Abberline's Role In the Ripper Murders

[Sam Flynn]

Yes but did he start this all off so as to get his feet through the door

As door-stepping goes, that's a bit extreme, Cazz. Given that Abberline seems to have had more experience of crimes like coining or forgery during his career, he'd have stood as good a chance of being recalled if he'd dropped a few dodgy £5 notes on the pavement outside Leman Street nick. Abberline wasn't what I would describe as a specialist "murder detective" by any stretch of the imagination - no Columbo he, although you might be forgiven for thinking so.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Jon,

Do we actually know that Abberline lived in Clapham in 1888? The soonest I can place him there is 1891.

Regards,

Simon

[cazzbailey]

Ok what about the other reasons I have mentioned? have you compared the hand writing?
Why was he brought in on the case?

[Jon Guy]

Do we actually know that Abberline lived in Clapham in 1888? The soonest I can place him there is 1891.

Hi Simon

I was hoping someone was going to call my bluff, as I only have the info that you kindly sent me regarding his Clapham address in 1891.

I`d love to know where he was living in 1888

[Simon Wood]

Hi Jon,

I'd forgotten about sending you that stuff. Whoops! Short term memory loss.

My feeling is that Abberline's domestic move to Clapham would have coincided with his career move to CO Division (Scotland Yard) on 19th November 1887.

Clapham was an up and coming area at the time and well served by rail [Waterloo and Victoria].

Interestingly, John McCarthy moved to Clapham in 1920, but by that time Abberline was tucked up in Bournemouth—God's Waiting Room.

Regards,

Simon

[Sam Flynn]

have you compared the hand writing?

I've not seen the specific source (Abberline's scrapbook) to which you refer, Cazz, but even if the writing within it does match that of some of the "Ripper" letters, it only suggests that he might have written some "Ripper" letters. It doesn't mean that he was also the killer.

Why was he brought in on the case?

Because he had local knowledge, having served H Division with distinction for some 14 years. But he was far from being the only police officer/detective on the case who possessed those qualities, neither was he the only detective from Scotland Yard to have been assigned to the case. Abberline might be the one most people have heard of, but he wasn't the only detective drafted in from the Yard, and he wasn't the man in charge either.

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Why was Abberline brought in on the case?

Possibly because Superintendent Thomas Arnold and Local Inspector Edmund Reid went on leave immediately following Polly Nichols' murder. Abberline had fourteen years of local knowledge, making him a natural candidate to fill the vacuum.

From his performance on the Ripper and subsequent Cleveland Street case I doubt that his transfer back to 'H' Division had much to do with his abilities as a detective.

Regards,

Simon

[cazzbailey]

Why would he want to write Ripper Letters?If he did, this would say he was not of sound mind?to want to do such a thing.
Yes he had very good Local Knowledge,very handy.
But he was the one that was admired why him? and not any of the others?in the same way
Cazz

[Simon Wood]

Hi Cazzbailey,

Forgive me. Is English not your first language? I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

Regards,

Simon

[cazzbailey]

(Sam) in answer to my mail, said Abberline could have written some of the Ripper letters? why would he have wanted too do that?
The point I am making is that Abberline had every opportunity to commit a crime,he knew Whitechapel like the back of his hand,walking the streets at all hours looking for clues as he put it, and not returning back home until the early mornings,and then having to go to work the next day,what a very commited chap, too be able stay out all night and go to work the next day he would have to have been taking some form of drug or drugs,I would have thought?
why is it so impossible to think that Abberline could not have commited the Ripper murders.

[c.d.]

Hi Cazz,

I think you are getting confused here. It is entirely POSSIBLE that Abberline could have committed the murders. No one is disputing that. But so could any of his superiors at Scotland Yard or those police constables who were under him. For that matter, pretty much anybody who was alive and in the area at that time could have committed the murders. It is also entirely POSSIBLE that Queen Victoria committed them. But there is no evidence whatsoever for Abberline being the Ripper. None. You can speculate all you want as to his guilt and even find coincidences that you think are important. But the fact is they are not. If you look hard enough at a specific suspect, you will find coincidences.That is all they are. So, while it is entirely POSSIBLE that Abberline could have committed the murders, it is not PROBABLE.

c.d.

[spyglass]

I have always wondered why Abberline was drafted into the case after only one murder, or did the police know there was going to be more to come? surely there was already enough competent police officers in whitechaple. Murder must have been common in the eastend at the time. Conspiracy again springs to mind.

[Graham]

Had there been even the remotest whiff of scandal surrounding Abberline, then I doubt he would have been placed in charge of the Cleveland Street Scandal investigation of 1890, or slightly later been employed as European manager of the US Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Spyglass's post is simply incomprehensible.

Graham

[perrymason]

Abberline is one of many Senior men on the Ripper investigative team that had built his reputation on the infiltration and arrests of Fenians operating in Whitechapel and the surrounds.

Youll note that many of the key figures had that type of background, not the investigations of local murders, and youll also note that at one time Macnaghten himself suggested that Jack was a Fenian linked with the Balfour assassination plot.

I think its almost unthinkable that London would allocate all of their finest Fenian busters to work solely on the Ripper cases based on that imminent death threat, and I find it unthinkable that if any linkage was found or suspected, that Special Branch wouldnt have taken over the case materials.

All the best

[Graham]

Indeed, Michael. In fact, in comparison with Irish Nationalism and Fenian outrages at the time, Scotland Yard considered the Whitehapel Murders as rather small beer; an annoyance at best.

Graham