Mary Berkin

[Tecs]

I was just thinking,

We know that certain ideas filtered down through Swanson's (and other police officials) families, but does anyone know if there are any Kosminski relatives around who know of a dark secret in the family?

Then again, even if there was supposedly something dark in the family history, it might only be suspicion anyway so doesn't mean anything.

Regards,

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Most police surgeons were also in general practice.

That Edmund King Houchin was a police surgeon doesn't necessarily mean that his examination of Kosminski had anything to do with police business.

Regards,

Simon

[Chris]

Most police surgeons were also in general practice.

Indeed:

http://forum.casebook.org/showpost.php?p=245239&postcount=702

[Wickerman]

That's what I'm saying. Your statement that "he was brought to their attention by his family admitting him" is only speculation. We don't know either way.

Thats true Chris, I speculate that the police had not shown any appreciable interest in him because of Swanson's words, "On suspects return to his brother's house.....he was watched by police".
Those words do not read to me like he meant continuing surveillance from before he was brought to Mile end. It reads like, "we felt it necessary to watch this man", from this point on.

Recently, I read a sentence on the subject which caught my eye. That during the spate of Whitechapel Murders the Asylum's & mental institutions had been asked to inform the police of new patients.
I'm looking for the source, I didn't take note of it at the time.

While I also think it is very possible that Kosminski was one of the 300+ suspects (Swanson, 19 Oct.) who's "movements were enquired into". There's no indication from Swanson that they had investigated this suspect before the I.D., coupled with the notes available on Kosminski that it was the family, not the police, who brought him to Mile End on both occasions.

The circumstantial evidence, such as it is, suggests to me that the police only gained an interest in him from July 1890, and we know that it was due to the actions of the family.
It can also be argued that the police 'might' have known about him previously, but we have nothing to support such an argument.

Regards, Jon S.