a separate topic, I think you will find Sickert was of Danish descent, not German. Or was that a trick question?

According to Wikipedia Walter Sickert's father was Danish-German. Sickert himself was born in Munich, Germany. But Sickert's mother was Irish-English and they moved to Britain, when Sickert was about eight years old. So he must have spoken English perfectly.

[Bridewell]

Hello Bridewell,

I enjoyed reading Sudgen's book a lot. The name of the German forum ist www.jacktheripper.de

Thanks, Chriswald. I'll have a look.

[Michael W Richards]

Earlier in the week that the letter and kidney section arrived at Mr Lusks, there is a story about a man wearing gloves entering a local shop and asking the shopkeeper for a copy of the days paper, with Lusk's address in it. He wrote down the details and left.

He was said to likely be Irish by the shopkeeper.

Best regards all

[Chriswald]

Emily Marsh

Earlier in the week that the letter and kidney section arrived at Mr Lusks, there is a story about a man wearing gloves entering a local shop and asking the shopkeeper for a copy of the days paper, with Lusk's address in it. He wrote down the details and left.

He was said to likely be Irish by the shopkeeper.

Best regards all

You probably mean the statement of Emily Marsh:

Both Emily and her father, as well as John Cormack, gave full descriptions of the man they saw:

- around forty-five years old
- six-feet tall
- slimly built
- soft felt black hat, drawn over his forehead
- stand-up collar, described as "Prussian or clerical" and partly turned up.
- very long, black, single-breasted overcoat
- face was sallow with a dark beard and moustache
- spoke with an Irish accent

She was speaking of a "prussian" collar (whatever that may be).

[Phil H]

I think a Prussian collar would be "military "style, - reflecting German uniforms of the day. In my youth, Mr Nehru - then Prime Minister of India - made a jacket with a stand-up collar fashionable again.

What I don't understand is how a "stand-up collar" if cut to be such, can be "partly turned up".

Clergymen of the period - I can recall them as late as the 1960s - wore "clerical" dress, which included a frock coat with a stand-up collar as opposed to lapels.

Phil

[HelenaWojtczak]

You probably mean the statement of Emily Marsh:

Both Emily and her father, as well as John Cormack, gave full descriptions of the man they saw:

- around forty-five years old
- six-feet tall
- slimly built
- soft felt black hat, drawn over his forehead
- stand-up collar, described as "Prussian or clerical" and partly turned up.
- very long, black, single-breasted overcoat
- face was sallow with a dark beard and moustache
- spoke with an Irish accent

She was speaking of a "prussian" collar (whatever that may be).

I don't know if any of you have seen Robert Milne's current presentation on Jack the Ripper.

Milne retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2008 after forty years’ service with the Forensic Services Directorate at Scotland Yard. In retirement he wrote a book, Forensic Intelligence, and decided to apply his experience and expertise to the problem of establishing the identity of Jack-the-Ripper. Milne kindly shared with me a slideshow and accompanying speaker’s notes that he currently presents to audiences in the UK and Europe.

Milne’s presentation includes the incident in 1888 in which George Lusk received a piece of kidney and a letter purporting to be from Catherine Eddowes’s killer (i.e. Jack-the-Ripper). The previous day, a strange man had asked for Lusk’s address. Milne tells his audiences that the man was ‘of similar appearance to [George] Chapman’, but does not include the wording of the witnesses’ description.

This is a most curious thing for Milne to do, when you consider the witness description as provided by Chris, above, and the fact that Chapman was then 23, 5ft 5 and recently arrived from Poland.

Helena

[Chriswald]

Hello Helena,

I believe the description is the one of the witness who saw the strange man asking for the address of Lusk.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Hello Helena,

I believe the description is the one of the witness who saw the strange man asking for the address of Lusk.

Yes indeed, Chris. My point is that Milne is telling his audiences that the description (which he omits to give) fits Chapman, which it plainly does not.

Regards

Helena