New Article on Kozminski in Ripperologist 128

[Fisherman]

David:

"A sexually insane English doctor... A mad Russian doctor... An insane Polish Jew...
It's time to realize that they are personnifications of outdated theories rather than serious suspects - whatever Mac or Anderson said they knew."

I´m speachless, David. We agree ...?

Although how serious they were per se is open to discussion, since we don´t have the details. But on the whole, yes, there WAS an agenda among the police when it came to typification.

Fisherman

[Jonathan H]

To Phil H

Yes that's all fair enough.

The reason I do not share this opinion is that Mac made no mistakes about Druitt in his memoirs and arguably had a better sense of the vital details about 'Kosminski' than did either Anderson and Swanson.

Also consider this:

An upper class police chief, a Gentile and an Anglican, has a choice between a fellow gentleman whom [you claim] had no association with the East End, and whose suicide was not immediately after the 'awful glut' which he conceded in 1914.

A choice between a local, foreign, insane wretch who was permanently incarcerated versus a successful barrister and a promising cricketer.

The first suspect had the backing of other top cops, the second seems to be unknown to them -- a 'secret'.

And Mac chooses ... the gentleman suspect?!

Who cannot defend himself? Who was never arrested for anything?

Historically that's strong that the posthumous evidence was perceived to be devastating, as the primary source goes against its expected bias.

As for the Polish Jew suspect he was debunked in Mac's memoirs -- eg. not a Jew, no witness, never detained in an asylum -- in fact is dumped altogether. 'Kosminski' is not an alternative to Druitt to this police chief (to Sims he seems to have told him that an American medico was the only possible 'other theory').

[AdamNeilWood]

Thread

Dear all,

Can I ask that discussion on what Anderson, Macnaghten and Swanson had to say about Kosminski, Druitt, Cross et al be moved to the appropriate thread?

This is intended for discussion on Pat Marshall and Chris Phillip's excellent article in Rip 128 on Kosminski and their new discoveries.

Best wishes
Adam

[Fisherman]

Of course, Adam - point taken!

The best,
Fisherman

[Chris]

Thanks for the kind comments on the article. It's maybe worth emphasising that the key discoveries were entirely Pat's, and I haven't really done more than amplify the odd point here and there.

I thought it might be helpful for those who don't subscribe to Ripperologist if I briefly summarised the main points. These fall into three sections:

(1) Where Aaron's brother Woolf Abrahams was living. On 28 November 1887, when his daughter Rebecca was admitted to Berner Street School, he was living at 25 Providence Street (see map posted by Rob above). Rebecca remained at the school until 11 October 1888. Her birth certificate showed she had been born on 20 March 1882 at 38 Berner Street.

(2) A possible identification of Dr Houchin's informant, Jacob Cohen. Woolf's wife Betsy, whose maiden surname was also Kozminski, had a brother named Jacob (born 6 April 1850). After a spell in South Africa, around 1882 he and his wife and children came to England, where he was known as Jacob Cohen. Eventually, in 1905, the family returned to South Africa. In 1891 he was running a butcher's business in Manchester, so it's not clear that he was the same man as Woolf's business partner in London, but it is a possibility.

(3) Aaron's sister Hinde (b. 1848), previously unknown apart from a reference to her as Helen Singer in 1920, was the wife of Aaron Singer (she was known also as Annie, Eleanor or Helena). Sadly she seems to have been repeatedly deserted by her husband, but followed him first around 1881 to London (probably with Aaron and the other siblings), after which she lived in Greenfield Street and Yalford Street, and then in 1885 to Boston, Massachusetts. She died in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1927.

[robhouse]

(2) A possible identification of Dr Houchin's informant, Jacob Cohen.

Hi Chris,

In my opinion, it is more than "a possible identification." I know you have a tendency for understatement (and cautiousness in speculating), which is commendable... but I would be very surprised if this was not the "right" Jacob Cohen.

I am attaching another map showing the Providence Street address. And Woolf's 1882 address is also on the map at the very top, #38 Berner St.

RH

[Paddy]

Big thanks for your comments !
Rob I am pleased your talk went well, I have read many good things said about it.

Chris you I could not have done it without your logic and finds too!
I have really enjoyed the research, All the findings came so quickly. It really surprised me. My daughter now thinks I'm cool !
There are a wealth of online resources that are being added to all the time. I can see loads of leads that might tell us more of Aaron.
The family seemed very supportive of him so research into them should paint a clearer picture of his life.

I have a feeling Aaron went away for a while, at some point shortly after the Millers court murder. Also why was Woolfs daughter out of school from 11/10/88 till 6/5/89 did the family go away?

I too think it could well be the correct Jacob Cohen and find it interesting he was a butcher at one time.
There are lots of possibilities for research, most are probably wrong and then all of a sudden another fact is found.......

[DVV]

Good game - except that JtR is more likely to be North-Corean than Jewish.

[DVV]

I´m speachless, David. We agree ...?
Fisherman

Everytime we're off-thread, my dear Christer !

[Paddy]

True but probably not more likely !

[Tom_Wescott]

For what it's worth, here's a statement made by Inspector Reid upon his retirement in 1896 that I've always found curious. It's from The Northeastern Daily Gazette, April 15, 1896:

"I have always believed," continued Mr. Reid, "that the murderer lived somewhere in the neighborhood of Berner-street. The first of the murders (Emma Smith-TW) was in that district, and everyone [sic] was committed within a radius of a quarter of a mile of the Princess Alice public-house, in Commercial-street. All of the women lived in that district, and so, I believe, did the murdered [sic]."

Reid believed one man was the killer of 9 of the victims (the 11 'Whitechapel murders' minus Mylett and the Pinchin Street torso), and does not appear to have had any preferred suspect upon his retirement or years later. For this reason, I find it very curious that he specified the Berner Street area as the residence of the murderer and the Princess Alice (of the hundreds of East End pubs) as his favorite drinking hole. This is an early case of geographical profiling, as Reid seems to have worked out on a map that the Princess Alice was a quarter of a mile from each of the murder locations, though I couldn't personally say how accurate that is.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

The mysterious Mr. Harris

This may have nothing to does with the Kozmeister, but I'm going to mention it since we're now looking at the possibility that Koz lived in the immediate area of Berner Street at the time of Stride's murder.

Some time back I published an article called 'Berner Street Rogues Gallery' where I looked at different people as possible perps in Stride's murder. One was the mysterious 'Mr. Harris' who Edward Spooner identified as the only person on the street that he saw as he made his way down Fairclough Street towards Berner Street, in answer to the clubmen who came running his way. He stated that he saw Mr. Harris coming out of his house in Tiger Bay, apparently wide-eyed. Spooner asked what he was doing and he said that he heard a police whistle and was coming to check it out. The problem I found with this is that no police whistle had been sounded at that time. Spooner did not specify what street 'Mr. Harris' lived on, but it would have had to have been either Brunswick Street or Providence Street as they are the only streets he would have passed that a local like Spooner would have referred to as 'Tiger Bay'. The Times, alone out of all the papers, said Mr. Harris was on Brunswick Street, but this would have been a guess on the reporters part, as Spooner did not say this at the inquest (numerous other papers who covered the inquest bare this out).

Anyway, this all probably means nothing, but I thought I'd bring it up again because it immediately came to my mind when I say the map Rob posted and it reminded me of the strange Mr. Harris and the whistle that only he heard. Could there have been a 'Mr. Harris' in Aaron's life at that time?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mklhawley]

This may have nothing to does with the Kozmeister, but I'm going to mention it since we're now looking at the possibility that Koz lived in the immediate area of Berner Street at the time of Stride's murder.

Some time back I published an article called 'Berner Street Rogues Gallery' where I looked at different people as possible perps in Stride's murder. One was the mysterious 'Mr. Harris' who Edward Spooner identified as the only person on the street that he saw as he made his way down Fairclough Street towards Berner Street, in answer to the clubmen who came running his way. He stated that he saw Mr. Harris coming out of his house in Tiger Bay, apparently wide-eyed. Spooner asked what he was doing and he said that he heard a police whistle and was coming to check it out. The problem I found with this is that no police whistle had been sounded at that time. Spooner did not specify what street 'Mr. Harris' lived on, but it would have had to have been either Brunswick Street or Providence Street as they are the only streets he would have passed that a local like Spooner would have referred to as 'Tiger Bay'. The Times, alone out of all the papers, said Mr. Harris was on Brunswick Street, but this would have been a guess on the reporters part, as Spooner did not say this at the inquest (numerous other papers who covered the inquest bare this out).

Anyway, this all probably means nothing, but I thought I'd bring it up again because it immediately came to my mind when I say the map Rob posted and it reminded me of the strange Mr. Harris and the whistle that only he heard. Could there have been a 'Mr. Harris' in Aaron's life at that time?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Hi Tom,

Did you publish this in Rip? Which one?

Mike

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Mike. It was one of Don Souden's journals...Casebook Examiner or New Independent Review.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Selections from 1881 Berner Street census

36 Berner Street
Fanny Mortimer and family plus..
William Crane lodger 35
Hy Morris Head 25 Poland Tailor
Jane Morris Wife 25

38 Berner Street
Benjamin Bostoss 35 Poland Tailor
Anna Bostoss 34 Wife

40 Berner Street
Sarah Ann Stagg Head 24 Boot and Shoe manufacturer
Bocking Sarah A Mother 52 Ship Owner’s Wife
Bocking George Father 55 Ship Owner
Thomas Stagg Son 2
Darvey(?) Margaret Servant 53 Dublin Nurse

42 Berner Street (aka Dutfield’s Yard)
Henry Nash Head 54 Wycombe-Marsh Warehouse Porter
Louisa Nash Wife 56
Henry S Nash 31 Carman
Hanna D Nash 20 Asst School Mistress
Mary JH God-daughter 6
Patrick Burke Head 26 London Bricklayer
Elizabeth Burke Wife 24 Finsbury Laundress

70 Berner Street (where Kosminskis would run a bakery in 1888)
William Schutz Head 25 Germany Baker-master
Sophia Schutz Wife 24 London
Adam Hohden Servant 23 Germany Journeyman baker

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott