Kansas Physician Confirms Howard Report

[Jenni Shelden]

ps Lees and Stead got on well and corresponded for many years up until Stead's untimely death on HMS Titanic

[Supe]

Trade Name,

Believe it. Mrs. Shelden is our resident R.J. Lees expert and knows more about him than probably anyone today.

Don.

[Cogidubnus]

I think I've somehow missed a few posts here...sorry Jenni...think Trade has addressed your query though...

All the best

Dave

[Jenni Shelden]

No worries as I say - there the same person - they are all RJL - ive seen various things that prove this be it certificates of children's births, letters etc.

Jenni

[sleekviper]

Now that is interesting; he can see future events, but not warn a close friend that his ship will sink?

[TradeName]

I'm convinced.

Trade Name,

Believe it. Mrs. Shelden is our resident R.J. Lees expert and knows more about him than probably anyone today.

Don.

[Stephen Thomas]

Now that is interesting; he can see future events, but not warn a close friend that his ship will sink?

Nobody can predict future events or people could win the lottery every week.

Psychics can only describe what has already happened

Strange but true and yes I know that most psychics are fraudulent.

[TradeName]

PMG Challenge to Psychics to Solve JtR Case

The Pall Mall Gazette (London, England), Thursday, October 4, 1888

Page 4, Col 2-Page 5, Column 1

[TradeName]

Visions of JtR as a Surgeon

Light: A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research, Volume 9, September 28, 1889, Page 470, Column 2

VISIONS OF THE NIQHT.

When anything takes hold on the public imagination it almost necessarily results that impressionable people dream dreams and see visions bearing on the subject. The horrors associated with Whitechapel have stirred the public mind, and the St. James's Gazette gives a batch of dreams which are more coherent than what is usually published on such occasions. The account must be discounted, but it is distinctly curious :—

Mr. T. Ross Scott, residing at 26, Queen's-crescent, which is situated in one of tho fashionable suburbs of Edinburgh, has given publicity to a peculiar dream which he had on Tuesday morning of the Whitechapel murderer, and says that is the third occasion on which the same figure has presented itself to him in his dreams, and it has accordingly made a deep impression upon him. He says :—"While residing at Burntisland during the month of July, two of my remarkable dreams took place. The first occasion on which I saw the vision was during the night of Thursday, July 4th. The figure was standing in what appeared to me to be a small dispensary; but I was unable to note any of the details, because the man, whom I supposed to be the ship's surgeon, had his eyes fixed on me, and I seemed quite powerless to withdraw mine from his gaze. Just then, however, I awoke, and my dream came to an end. About a fortnight afterwards, on the morning of the eighth murder, the vision again appeared to me." Mr. Scott afterwards had his attention drawn to the Mirror of July 29th, in which the editor (Mr. Stuart Cumberland) gave an account of a vision in which the face of a man claiming to be the author of the murders presented itself. Upon opening the paper Mr. Scott instantly recognised the portrait as being that of the man he had seen in his dreams. With the exception of the colour of the moustache the description tallied in every respect. Since then it had been reported in the Mirror that the vision of the same face had appeared to a lady, and that that lady had subsequently seen the man of her dreams sitting in a fashionable London church during evening service. Mr. Scott gives the following account of his dream on Tuesday morning :—" Retired to bed at 1.30 this morning, but for a long while lay quite awake. The last thing I remember was looking at my watch, the hands of which pointed to five minutes to three. I then fell asleep. Gradually buildings seemed to rise on every side, and I appeared to be walking along a somewhat broad street, the features of which, however, I was unable to see distinctly, owing to the darkness of the night. While proceeding on my way I became conscious of the presence of someone, and, glancing up, observed a tall, dark figure rapidly approaching me. In his right hand, the stranger held a large carpet bag, which apparently he had considerable difficulty in carrying. As he passed he turned his head towards me, and I immediately recognised him as the 'surgeon' of my two previous dreams. In vain I tried to reach him; he again had his eyes fixed on me; I was totally unable to move. Just then I awoke, struggling violently and completely exhausted. The time by my watch was eleven minutes past five."






Light: A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research, Volume 9, October 19, 1889, Page 507, Column 2


Visions of the Night.

Sir,—I was greatly interested in the article which recently appeared in "Light," under the above heading, because the account there given of the experiences of Mr. Scott and others regarding the Whitechapel murder, corresponds very closely with the clairvoyant description given by a young lad here, Alec Urquhart, while under magnetic influence. I had put him to sleep for the purpose of giving some clairvoyant tests to a sceptical friend, but instead of answering my questions he began to tell us about a tall, dark gentleman whom he saw opening a black bag which he carried in his hand. The bag contained some clothing, and what appeared to the lad to be a number of surgical instruments, some of which the man examined, wiped, and replaced in the bag or put in his pocket. He seemed to be waiting for some one, so until they came up I asked if the lad could get his name. He said there were three initials on the bag, which he read, and on being directed to ask the gentleman for his name he repeated it in full without the slightest hesitation; his address and profession (surgeon) were obtained with the same readiness. Presently the man was disturbed by the appearance of four men, from whom he hurriedly concealed himself until they had passed. Having changed part of his attire from the bag, the man made his way into the City to a certain hotel, the name and number of which were given. There he partook of some refreshment, and re-dressed himself again before emerging into the street. Here he met a companion, to whom he began to converse about "Jack the Ripper" and his probable capture. This subject was introduced through overhearing the four men, from whom the man had recently concealed himself, make some remarks about the Whitechapel murderer as they passed them in the street. The man did not discover himself to his companion, but the clairvoyant affirmed that he was the real criminal, and that he had recently murdered a pretty, dark complexioned woman at the back of some stables, near a foundry about Whitechapel-lane. Carrying his mind back he could also trace him to a small, red-tiled house, some distance from Whitechapel, where he saw him with the mutilated body of a woman before him. He gave a pretty clear description of the place and the proceedings of the man, who, when he left the house, washed his hands at a well near by, and made his way to a certain bar near Mitre-square, where he had some drink. He left this place in company with two young men, whose names were unhesitatingly given on being asked for, and all three drove to the man's home in a cab, their conversation turning on some theatrical play.

Referring to the London Directory, I was able to find some of the names and numbers given, others I could not discover, and no opportunity of following up the clue thus obtained presented itself until a fortnight afterwards, when, being present in a small circle of friends, I put the young man to sleep again, along with an another gentleman, Mr. Paul, who is also a developing medium. Both of them soon manifested very distressing symptoms as they passed away from my immediate control. The lad was disturbed, as he told us, through being compelled to witness the perpetration of one of those horrible tragedies attributed to "Jack the Ripper," in all its sickening details, by the same man he had told us of on a former occasion. The names and general descriptions given were almost a repetition of what he had previously put forward, but it was impossible to question him closely on any particular point, as the influence had soon to be thrown off to save him from injury. Mr. Paul was evidently being controlled by the spirit of the victim, but so acutely painful did the physical manifestations become, that, in spite of all efforts to soothe him, he had to be wakened up almost immediately, when he said his experience was the worst he had over endured; that, in fact, he could not have withstood it much longer. He had felt exactly what some of "Jack the Ripper's" unfortunate victims must have experienced as their bodies underwent mutilation. I should much like to know the result of any similar attempt to trace this murderer. I cannot see why a tried subject—a clairvoyant or a good medium—should not be able to do something to assist in his discovery.

Aberdeen. J. C.

[TradeName]

Keir Hardie and a Seance

The Chicago article links R. J. Lees to politician Keir Hardie. Here's an anecdote from a Hardie biography:

J. Keir Hardie: A Biography (London: Cassell & Company, 1921), Page 70 (Alternate link)
by William Stewart

The following year [1893], during the Parliamentary session, an experience of another kind provided him with an amusing indication of the insidious methods which might be used to influence his Parliamentary conduct. He was invited to a seance in an artist's studio, the special inducement being the prospect of a talk with Robert Burns. He took with him a number of friends, Bruce Wallace, Frank Smith, S. G. Hobson and others well known in the Labour movement of that time. The medium delivered messages from Parnell, Bradlaugh, Bright and other distinguished persons resident in the spirit world, including Robert Burns, and they all with one accord advised Hardie to vote against the Irish Home Rule Bill! As Hardie supported Home Rule on every possible occasion, we must suppose that these eminent shades were duly disgusted. Hardie never learned who were responsible for the seance, but they must have taken him to be a very simple-minded person—either that, or they were so themselves.

[TradeName]

Mr. Keir Hardie and Mr. Lees

The Chicago article says, "Mr Lees is recognised today as one of the most advanced labor leaders in England and is an intimate friend of Kier Hardy, the leader of an independent labor party."


Daily News (London, England), Friday, June 1, 1894, Page 8, Column 6




Reynolds's Newspaper (London, England), Sunday, June 17, 1894

MR. KEIR HARDIE AND MR. LEES

A SINGULAR STORY

TO THE EDITOR OF REYNOLD'S NEWSPAPER

DEAR SIR,--Enclosed I beg to hand you copy of a
letter addressed to Mr. Keir Hardie, asking him a
plain question, and of his reply thereto. It is plainly
indicative of a most complete double shuffle. Let not
the member for West Ham vaunt himself in future on
his rugged, honest, plain, straightforward dealings.
The statement was most certainly made that he (Keir
Hardie) had promised Lees not only his personal
support, which he was free to do, but also that of the
N.I.L.P., which neither he nor any other individual
had a right to do. Either he did make
this promise or he did not. Why did he not
say "Yes" or "No," like a plain-dealing man?
To argue because, in a short notice of a meeting, some
portion of a speech or a statement was omitted that,
therefore, that particular statement or speech was
never uttered, is ridiculous, if it does not show a desire
to sneak out of the responsibility for his own utterances.
He might as well have argued that because
another local paper did not mention that meeting the
meeting did not take place. I, therefore, trust you
will make this little, but very significant, incident
public property in order that it may be cleared up.

As to Lees, I have only to say that he is a
Spiritualist, preaches on religion on Peckham Rye,
describes himself on his cards as being a "psycopathic [sic]
therapeutist"--that is, a sort of a faith healer by
stroking or making passes. He has formed what is
called the "People's League," and it is believed that a
certain person has given a donation of £8,000 towards
the funds of this League. Although originally he
stated it was to be non-political, and Lees spoke
in favor of Alderman Clement's candidature at
Peckham, the Liberal and Radical candidate,
he has seized the first chance of putting himself
forward as candidate for Labour. The Trade
Unions don't want him; and, finding that he might expect
opposition if he was not connected with the
N.I.L.P., there was a branch formed in his League,
and they elected him candidate after he had already
come forward as candidate!

On Sunday a public meeting was called on Peckham
Rye, and speakers invited by a chairman elected on the
spot to speak, first against, and then for Lees, thus
giving fair play. At the finish a resolution was passed,
with four dissentients only, condemning Lees and his
candidature.

The following is the correspondence to which I have
referred:--

3, The Gardens, East Dulwich, S.E., June 8, 1894.

Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., Westminster.

SIR.--At a public meeting held in Peckham last night,
Robert James Lees, who is putting himself up as an
Independent (who is not supported by the Trade Unions; and
who declared himself a Labour candidate before there was a
branch of the National Independent Labour party in existence
in Peckham; and who has now formed a branch in his
own League in order to get himself nominated as the
Independent candidate), stated that he had an interview at
the House with you in the course of yesterday afternoon with
another member of his Association, and that you had
promised him most cordially your assistance and also that of the
National Independent Labour party for the purpose of
getting him into Parliament.

I should esteem it a great favour if you would say whether
you did actually promise him the assistance of the N.I.L.P.--

Yours obediently,

WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE

P.S.--I do not write in a spirit of hostility to Labour
candidature, but I may mention as significant that at the meeting
held last night Lees and his chairman refused to allow any
oppostion, and could not even put the resolution, so great
was the opposition of the working men present.

The Labour Leader, Editorial Depeartment, 53, Fleet-street,
London, E.C., June 9, 1894.

Mr. William Sutcliffe, East Dulwich,

DEAR SIR,--Reply to your favour of the 8th inst., I
find from the South London Press of this date that Mr. Lees
did not make the statement which you impute to him. Further
reply, therefore, is unnecessary.--Yours faithfully,

KEIR HARDIE, F.P.

I leave this reply to the candid consideration of your
readers.--Faitfully yours,

WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE

3, The Gardens, East Dulwich, S.E., June 14, 1894



Reynolds's Newspaper (London, England), Sunday, August 12, 1894

DEMOCRATIC CONFERENCE

[...]

[TradeName]

Editorial Staff of the Chicago Times-Herald

Excerpts from an article about Chicago newspapers which discusses the editorial staff of the Chicago Times-Herald, the paper which ran the Lees/JtR story in 1895. The most notable member (to me) is Margaret F. Sullivan, the wife of Chicago Irish leader Alexander Sullivan who was suspected of involvement in the Cronin member.

The Review of Reviews, Volume 11, June, 1895, Pages 646-665

Chicago Newspapers and Their Makers
by Willis J. Abbot

Pages 653-654

THE "TIMES-HERALD" AND THE "EVENING POST."

Early in 1895 Mr. [James W.] Scott, with the aid of a few powerful financial friends, purchased the Chicago Herald and the Evening Post from John E. Walsh. At the same time Henry W. Hawley, a young and successful journalist, who had made a notable record as proprietor of the Denver Times, purchased Adolf Kraus' interest in the Chicago Times and became sole proprietor of that paper. Under the joint management of Messrs. Kraus and Hawley the Times had made great gains in circulation and prestige, but was still unprofitable. The idea of consolidating the two newspapers occurred to Messrs. Scott and Hawley at almost the same moment, and was swiftly carried into effect, Mr. Hawley becoming managing editor of the Times-Herald. The combination was quickly shown to have been a wise one. The new paper was put at a stroke on a par with Chicago's model—the Tribune—and the marked gain in its advertising receipts showed the favor with which the move was regarded by the business community. But, as so frequently happens, the issue showed that ambition realized was for Mr. Scott only the prelude to the end for him of all things earthly. Six weeks after attaining that for which he had striven for years—the ownership of a great morning daily— he died suddenly in New York, whither he had gone for rest too long delayed. A week later Chicago was electrified by the news that H. H. Kohlsaat, a lifelong active Republican, had bought the consolidated papers, thus leaving the Democrats of Chicago and the whole Northwest without an organ. The issue of this singular enterprise is still in doubt, and it is not too much to say that the whole world of journalism is watching for its outcome. In business life and as proprietor of the Inter-Ocean Mr. Kohlsaat gave abundant evidence of audacity. Some of his big real estate '"deals" dazzled veteran Chicago speculators, and his expedients in pushing the Inter-Ocean to the front were the wonder of the newspaper community. Never, however, did he essay anything so audacious as the editorship of the great Democratic daily of the Northwest. Himself a strong Republican, an earnest advocate of protection, a close friend and supporter of Governor McKinley, he can scarcely complain if Democrats receive with doubt his protestations that the Times-Herald is to be purely independent under his management, and await proof. Many of the difficulties in Mr. Kohlsaat's situation will be overcome by the force of his personality. Few men enjoy more wide popularity; few stand so well with the business community, none have been more popular wiih their associates and employees. Possessing in a notable degree many of the best qualities of Mr. Scott, who was his close friend from their schoolboy days together in Galena, Mr. Kohlsaat is—if the question of politics be waived—the fittest man to succeed to Mr. Scott's editorial chair.

The editorial staff of the Times-Herald is to-day second to none in Chicago. The managing editor, Cornelius McAuliffe, is a marvel of industry and a paragon of discretion. He conducted the Evening Post from the day of its foundation until the day when H. W. Hawley retired from the managing editorship of the Times-Herald. Of Mrs. Margaret F. Sullivan, the chief editorial writer, fitting characterization is made elsewhere in this article, as also of Mrs. Holden—known widely by her pen name "Amber." Maj. Moses P. Handy and Miss Kate Field are among the special writers who have been added to the staff since Mr. Kohlsaat's accession to power. Walter Wellman, the Washington correspondent of the Times-Herald, is a veteran in its service and has carried its banner in such remote regions as the Arctic zone, whither he went in search of the Pole, and the Windward Islands, where he sought for the first landing place of Columbus. The places of less prominence, but equal value to the paper, are all creditably filled by men who accept cheerfully the hard lot which compels the sacrifice of personal identity to the service of the paper.


Page 664

WOMEN IN CHICAGO JOURNALISM.

Many women have made notable successes in Chicago journalism. One of the most widely known of them is Mrs. Margaret F. Sullivan, a lady of Irish birth, the wife of Alexander Sullivan, the widely known lawyer and Irish politician, and now an editorial writer on the Times-Herald. Mrs. Sullivan's first journalistic experience was upon the old Evening Post under Dr. C. H. Ray, who had been impressed by some editorials she had been contributing through a third party, and offered her a position without ever having seen her or even having suspected that the writer of such vigorous articles on abstruse themes was a woman. In turn she wrote for (he Tribune, the Times and the Herald, being engaged by Horace White, Wilbur F. Storey and Martin J. Russell--all skilled editorial writers themselves, whose commendation is as convincing a stamp of approval as could be desired. Mrs. Sullivan reported the opening of the Paris exposition of 1889 for the Associated Press and was the only woman and only press representative on the floor of the Beaux Arts Building that day. She also supplied the New York Tribune with letters from Paris and, when the exposition had become an old story, went over to London to do the Parnell trial for the New York Sun. Besides constant newspaper work she has written two books, "Ireland of To-day" and, in collaboration with Mary E. Blake, "Mexico, Picturesque, Political and Progressive." Perhaps the highest compliment ever paid a newspaper writer was the inclusion of Mrs. Sullivan's unsigned report of the Chicago Republican convention of 1884 in the first edition of Bryce's "American Commonwealth" as the most graphic picture possible of an American political convention.

No woman writer of Chicago has so large a personal following as Mrs. M. E. Holden, "Amber," who has been called "the Fanny Fern of the West and the B. F. Taylor among women." She is a native of Hartford, N. Y., near the Vermont boundary line. Her father was a Baptist clergyman of remarkable eloquence. 1' Amber" first attracted attention by a series of brilliant letters in the Chicago Evening Journal. Her work for that paper continued until she transferred her pen to the Herald, where she now, under the title of "Musings," continues to write bright, cheering, chatty thoughts that help to lighten the hearts of thousands of women readers. Miss Frances E. Willard wrote of "Amber:" "She has bubbled up and over into a thousand sparkling pages; strewn charming metaphors with positive recklessness, and given a tone of home life and a color of warm hearth glow to all her scenes that must purify and comfort every one who reads." The late James W. Scott said once to the writer that the writings of " Amber " brought more correspondence into the office than any other feature of the paper, and that omission of her matter was always productive of a great volume of those protests from subscribers by which an editor is apt to gauge the popularity of a regular feature.

---end

An 1889 profile of Alexander and Margaret Sullivan, at the time immediately after the Cronin murder, by future Times-Herald staffer Walter Wellman.

Daily True American, June 12, 1889, Page 2

Notes from the Capital

Certain Persons Recently Made Unpleasantly Prominent

Alexander M. Sullivan--
His Literary Wife--
The Killing of Principal Hanford--
Women WHo Can Keep Secrets--
Prominent Men Who Have "Doubles."

by Walter Wellman

WASHINGTON, June 6,--Alexander Sullivan, of Chicago is well known in
Washington, where he sometimes appears on business connected with Irish
affairs or his law practice. Sullivan is a remarkable man. About 40 years old,
he has a face smooth and bright like that of a boy. His eye is very keen, and
posesses the quality when fixed upon one of making obvious the man's force of
character and wonderful strength of purpose. He is always calm and well
poised, and even in the heat of a court trial or of a fierce struggle in Irish
conventions or secret society was never known to lose the cool and almost cruel
equanimity which is his predominant outward trait. He has a striking gift
for diplomacy and intrigue, and in his time has played a most important part
in the Irish agitation, which assuredly is the remarkable thing of its sort in
this century, possessing, as it does, more pertinacity and continuity of purpose,
and unfortunately some of the bloodthirstiness as well as the self sacrificing
spirirt of the Anarchist movement in Russia. For several years Sullivan has
been the head and front of Irish agitation in America. It is well known that
he has been the brain or idea impelling power of nearly all the
recent activities in that direction in this country. As president of the
Irish National League of America he was close to Parnell, and is personally known
to all the great agitators on the other side of the water. Mr. Sullivan resigned
the presidency of the National league to take part in the presidential campaign
of 1884, being a strong admirer and warm friend of Mr. Blaine. He took
the ground that he had no right to participate in a political campaign while
acting as president of an orgainization which embraced men of all parties. Perhaps
his friendship for Blaine arose in the fact that he was born in Mr. Blaine's
state of Maine. He was also a friend of Horace Greeley's and left the Republican
party to support the Greeley movement in 1872. Before that he had
stumped the state of Michigan for the constitutional amendment giving negroes
the right of suffrage, and was an active Abolitionist. As a lawyer he stands high
in Chicago, and as a man and citizen is well respected, though by many thought
dangerously zealous in the Irish cause and somewhat prone to carry his points
at all hazards. Whatever troubles his connection with Irish agitation may lead
him into, the fact will remain that he is a strong, a remarkable man, one who in
the romantic era would have ruled the state or overturned a dynasty.

Not Less remarkable than Sullivan himself is his wife, Margaret. She is a woman
of broad culture, and one of the most brilliant writers in America. Her husband
earns eight or ten thousand dollars a year as a lawyer, and this is supplemented by
his wife's income from her pen, surely as much more. In the field of art or
literary criticism she is the foremost writer in Chicago or the west, and for
some time has written the foreign and many other editorials in two or three
leading papers of Chicago. Her word pictures of the national conventions of
1884 and 1888 attracted attention the country over, and she used her wonderfully
facile pen on the inauguration of President Harrison and the welcome to
Mr. Blaine in New York harbor. She does what probably he husband dare
not do, travel in Great Britain and Europe, and thence she has sent some
remarkable letters.

She is now in Paris writing cable letters to the New York Associated Press,
and some of her descriptions have become the theme for innumerable editorials
on both sides the Atlantic. Some years ago she interviewed Gladstone and
described his home life in a manner which made her name known wherever
the English language is spoken. Though a woman of refined feelings and delicate
manners, she has a head for practical affairs as good as that of her husband.
Alexander Sullivan never takes an important step without first consulting his
wife. She is every bit as much a diplomat as he, and Secretary Blaine once
said id she were a man he would like to send her as minister to one of the
capitals of Europe.

That a woman can keep a secret no longer needs exemplification, since women
lawyers, physcicians, journalists and politicians are playing so important a part
in modern activities with mouths closed as tightly as those of their brethern, but if
deomnstration were needed it could be found in the case of Mrs. Sullivan. When Patrick
Egan discovered the information which led to the expose of the forger and perjurer Pigott
he at once consulted Mr. Sullivan. In a few days four persons, and only four, knew
that Pigott was standing over a volcano whose eruption would be heard around
the world. These four were Sullivan, Egan, a Chicago Catholic priest, who
carried a packet to Parnell in London, and Mrs. Sullivan. After the priest had
sailed from New York, with the precious packet containing the evidence strapped
to his body, one other person was intrusted with the secret. This one, Benjamin
Harrison by name, kept it well, but no better than did the woman, for
during four weeks not a soul but these five on this side the Atlantic, and not
more than half a dozen of the other side, knew aught of the impending sensation.

Eight or ten years ago [1876] Mrs. Sullivan was a teacher in the public schools of
Chicago. A fellow teacher [Francis Hanford], a principal of the school, was said to have made
some uncomplemenatary remarks about Mrs. Sullivan. These remarks reaching
her ears, she called upon her husband for vindication. With his wife Mr. Sullivan
called at the home of the principal, where the parties to the dispute met upon the
lawn. Some words followed, and then blows, resulting a few seconds later in
the shooting and killing of the principal by Sullivan. From the prominence of
the parties this affair created a sensation scarcely second in interest to the Cronin
case, and the trial was closely followed by all the people of the city. Mr. Sullivan
was acquitted on the ground of self defense. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan have no
children, and are much devoted to each other,

[...]

---end

[TradeName]

Fred C. Beckwith

The Chicago Times-Herald article about Lees says the following:

"Shortly after this Mr Lees returned to England where he made the acquaintance of Roland B. Shaw, a mining stockbroker, of New York and Fred C. Beckwith, of Broadhead [sic], Wis. who was then the financial promoter of an American syndicate in London. These three gentlemen were dining one day in the Criterion when Mr Lees turned to his two companions suddenly and exclaimed: 'Great God! Jack the Ripper has committed another murder.' Mr Shaw looked at his watch and found it was eleven minutes to eight. At ten minutes past eight a policeman discovered the body of a woman in Crown court, in the Whitechapel district, with her throat cut from ear to ear and her body bearing all the marks of the Ripper's handiwork. Mr Lees and his companions at once went to Scotland Yard. The news of the murder had not yet reached the inspector, but while Mr Lees was relating his story, a telegram arrived giving full details of the outrage."

Paul Begg's book, Jack the Ripper: The Facts (Barnes &Noble, 2004) provides a lead to Beckwith on page 511 (note 5 for chapter 22):

"Neither of these men (Shaw and Beckwith) seems to have been identified; a Fred C. Beckham was the father of a California journal named Loring Dumas Beckwith, but I know nothing further."

Information from a finding aid for the Loring Dumas Beckwith papers indicates that Beckwith attended high school in Brodhead, Wisconsin, and
that his father, Fred, had interest in mines in California and Arizona:

Finding Aid to the Loring Dumas Beckwith Papers, 1902-1936, link

Loring Dumas Beckwith was born about 1872 in Burlington (now called Longmont), Colorado. He attended Brodhead (Wisconsin) High
School and entered the University of Denver in 1897, graduating in 1902. He was editor and proprietor of several newspapers in Colorado
and New Mexico before coming to California in 1913 where he became owner of the Santa Margarita Index and Our California Home,
newspapers which championed the Atascadero Colony. Several years later he moved to Atascadero where he was News Editor of the
Atascadero News. He moved to Stockton about 1920 and founded The Forum, a newspaper which advocated the economic philosophy of
Henry George. About 1931 he founded No Taxes which also extolled the advantages of the single tax system. In addition, he wrote
numerous pamphlets on the subject, lectured, and was active in the Henry George Foundation of America and other similar organizations.
Beckwith's papers were purchased from Doris Harris Autographs in 1969 with additional purchases from Holmes Book Company and
Kenneth Jones in the same year. A few concern his career before coming to California and the Atascadero Colony but the bulk of the
collection relates to his career as Editor of The Forum and No Taxes. A key to arrangement and partial list of correspondents follows.

[...]

Box 8 Letters written to Fred C. Beckwith [Beckwith's father], 1892-1905 & n.d.
Scope and Content Note
Relate mainly to his mining interests in Arizona & California. Some letters written from Nevada City, California.

---end

This is a link to a Rootsweb posting with futher information.

Mention of a Frederick C. Beckwith and a mining syndicate in London:

The Evolution of International Business 1890-1945 Volume II: British Investments and the American Mining Frontier 1860-1901 (London: Routledge, 2000), Page 211
by Clark C. Spence

"The Buster Mines Syndicate, Ltd., was formed in 1892 to acquire three-fifths of the Buster copper mines in Arizona. The promoter, Frederick C. Beckwith, agreed to give the concern a ninety-nine-year lease immediately and full title "as soon as Arizona is admitted as a State"--all for the bargain price of $32,000. 99"

"99. Prospectus (1892); Memo. of Agreement (April 8, 1892) between Frederick C. Beckwith and James Shearer, Stock Exchange Archices, London."

An entry for a gold mining company which lists a Beckwith and a Shearer as subscribers:

Mining Manual for 1888 (London: 1888), Volume 2, Pages 193-194
by Walter Robert Skinner

ITALIAN GOLD MINING COMPANY, LIMITED.

Secretary. Offices.

Newton Dexter. 17, Holborn Viaduct, E.C.

This company was registered on the 5th January, 1888, to acquire and work certain gold mining properties, hitherto known as the Defferari Mine and the Diamond Gulch Mine, situate near the town of Groveland, in Tuolumne County, California, U.S.A.

The anthorised capital is £90,000, divided into 3,000 ten per cent, cumulative preference shares of £10 each and 6,000 ordinary shares of £10 each.

ITALIAN GOLD MINING—continued.

Tho following were the subscribers, who each took one share:—A. Weston, 6, Craven Street, W., merchant; C. Saville, 12, Dives Road, S.W., secretary to a company; A. Treadwell, 17, Holborn Viaduct, E.C., mining expert; J. R. Shearer, Ebor Lodge, Albion Road, Stoke Newington, engineer: F. C. Beckwith, 40, Myddleton Square, miner; A. Dexter, 5, St. Alban's Place, St. James Square, merchant; H. Mullett, 4, Brundrett's Road, Chorlton, clerk.

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Is this a photo of Beckwith?

[TradeName]

Criterion Theatre and Restaurant

Description of the Criterion Theatre and Restaurant. Is this where the dinner involving Lees, Shaw and Beckwith is said to have taken place?

Old and New London: Westminster and the Western Suburbs (London: Cassells & Company, 1891), Volume IV, Pages 206-207
by Walter Thornbury, Edward Walford

In that part of Piccadilly lying to the east is the "Criterion" Restaurant and Theatre. This handsome building, which combines under one roof the advantages of a restaurant on an unusually large scale, reading, billiard, hair-dressing rooms, cigar divan, concert-hall, ball-room, and theatre, was built for Messrs. Spiers and Pond, in 1873, from a design by Mr. Thomas Verity. The sum originally named as the probable cost, exclusive of decorations and fittings, was £25,000, but the actual expense to the proprietors, before the vast establishment was opened, is said to have exceeded £80,000.

The "Criterion" has two facades; the principal one, in Piccadilly, is of Portland stone, decorated in the style of the French Renaissance. The doorway is arched and deeply recessed, the arch being supported by four handsome bronze columns. Figures, beautifully sculptured, representing the seasons, are placed in niches above. The frontage in Jermyn Street is of brick, picked out with Portland stone. The great dining-room, capable of accommodating 200 persons, is on the right of the central vestibule; on the left is the refreshment-buffet, at the south end of which is the smoking-divan. The grand staircase leads to the ball-room, which occupies the entire width of the Piccadilly frontage. The whole interior is richly decorated; mosaics, parquetry, painted frescoes, mirrors, gildings, and carvings, meet the eye in every direction. The upper floor is occupied by kitchens and sculleries. The right-hand entrance in Piccadilly leads to the grill-room, also to the balcony and orchestra stalls of the theatre, while the entrance to the amphitheatre stalls and parterre is from Jermyn Street, the whole theatre being below ground. It will accommodate 800 persons, and is fitted up in the most luxurious manner. It was opened on the 21st of March, 1874, with two new pieces—An American Lady, by Mr. H. J. Byron; and Topsyturveydom, by Mr. W. S. Gilbert. The company being an excellent one, and principally consisting of popular favourites, and the two authors being equally well and favourably known, the opening night was a triumphant success, giving a favourable augury of its future career. The entertainments since given have been principally of the class known as opera bouffe.

The "Criterion" stands on the site of an inn, the "White Bear," which for a century and more was one of the busiest coaching-houses in connection with the west and south-west of England. Mr. Larwood, in his " History of Sign-boards," tells us that at this inn Benjamin West, the future President of the Royal Academy, put up and spent the night on his first arrival in London from America. Here, too, he tells us, died Luke Sullivan, the engraver of some of Hogarth's most famous works, and another engraver, Chatelain—the latter in such poverty, that he was buried, at the expense of friends who had known him in better days, in the poor-ground attached to St. James's workhouse.

[TradeName]

Mention of Beckwith in History Book

History of the Pacific States of North America, Volume XX: Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming 1540-1888 (San Francisco: The History Company, 1890), Page 529
by Hubert Howe Bancroft

In July 1871 the Longmont Sentinel, the first newspaper in this colony, was published by Lowe and Hall. It changed proprietors and name the following year, and became the Longmont Press, E. F. Beckwith editor and publisher, and F. C. Beckwith associate editor. F. C. Beckwith was born in N. H. in 1840. He received a good public school education, and came to Colorado at the age of 19 years. He mined and farmed, and was active in founding the town of Burlington, situated one half mile from the site of Longmont, which superseded it, and which he was instrumental in establishing at that place.

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Obsolete American Securities and Corporations (New York: R.M. Smythe, 1911), Volume 2, Page 527

Italian Gold Mining Co. (Ltd.). Office in London, Eng., 1888. Mines in California. Ceased business, and succeeded by the Belcher Consolidated Gold Mining Co. (Ltd.).

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Mention of Beckwiths (father and son) in a journal devoted to the economic philosophy of Henry George, with ambiguous pronoun reference.

Land and Freedom (New York), May-June, 1927, Page 95, link

MR. L. D. BECKWITH, who has recently stepped to the front in California
as editor and proprietor of the Forum, frequently noted in these
pages, is the son of Fred C. Beckwith, of Longmont, Colorado, once
active in the greenback movement. He was converted to the Single
Tax by that wonderfully active spirit, Joseph Wolfe.