H.H. Holmes?

[GUT]

I mentioned Jack the Ripper on another forum, and a poster stated she thought the case for Holmes was very strong. I said Casebook posters discounted him due his MO and that he wasn`t in London. She answered she had read the book and interviewed the descendent who wrote it, and that there was proof Holmes had been in London at the right time.
I think his MO in Chicago was vastly different, and that he was a sadist, but he might be
worth another look.

I'd take a bit of persuading that he was JtR but one strange bird all the same.

But lets be frank most suspects are. Him, Kelly, Deeming are three that I find intriguing, not through any real thoughts that they are JtR I think Kelly is perhaps the only one with a hope, but because of what they dd in their own right.

I hadn't heard of Holmes till I got into Jack, but oh boy.

[Pcdunn]

"The Devil in the White City" by Larson really offers a frightening biography of Holmes. I think he was definitely a sociopath... Still, much of the source material comes from Holmes' own autobiographical "confession", which is scary in itself.

[YankeeSergeant]

Holmes

Point blank, Holmes (AKA Herman Mudgett) killed for money. He was not particular about whom he killed.es he killed several women but he also killed men and children notably his would-be accomplice in insurance fraud Peitzel (sp) and all but one of his children. The MO is entirely different and Mudgett was not in London except in his descendant's mind.

[Soonji99]

The so-called "proof" that Holmes' alleged great-great grandson has that he was in London is the following.

1. "Since the handwriting analysis matches, HH Holmes HAD to have written the letters." (The letters in question, btw, are the Dear Boss and From Hell letters, which I've never heard anyone credibly assert were from the same person.)

2. "Because of research I've done on how long it would take mail to go from America to London, the writer of these letters must have been in London."

3. "Therefore, HH Holmes had to be in London. QED."

[Mayerling]

Just a correction for YankeeSergeant (about spelling - which he was aware of). Holmes' business partner was Benjamin Pitezel. It is an odd name. Holmes would murder two sons and a daughter of his partner's (as well as killing Pitezel in Philadelphia) on a crazy train trip in which he was trying to lose police and Pinkerton operatives and get rid of any living witnesses. Mrs. Pitezel and her infant child survived. Ironically, while this train trip to murder is fascinating because of Holmes' being able to keep people apart while on the same train, it and the murder of Pitezel (killed in what was supposed to be an accident in a laboratory for insurance money) were not the crimes people remember Holmes for - it is the earlier "Murder Castle" in Chicago that his chief claim for infamy resides to this day.

It was the murder of Benjamin Pitezel in Philadelphia in 1894 that was the basis for Holmes' trial and conviction, though some information about the other killings were mentioned. Holmes was convicted and hanged, confessing to a long list of murders, than saying he lied in order to get the money for the written confession from a newspaper, then admitting to ONE killing but making it sound fishy (of one of the Legrand sisters who were killed earlier in Chicago). Finally he was hanged in 1896 in Pennsylvania.

[GUT]

The so-called "proof" that Holmes' alleged great-great grandson has that he was in London is the following.

1. "Since the handwriting analysis matches, HH Holmes HAD to have written the letters." (The letters in question, btw, are the Dear Boss and From Hell letters, which I've never heard anyone credibly assert were from the same person.)"

And it matched Handwritting and on his paper.

They we're a tag team.

[Pcdunn]

But still doesn't prove he was JTR, only that he wrote a letter purporting to be from JTR-- and hundreds of people wrote those!

I think people who want to have Jack the Ripper in their family tree are just motivated by gfeed.

I do think Holmes might be a likely suspect for the Torso Killer, perhaps?

[GUT]

And it matched Handwritting and on his paper.

They we're a tag team.

Part of that dropped out.

I was saying that Sickert's handwriting matched too and it was on his paper.