OK whos your favored suspect/s and why?

[Abby Normal]

Hi Abby

I wouldn't bet my shirt on any specific suspect - but if pushed, I would suggest Kosminski is just ahead of the pack. He was ID'd, the police spent resource watching him closely and top officials name him (together with Ostrog - lets discount him, and Druitt - who probably in my view has second place).

hi eten
yeah i got koz up there too. my heart says no, but my head says yes, you must!

[GBinOz]

I have always wondered if the bethnal green botherer may have followed sarah lewis at distance, and saw her enter millers court, peaking his interest in it. perhaps he came around after wide awake man/ hutch left?

At this point in time my number one is Britannia Man/BGB, who I suspect may have been Francis Thompson.

The Evening Times on 10 November :
"On Thursday night Gallagher and his wife retired to rest at a fairly early hour. Their married daughter, a woman named Mrs. Kennedy, came home, however, at a late hour. Passing the Britannia, commonly known as Ringer's, at the top of Dorset street, at three o'clock on the Friday morning, she saw the deceased talking to a respectably dressed man, whom she identified as having accosted her a night or two before".
"Mrs. Kennedy is confident that the man whom she noticed speaking to the woman Kelly at three o'clock on Friday morning is identical with the person who accosted her on the previous Wednesday".


Next is Jacob Levy, followed by Bury and Grainger.

Cheers, George

[Astatine211]

thanks gut.
i thought kelly has definitely been placed in London. didnt he escape from an asylum in london right before the murders?

There's no record of where Kelly was after he headed back to London in June 1888 until he turned up at Dover in December. However, one of his two closest friends Walter Lamb lived at 37 Collingwood Street, a 5 minute walk from Buck's Row, where there is a good chance Kelly stayed to hide from the authorities.

[Columbo]

Right now for me it’s Kosminski. Although Druitts peaked my interest lately.

[Abby Normal]

At this point in time my number one is Britannia Man/BGB, who I suspect may have been Francis Thompson.

The Evening Times on 10 November :
"On Thursday night Gallagher and his wife retired to rest at a fairly early hour. Their married daughter, a woman named Mrs. Kennedy, came home, however, at a late hour. Passing the Britannia, commonly known as Ringer's, at the top of Dorset street, at three o'clock on the Friday morning, she saw the deceased talking to a respectably dressed man, whom she identified as having accosted her a night or two before".
"Mrs. Kennedy is confident that the man whom she noticed speaking to the woman Kelly at three o'clock on Friday morning is identical with the person who accosted her on the previous Wednesday".


Next is Jacob Levy, followed by Bury and Grainger.

Cheers, George

hi GB
wasnt thompson basically homeless during the autumn of terror, and i seem to recall he was described as living in rags at the time? that dosnt sound like BGB to me.

[Abby Normal]

There's no record of where Kelly was after he headed back to London in June 1888 until he turned up at Dover in December. However, one of his two closest friends Walter Lamb lived at 37 Collingwood Street, a 5 minute walk from Buck's Row, where there is a good chance Kelly stayed to hide from the authorities.

thanks ast
but if he was in london in june of 88, thats close enough for me.

[Abby Normal]

I wondered where my brain was...

no thats mine! lol

[GBinOz]

hi GB
wasnt thompson basically homeless during the autumn of terror, and i seem to recall he was described as living in rags at the time? that dosnt sound like BGB to me.

Hi Abby,

By the Autumn of 1888 he had sold some poems and had raised his standard of living. Patterson speculates that he was living at the RC Convent in Crispin St, opposite the westrn end of Dorset St. He had 6 years of medical training which included the rarely taught Virchow dissection technique which was used to remove MJK's heart.

Cheers, George

[DJA]

He had 6 years of medical training which included the rarely taught Virchow dissection technique which was used to remove MJK's heart.

Virchow Method – MEDICO LEGAL TRAINING

[GBinOz]

Mr U.N. Known by streets


Two who would jump the pack if they could be placed in London at the time are Kelly and Deeming, proven bad bastards and outside chance Deeming May have been known to my family so fit the family story.

Hi GUT,

Deeming would be a suspect if, as you say, he could be placed in London at the time. He allegedly confessed to the last two of the whitechapel murders. What caught my attention was that an axe was allegedly used on MJK's legs and Deeming used an axe on his family murders.

Cheers, George

[Meet Ze Monster]

Mr U.N. Known by streets

Then those named by police, so Koz, Druitt, Tumblety (Mike Hawley’s work has raised my interest in him greatly) need to be cleared before we go looking at witnesses and famous people, after all what did they know that is lost to us. For personal reasons I have a great deal of interest in Druitt, family history says our family knew the answer and Druitt is the most likely to fit that bill, but no certainty.

Two who would jump the pack if they could be placed in London at the time are Kelly and Deeming, proven bad bastards and outside chance Deeming May have been known to my family so fit the family story.

I'm curious to know your thoughts on Druitt. I've always disregarded him as a suspect, but what would you say are the key points to him being a worthy suspect?

[mpriestnall]

wouldnt it be more likely if anyone was in cahoots it would be blotchy and hutch? with blotchy as the ripper and hutch as look out and clearing his partner by his fake aman story? it would explain alot makes logistical sense.

That scenario has a logic to it and could be possible.

I happen to believe though, that Hutch was an honest witness. He was believed by Abbeline who was considered a very able and experienced detective.

I have candidates for Jack, Aman and Kelly. My candidate for Aman matches Hutch's description "complexion pale, dark eyes and eye lashes slight moustache, curled up each end, and hair dark..." which is another reason I believe in Hutch.

[mpriestnall]

In answer to Abby's original question my suspect list (which for reasons which make sense to me if nobody else, I perceive as a kind of ripperological five a side team!) is something like this:

Starting line up:

Star Striker - Mr Unknown
Rest of the team - Kos, Bury, Druitt, Lech

On the Bench - Blotchy, Kaminsky / Cohen, Chapman, Fleming, Tumblety, Kelly..........

I tend to err on the side of caution and count people as "possibles " rather than eliminating them.

The exceptions to this are the ones where there is overwhelming evidence that they were elsewhere at the time (Sickert / PAV / Ostrog) or the plain silly ones (Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde etc).

Blotchy could be your "Lukaku" though?

[Fisherman]

I've said twice already and I'll say it a third time: it is blindingly obvious it was Bury.

Yes, maybe blindness DOES factor into it ...

[Herlock Sholmes]

Yes, maybe blindness DOES factor into it ...

You haven’t named your favoured suspect Fish