New JTR book about Kosminski

[mariab]

I figured out what you meant, C.D., and I totally feel you. ;-) I guess it all boils down to the lack of evidence/police sources having survived, such as the contemporary police files/reports, for which there are very scarce chances that they'd turn up again – unless people have accumulated them in their private possession over the years and one day decide to return them. (While let me please disclaim that I'm in any way whatsoever trying to initiate another discussion of “lost documents“, LOL.) The Special Branch ledgers might end up helping too, since there are allegedly 2 Ripper suspects mentioned there (along “Mc Grath“ as a person of interest). Pertaining to new sources on Kozminski, I assume that Rob House and Chris Philips are best informed about this.

[c.d.]

Hi Maria,

My post was written in haste and not worded very well. What I meant to suggest was that if he were a strong suspect at a later date, it seems quite strange that we have so little information with regard to him. Did the police make any attempt to question him? If so, we have no record of it. That is the point that I was so clumsily attempting to make.

c.d.

[mariab]

Hi C.D.,
Unless Rob House has found new evidence pertaining to the early police investigation, to the details on Kozminski's incarceration in the spring of 1889, and to the unnamed witness who supposedly could have indentified a Jewish suspect, it appears that the allegations against Kozminski as a suspect came at a later point, from 1891 on, via “pen pushers“ Macnaghten, Anderson, and Swanson, and not during the active investigation in 1888/1889. Thus the police most certainly didn't say "We think this is the guy. Let's put him in an asylum and go get a pint.", to quote you. The most important pieces of evidence would be to research the conditions pertaining to Kozminksi's incarceration (was the police suspecting him in relation to the Whitechapel murders?) and to identify the witness who allegedly was about to name the suspect, but no charges were pressed due to the witness's reluctance to testify against "a fellow Jew." Was the witness in question Lawende, Levy, or Schwartz? (The latter being pretty improbable).
And please don't forget that there were other, clearly more legitimate contemporary suspects besides Kozminski. Tumblety remains one of them, Le Grand was suspected and allegedly followed by the SY until he was arrested for other crimes, and Ostrog was most probably a mixup with Le Grand (as a “French suspect known for his carrying knifes and assaulting unfortunates“). Accessibility to the Special Branch ledgers would possibly help clarify things – unless it makes things even more complicated, through inconclusive or ill-defined data, which is a possibility!
I'm open to change my mind in case of new evidence in Rob House's book, but my opinion at this point is that Kozminski was a mixup for some other Jew.
By the by, I assume that all are familiar with Rob House's dissertation Aaron Kozminski reconsidered?
posted here: http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/robhouse-kosminski.html

[jason_c]

Im looking forward to reading this.

[Stephen Thomas]

This should be, and I'm sure it will be, a terrific book. Rob knows absolutely all the arguments for and against Kosminski's candidacy and this will be the work of a scholar and not some hack chancer.

[c.d.]

I just find it hard to believe that the police would have said "We think this is the guy. Let's put him in an asylum and go get a pint." Doesn't it seem more reasonable that they would have attempted to question him thoroughly and repeatedly. You would think that he would have said something that would have given them a strong belief that he was the Ripper or that they would have come away with the feeling that the guy was completely nuts and there would be no way he could have had it together enough to pull off the murders.

Even if he were pretty much incoherent, you would think they could get some sort of response by mentioning the murders.

c.d.

[mariab]

Yes, this is a known fact since several months. It's the book by Rob House. (And I'm personally looking forward to reading it, as it contains some serious research, apparently.)

[JTRSickert]

Hi everyone.

I recently came across something you all may find interesting. In May, there is a new JTR book coming out that is specifically aimed at trying to prove that Kosminski was the killer. It's the first book (except for maybe Martin Fido's book, but that one focused more on David Cohen) that deals specifically with Kosminski. Besides going over the Ripper crimes, it also gives us a portrait of the life of this rather well-known suspect. It even has a foreword by Roy Hazelwood, a former FBI profiler who was one of the two men who came up with the psychological profile of JTR and was even on the 100-year anniversary documentary of the case, and said Kosminski was the most likely suspect, according to their profile. So, while I personally am not 100% convinced that Aaron was responsible, I am looking forward to when this book comes out and will be anxious to read it. It's called "Jack the Ripper, and the Case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect" by Robert House. For more information, here is the link on the Amazon page:


http://www.amazon.com/Ripper-Scotlan...7768838&sr=1-2