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I came across this from 'The Dundee Courier & Argus' from Wednesday 26 December 1888. I had to transcribe it as the original copy is poor and parts practically unreadable. I don't think there is anything that isn't known already but just in case.
THE DUNDEE COURIER & ARGUS
Wednesday 26 December 1888
IS THIS THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERER!
AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSONAGE.
A man calling himself Dr Tumblety was arrested some time ago in London on suspicion of being concerned in the perpetration of the Whitechapel murders. The police, being unable to procure the necessary evidence against him in connection therewith, decided to hold him for trial for another offence against a statute which was passed shortly after the publication in the Pall Mall Gazette of “The Maiden Tribune.” and as a direct consequence thereof Dr Tumblety was committed for trial and liberated on bail, two gentlemen coming forward to act as bondsmen in the amount of £300. The last seen of him was at Havre, and it is taken for granted that he has sailed for New York. The man is declared by U.S. papers to be well known for his eccentricities. William P. Burr, of 320 Broadway, speaking of the man, said :- “The English authorities, who are no telegraphing for samples of his writing from San Francisco, ought to get them in any city in Europe. I had a big batch of letters sent by him to the young man Lyon, and they were the most amusing farrago of illiterate nonsense. Here is one written from the West. He never failed to warn his correspondent against lewd women, and in doing it used the most shocking language. I do not know how he made his money. My own idea of the Whitechapel case is that it would be just such a thing as Tumblety would be concerned in; but he might get one of his victims to do the work, for once he had a young man under his control he seemed to be able to do anything with the victim.” Col. C. A. Dunham, a well known lawyer, who lives near Fairview, N.J., was intimately acquainted with Tumblety for many years, and in his own mind had long connected him with the Whitechapel horror. “The man’s real name,” said the lawyer, “is Tumblety. With Francis for a Christian name. I have here a book published by him a number of years ago, describing some of his strange adventures and wonderful cures - all lies, of course - in which the name ‘Francis Tumblety. M.D..’ appears. When, to my knowledge of the man’s history, his idiosyncracies, his revolting practice, his antipathy to women (and especially to fallen women), his anatomical museum, containing many specimens like those carved from the Whitechapel victims - when, to my knowledge on these subjects, there added the fact of his arrest on suspicion of being the murderer, there appears to me nothing improbable in the suggestion that Tumblety is the culprit. He is not a doctor. A more arrant charlatan and quack never fastened on the hopes and fears of afflicted humanity. I first made the fellow’s acquaintance a few days after the first battle of Bull Run. The fellow was everywhere. I never saw anything so nearly approaching ubiquity. Go where you would, to any of the hotels, to the War Department or the Navy Yard, you were sure to find the ‘doctor.’ He had no business in either place, but he went there to impress the officers whom he would meet. He professed to have had an extensive experience in European hospitals and armies, and claimed to have diplomas from the foremost medical colleges of the Old World and the New. At length it was whispered about that he was an adventurer. One day my Lieutenant Colonel and myself accepted the ‘doctor’s’ invitation to a late dinner - symposium, he called it - at his room. He had very cosy and tastefully furnished quarters in, I believe, H, Street. Some one asked why he had not invited any women to his dinner. His face instantly became as black as a thunder cloud. He had a pack of cards in his hand, but he laid them down and said, almost savagely - No, Colonel, I don’t know any such cattle, and if I did, I would, as your friend, sooner give you a dose of quick poison than take you into such danger. He then broke into a homily on the sin and folly of dissipation, fiercely denounced all women, and especially fallen women. Then he invited us into his office, where he illustrated his lecture, so to speak. One side of the room was entirely occupied with cases, outwardly resembling wardrobes. When the doors were opened quite a museum was revealed - tiers of shelves with glass jars and cases, some round and others square, filled with all sorts of anatomical specimens. The ‘doctor’ placed on the table a dozen or more jars containing as he said the matrices of every class of woman. Nearly a half of one of these cases was occupied exclusively with these specimens. Not long after this the ‘doctor’ was in my room when my Lieutenant Colonel came in and commenced expatiating on the charms of a certain woman. In a moment almost the ‘doctor’ was lecturing him and denouncing women. When he was asked why he hated women, he said that when quite a young man he fell desperately in love with a pretty girl, rather his senior, who promised to reciprocate his affection. After a brief courtship he married her. The honeymoon was not over when he noticed a disposition on the part of his wife to flirt with other men. He remonstrated, she kissed him, called him a dear jealous fool - and he believed her. Happening one day to pass a cab through the worst part of town, he saw his wife and a man enter a gloomy-looking house. Then he learned that before her marriage his wife had been an inmate of that and many similar houses. Then he gave up all womankind. Shortly after telling this story the ‘doctor’s’ real character became known, and he shipped away to St Louis, where he was arrested for wearing the uniform of an army surgeon. Tumblety would do almost anything under heaven for notoriety, and, although his notoriety in Washington was of a kind to turn people from him, it brought some to him.”
THE DUNDEE COURIER & ARGUS
Wednesday 26 December 1888
IS THIS THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERER!
AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSONAGE.
A man calling himself Dr Tumblety was arrested some time ago in London on suspicion of being concerned in the perpetration of the Whitechapel murders. The police, being unable to procure the necessary evidence against him in connection therewith, decided to hold him for trial for another offence against a statute which was passed shortly after the publication in the Pall Mall Gazette of “The Maiden Tribune.” and as a direct consequence thereof Dr Tumblety was committed for trial and liberated on bail, two gentlemen coming forward to act as bondsmen in the amount of £300. The last seen of him was at Havre, and it is taken for granted that he has sailed for New York. The man is declared by U.S. papers to be well known for his eccentricities. William P. Burr, of 320 Broadway, speaking of the man, said :- “The English authorities, who are no telegraphing for samples of his writing from San Francisco, ought to get them in any city in Europe. I had a big batch of letters sent by him to the young man Lyon, and they were the most amusing farrago of illiterate nonsense. Here is one written from the West. He never failed to warn his correspondent against lewd women, and in doing it used the most shocking language. I do not know how he made his money. My own idea of the Whitechapel case is that it would be just such a thing as Tumblety would be concerned in; but he might get one of his victims to do the work, for once he had a young man under his control he seemed to be able to do anything with the victim.” Col. C. A. Dunham, a well known lawyer, who lives near Fairview, N.J., was intimately acquainted with Tumblety for many years, and in his own mind had long connected him with the Whitechapel horror. “The man’s real name,” said the lawyer, “is Tumblety. With Francis for a Christian name. I have here a book published by him a number of years ago, describing some of his strange adventures and wonderful cures - all lies, of course - in which the name ‘Francis Tumblety. M.D..’ appears. When, to my knowledge of the man’s history, his idiosyncracies, his revolting practice, his antipathy to women (and especially to fallen women), his anatomical museum, containing many specimens like those carved from the Whitechapel victims - when, to my knowledge on these subjects, there added the fact of his arrest on suspicion of being the murderer, there appears to me nothing improbable in the suggestion that Tumblety is the culprit. He is not a doctor. A more arrant charlatan and quack never fastened on the hopes and fears of afflicted humanity. I first made the fellow’s acquaintance a few days after the first battle of Bull Run. The fellow was everywhere. I never saw anything so nearly approaching ubiquity. Go where you would, to any of the hotels, to the War Department or the Navy Yard, you were sure to find the ‘doctor.’ He had no business in either place, but he went there to impress the officers whom he would meet. He professed to have had an extensive experience in European hospitals and armies, and claimed to have diplomas from the foremost medical colleges of the Old World and the New. At length it was whispered about that he was an adventurer. One day my Lieutenant Colonel and myself accepted the ‘doctor’s’ invitation to a late dinner - symposium, he called it - at his room. He had very cosy and tastefully furnished quarters in, I believe, H, Street. Some one asked why he had not invited any women to his dinner. His face instantly became as black as a thunder cloud. He had a pack of cards in his hand, but he laid them down and said, almost savagely - No, Colonel, I don’t know any such cattle, and if I did, I would, as your friend, sooner give you a dose of quick poison than take you into such danger. He then broke into a homily on the sin and folly of dissipation, fiercely denounced all women, and especially fallen women. Then he invited us into his office, where he illustrated his lecture, so to speak. One side of the room was entirely occupied with cases, outwardly resembling wardrobes. When the doors were opened quite a museum was revealed - tiers of shelves with glass jars and cases, some round and others square, filled with all sorts of anatomical specimens. The ‘doctor’ placed on the table a dozen or more jars containing as he said the matrices of every class of woman. Nearly a half of one of these cases was occupied exclusively with these specimens. Not long after this the ‘doctor’ was in my room when my Lieutenant Colonel came in and commenced expatiating on the charms of a certain woman. In a moment almost the ‘doctor’ was lecturing him and denouncing women. When he was asked why he hated women, he said that when quite a young man he fell desperately in love with a pretty girl, rather his senior, who promised to reciprocate his affection. After a brief courtship he married her. The honeymoon was not over when he noticed a disposition on the part of his wife to flirt with other men. He remonstrated, she kissed him, called him a dear jealous fool - and he believed her. Happening one day to pass a cab through the worst part of town, he saw his wife and a man enter a gloomy-looking house. Then he learned that before her marriage his wife had been an inmate of that and many similar houses. Then he gave up all womankind. Shortly after telling this story the ‘doctor’s’ real character became known, and he shipped away to St Louis, where he was arrested for wearing the uniform of an army surgeon. Tumblety would do almost anything under heaven for notoriety, and, although his notoriety in Washington was of a kind to turn people from him, it brought some to him.”
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