The insane medical student - a police theory from 1894

[Mayerling]

[Obviously he was an early believer in recycling - he repeats the statement about the "blue-blooded perpetrator" of the Whitechapel murders having died at Broadmoor, and he also updates the comments made in 1897 about the barrister suspected of having committed two other murders to claim that he had been committed to Broadmoor. (In reality, the barrister in question, Charles Augustin Prideaux, had been an inmate of private asylums in Isleworth and near Bath.) Moreover this updated version was apparently produced in 1898 or 1899 (the dates are inconsistent) and when he came to reuse it again in 1908 he didn't bother to make any further changes.

I was not aware of this article or any other by Frederick Cunliffe-Owens before. But that reference is more complicated than we thank. First of all this article from the Chicago Tribune of 11 July 1908 refers to the Harry Thaw case and the insanity defense. But this screws up the comment about
"a mysterious murder on a suburban London railroad..." two years earlier.

It would seem to be referring to Elizabeth Camp (and I will show why in a minute). But two years before this article was 1906, just one year after the 1905 unsolved murder of Mary Money on a railway train in London. The readers of the article would probably consider it a reference to Money's death.

It probably was a referance to Camp because of the reference to the unsolved Windsor murder. Guy Logan, in his book GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY, on page 245 mentions the unsolved killings in Windsor on 13 September 1897 of Emma Johnston (a servant girl), and three months later the murder in the same area of Mrs. T. P. Smith. It apparently caused a panic in Windsor.

Now, was the barrister Charles Prideaux suspected in those latter two murders?

Jeff

[Chris]

It probably was a referance to Camp because of the reference to the unsolved Windsor murder. Guy Logan, in his book GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY, on page 245 mentions the unsolved killings in Windsor on 13 September 1897 of Emma Johnston (a servant girl), and three months later the murder in the same area of Mrs. T. P. Smith. It apparently caused a panic in Windsor.

Now, was the barrister Charles Prideaux suspected in those latter two murders?

Yes - it was certainly a reference to Camp, because in the 1897 Butte Weekly Miner version of the same story she is referred to by name (and again coupled with the murder of [Emma Matilda Johnson] at Windsor).

But Prideaux does have an alibi for the murder of Johnson, as he was under detention in an asylum in Wyke House, Isleworth, by that time:

http://forum.casebook.org/showpost.php?p=151036&postcount=26

[Chris]

An early version of the "medical student" story is below. ...
Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel
Indiana, USA
24 July 1890

JACK THE RIPPER!
Is a Medical Student and is Under Arrest in London - A Chain of Evidence Woven About Him
Halifax, July 24.
A Halifax lady, at present visiting a distinguished London official, writes to friends here that Jack the Ripper is under arrest in that city and has been for some time. The Ripper, she says, is a medical student and his arrest was made on the strength of information given by his sister. The authorities have kept the matter the strictest secret in order to work up a case against the man. The chain of evidence is very complete. This information, though startling, is vouched for by the writer of the letter, who accidentally came into possession of the facts.

I imagine there must be other references to the same story... perhaps in Halifax newspapers?

Rob suggested this again to me recently, and I checked the Morning Herald, which unfortunately is the only Halifax newspaper held by the British Library for July 1890. I found this small item published on 25 July:

JACK THE RIPPER ARRESTED.

A gentleman in London, England, who is in a position to know, writes to a friend in Halifax, that 'Jack the Ripper' was arrested some time ago. He is a medical student and the arrest was made on information furnished by his sister. The authorities have kept the fact of the 'ripper's' arrest a profound secret for certain reasons - probably until the chain of evidence is complete.

It's interesting that this actually appeared later than the version posted by Chris above (and a similar article which also appeared on 24 July, in the Boston Daily Globe, was dated as early as 23 July at Halifax). Obviously it also differs in that the informant was a gentleman in London "who is in a position to know," rather than a Halifax lady visiting a London official.

[Mayerling]

In Examiner number 4 are printed the final two instalments of Jabez S. Balfour's "Crimson Crimes" series on the Ripper murders, which originally appeared in the Weekly Despatch in 1906, together with a discussion by Tom Wescott.

The article originally published on 11 November 1906 opens with details of three suspects, one of them an inmate of Broadmoor. I hope it's in order for me to quote the relevant couple of sentences here:
"Another man to whom these terrible crimes have been imputed is to-day an inmate of the criminal lunatic asylum at Broadmoor. This man is, I believe, an undoubted lunatic, and the insane boastings in which he from time to time has indulged, combined with a singular familiarity with the East End of London, are the principal grounds for imputing the crimes to him."

Obviously there's very little detail to go on in this story. But it differs from the other Broadmoor stories quoted above - those linked to Forbes Winslow and that written by Frederick Cunliffe-Owen in 1897 - in that the suspect is thought to be still alive (the same respect in which Balfour's suspect differs from Thomas Cutbush).

Small point but a curious one - the author of this article (one of a series) was just released from prison in 1906 for fraud - and has been called by Edward Majoribanks as the greatest thief of the 19th Century. The article is by Jabez Spencer Balfour, one time light of the Nonconformist sects in England, first mayor of Croyden, and member of Parliament. He was not in Parliament (I believe) in 1888, but would be in a year or so. He had grown into a multi-millionaire due to his pushing "The Liberator" Company which was supposed to be a kind of savings and loan for small home buyers who were Noncomformists, but became one of four mutually connected companies that were buying and selling huge properties turning them into attractive buildings. The golden egg that "The Liberator" group created collapsed in 1892, just as it's leader and spokesman (Balfour) was being considered by the Liberal Party for a Cabinet seat. Instead he fled to Argentina, and was fignting extradition when physically kidnapped by Chief Inspecter Frank Froest (later one of the original "Big Four" of Scotland Yard). Tried in 1895 Balfour got 14 years Penal Servitude. He was released on good behavior in 1906, and died in 1914. His fraud probably cost the members of the Nonconformist sects close to 15 million pounds steriling in 1892.

I bring this up because Balfour was obviously trying to create a new career as a news columnist of sorts - hence the nature of the articles he was writing about secrets of the British prison and criminal worlds.

Jeff

[robhouse]

Murder of Mary Money

In case anyone is interested I found an interesting account of the murder of Mary Money in the Merstham tunnel on September 24, 1905


The Advertiser (Aderlaide, South Africa)
Saturday October 5, 1912

TUNNEL MYSTERY.
A POLICE THEORY.

Mary Sophia Money, aged 22, who was employed as a bookkeeper at a dairy on Lavenderhill, Battersea (England), was found on Sunday night, September 24, 1905, lying in the tunnel, her head and body mutilated, and a part of a scarf stuffed in lier mouth.

At the inquest Robert Henry Money identified the body of his sister. He stated that be last saw his sister a fortnight before the tragedy. She had no sweet heart and bad no particular male friends. He was unable to offer any suggestion as to her being found at Merstham, as she had no friends or relatives in the neighborhood.

At a later stage in the enquiry a signalman on the Brighton railway stated that he saw a man and woman struggling in a compartment of a train in which, it was stated, Miss Money was travelling. The guard of the train also stated that the girl was accompanied by a man and that he left the train at Redhill.

Eventually the jury returned an open verdict, there not being enough evidence for them to do anything else.

It would be idle to ignore the fact that certain speculations have been current in regard to the death of Miss Mary Money in the Merstham tunnel, tending to connect Robert Henry Money with the crime, if crime it were.

Ex-Chief Inspector Fox, who assisted in the investigations, interviewed on the subject, disposed of the suggestion quite emphatically. He regards the case as one of suicide. Mr. Fox had several interviews with Robert Henry Money in connection with the Merstham tragedy, and regarded his attitude as quite satisfactory.

"He did and said everything which a brother might be expected to say and to do in the circumstances--no more and no less," said Mr. Fox. "I saw him together with another brother and the mother, and I do not remember anything unsatisfactory in his statement at all."

Mr. Fox went on to state his grounds for adhering to the suicide theory in respect to the death of Mary Money.

"In the first place," be said, "there was no evidence whatever that any man was in her company at the time. The signalman's statement that he saw a struggle between a man and a woman in the train in which Miss Money travelled can be set aside.

"The incidents might possibly have been witnessed from a signal-box in a train travelling at four or five miles an hour, but in this instance the train was travelling at 24 miles an hour.

"As to possible grounds for suicide, my enquiries, showed that there had been a shortage in the stocktaking at the dairy at which Miss Money was employed, and there was evidence forthcoming that she had been spending more money than, in the ordinary course, she had received.

"Another point was that she had told her parents, brothers, and sisters that she was engaged to Mr. Arthur Bridger, her employer's youngest brother, and that he was in the habit of escorting her about London. The story was a tissue of fabrications and she may have realised that before very long the falsity would be revealed."

This view of the mystery is fully endorsed by Mr. James Brice, late superintendent of the Surrey Constabulary, who had the Merstham end of the case in his hands.

Interviewed by a press representative, who showed him the portrait that had been identified by Florence Murray, he immediately recognised it as Robert Henry Money, the brother who identified the body of his sister at the inquest.

"It was not murder, but a case of suicide," he declared.

Asked for his reasons for that conclusion, Mr. Brice stated that Miss Money was a gambler and betted extensively. Her stock at the shop at which she was an assistant was short, and Mr. Henry Bridger, brother of Mr. Arthur Bridger, with whom she was employed, was about to join his brother in the management of the business. She knew she would be found out and therefore committed suicide.

"As to Robert Money," said Mr. Brice, "he knew of what had been going on, but tried to throw dust in the eyes of the police. He even took possession of her box before the police arrived and destroyed all the letters in it."

Mr. Brice was firmly convinced that the Eastbourne murderer did not accompany his sister on the fateful Sunday."