We have him...

[curious]

Hi Chris. For some time I've been seperated by my notes, which are all on an old broken laptop. I've been lazy about getting a new one, but lately I've been motived to do so. Now I have a fire under my butt to publish on Le Grand before someone else gets the notion to do so. So, soon I'll have all my notes and I'll see if there's something about this prison in there. But from these various reports, there's very little doubt they're referring to Le Grand.

Michael,

Le Grand wasn't just mean, he was a bonafide psychopath. I've read the transcripts of his various trials, as has Debs, and he was crazy. In 1887 he wrote a letter (in red ink) to the police commissioner threatening to burn down buildings. There was a dock fire on the night of the Nichols murder. He was involved in a bank robbery in which the next door building was used to dig through into the basement. This exact same method was earlier utilized in the post office robbery that occurred at the time of the Mitre Square murder. As already mentioned, he was a pimp with French pretenses who traveled occassionally to Paris. Mary Kelly was a prostitute with French pretenses who had travelled to Paris with a man. All circumstancial, but compelling nonetheless.
As for his capacity for violence, he threw a policeman in front of a train, threatened a cop with 'six inches of steel' to his back, and was prepared to blow up old ladies if they didn't pay him. By prepared, I mean he not only sent them threatening letters, but was found with the promised explosives and an 'infernal machine' when arrested by the police.

Le Grand actually wrote that he was 'void of all human feeling' and that a woman had wronged him so it was a woman who would pay.

Incidentally, his relationship with Batchelor ended when Le Grand beat him down in the middle of the street.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

As such a newbie, I hesitate to ask -- BUT will anyway.

Was LeGrand in any way connected with the Finian situation?

Thank you,

curious

[Tom_Wescott]

Michael,

I hear what you're saying, but keep in mind that first and foremost, I've been investigating Le Grand as a suspect in the Stride murder, because he's all over Berner Street like white on rice. But a serious suspect in any one of the canonical five murders must also be looked at in accordinance with the other murders. I'd clearly be a fool not to think of that. So far, I've found nothing to exclude him as the Ripper, though I'm not convinced he WAS the Ripper. However, these findings from Mike C and MWR at least show that Scotland Yard seriously investigated him and were unable to exclude him as the Ripper also. I've been pursuing him for a long time without even knowing that he had been investigated as the Ripper. To find out that he had been, particularly with all the crap I've had to hear from certain parties (not you), has given me a rather fuzzy feeling of vindication.

Jerry D,

Awesome to hear from you and thanks for the kind words! Tom & Jerry in da house!

Curious,

Let me get back to you on that.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Phil Carter]

As such a newbie, I hesitate to ask -- BUT will anyway.

Was LeGrand in any way connected with the Finian situation?

Thank you,

curious

Curious,
I am tempted to sing out loud....

Oh come all ye faithful....

Well, 'tis the season of goodwill eh?

In my mind the Fenian/Irish thing has something to do with all of this. And if LeGrande has anything to do with it... yet another connection falls in.

best wishes

Phil

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Phil,

My suspicions regarding the 'From Hell' letter and the WVC have nothing to do with my suspicions of Le Grand as a murderer. However, when I discovered that the WVC had employed a pimp and career criminal as their main dog, it forced me to reconsider their motives. In brief, my reasons for suspecting them are as follows:

1) They received the package, which generated a lot of press for them. Therefore, it's only right to consider them first as having concocted the hoax.

2) If you went to the trouble of procuring a kidney and writing the letter, would you have sent it to a private citizen?

3) Just before the receipt of the package, the WVC had made the press rounds appealing to the public for money. The contributions had been much smaller than anticipated.

4) Before taking the package to the police, they stopped at the Evening News, who wrote up a big, sensational piece. This is remarkable if you ask me. And the Evening News happened to be the paper that employed Le Grand and broke the Packer story.

None of this proves complicity on the part of the WVC, but it's a very curious chain of events.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Phil Carter]

Hello Tom,

Yup... looks very suspicious. And the evening news thing smacks of a comparison.. a certain Mr TJ Bulling. The newspapers were in it for the sell. No doubt about it. The Star was even proclaiming every increase in sales.

One question. Was LeGrande married?

best wishes


Phil

[Tom_Wescott]

Le Grand was not married, but for a time he lived with a prostitute named Marie Pourquoi - every bit the criminal as himself - and they'd pass themselves off as man and wife when renting rooms.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

P.S. I just realized I posted the stuff about the WVC on the wrong thread. Rats.

[Phil Carter]

Le Grand was not married, but for a time he lived with a prostitute named Marie Pourquoi - every bit the criminal as himself - and they'd pass themselves off as man and wife when renting rooms.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

P.S. I just realized I posted the stuff about the WVC on the wrong thread. Rats.

Hello Tom,

Marie Porquoi... that itself is a strange name. "Pourquoi" is the French word for "why".. I have never, ever heard of that sirname in my life!

Le Grand Porquoi..... the big why.


Curiouser and curiouser

best wishes

Phil

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Phil,

Like Le Grand, she took on a lot of aliases, so I'm sure that wasn't her given name. I'm not certain of Le Grand's true name, but it may have been Christian Nelson.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Phil Carter]

Hello Tom,

I am going to start a new thread shortly that connects, perhaps, to this... it is getting tasty! Well done!

best wishes

Phil

[jerryd]

This was an interesting read on LeGrand. According to this link his real name was Christian Briscony.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi...10--1----0-all

jerryd

[Phil Carter]

This was an interesting read on LeGrand. According to this link his real name was Christian Briscony.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi...10--1----0-all

jerryd

Hello Jerry,

Interesting that..especially as it comes from the NELSON Evening Mail....

best wishes

Phil

[Phil Carter]

Hi all,

Just to perhaps helps things a little..

The Danish name Nelson isnt Nelson... thats an Englishism...

Its Christian Nielsen or Nilsen

Thats quite a common name in Scandinavia, meaning son of Niels or Nils.

best wishes

Phil

[Tom_Wescott]

Briscony was probably another alias. The police in 1877 believed his name to be Nelson. But who knows. Even his nationality is open to debate. He's supposedly from Denmark, England, France, America, and who knows where else. It seems he was bi-lingual if not multi-lingual. He had a scar on his face, apparently from a knife and he had grey eyes.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[perrymason]

This was an interesting read on LeGrand. According to this link his real name was Christian Briscony.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi...10--1----0-all

jerryd

The fits at the end of the article and the nervous disposition that caused him to faint in court seem a trifle weak stomached to me to fit the bill.....nice post jd.

And Tom, you do deserve credit for delving into this guy even before you knew he was a named suspect in some document...he sounds as cruel and evil as Cruella....maybe he was making a Uterus coat?

Best regards

[Tom_Wescott]

Michael,

His fainting, etc. was an act.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott