Lechmere was Jack the Ripper

[Fisherman]

Surely Lechmere would have realised just how precarious it was, uniquely for him, if he had killed Nichols only the week before, and was now known by the authorities to have 'discovered' her body? What if he'd bumped into Robert Paul or a beat copper as he left the yard and re-entered Hanbury Street? Once the alarm was raised, he could easily have been tracked down from the information he had freely given about himself as a witness in Buck's Row.

No bluffing his way out a second time. Even crazed psychopaths would tend to lie low and give themselves a decent interval after such a close call. Isn't that the usual reason given for Hutchinson not showing his hand and committing more murders for a good long while after Mary Kelly?

Love,

Caz

X

No, crazed psychopaths would NOT tend to lie low, Caz. That is one of the things that tell them apart from us. They are often narcissists too, and thus not capable of understanding how anybody could catch them at all, regardless of who they kill, how they kill and when they kill.

[Fisherman]

Once a suspect has been named he cannot be unnamed and if they cannot be categorically ruled out (like Cream and Prince Eddy for example) they will endure to some extent. I’d suggest that some kind of case can be put forward for almost anyone around at the time as long as they had some kind of connection. If Robert Mann can be a suspect I’d suggest that almost anyone could be.

I´ll do the old "pick one thing" trick:

"The neck wounds were not hidden"

No? Paul pulled the clothing down. Exactly how do we know that the neck wounds were not hidden up to that point?

If you think it rude of me not to answer the other points, I´ll have you know that I have other things to do. If there is one specific matter where you feel you finally hit then head on the nail, then please notify me, and I will answer that particular point.

[Fisherman]

There - can´t be arsed to read any more suggestions of alternative innocent explanations right now, and so I will leave you all to it. Good luck!

[Fisherman]

Caz - Many if not most of Fisherman's arguments were voiced by Wolf Vanderlinden in an article that appeared in Ripper Notes 12 or 14 years ago:

https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rn-doubt.html

Maybe you'll be convinced hearing them from someone else? I seem to recall that Martin Fido was impressed by this line of argument and I have at least one "Ripperological" friend that also believes that Annie Chapman was murdered in the dead of night.

I don't share their opinion, but then I have a soft spot for circumstantial evidence, particularly when the "science" (?) is vague.

An interesting and key point, seldom considered, concerns the clock house of Truman's Brewery. What do we actually know about the clock's chimes or gongs? I've found nothing definitive, but someone must know. Whether we believe Long's estimate of the time is greatly dependent on what she would have heard at either 5.15 or 5.30. Best wishes.

I have pointed to Wolfs exellent dissertation myself, R J. Why anybody at all would find "someone else" than me more impressive, I really don´t know, though.

I always thought I was well loved and respected out here.

Now, that door and that experiment of yours...?

[Fisherman]

You keep saying ‘with authorities.’

Another way of saying this is ‘in official, written form’

Simply being asked “name please” he would have seen nothing amiss by using a name that he did in everyday life. The name of his stepfather.

Many of the documents that bear the name Lechmere are documents that have been signed "Lechmere" by other people. People, that is, who asked him "Name, please?" and got the answer "Lechmere" from him. Always.

Guess this line of research just died out.

[Fisherman]

^^^

It's very difficult to work out who said what in the enormous post above. Please edit and quote properly, or at least colour-code, in future.

It´s not all that hard. I tried colour-code, but my computer, the old wretch, would have nothing of it.

[Fisherman]

And now I´m off. In Technicolor.

[caz]

No, crazed psychopaths would NOT tend to lie low, Caz. That is one of the things that tell them apart from us. They are often narcissists too, and thus not capable of understanding how anybody could catch them at all, regardless of who they kill, how they kill and when they kill.

Remarkable then, that Lechmere the psychopath didn't walk into the hangman's noose, on the grounds that he was simply incapable of understanding how he could have been caught, regardless of who, how or when he chose to kill!

He may as well have carried on mutilating Nichols in that case, right under Robert Paul's nose, if he was incapable of understanding how that could have got him buckled.

Love,

Caz
X

[Patrick S]

You keep saying ‘with authorities.’

Another way of saying this is ‘in official, written form’

Simply being asked “name please” he would have seen nothing amiss by using a name that he did in everyday life. The name of his stepfather.

Lechmere appears as his name in all census information (save one when he was 14 (?) years old and living with Thomas Cross and his mother Marie Louisa. He used it in signing military paperwork for his son. It was used in the paperwork concerning his marriage in 1870 and his estate upon his death in 1920. Fisherman will provide more, I'm sure and I commend him on his work around this. This issue of the "false name" is, I think, one of the most interesting and substantial finds concerning the case, in my view, over the past twenty years. The same goes for the picture, be he Jack or just Charles Cross.

To your point, though... We don't know how he was addressed at work, around then neighborhood, etc. We know that he was likely called Cross around the time he was listed as such on the census. This was likely around or shortly before he entered the workforce, if had not already. He likely went to work at Pickford's sometime around 1868, when he was 18, a few years after he was listed as Charles Cross in the census (I'll get my notes and find the exact year if someone doesn't post it in the interim). It's not absurd or even unusual to think he was known as Cross by those who knew him and was addressed as such. Such a thing was certainly not unusual then and I can think of a few examples relative to people that I know today.

[rjpalmer]

Now, that door and that experiment of yours...?

Hi Fish. Yes; I was just about to get to that. So at sunrise I tied my shoes on the back porch. I found it quite natural to allow the spring door to press against the side of my body as I sat down on the steps, particularly since I didn't want to step down into the yard in my stockings. The door blocked my view. It's not as barmy as it appears just reading it on a computer screen, and I suggest that interested parties try it if the opportunity arises. I will give your theory a pass, with the obvious caveat that Richardson himself claims he would have seen the body.

I like it better than Vanderlinden simply dismissing Richardson as a liar. What he failed to consider is that Chandler was simply the Duty Inspector and would not have interviewed Richardson while trying to protect what was a very chaotic crime scene; there is utterly no reason to believe Richardson changed his testimony as he claims or implies in the article.

As for the potato, and digestion--I wasn't convinced. Chapman was thrown out in the middle of the night; she may have stashed a potato in her pocket to eat later. We don't know when she took her last meal, so the argument is dubious. Still, I can see how one might accept it; it's at least internally consistent with the 2 a.m. theory. But the door is nowhere mentioned. What mythical creature left the door open between 5 a.m and 5.45? It was during that same span that Cadoche heard the slap against the fence. And Vanderlinden selectively quotes Cadoche in the article. Cadoche later states that he was CERTAIN that the noise came from No. 29. All the best.

[Sam Flynn]

We don't know how he was addressed at work, around then neighborhood, etc. We know that he was likely called Cross around the time he was listed as such on the census. This was likely around or shortly before he entered the workforce, if had not already. He likely went to work at Pickford's sometime around 1868, when he was 18, a few years after he was listed as Charles Cross in the census... It's not absurd or even unusual to think he was known as Cross by those who knew him and was addressed as such.

There's also the find by Gary Barnett of the 1876 newspaper report about a Pickfords carman name Charles Cross, who was quite possibly the same man.

[Patrick S]

As for the potato, and digestion--I wasn't convinced. Chapman was thrown out in the middle of the night; she may have stashed a potato in her pocket to eat later. We don't know when she took her last meal, so the argument is dubious.

Others may be able to confirm... Didn't John Evans see her eating a baked potato between 1:30 and 1:45? Not that someone couldn't have assumed she was eating it then and she in fact consumed it later. I've just always thought she was seen EATING potato as she was, as I recall, in the kitchen.

[Patrick S]

There's also the find by Gary Barnett of the 1876 newspaper report about a Pickfords carman name Charles Cross, who was quite possibly the same man.

Hi, Sam. I have either forgotten or missed this. Can you direct me to more information?

Thanks!

[Sam Flynn]

No, crazed psychopaths would NOT tend to lie low, Caz. That is one of the things that tell them apart from us. They are often narcissists too, and thus not capable of understanding how anybody could catch them at all, regardless of who they kill, how they kill and when they kill.

There's a world of difference between having delusions of invincibility when reading press coverage, contemplating your next murder and/or reliving previous crimes at your leisure, and being so reckless as to remain at the scene of a crime when you hear footsteps approaching. Psychopaths may or may not be more daring than "normal" people, but they're seldom stupid.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi, Sam. I have either forgotten or missed this. Can you direct me to more information?

My pleasure, Patrick

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=28333