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I do not consider myself a Ripperologist like many of the actual researchers on this board, merely someone with an informed interest in the greatest "who done it" of all time.
I read Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession by by David Monaghan and Nigel Cawthorne that draws a comparison to the writer of "My Secret Life" published first in 1888, the year of the canonical murders.
I do think are some interesting points, although I do not agree with the conclusions. Here is what I got out of it:
1. The use of underground tunnels. The manufactory at Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, the proofing house was at 48-50 Commercial Road, in Whitechapel (and in the middle of the area where the slayings occurred) had connecting buildings and underground tunnels with gratings that one could peer up into the sidewalks. This could explain how the Ripper could slip in and out of the scene unnoticed.
2. 1885 Pall Mall Gazette articles on sexual criminality caused political upheaval about prostitution in London.
3. 1886 the “Contagious Disease Act” was repealed.
4. In 1887 alone 200 brothels in East London were closed.
5. W.T. Snead of the Pall Mall Gazette wrote that there may have been a political motivation to the murders that they were a warning to clean up the debauchery of the East End.
6. Liz Stride had been to a meeting at Dr. Thomas Barnardo’s mission on 32 Flower and Dean Street the week that she was murdered.
7. Her body was found in Dutfield’s Yard beside the International Working Men’s Club. The night she was killed a debate was held there. The subject, “Why Jews should be Socialists.”
8. The Star printed an article the day after the murder reporting, “From two different sources we have the story that a man, when passing through Church Lane – opposite the Gunmakers Proofing House – at about 1:30am, saw a main sitting on the doorstep wiping his hands.”
The Gunmakers Proofing House with its undergound connections is quite interesting. If it was the writer of my secret life, that sure would be a way to escape notice. It is also possible that other friends, associates, or men of wealth knew of this. I am also interested in knowing if there may have been other such buildings in the area. This deserves more investigation.
I doubt the write of my secret life was the Ripper however for the following reasons:
1. The writer of my secret life admits to sex with hundreds of prostitutes and virgins and enjoys hurting them during sex, but this does not make him a serial killer.
2. The writer of my secret life was clearly a sexual pervert and rapist but never claims to be the Ripper and never mentions the murders at all in his work. It was written anonymously. If he easily admits to the rape of a 10 year old girl why not admit to the Ripper killings if he was the perpetrator?
3. The only murder mentioned at all in his writings is reading the account of one of the victims of the Thames Torso killer and this only because he wondered if it might have been a girl he once knew. The facts he recollects from reading the article do not match the actual evidence.
4. The indication for the writer of my secret life to be the Ripper is based on the idea that he was a sexual pervert who had sex with women and young girls during that time period and that he often bought them bonnets and silk handkerchiefs and these were found on some of the canonical victims. This is very thin indeed.
5. The idea that Mary Davis (or Davies) could have been Mary Kelly because that was her maiden name is even thinner. That is a very, very common surname and Mary, was the most popular name for a girl for decades. I have done some genealogy research in the states and one of my kin with an uncommon name of Francis Ellsworth ___, there were 6 of these his age in the State of Indiana alone in during the census preceding the American Civil War. . I can’t imagine how many Mary Davis or Davies were in England and Ireland during the 1880’s.
6. There were a number of wealthy men of the day who procured prostitutes and had sex with underage girls, which seems to be the primary obsession of the writer of my secret life and some of these are mentioned by the writer. Oscar Wilde and others of that period had been accused of similar passions. Certainly they were not all Jack the Ripper, but it is possible someone of that ilk is a likely suspect. I couldn’t help but wondering if Walter Sickert was among them (one of my top 3 suspects still because of DNA, but not my favorite).
7. The writer of my secret life is identified by the authors as a man of 67 years of age at the time of the killings. One can argue that a man of this age is physically capable of the murders but one cannot argue that all of the witnesses described someone much younger.
Interested in the thoughts of others on any of this.
P.S. I am on my 5th Ripper book. Reading "Jack The Ripper and the case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect" by Robert House next.
I read Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession by by David Monaghan and Nigel Cawthorne that draws a comparison to the writer of "My Secret Life" published first in 1888, the year of the canonical murders.
I do think are some interesting points, although I do not agree with the conclusions. Here is what I got out of it:
1. The use of underground tunnels. The manufactory at Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, the proofing house was at 48-50 Commercial Road, in Whitechapel (and in the middle of the area where the slayings occurred) had connecting buildings and underground tunnels with gratings that one could peer up into the sidewalks. This could explain how the Ripper could slip in and out of the scene unnoticed.
2. 1885 Pall Mall Gazette articles on sexual criminality caused political upheaval about prostitution in London.
3. 1886 the “Contagious Disease Act” was repealed.
4. In 1887 alone 200 brothels in East London were closed.
5. W.T. Snead of the Pall Mall Gazette wrote that there may have been a political motivation to the murders that they were a warning to clean up the debauchery of the East End.
6. Liz Stride had been to a meeting at Dr. Thomas Barnardo’s mission on 32 Flower and Dean Street the week that she was murdered.
7. Her body was found in Dutfield’s Yard beside the International Working Men’s Club. The night she was killed a debate was held there. The subject, “Why Jews should be Socialists.”
8. The Star printed an article the day after the murder reporting, “From two different sources we have the story that a man, when passing through Church Lane – opposite the Gunmakers Proofing House – at about 1:30am, saw a main sitting on the doorstep wiping his hands.”
The Gunmakers Proofing House with its undergound connections is quite interesting. If it was the writer of my secret life, that sure would be a way to escape notice. It is also possible that other friends, associates, or men of wealth knew of this. I am also interested in knowing if there may have been other such buildings in the area. This deserves more investigation.
I doubt the write of my secret life was the Ripper however for the following reasons:
1. The writer of my secret life admits to sex with hundreds of prostitutes and virgins and enjoys hurting them during sex, but this does not make him a serial killer.
2. The writer of my secret life was clearly a sexual pervert and rapist but never claims to be the Ripper and never mentions the murders at all in his work. It was written anonymously. If he easily admits to the rape of a 10 year old girl why not admit to the Ripper killings if he was the perpetrator?
3. The only murder mentioned at all in his writings is reading the account of one of the victims of the Thames Torso killer and this only because he wondered if it might have been a girl he once knew. The facts he recollects from reading the article do not match the actual evidence.
4. The indication for the writer of my secret life to be the Ripper is based on the idea that he was a sexual pervert who had sex with women and young girls during that time period and that he often bought them bonnets and silk handkerchiefs and these were found on some of the canonical victims. This is very thin indeed.
5. The idea that Mary Davis (or Davies) could have been Mary Kelly because that was her maiden name is even thinner. That is a very, very common surname and Mary, was the most popular name for a girl for decades. I have done some genealogy research in the states and one of my kin with an uncommon name of Francis Ellsworth ___, there were 6 of these his age in the State of Indiana alone in during the census preceding the American Civil War. . I can’t imagine how many Mary Davis or Davies were in England and Ireland during the 1880’s.
6. There were a number of wealthy men of the day who procured prostitutes and had sex with underage girls, which seems to be the primary obsession of the writer of my secret life and some of these are mentioned by the writer. Oscar Wilde and others of that period had been accused of similar passions. Certainly they were not all Jack the Ripper, but it is possible someone of that ilk is a likely suspect. I couldn’t help but wondering if Walter Sickert was among them (one of my top 3 suspects still because of DNA, but not my favorite).
7. The writer of my secret life is identified by the authors as a man of 67 years of age at the time of the killings. One can argue that a man of this age is physically capable of the murders but one cannot argue that all of the witnesses described someone much younger.
Interested in the thoughts of others on any of this.
P.S. I am on my 5th Ripper book. Reading "Jack The Ripper and the case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect" by Robert House next.
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