Francis Thompson. The Perfect Suspect.

[John G]

Hello Richard,

I must admit, to my embarrassment, that until these recent threads I new little about Francis Thompson, but the more I read about him the stronger he appears as a suspect.

For example, I now think it possible that JtR could have had quite a high level of anatomical knowledge, even surgical skill, and believe there may be some support for this view from modern experts.

I'm also intrigued at how closely he seems to match the FBI profile. I believe you mentioned, Richard, that he had a reputation for starting fires. Well, that's also another common trait that serial killers have: Richard Chase, for example, had a penchant for starting fires, as did David Berkowitz (The Son of Sam).

However, I am unsure of his history after 1888. I believe he lived until 1907 and, as think it unlikely that the Ripper would suddenly stop his activities, I would ask if he was institutionalized or, say, abroad for any period after 1888?

Regards,

John

[Richard Patterson]

Hello Mr. Patterson,

When you mentioned "John Walsh" as a biographer, are you referring to John Evangelist Walsh, who has written books on Edgar Allan Poe and the Mary Rogers Mystery, and on William Blake's last year of life, and on Robert Frost?

Jeff

One in the same. Here is a rundown on Walsh & Thompson.

This information was found, in the1967 book “Strange Harp, Strange Symphony The Life of Francis Thompson”. The biographer, John Evangelist Walsh, painstakingly compiled his information from original documents including notebooks, letters, and manuscripts.

To outline Walsh’s research. He had access to Thompson’s papers at Greatham cottage with permission granted by a daughter of Thompson’s publisher. Here he took notes from Thompson’s notebooks from his time on the streets, between the years 1886-1888. Walsh examined Thompson’s papers at Chichester kept by a granddaughter of Thompson’s publisher. In London he went through the papers on Thompson, which were held by another granddaughter. Walsh interviewed Sir Francis Meynell. This was Francis Thompson’s godson and son of Thompson’s publisher. Sir Francis gave Walsh access to further letters by Francis Thompson. Walsh was given complete access, by the director of libraries of Boston College, to the Francis Thompson collection. Walsh went to St. Mary’s priory in Storrington, and made an extensive search of their archives. Walsh interviewed Norbert Thompson, the half brother of Francis Thompson, who supplied him with much information. Amongst other people and organizations that supplied him with information included a host of people, who knew Thompson from where he lived. This included Newbuildings in Sussex, Ashton-upon-Lyne, Manchester, Pantasaph, Ushaw College, Crawley, Owens College Manchester, Preston, The Guildhall Library, and the British Reading Room.

Walsh is one of America's most distinguished historians. He is respected and award winning the author of dozens of books. These include Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe ; Unraveling Piltdown: The Science Fraud of the Century and Its Solution ; and The Shadows Rise: Abraham Licoln and the Ann Rutledge Legend. He was also the senior editor at Reader’s Digest. This is the same Walsh who cites Thompson sleeping at Providence Row nights refuge.

[Richard Patterson]

Hello Richard,

I must admit, to my embarrassment, that until these recent threads I new little about Francis Thompson, but the more I read about him the stronger he appears as a suspect.

For example, I now think it possible that JtR could have had quite a high level of anatomical knowledge, even surgical skill, and believe there may be some support for this view from modern experts.

I'm also intrigued at how closely he seems to match the FBI profile. I believe you mentioned, Richard, that he had a reputation for starting fires. Well, that's also another common trait that serial killers have: Richard Chase, for example, had a penchant for starting fires, as did David Berkowitz (The Son of Sam).

However, I am unsure of his history after 1888. I believe he lived until 1907 and, as think it unlikely that the Ripper would suddenly stop his activities, I would ask if he was institutionalized or, say, abroad for any period after 1888?

Regards,

John

He was institutionalized on a voluntary basis, living years at the time in male only monasteries and priories.

[Richard Patterson]

The Ripper and Thompson - Both Disliked Blood.

Thompson gave an aversion to flowing blood as his reason for leaving medical school. Supposing that he killed the five victims if anyone could have done it and avoided being spotted or splashed with blood, it would have been Francis Thompson. One of the mysteries to the Ripper crimes is how did the murderer leave the scenes of the murders without showing noticeable amounts of blood on is person. Thompson trained as a surgeon and worked in infirmaries for six years. Without doubt students here would have been instructed into how to cut into vessels and artery so that the blood flows and sprays would have directed away from them. Descriptions of the crime scenes support this.

The method the Ripper used indicates someone who hated the sight of flowing blood performed it. The first murder of Nichols, in Bucks Row, happened in such darkness that the first people, who discovered the body, Paul and Cross did not even see blood on the victim or around her body and suggested that she was merely asleep. Here’s a description of how the Ripper killed his victims. This is detailed in the ‘Journal of Investigative Psychology’,

‘The physical evidence suggested that the perpetrator seized the victim from behind, by the chin and pressed her throat. This would have produced unconsciousness and suffocation. There was no evidence of a struggle or sexual assault. Then the victim was lowered to the ground and laid on her back. Her throat was then cut from left to right in two places, injuries were sustained to the abdomen, and her uterus was taken from the womb (Evans & Gainey, 1998; Sugden, 2002; Evans & Skinner, 2000).’

Using this method involved the least amount of interference from flowing blood. The victim laid flat and still like this is exactly how Thompson, who hated the sight of flowing blood, and had trained as a surgeon, would have had his patients and desired for his victims.

That Thompson hated the sight of blood is ironic since he seemed to love the stuff. Apart from the hundreds of references he makes to it in later life here are some words from the package he hand delivered, in February 1887, into the letterbox of his future publishers, the Meynells. Here are two quotes from the package’s contents. It includes his Paganism essay, and another from his 1886 poem, ‘Nightmare of the Witch Babies’

'Red has come to be a colour feared; it ought rather to be the colour loved. For it is ours. The colour is ours and what it symbolises is ours. Red in all its grades...to that imperial colour we call purple, the tinge of clotted blood,...proudly lineal; a prince of the Blood indeed.'

[Hutchinson saw the man pull out a red handkerchief and give to an evidently distressed Mary Kelly)

‘And the reeds they were pulpy
With blood, blood, blood!...
From the rank, the greasy soil,
Red bubbles oozed and stood…
The ground plash plashes,
With a wet like blood;…
It was a stream ran bloodily
Under the wall
O Stream, you cannot run too red
It was a stream ran bloodily
Under the wall.’

[Mayerling]

One in the same. Here is a rundown on Walsh & Thompson.

This information was found, in the1967 book “Strange Harp, Strange Symphony The Life of Francis Thompson”. The biographer, John Evangelist Walsh, painstakingly compiled his information from original documents including notebooks, letters, and manuscripts.

To outline Walsh’s research. He had access to Thompson’s papers at Greatham cottage with permission granted by a daughter of Thompson’s publisher. Here he took notes from Thompson’s notebooks from his time on the streets, between the years 1886-1888. Walsh examined Thompson’s papers at Chichester kept by a granddaughter of Thompson’s publisher. In London he went through the papers on Thompson, which were held by another granddaughter. Walsh interviewed Sir Francis Meynell. This was Francis Thompson’s godson and son of Thompson’s publisher. Sir Francis gave Walsh access to further letters by Francis Thompson. Walsh was given complete access, by the director of libraries of Boston College, to the Francis Thompson collection. Walsh went to St. Mary’s priory in Storrington, and made an extensive search of their archives. Walsh interviewed Norbert Thompson, the half brother of Francis Thompson, who supplied him with much information. Amongst other people and organizations that supplied him with information included a host of people, who knew Thompson from where he lived. This included Newbuildings in Sussex, Ashton-upon-Lyne, Manchester, Pantasaph, Ushaw College, Crawley, Owens College Manchester, Preston, The Guildhall Library, and the British Reading Room.

Walsh is one of America's most distinguished historians. He is respected and award winning the author of dozens of books. These include Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe ; Unraveling Piltdown: The Science Fraud of the Century and Its Solution ; and The Shadows Rise: Abraham Licoln and the Ann Rutledge Legend. He was also the senior editor at Reader’s Digest. This is the same Walsh who cites Thompson sleeping at Providence Row nights refuge.

Hi Mr. Patterson,

Precisely the one. In college I read his first book, regarding his studying the Mary Rogers Case, and his painstaking work showing how Poe wrote the story originally to test his abilities at detection (using "C. Auguste Dupin") but when new material arose he had to rewrite portions to mirror the new information. Excellent detective work by Walsh. I have his book on Poe's demise, and another book on Poe concerning a love affair (over Fanny Osgood, a female poet he and his enemy Rufus Griswold both romanced), and the Blake book, and the one on Piltdown. He is a first rate scholar, but I find he is terribly overlooked by many people.

Jeff

[Scott Nelson]

Richard,

Maybe you mentioned this before, but could Thompson be the character of "Mr. Moring" from R Thurston Hopkins "Life and Death at the Old Bailey"?

[Richard Patterson]

Richard,

Maybe you mentioned this before, but could Thompson be the character of "Mr. Moring" from R Thurston Hopkins "Life and Death at the Old Bailey"?

It is possible that Francis Thompson was the person named "Mr. Moring" from R Thurston Hopkins "Life and Death at the Old Bailey" and Mary Kelly’s supposed poet friend. The English writer Robert Thurston Hopkins (1884-1958), 1935 book, “Life and Death at the Old Bailey,” has a relatively early account of the Ripper murders. It introduced an unknown suspect who was a poet.

It was an Old Bailey officer offered Hopkins information on the case. Although the officer is not named, his knowledge the murders was strong being, ‘on duty in the East End throughout the whole run of the murders.’ Hopkins gave a brief, but surprisingly accurate account of the crimes and looked at several suspects. He pressed the idea that the Ripper may have had surgical skill, before introducing a poet as Jack the Ripper. Even 46 years after the murders, Hopkins was not ready to give his suspect an actual name so he used the name ‘Mr Moring.’ The name might have something to do with Thompson. The volumes of poetry published in his lifetime were all decorated with rings on the front cover. Thompson’s grave has ‘more rings’ with a symbol of two that are carved entwined onto his tombstone.

Hopkins remarked that his poet’s appearance was the same as the man seen by George Hutchinson outside Miller’s Court in Whitechapel’s Dorset Street. Hutchinson was the last person to see Mary Kelly. Here is a section of Hopkins’s chapter on the Ripper detailing the poet and his friendship with Kelly,

‘One of Mary Kelly's friends was a poor devil-driven poet who often haunted the taverns around the East End. I will call him " Mr. Moring," but of course that was not his real name. Moring would often walk about all night and I had many long talks with him as together we paced the gloomy courts and alleys…He had black, lank hair and moustache, and the long, dark face of the typical bard…. Moring, who knew every opium den in the East End, although at that time they were not counted in with the sights of London, often gave himself up to long spells of opium smoking. "Alcohol for fools; opium for poets, was a phrase which recurred constantly in his talk. "To-morrow one dies," was his motto, and he would sometimes add " and who cares-will it stop the traffic on London Bridge?" After reading the above [George Hutchinson’s inquest testimony] statement I looked back on my memories of the wandering poet and curiously enough that description fitted him down to the ground! But I could not connect a man of such extraordinary gentleness committing such a dreadful series of outrages.’

Hopkins poet was might have Thompson, who was a long time user and addict to opium. A John Walsh, a biographer on Thompson, in his 1967 book, tells of Hopkins’ connection to this poet in his “Strange Harp, Strange Symphony the Life of Francis Thompson.” Thompson died in 1907. In 1927 Hopkins visited people and places associated with Thompson. Hopkins for example went to Panton Street, in London’s Haymarket District. While there he spoke with John McMaster a shoemaker, who had briefly taken Thompson off the streets. This was in 1886. McMaster hired Thompson to deliver boots and learn the trade, but later was forced to fire Thompson after he injured a customer. Hopkins recalled McMaster’s description of Thompson when he found him as a vagrant on London’s streets, ‘He was the very personification of ruin, tumble-down, dilapidated opium-haunted wreck.’ Hopkins included this information in his 1927 book, “This London - Its Taverns, Haunts And Memories.”

Not all of what Hopkins wrote about his poet friend matches Thompson. Hopkins said he was the son of a prosperous tradesman in the East End. Much of what he wrote he knew of the ripper does have some similarity to Thompson’s background. For example Hopkins starts his chapter on the crimes, in his “Shadowing The Shadow Of A Murderer,” with the idea that Ripper was motivated by religious fanaticism. This is of interest considering Thompson, was an obsessive religionist. Hopkins also thought the Ripper might have had surgical training and Thompson was medically trained.

Some writers have suggested the poet Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) was Hopkins’ friend, but Dowson, unlike his poet, wasn’t a drug addict. Hopkins tells us his “Moring” constantly would say, ‘Alcohol for fools; opium for poets’. This maxim is the opposite for Dowson, who was a drinker and not an opium user. Dowson died of alcohol poisoning. It does fit Thompson, who was an opium user and not a drinker. Thompson is said to have died from opium usage. Hopkins was only sixteen when Dowson died in 1900, though he was twenty-three when Thompson died in 1907. Of the two poets, it more likely Hopkins had time to strike up a friendship with Thompson, rather than with Dowson. Thompson might have stayed at Providence Row, in Whitechapel. This was a Catholic refuge at 50 Crispin Street, opposite the entrance to Dorset Street, where Mary Kelly was murdered. Kelly is said to have once found shelter at the same refuge. Limehouse, where Dowson lived, was about 6 kilometers away from her. Interestingly both Dowson and Thompson were associated with each other. Dowson was a member of the “Rhymers Club” a group of poets who would meet at each other’s home or more often at the Cheshire Cheese tavern in Fleet Street from 1891 to 1894. Members also include, W.B Yeats and Oscar Wilde. Francis Thompson once attended a meeting, where he encountered these poets and sat next to Dowson.

[Richard Patterson]

The Ripper Profiles of John Douglas and Dr. Thomas Bond applied to Francis Thompson.

Examining two profiles for what to look for in a suspect strengthens that Francis Thompson may be Jack the Ripper. These profiles come from two authorities on the subject, John Douglas and Dr. Thomas Bond. Douglas is a criminal psychology profiler and a former special agent with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Douglas has personally interviewed dozens of serial killers including David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper, Dennis Rader, and Richard Speck. In 1988, on the first centenary of the ripper murders, Douglas composed a detailed profile of Jack the Ripper. Our other profile is less detailed but is authentic to the ripper case. It comes from Dr. Bond, (1841–1901) who was a British surgeon and considered by some to be the first offender profiler. Bond was asked to examine the Ripper murders and he performed the autopsy on Mary Kelly, the last Ripper victim on November 9, 1888.

Here is a comparison of, Douglas’s profile of the Ripper and our suspect. All these facts on Thompson are common knowledge and well documented. The Profile says the ripper may have a physical abnormality. Thompson said he was denied entry into the army because of his small chest. His arms and legs were thin and his literary heir, Meynell, said he only had one lung. The profile says he was single, like Thompson. It said he had an aversion to blood, like Thompson who stated he hated the sight of flowing blood. It says he may have only had relationships with a prostitute and Thompson’s only relationship was with a prostitute. It said he was a local and so was Thompson. A biographer, John Walsh said the police might have interviewed Thompson for the murders but let him go. Douglas suggested the same thing for the ripper. Douglas told the ripper had knowledge of anatomy and may have had a job in the medical field. Thompson had trained as a surgeon for six years. Douglas described how the Ripper was absorbed in the ritual of the crimes. Thompson governed his life with ritual down to small detail. Thompson was loner and kept to himself, as too did the ripper in the Douglas’s profile. Douglas said the ripper would be in his mid to late twenties. Thompson was 27. He said the ripper would have a disheveled appearance. Thompson was widely described as appearing dingy and untidy. Douglas described the Ripper as nocturnal and known to cover large distances by foot. Thompson was a habitual long-range walker at night, often sleeping in until the late afternoon. Douglas thought the ripper would not have committed suicide and stopped murdering by being confined. After the murders, Thompson was placed in a far away male only country priory and went on to live twenty more years. These are just some of many more similarities between John Douglas’s profile and Thompson.

Here is Dr. Bond’s profile of the ripper compared to Francis Thompson. Bond wrote, ‘I think he must be in the habit of wearing a cloak or overcoat or he could hardly have escaped notice in the streets if the blood on his hands or clothes were visible’ Thompson was known for his insistence on wearing a long dark brown inverness style coat, in all weather. Bond said, ‘he would probably be solitary and eccentric in his habits,’ and as told in Douglas’s profile Thompson lived virtually as a hermit. Bond told that, ’also he is most likely to be a man without regular occupation, but with some small income or pension’ Thompson in 1888 was without regular employment and living homeless on the Street’s of London. His only income was cash given to him for the first publication of two poems and essays in a magazine, which was used to buy new clothes. Bond wrote that, ‘He is possibly living among respectable persons who have some knowledge of his character and habits and who may have grounds for suspicion that he is not quite right in his mind at times. Such persons would probably be unwilling to communicate suspicions to the Police for fear of trouble or notoriety, whereas if there were a prospect of reward it might overcome their scruples.’ Prior to 1888 Thompson had been largely homeless. His publisher and editor, Wilfrid Meynell, had taken Thompson into his home and offered to find him accommodation. Thompson rejected this offer telling him that he wished to remain on the streets to seek out a prostitute that had left him after a year-long relationship. When Meynell had published Thompson’s first poem in April 1888, he knew little about him, but by August 1888, when the murders began, Meynell had come to discover that Thompson had studied as a surgeon. He had also been given by Thompson a poem, which he never published, called the ‘Nightmare of the Witch Babies’ This poem was about a knight who wanders the land after dark hunting down women and disemboweling them with a knife. By the time the murders began, Meynell had already published Thompson’s poems, had him visit and bathe in his house and paid him to money to make him look respectable. Even if Meynell were possibly suspicious of Thompson he may have been afraid to approach the authorities.

As part of his profile Dr. Bond stated, ‘In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge’. This has led many people to discount the popular opinion that the Ripper may have been some sort of doctor. When Doctor Bond said the killer had no anatomical knowledge he was giving his opinion based on his experience. He spoke about what he knew and he didn’t know the Virchow technique. Thompson studied as a surgeon for 6 years at Owens Medical College in Manchester. His own sister remarked on what a number of bodies he was cutting up, when he borrowed money for extra cadavers. The Virchow technique was a new German dissecting process that had only been taught in England in Thompson's medical school, and not to Dr. Bond. Part of the technique required the removing of the each individual organ, such as the kidney, and treating them as separate entities and also the cutting through membranes to reach them. To someone untrained in this, like Bond, such mutilation of the body would appear insensible. With Thompson, Douglas is right in saying he worked in the medical field and Bond is right in saying he saw no medical technique.

Both profiles sometimes seem to contradict each other, until we apply them to Thompson, then they complement each other. Both profiles go for Thompson. When Douglas states that the ripper may have worked in the medical field, this was the case for Thompson, who studied surgery for 6 years, prior to moving to London. He then became destitute and without, as Bond told, ‘regular occupation’. This suspect also has a history of fire starting, mutilation themes in childhood and he carried a knife on him kept from his days as a medical student. These are other traits looked in for a serial killer and the Ripper by both the FBI and CID.

[Richard Patterson]

Thompson lived at the entrance to Dorset Street.

Francis Thompson was probably a less than a two-minute walk away from Mary Kelly when she was killed. He was living opposite the entrance to Dorset Street where Mary Kelly lived. Out of the whole three years Thompson was homeless, he could only ever stayed in Providence Row, from Thursday November 1 1888 till the 2nd Saturday, November 11. Within those 11 days, November 9, Mary Kelly was killed. Providence Row was less than 100 meters from the crime scene. At the start of January 1889, Thompson was placed in a country priory in Storrington. Immediately before this, Thompson was admitted for six weeks into a private sanitarium. For this to be possible he would have been admitted at the end of the 2nd week of November.

Already there has been much incidental evidence connecting him to the crimes. This includes motive, weapon, and skill. He had a hatred of prostitutes and wrote of murdering them. He was carrying a dissecting knife. He was an ex-over-qualified student surgeon with 6 years training. This and other secondary evidence had already been enough for professionals to stake their reputations on him being the murderer. This included the historian and biographer John Walsh to write in 1967 that Thompson may have been taken in for questioning on suspicion of being Jack the Ripper. Criminal Pathologist Dr. Joseph Rupp, wagered he was when, in 1988 he published his article, ‘Was Francis Thompson Jack the Ripper,’

Now we are able to establish that in the 1st half of November month, Thompson was staying at the Providence Row night refuge at 50 Crispin Street, Spitafields. This was opposite the entrance to Dorset Street, where Miller’s Court was situated. We know he stayed in Providence Row because it is confirmed by several sources. These include Thompson’s own admission and credible historians and biographers.

This refuge only opened in the colder months, from November until May with guests given a three-week stay. A guest could not enter unless two conditions were met. They had to be respectably dressed and they had to provide at least two references. In all the time Thompson was homeless, (1885-1888) only in November 1888, could he fulfill these conditions. For most of Thompson’s vagrancy, he was dressed in rags and could not have provided these references, having lost contact with family and friends.

The new suit would have come from money donated by Cannon Carroll. He was a family friend who seeing one of Thompson’s poems had been published, in April 1888, in the ‘Merry England’ magazine reestablished contact with him. There were also fee payments by the magazine’s editor, Wilfrid Meynell, during the 2nd half of 1888, who instructed Thompson to buy respectable clothes. In the years before the November 1888 refuge opening, he could not have stayed there. Only when it opened its doors in November 1888, could Thompson would have been able to fulfill the second condition of entry. This was the submission of two references. In the years 1885, 86 & 87 and up to May 1888, the end of the Providence Row operating season. Thompson, who had fled home, cut ties with family and friends and would not have been able to provide two trusted references. By the time the refuge reopened in November, he would have been able to provide references by Cannon Carroll the Wilfrid Meynell. Although founded as a non-sectarian charity, Providence Row a convent for the Sisters of Mercy who ran the refuge. In November, Thompson would have possessed references from a Catholic priest and, his employer who was the editor of a Catholic literary magazine & friend to the London Catholic Cardinal. The refuge would have accepted these two references without hesitation.

The only time he would have been able to fulfill entry requirements were when the refuge opened in November 1888. We also know that he could have stayed longer than two weeks, before being moved to a hospital and right after that to the country town of Storrington in Sussex.

This information is supported in the following sources: ‘Francis Thompson. The Preston-Born Poet’. By John Thomson.1912. ‘The Life of Francis Thompson’. By Everard Meynell. (Wilfrid’s son] 1913 & 1926. ‘Francis Thompson and Wilfrid Meynell, a Memoir.’ By Viola Meynell (Wilfrid’s Daughter.) 1952. ‘Francis Thompson Man and Poet’. J.C Reid. 1959. ‘Francis Thompson: A critical biography’. By Paul van K Thomson 1961. ‘Strange Harp, Strange Symphony the Life of Francis Thompson’. By John Evangelist Walsh. 1967 ‘Between Heaven and Charing Cross’. By Bridget M Boardman. 1988. All these books give either no date or state that Thompson first entered the Storrington priory at the start of 1889. None say that Thompson left London in 1888. None of them name or give dates of the private hospital that Wilfrid Meynell said he had Thompson placed in near the end of 1888. Thompson praised this Providence Row Night refuge in his last essay written in 1907, the year of his death, on ST. Ignatius. Historian John Walsh his biographer wrote that Thompson used it. Paul van K Thomson also wrote that he did. Thompson possibly wrote of this place when he wrote brief note to himself, ‘Mont. Williams workhouse. This workhouse has not been found on any record. Mont. Williams might have stood for the most influential supporter of Providence Row, Mr Montague Williams Q. He said of Providence Row, ‘There is no more Excellent institution…. The place is beautifully clean…. This institution, which is not nearly so well known as it deserves to be, is in the heart of Spitalfields.’ (From the article Later Leaves) Providence Row details come primarily from the Ripper Casebook. Personal research has included examining the archives at Boston College in, and archives in England, as well as visiting the site of the murders.

Patterson. Paradox. 2015.

[Scott Nelson]

Patterson. Paradox. 2015.

Great stuff in your above post, Richard, but what does this mean?

[Richard Patterson]

'Patterson. Paradox. 2015.'

Great stuff in your above post, Richard, but what does this mean?

Its only for my personal records. This little dissertation will make part of my non-fiction book. I use this to find it easily as a search term.

[Richard Patterson]

Thompson on November 9th.

On November 9 1888. On the night, that Mary Kelly was killed Francis Thompson was near. He had a knife. He knew how to cut up dead bodies. He had a history of childhood violence, arson and mutilation and showed a hatred of women. He had just broken up with his only girlfriend, a working prostitute, who was never seen alive again. An East Ender, George Hutchinson, was the last person to see Mary Kelly alive. He saw her walk down an alley to her room with a man that looked like Thompson. Hutchinson said, the man was no older than his 35. Thompson was 27, but even with a new suit, his years living rough had worn him down. The man with Kelly was about 167cms Thompson was almost 175, but stood with his shoulders hunched. Thompson matches Hutchinson’s description of the man having dark hair, and a heavy moustache. The same with the man’s attire, wearing a dark felt, a long dark coat, light waistcoat dark trousers, and a thick chain. Thompson, as did Hutchinson’s man, carried a small parcel with a kind of strap round it. Both descriptions of Thompson and the man were of respectable appearance that walked very sharp though softly. Thompson, for the last week was living in the Providence Row night refuge, opposite the entrance to the street that Kelly was killed. Hutchinson believed the man he saw lived in the area, and he had last seen him nearby a few days earlier.

[Wickerman]

Hi Richard.

Doesn't this description sound more like your suspect?

"He was about five feet seven inches high, wore a short jacket, over which he had a long top-coat. He had a black moustache, and wore a billycock hat.
He was very white in the face, and made every endeavor to prevent them looking him straight in the face. He carried a black bag."

[Richard Patterson]

Hi Richard.

Doesn't this description sound more like your suspect?

"He was about five feet seven inches high, wore a short jacket, over which he had a long top-coat. He had a black moustache, and wore a billycock hat.
He was very white in the face, and made every endeavor to prevent them looking him straight in the face. He carried a black bag."

Some. Long-top-coat, black moustache, very white in the face. Thompson carried a parcel, like a basket, that hung from a strap when it wasn't wrapped, but not a black bag. He did wear a billycock hat, but I am not sure when he started wearing one. Here is a portrayal of him that hangs in the Burns Library in Boston College. The height is probably close. My height of Thompson is a guess from a group photo where he stands with his contemporaries at Owens Medical College.

[GUT]

G'day Richard

This is the stuff that makes him interesting as a suspect, not imagery in poems and patterns in sites.

Good work.

I am still not sure though that it is certain he was living in the area at the time of MJK's death, and still have issues about his supposed hospitalisation in Oct Nov.