Your top 3 suspects?

[DVV]

I would agree that Cutbush is probably the weaker of the five.
Pirate

Hence his pole position on your list...

Amitiés,
David

[Phil Carter]

Hello David,

A very good point.. do you know, I have even had one person pm me saying they were "envious" of the fact that my Gran was born and brought up amongst it all? I can tell you this..she wasn't proud of it. She held the FEAR within her all her 90 year life!

with best wishes

Phil

[Ben]

Hi Pirate,

If the police investigation is your area of interest, it is understandable that the five listed should be your primary focus as far as suspects are concerned. The only quibble I have concerns the notion that one police official championing a police suspect in the face of opposition (if you like) from several others somehow increases the likelihood of the championed suspect having murdered any prostitutes.

All the best,
Ben

[Mike Covell]

Thomas Cutbush wasn't in the British Press until he was arrested for stabbing two young women in 1891. That was 3 years after the fact, not at the time of the murders.

[Tom_Wescott]

1) Le Grand
2) Le Grand and a colleague
3) Jewish socialist (possibly, but not necessarily, Kosminski).

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[c.d.]

Hi Phil,

I have to disagree with your conclusion regarding Druitt. No matter who conveyed the information regarding Druitt to Macnaghten, I don't think that they simply said that the family suspects him and left it at that. It seems much more reasonable that they then want on to state the reason or reasons why. Macnaghten obviously found those reasons credible.

c.d.

[Jeff Leahy]

First of all my list wasn’t meant in any order of preference> My personal opinion would be 1.Kosminski, 2 Chapman (who I think makes an excellent suspect for the Pinchin Street torso) 3. Druitt 4. Tumbelty and lastly Cutbush. But that is only speculation on my part.

My interest in the views of the policeman is that they had access to the files on these suspects. They new why they were suspected. Subsequent commentators have not known all the facts.

I also have some admiration for these guys who I feel were some what ‘more sussed’ than they are sometimes given credit for…and I’ll include Sir Charles Warren in that Statement.

Pirate

[Jeff Leahy]

Thomas Cutbush wasn't in the British Press until he was arrested for stabbing two young women in 1891. That was 3 years after the fact, not at the time of the murders.

The file was still open.

Pirate

[DVV]

Hi Phil,

I have to disagree with your conclusion regarding Druitt. No matter who conveyed the information regarding Druitt to Macnaghten, I don't think that they simply said that the family suspects him and left it at that. It seems much more reasonable that they then want on to state the reason or reasons why. Macnaghten obviously found those reasons credible.

c.d.

Hi CD,

as I view it, Macnaghten thought that suicide was a logical consequence of the Miller's Court "awful glut".
And I find this a bit candid.

Amitiés,
David

[c.d.]

Hi CD,

as I view it, Macnaghten thought that suicide was a logical consequence of the Miller's Court "awful glut".
And I find this a bit candid.

Amitiés,
David

Hi David,

But what if that belief was based on the private information that he received? It seems unlikely that the mere fact that Druitt committed suicide would lead him to that conclusion.

c.d.

[DVV]

Hi CD,

imo, suicide + homosexuality (suspicions of) were perhaps enough for Macnaghten.
I'd add that the inclusion of Ostrog in the memo indicates that the police were in fact at a complete loss.
They may have infos that we ignore, but clearly, they knew less than us about serial killers.

Amitiés,
David

[Mike Covell]

The file was still open.

Pirate

Until 1892, but would that make Cream, Sadler and Deeming likely suspects too?

[Jeff Leahy]

Precisely CD. We cant guess at what information these guys new or did not know. Most of the files have gone missing. Which is why I’m saying these guys considering these suspects is more important than modern commentators trying to fit up Sickert , Maybrick, Lewis Carol and uncle tom cobbley etc etc.

Pirate

[Jeff Leahy]

Until 1892, but would that make Cream, Sadler and Deeming likely suspects too?

It would but only in passing. More time might however be required on Leather Apron.

Pirate

[c.d.]

Hi David,

I guess we have to disagree. I think Druitt's suicide was the clincher in that it confirmed the suspicions that Macnaghten already had based on his private information.

c.d.