Lack of equal justice as motive

[Patrick Differ]

Fishmans book East End 1888 paints an interesting picture of unequal justice relative to crimes. For example assault appears to have less impact than theft? Property more valuable than the human. While the Jewish leadership proclaimed no Jew would mutilate a human, the Gentiles proclaimed no Englishman could commit the Whitechapel murders. They only kill themselves for 2 pence?
You can also find in the speeches of Mr Henry Matthews for 1887 and 1888 where crimes including murder are brought before Parliament. In 1887 there were speeches by Matthew's regarding Lipski and its interesting that over 100 members of Parliament signed a petition to stay his execution? It also reveals in the speeches that Lipski confessed in the final hour of his execution. Coercion to stay potential Riots? The same reason for washing off the Goulston Street graffiti ?
The only riots were apparently by the Irish.
it makes you wonder why a man like Jacob Levy would receive such a harsh sentence for meat theft of little value. At least in comparison to a 2 month hard labor for assault by a gentile.
Did JtR have a simple motive like " i hate prostitutes because they gave me syphilis?". That would fit 1 in 4 men in Whitechapel. Or was there additional motive that triggered these attacks? Unequal justice could be the real meaning behind the graffio? Look what we did ..here is the apron.
This was meant to be found by the Police is my own guess.
By 1888 according to Booths Maps on Jewish immigration, the hunting and killing grounds appear to be in heavily populated Jewish neighborhoods. With the exception of the Doss houses on Flower & Dean and Thrawl Streets.
No doubt there was a motive to use prostitutes to send a message. The mutilation to obtain the outrage the killer was seeking. Humilation of authority is motive. Knowing the turf eliminated much of the risk of getting caught.
JUstice against Jews, even Legacy Jews like Levy, appeared very one sided.

[I1ariusz]

Fishmans book East End 1888 paints an interesting picture of unequal justice relative to crimes. For example assault appears to have less impact than theft? Property more valuable than the human. While the Jewish leadership proclaimed no Jew would mutilate a human, the Gentiles proclaimed no ...

Hi Patrick,

I've also always was thinking about this Jewish path. We are seeing that 'Double Event' attacks are very much connected to Jewish places (first Jewish Socialists Club, then close to the Synagogue). If it's also the case for others then it is interesting. On the other hand it can just be simple coincidence - if e.g. statistically most of the streets were inhabited by Jewish population then him striking close to them would be just a simple chance.

Also we don't really know if graffiti was produced by the Ripper. It was written in Jewish household and could be just a graffiti referencing something different. Also question of humilating authority is opened: profiling suggests that this type of killer is not really after notoriety but rather he want's to fulfill his own dark fantasies.

Jacks motive would be rather: I hate and fear women and I want to destroy them to have a sense of controll and power (which I don't have in my daily life). How can I relieve myself? By choosing the easiests of victims: East End homeless prostitutes. There is no message, there is no rhyme to this and reason except that I just want to see them destroyed.

[Patrick Differ]

The Wentworth Street dwellings were predominantly Jewish housing. In fact the suspect Jacob Levy's mother, sister and older brother Isaac and his family lived in those dwellings. It would be highly unlikely in my estimation that the graffiti and Eddowes apron appeared at the same time in the same place on the same night. And why there? Jacob Levys accuser Hyman Sampson had his butcher shop at 58 Goulston Street before it was displaced for the Wentworth Street dwellings. Imagine Sampson ending up next door to Levy as a competitor and it becomes heated ending in Levys incarceration.
JtR operated in stealth and killed within a 5 minute window according to the Post mortem reports. And in darkness mutilate and escape. Who could accomplish that? According to novelist Patricia Cornwall who spent 70 million to prove JtR was Walter Sickert, the Ripper just ripped and pulled out organs. Yet the post mortem reports do not support that. First impression by each Doctor at the scene and in the mortuary was similar. This lunatic had " anatomical " knowledge? They were learned trained physicians and first impressions are often correct. JtR had some sort of anatomical knowledge according to the Doctors. Cornwall wasn't there.
The Eddowes murder and apron /graffiti showed that JtR had a local lair as there was a significant gap between the murder and the finding of the apron. It also illustrated that the London City Police and Metro Police did not communicate and were too tied to their beats. A Local would know how to escape and where to hide in the shadows. Although if you killed in 5 minutes and lived in the Area you could be home in 15 minutes all the while the PCs were responding to a whistle going in the opposite direction.
I think JtR was a calculating and Organized killer. The victims were part of a pool of 1200 according to that time period.
My guess is he grew up in a female dominated household, was into vice, and as one Doctor proclaimed, was used to cutting up animals. Anatomical knowledge? Some animals are not so different from humans.

[The Rookie Detective]

The Wentworth Street dwellings were predominantly Jewish housing. In fact the suspect Jacob Levy's mother, sister and older brother Isaac and his family lived in those dwellings. It would be highly unlikely in my estimation that the graffiti and Eddowes apron appeared at the same time in the same place on the same night. And why there? Jacob Levys accuser Hyman Sampson had his butcher shop at 58 Goulston Street before it was displaced for the Wentworth Street dwellings. Imagine Sampson ending up next door to Levy as a competitor and it becomes heated ending in Levys incarceration.
JtR operated in stealth and killed within a 5 minute window according to the Post mortem reports. And in darkness mutilate and escape. Who could accomplish that? According to novelist Patricia Cornwall who spent 70 million to prove JtR was Walter Sickert, the Ripper just ripped and pulled out organs. Yet the post mortem reports do not support that. First impression by each Doctor at the scene and in the mortuary was similar. This lunatic had " anatomical " knowledge? They were learned trained physicians and first impressions are often correct. JtR had some sort of anatomical knowledge according to the Doctors. Cornwall wasn't there.
The Eddowes murder and apron /graffiti showed that JtR had a local lair as there was a significant gap between the murder and the finding of the apron. It also illustrated that the London City Police and Metro Police did not communicate and were too tied to their beats. A Local would know how to escape and where to hide in the shadows. Although if you killed in 5 minutes and lived in the Area you could be home in 15 minutes all the while the PCs were responding to a whistle going in the opposite direction.
I think JtR was a calculating and Organized killer. The victims were part of a pool of 1200 according to that time period.
My guess is he grew up in a female dominated household, was into vice, and as one Doctor proclaimed, was used to cutting up animals. Anatomical knowledge? Some animals are not so different from humans.

Excellent post indeed.

With regard to animals; the pig has organs similar to humans and of a similar texture and density.

Interesting how one alleged correspondence directly mentions the word "squeal"

I have always interpreted that as a reference to the squeal of a pig.

A butcher may have had the required skillset to carry out the post mortem mutilation, as well as the throat cuts.

And if the killer had disected humans before; akin to the Thames torso killer, then butchering women in the street would be made all that bit easier because it would take the skill and anatomical knowledge of a man who worked as either a butcher, horse slaughterer or perhaps a surgeon.

On that basis, I find it astonishing how we still have suspects who had ZERO knowledge of the criteria listed above.

The killer clearly knew how to use a knife and knew how to cut. He also had the dexterity to cut, slice and remove organs in a way so as not to damage others. Similar to the skill of a surgeon.

But the key difference is that Surgeons aren't trained to work fast, they're trained to be accurate.

With the Ripper we see a combination of knife skill, anatomical knowledge, relative accuracy and above all, speed.

Speed in a highly pressurised situation and in some cases in almost complete darkness.

That could only be carried out by a man who had full control of his senses and knew what he was doing.

And of course, when the Ripper chose to cut off noses and ears and nip the eyelids, he was perhaps indicating that he viewed his victims as nothing more than pigs for the slaughter.

If we look at some of the suspects who have been suggested over the years, it is remarkable how the Ripper's abilities with the knife have not taken precedence over other factors in the case.

The physical and chronological evidence proves that the killer was able to dispatch his victims under the most difficult situational circumstances, with relative ease.

[Lewis C]

Medical opinion at the time was divided on whether or not the killer had to have had anatomical knowledge. George William Sequeira and William Sedgwick Saunders thought that he did not.

[The Rookie Detective]

Medical opinion at the time was divided on whether or not the killer had to have had anatomical knowledge. George William Sequeira and William Sedgwick Saunders thought that he did not.

If the cuts were all frenzied and each victim hacked randomly without any consideration as to where to cut and what to extract, then i can understand that.

However, the evidence shows us that some of the cuts were deliberate, precise, measured and carried out with specific intent and purpose.

There is no way that a man could carry out the murder of Eddowes in under 5 minutes IF he had no understanding of anatomy.
MJK aside, the other victims were all mutilated in a fashion that suggests the killer was methodical in his approach.

A man who can obliterate Eddowes in under 5 minutes and in relative darkness, is also a man who knows how to use a knife and has some kind of knowledge of anatomy

[Patrick Differ]

Why not just stab them in the heart while putting the other hand over the mouth? It's interesting that the method of killing closely resembles the skill of a butcher, stun-cut the throat and then eviscerate. Could any lunatic do that, in complete darkness, with some level of anatomical knowledge, in 5 minutes and then magically disappear without a trace? Possibly but the bodies and post mortem records seem to point to a specific skill. Especially the Removal of a kidney.
JtR was alsoperated lept his knives sharp as the Doctors duly noted. Could motive include being disgraced to your profession, your community, your family, all the while feeling betrayed by a one sided justice system?
if JtR was a butcher would he even be phased by butchering women ?
I dont think this was simple hate of prostitutes. A message was being sent and the proof may be in the method of kill.

[GBinOz]

If the cuts were all frenzied and each victim hacked randomly without any consideration as to where to cut and what to extract, then i can understand that.

However, the evidence shows us that some of the cuts were deliberate, precise, measured and carried out with specific intent and purpose.

There is no way that a man could carry out the murder of Eddowes in under 5 minutes IF he had no understanding of anatomy.
MJK aside, the other victims were all mutilated in a fashion that suggests the killer was methodical in his approach.

A man who can obliterate Eddowes in under 5 minutes and in relative darkness, is also a man who knows how to use a knife and has some kind of knowledge of anatomy

Hi Rd,

The existence of frenzied wounds and medically measured wounds was addressed in Trevor's much pilloried (on this forum, but not by me) video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQqMtVVkzY&t=965s&ab_channel=dickcopy

Cheers, George

[GBinOz]

Could any lunatic do that, in complete darkness, with some level of anatomical knowledge, in 5 minutes and then magically disappear without a trace? Possibly but the bodies and post mortem records seem to point to a specific skill. Especially the Removal of a kidney

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to the forum (or the madhouse, from the perspective of some).

In answer to your question, have a look at the circumstances surrounding Francis Thompson.

Cheer, George

[The Rookie Detective]

Why not just stab them in the heart while putting the other hand over the mouth? It's interesting that the method of killing closely resembles the skill of a butcher, stun-cut the throat and then eviscerate. Could any lunatic do that, in complete darkness, with some level of anatomical knowledge, in 5 minutes and then magically disappear without a trace? Possibly but the bodies and post mortem records seem to point to a specific skill. Especially the Removal of a kidney.
JtR was alsoperated lept his knives sharp as the Doctors duly noted. Could motive include being disgraced to your profession, your community, your family, all the while feeling betrayed by a one sided justice system?
if JtR was a butcher would he even be phased by butchering women ?
I dont think this was simple hate of prostitutes. A message was being sent and the proof may be in the method of kill.

Precisely.

Whoever the Ripper was, he had to have had some prior experience of the techniques he used during the duration of the kill time.

He was working against the clock and in relative darkness, and was yet still able to carry out some cuts and mutilations with a degree of accuracy that even the police surgeons themselves couldn't have made in the same restrictive parameters that the Ripper had to work in.

Regardless of all the hypotheses and theory behind suspectology, the fundermental basis that should always be worked from; is what does the body of evidence tell us?

At the very least, the Ripper had to have been a man who was used to cutting things up.

If the Ripper was merely a lunatic who hated prostitutes, he would have grabbed and stabbed and then fled; akin to the murder of Stride perhaps.

But with the Ripper murders, there was a lot more going on in the mind of the killer.

This is evidenced by his practical capabilities and the choices he made in the moment.

There are several suspects who certainly had the basic skill set required to at least be considered as the Ripper.

Thompson, Chapman (Klosowski) and Bernardo being some examples.

The issue with a suspect like Bury, is that there's no evidence he had any signiificant skill with a knife and certainly not to the level needed to carry out some of the wounds inflicted on the victims.

However, with Bury there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest he was a Ripper fantasist, who arguably wrote many of the alleged Ripper letters.

When we look at Klosowski, there is only one thing that deters people from considering him as the Ripper; his M.O.

But when we look at the actions of serial killers more broadly, we see that changing M.O. is far more commonplace than we realise.

It's the "signature" that tends to remain the same.

Klosowski also sounds pretty close to Kosminski.

And when we look at Francis Thompson; he had trained as a surgeon and had worked on a relatively new surgical procedure that enabled the removal of the heart via the diaphragm, by reaching in and upwards and extracting from under the sternum.

This method was considered new, rare and groundbreaking at the time.

This procedure was applied by the man who took out MJK's heart.

Thompson also lived within a short radius of Dorset Street.


Bernardo is interesting because he certainly had surgical knowledge and had a violent streak. He would of had knowledge of how to use a knife and had almost certainly interacted with Stride just days before her murder in the kitchen at Flower and Dean Street.

But when we look at suspects like Maybrick, Kosminski, and Lechmere, there really is nothing that indicates they had any skill with a knife whatsoever.

There were of course scores of other peripheral persons of interest who may have also been the killer.

An example would be the brother of Gehringer, who was a butcher who ran a dodgy butchers establishment just off Cable Street It was raided by police and reported for it's appealing conditions and hygiene standards.

Lots to ponder.

[Patrick Differ]

In my own mind I think Jacob Levy who Mark King uncovered in 1999 is high on my list for many reasons. He was a Kosher Butcher and into vice. He was also a convicted criminal lunatic who lost everything for what he called a lark. He was definitely set up by his accusers man Phillips. Imagine a successful Butcher one day and then suddenly you lose everything and face 12 months hard labor which was a rather harsh sentence compared to an assault. But then he was a Jew in a Gentile justice system.
Levy was also from a Legacy Family of butchers and born in Whitechapel. He was anglicized and after 30 years growing up Whitechapel this was his turf. Imagine the humiliation he felt. That was reflected in report from Chelmsford prison and Essex Asylum. Levy was going mad from syphilis but according to his wife he was a shrewd businessman.
Levy knew how to stun an animal and also attempted to hang himself in Chelmsford after 3 weeks on a tread wheel. He failed but learned how to render himself unconscious. He also found his brother Abraham hanging from a rope in his bedroom in 1975. Suicide because of gambling debt. Vice.
It's interesting that James Maybrick said he took a room on Middlesex Street, apparently between where Jacob Levy lived and witness and first cousin Joseph Hyam Levy lived at 1 Hutchinson Street. If Maybrick were the killer its interesting he had the same location as suspect Levy.
Middlesex Street tells a story. Jacob Levy lived on the London City side of Middlesex as did Joseph Hyam Levy. Since all the murders until Eddowes occured in Metro jurisdiction it is probable Metro never talked to Levy. Its not clear they knew he was a criminal lunatic since he was in Essex in 1886.
THe bodies and post mortem reveal certain knowledge. Its almost if the murders were more of a repeatable set of skills.
THe blood and guts did not obviously phase this killer. George Hutchinson said he saw MJKs killer on Middlesex Street. If you wanted to kill and not get caught what better place to live than the London City side of Middlesex Street? And only 4 blocks from Flower & Dean and Thrawl where all the victims resided when they could?

[Lewis C]

If the cuts were all frenzied and each victim hacked randomly without any consideration as to where to cut and what to extract, then i can understand that.

However, the evidence shows us that some of the cuts were deliberate, precise, measured and carried out with specific intent and purpose.

There is no way that a man could carry out the murder of Eddowes in under 5 minutes IF he had no understanding of anatomy.
MJK aside, the other victims were all mutilated in a fashion that suggests the killer was methodical in his approach.

A man who can obliterate Eddowes in under 5 minutes and in relative darkness, is also a man who knows how to use a knife and has some kind of knowledge of anatomy

It had been said that the doctors of the time thought that he had anatomical knowledge, so my only point was that some did think that, and some didn't, so no matter what position you take on this issue, you will be in agreement with some of the doctors and disagreement with others.

[Lewis C]

In my own mind I think Jacob Levy who Mark King uncovered in 1999 is high on my list for many reasons. He was a Kosher Butcher and into vice. He was also a convicted criminal lunatic who lost everything for what he called a lark. He was definitely set up by his accusers man Phillips. Imagine a successful Butcher one day and then suddenly you lose everything and face 12 months hard labor which was a rather harsh sentence compared to an assault. But then he was a Jew in a Gentile justice system.
Levy was also from a Legacy Family of butchers and born in Whitechapel. He was anglicized and after 30 years growing up Whitechapel this was his turf. Imagine the humiliation he felt. That was reflected in report from Chelmsford prison and Essex Asylum. Levy was going mad from syphilis but according to his wife he was a shrewd businessman.
Levy knew how to stun an animal and also attempted to hang himself in Chelmsford after 3 weeks on a tread wheel. He failed but learned how to render himself unconscious. He also found his brother Abraham hanging from a rope in his bedroom in 1975. Suicide because of gambling debt. Vice.
It's interesting that James Maybrick said he took a room on Middlesex Street, apparently between where Jacob Levy lived and witness and first cousin Joseph Hyam Levy lived at 1 Hutchinson Street. If Maybrick were the killer its interesting he had the same location as suspect Levy.
Middlesex Street tells a story. Jacob Levy lived on the London City side of Middlesex as did Joseph Hyam Levy. Since all the murders until Eddowes occured in Metro jurisdiction it is probable Metro never talked to Levy. Its not clear they knew he was a criminal lunatic since he was in Essex in 1886.
THe bodies and post mortem reveal certain knowledge. Its almost if the murders were more of a repeatable set of skills.
THe blood and guts did not obviously phase this killer. George Hutchinson said he saw MJKs killer on Middlesex Street. If you wanted to kill and not get caught what better place to live than the London City side of Middlesex Street? And only 4 blocks from Flower & Dean and Thrawl where all the victims resided when they could?

I think Levy is one of the best suspects in the case. One other point on him is that we know what direction the Ripper went in after the Eddowes murder because of where he dropped Eddowes' apron. Where he dropped it fits well with where Levy lived. And the apron wasn't seen until about an hour after the murder, raising the possibility that the Ripper may have gone to his bunkhole first, and then gone back out to drop the apron. That would also fit with someone living very nearby.