Why Ada?

[Ben]

Hi Fisherman,

Your suggestion that the killer could have been a previous client or someone who she may have entertained seems reasonable to me, though of course such a person could easily have been the later "Ripper". I'm less convinced that it was someone she knew intimately by name, such as a pimp. Such was the severity of the attack - clearly demonstrating an intent to kill - that I can't envisage Ada failing to report him to the authorities, especially if there was every chance he could return to finish the job.

She was stabbed in the throat, yes – but my contention is that the Rippers only interest in the throat area was of a practical character, and a priority only because the vocal chords and carotid arteries are situated there

Again, that seems very reasonable, although it's worth bearing in mind that we don't know how much additional "knife-work" was intended by her attacker, who was undoubtedly interrupted by the screams of Wilson and possibly the hurrying footsteps of Rose Bierman from upstairs.

She lived in Maidman road, and thus in Fleming´s home arena. But that was a trait she shared with thousands and thousands of other women.

Not just his home area. It was also a stone's throw away from the location of his earlier crime, committed when he was 14 years old, where he was observed loitering outside the crime scene prior to his attempted break in. He would have been 29 years old and 5'7 at the time of the Wilson attack, which tallies well with the description of her attacker...which in turn tallies well with the more reliable eyewitness descriptions to have emerged from the Whitechapel investigation. I'm not suggesting that eyewitness congruity is persuasive in isolation, but the case becomes much more so when taken in conjuction with the other details pertaining to Fleming.

We don't know for certain that the killer had any criminal experience prior to the "Ripper" spree but I'd be incredibly surprised. Very rarely do serial offenders begin their criminal career with mutilation and evisceration, and it's even more rare to encounter a serial killer with a ready-polished MO with they act out to perfection first time.

You see, to connect Wilson to the Ripper, we simply must accept that the underlying urge WAS there, and that THIS would have led him to choose a knife

And I accept that 100%.

In fact, I don't see it as remotely possible that a man who by August 1888 was committing 'orrible murder and mutilations on women in the streets could not have had knife-related fantasies just five months earlier. Most serial killers' fantasies build up over far longer periods of time, and is rarely something they decide to do on the spur of a moment - never having given any previous thought to murder.

Now, Millwood – way ahead of Wilson when it comes to viability to my mind!

No, I wouldn't agree with that either. I'd say they were about equal. Millwood certainly has the location in her favour, but she didn't suffer any attacks to the throat and we don't know how physically compatible her attacker was with other descriptions, as we know Wilson's was.

Best regards,
Ben

[Fisherman]

Ben writes:

"If the attacker was known to known to Ada, I'd be rather surprised if she didn't name him directly given the severity of the attack. If anything, a familiarity with the lock may hint at lock-familiarity on a more general basis, which in turn could indicate an experienced criminal, or at least one accustomed to locks and fiddling with them."

Reasonable, of course - but we are still left with a variety of possibilities. He could have been someone who had been entertained by Ada at a number of occasions - but not often enough for her to know his name.
There is also the distinct possibility that she DID know that name, along with a knowledge that it would have been distinctly unhealthy to reveal it. Like I said in my earlier post, he could have been her pimp, just to exemplify.

”Firstly, we don't know if the ripper was possessed of an urge to procure organs from his victims at that stage, and secondly, his intention may well have been to kill rather the wound. It may well have been a botched job which failed on account of his inexperience, plus the fact that Wilson's screams would have put paid to any further designs he had upon the body. We simply don't know that any eviseration was intended, and even if none was, it wouldn't make her any less of a compelling candidate for an early offence by Jack the Ripper.”

This is of course correct – we know not if the urge was there on the Rippers behalf as yet. But it is just as true to state that we have as little knowledge whether he would resort to killing at that stage.
I think that there are demands of all sorts of stretches involved before we should start talking about Wilson as a Ripper strike.
She may have been a prostitute, yes – but that only goes to show that she had placed herself in a danger zone, inhabited and visited by heaps of potential dangermen and killers.
She was stabbed in the throat, yes – but my contention is that the Rippers only interest in the throat area was of a practical character, and a priority only because the vocal chords and carotid arteries are situated there. If they had been placed in the underarm, my guess is that he had cut that first.
She lived in Maidman road, and thus in Fleming´s home arena. But that was a trait she shared with thousands and thousands of other women.

Still, as I have admitted, you put forward a case that is not unreasonable. But the problem is that if we are to accept that the Ripper may not have had any Ripperish urges at the time of the attack, then how are we to know what to look for? There is no knowing, is there? We can not even be sure that Jack would have been occupied in any criminal activities at all, just as we can not tell whether he would have chosen violent activities if he did decide on a life of crime.

And if the urge was not there, he would not have to arm himself with a knife, would he? A club would have been just as likely a choice for a man who had no urges to eviscerate at all.
You see, to connect Wilson to the Ripper, we simply must accept that the underlying urge WAS there, and that THIS would have led him to choose a knife, and that his stab to the neck would evince an interest to cut throats, etcetera, etcetera. Just carrying a knife is not enough, since assailants with knives came thirteen per dozen in the area – we need a suspicion of an underlying urge to cut women up. And the only way to get to that station is to travel by guesswork.

Now, Millwood – that is another thing altogether: stabs to the lower abdomen and the legs. She is infinitely more credible as an early Ripper victim than Wilson. Not that I count her as Jack´s, since I don´t think there is enough to it in this case either. But she is way, way ahead of Wilson when it comes to viability to my mind!

The best, Ben!
Fisherman

[Uncle Jack]

The conflicting views on the events by Ada herself and Rose Bierman are really interesting. As pointed out by Fisherman, Bierman never actually stated what time she saw Ada return to the lodging house and how much time there was until midnight. If the time was, lets say, around 8pm that would surely rule out that the man was Ada's attacker. If it was around 11:45pm, we maybe looking at the possibility that the punter attacked her. I think the statement by Bierman, in my opinion, always comes across as though she is trying to state that Ada was an unfortunate, by suggesting, in so many words, that Ada is "always bringing different strange men" back to her room.

Am I right in presuming that Ada lived in one of many rooms in the same house. From the illustration of the attack we have it appears to me that Ada lived on the ground floor and the attacker was seen to leave the actual main door (therefore, not Ada's door). I would suggest personally that a person would not have to be accostomed to regularly coming and going from the location to know how to exit the door. Maybe the door wasn't even locked - and even if it was, it only takes a fraction of a second to lift a catch, unless it was something very complicated but I imagine this isn't the case. I do personally see Ada's attack as an early attempt by the Ripper but it seems slightly different to the other attacks. I think that the Ripper may have actually had sex with Ada before he attacked her as he was leaving. It was probably his intention to attack/kill her before but he gave into a sexual urge. As he was leaving he became violent and then stabbed her. Thats how I see it anyhow! Lol

Best regards,

Adam

[Ben]

Hi Fisherman!

If so, we are not speaking about the random punter, but instead about somebody who probably knew Wilson and her lodgings. A pimp, perhaps, unsatisfied by her takings?

If the attacker was known to known to Ada, I'd be rather surprised if she didn't name him directly given the severity of the attack. If anything, a familiarity with the lock may hint at lock-familiarity on a more general basis, which in turn could indicate an experienced criminal, or at least one accustomed to locks and fiddling with them.

In consequence with this, I think it must be asked if a man with an inner urge to procure organs from the abdominal cavity, and developing a method to extremely swiftly allow for this urge to be satisfied, would not kill instead of wound?

Firstly, we don't know if the ripper was possessed of an urge to procure organs from his victims at that stage, and secondly, his intention may well have been to kill rather the wound. It may well have been a botched job which failed on account of his inexperience, plus the fact that Wilson's screams would have put paid to any further designs he had upon the body. We simply don't know that any eviseration was intended, and even if none was, it wouldn't make her any less of a compelling candidate for an early offence by Jack the Ripper.

Best regards,
Ben

[Fisherman]

Ada Wilson - at the time of the Ripper deeds not weighed into the calculations by anybody, it would seem - is often thrown forward as a possible "warming-up" victim of Jacks.

The possibility that she may have prostituted herself is an obvious one, as can be read between the lines in quite an emphatic manner in Rose Biermanns testimony. It goes like this:

"Last evening she came into the house accompanied by a male companion, but whether he was her husband or not I could not say. She has often had visitors to see her, but I have rarely seen them myself, as Mrs. Wilson lives in the front room, her bedroom being just at the back, adjoining the parlour. My mother and I occupy two rooms upstairs. Well, I don't know who the young man was, but about midnight I heard the most terrible screams one can imagine. Running downstairs I saw Mrs. Wilson, partially dressed, wringing her hands and crying, 'Stop that man for cutting my throat! He has stabbed me!' She then fell fainting in the passage."

Ada Wilson´s own account of what happened is a different one. She says that she answered a knock at the door, only to find a man outside demanding money. Not getting that money, he produced a clasp knife and stabbed Wilson in the throat, and made good his escape. Says Wilson, that is.

Was Ada Wilson covering up the fact that she was a prostitute, providing the assailant with a metamorphosis from punter to robber?

To begin with, are we certain that the man Rose Biermann claims accompanied Wilson into her house "in the evening", was the same man that stabbed her at midnight? In the passage I quoted I feel that it is implied but not substantiated.
Do we know how much time that passed inbetween the two events; coming home and getting stabbed? Was the man a casual punter?

Rose Biermann says something that may give a clue:
”I saw all that as I was coming downstairs, but as soon as I commenced to descend I noticed a young fair man rush to the front door and let himself out. He did not seem somehow to unfasten the catch as if he had been accustomed to do so before.”

What catch? Is it a lock mechanism Biermann speaks of? And is she saying that the man seemed accustomed to handling the lock in Wilson´s house? If so, we are not speaking about the random punter, but instead about somebody who probably knew Wilson and her lodgings. A pimp, perhaps, unsatisfied by her takings?

What the Ripper establishes somewhere along the line is the ability to subdue and kill, blitz-style. There is no need to accept that he would have reached that ability at the time of the Wilson attack, but we do know that his urges took him there eventually.
In consequence with this, I think it must be asked if a man with an inner urge to procure organs from the abdominal cavity, and developing a method to extremely swiftly allow for this urge to be satisfied, would not kill instead of wound?
To me, the Wilson attack does not seem to have been the prelude to an evisceration at all. Nor does it evince any interest in the abdomen. In short, I see one interesting detail, and one only, when it comes to Wilson: she may well have been a prostitute. But although it is a factor that cannot be looked away from, it is also a factor that shows us that Wilson led a vulnerable life, as any prostitute does. I think that any fair guess tells us that the average prostitute of the day was subjected to violence at occasions, and that quite a lot of them would have seen knifes drawn in threatening situations.

The best,
Fisherman