Why do you think Jack stopped?

[Wickerman]

Hello Jon. All good points. Wish I knew the answer.

Cheers.
LC

Call me brash but, the letter has nothing to do with Kosminski, and Kosminski has nothing to do with the Ripper?

Regards, Jon S.

[lynn cates]

good points

Hello Jon. All good points. Wish I knew the answer.

Cheers.
LC

[Wickerman]

Had the letter been dated it would have helped immensely.

The author is supposed to be nearly related to her,

I guess we are left to wonder what "nearly related" is supposed to mean.

Question is did this letter refer to and lead to Kosminski being a suspect and finally to his admittance to an asylum?

We must not forget Kosminski was not suspected at the time of the murders. So if the letter had anything to do with Kosminski's first visit in July 1890 to the Mile End Infirmary then the woman can hardly have been too worried, almost 2 years after the last murder (Kelly).

On the other hand, if Anderson truely thought this was a lead worth pursuing, it would have been taken up by Scotland Yard, which then leaves us wondering why Kosminski was taken to Mile End by his brother and not a detective, or some official, or doctor, and even then, released.

Regards, Jon S.

[lynn cates]

points

Hello Beowulf. The good thing about slow, deliberate thought is that it sticks better. Superior to my scattered approach.

"do you not think with a madman on the loose and the town in an uproar that they would listen with just about anyone who had a tale to tell?"

The police? Certainly. They could and did--much to their chagrin as it greatly hampered their work.

A Lord? Under no obligation I should think.

"If a working class family member who was Jewish came forward, in all likelihood she must've had some reason for real, why else would she put herself up for possible interrogations she would not welcome?"

Good point. But there are many cases of this and so most of them were likely spurious. As you say, it was a stressful time and sometimes the imagination gets the better of one.

Cheers.
LC

[Beowulf]

I've always thought septicemia could have brought an end to Jack's little games.

A nick of the knife that ran through a syphillitic...yes I can see that.

[Beowulf]

Hello Beowulf. The short version is this. Why would a Lord listen to the plea of a poor working class family?

On the other hand, a family like the Druitts might--given they were of a higher social class.

Cheers.
LC

Interesting stuff, and I am thinking about it, which will take prob months more actually for me, lol, but do you not think with a madman on the loose and the town in an uproar that they would listen with just about anyone who had a tale to tell?

If a working class family member who was Jewish came forward, in all likelihood she must've had some reason for real, why else would she put herself up for possible interrogations she would not welcome?

[Casebook Wiki Editor]

I've always thought septicemia could have brought an end to Jack's little games.

[Wickerman]

Here's a simple incident that could quite easily have been the cause of the cessation of the Whitechapel murders.

At LAMBETH, JOHN BENJAMIN PERRIMAN, 40 hairdresser, living in Pennethorne-road, Peckham, was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Old Kent-road. On Wednesday night detectives Leek and Reed were in the Old Kent-road, and hearing a disturbance, went to the spot. They found the prisoner surrounded by a crowd, and it was feared he would be roughly handled as he had declared himself to be "Jack the Ripper," and had acted in a very violent manner. He flourished his arms about, and exhibited a black leather bag, about which he made some remarks. He caught hold of several women, and caused much alarm. The officers, after much difficulty, got the prisoner to the station, being followed by an excited mob. At the station the bag carried by the prisoner was searched, and in it were found two pairs of scissors, a dagger and sheath, and a life preserver. Mr. Partridge asked whether the prisoner wished to account for carrying these things about, and the prisoner said he was going to have them ground. It was further stated that the prisoner was known as the "Mad barber of Peckham." A sister of the prisoner said he had been intoxicated for a long time. She knew he had a dagger, but for what purpose he kept it she did not know. Mr. Partridge said he should remand the prisoner, and if he was not right in his mind it would, perhaps, be necessary to send him to an asylum. The prisoner, who seemed to treat the matter as a joke, asked to be allowed out on bail, but Mr. Partridge declined to accede to his request.
Times, 16 Nov. 1888.

As much as many might like a banner headline announcing the capture of the Whitechapel fiend. Quite likely he was unknowingly removed off the streets, one among many, and placed in an asylum never to be heard from again.

Regards, Jon S.

[lynn cates]

above and below

Hello Ginger. Perhaps so. But my take on LVP mores indicates that the lower social classes were even more unwilling to ask for help from above than some of the peerage were to extend it below.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

family of good name

Hello Chris. Thanks. That is PRECISELY the way I see it too. It sounds like a family "of good name" being fussed over.

Cheers.
LC

[Ginger]

Why would a Lord listen to the plea of a poor working class family?

Why not? Peers are people too. Perhaps he simply felt sorry for them. The socially prominent are going to understand better than most how it can feel when a relative does something to bring shame and notoriety on an otherwise blameless family.

-Ginger

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Beowulf and Lynn

The tone of the Crawford letter strikes me as if the woman who related the story had some sort of social standing and was not a lower class woman who was Jewish. I might be wrong about that, but that's the impression I received from the letter as quoted in Stephen Ryder's dissertation, "Emily and the Bibliophile: A Possible Source for Macnaghten's Private Information." The letter is enigmatic and hard to pin down but there appears to be no notion that the woman was other than gentile and of sufficient social standing to approach a peer or some intermediary who contacted Crawford, as evidently was the case since the peer indicates, her "name is unknown to me."

Best regards

Chris

[lynn cates]

social class

Hello Beowulf. The short version is this. Why would a Lord listen to the plea of a poor working class family?

On the other hand, a family like the Druitts might--given they were of a higher social class.

Cheers.
LC

[Beowulf]

Hello Beowulf. If the letter refers to Kosminski, as some suppose, it would be helpful if a link could be found between Aaron and either Martin Kosminski or Jessie Kosminski. They were fairly high up with respect to class; Aaron, seemingly less so. And it would seem that few of the lower social classes would be noticed by one of the peerage.

Cheers.
LC

I'm not sure I follow you. It has been documented evidently that Kosminski lived with his sister, and that is the person Crawford is possibly referring to, however I don't follow what you mean by 'few of the lower social classes would be noticed by one of the peerage'.

[lynn cates]

what a thought

Hello Scorpio.

"Perhaps the cessation of murder after such a busy temporary phase can be taken as sign that all the victims associated with JtR, were killed by different
people. The murder spree was a domino- effect situation that would eventually burn itself out if no single dedicated individual were present."

Now THERE'S a thought. (Or possibly, SOME of them were.)

Cheers.
LC