How Could Jack Have Learned That Eddowes Knew His Identity?

[Scott Nelson]

Dave, you have yet to explain how Sutton got her body from #6 Mitre Street to the corner of Mitre Square.

[DJA]

Unless the Ripper was a relative or someone close to her?

RD

Her doctor of over twenty years?

[Holmes' Idiot Brother]

Hi c.d.

Like you, I don't have any evidence that supports that Catherine Eddowes knew the identity of the murderer. But there is evidence that supports that she told at least one person that she did have this knowledge. Maybe she told a great number of people for attention. I don't think she was killed as a result of this, but if we want to speculate it could be that Jack heard that she knew the murderer's identity through word of mouth even though no name was mentioned. And even if she didn't know his identity, saying she did could have made her a target - though even as I type this I think it highly unlikely.

I am in agreement with you that it is indeed highly unlikely that Eddowes knew anything pertinent regarding the Ripper. People will often use braggadocio to blow themselves up in the eyes of others, and the Ripper was on everyone's tongues at the time. However, if both Stride and Eddowes were killed to silence them, then we must deal with the presumption that the Ripper knew exactly where these women were at the exact time, dispatched them within an hour's time, and quickly made his escape. I find this strains credulity to its limits.

[DJA]

Mary Ann Nichols
Mortuary photograph of Mary Ann Nichols.


Born Mary Ann Walker on August 26, 1845 in Dawes Court, Shoe Lane, off Fleet Street.

[DJA]

Unless the Ripper was a relative or someone close to her?


The question is; who claims that Eddowes stated that she knew the killer?

Other than Eddowes herself; where does that source come from?


If it's just a statement made in the press, then it's clearly nonsense. But if there's another source; ergo, a policeman; then the validity of such a claim warrants a more measured approach and the claim shouldn't be completely discounted.


RD

They reached London on Friday, September 28. John managed to earn 6d. Kate took 2d and told Kelly to take the 4d and get a bed at Cooney's. She said she would get a bed at the casual ward in Shoe Lane.

The superintendent of the casual ward said that Kate was well known there, but that this was the first time she had been there for a long time. Eddowes explained that she had been hopping in the country but "I have come back to earn the reward offered for the apprehension of the Whitechapel murderer. I think I know him." The superintendent warned her to be careful he didn't murder her. "Oh, no fear of that." she replied. (There is no corroborative evidence for this story and it should be treated with a great deal of scepticism.)




Friday 28th Sept. 1888 Shoe Lane Casual Ward

04-20-2008, 11:58 AM



According to a report in the East London Observer of 13th October 1888, Kate,the day after she returned from hopping in Kent, told the Superintendent of Shoe Lane Casual Ward,where she had often stayed before going,that she had come back to get the reward for catching the Ripper.She said she thought she knew him.
Now Kate parted from John Kelly at 2pm on Saturday 29th, the following day.John Kelly later claimed she told him she was going to her daughters in Bermondsey to try to cadge money, but in my opinion they must both have known, full well, that her daughter had moved -to avoid her mother pestering her for money.In fact she had moved several times in the previous two years, so I doubt very much she said this to him.
I wonder what she actually told him she was going to do?
Six hours later she was found drunk and disorderly in The High Street,Aldgate-not five minutes from where she had left John Kelly in Houndsditch.
She was carted off to Bishopsgate Police Station,let out at 1.00am and apparently was last seen turning towards Houndsditch,presumably making her way back to Houndsditch, Aldgate.
What was the big attraction for her there?Why Aldgate?And what was she doing with herself those six hours from 2pm until 8.30 pm when PC Robinson collared her?
Its easy to say she was soliciting but she wasnt arrested for that---nor was she a woman known for that.-[Frederick William Wilkinson, deputy of Cooney"s Lodging House].also -see The Times 5 October 1888.Coroners Inquests [L]1888,no 135,Corporation of London Records Office.

Courtesy of Natalie Severn.

[Enigma]

Addendum: the supposition depends on the unlikely case that Eddowes ever claimed she knew JtR's identity and named him, and she was correct in her accusation. If either the claim she knew never happened, or if she did claim to know and the identity was wrong then there's the end of it.

[Enigma]

1) If Eddowes ever made such claim that she knew the Ripper's identity, it sounds to more braggadocio than factual.
2) If she really did know who JtR was it is inconceivable she would allow herself to be drawn into a situation where they would be isolated together.
3) If she had identified JtR and he was intent of silencing her, the chances of him encountering her in the brief period after she was released from the police cells - the time of release being unknown beforehand - is improbable.

As RD says, WHO has made the claim she knew who the killer was.

Regards, Gazza

[The Rookie Detective]

Unless the Ripper was a relative or someone close to her?


The question is; who claims that Eddowes stated that she knew the killer?

Other than Eddowes herself; where does that source come from?


If it's just a statement made in the press, then it's clearly nonsense. But if there's another source; ergo, a policeman; then the validity of such a claim warrants a more measured approach and the claim shouldn't be completely discounted.


RD

[Fiver]

The police admit they received lots of accusations from members of the public who 'knew' who the killer was, or thought they knew.
Most, if not all, were a waste of their time. In the same way this theory is a waste of 'our' time.

Agreed. If Eddowes knew who the Ripper was, she never would have agreed to meet him alone.

[Wickerman]

......I don't have any evidence that supports that Catherine Eddowes knew the identity of the murderer. But there is evidence that supports that she told at least one person that she did have this knowledge. Maybe she told a great number of people for attention...

The police admit they received lots of accusations from members of the public who 'knew' who the killer was, or thought they knew.
Most, if not all, were a waste of their time. In the same way this theory is a waste of 'our' time.

[Wickerman]

The nose/snitch/warning theory.

c.d.

I think that is just vivid imaginations by modern theorists.

[etenguy]

I personally don't think that Eddowes actually knew Jack's identity. But if she had been fairly certain she knew this would be valuable information. Wouldn't she have wanted to keep that to herself so no one else could claim the reward? So how does Jack hear of this? I suppose she could have mentioned a name to her friends and Jack might have overheard their conversation in a pub. Would she have been so foolish as to actually confront Jack with her allegation? Seems highly doubtful.

So how did Jack learn of this?

c.d.

Hi c.d.

Like you, I don't have any evidence that supports that Catherine Eddowes knew the identity of the murderer. But there is evidence that supports that she told at least one person that she did have this knowledge. Maybe she told a great number of people for attention. I don't think she was killed as a result of this, but if we want to speculate it could be that Jack heard that she knew the murderer's identity through word of mouth even though no name was mentioned. And even if she didn't know his identity, saying she did could have made her a target - though even as I type this I think it highly unlikely.

[c.d.]

Eddowes, right?
I'm still wondering where the idea came from that Jack knew about this.

The nose/snitch/warning theory.

c.d.

[Wickerman]

Eddowes, right?
I'm still wondering where the idea came from that Jack knew about this.

[c.d.]

Looks like I forgot to add that this is all based on the assumption that Stride was killed to keep her from going to the police. And that whole nose/snitch business.

c.d.