Release Date for Kosminski Documentary

[Elamarna]

Kosminski was returned to his brother's house in July 1890 after a 3-day stint in the workhouse. Approximately 7 months later he's returned to the workhouse. Seven months is a long time, hardly the "very short time" Swanson tells us he was watched. If the City CID were watching him by day and night all that time, the costs would have been considerable -- and the surveillance wasn't even within city police jurisdiction.

Somebody else whose name was reported to the police as "Kosminski" makes better sense.

The problem of course Scott is "very short time" is entirely subjective.
For some it may mean a few days, or weeks. For others it can mean months.

A pity Swanson was not more pricise.

Steve

[Elamarna]

I'm guessing fear of civil unrest would apply to who ever the suspect was, Jewish or not especially when you consider the outrage of it all at the time, but I doubt if unrest would have actually happened in reality.
Having said that, the excuse given for wiping off the Graffito doesn't hold true with me, it feels either like an act in the minute of acting without thinking first, and then realising what he had done, or he knew more than he was letting on.
I also think that if the Police truly believed they had finally got the killer, they wouldnt have held back letting the press and public know, especially when you consider the absolute criticism and negativity all this had caused them.

The result of letting the press know would be the public and press demanding a prosecution.
And of course hints were made to the press that the killer was known, and shall we say taken care of, by Anderson, Sims , and Swanson, from approx the mid 1890s onwards.

With regards to the possibility of public unrest aimed at the Jewish community, yes it may not have happened, but there was a perceived threat. Have you read East End 1888, by Fishman, if not it's essential I suggest to understand the feelings in and towards the Jewish communities. There was not a single community, there were several, the long established, largely anglised one, from Western Europe, and New ones, from Cental and Eastern Europe.

Steve

[Elamarna]

If Schwartz was Anderson's witness, and Kosminski was the identified suspect, does it necessarily follow that Kosminski murdered anyone other than Stride? The theory that Stride's murderer was interrupted before he could proceed with his mutilation fits her up as a ripper victim, but she doesn't really fit Jack's M.O..

This of course was what Martin Fido suggested in his Ripperologist article "Rethinking Cohen and Kosminski ".
We will disagree she doesn't Fit Jack's M.O. George. That is an interesting discussion in itself.

Steve

[Sunny Delight]

The problem of course Scott is "very short time" is entirely subjective.
For some it may mean a few days, or weeks. For others it can mean months.

A pity Swanson was not more pricise.

Steve

Swanson was also writing nearly 30 years after the event. 7 months in that context may have felt like a very short space of time.

[Duran duren]

Swanson was also writing nearly 30 years after the event. 7 months in that context may have felt like a very short space of time.

Very true...

[Scott Nelson]

Then, of course, the alleged identification could have occurred in late January 1891, followed by a return to the brother's house where Kosminski was watched for only a few days before being returned to the workhouse on February 4th. This scenario was favored by Phil Sugden, except he didn't specify the identification timeframe. All this assumes Aaron Kosminski was the person Swanson described in the Marginalia.

But Aaron didn't die soon after entering Colney Hatch. David Cohen (whose European surname could have been Kosminski) was the only foreign-born Jew who was insane and sent to Colney Hatch soon after the murders ended (with Kelly). He lived only 10 months after he entered the asylum.

If there was no confusion between two different men as Martin Fido's theory originally postulated, it still needs to be explained how, if the police knew his name was Kosminski, they allowed him to be confined under an alternate name.

'Cohen' was a common Jewish name in London at the time and it blended in better than the dozen or so 'Kosminski' families listed in the 1891 London census. If the actual last name Kosminski with his suspect status had leaked out, it could have meant reprisals on those few Kosminski families. Harder to retaliate against thousands of Cohen families. It was better to have a more "English' sounding last name with no suspect status notes in the records.

[The Rookie Detective]

Then, of course, the alleged identification could have occurred in late January 1891, followed by a return to the brother's house where Kosminski was watched for only a few days before being returned to the workhouse on February 4th. This scenario was favored by Phil Sugden, except he didn't specify the identification timeframe. All this assumes Aaron Kosminski was the person Swanson described in the Marginalia.

But Aaron didn't die soon after entering Colney Hatch. David Cohen (whose European surname could have been Kosminski) was the only foreign-born Jew who was insane and sent to Colney Hatch soon after the murders ended (with Kelly). He lived only 10 months after he entered the asylum.

If there was no confusion between two different men as Martin Fido's theory originally postulated, it still needs to be explained how, if the police knew his name was Kosminski, they allowed him to be confined under an alternate name.

'Cohen' was a common Jewish name in London at the time and it blended in better than the dozen or so 'Kosminski' families listed in the 1891 London census. If the actual last name Kosminski with his suspect status had leaked out, it could have meant reprisals on those few Kosminski families. Harder to retaliate against thousands of Cohen families. It was better to have a more "English' sounding last name with no suspect status notes in the records.

Brilliant post Scott, well said.