Was Anderson Prejudice?

[Sam Flynn]

If what you see Sam is motivation-less, talentless improvisation

I didn't say that, but pointed to the differences between the murders as a counter-indicator of ritualistic behaviour or practised skill. I just wanted to clarify that point. I don't wish to discuss it further on this thread, which I just noticed is about the totally unrelated topic of whether Sir Robert Anderson was prejudiced.

[Michael W Richards]

If what you see Sam is motivation-less, talentless improvisation, then who's to say that more than one man might have done the job? Surely the unskilled knifemen and people with little or no knowledge of anatomy would do work that is very similar. In that is has little reason, and little precision.

The precision is what you deny in these cases, and Ill say again, the contemporary investigators demonstrably believed in September 1888 that they were dealing with someone who had some training. I think its clear in some cases, Kates kidney is one thing that keeps me on the fence with including her on JtR's list. Yes, he could have stabbed and grabbed, but it doesn't come across like that. The time taken to section colon, the nose, the facial marking...in near darkness..this was someone who knew his knife. Was he the same someone who hastily but competently removed an almost complete uterus? Great question.

[Sam Flynn]

If there was any degree of ritual to the eviscerations, one would expect to see more consistency both in terms of technique and the organs taken, yet there was a fair amount of variety across the series. This doesn't point to adherence to a particular ritual - nor any practised skill for that matter - but to someone improvising as he went along.

[Harry D]

Really? There is something inherently Jewish in disemboweling women? Please elaborate.

Why did the murderer take Catherine Eddowes' kidney? It is not a random organ that one would take in a snatch-n'-grab. It would be difficult to find and extract, but nonetheless the killer ran the risk for some purpose.

While the Syrians and the Arabs viewed the liver as the center of life, the kidneys, in contrast, held a primary place of importance in Israel. In Hebrew tradition, they were considered to be the most important internal organs along with the heart. In the Old Testament most frequently the kidneys are associated with the most inner stirrings of emotional life.
- The metaphorical and mythical use of the kidney in antiquity.

And there is an undoubted influence drawn from the Pentateuch evinced in the slaughter of Mary Kelly.

Combine this with the fact that the area was overcrowded with immigrants, the murders happened near jewish sites, and there was an identification of a jewish suspect, the likelihood is that the killer was one of the tribe.

[rjpalmer]

The ritualistic signature of these murders suggest a jewish killer.

Really? There is something inherently Jewish in disemboweling women? Please elaborate.

[Harry D]

Wasn't part of Anderson's reasoning that the recalcitrant jewish immigrants would protect one of their own rather than rat them out to the authorities? Not necessarily if they knew the Ripper, but they might have kept suspicions to themselves. A contemporary rabbi who condemned Anderson at the time, actually backed up his argument. Remember reading it in Paul Begg's book.

The ritualistic signature of these murders suggest a jewish killer, and several of the murders occurred near jewish sites. Anderson may have indeed been prejudiced but his theory was not unfounded.

[Abby Normal]

I wonder if because Macnaughten suspected Druitt he was prejudiced against the upper classes, or if because Littlechild suspected Tumblety he was prejudiced against Americans?

Thanks DK-and everyone else who responded!
From the responses it dosnt look like Anderson was overtly anti semetic, or had anything in his history to point that he was. But I do see prejudice in his writing-

During my absence abroad the Police had made a house-to-house search for him, investigating the case of every man in the district whose circumstances were such that he could go and come and get rid of his blood-stains in secret. And the conclusion we came to was that he and his people were low-class Jews, for it is a remarkable fact that people of that class in the East End will not give up one of their number to Gentile justice.

In saying that he was a Polish Jew I am merely stating a definitely ascertained fact. And my words are meant to specify race, not religion.

looks to me he had some definite pre conceived negative notions. and I sense the wiff of-an Englishman couldn't have done it-sentiment.

[Busy Beaver]

I don't think there was predjudice, but more of a we're going to get the Ripper. All the top men had names and hoped that if they banded that name about for long enough an arrest might be made, whether they all agreed with each other seemed to be irrelevant, as they all had different suspects in mind as we know. Not jumping in and arresting someone just to clear the case was probably a good thing as some poor innocent probably would have got the noose.

[Michael W Richards]

I think that what Anderson formally states, as a representative of an investigative team in an ongoing investigation, would be different than a personal opinion given informally. As someone who is intimately aware of the immigration effect on law enforcement locally he might just be voicing a less than pleased attitude towards all immigrants or the volume of them in London. But I don't think we have enough to label him anti-Semitic.

[seanr]

I've been thinking exactly along these same lines myself. I feel Sir Henry Smith is indirectly accusing Anderson of anti-semitism clouding his judgement, when Smith discusses the case in his memoir 'From Constable to Commissioner' - https://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/rps.constable.html

Surely Sir Robert cannot believe that while the Jews, as he asserts, were entering into this conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice, there was no one among them with sufficient knowledge of the criminal law to warn them of the risks they were running.

Sir Robert talks of the "Lighter Side" of his Official Life." There is nothing "light" here; a heavier indictment could not be framed against a class whose conduct contrasts most favourably with that of the Gentile population of the Metropolis.

One has to wonder how responsible researchers can conclude that a seaside home identification of a member of an ethnic minority person with mental health issues, not observing the proper protocols of such a procedure, can possibly be considered safe as evidence to decide a man's guilt. Especially when we have the miscarriages of justice from the 20th century between ourselves and the object of the research.

[Darryl Kenyon]

I wonder if because Macnaughten suspected Druitt he was prejudiced against the upper classes, or if because Littlechild suspected Tumblety he was prejudiced against Americans?

[KRS]

One of the things that has always bothered me about Anderson and his definitely ascertained fact about the polish Jew suspect, is that it set off a 125 year search for the proverbial crazy Jew.

I sense wiff of prejudice in this proclamation, and I wonder if any one else thinks his ideas on suspect was influenced by his prejudice against Jews and was wondering if there was any other anti Semitic or prejudice against Jews in his back ground?

I'm going to note we need to be more cautious here. We tend to view the past with what C S Lewis called "chronological snobbery," and moderns are often as oblivious to their own premises as Victorians. We may with Jews confuse pluralism, which allows multiple viewpoints on a subject with relativism which proclaims them all equally good or valid. But, some of the statements Anderson makes about his exegetical works (which I have not read) in his defense with mentor would make me think the opposite is true. While there is a type of Christian antisemitism that has existed, there is an alternate stream of Christian thought that argues of the Jews that those who bless them will be blessed. While thos gets tricky in Victorian times, "German Rationalism" is a major movement in Victorian Anglicanism and this school, which rejects all the major tenets of the historic creeds of Christianity tended towards the Darwinistic racism of the day, Anderson was a theological conservative. In English speaking Christianity in the Victorian era there has been a movement of Christian Zionism going back long before the Victorian age. Anderson seems to indicate in these comments this is his opinion.

He may show some of elements of classism, but I would be hesitant to brand him an anti-semitic.

[Rosella]

Yes indeed and it would be mistaken, IMO, to judge people who lived in previous centuries by the mores of our own times. I have lived quite a long time and in my youth there was tremendous prejudice in the community against minorities or anyone different really, ranging from Jews, gays, people with a different skin colour, feminists, arty or unconventional people, the list goes on and on. And this was the second half of the 20th century!

[Mayerling]

Hi Jeff, Abby, Phil, et al

Sir Robert Anderson was a member of the upper crust of British society. He was a scholar and a student of the Bible. He would have held the same prejudices as many in the upper crust and yes he would have had a low view of immigrant Jews which partly explains his expressed concerns that the poor Polish Jews would not have given up one of their own. At the same time, he probably would have seen himself as treating the problem with fairness and equanimity but from our viewpoint we can see that was not quite the case.

I am shortly going to make an announcement in the Baltimore RipperCon thread that our opening speaker at our April 8-10, 2016 conference will be Martin Fido speaking on "Ripperology and Anti-Semitism." No doubt Martin will touch upon Anderson and his attitudes but the intent is to talk more broadly about Ripperology and anti-Semitism up to this day. I don't think he would mind me sharing this explanation that he wrote in an email to explain the thrust of the talk:

"I really mean the Ripper-linked anti-Semitism that has occurred since Kosminski and Cohen were publicized as serious suspects. (This has led to some vandalism in East End Jewish cemeteries and the withdrawal of at least one valuable researcher from Ripperology among other things). But the lead-in would certainly include explaining why the Jewish connection was actually important in the case from the outset."

Best regards

Chris

Thanks Chris for the tip on Mr. Fido and the subject of the meeting.

It was a weird subject for that time. Somebody who might be greatly admired like the linguist and explorer Sir Richard Burton, who appreciated Islamic and Hindu and African peoples, was totally hostile towards Jews and wrote pamphlets against them regarding the old canard of "ritual murder". But people who we'd consider anti-Semitic were actually equally pushing for religious acceptance of Jews. Theodore Roosevelt, as U. S. President, put the first Jewish - American in his cabinet. But he liked jokes that had anti-Semitic stereotypes. This was not unusual. All the leading people in our history grew up in the period before they became prominent, and so they had to be taught by their parents, who would pass on their own prejudices. One has to read of this with regret but calm acceptance due to when they lived.

Jeff

Jeff

[curious4]

After the GSG Swanson stated that its purpose was to throw blame on the Jews, implying that he didn't believe a Jew was responsible. I wonder when and why he changed his mind?

Best wishes
C4