Francis Hermans - Update - Solid evidence of him being in vicinity of torso murders.

[Abby Normal]

also, sandy hair. my son has light brown/sandy curly/ wiry hair and depending in the lighting and time of year looks everything from blond, to reddish to brown. this guy fits the witness descriptions and sandy hair could explain the difference in witness descriptions on hair color. i also note the agility aspect amd that he was city ministry in london... "you would say anything but your prayers".

he also had no problem attracting and rusing women.

obviously a dismemberer too. is there any more detail on the mutilation parts of his known murders???if there is i think we have not only a good suspect for torsoman but for the torsoripper (of course if they were the same man that is).

[MrBarnett]

Samuel spoke at a meeting of the Religious Tract society held at the Cannon Street Hotel, London in May, 1887.

[Abby Normal]

Hello Astatine.

An article in the Hagerstown Mail, May 29,1896 shares much information on Francis Hermans.

Some highlights are-


-He was born of Swedish parentage and was a naturalized British citizen.

-He was pastor of a Scandanavian Methodist church.

-Description- "He is described as a man from 40 to 45 years of age. His hair is sandy as is the sweeping moustache he affects. Though inclined to be a trifle stout, he is very active, and his agility is heightened by his keen, restless grey eyes. As stated, he has been married three times."

-He traveled very widely. For several years he was employed on mail steamers running between England and India. He was also at one time in charge, as a minister, in a sailors home in Havre, France.

-The article states it was found that he was a medical student and in his rooms was found enough poison to kill all the inhabitants of Salt Lake City.

-He burned body parts and murder weapons in the furnace in the basement of the church he was pastor.



Thanks for digging him up. (no pun intended)

The article is very long. If you want more information, I can provide it from the article. I have found several news articles so I'll see if more can be found on him.

JD

stout. wow. medical student, bundled up body parts, evaded capture forever. wow.

[MrBarnett]

I wonder if Samuel was born in France while his father was based at the Sailors Home there?

This is who I have in mind. The Ancestry tree doesn’t show his parents but his daughter’s middle name was Emmeline.

[rjpalmer]

If he sailed out of Liverpool on 8 April 1891, that's three days after the UK census, so you might be able to find him on the 5th. To me, it looks like he baptized his son and then fled the country without him.

[Ms Diddles]

Good work Astatine!

This is really interesting stuff!

It's great to be reminded that there are still new and interesting things to be uncovered, and I'm delighted to see such a significant contribution being made by a relative newcomer to the boards.

Respect due!

[John Wheat]

This is all good stuff. I think we have a candidate for the Torso murders.

[rjpalmer]

It also looks like his father's name was Herman or Hermans Stockhausen, so he used the name "Hermans"?

There also a John Stockhausen living in Rotherhithe in 1881, so you might check if there is a connection.

[rjpalmer]

Emmeline Smith marries him 15 February 1882. That says "City Missionary" for his profession, if you can't read it.

[rjpalmer]

It's certainly an interesting case. A more bloodthirsty version of Severin Klosowski.

But if I'm looking at it correctly, it looks like he and his wife Emmeline had a son baptized in Horsham in 1891. So they apparently moved to the Horsham area sometime between 1882 and 1891.

You'll want to find out where Samuel was born in Dec 1887. I'm not immediately seeing it.

Samuel Hermans

Male

Birth: 3 Dec 1887

Baptism: 22 Mar 1891

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Horsham, Surrey, England

Francis Hermans

Emmeline

1278932

1821

[Kattrup]

Very nice Astatine
Hard to see if he has blotchy skin but a sandy moustache might be called carroty when seen in the dark.

[jerryd]

Hello Astatine.

An article in the Hagerstown Mail, May 29,1896 shares much information on Francis Hermans.

Some highlights are-


-He was born of Swedish parentage and was a naturalized British citizen.

-He was pastor of a Scandanavian Methodist church.

-Description- "He is described as a man from 40 to 45 years of age. His hair is sandy as is the sweeping moustache he affects. Though inclined to be a trifle stout, he is very active, and his agility is heightened by his keen, restless grey eyes. As stated, he has been married three times."

-He traveled very widely. For several years he was employed on mail steamers running between England and India. He was also at one time in charge, as a minister, in a sailors home in Havre, France.

-The article states it was found that he was a medical student and in his rooms was found enough poison to kill all the inhabitants of Salt Lake City.

-He burned body parts and murder weapons in the furnace in the basement of the church he was pastor.



Thanks for digging him up. (no pun intended)

The article is very long. If you want more information, I can provide it from the article. I have found several news articles so I'll see if more can be found on him.

JD

[Astatine211]

Final note before I go to sleep, Francis had performed a successful abortion on one of his victims in SLC and had a great interest in anatomy and dissection, therefore I am certain he would have the correct skills to be the Thames Torso Killer, right down to the potential abortion on Elizabeth Jackson.

[Astatine211]

Although I'm of thought he is the Thames Torso Killer due to very similar MO, Timings and being close by to every torso murder hopefully his case file contains the mentioned letters so we can compare his handwriting to some of the Ripper letters.

[Astatine211]

This news articles give a very good description of his crimes. Things I also noticed were the fact he wraps the dismembered body parts in newspaper like the Whitehall Mystery and bundles.