Is He In The Mix?

[C. F. Leon]

Hi Juniper.

If Abberline knew who the Ripper was, wouldn't that mean that either the Ripper was George Chapman or Abberline was being dishonest in saying that he thought it was Chapman?

Or perhaps he changed his mind at some point.

I've always suspected that Abberline was possibly being sarcastic when he said "You've caught Jack the Ripper at last!" in reference to Chapman. (Or whatever the EXACT quote was.)

Do we have any sort of idea as to just how MANY people that the Police (BOTH City & Met) interviewed in the 18 months or whatever that the case was active?

[Lewis C]

Or perhaps he changed his mind at some point.

I've always suspected that Abberline was possibly being sarcastic when he said "You've caught Jack the Ripper at last!" in reference to Chapman. (Or whatever the EXACT quote was.)

Do we have any sort of idea as to just how MANY people that the Police (BOTH City & Met) interviewed in the 18 months or whatever that the case was active?

I'm figuring that if Abberline knew who the Ripper was, he would have gotten that knowledge sometime prior to 1902.

In addition to that quote, there is Abberline's statement in the Pall Mall Gazette. See pp. 450-454 of Sugden.

I don't know the answer to your question.

[Holmes' Idiot Brother]

There was a documentary program years ago (the name of which escapes me) where the one detective/profiler put forth one of the mortuary attendants as his candidate for the Ripper. He did some digging and it appears that the suspect he named had quite an unpleasant upbringing and women were not his favorite people. I seem to recall that he lived in or near Flower & Dean Street and so did some of the victims at one time or another, which suggests that he knew them and vice versa and would have no reason to fear him. I curse my aging memory for not coming up with the title! If anyone knows, please drop me a line here. Regardless, he was known to police, but only in his professional capacity. I find it intriguing the idea that the Ripper may have been someone right under their very noses.