New Article on Kozminski in Ripperologist 128

[Chris]

I get the sense (and I could be wrong) that the area around Brunswick Street was referred to as "Tiger Bay" in the 1860s and 1870, but perhaps that the influx of Jews into that area in the 1880s might have pushed the prostitution out of that area to an extent. It has always seemed to me that the majority of the "street" prostitutes were around the area of Spitalfields... i.e. north of Whitechapel High Street, and that the area south of that thoroughfare was comparatively less of a prostitute area. Tiger Bay, perhaps, was an exception to this...

I would guess you're right about prostitution declining as a result of Jewish settlement in the area. But do we have any evidence that Brunswick Street was an exception? The extracts from the Booth police notebook you posted don't appear to mention prostitution, though I think they do comment on it in other areas.

[Robert]

Hi Stephen

it looks like they made a start earlier. This is the Times Aug 21st 1877.

[Stephen Thomas]

Hi Stephen

it looks like they made a start earlier. This is the Times Aug 21st 1877.

Yes Robert. A few years ago I studied this area quite closely via maps, newspaper articles and book extracts etc. It took about 20 years to wipe it out completely.

It has nothing to do with the JTR case as has been suggested here.

And aren't I good for not mentioning Shirley Bassey.

[Robert]

Oh blimey, the Juwes are not the men that will be blamed for I who have nothing.

[Chris]

One person who did later live in Brunswick Street was Israel Schwartz - or at least the man who I think is the one likeliest to have been the witness of that name. He was at 16 Brunswick Street when his daughter Esther [aka Rose] was admitted to the infants' section of Berner Street School on 8 December 1890.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5DXQnK3dC8

[Cogidubnus]

Angel Eyes

Hi Robert

Oh blimey, the Juwes are not the men that will be blamed for I who have nothing.

You made me spit my tea out...but, like the lady said, the definitely ascertainable fact's uncommonly clear...

All the best

Dave

[Robert]

Hmm...Shirley Bassey seems to be following me around. The worst is, the tap, tap, tap at the window every night.

[Stephen Thomas]

You made me spit my tea out...but, like the lady said, the definitely ascertainable fact's uncommonly clear...

Yes, Robert was on top form there. Looking on Google for Bassey songs to make a joke about I found this somewhat disturbing newspaper article about life in the more famous Tiger Bay fifty years after 1888.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1306907/Shirley-Bassey-terrible-secret-father-hid-world.html

[Tom_Wescott]

I hate to interrupt the Tiger Bay discussion (that I started, shame on me), but I wanted to throw some stuff out regarding possibilities for further research. Just thinking out loud here.

Let's pretend for a moment that a woman was not murdered in Dutfield's yard, but it was discovered that a police suspect was connected to Providence Street (does anyone else have to resist the urge to type 'Providence Row'?), so you set out researching the immediate area to see what connections might be made. With this in mind, wouldn't you become intrigued with the predominantly Jewish socialist club just a skip away that doubled as a tailor/sweaters union? I certainly would, considering the suspect in question was a young, Jewish man with a family in the tailor trade. So regardless of your individual opinion of Stride as a Ripper victim (or not), I would think research along these lines would be of much importance. If we presume that Kozminski was a bit of an outcast, he would be drawn like a magnet to the club. Incidentally, around that same time, the Berner Street men were involved with the Match Strike Girls, the headquarters (ran by Annie Besant) of which were located in Hanbury Street, just up the way from number 29.

It's probably a wild shot, but what are all possible aliases for Aaron Kozminski? It's not impossible one of his names would be found among the surviving papers of the Match Strike Girls.

Regarding the club, I'm not suggesting that Koz was a dues paying member, although I suppose that's possible. If he were, then he had to have been recommended by a member and seconded by another. Looking at acquaintances of Aaron's, and his family, is there possibly a connection to the club, or its sister organizations?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Phil H]

Interesting thoughts, Tom. Thinking outside the box again!

Phil H

[Robert]

Hi Tom

I'm not sure about Aaron as anarchist. Going from memory here, but didn't he ask to pay his fine on a different day from the one appointed by the court, because it wasn't nice to pay a fine on the sabbath? That sounds like a religious man rather than a devotee of the Black Fast.

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Robert, thanks for that. And I'm personally not familiar with what you're talking about. What's the source for that? And yes, that could mean he was a religious man...or an anarchist trying to get out of paying a fine. LOL. But keep in mind that most of the Jews recruited by the Club and similar organizations were religious men, who were then systematically stripped of their religious beliefs. Within a year or so of 1888, the Berner Street club had gained a street reputation as a dangerous den of murderers, for whatever that's worth.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Robert]

Hi Tom

This was Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper Dec 15th 1889. This is well after he's supposed to have been stripped of his religious beliefs.

[Tom_Wescott]

Aaron, Arbeter Fraint, the dog, etc.

Thanks, Robert. I'm of course familiar with the dog episode, but hadn't given much thought to the 'Jewish holiday' bit before. Seems that was coming not from Aaron, but his brother who was playing the role of his attorney here. And it got them out of court without having to pony up the fine that day, so I'm not sure this at all reflects Aaron's views, though it's possible it reflects his brother's.

And if you're right, and Aaron saw himself as religious, he may in turn have hated the club, and we might see him milling around in Albert Bachert's circle. But I think he would have been friendly with the club, though of course I have no proof of that. Socialists/anarchists, then as now, attracted a lot of nut cases. And if Aaron lived on Providence and wanted to get to Commercial Road, he'd have to pass the club with Krantz and Yaffa outside handing out their stacks of Arbeter Fraint. If you look at the issue of AF that came out the week before the murder, you might find something that would make him want to get them in trouble with the police for murder. Assuming he killed Stride, of course, which I don't. But I don't rule it out.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Koz + cachous = killer?

Robert obviously doesn't like my thoughts on the matter. And apparently the discussion of this new Koz info has already run out of steam. Now, if it had been accompanied with a photo of some old building, no doubt this thread would be on page 50 by now, but I digress...

For those who follow Robert's suggestion that Kozminski might have thought himself very religious in his Jewish faith, perhaps the following might be of some interest:

New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud
Isaac Mayer Wise, Godfrey Taubenhaus - 1896
Google books