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I was interested to find this report from the 'Union Jack Detective Magazine Supplement' of January 20th 1923 within the Casebook press archive.
I know a few details in the report do not match up to what we know about Thomas Cutbush, but by golly others certainly do!
Could this provide the missing link?
'But it so happened that the police actually arrested the man. It was not until some twenty years afterwards, however, that the identity of Jack the Ripper was established, and by that time interest in the crimes had died down.
The first step in the train of evidence had been known for some years before its importance was fully appreciated.
Whilst discussing the conduct of a certain patient the ward-orderly was able to give the following piece of information to the medical officer in charge of one of the criminal lunatic asylums.
The orderly for some years had been able to foretell the coming of the patient's "fits," a bit of knowledge which was of great utility, in view of the fact that the patient was an exceedingly violent epileptic. The orderly had noticed that two or three hours before the actual fit took place that the patient would become very restless, wander, muttering to himself, up and down the ward.
After about an hour of this conduct he would ask for a piece of paper and pencil, and when these had been given him he would sit down at the table and draw.
The drawings were invariably of women's figures in various attitudes, and drawn with great care.
As soon as the drawing was completed the man would draw a line somewhere across the figure, but would use his pencil with such force that it frequently tore through the paper. Immediately he had drawn that last line he would have a fit.
The orderly, knowing that the man was going to have a seizure, would make preparations to prevent the man from hurting himself or those around him.
Through lack of appreciation that these drawings might be of importance, the orderly had destroyed them, especially as the man had never asked for them, or even given any sign afterwards, that he was aware that he had drawn them.
The medical officer, however, gave instructions that they were to be given to him in future, for there was just a possibility that they might serve to clear up certain details about the man's case.
In the course of a fe wweeks the doctor was able to collect about a dozen of these drawings. He then set about arranging the evidence from all available sources.
The asylum records showed that the man had been in the institution for nearly twenty years. Originally he had been sent there for observation as to his mental condition, having been arrested for a very violent and unprovoked attack on a woman in a public-house.
It was evident from the beginning that the man was a dangerous epileptic lunatic, and as no relatives had come to claim him he was detained in the asylum as being a danger to the public if not under proper control.
The police had not been able to trace his antecedents, while the man himself, being extremely morose and taciturn, as is so common in the epileptic, had obstinately refused to give any account of himself. Nothing special in what he had said or done in the asylum had given a clue to his past, until the investigation of the drawings.
The first point that was obvious in the drawings was that they had been executed by a person with more more than average skill.
In fact, the accuracy fo the details aroused a strong suspicion that the man had an expert knowledge of human anatomy. There was presumptive evidence that the man had been a professional artist.
Incidentally, it may be here mentioned that it is well-known that eccentricity and even mental instability is frequently found amongst artists of the Bohemiam type.
But why did the man make the last, and quite unnecessary, mark on the drawing, and with such force as to rip the paper?
The word "rip" suggested a theory to the doctor. Was this man the once famous "Ripper"?
Working on this theory, the doctor collected all the medical evidence from the various coroners' records of the series of Ripper crimes. He was able to note that the date of the man's arrest and incarceration in the asylum was only a few days after the last murder had been committed. If the man was indeed the Ripper, this would account fo rthe reason why the crimes had ceased so suddenly, and also provide a clue as to why the police had failed to find the criminal.
The doctor then made a series of drawings and carefully inserted a line showing the position of the mutilations that had been perpetrated on the corpses. On comparing these lines with the rips on the man's drawings he found that they corresponded too accurately to be mere coincidence.
In other words, the man must have somehow gained an exact knowledge of the nature and position of the wounds.
How did he come by this knowledge?
He certainly did not glean it from the public Press, or even from the evidence given by the medical witnesses in the coroner's court, for only the vague statements, such as "an incised wound," occurred in the reports of the evidence. The exact details were only available to anyone having access to the doctor's post-mortem reports.
Furthermore, the murders had been committed in various parts of London - mostly North London - and until the time when the doctor started his inquiry the reports were scattered about in several coroners' districts, so that until the doctor had collected the reports there could have only been one person with a knowledge of all the mutilations, and that was the murderer himself.
No further action was taken in this case, for a certified lunatic cannot, by law, be tried. '
I know a few details in the report do not match up to what we know about Thomas Cutbush, but by golly others certainly do!
Could this provide the missing link?
'But it so happened that the police actually arrested the man. It was not until some twenty years afterwards, however, that the identity of Jack the Ripper was established, and by that time interest in the crimes had died down.
The first step in the train of evidence had been known for some years before its importance was fully appreciated.
Whilst discussing the conduct of a certain patient the ward-orderly was able to give the following piece of information to the medical officer in charge of one of the criminal lunatic asylums.
The orderly for some years had been able to foretell the coming of the patient's "fits," a bit of knowledge which was of great utility, in view of the fact that the patient was an exceedingly violent epileptic. The orderly had noticed that two or three hours before the actual fit took place that the patient would become very restless, wander, muttering to himself, up and down the ward.
After about an hour of this conduct he would ask for a piece of paper and pencil, and when these had been given him he would sit down at the table and draw.
The drawings were invariably of women's figures in various attitudes, and drawn with great care.
As soon as the drawing was completed the man would draw a line somewhere across the figure, but would use his pencil with such force that it frequently tore through the paper. Immediately he had drawn that last line he would have a fit.
The orderly, knowing that the man was going to have a seizure, would make preparations to prevent the man from hurting himself or those around him.
Through lack of appreciation that these drawings might be of importance, the orderly had destroyed them, especially as the man had never asked for them, or even given any sign afterwards, that he was aware that he had drawn them.
The medical officer, however, gave instructions that they were to be given to him in future, for there was just a possibility that they might serve to clear up certain details about the man's case.
In the course of a fe wweeks the doctor was able to collect about a dozen of these drawings. He then set about arranging the evidence from all available sources.
The asylum records showed that the man had been in the institution for nearly twenty years. Originally he had been sent there for observation as to his mental condition, having been arrested for a very violent and unprovoked attack on a woman in a public-house.
It was evident from the beginning that the man was a dangerous epileptic lunatic, and as no relatives had come to claim him he was detained in the asylum as being a danger to the public if not under proper control.
The police had not been able to trace his antecedents, while the man himself, being extremely morose and taciturn, as is so common in the epileptic, had obstinately refused to give any account of himself. Nothing special in what he had said or done in the asylum had given a clue to his past, until the investigation of the drawings.
The first point that was obvious in the drawings was that they had been executed by a person with more more than average skill.
In fact, the accuracy fo the details aroused a strong suspicion that the man had an expert knowledge of human anatomy. There was presumptive evidence that the man had been a professional artist.
Incidentally, it may be here mentioned that it is well-known that eccentricity and even mental instability is frequently found amongst artists of the Bohemiam type.
But why did the man make the last, and quite unnecessary, mark on the drawing, and with such force as to rip the paper?
The word "rip" suggested a theory to the doctor. Was this man the once famous "Ripper"?
Working on this theory, the doctor collected all the medical evidence from the various coroners' records of the series of Ripper crimes. He was able to note that the date of the man's arrest and incarceration in the asylum was only a few days after the last murder had been committed. If the man was indeed the Ripper, this would account fo rthe reason why the crimes had ceased so suddenly, and also provide a clue as to why the police had failed to find the criminal.
The doctor then made a series of drawings and carefully inserted a line showing the position of the mutilations that had been perpetrated on the corpses. On comparing these lines with the rips on the man's drawings he found that they corresponded too accurately to be mere coincidence.
In other words, the man must have somehow gained an exact knowledge of the nature and position of the wounds.
How did he come by this knowledge?
He certainly did not glean it from the public Press, or even from the evidence given by the medical witnesses in the coroner's court, for only the vague statements, such as "an incised wound," occurred in the reports of the evidence. The exact details were only available to anyone having access to the doctor's post-mortem reports.
Furthermore, the murders had been committed in various parts of London - mostly North London - and until the time when the doctor started his inquiry the reports were scattered about in several coroners' districts, so that until the doctor had collected the reports there could have only been one person with a knowledge of all the mutilations, and that was the murderer himself.
No further action was taken in this case, for a certified lunatic cannot, by law, be tried. '
"What our ancestors would really be thinking, if they were alive today, is: "Why is it so dark in here?"" From Pyramids by Sir Terry Pratchett, a British National Treasure. 
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