Is Kosminski the man really viable?

[Errata]

Ed Gein was most definitely a serial killer. Serial killings are very often about more than the act of killing itself. Most often, they're about sex and power. I think most agree almost unanimously that Gein killed 2 women. Most also agree with a "preponderance of circumstances" that he also likely killed his brother. I would also venture to guess that most experts would agree almost unanimously that had he not been caught, he would have killed again. A "serial killer", or the makeup of a serial killer, isn't about the sheer number of victims. Many "would be" serial killers are caught on their first kill because the first kill is usually the sloppiest in terms of evidence left behind.

As it happens, I agree with you. And I can't imagine he didn't kill the second woman. I'm undecided on the brother, an argument can be made either way. And I think I can make a good case that he killed his mother as well. But in the criminological sense of the term, serial killer means 3 or more. It could be proved he killed one, it is reasonable to state that he killed two, three, four, even five and up are pure conjecture. So not a serial killer. Give him a few more days and I think he would have been, but in criminology (and therefore profiling) no dice.

In layman's terms however, boy howdy was he a serial killer.

I also have seen no evidence whatsoever that JtR went out of his way to be overly "secretive". The victims were prostitutes...it was their profession to do business in discreet locations. Many wrongly attribute that to JtR being "stealthy". In all likelihood, JtR left DNA and fiber evidences all over all of his crime scenes. Wouldn't have been helpful at all in those days. In the present day, it would have likely got him caught. Just because he didn't kill people in broad daylight with "I'm Jack the Ripper" stamped on his forehead, that doesn't mean he went out of his way to be "stealthy".

Except that we are talking about a psychotic. Ordinarily, Jack the Ripper would be considered to have taken ordinary precautions. But psychotics walk up to people and shoot them from five feet away and just stand there. These are the people who try those insane Presidential assassination attempts. Sarah Jane Moore, Charles Guiteau, Leon Czolgosz... all psychotic. All completely oblivious to "ordinary precautions". If Kozminski was going to murder someone, that's what one would expect. Not the killing a president part, but that level of inability to think beyond the goal. So killing people in broad daylight and wandering off covered in blood would not be unusual.

To answer the question in the original post....I think if a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, and police did an indepth study of the JTR crimes, I believe the overwhelming consensus would be that Aaron Kosminski is the MOST LIKELY of all known suspects.

I think you're wrong on this, if for no other reason than no reputable psychiatrist or psychologist takes part in diagnosing historical figures as anything other than a party game. The shrinks who DO publish those things... I would not recommend seeing them as a patient. Ever. Also getting two shrinks to agree on anything is like herding cats. But even without those factors, I don't think they would say that because while posthumously trying to diagnose Kosminski might be comparatively easy, a: the best you can hope for is a determination of either likely violent or likely not, and b: you still have to diagnose the Ripper to see if the two profiles match up, and without knowing the Ripper's history or state of mind at the time of the murders that can't be done. No diagnosis can occur with a single symptom. And since it is not the norm that serial killers have delusions, you would have to find compelling evidence that the Ripper had delusions, and that you will not find.

[Pontius2000]

Ed Gein was most definitely a serial killer. Serial killings are very often about more than the act of killing itself. Most often, they're about sex and power. I think most agree almost unanimously that Gein killed 2 women. Most also agree with a "preponderance of circumstances" that he also likely killed his brother. I would also venture to guess that most experts would agree almost unanimously that had he not been caught, he would have killed again. A "serial killer", or the makeup of a serial killer, isn't about the sheer number of victims. Many "would be" serial killers are caught on their first kill because the first kill is usually the sloppiest in terms of evidence left behind.

I also have seen no evidence whatsoever that JtR went out of his way to be overly "secretive". The victims were prostitutes...it was their profession to do business in discreet locations. Many wrongly attribute that to JtR being "stealthy". In all likelihood, JtR left DNA and fiber evidences all over all of his crime scenes. Wouldn't have been helpful at all in those days. In the present day, it would have likely got him caught. Just because he didn't kill people in broad daylight with "I'm Jack the Ripper" stamped on his forehead, that doesn't mean he went out of his way to be "stealthy".

To answer the question in the original post....I think if a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, and police did an indepth study of the JTR crimes, I believe the overwhelming consensus would be that Aaron Kosminski is the MOST LIKELY of all known suspects.

[Lechmere]

I agree with your conclusion.

[Errata]

Was thinking, Kosminski is kind of like Eddie Gein.

I really think this is what Jtr was like. Secretive, quiet, unclean habits, no natural abhorrence of the way he played with a corpse.

Makes me wonder about motive, if there was some similarity between the two. I would not be surprised to find there was a dominating mother.

Ed Gein could only ever operate in a very small town. With a decent sized graveyard. He wasn't a serial killer. He only could be proved to have killed one woman, although how else the other woman would have died is murky at best. He wasn't about killing. He did it, but that wasn't his focus. He was for the most part content to get what he needed from grave robbing. And Ed Gein was not especially secretive. He was clearly uncomfortable in company, but he did not take extraordinary precautions to make sure he wasn't caught. He wasn't caught because it was a small farming town and he lived in the middle of nowhere. But putting on a woman suit and going out to dance under the moon is not a secretive behavior.

I agree with you on the likelihood of a domineering mother, but I see the opposite relationship forming. Ed Gein was devoted to his mother. And she made him what he was. And his whole manner was adhering to his mother's code. All living women were whores, except for her. He preyed on the dead because his mother warned him away from living women. He preserved her corpse because she was the only woman of worth. He was trying to become a woman to be like her, and to preserve her. I think Jack the Ripper was angry at his domineering mother. Not worshipful.

[Lechmere]

Is there any similarity between what is known of Kosminsky and Ed Gein?
The way Gein 'played' with corpses has nothing whatsoever in common with any of the canonical murders. You could perhaps draw similarities to the Torso murders but I have never heard a case made that Kosminsky may have been responsible for any of them.
There is nothing about his mother to suggest she was domineering or in any way different to any other Jewish migrant mother.

Kosminsky's mental issues were clearly enough to make him a viable candidate at some point in the 1890s, but I would suggest that they point in the opposite direction based on modern day knowledge of stealth serial killings.
And the lack of knowledge about his death undermines his status as a serious suspect that was investigated on the ground during the crimes, rather than an after-the-event name that popped out of the asylum registers and landed on a desk on Scotland Yard.

[The Good Michael]

Was thinking, Kosminski is kind of like Eddie Gein.

I really think this is what Jtr was like. Secretive, quiet, unclean habits, no natural abhorrence of the way he played with a corpse.

Makes me wonder about motive, if there was some similarity between the two. I would not be surprised to find there was a dominating mother.

I think that's a fair enough assessment based on what we know. It isn't c;ear what his mother was like, but one supposes she just may have been a strong enough women to have ensured her children survived their difficulties living in the pale and making new lives in an alien land. Aside from conflicted dates re: Kosminski's committal and believed demise, the scant facts we have about Kos point toward many mental issues that suffice to make him a viable candidate. The only thing against him, besides what I mentioned above, is the scant information.

Mike

[Beowulf]

Was thinking, Kosminski is kind of like Eddie Gein.

I really think this is what Jtr was like. Secretive, quiet, unclean habits, no natural abhorrence of the way he played with a corpse.

Makes me wonder about motive, if there was some similarity between the two. I would not be surprised to find there was a dominating mother.

[RivkahChaya]

FWIW, PG Wodehouse used to use it in the Jeeves & Wooster stories, where it clearly meant "circumstances." I don't have a book in front of me, but IIRC, there were many times Bertie Wooster would say something like "extricate oneself from difficult circs." I know Wodehouse wasn't writing in 1888, but the first stories appeared right after WWI, and Wodehouse was born in 1881, and while I realize that slang does change, Wodehouse was a professional writer, and probably would have avoided ambiguous words. If he is going to use "circs" to mean "circumstances," he's probably not using an abbreviation that, in his childhood, meant something entirely different.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Hi Jon,

I too can't speak for anyone else but, even as a retired police officer, I see it as much more likely that 'circs' is an abbreviation of 'circumstances' rather than 'circulars' or 'circulations'. 'Circular' is not a word in common police usage in my own experience, but different forces probably use different words to describe these things.

Regards, Bridewell.

Doesn't make sense anyway.

There's a monumental attempt to fit square pegs into round holes round these parts.

"There were many circulars that made this man a strong suspect"......what?!

"Murderer would have hanged"....."He didn't mean murderer; he meant misunderstood loveable vagrant".......dear god!

As is stands, Anderson was a two-bob blaggard and Swanson didn't know what day it was.

[Bridewell]

Pocket Books

Sadly pocket notebooks have to be handed in after about 18 months in the modern era and are routinely destroyed after around 6 years. They carry serial numbers so there is no effective means of preserving anything of more than usual interest.

Regards, Bridewell.

[sleekviper]

Well drats! The unknown detective is not Wensley, I checked. He kept a series of scrapbooks with all his press clippings, and that one is not included.

[Wickerman]

Hi Jon,

I too can't speak for anyone else but, even as a retired police officer, I see it as much more likely that 'circs' is an abbreviation of 'circumstances' rather than 'circulars' or 'circulations'. 'Circular' is not a word in common police usage in my own experience, but different forces probably use different words to describe these things.

Regards, Bridewell.

Thankyou Colin, I thought it a question worth asking. The word 'circular' for 'notice', definitely belongs in 19th century terminology, but must have died out with the advent of immediate communication, radio, phone, etc.

POLICE NOTEBOOKS AND INSTRUCTIONS

Every Victorian constable on the beat had his pencil and notebook, often smartly bound in leather with a metal catch to fasten it. However, books containing original jotted notes are extremely rare. What a policeman was more likely to preserve was a neatly kept booklet listing his successful convictions.

Personal notebooks of this kind tend to be kept in families proud of a great-grandfather who served in the force, along with scrapbooks of cuttings. Of wider interest are the booklet and circulars printed for all members of the force, and the notices designed for display on police station notice boards and in public places throughout the country.

http://www.antiques-art-collectibles.com/collectible/police_ephemera.html

All the policemen have, per circular, been instructed to keep their ears open, and if they hear any cry of distress, such as "Help," "Murder," or "Police," they are to hasten to the spot at once.
Times, 12 Nov. 1888.


Regards, Jon S.

[Bridewell]

"Circs"

I thought it worth asking because many years ago, maybe ten or more, I'm pretty sure Stewart used the word circulars when we talked about this line in the Memorandum.

Circulars is more police terminology and officers might recognize the abbreviation 'circs' as a term often used in reports, so I wondered if this interpretation (circumstances) was the result of a consensus or just an alternate interpretation.

Regards, Jon S.

Hi Jon,

I too can't speak for anyone else but, even as a retired police officer, I see it as much more likely that 'circs' is an abbreviation of 'circumstances' rather than 'circulars' or 'circulations'. 'Circular' is not a word in common police usage in my own experience, but different forces probably use different words to describe these things.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Phil H]

Spot on!

That is - a spot of mould on the bread didn't worry Aaron.

Phil H

[Robert]

Of course! Kosminski - bread and circuses.