Worth a look?

[Herlock Sholmes]

As we have so many ‘suspects’ who were simply around at the time it doesn’t mean that we might not, at some point, have a huge piece of luck and look at one of these people and find something of interest.

For example, would we think someone worthy of further research who was…

A local man
Lived less than ½ mile from one of the murder site
37 at the time of the murders
Knew someone connected to one of the murders
Market Porter
Father a butcher
Died ‘insane’ in a workhouse in 1902

[John Wheat]

As we have so many ‘suspects’ who were simply around at the time it doesn’t mean that we might not, at some point, have a huge piece of luck and look at one of these people and find something of interest.

For example, would we think someone worthy of further research who was…

A local man
Lived less than ½ mile from one of the murder site
37 at the time of the murders
Knew someone connected to one of the murders
Market Porter
Father a butcher
Died ‘insane’ in a workhouse in 1902

Hi Herlock

I would say in terms of finding the Ripper this man would not be worth further research. Just because he lived less than half a mile from one of the murder site as so did many other people. Again a lot of other people would have known someone connected to the murders. Many people would have been Market Porters, many people would have had fathers who were butchers. Died 'insane' in a workhouse in 1902 is interesting but that's about it. 37 at the time of the murders actually to me sounds quite old. A doubt a serial killer would start at the age of 37. There would likely have been other murders before the Ripper murders for a suspect of 37. Overall I don't think there is anything remarkable about this man to suggest he could be the Ripper. I would suggest that generally people could be more discerning when looking at suspects.

Cheers John

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock

I would say in terms of finding the Ripper this man would not be worth further research. Just because he lived less than half a mile from one of the murder site as so did many other people. Again a lot of other people would have known someone connected to the murders. Many people would have been Market Porters, many people would have had fathers who were butchers. Died 'insane' in a workhouse in 1902 is interesting but that's about it. 37 at the time of the murders actually to me sounds quite old. A doubt a serial killer would start at the age of 37. There would likely have been other murders before the Ripper murders for a suspect of 37. Overall I don't think there is anything remarkable about this man to suggest he could be the Ripper. I would suggest that generally people could be more discerning when looking at suspects.

Cheers John

Hello John,

I certainly don’t disagree with your assessment but the point that I was really trying to make was that we have so many ‘suspects’ that it’s not too difficult to find one if you look. Just to be clear by the way….this is an actual person and not a hypothetical one.

This guys route to work made him pass one of the murder scenes close to the time of a murder. He also certainly had a connection to the events immediately after one of the murders. Now….what if further research found that he’d once threatened a woman with a knife…or that his mother was a prostitute…or that he associated with prostitutes?

The question for me would be - is there anything else that can be discovered about him which might raise an eyebrow?

Probably not…but you never know.

[The Rookie Detective]

Duplicate post

[John Wheat]

Hello John,

I certainly don’t disagree with your assessment but the point that I was really trying to make was that we have so many ‘suspects’ that it’s not too difficult to find one if you look. Just to be clear by the way….this is an actual person and not a hypothetical one.

This guys route to work made him pass one of the murder scenes close to the time of a murder. He also certainly had a connection to the events immediately after one of the murders. Now….what if further research found that he’d once threatened a woman with a knife…or that his mother was a prostitute…or that he associated with prostitutes?

The question for me would be - is there anything else that can be discovered about him which might raise an eyebrow?

Probably not…but you never know.

Hi Herlock

Yes I got what you were attempting to do. I agree that there would have to be something else eg that he'd once threatened a woman with a knife or that he associated with prostitutes.

Cheers John

[Abby Normal]

As we have so many ‘suspects’ who were simply around at the time it doesn’t mean that we might not, at some point, have a huge piece of luck and look at one of these people and find something of interest.

For example, would we think someone worthy of further research who was…

A local man
Lived less than ½ mile from one of the murder site
37 at the time of the murders
Knew someone connected to one of the murders
Market Porter
Father a butcher
Died ‘insane’ in a workhouse in 1902

yes. of course. who is this?

[Herlock Sholmes]

The man I was alluding to is Thomas Pearman.


John Richardson:

"I saw the body two or three minutes before the doctor came. A man in the market told me of the murder and I went to the adjoining yard and saw it from there. The man's name is Thomas Pearman and he told me there had been a murder in Hanbury Street, but he did not say that it was at my house."


This short bio was posted by Walter Crow on JtRForums today:

“I believe this is Thomas Pearman (born c. 1851) a porter who lived at 30 Hare Street (now Cheshire Street), Bethnal Green. His 0.5 mile walk to the the market would've taken him directly past 29 Hanbury Street. His father was a butcher. In July 1902, he was moved from London Hospital to Stepney Workhouse with cause of admission listed as insane where he died two days later.”


The objection that stands out of course is that Pearman (if guilty) would hardly have told Richardson about the murder before the body had been discovered by Davis but it could be suggested that he might have heard someone else talking about the murder at Hanbury Street which would have given him a legitimate reason for telling a coworker whose mother lived in that street? Might Richardson even have mentioned that number 29 was sometimes where prostitutes took their clients?