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I found something interesting today while researching the Elizabeth Stride case about the fruiterer, Matthew Packer and a possible link to the likely fictional book 'Autobiography of Jack the Ripper.'
For those of you who might not know about the book, it was published from a manuscript found in the possession of Sydney George Hulme Beaman. The manuscript was supposedly written by the 'real' murderer, a man calling himself James Carnac, which is actually a false name in itself. The manuscript is about his own life before, during and after the murders and although it's likely to be fiction the macabre humour and style of writing makes me think that it is unusual and could maybe be more than meets the eye.
Anyways, during the book he describes an unusual incident happening after the murder of Liz Stride. He talks about buying grapes from a fruitierer and bumping into him on one of the days after the murder. The fruiterer, likely Matthew Packer, grew suspicious of Carnac and followed him until he lost sight of him and sent a boy to continue following him. He, Carnac, then says he quickly jumped aboard a tram and made his escape.
This leads me back to an article I found today in the South Wales Echo (October 31, 1888)
Here is the passage;
'A statement by Matthew Packer, who kept a fruit stall near the scene of the Berner Street murder, and from whom the murderer is believed to have bought some grapes for the unfortunate woman Elisabeth Stride, shortly before her murder. He says that he saw the man last Saturday night, standing near his fruit stall and looking at him in a menacing manner. Parker states that, being alarmed, he asked a shoeblack standing near to watch the man, who, however then ran off and jumped upon a passing tramcar, and Packed could not leave his stall to follow him.
This newspaper statement by Packer looks similar to that described in the late 1920's by Carnac, the alleged murderer.
What do you think about this link. Was this newspaper account widely available for anybody to find or was it relatively obscure?
Thanks, Sleuth.
For those of you who might not know about the book, it was published from a manuscript found in the possession of Sydney George Hulme Beaman. The manuscript was supposedly written by the 'real' murderer, a man calling himself James Carnac, which is actually a false name in itself. The manuscript is about his own life before, during and after the murders and although it's likely to be fiction the macabre humour and style of writing makes me think that it is unusual and could maybe be more than meets the eye.
Anyways, during the book he describes an unusual incident happening after the murder of Liz Stride. He talks about buying grapes from a fruitierer and bumping into him on one of the days after the murder. The fruiterer, likely Matthew Packer, grew suspicious of Carnac and followed him until he lost sight of him and sent a boy to continue following him. He, Carnac, then says he quickly jumped aboard a tram and made his escape.
This leads me back to an article I found today in the South Wales Echo (October 31, 1888)
Here is the passage;
'A statement by Matthew Packer, who kept a fruit stall near the scene of the Berner Street murder, and from whom the murderer is believed to have bought some grapes for the unfortunate woman Elisabeth Stride, shortly before her murder. He says that he saw the man last Saturday night, standing near his fruit stall and looking at him in a menacing manner. Parker states that, being alarmed, he asked a shoeblack standing near to watch the man, who, however then ran off and jumped upon a passing tramcar, and Packed could not leave his stall to follow him.
This newspaper statement by Packer looks similar to that described in the late 1920's by Carnac, the alleged murderer.
What do you think about this link. Was this newspaper account widely available for anybody to find or was it relatively obscure?
Thanks, Sleuth.
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