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[GUT]

G'day Harry D

Hello Lynn,

I believe people read far too much into the police interview. It's already been established that the police had a somewhat grotesque image of who the Ripper was (a raving lunatic and probably a Jew), which Barnett didn't match.

What the same police who were also looking for a Toff and a Doctor.

As for Druitt, it seems that the only reason police suspected him is because he committed suicide just after the killings stopped, and the hearsay from his family. Which leaves you filling in plenty of gaps as to why he's your man. With Barnett it all flows naturally.

Hearsay? What do you know that the rest of us don't?

[Wickerman]

What the same police who were also looking for a Toff and a Doctor.

Early on in the case (Sept. 19), we have Charles Warren listing three current suspects, Puckeridge, Isenschmid and an unnamed lodger. As the case progressed we know an insane medical student was being searched for, and that the police made door-to-door searches through, and including, many Common Lodging Houses.

To add to the mix we know a number of respectably dressed men were taken in under suspicion, and that sailors were suspected, so from the scant evidence we have it appears to me the police did not have a particular stereotype in mind.
The stereotype is likely more a product of the press than anything else.

That the police assumed the killer was insane should be a forgone conclusion, regardless of his status in society. Beyond that, the police appear to have been primarily interested in suspicious persons, not any particular class or type.