A List of Ripper Suspects

[APerno]

Hello!

Have you all (The Casebook members) ever tried to put together a list of all the suspects seriously** offered over the years? I worked on the list below for just 15 minutes and I started laughing when I realized how ridiculously long it quickly got. Many I just took from Ripper historians' books; not that I know anything about them, but maybe I should have started by making a list of people not accused of being Saucy Jacky.

If you have the time please feel free to rip the list apart (pun intended), or add more names if you know of any.

I just think it would be interesting to see just how many different people have been accused over the years.

** I am not suggesting that you should take the names on the list seriously, but only that they were offered up by someone with a 'straight face.'

1. Aaron Kosminski
2. Alfred Napier Blanchard
3. Alexander Pedachenko a.k.a. Count Luiskovo (the Russian Spy Theory)
4. Alois Szemeredy
5. Carl Feigenbaum
6. Charles Allen Lechmere/Cross
7. Claude Conder
8. David Cohen a.k.a. Nathan Kaminsky (The Polish Jew Theory)
9. Ernest Dowson (The George Hutchinson Lookalike Theory)
10. Fogemla (Norweigan sailor)
11. Francis Graig
12. Francis Thompson
13. Francis Tumblety
14. Frank Edwards (The Unpopular Cousin Theory)
15. Frederick Deeming
16. G. Wentworth Bell Smith (The Lodger Theory)
17. George Hutchinson
18. H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett)
19. Henry James Fitzroy, Earl of Euston (The Royal Conspiracy Theory)
20. Hyam Hyams (The Jewish Immigrant Theory)
21. Jacob Levy
22. Jacob Isenchmid
23. James Kelly
24. James Stephen
25. James Maybrick
26. James Thomas Sadler
27. John Courtenay (Royal Conspiracy Theory)
28. John Netley (The Royal Conpisracy Theory)
29. John Pizer a.k.a. Leatherapron
30. Joseph Barnett
31. Joseph Silver
32. Lewis Carroll
33. Louis Diemshutz
34. Mary Pearcey (Jill the Ripper Theory)
35. Michael Ostrog
36. Dr. Morgan Davies
37. Montague John Druitt
38. Nikolay Vasiliev a.k.a. Nicolas Vassili
39. Prince Albert Victor
40. Robert Mann
41. Robert Stephenson
42. Seweryn K?osowski (George Chapman)
43. Sir John Williams
44. Thomas Cutbush
45. Thomas Neill Cream
46. Walter Sickert (The Royal Conspiracy Theory; The Torso Killer; JTR)
47. Sr. William Gull (The Royal Conspiracy Theory)
48. William Bury

P.S. The one that made me laugh out loud was "Frank Edwards (The Unpopular Cousin Theory)" -- I have no clue what that is all about but I have got to check it out.

[richardh]

Vincent Van Gogh?

[Wickerman]

Hello!

Have you all (The Casebook members) ever tried to put together a list of all the suspects seriously** offered over the years?

Yes, but found it was necessary to divide the list between serious contemporary suspects identified at the time of the murders, or shortly thereafter like Pizer, Kozminski & Druitt, and more modern serious suspects like Barnett and Cohen, from the more irrational list which is largely a waste of time.

[APerno]

Yep, I would say at least one person seriously went down the Vincent Van Gogh rabbit hole. Unbelievable! At first I thought you were just screwing with me, but I should have know better.

So is Dale Larner on to something or just plain stupid (or just another Ripper prankster*)? Either way, you put that much effort in creating a web page you rise to the level of "he seriously means this."

*Seriously, is he a Ripper prankster? If you have never done it, you have to check out this page: http://vincentaliasjack.com/VanGogh_Ripper_Irises.html -- I will never look at irises the same way ever again.

P.S. Damn, I can't figure out how to create a hot hyper-link, sorry. The experience is still worth the cut and paste.

[APerno]

Yes, but found it was necessary to divide the list between serious contemporary suspects identified at the time of the murders, or shortly thereafter like Pizer, Kozminski & Druitt, and more modern serious suspects like Barnett and Cohen, from the more irrational list which is largely a waste of time.

No doubt, when it comes to discussion you couldn't be more correct. I was thinking more along the lines of the history of Jack the Ripper suspects, not actual Jack the Ripper suspects. More a statement about us, not them. (I hope what I just wrote was a cogent thought and not just word salad.)

[APerno]

This is the first forum I have written on where they limit the period you can edit you own posts, otherwise I would keep adding to the list above. This list certainly isn't important enough to keep re-posting and making the thread difficult to read. Maybe if enough new names appear I can do that.

[DJA]

Henry Gawen Sutton.

[Wickerman]

No doubt, when it comes to discussion you couldn't be more correct. I was thinking more along the lines of the history of Jack the Ripper suspects, not actual Jack the Ripper suspects. More a statement about us, not them. (I hope what I just wrote was a cogent thought and not just word salad.)

The notion behind the phrase - "We are what we eat" is quite applicable here, in my opinion.
The more popular this Jack the Ripper mystery has become, the more outrageous the theories. The requirement to stick to what is known has been replaced by a fallacious need to suggest something different. "What was" has been replaced by "what-if"?

So how do you think the list of suspects has grown over the century, you offered a list but what does it tell you?

[Abby Normal]

Hello!

Have you all (The Casebook members) ever tried to put together a list of all the suspects seriously** offered over the years? I worked on the list below for just 15 minutes and I started laughing when I realized how ridiculously long it quickly got. Many I just took from Ripper historians' books; not that I know anything about them, but maybe I should have started by making a list of people not accused of being Saucy Jacky.

If you have the time please feel free to rip the list apart (pun intended), or add more names if you know of any.

I just think it would be interesting to see just how many different people have been accused over the years.

** I am not suggesting that you should take the names on the list seriously, but only that they were offered up by someone with a 'straight face.'

1. Aaron Kosminski
2. Alfred Napier Blanchard
3. Alexander Pedachenko a.k.a. Count Luiskovo (the Russian Spy Theory)
4. Alois Szemeredy
5. Carl Feigenbaum
6. Charles Allen Lechmere/Cross
7. Claude Conder
8. David Cohen a.k.a. Nathan Kaminsky (The Polish Jew Theory)
9. Ernest Dowson (The George Hutchinson Lookalike Theory)
10. Fogemla (Norweigan sailor)
11. Francis Graig
12. Francis Thompson
13. Francis Tumblety
14. Frank Edwards (The Unpopular Cousin Theory)
15. Frederick Deeming
16. G. Wentworth Bell Smith (The Lodger Theory)
17. George Hutchinson
18. H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett)
19. Henry James Fitzroy, Earl of Euston (The Royal Conspiracy Theory)
20. Hyam Hyams (The Jewish Immigrant Theory)
21. Jacob Levy
22. Jacob Isenchmid
23. James Kelly
24. James Stephen
25. James Maybrick
26. James Thomas Sadler
27. John Courtenay (Royal Conspiracy Theory)
28. John Netley (The Royal Conpisracy Theory)
29. John Pizer a.k.a. Leatherapron
30. Joseph Barnett
31. Joseph Silver
32. Lewis Carroll
33. Louis Diemshutz
34. Mary Pearcey (Jill the Ripper Theory)
35. Michael Ostrog
36. Dr. Morgan Davies
37. Montague John Druitt
38. Nikolay Vasiliev a.k.a. Nicolas Vassili
39. Prince Albert Victor
40. Robert Mann
41. Robert Stephenson
42. Seweryn K?osowski (George Chapman)
43. Sir John Williams
44. Thomas Cutbush
45. Thomas Neill Cream
46. Walter Sickert (The Royal Conspiracy Theory; The Torso Killer; JTR)
47. Sr. William Gull (The Royal Conspiracy Theory)
48. William Bury

P.S. The one that made me laugh out loud was "Frank Edwards (The Unpopular Cousin Theory)" -- I have no clue what that is all about but I have got to check it out.

Well out of all those i got hutch, bury, koz, chapman and kelly on my first tier. Second tier i have oswald puckridge, lech, barnett, flemming, druitt, donston, dr t., richardson, bowyer,legrand, jacob levy(barely-if it turns out hes not related to levy of eddowes witness hes out.)

the rest are non starters for me, theyve already been exhonerated or just plain silly and or made up suspects by modern arm chair suspectists. Royal conspiracy connected people, crazy jew theory suspects (other than koz and levy)and famous people nonsense are just out.

one suspect that im getting more and more interested in is oswald puckridge. I beleive found by sugden. He was a person of interest at the time, released from an asylum days before tabram murder, had threarened to rip people up and had a medical, possible surgical background, and was local and in the area at the time. Im seriously dumbfounded why he isnt talked about more.

He really should be up there on any list.

[APerno]

The notion behind the phrase - "We are what we eat" is quite applicable here, in my opinion.
The more popular this Jack the Ripper mystery has become, the more outrageous the theories. The requirement to stick to what is known has been replaced by a fallacious need to suggest something different. "What was" has been replaced by "what-if"?

So how do you think the list of suspects has grown over the century, you offered a list but what does it tell you?

Not there yet, this is a learning period for me; but I agree with your sentiments.

Maybe later on, dividing them into categories such as Abby Normal did might bring us enlightenment regarding what we have "chosen to eat," e.g. contemporaneous and likely, modern and likely, contemporaneous and unlikely, promoted by political agenda, promoted by social biases, those promoted purely for financial gain (The Royal Conspiracy Theory), those that work best for entertainment purposes, getting rid of unwanted relatives (I'm sorry I'm preoccupied with the "unpopular cousin theory"), and of course the always popular just plain stupid, ETC.

Another insight about ourselves we might be able to gain from this list is an examination of how a prevailing social temperament can create suspects. What I mean is this: take the classic example "Causes of the American Civil War" - during the Gilded Age historians leaned toward political causes, but come the people driven Progressive Period it became all slavery all the time. Come the Great Depression, historians were convinced it was all economic. During the Second World War historians blamed the ACW on fierce nationalism, but with the Cold War historians created a whole new school of thought arguing cultural differences. When the "Sixties" appeared we went right back to people, people, and people, so it became all slavery all the time, yet again. I'll bet a dollar there is a Causes of the American Civil War book on the shelf right now that places all the blame on poor leadership.

I can't say what this list will say about us right now, but eventually it will say something; I suspect it will eventually tell us much about what we ate.

But for right now I just want to see how damn long this list is.

49. Vincent Van Gogh
50. Henry Gawen Sutton
51. Oswald Puckridge
52. John McCarthy (Whitehall Torso Murder)
53. Sir Edward Jenkinson (Whitehall Torso Murder)

[APerno]

Wickerman,

Let me see if I can be more concise, there is the History of the Jack the Ripper Murders and then there is the History of the History of the Jack the Ripper Murders. I find the latter to be as interesting as the former. This list is the beginning of trying to better understand the latter.

And in some ways this forum (Casebook) is part of the latter study; the members on this forum are the current participants of the History of the History of the Jack the Ripper murders and while I truly want to be part of these discussions there are times when I also want to step back and just observe this forum in action.

You asked for an insight let me offer you an unsolicited observation: there are times when the opinions on this forum (IMHO) slip over the line from cognitive analysis and becomes pure dogma. I am not sure if the accusations of heresy that you all throw at one another are shocking or just amusing, but there is no doubt you are an eclectic bunch, but yet all share a great passion for the topic, and that in itself is quite interesting.

[seanr]

Not there yet, this is a learning period for me; but I agree with your sentiments.

Maybe later on, dividing them into categories such as Abby Normal did might bring us enlightenment regarding what we have "chosen to eat," e.g. contemporaneous and likely, modern and likely, contemporaneous and unlikely, promoted by political agenda, promoted by social biases, those promoted purely for financial gain (The Royal Conspiracy Theory), those that work best for entertainment purposes, getting rid of unwanted relatives (I'm sorry I'm preoccupied with the "unpopular cousin theory"), and of course the always popular just plain stupid, ETC.

Another insight about ourselves we might be able to gain from this list is an examination of how a prevailing social temperament can create suspects. What I mean is this: take the classic example "Causes of the American Civil War" - during the Gilded Age historians leaned toward political causes, but come the people driven Progressive Period it became all slavery all the time. Come the Great Depression, historians were convinced it was all economic. During the Second World War historians blamed the ACW on fierce nationalism, but with the Cold War historians created a whole new school of thought arguing cultural differences. When the "Sixties" appeared we went right back to people, people, and people, so it became all slavery all the time, yet again. I'll bet a dollar there is a Causes of the American Civil War book on the shelf right now that places all the blame on poor leadership.

I can't say what this list will say about us right now, but eventually it will say something; I suspect it will eventually tell us much about what we ate.

But for right now I just want to see how damn long this list is.

49. Vincent Van Gogh
50. Henry Gawen Sutton
51. Oswald Puckridge
52. John McCarthy (Whitehall Torso Murder)
53. Sir Edward Jenkinson (Whitehall Torso Murder)

Some caution with the inclusion of John McCarthy and Sir Edward Jenkinson as suspects for the Whitehall Torso Murder. The story told about this is not that these two men committed the murder, but that they covered up a Ripper murder by taking the body apart and hiding it in Whitehall. I'm not sure how many people actively take that story seriously, but the story exists nonetheless.
John McCarthy can safely be on the list though. There certainly are those who consider him to be a suspect for the Ripper murders.

William Grant Grainger seems to be missing from your list.

[DJA]

Just for a bit of jolly concerning Henry Gawen Sutton.
Openshaw had taken over the Pathological Museum from him.
Stephenson was his inpatient. Twice.
He was Gull's protege and lived next door to him in the 1860/70s.
He was on the Shoreditch Vestry Board with Thomas Stevenson,the pathologist in the Cream,Chapman and Maybrick cases.
Mary Kelly's body was stored in their mortuary and her inquest at "their" town hall.

All that means nothing,until one does some research.

[Robert]

I haven't read this book, but it may go some way to answering the questions being posed here :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ripperology-Worlds-Serial-Literary-Phenomenon/dp/0873388615

https://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/ripperology.html

[Joshua Rogan]

There's also a couple of recent books (thanks wyatt earp) which try to cover all known suspects, and each list well over 300, so you've some way to go for your own list.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Ripper...amp;keywords=j ack+the+ripper+suspects

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Ripper...amp;keywords=j ack+the+ripper+suspects&dpPl=1&dpID=51bqwA r5rEL&ref=plSrch