First mention of Leather Apron?

[Uncle Jack]

When was the first mention of Leather Apron and that the police were searching for him? I have searched around but cannot seem to find anything.

[John Bennett]

Uncle Jack,

As far as I can see, the first mention in the press is on p.3 of The Star, 5th September 1888, although intrepid press trawlers may have found a slightly earlier mention (or not).

There is a police report (MEPO 3/140, f.238) dated 7th September which mentions "Pizer alias Leather Apron". Although it states that he was known for ill-treating prostitutes, it says there is no evidence against him re:the murders. Enquiries were being made, however.

JB

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

The New York Times mentions "Leather Apron" on the 4th of September in an article dated the day before.

Wolf.

[John Bennett]

Cheers Wolf, I thought there was bound to be an earlier mention!

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Hi John.

I double checked and found that the Star also first wrote about Leather Apron on the 4th. No surprise, I suppose, considering Harry Dam, the man Lincoln Springfield says was the originator of the whole Leather Apron story, also worked for the New York Times as its London correspondant. Proof, I think, of Springfield's claim.

Wolf.

[Uncle Jack]

Thanks for the replies fellows, much appriciated.

[Chris]

In the published version of his conference talk on Leather Apron (Ripperologist 109), Paul Begg attaches special importance to a report published in the Kansas City Star of 4 September 1888:
"It's an important news report because it is clearly the one possibly sent to the New York Times, possibly by Harry Dam, about whom more anon. What is important about it is that although it was published on 4 September, as was the New York Times story, unlike the New York Times it is datelined 1 September. So the "Leather Apron" story seems to have been "created" at least as early as 1 September."

As explained later in the article, the significance of the 1 September date would be that it preceded the accusations reportedly made against John Pizer by a woman in Spitalfields on 2 September.

Unfortunately it turns out that the apparent 1 September date is actually an artefact of digitization. The Kansas City Star begins as follows:


The "4" of "Sept. 4" has suffered, but enough of it remains to show what has happened, when examined carefully.

For comparison, here are a couple of occurrences of "Sept. 14" from the same newspaper:


So far from being a sneak preview of the "Leather Apron" story, sent by the correspondent to the Kansas City Star two days earlier than to the New York Times, but with its publication inexplicably delayed until the 4 September, this is simply a rather mangled excerpt from the New York Times of 4 September (which was dated 3 September), with the dateline changed accordingly.