Julius Lipman - a little more info

[fido]

In 1987 I was put in touch with a member of the Pizer family.They were aware that a colateral ancestor was believed to be Jack the Ripper: did not know that he had been decisively cleared, and certainly had no notion of his having changed his name.
Martin F

[Chris]

Yes, I was curious who the other Chris is. Chris Phillips ... ?

You got it in one.

It has always struck me as odd that these reports from 1900 are so specific about the date and place of Lipman's death ("has just died in the East End ") but there is absolutly no trace of him in the register of deaths for that year.

I agree it's very strange. One thing that occurred to me was that sometimes newspapers would plagiarise material after a lapse of time, without giving any indication of it (John Ruffels once sent me an example in which a report was reprinted in this way 5 years later by an Australian paper - and for good measure it was reprinted again the following year). But that's no help, as there's no trace of the death of a Julius Lipman earlier on.

Maybe it was just a good story being reused? The "A-Z" has another version, concerning a man named Jacobs, who was wrongly suspected because he wore a leather apron, and who allegedly went mad as a result. That was from Benjamin Leeson's "Lost London", which was published in 1934.

One other thing that might be relevant is that the article in "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine" alleging that "Leather Apron" was a journalistic invention appeared in 1898, just a couple of years before these Julius Lipman articles. As far as I know that's the earliest public allegation to that effect.

[Chris Scott]

Hi Rob
Yes, that is the "standard" version which I referred to which I have seen in many sources. The one at the head of this thread has a few more items, like the assertion that "Leather Apron" was invented by a journalist who did not realise there was a person (Lipman) known by this nickname.
When researching Lipman for the "Cast of Thousands" I could only find one even remotely similar candidate but he had no provable connection with London, being based in Birmingham.
It has always struck me as odd that these reports from 1900 are so specific about the date and place of Lipman's death ("has just died in the East End ") but there is absolutly no trace of him in the register of deaths for that year.
This Mr Lipman is new to me, and interesting. If this were the right one, it means he would have been about 36 years old if he died in 1900.
Many thanks for posting
Chris Scott

[Rob Clack]

I believe I posted this before (pre-crash boards) from The East London Observer 23 October 1900:



I tried finding him on the 1891 census and I wonder if this is him listed just as 'Mr Lipman'



The details are:

56 Plummers Row
Mr Lipman
Boarder
Single
age 27
boot clicker
born Mosscover[?], Russia

Rob

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Chris,

Yes, I was curious who the other Chris is. Chris Phillips or someone else? Just reacquainting myself.

Simon,

I'm just high on life, old friend. Last time I was here there were no Fionas. Now there's two. I also noticed Simon Owen was posting, so there were two Simons. There's 14 Mikes. A man can only take so much multiplicity!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Chris Scott]

Hi Tom
My username before the great message board crash was just "Chris" but by the time I re-registered after the crash that had already been taken, so now I'm "Chris Scott"!

[Simon Wood]

Hi Tom,

Different Fiona. Different Chris. Same Tom.

What are you taking?

Regards,

Simon

[Tom_Wescott]

Chris-crossed!

I'm sorry, but if Chris Scott is Chris Scott, then who is Chris? I thought Chris was Chris Scott. Great Scott!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Chris Scott]

Hi Chris
many thanks for that - should have checked up!
so we still have the mystery of who Lipman was...
Chris

[Chris]

I am becoming more intrigued by the idea that the Julius Lipman mentioned in 1900 was in fact John Pizer. The facts as stated regarding Leather Apron obviously apply to Pizer, and it may well be significant that a John Pizer died in the 3rd quarter (July to september) of 1900. The main difference is that this John Pizer's death was registered in Grantham, Lincolnshire and not in the East End. His age at death is given as 67, so at the time of the murders he would have been about 55 years of age.
Chris

Thanks for posting this additional report.

However, I don't think there can be any doubt that the John Pizer who died in 1897 was the former suspect. The address on his death certificate, 22 Mulberry Street, is the same one the suspect's family lived at in 1888.

[Chris Scott]

I am becoming more intrigued by the idea that the Julius Lipman mentioned in 1900 was in fact John Pizer. The facts as stated regarding Leather Apron obviously apply to Pizer, and it may well be significant that a John Pizer died in the 3rd quarter (July to september) of 1900. The main difference is that this John Pizer's death was registered in Grantham, Lincolnshire and not in the East End. His age at death is given as 67, so at the time of the murders he would have been about 55 years of age.
Chris

[Chris Scott]

All accounts I have seen to date about the death of Lipman in 1900, whether in the UK or abroad, were practically verbatim versions of the same account.
The article, below, however, contains some claims that I had not seen before
Chris

Hampshire Telegraph
20 October 1900

NOT JACK THE RIPPER
A man named Julius Lipman has just died in the East End of drink, neglect, and semi starvation.
He was a cobbler by trade, and was known as "Leather Apron." He fell under suspicion of being Jack the Ripper, and although he completely proved his innocence the stigma never quite left him and his business dwindled away.
Lipman was peculiarly unfortunate in the matter. "Leather Apron" as a possible Jack the Ripper was invented by an imaginative journalist on a sensational paper. He did not suspect for a moment that there was a real man in the district known by that name.