Motives for Druitt and Kosminski?

[lynn cates]

clipped answer

Hello Phil. To answer the second question, I am given to understand that AK would have picked up at least elementary surgical skills as a barber.

Cheers.
LC

[curious4]

To Phil

I subscribe to both a primary and a secondary source for a theory of the motivation of Montague Druitt:

Sir Melville Macnaghten's 'Days of My Years' (1914) for the former, and Tom Cullen's 'Autumn of Terror' (1965) for the latter (though these two sources disagree on motivation).

Druitt killed in the impoverished streets of the 'evil quarter mile' because he was deranged, no doubt sexually so with some kind of 'fury' against harlots. Yet Druitt kept going back to Whitechapel, rather than Hyde Park for his victims, in order to 'save' them too. He was attempting to force the 'better classes' to come to the aid of the poor by publicising their abject social and economic distress via ultra-violence and horrific murder.

This brutal, terroristic propaganda campaign was somewhat successful.

At some point Druitt, though never on police radar or suspected by anybody when alive, suffered some kind of fatal meltdown. He was 'Protean' in that he could appear normal and be a successful advocate -- almost to the day he left for Chiswick to drown himself. Trying to do something for the social good, but using evil methods -- and getting some kind of sick pleasure from it all -- finally undid his dual selves and so, unable to live with the paradox, his last victim was himself.

After making a 'complete' confession to a priest Druitt made the latter swear that the truth would come out in ten years.

It did, but semi-fictionalised by the family, and by a police chief who had discovered 'some years after' and kept their 'secret'. That decision, to both reveal and conceal, much later created the impression of ignorance and error, setting in motion what some call 'Ripperology'.

Just a theory, of course.

Hello,

Even if this could have been proved true, lots of people "confessed" to being the Ripper.

Cheers,
C4

[Jonathan H]

To Phil

I subscribe to both a primary and a secondary source for a theory of the motivation of Montague Druitt:

Sir Melville Macnaghten's 'Days of My Years' (1914) for the former, and Tom Cullen's 'Autumn of Terror' (1965) for the latter (though these two sources disagree on motivation).

Druitt killed in the impoverished streets of the 'evil quarter mile' because he was deranged, no doubt sexually so with some kind of 'fury' against harlots. Yet Druitt kept going back to Whitechapel, rather than Hyde Park for his victims, in order to 'save' them too. He was attempting to force the 'better classes' to come to the aid of the poor by publicising their abject social and economic distress via ultra-violence and horrific murder.

This brutal, terroristic propaganda campaign was somewhat successful.

At some point Druitt, though never on police radar or suspected by anybody when alive, suffered some kind of fatal meltdown. He was 'Protean' in that he could appear normal and be a successful advocate -- almost to the day he left for Chiswick to drown himself. Trying to do something for the social good, but using evil methods -- and getting some kind of sick pleasure from it all -- finally undid his dual selves and so, unable to live with the paradox, his last victim was himself.

After making a 'complete' confession to a priest Druitt made the latter swear that the truth would come out in ten years.

It did, but semi-fictionalised by the family, and by a police chief who had discovered 'some years after' and kept their 'secret'. That decision, to both reveal and conceal, much later created the impression of ignorance and error, setting in motion what some call 'Ripperology'.

Just a theory, of course.

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

What, in your opinion, would Kosminski or Druitt's motive have been for supposedly slicing up 4 of the 5 C5 victims? Not just murdering them, but slicing them into pieces and deliberate and seemingly meticulous organ removal.

A second question. In Druitt's case, the occupation of his father connects him very loosely to surgical procedure. What connects Kosminski to it? From what part of his life can we connect the precision needed to locate and extract a human kidney in poor light?

Many thanks for your considered opinions.

Best wishes

Phil