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Hi all,
Here is one of the last 'public' references to Tumblety as a Ripper suspect until he was rediscovered by Stewart Evans in the 1990s. Joe Chetcuti informed me that Robert published this eight years ago. It is true that Tumblety was discussed in 1920 in Recollections of a Police Magistrate" by Colonel George T Denison, but there was no reference to him being a Ripper suspect:
Evening Star, April 15, 1907
CARDINAL IS A LEGATEE.
Will Get $10,000 for Charity Left by Dr. Francis T. Tumilty.
ROCHESTER, N. Y., April 15.- The will of Dr. Francis T. Tumilty will soon be admitted to probate, owing to the death of Michael Fitzsimmons, one of the contestants. Dr. Tumilty died in St. Louis in 1904. At that time he was supposed to be a pauper. He was found dead in the grounds of a hospital in that city. When he was first taken ill he sent for Attorney T. D. Cannon and his will was drawn. He left property amounting to $200,000.
The beneficiaries of the will are Mrs. Thomas Brady of Liverpool, England, a niece; Mrs. Jane Haynes, Vallejo, Cal., a sister; Mrs. Patrick Barrett and Mary Fitzsimmons of this city, nieces, $10,000; Mark A. Blackburn, formerly coachman and valet to Dr. Tumilty, $5,000, and Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, $10,000 each for charitable purposes.
Tumilty started life as a newsboy in Rochester, and then entered the employ of a physician as office boy. He picked up a smattering of medical lore, and then disappeared from the city. He became a quack doctor and made money rapidly. He traveled all over this country, and was well known in the large cities. In Washington, Tumilty said, he held a commission as colonel in the United States army and that he was attached to the staff of Gen. McClellan. He was seen everywhere-at the War, Navy and State departments-and men high in the service of the government appeared to be pleased to acknowledge his acquaintance. He said he had served under the King of Prussia and the King of Italy and in most of the leading hospitals of England and the continent, and that the medals with which his coat was adorned had been conferred upon him by grateful sovereigns. But the day of exposure came, and Tumilty could not stand the storm of ridicule raised against him in Washington.
He next appeared in St. Louis, but later returned to Washington, where, it is said, he was arrested for complicity in the plot to assassinate Lincoln. It was said that Harold, who was convicted on the charge of being a confederate of Booth in the assassination and was hanged, had been Tumilty’s valet, but this the doctor always denied.
Tumilty became an object of international interest during the Whitechapel murders, a little more than twenty years ago. It will be remembered that the killings were marked by certain features that led to Tumilty’s arrest. One of his hobbies was to collect certain anatomical specimens of female organs, and this, together with his well-known attitude toward women, became known to the Scotland Yard officers. Sufficient evidence to convict was not secured, and he was eventually released. An effort was made to arrest him on another charge, but he disappeared, and when next seen was on this side of the Atlantic.
From ostentation he passed to the diametrically opposite side of the scale, and instead of a prodigal spender of money he became miserly in habit. At the time his body was found in the yard of the small hospital where he had been a patient it was believed by those connected with the institution that he was penniless and an object of charity. Instead, his check was good for $130,000, and he possessed diamonds, it is said, valued at that time at $25,000.
Sincerely,
Mike
Here is one of the last 'public' references to Tumblety as a Ripper suspect until he was rediscovered by Stewart Evans in the 1990s. Joe Chetcuti informed me that Robert published this eight years ago. It is true that Tumblety was discussed in 1920 in Recollections of a Police Magistrate" by Colonel George T Denison, but there was no reference to him being a Ripper suspect:
Evening Star, April 15, 1907
CARDINAL IS A LEGATEE.
Will Get $10,000 for Charity Left by Dr. Francis T. Tumilty.
ROCHESTER, N. Y., April 15.- The will of Dr. Francis T. Tumilty will soon be admitted to probate, owing to the death of Michael Fitzsimmons, one of the contestants. Dr. Tumilty died in St. Louis in 1904. At that time he was supposed to be a pauper. He was found dead in the grounds of a hospital in that city. When he was first taken ill he sent for Attorney T. D. Cannon and his will was drawn. He left property amounting to $200,000.
The beneficiaries of the will are Mrs. Thomas Brady of Liverpool, England, a niece; Mrs. Jane Haynes, Vallejo, Cal., a sister; Mrs. Patrick Barrett and Mary Fitzsimmons of this city, nieces, $10,000; Mark A. Blackburn, formerly coachman and valet to Dr. Tumilty, $5,000, and Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, $10,000 each for charitable purposes.
Tumilty started life as a newsboy in Rochester, and then entered the employ of a physician as office boy. He picked up a smattering of medical lore, and then disappeared from the city. He became a quack doctor and made money rapidly. He traveled all over this country, and was well known in the large cities. In Washington, Tumilty said, he held a commission as colonel in the United States army and that he was attached to the staff of Gen. McClellan. He was seen everywhere-at the War, Navy and State departments-and men high in the service of the government appeared to be pleased to acknowledge his acquaintance. He said he had served under the King of Prussia and the King of Italy and in most of the leading hospitals of England and the continent, and that the medals with which his coat was adorned had been conferred upon him by grateful sovereigns. But the day of exposure came, and Tumilty could not stand the storm of ridicule raised against him in Washington.
He next appeared in St. Louis, but later returned to Washington, where, it is said, he was arrested for complicity in the plot to assassinate Lincoln. It was said that Harold, who was convicted on the charge of being a confederate of Booth in the assassination and was hanged, had been Tumilty’s valet, but this the doctor always denied.
Tumilty became an object of international interest during the Whitechapel murders, a little more than twenty years ago. It will be remembered that the killings were marked by certain features that led to Tumilty’s arrest. One of his hobbies was to collect certain anatomical specimens of female organs, and this, together with his well-known attitude toward women, became known to the Scotland Yard officers. Sufficient evidence to convict was not secured, and he was eventually released. An effort was made to arrest him on another charge, but he disappeared, and when next seen was on this side of the Atlantic.
From ostentation he passed to the diametrically opposite side of the scale, and instead of a prodigal spender of money he became miserly in habit. At the time his body was found in the yard of the small hospital where he had been a patient it was believed by those connected with the institution that he was penniless and an object of charity. Instead, his check was good for $130,000, and he possessed diamonds, it is said, valued at that time at $25,000.
Sincerely,
Mike
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