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I wanted to move this on from the Kosminski A1 thread. . A lot of people suggest that Kosminski could not be the killer because of what was written in 1891. But we simply do not know if Kosminski was eating out of the gutters etc in the autumn of 1888. In my opinion the evidence suggests otherwise IE Kosminski's family were not the poorest of the poor and yet the first definite evidence we have of Kosminski being put in any asylum/workhouse is 12 July 1890 . Almost two years after the murders began. Would his family have allowed him to be in that state for say 18 months without attempting to get him certified insane ? I doubt it . When he was sent to the Mile End workhouse on the 12 July 1890 he was discharged 3 days later into the care of his brother/brother in law. If he was so far gone, would this have happened ? Perhaps someone with more knowledge than me on Workhouse/Asylum protocol can answer this ? But if his family didn't want him put in an asylum why send him to the workhouse in the first place ?
And we have the dog walking incident from December 1889. Kosminski is summoned before the city court for walking an unmuzzled dog. Could this have happened if he wasn't fit to plead, IE insane ? And would Jacobs have allowed Kosminski to walk his dog if Kosminski was past the point of no return in his mind ? Again I have doubts .
All we know for certain is that Kosminski's mind seems to have given way completely by 7 Feb 1891, otherwise he would not have been sent to the lunatic asylum from the workhouse at that time. When he became completely unable to look after himself exactly we do not know. But I doubt he was wandering the streets , dirty and disheveled eating food out of the gutter for almost two years before he was admitted to Middlesex County lunatic Asylum, Colney Hatch.
As for the admission record , it does say first attack six years ago. But does this mean he suffered waves of paranoia/ mental illness which came and went ?
I also think it is worth mentioning that in one of the documents it says [ Begg , The Facts page 372 ], If first attack - No . Age on first attack - 25. Again this suggests Kosminski's attacks came in waves but it also suggests a date of 1890 for a first, perhaps serious one.
The witness Jacob Cohen was quoted as saying - he goes about the streets and picks up bits of bread out of the gutter and eats them, he drinks water from the tap & he refuses food at the hands of others. He took up a knife and threatened the life of his sister. He is very dirty and will not be washed. He has not attempted any kind of work for years.
According to this it sounds like Kosminski had been mentally unhinged for a long time. But [ and it is a but ], were his family desperate to see him detained indefinitely in the asylum so they adorned certain parts [ so to speak ] . Two reasons I can think of , One - He did attack his sister/sister in law in a violent fashion so they wanted to make sure that he wasn't discharged back to the family as per 1890. Or Two - They knew he was under suspicion of being the murderer, if he was safely caged in an asylum there could be no trial, and at the same time if one or more of the family had begun to suspect him, by having him institutionalised for at least a very long time, that would be him off the streets [ perhaps a sort of justice in their eyes ], without the family name being made public with perhaps recriminations from some hostile/antisemitic people.
One last point , I don't believe MM was correct when he wrote that Kosminski was put in an asylum about March 89. Again has been pointed out before he was relying too much on memory and got the dates wrong .
Just a few thoughts Darryl
And we have the dog walking incident from December 1889. Kosminski is summoned before the city court for walking an unmuzzled dog. Could this have happened if he wasn't fit to plead, IE insane ? And would Jacobs have allowed Kosminski to walk his dog if Kosminski was past the point of no return in his mind ? Again I have doubts .
All we know for certain is that Kosminski's mind seems to have given way completely by 7 Feb 1891, otherwise he would not have been sent to the lunatic asylum from the workhouse at that time. When he became completely unable to look after himself exactly we do not know. But I doubt he was wandering the streets , dirty and disheveled eating food out of the gutter for almost two years before he was admitted to Middlesex County lunatic Asylum, Colney Hatch.
As for the admission record , it does say first attack six years ago. But does this mean he suffered waves of paranoia/ mental illness which came and went ?
I also think it is worth mentioning that in one of the documents it says [ Begg , The Facts page 372 ], If first attack - No . Age on first attack - 25. Again this suggests Kosminski's attacks came in waves but it also suggests a date of 1890 for a first, perhaps serious one.
The witness Jacob Cohen was quoted as saying - he goes about the streets and picks up bits of bread out of the gutter and eats them, he drinks water from the tap & he refuses food at the hands of others. He took up a knife and threatened the life of his sister. He is very dirty and will not be washed. He has not attempted any kind of work for years.
According to this it sounds like Kosminski had been mentally unhinged for a long time. But [ and it is a but ], were his family desperate to see him detained indefinitely in the asylum so they adorned certain parts [ so to speak ] . Two reasons I can think of , One - He did attack his sister/sister in law in a violent fashion so they wanted to make sure that he wasn't discharged back to the family as per 1890. Or Two - They knew he was under suspicion of being the murderer, if he was safely caged in an asylum there could be no trial, and at the same time if one or more of the family had begun to suspect him, by having him institutionalised for at least a very long time, that would be him off the streets [ perhaps a sort of justice in their eyes ], without the family name being made public with perhaps recriminations from some hostile/antisemitic people.
One last point , I don't believe MM was correct when he wrote that Kosminski was put in an asylum about March 89. Again has been pointed out before he was relying too much on memory and got the dates wrong .
Just a few thoughts Darryl
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