"The Assistant to a doctor in Whitechapel"

[Chris Scott]

Aberdeen Weekly Journal
9 October 1888

[Roy Corduroy]

Interesting, Chris.

The article mentions Archibald Forbes. Who was he? I found one reference to him on Casebook, from a Nov 10, 1888 article from the Trenton NJ Times:

"...The opinion of Archibald Forbes and Mr. Winslow that the assassin is a homicidal maniac is confirmed by the latest murder..."

That's odd.

Archibald Forbes,

Forbes Winslow.

[Sam Flynn]

This article first appeared in the Star of the 6th October 1888. The 9th was obviously a slow day for news in Aberdeen

[Chris Scott]

Hi Roy
"...The opinion of Archibald Forbes and Mr. Winslow that the assassin is a homicidal maniac is confirmed by the latest murder..."
This is a press error that found its way into quite a few articles
They mean Archibald Forbes Winslow
Somehow the impression was gained that they were referring to two people, not one as was the case
Chris

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Chris.

You have confused Archibald Forbes and Dr. Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow. They were indeed two different men.

Archibald Forbes (1838 to 1900) was the foreign correspondent for the Daily News when, on 3rd of October, 1888, his paper printed a letter by him (page 6) titled The Motive of the Murders. Forbes suggested that the murderer was a monomaniac out for revenge after he had contracted “a physical disease” from the prostitutes of Whitechapel. He also suggested that the killer possessed some knowledge of anatomy and was therefore possibly a medical student. Forbes’ theory was discussed in other newspapers, notably the Star, 6 October, 1888, in the original article that later appeared in an edited version in the Aberdeen Weekly Journal which you have posted.

Wolf.

[Chris Scott]

OOps!
Thanks for the correction Wolf
Chris

[Roy Corduroy]

Thanks everyone, and to all the folks who have put in the work on that crown jewel of Casebook, the Press Reports. Because looking there I see, as you describe, Wolf, the Oct 3 Daily News piece by correspondent Forbes which suggests such a motive. Then the Oct 6 Star - voila - seems to report on the real life episode of medical men going to Scotland Yard, where they are not heard out, then going to the newspaper, with just such a story.

Makes you wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Roy