Antisemitism as a diversionary tactic

[Abby Normal]

When CAL was a boy, living in Tiger bay, the area was populated largely by gentiles, with a high proportion of prostitutes. By 1888, they had largely moved out and been replaced by east European Jews. Visiting his old Ma, he would have been very much aware of that change and may have resented it.

The other thing about Dukes Place of course is that on the sabbath the area would have been filled with Jews of all conditions, from the lowliest sweat shop workers to the top-hatted rich in their carriages. It would be one thing for a resentful gentile to rub shoulders with poor Jews in Petticoat Lane, something altogether different and more galling to see them in their sabbath finery.

Nowhere would that experience have been so dramatic as in the immediate environs of Mitre Square. I doubt you would have bumped into a Rothschild in 3 Kings Court.

At the other end of the scale, where would you have found a greater concentration of Jewish political agitators than the Berner Street club? 'A regular hell' according to Charles Booth's researcher in 1887.

Interesting gary
Thanks for posting this.

[Abby Normal]

One has to keep in mind that serial murder isnt as easy as seems to be implied alot. Im sure there was many nights when he went out hunting and came home empty handed. Hes not going to be successful ebery time he tries. So keep that in mind when summing up liklihood of also trying to finagle in all the jewish elements and if they were deliberate or coincidence.

[MrBarnett]

Presumably, with the next murder, he decided to deflect suspicion onto costermongers, or even millers. I wish he'd made his mind up

No, just away from slaughtermen would have sufficed, and perhaps the DE had already achieved that.

Thomas Tomkins's son died on the Monday following the DE. The poor mite hadn't quite reached his first birthday. He had been christened in Manchester the previous November before the family moved to Whitechapel. On the 9th to be precise.��

[Batman]

Presumably, with the next murder, he decided to deflect suspicion onto costermongers, or even millers. I wish he'd made his mind up

I think JtR followed the case so closely he went which way the winds blows to his advantage. Explains the cooling off periods as he planned ahead. Otherwise, why wasn't he Ripping every weekend?

[Sam Flynn]

Unless of course the 'Jewishness' of the DE was a ploy to draw attention away from slaughtermen and back onto a Jewish suspect.

Presumably, with the next murder, he decided to deflect suspicion onto costermongers, or even millers. I wish he'd made his mind up

[Batman]

Perhaps he gave her the meal of fish and potatoes so as to cast suspicion on Barnett [Tongue firmly in cheek]

The funny thing is, Barnett still looks like a potential Ripper candidate. Anyway...

the murder of MJK took place hours before the Lord Mayor's Day Celebrations. I don't think this was just a coincidence. I think it was done on purpose again to shock Whitechapel. MJKs murder overshadowed the day's events.

[Darryl Kenyon]

If JtR wasn't a slaughterman he would have also used this perception to his own advantage which may explain why MJKs wounds are so extensive.

Which makes me wonder if JtR knew Barnett was a fish porter to cast suspicion on him.

Perhaps he gave her the meal of fish and potatoes so as to cast suspicion on Barnett [Tongue firmly in cheek]

[Batman]

I would add:

1.5 Suspicion falls on slaughtermen.

4.5 The slaughterman theory is revived.

If JtR wasn't a slaughterman he would have also used this perception to his own advantage which may explain why MJKs wounds are so extensive.

Which makes me wonder if JtR knew Barnett was a fish porter to cast suspicion on him.

[MrBarnett]

Interesting and valid points, but the fact that suspicion fell on slaughtermen is because of what other people were thinking; it wasn't a case of Jack adopting a ploy to implicate people other than himself.

Unless of course the 'Jewishness' of the DE was a ploy to draw attention away from slaughtermen and back onto a Jewish suspect. Then it works.

Incidentally, the weekend of the DE was a rather fraught one for the Tomkins family. And Saturday night seems to have been the only time in the week that knackers didn't work.

[Sam Flynn]

I would add:

1.5 Suspicion falls on slaughtermen.

4.5 The slaughterman theory is revived.

Interesting and valid points, but the fact that suspicion fell on slaughtermen is because of what other people were thinking; it wasn't a case of Jack adopting a ploy to implicate people other than himself.

[MrBarnett]

I find this a compelling narrative.

I would add:

1.5 Suspicion falls on slaughtermen.

4.5 The slaughterman theory is revived.

[MrBarnett]

Yeah, well, nothing can be excluded in the mini-universe of Ripperology, can it? But I tried to look at things from both sides, and although I can see how you reason when you find the suggestion ludicrous, I can also see how the killer may have known about the implications of the club in Berner Street, thereafter opting for looking for his next prey in the vicinity of St Botolphs with the intention to take an unfortunate from there into Mitre Square in order to put a distinctly Jewish slant on things. He may have liked the double advantage of adding the Jewish red herring trail to his own avoiding Met territory after the Stride murder.
Of course, there is absolutely no proof to bolster the suggestion, and - as I say - I donīt favour it myself. But it is not as far-fetched as to render it ridiculous either, at least not in my eyes.

As you are aware, I favour Charles Lechmere. As you also know, I say that if he was the killer, then he was also a psychopath. And I also say that psychopaths enjoy playing games, sensing themselves to be very clever. In that light, I find that the suggestion works rather well. It could be that he was enjoying himself, planting false information in the minds of the yesterdays police and todays ripperologists...

When CAL was a boy, living in Tiger bay, the area was populated largely by gentiles, with a high proportion of prostitutes. By 1888, they had largely moved out and been replaced by east European Jews. Visiting his old Ma, he would have been very much aware of that change and may have resented it.

The other thing about Dukes Place of course is that on the sabbath the area would have been filled with Jews of all conditions, from the lowliest sweat shop workers to the top-hatted rich in their carriages. It would be one thing for a resentful gentile to rub shoulders with poor Jews in Petticoat Lane, something altogether different and more galling to see them in their sabbath finery.

Nowhere would that experience have been so dramatic as in the immediate environs of Mitre Square. I doubt you would have bumped into a Rothschild in 3 Kings Court.

At the other end of the scale, where would you have found a greater concentration of Jewish political agitators than the Berner Street club? 'A regular hell' according to Charles Booth's researcher in 1887.

[Fisherman]

Indeed everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how ridiculous. If that's what they want to believe as i said that's fine with me. I'm just wondering though if we havn't got a little bit of the antics we had on the Maybrick threads. Just an opinion of course.

Yeah, well, nothing can be excluded in the mini-universe of Ripperology, can it? But I tried to look at things from both sides, and although I can see how you reason when you find the suggestion ludicrous, I can also see how the killer may have known about the implications of the club in Berner Street, thereafter opting for looking for his next prey in the vicinity of St Botolphs with the intention to take an unfortunate from there into Mitre Square in order to put a distinctly Jewish slant on things. He may have liked the double advantage of adding the Jewish red herring trail to his own avoiding Met territory after the Stride murder.
Of course, there is absolutely no proof to bolster the suggestion, and - as I say - I donīt favour it myself. But it is not as far-fetched as to render it ridiculous either, at least not in my eyes.

As you are aware, I favour Charles Lechmere. As you also know, I say that if he was the killer, then he was also a psychopath. And I also say that psychopaths enjoy playing games, sensing themselves to be very clever. In that light, I find that the suggestion works rather well. It could be that he was enjoying himself, planting false information in the minds of the yesterdays police and todays ripperologists...

[etenguy]

I think it really doesn't have to go that far to make sense. JtR used anti-semitic sentiments as cover and also created some red herrings to mislead investigators. He enjoyed terrorizing Whitechapel society be they Jew or Gentile. He was an anti-semite, but this is purely incidental to the fact he could use the anti-Jewish hysteria to his advantage.

It actually fits by just following the chronology of events.

1. Nichols is murdered. No prior Jewish Serial Killer connotations. Some association with gangs and therefore gentiles.
2. Leather Apron becomes a public Jewish suspect due to unfortunates complaining about him.
3. This is exploited by JtR to murder Chapman. People are looking for a Jew, not a gentile.
4. Following Chapman's murder, Leather Apron is exonerated by way of a PC witness, the best witness he could possibly have. Therefore the Jewish association with JtR is no longer valid.
5. Strides is murdered next to a Jewish club with the anti-semitic remark LIPSKI shouted out during an attack.
6. Eddowes is murdered next to the most significant synagogue in Mitre Sq.
7. Her bloody apron piece (also remember Leather Apron) is dumped with anti-semitic graffiti written above it (or at least graffiti sure to incite anti-Semitism associations with JtR, again).
8. The area on Goulston street is a Jewish market area.
   
   So what after? Are there more anti-semitic possible connotations? Maybe. I don't know but there is this possibility...
   
   
9. Hutchenson sees a man who is dressed up to the nines and of Jewish appearance before MJK is murdered.
10. A bundle of clothes has been burned in Kelly's fire to the point that the spout on the kettle appears to have been melted off.

Who knows? Maybe he actually went out his way to look like a Jew going in and then burned that gear up, leaving looking like a gentile?

Anyway, even without that, the point is JtR obviously didn't plan this all along. He went with it, when he thought he could use it as cover. I think what we are seeing is his reactions to that chronology. He is following the case. Following the news. Following societal responses. Nothing really more complex than that. Just a homicidal maniac throwing out red herrings if he can exploit that to his advantage.

I find this a compelling narrative.

[etenguy]

More straightforwardly, and far more likely, it was simply where the killer lived.

Both could be true - people who live in areas of high immigration often react against this.


I think, in any event, he either was deliberately stirring up anti-Semitic feeling or took advantage of the troubles as a distraction.