Originally posted by Trevor Marriott
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“After combing through thousands of maritime records I discovered that a German merchant vessel belonging to the Norddeutsche Line and registered in Bremen named the Reiher was berthed in St Katherine’s Dock on all the murder dates save for September 30th. The reason it was not there on that date was the fact that it had been taken out of service for a time following a collision in the River Thames previously. However, another vessel the Sperber from the same line was there on that date. Furthermore, the Reiher was also there on the date of the Alice McKenzie murder on July 17th 1889. The records also show that two merchant vessels from the same line were also there on the date of the Frances Coles murder 13th February 1891. So now the investigation was moving towards the possibility that the killer could have been a German merchant seaman, but could I identify him?”
So you look for Feigenbaum in the lists but:
”On visiting the state archives in Bremen, Germany I discovered that all the crew lists for the Reiher and its voyages to London on all of the murder dates were all missing.”
You next say this:
”There are entries in the German merchant seaman’s register in the Bremen Archives for a Carl Feigenbaum born 1844. These show that up until 1878 he was employed as a merchant seaman for the Norddeutsche Line when they stopped keeping records. It should also be noted that in 1875, records show he deserted one ship in New York.”
So it can only be shown that Feigenbaum was a registered Merchant Seaman up until 1878. So you have to concede, in your own words Trevor:
”Sadly the entries for this register did not continue after 1878. So we can prove that Feigenbaum had worked as a fireman on German merchant ships owned by the same merchant fleet that operated vessels between Bremen and London at the time of the Whitechapel murders.”
A slightly misleading phrase. To put it more clearly - You have proven that Carl Feigenbaum worked for the Norddeutsche Line at least up until 1878 but you can’t prove that he worked for the company after that. You can’t prove show that this company had ships in London at the time of the murders though, which is hardly a surprise.
It also appears from your book that during his trial Feigenbaum was asked about where he had been and where he had lived leading him to list the places that he had been but with no mention of the UK or London.
You then checked under the name Anton Zahn because a box had been found in a room where he stayed containing papers in the name. Feigenbaum denied that the box although he later admitted that he had used the name and that Zahn was a ship’s Fireman on either the Emms or the Eider. In the crew lists of those two ships you found no mention of an Anton Zahn a Carl Zahn or a Carl Feigenbaum active between 1888 and 1894.
So to sum up Trevor.
Have you shown that Feigenbaum was still employed by the Norddeutsche Line after 1878? No you haven’t.
Have you shown that Feigenbaum was in the UK at the time of the murders (including Coles)? No you haven’t.
Have you shown that he could have come to England us in a Feigenbaum/Zahn alias? No you haven’t.
Basically Trevor, we have no evidence of Feigenbaum being in the UK at the time of the murders. All we have is an alleged, uncorroborated statement, taken by a solicitor (who went straight to the Press instead of the police) from a criminal who you yourself describe thus:
“It is known that Feigenbaum was a compulsive liar as was proven at his trial and corroborated by the trial transcript, which I obtained in its entirety.”
It’s difficult to see how your case could be weaker Trevor?
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