Scotland Yard's Suspicion

[mklhawley]

Hi all,

Beginning with the very first account of Tumblety’s arrest on November 18, 1888, newspapers began to report that -according to a London cable- he was arrested ‘on suspicion’ of being implicated in the Whitechapel murders. His November 16 payment of bail at Marlborough Street Court seems to have made the press aware of Tumblety’s arrest.

Few newspapers commented upon what caused Scotland Yard’s suspicion, and merely go into Scotland Yard re-arresting him for what we now know of as ‘gross indecency’. So, what was the suspicion that caused them to arrest Tumblety for the Whitechapel murders in the first place?

I have found a couple of accounts that actually did report what the suspicion was. My plan is to use this thread to compile these suspicions, so if anyone finds any others, please add them.

Sincerely,
Mike


New York Sun, 25 Nov 1888
ASTOUNDING MURDERS. "Jack the Ripper" Not Alone in History.
(P.7)… An American doctor named Twomblety is now held because he is an erratic character (1), and because one theory is that some American medical institution wants specimens of the female uterus (2), which it happens that Jack the Ripper often takes from the bodies of his victims. It has been thought that Jack is a…

The Evening World, December 3, 1888
DR. TWOMBLETY IN TOWN. He Arrives on La Bretagne, and Is Traced to Tenth Street.
Dr. Francis Twomblety, the eccentric American physician who was arrested in London suspected of the Whitechapel murders… Men who were well acquainted with Twomblety during his life in this city and in Brooklyn say that they did not know by what right he assumed the title M.D. Reasons which led some of them to believe that Twomblety is the fiend who so successfully eluded the London police are that the “Doctor” had an inveterate hatred for women (3) and kept an anatomical museum in which portions of human bodies similar to those cut from the Whitechapel victims predominated (4). The London police are anxiously searching for samples of his handwriting to compare with that of “Jack the Ripper.”

New York Tribune, December 4, 1888
DR. TUMBLETY ARRIVES IN NEW-YORK.
DETECTIVES KEEPING THEIR EYE ON HIM-HIS ARREST IN LONDON HAS EXCITED PEOPLE HERE SOMEWHAT.
Doctor Francis Tumblety, or, as is known in England, Twomblety, is in New-York. He was arrested on suspicion of being implicated in the Whitechapel butcheries... He has been charged with a fondness for collecting anatomical specimens (4), and this has made his connection with the Whitechapel atrocities appear probable. It is a fact that after he was discharged for lack of evidence from the accusation of being implicated in the Whitechapel horrors he was re-arrested in London for a violation of the “Maiden Tribute” act, and released under 500 pounds bail. He “jumped” his bail and came to America…


Bucks County Gazette, 13 December 1888
…He calls himself "Doctor Francis Tumblety," and though the oddity of the name suggests that it is assumed, he has been called by it ever since he was first known in America, though the Rochester witnesses think it was there spelled Twombletey (sic). His "herb doctoring" finally became unprofitable in America; so he went to London, located near the Whitechapel road and for a while did a big business. His oddity of manner, dress and speech soon made him notorious as the "American doctor"; but he enjoyed notoriety and turned it into money, till the Whitechapel horrors caused a general overhauling of suspicious characters (1)… He talked a great deal about the butcheries, dropped mysterious hints (5) and was arrested…

Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 27 November 1888
A few years ago the pimple-banishing enterprise was moved to London, where the doctor for a time is said to have made money. It was his queer method of spending his money which first attracted the Scotland Yard detectives to him, and after a slight investigation (6) he was arrested, the idea being that if he were not the Whitechapel fiend, he is a dangerous character, and is not entitled to his liberty.

Littlechild letter to Sims, 1913
I never heard of a Dr D. in connection with the Whitechapel murders but amongst the suspects, and to my mind a very likely one, was a Dr. T. (which sounds much like D.) He was an American quack named Tumblety and was at one time a frequent visitor to London and on these occasions constantly brought under the notice of police, there being a large dossier concerning him at Scotland Yard. Although a 'Sycopathia Sexualis' subject he was not known as a 'Sadist' (which the murderer unquestionably was) but his feelings toward women were remarkable and bitter in the extreme, a fact on record (3)
.

[mklhawley]

Here is a possible ‘negation’ of a reason:

Brooklyn Citizen, November 23, 1888
Superintendent Campbell [of Brooklyn] received a cable dispatch yesterday from Mr. Anderson, the deputy chief of the London Police, asking him to make some inquiries about Francis Tumblety… Tumblety was arrested in London some weeks ago as the supposed Whitechapel murderer. Since his incarceration in prison he has boasted of how he had succeeded in baffling the police.

The boasting may have caused additional interest, but this was clearly after his initial arrest.

[mklhawley]

Here’s another:

The San Francisco Examiner, November 23, 1888
Talking of the affair yesterday [Chief Crowley] said: “There may be more in the arrest that was at first supposed. This man Tumblety is evidently a crank (1). His course with the bank here does not indicate that he was a man of good business instincts, and in New York his behavior was that of a man who had no liking for women (3).”

Crowley’s first statement suggests that his initial information about Tumblety being a Scotland Yard Ripper suspect did not explain their reason for suspecting Tumblety and that a later correspondence clarified it, which made him reconsider Scotland Yard’s assessment to the affirmative. Whatever the explanation was to him, it made Crowley believe Tumblety was both a crank and that his ‘behavior’ demonstrated his ‘no liking for women’.

[mklhawley]

This one comes from Tumblety himself:

New York World January 29, 1889, HE WORE A BIG SLOUCH HAT
Dr. Francis Tumblety, the celebrated Whitechapel suspect, after two months silence has given his version of why he was accused of being Jack the Ripper. He says it was owing to the stupidity of the London Police, who arrested him because he was an American and wore a slouch hat (7). He is preparing a pamphlet defending himself and giving a history of his life…
"My arrest came about this way," said he. "I had been going over to England for a long time-ever since 1869, indeed-and I used to go about the city a great deal until every part of it became familiar to me. I happened to be there when these Whitechapel murders attracted the attention of the whole world, and, in the company with thousands of other people, I went down to the Whitechapel district. I was not dressed in a way to attract attention, I thought, though it afterwards turned out that I did. I was interested by the excitement and the crowds and the queer scenes and sights, and did not know that all the time I was being followed by English detectives."
"Why did they follow you?"
"My guilt was very plain to the English mind. Someone had said that Jack the Ripper was an American, and everybody believed that statement. Then it is the universal belief among the lower classes that all Americans wear slouch hats; therefore, Jack the Ripper, must wear a slouch hat. Now, I happened to have on a slouch hat, and this, together with the fact that I was an American, was enough for the police. It established my guilt beyond any question."



Before we say that Tumblety made this reason up from thin air, note the article in The San Francisco Chronicle, 18 November 1888 and the New York World on the same day (the very first time we see a reference to Tumblety in a US paper, but as ‘Kumblety’):

The San Francisco Chronicle, 18 November, 1888, GOSSIP OF LONDON.
A Heavy Swell Arrested in Whitechapel. A Score of Prisoners, but No Clew.
[THE NEW YORK WORLD CABLE SERVICE; COPYRIGHTED, 1888 - SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE]
LONDON, November 17.
...That was the case with Sir George Arthur of the Price of Wales set. He put on an old shooting coat and a slouch hat and went to Whitechapel for a little fun. He got it. It occurred to two policemen that Sir George answered very much to the popular description of Jack the Ripper.
Another arrest was a man who gave the name of Dr. Kumblety of New York…
A score of other men have been arrested by the police this week on suspicion of being the murderer…

It looks like that at the time Tumblety was arrested in early November; the police were ‘on the lookout’ for lone males wearing an American slouch hat.

Sincerely,
Mike

[Simon Wood]

Hi Mike,

Tumblety was no slouch when it came to appropriating other people's stories.

Regards,

Simon

[mklhawley]

Hi Simon,

I like your Sir George Arthur theory, but I'm only half on board with it. It does not take into account the timing of Tumblety's arrest and police looking for lone wolves wearing a slouch hat. The article comments upon multitudes of 'suspicious' characters being arrested -at that time- and Tumblety was one of them. If indeed he was arrested for being a suspicious character on the streets, then the other reasons just don't make sense...yet. Now, once they realized who they had by checking his pockets and seeing the letters, then the other reasons took on a whole new agenda.

Sincerely,

Mike

[Simon Wood]

Hi Mike,

Tumblety was arrested on 7th November 1888.

When did the Sir George Arthur incident take place?

And where is it written that the police were looking for lone wolves wearing slouch hats?

Regards,

Simon

[Hunter]

The press were known to spread around several descriptions of 'suspects' that were not necessarily those that the police really considered important... The infamous black bag also comes to mind and a sketch offered by the DT in October that was later renounced by SY.

The police went by actual witness descriptions and the behavior of certain individuals brought to their attention.

The legend of Jack the Ripper was beginning to take shape even before the series of murders was complete... thanks to the press to a substantial degree.

Press reports are interesting, and sometimes a nugget of relative importance can be found in them, but one has to approach them with caution.

In evaluating any evidence or historical document, always consider the source, the surrounding issues and personalities that influenced them, and the implications that may lie within them.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Hunter,

The press was to blame?

If your analysis is correct, then it astonishes me that the local police/Scotland Yard/Home Office did absolutely nothing to allay people's fears by correcting the wealth of apparently unsubstantiated stories doing the rounds in the press.

Regards,

Simon

[Bridewell]

Hi Hunter,

The press was to blame?

If your analysis is correct, then it astonishes me that the local police/Scotland Yard/Home Office did absolutely nothing to allay people's fears by correcting the wealth of apparently unsubstantiated stories doing the rounds in the press.

Regards,

Simon

Hi Simon,

How would they do so? The only mass communication medium was the press, wasn't it?

Regards, Bridewell.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Bridewell,

How would who do what?

If you mean the cops issuing a corrective, all they had to do was publish an official statement/press communique.

They weren't exactly being held hostage to fortune.

Regards,

Simon

[Phil Carter]

Hello Bridewell,

If one simply changed COULDN'T do anythěng to WOULDN'T do anything, what does that tell you?
How many times have police all through time immormorial DELIBERATELY said 'No Comment'?
Itr not unusual for the police to cover their own posteria- and even more to let things go because they are in the best interests of the police!

It would certainly be in tandem with X Amount of senior policemen all put out conflicting theories-much like what the press did.
Deny and confuse. You know that as well as I do.

'if a descendant of Judas Iscariot was traced his life woulm be in danger'
the example of how a Special Branch officer explained why informants names should remain secret in perpetuity. Deny and confuse.

the case papers were 'burnt' 'thrown away''purloined' 'lost' 'bombed out during the blitz' the last example is not exactly believable now that we know that the City Police regard ALL case material is regarded as THEIR ownership! Apparently the public has no right to material that the Met were instructed to hand over to the National Archives!

One final example- in the Original Tribunal concerning the Special Branch Ledgers (before Trevor Marriott took up the baton) the Police gave, I believe, 27 reasons why the ledgers should NOT be made public- including that it would cost too much to photocopy and gave an outrageous copying estimate! 26 of the 27 'reasons' were roundly dismissed by the Tribunal!
Deny and confuse. Its been going on for donkeys years.

The police knew in 1888 the press were doing their job for them. After that they individually picked up the baton to line their pockets when writing their 'version'. Some didnt even do that-just a newpaaper quote.Its a game those old retired policemen played with the public.

MacNAGTHEN, ANDERSON, GRIFFITHS, SMITH, DEW, ABBERLINE, SWANSON (7 MURDERS)- nobody agreed. Why? Deny and confuse. And peogle have been jumping on the bandwagon ever since.
One doesnt have to be a policeman to see the obvious.
Pardon my cynicism. Its age. No personal offence meant to any former or serving high ranking policemen or women here..

Best wishes

Phil

[mklhawley]

The press were known to spread around several descriptions of 'suspects' that were not necessarily those that the police really considered important... The infamous black bag also comes to mind and a sketch offered by the DT in October that was later renounced by SY.

The police went by actual witness descriptions and the behavior of certain individuals brought to their attention.

The legend of Jack the Ripper was beginning to take shape even before the series of murders was complete... thanks to the press to a substantial degree.

Press reports are interesting, and sometimes a nugget of relative importance can be found in them, but one has to approach them with caution.

In evaluating any evidence or historical document, always consider the source, the surrounding issues and personalities that influenced them, and the implications that may lie within them.

Hi Hunter,

The following articles clearly point out the ‘American Slouch Hat’ theory started relatively early in the investigation. Some of the reporters’ material seems to come from police, the fact that they arrested a suspect wearing an American slouch hat, and even an actual eyewitness description of a soft felt ‘Yankee hat’, certainly challenges your points.


The San Francisco Chronicle, 18 November, 1888, GOSSIP OF LONDON.
A Heavy Swell Arrested in Whitechapel. A Score of Prisoners, but No Clew.
[THE NEW YORK WORLD CABLE SERVICE; COPYRIGHTED, 1888 - SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE]
LONDON, November 17.
...That was the case with Sir George Arthur of the Price of Wales set. He put on an old shooting coat and a slouch hat and went to Whitechapel for a little fun. He got it. It occurred to two policemen that Sir George answered very much to the popular description of Jack the Ripper.


The Evening World, October 2, 1888.
Horror-Stricken.
[Special Cable to the Evening World]
London, Oct. 2 – The London police are still working at random in the Whitechapel cases. No arrests have yet been made this morning, tough it is not at all unlikely that a half a dozen suspicious characters maybe taken into custody before night, as was done yesterday… With this indefinite and aimless policy on the part of the police, it is hard to tell whether any real detective work is being done. The detention of Fitzgerald, the hauling up of the poor German who quarreled with a woman he had met by chance and the late seizure of the mysterious gentleman with the “American hat” are proceedings which have only gone to strengthen the discredit with which the populace regards the police efficiency in this emergency.
The curious disposition to connect the crimes with an American has been carried to an absurd extreme. “An American hat,” “an American medical student,” an American…


The Sun, January 13, 1889.
LATEST NEWS FROM EUROPE.
London, Jan. 12 – It is sad to have to say so, but murder in its most unattractive shape is becoming positively fashionable in this island… The Whitechapel murderer’s exploits were promptly and universally credited to some foreigner –an American preferred- on the ground that the slaughter of defenceless (sic) women was incompatible with the noble instincts of Englishmen; but this characteristically British theory has been damaged by the readiness which the Englishman has shown to imitate Whitechapel methods, and the American-with-the-low-hat theory is being gradually abandoned…



The Saturday Budget, October 6, 1888.
MORE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS.
A man was arrested at midnight last night on suspicion of having committed the horrible murder in Whitechapel. He is a tall man with dark beard and wore an American slouch hat, by which he was traced from the locality of the latest murder...


Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 10 November 1888
London's Reign of Terror.
The assassin of Whitechapel has claimed his ninth victim, having planned and executed his latest crime with all the deliberation and cunning that characterized his former exploits…It has been said among other things that the assassin is an American, because he wears a slouch hat…

Georg Hutchinson watched Mary Jane Kelly with a suspicious man in Commercial St late Friday night, November 9, 1888. His description:
"dress long, dark coat, collar and cuffs trimmed astracan [sic] and a dark jacket under, light waistcoat, dark trousers, dark felt hat turned down in the middle…

"Matthew Packer keeps a shop in Berner St. has a few grapes in window, black & white.

On Sat night about 11pm a young man from 25-30 - about 5.7 with long black coat buttoned up -soft felt hat, kind of yankee hat …


The Echo, October 29, 1888
The various districts are being patrolled by extra constables, and their zeal has lead them into several excesses, notably, an arrest of three young men made on Thursday night in Berner-street. The police, according to a morning contemporary, have so much in mind the vague stories of an American perpetrator of the dastardly crimes that any person in a wide-a-wake or soft felt hat becomes an object of suspicion. A comic singer was unfortunate enough during a professional visit on Thursday to Whitechapel to wear one of these hats; and when during the interval he …


The Sun, October 2, 1888, LONDON’S GREAT SCARE
LONDON, Oct. 1. – There is no real news about the Whitechapel women-killing mystery,… This original theory appears to be based principally upon the fact that some poor wretch dragged from his lodging house on suspicion in the middle of last night and released at once was described by his fellow lodgers as an uneasy gentleman with an American hat. What may be the Whitechapel lodgers’ precise conception of our national headgear it would be difficult to say –probably a modified form of the sombrero made popular by Buffalo Bill.


Simon, I would love to find out when Sir George Arthur’s arrest was. Maybe they were cellmates for an evening!

Sincerely,
Mike

[mklhawley]

Hi Mike,

Tumblety was arrested on 7th November 1888.

Greetings all,

In another thread, I argue that the London source on Tumblety being arrested for the Whitechapel murders came from a reporter stationed at the Marlborough Street Court and when Tumblety finally posted bail on the 16th of November for gross indecency, the reporter received inside information by 'The police'. Evidence to support this was the fact that the reporter was told the factoid of Tumblety carrying letters of important people.

If true, then he was arrested for being a suspicious character BEFORE he was arrested for gross indecency. The court calendar below clearly shows he was initially placed in custody for gross indecency on November 7th:



Why does November 7th deal with gross indecency and not 'on suspicion for the Whitechapel murders'? -because that's what the indictment was all about. Since the case against Tumblety for being suspected of the Whitechapel murders was temporarily stopped, there would have been no reason to put the arrest in the court calendar.

Since the London source was clear that Tumblety was arrested for the Whitechapel murders PRIOR to the gross indecency arrest, then this arrest occurred on the 7th of November or earlier -even in October.

Lots more...

Sincerely,

Mike

[mklhawley]

Greetings all,

This was in the Star, November 19, 1888. I put it on this thread because of the references to Irish Americans, and the contemporary Ripper theory of carrying a 'black bag' (medical type), black mustache, wideawake hat, and an American:

A "Unionist" Theory.

We are on the track of the murderer at last! No one will be surprised to hear that all those who ought to know - police, journalists, doctors, and the rest - are on a false scent. It has been reserved for a lowly Scotch "Meenister" to evolve the truly new and the newly true theory from his inspired cranium. "The


EMISSARIES OF THE IRISH-AMERICAN SECRET SOCIETIES,"

says this ingenious scribe, "were thwarted in all their efforts to terrorise London with dynamite, &c., but no one who knows their creed and aims is likely to believe that they have abandoned their fiendish schemes. May it not be possible that one of their most dare-devil agents has taken this plan to annoy and engross the Metropolis? By waging war on a class of practically helpless and unknown waifs, he is more likely to accomplish his work with impunity, needing only the inevitable knife, which can be easily concealed." This worth Scotch cleric considers the fact that "Jack the Ripper" carries a black bag, wears a black moustache and a wideawake hat (if it be a fact), suspicious, and triumphantly declares that there are several Americanisms in the letters attributed to him. Here is some ground for Warren's successor to work on, and if he wants the name of the author of the theory the editor of the (of course) Unionist Scotsman will no doubt give it him.

Sincerely,

Mike