Question for Dan Norder, Wolf Vanderlinden, Stewart P. Evans

[HelenaWojtczak]

Re: your publication Ripper Notes: How the Newspapers Covered the Jack the Ripper Murders, By Dan Norder, Wolf Vanderlinden, Stewart P. Evans p84–5.

I need your help to find the provenance of certain claims in the above publication, for which no reference is given. Despite having now read everything I can lay my hands on about Chapman, I cannot find any source.


(1) You say Chapman ‘lived mysteriously’ during 1888, ‘seldom returning to his lodgings until between two and three in the morning’.

Since he was living alone who could say what time he got home?

(2) You say ‘Chapman disappeared and settled down in New Jersey USA, directly after the Ripper murders had ceased. He was there for 18 months

He went to the USA not 'directly after', but eight months after the Ripper murders ceased, and was there for 10 months, not 18. I cannot find a shred of proof that he was ever in New Jersey, so where did you get this information from?

(3) You say and during that time New Jersey was terrified by an outbreak of Ripper murders which ceased when Chapman returned to England’

I have found only one murder in NJ while he was in the USA. What is your source/proof for saying this was a terrifying outbreak?

(4) You say: ‘from those who knew him in those days, there is the assurance that he kept largely to himself owing to the intrigues with various women that he was conducting even then. He behaved like a lady killer, making appointments nearly every night, and behaving very secretly about them’... ‘in his early days in London he was pursuing girls of respectable family, delighting in his conquests’.

I have read every work of the witness testimony and nobody who knew him in those days said anything remotely like what is in the quote above. What is the source of these extraordinary claims, please?

Helena

[Debra A]

If you are reading the book through google, Helena, you probably won't realise from the snippets that the article in question was written in the 1930s by Norman Hastings and published in Thomson's Weekly in June 1930.
What you are reading is a transcribed version of that article, done by Nicholas Connell, who rediscovered the article.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Hi Debra --- So in fact they are just quoting someone else, who didn't give any sources?

What a pity we cannot ask Norman Hastings what made him write all that!

Do the authors give any critique of these quotes?

[Debra A]

Hi Helena,
It was just a transcribing of the full rediscovered article and one on the Whitechapel murders, both written by Norman Hastings and published in Thomson's Weekly News in 1929 and 1930, complete with accompanying illustrations. Reproduced for historical interest in much the same way that Casebook Examiner recently transcribed a series of articles on the Ripper murders written by Jabez Spencer Balfour in 1907.

It says in the original introduction that Hastings was a famous criminologist and had long been collecting information on "The Terror"
The section on Chapman was written in response to HL Adam's book.
There is no critque, no.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Hi Helena,
It was just a transcribing of the full rediscovered article and one on the Whitechapel murders, both written by Norman Hastings and published in Thomson's Weekly News in 1929 and 1930, complete with accompanying illustrations. Reproduced for historical interest in much the same way that Casebook Examiner recently transcribed a series of articles on the Ripper murders written by Jabez Spencer Balfour in 1907.

It says in the original introduction that Hastings was a famous criminologist and had long been collecting information on "The Terror"
The section on Chapman was written in response to HL Adam's book.
There is no critque, no.

Thank you very much for the info Debs. You are always coming to my rescue!

I'd like to get hold of a copy of the whole thing, but couldn't source one. If you have it would you photo or scan it? You know I am happy to pay .... :-)

What a pity there is no critique. In my book I cannot help but make some comment about all these wild unsourced stories about Chapman, which still fascinate me..... my favourite is that he beheaded his first wife. Priceless stuff!

78,000 words and counting ......

Helena

[Brenda]

.

And since it was brought up.....I would just like to say that I wish Dan Norder would come back to Casebook. Always informative and interesting posts from him....if not always exactly the nicest posts in the world.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Yes indeed, the more the merrier.

[Supe]

Belinda,

Don't expect Norder back until he has paid those among his creditors who are members of Casebook.

Don.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Belinda,

Don't expect Norder back until he has paid those among his creditors who are members of Casebook.

Don.

Ahh.. you too, Don?

I think it's Brenda not Belinda.... xx

[Supe]

Brenda,

Profuse apologies. No excuse, but I had just responded elsewhere to a Belinda. And thanks for the heads-up Helena.

Don.

[Brenda]

.

Don, no problems, I have been called worse things than that!

For me it is preferable to think not that Dan Norder took money....but that he's just in arrears.

[HelenaWojtczak]

thanks for the heads-up Helena.

Don.

I have had a private email from someone explaining about money owed that he cannot get.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Regardless of whether the snippets I cited were written by Dan Norder, Wolf Vanderlinden and Stewart P. Evans, Norman Hastings or Fred Bloggs, the question still stands:

from those who knew him in those days, there is the assurance that he kept largely to himself owing to the intrigues with various women that he was conducting even then. He behaved like a lady killer, making appointments nearly every night, and behaving very secretly about them’... ‘in his early days in London he was pursuing girls of respectable family, delighting in his conquests.


Who did the author speak to who ‘knew him in those days’? What is the source of the information about his ‘making appointments nearly every night’ or the ‘girls of respectable family’?

I have read all the witness testimony, which is the only written source of information on Klosowski's early life in London, and not one person makes these statements or anything remotely like them. I suppose Hastings could have spoken in person in 1930 to people who had known him in 1888, but it was highly unlikely that anyone who was still alive then had that kind of detailed knowledge of his movements.

[Stewart P Evans]

Please...

Regardless of whether the snippets I cited were written by Dan Norder, Wolf Vanderlinden and Stewart P. Evans, Norman Hastings or Fred Bloggs, the question still stands:

from those who knew him in those days, there is the assurance that he kept largely to himself owing to the intrigues with various women that he was conducting even then. He behaved like a lady killer, making appointments nearly every night, and behaving very secretly about them’... ‘in his early days in London he was pursuing girls of respectable family, delighting in his conquests.


Who did the author speak to who ‘knew him in those days’? What is the source of the information about his ‘making appointments nearly every night’ or the ‘girls of respectable family’?

I have read all the witness testimony, which is the only written source of information on Klosowski's early life in London, and not one person makes these statements or anything remotely like them. I suppose Hastings could have spoken in person in 1930 to people who had known him in 1888, but it was highly unlikely that anyone who was still alive then had that kind of detailed knowledge of his movements.

Please stop mentioning my name, I did not write this.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Please stop mentioning my name, I did not write this.

Had you done me the courtesy of responding to my email of 2 - 3 weeks ago instead of just ignoring it, this question would never have been posted here with your name on it.

I am merely wondering if anyone could tell me where these assertions came from.