American Slouch Hat Origins

[mklhawley]

Greetings,

The following articles document Scotland Yard’s interest in JTR suspects wearing an American Slouch Hat. It seems to have begun prior to the double event on September 30, 1888, and continued even after the murder of Mary Kelly on November 9, 1888. Elizabeth Long, a witness in the case of Anne Chapman (murdered on 8 September 1888), claimed the suspect had a deerstalker hat, such as the type Sherlock Holmes wears. This type of hat would not be mistaken for an American slouch hat. Is there a witness statement Scotland Yard purposely hid from the public?


The Quebec Daily Telegraph, September 29, 1888:
A man was arrested midnight last night on suspicion of having committed the horrible murder in Whitechapel. He is a tall man with dark beard and wore an American slouch hat, by which he was traced from the locality of the latest murder,… [the man was Albert Chambers from South London]


Brooklyn Daily Eagle
New York, USA
10 November 1888
London's Reign of Terror
The assassin of Whitechapel has claimed his ninth victim, having planned and executed his latest crime with all the deliberation and cunning that characterized his former exploits…It has been said among other things that the assassin is an American, because he wears a slouch hat…


San Francisco Chronicle, November 18, 1888:
…That was the case with Sir George Arthur of the Price of Wales set. He put on an old shooting coat and a slouch hat and went to Whitechapel for a little fun. He got it. It occurred to two policemen that Sir George answered very much to the popular description of Jack the Ripper. They watched him, and when they saw him talking with a woman they collared him…


New York World, January 29, 1889
HE WORE A BIG SLOUCH HAT
Dr. Francis Tumblety, the celebrated Whitechapel suspect, after two months silence has given his version of why he was accused of being Jack the Ripper. He says it was owing to the stupidity of the London Police, who arrested him because he was an American and wore a slouch hat. He is preparing a pamphlet defending himself and giving a history of his life… "My guilt was very plain to the English mind. Someone had said that Jack the Ripper was an American, and everybody believed that statement. Then it is the universal belief among the lower classes that all Americans wear slouch hats; therefore, Jack the Ripper, must wear a slouch hat. Now, I happened to have on a slouch hat, and this, together with the fact that I was an American, was enough for the police. It established my guilt beyond any question."


Georg Hutchinson watched Mary Jane Kelly with a suspicious man in Commercial St late Friday night, November 9, 1888. His description:
"dress long, dark coat, collar and cuffs trimmed astracan [sic] and a dark jacket under, light waistcoat, dark trousers, dark felt hat turned down in the middle, button boots and gaiters with white buttons, wore a very thick gold chain, white linen collar, black tie with horse shoe pin, respectable appearance walked very sharp..." [conforms to a slouch hat]

Any thoughts?

Sincerely,

Mike

[Archaic]

re: Hutchinson's Description & Slouch Hats

(Quote)"George Hutchinson watched Mary Jane Kelly with a suspicious man in Commercial St late Friday night, November 9, 1888. His description:
"dress long, dark coat, collar and cuffs trimmed astracan [sic] and a dark jacket under, light waistcoat, dark trousers, dark felt hat turned down in the middle..."(Quote)

Hi Mike.

“Slouch Hats” actually go back to the time of the English Civil War, when they were worn by the Cavaliers, often with a large sweeping plume. By 1888 "Slouch Hats" per se had been around for a good 50 years. They were worn in the U.S. Civil War, in Australia, in South Africa, and also to some extent in England. They are closely related to hats worn by the U.S. Cavalry in the Indian Wars and to the American Cowboy Hat.

They were practical headgear for those required to be out-of-doors in all weather, because their big flexible brims offered protection from the sun & rain. The brims could be bent downward to help protect the ears and help heavy rain run off, or be could be pinned up in the front or at one side for a jauntier look (as popularized by the Aussies).

It doesn't seem to me that a slouch hat would be described as "turned down in the middle".
Their whole point was that the broad, flexible, basically circular brim could be turned up or down at the sides; in other words, at the wide brim.

I don’t recall George Hutchinson ever using the term “slouch hat” in relation to Astrakhan Man. It sounds to me like in the quote above Hutchinson is describing a much shorter-brimmed city hat with a crease, which would also be much more in keeping with the ultra-"flash" appearance of Astrakhan Man.

Just my 2 cents Mike.

Best regards,
Archaic

[mklhawley]

Hi Archaic. Your 2 cents is amazing. What I meant by a "dark felt hat turned down in the middle" can be seen in Stewart Evans' contribution shown below. He refers to this as an example of an American slouch hat from October 1888. Notice the turn down in the middle.



Sincerely,

Mike

[Wickerman]

Hi Archaic. Your 2 cents is amazing. What I meant by a "dark felt hat turned down in the middle" can be seen in Stewart Evans' contribution shown below. He refers to this as an example of an American slouch hat from October 1888. Notice the turn down in the middle.

[ATTACH]11572[/ATTACH]

Sincerely,

Mike

Packer's words were:
"soft felt hat, (kind of Yankee hat)"

Is that the same thing?, if so, how do you know?

[mklhawley]

Interesting catch Wickerman.

"Matthew Packer keeps a shop in Berner St. has a few grapes in window, black & white.

On Sat night about 11pm a young man from 25-30 - about 5.7 with long black coat buttoned up -soft felt hat, kind of yankee hat rather broad shoulders - rather quick in speaking, rough voice. I sold him 1/2 pound black grapes 3d. A woman came up with him from Back Church end (the lower end of street) She was dressed in black frock & jacket, fur round bottom of jacket with black crape bonnet, she was playing with a flower like a geranium white outside and red inside. I identify the woman at the St.George's mortuary as the one I saw that night..."


This seems to conform to what Archaic is saying about a broad shoulders (I think). When he refers to a yankee hat, it seems he assumes this is common knowledge.

Mike

[The Good Michael]

This type of hat with the crease in the middle must be the forerunner of the 1920s and 30s gangster fedora which is still popular all over the world. The Indiana Jones hat is a fedora of course, but with a wider brim. When traveling, I usually assume anyone I meet in the mountains or anywhere really, who is wearing a fedora-style hat is an American, but a lot of Brits, playing adventurer one supposes, re wearing the style too. So I guess the style kind of represents ruggedness and adventure and risk.

Mike

[The Good Michael]

I was reading the history of Stetson hats (because I have no life). They began in 1865 and within just a few years were very popular and were associated with America and the American west. One early hat, ca 1870, was a high, round hat, like the one Sarah Lewis describes, but could be creased in the crown and folded down in front. This seems to be the first fedora and would later have the permanent crease put in. If you look at the picture on this thread that came from Stewart, that's what the Stetson I'm talking about looks like with a crease put in the top. Creasing seems like a natural by-product of removing from one's head with the fingertips. I think this is where the slouch hat came from and teh cavalier-type hats were a much older style. What I'm getting at is that I think the Stetson was the American slouch hat look and which I'm sure had many imitators. I do think that Hutchinson's description was of this type of slouch hat.

Mike

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

The Quebec Daily Telegraph, September 29, 1888:
A man was arrested midnight last night on suspicion of having committed the horrible murder in Whitechapel. He is a tall man with dark beard and wore an American slouch hat, by which he was traced from the locality of the latest murder,… [the man was Albert Chambers from South London]

Albert Chambers was the name of the lodging house, not the name of the suspect. It was in Gravel Lane, off Union Street, Borough.

The hat which Hutchinson described has been taken to be what we would call a Homburg. This can be seen in the drawing of the man in the Illustrated Police News.

Wolf.

[The Good Michael]

A homburg and a fedora are about the same thing. They are both not as wide in the brim as a slouch had and both have the single crease in the crown. The Stetson that I described with the high crown, looked like the homburg without the crease, but it was called, by Stetson, a slouch hat. Stetson was American and so this was an American slouch hat. Maybe not THE hat that was seen, however. I suggest these things were all so similar that they all run together and one guess is as good as another, and no witness could tell the difference between a fedora, a homburg, or an American slouch hat. The wide-awake stands apart.

Mike

[mklhawley]

Thanks for the correction Wolf. Do you think this Albert Chambers incident started the American hat/JTR suspect connection? Mike, I'm sure on the streets of Whitechapel at night the two look quite alike just as you are stating.

Mike

[PC Roadnight]

(QuoteHi Mike.

They were practical headgear for those required to be out-of-doors in all weather, because their big flexible brims offered protection from the sun & rain. The brims could be bent downward to help protect the ears and help heavy rain run off, or be could be pinned up in the front or at one side for a jauntier look (as popularized by the Aussies).

It doesn't seem to me that a slouch hat would be described as "turned down in the middle".
Their whole point was that the broad, flexible, basically circular brim could be turned up or down at the sides; in other words, at the wide brim.

Archaic

The reason that slouch hats were able to be pinned at the side (often with a military badge fitting) was so that rifles could be carried at the slope arms without dislodging the headgear during rifle drill and whilst marching. The City Imperial Volunteers and the Imperial Yeomanry from England both wore this headdress in the period as did South Africans and Australians at the time of the Boer War, and even German troops during their African incursions.

I do think that the type of hat referred to is the more casual 'American' felt hat as the military style would, I think, have been more distinctive.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Hi Mike.

Thanks for the correction Wolf. Do you think this Albert Chambers incident started the American hat/JTR suspect connection?

I’ve always wondered if Mathew Packer’s description of a man wearing “kind of Yankee hat” started it. The “double event” was the height of the Ripper scare and by that time six women had been murdered and the press and people of London were up in arms and the police were left clutching at straws.

However, the Albert Chambers suspect was not arrested because of his hat. He was arrested because he frightened the people of the lodging house with his talk about the murders.

“After repeated questioning he stated that yesterday a tall dark man, wearing an American hat, took a bed in the house. He was in the house all day, associated with the other lodgers, entered into their various amusements, but somehow seemed to be rather reserved, and, at times, absent-minded. Towards evening he commenced conversing about the latest horrors in the East-end. He entered very vigorously into the details as supplied by the Sunday papers, and expressed an opinion that the police would never capture the murderer, who would remain at large until he gave himself up.
‘Oh,’ said he, ‘he's a lot too cute for these London detectives.’
The ‘deputy’s’ attention was attracted to this mysterious individual by the singular amount of excitement he displayed while discoursing upon the subject. There were about twelve men in the room- a long, scrupulously clean, though somewhat scantily furnished, apartment. Each one seemed afraid of the individual, and ultimately the police were summoned, and the luckless American was marched off in custody as a ‘suspect.’”
The Echo, 1 October, 1888.

The suspect was quickly released when no evidence could be found against him and he returned to Albert Chambers.

Wolf.

[mklhawley]

Thanks Wolf. The Packer's origin does seem very plausible.

Mike

[YankeeSergeant]

Slouch hats

The reason that slouch hats were able to be pinned at the side (often with a military badge fitting) was so that rifles could be carried at the slope arms without dislodging the headgear during rifle drill and whilst marching. The City Imperial Volunteers and the Imperial Yeomanry from England both wore this headdress in the period as did South Africans and Australians at the time of the Boer War, and even German troops during their African incursions.

I do think that the type of hat referred to is the more casual 'American' felt hat as the military style would, I think, have been more distinctive.

The American Army in 1855 adopted a felt dress hat called the Hardee hat and ther the officer that proposed adopting it. When adopted it was pinned up at the left side as that is where shoulder arms was performed. inthe intervening six years before the Civil War the manual of arms was changed to adapt to rifled muskets and shoulder arms moved to the right shoulder, the pinned up side did not change (military logic at its finest). The Hardee is blocked and heavily stiffened to maintain a shape reminiscent of the pilgrim hats. However, as a civiol war re-enactor I can stae with authority it really doesn't take long for the block to disappear and the hat to become a slouch hat. Any hat that became the floppy sort was called a slough hat here during the time. The hats worn by the Boertrekkers in South Africa would suffice as well.

[Hunter]

You're absolutely right, Yankee Sergeant,

Slouch hats were made out of cheap felt as opposed to the more expensive and durable beaver that, once was 'blocked' held its shape much better. Many had trim tape around the brim to strengthen it a little but I can attest too (as a fellow reenactor) that it doesn't take long to lose shape.


Men who wore the brim low over the eyes were considered 'shifty'.

The Andrews hat that became issue during the Indian wars was a good example of a hat that rapidly lost its shape and was despised by the soldiers, who often bought civilian hats to wear on campaign. Many of Custer's troopers purchased straw hats from a traveling sutler just before they set off on their fateful journey.



Hunter/ former sergeant, 7th Tennessee Cavalry, Co. D. (mounted)