Interesting article on George

[victoriaa17]

I found this article while doing research for my paper. This girl really seems to think George is Jack, here's the link if anyone is interested.

http://www.atlargely.com/2006/11/jack_the_ripper.html

[Limehouse]

Well, she puts forward a good case to some extent, but - I don't agree with all her points. Firstly she describes the Ripper's cutting skills as 'precision'. Anyone who looks at the Kelly photograph could not possibly agree. (I assurem she counts Kelly as a vicitm?) Also, I have seen reports that describe Eddowes and Chapman's bodies as being 'torn open' - so not much precision there either.

Secondly, she states that Abberline 'always though Chapman was the killer'. If this is the case, why didn't he arrest Chapman? No, Abberline only 'thought Chapman was the Ripper' years after the murders when he was hanged for the murder of his wives.

Finally, she points to the similarity between Chapman's photo and the computer image produced severla years ago based on all of the witness evidence and criminal profiling. She believes the similarity is so great that it closes the case in Chapman's favour. However, this is only an image based on the accumulated evidence. We do not know for sure whether the witnesses did actually see the Ripper. Additionally, how accurate is a computer image based partly on criminal profliling?

Chapman may well be a candidate worthy of closer inspection - but not on this evidence.

Thanks for the link Victoria.

[jmenges]

The essay linked to is riddled with so many errors it would be pointless to list them all, but some are addressed by a commenter after the blog entry. I agree with Limehouse in that Chapman is a decent suspect, too bad that this particular blogger reaches him through gobs of inaccuracies.

JM

[miss marple]

Hi All,
Chapman was a sadist who abused his wives. He married them for financial gain and poisoned them when he wanted to dispose of them, and move on. The ripper did not kill for financial gain and the injuries to the bodies were done after death. There was no incentive for Chapman to pointlessly butcher prostitutes, there was nothing in it for him. His motivation was different, he was probably a bully and a coward, hence the poisoning. Miss Marple

[Sam Flynn]

Also, we do not know for certain that Chapman was living or working in Whitechapel at the time of the murders, or even - truth be told - that he was in England at the time they started.

The claim that he was knocking around Whitechapel at the time is often made, but it really has no reliable evidence to back it up. The surest indicators we have place him much further to the southeast, in Limehouse/Poplar some time between 1887 and 1888. For all we know, Chapman may have been still living and working in Limehouse during the Whitechapel Murders, and there's a possibility that he hadn't even arrive in England until after the Ripper murders proper had commenced.

[c.d.]

Also, we do not know for certain that Chapman was living or working in Whitechapel at the time of the murders, or even - truth be told - that he was in England at the time they started.

The claim that he was knocking around Whitechapel at the time is often made, but it really has no reliable evidence to back it up. The surest indicators we have place him much further to the southeast, in Limehouse/Poplar some time between 1887 and 1888. For all we know, Chapman may have been still living and working in Limehouse during the Whitechapel Murders, and there's a possibility that he hadn't even arrive in England until after the Ripper murders proper had commenced.

Hi Sam,

Well you would think that that would have been checked out before anyone at Scotland Yard put forth the idea that he might have been the Ripper.

c.d.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Sam,

Well you would think that that would have been checked out before anyone at Scotland Yard put forth the idea that he might have been the Ripper.

You'd have thought that, too. But they didn't. Abberline was way out with some of his data on Kłosowski, who was, it seems, never a Scotland Yard suspect even when the crimes were fresh in people's minds.

[c.d.]

Hi Sam,

I seem to recall (and I could be wrong) that Sugden put forth evidence that Chapman was in the area at the time.

c.d.

[Suzi]

Hi v-
well George C aka Klowsowski is an interesting chap but I can't go with the Hairdresser/Sweeney link here- I go with Sam here that the fact that he wasn't living in the area and therefore wasn't a trusted regular/local....apart from a lot of other things doesn't -for me- put him in the frame!

c.d. will check that Sugden ref

Suzi x

[Suzi]

A snippet from The Pall Mall Gazette may be of interest c/o Sourcebook

That's not Dids at the bottom just my mitts taking the photo in semi darkness!

[m_w_r]

Sugden spots Chapman (then known only as Kłosowski) listed working at 126 Cable Street in the Post Office Directory for 1889. He quite properly notes that the data for these publications were collected in advance: "so [he] was probably living there in the autumn of 1888 when the Ripper murders occurred" (p.441). I am not sure, however that the case that Kłosowski was living there has been proved; and, indeed, Kłosowski's employment pattern at this stage in his life may have been more erratic - consequently involving more moving around - than his appearance in the Directory would ostensibly suggest.

Mark

[c.d.]

and mighty fine mitts too if I may say.

c.d.

[Natalie Severn]

Hi v-
well George C aka Klowsowski is an interesting chap but I can't go with the Hairdresser/Sweeney link here- I go with Sam here that the fact that he wasn't living in the area and therefore wasn't a trusted regular/local....apart from a lot of other things doesn't -for me- put him in the frame!

c.d. will check that Sugden ref

Suzi x

On the other hand Suzi,Whitechapel was full of immigrants from Eastern Europe in 1888.So he could have blended in very well indeed !

[c.d.]

oh wait---mitts--uh, never mind.

c.d.

[Suzi]

Yep good point Nats. .in fact there was probably such a diversity of creeds/nationalities etc around at the time..he could have been practically anything and still blended in!
Suz