New Suspect : John Henry GOHEE

[Joolz]

Does any one know of a chap named John Henry Gohee ? I have found an article in Portsmouth Evening News dated Friday 8th March 1889 . Headline :

FIVE YEARS FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER . London Friday . - At The Old Bailey , today John Henry GOHEE , 33 , was found guilty of wounding Elizabeth Pyne , an East End prostitute , with intent to murder her , on the 7th January , by cutting her throat with a razor . He was sentenced to five years penal servitude .

Has anyone covered this person ?

[Robert]

Hi Joolz

There's a mention here :

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=24189

It seems he was born in India and was a ship steward, unmarried, and died at Parkhurst in 1891. Name probably "Guhee."

[Joolz]

Has Guhee been dismissed as JTR

Thanks for that . I found the account of the trial . The victim [ whose surname is Payne ] states " I did not know my throat was cut till I felt him put his fingers in and pull the flesh down—he was kneeling on me then " .

In the Stride case Dr Bagster Phillips states that :
" Over both shoulders, especially the right, and under the collarbone and in front of the chest there was a bluish discoloration, which I have watched and have seen on two occasions since "

Is it possible that JTR knelt on his victims ?

Has this man Guhee been dismissed as JTR ?

[Phil Carter]

Hi joolz,

With the greatest respect..there is an awfully long way to go from this to JTR.
It would have to he shown that he was in Berner St... and even then..had any sort of contact with anyone at the time etc...and that is just one..cut throat murder..Stride.
Disembowelling takes on another problem. Why would he, three years later..go back to simply cutting of the throat?


Phil

[Pinkerton]

candidacy

While the attack WAS on an east-end prostitute not long after the last attack on MJK, the attack took place in Limehouse and this was where the suspect lived as well. This would have been slightly out of the area of attack on on the C5. Also the suspect and victim were said to have been involved romantically for three months. This of course doesn't rule anything out but the case would be different in many ways to previous attack victims.

Having said this, he would make a better suspect than MANY of the proposed suspects some have put forward. He did attack a prostitute, on the east-end, during a time period that was not long after the attacks of the C5. Many proposed suspects have little to no criminal record, no known association with prostitutes, or were not know to be anywhere near the east end...And despite what many may think viscous attacks on prostitutes were not that common during the period. I have only cataloged a dozen or so of them over a 20 year period.

[Paddy]

Hi Joolz.

Many papers around 11th Jan 1889 ran the story. At first it was thought she would not survive. It said he was a ships steward from New Delhi and that he had been staying with Rose Payne for a few weeks. She had the previous week thrown him out of there for trashing the room. She then found him back in her room uninvited and they had an arguement. He said he was afraid and feared someone was after him so he must stay. He also said that they argued because she said bad things to him and called him bad names.
I would think that this would discount him as JTR as Jack's MO did not include staying with them first and then murdering them in an arguement as far as is known.
I cant find any record of him coming into the country though and it appears he died in Parkhurst Prison in December 1891.
Interesting though !

Pat..

[Joolz]

Thank you

I am new here and it's just great to be able to speak to others who share your interest and thank you all for responding .

I do agree that the MO leaves a lot to be desired ... yet Elizabeth Stride's injuries tie in ; Stride was one of the canonical five . Both sustained bruising to shoulder area - could JTR have kneeled on his victims ? as Mr Guhee is stated as doing to Miss Payne .

When did the force step down the amount of police on the streets ? Was it December 1888 or January 1889 ? If January 1889 then this would tie in with John Henry Guhee being arrested on 7th January 1889 for trying to murder Payne .

It is mentioned in various places that JTR was placed in a lunatic asylum . . . Parkhurst Prison on The Isle of Wight was where this man ended his days .

From 1886 due to over crowding at Broadmoor , a part of Parkhurst Prison was designated as an asylum for the criminally insane; the Yorkshire ripper was placed there in 1981 . Perfect place as well because if he escaped he would be on an island , making it easier to catch him

If Mr Guhee is from India , some of the witnesses stated that JTR was ' foreign ' .

Just as an afterthought , Could Mr Guhee be in fact a Mr John Henry [ both English names ] Ghee ?

I am rather confused in some cases the Mo states that JTR would have been married and in other statements they say he would have been a loner . Lechmere was married , Kosminski was a loner .

Your ideas on this would be appreciated or if you can point me to a thread that would be great .

[Robert]

Hi Joolz

The thing is, Guhee is not listed as a lunatic in the 1891 census.

[Joolz]

In 1886 Parkhurst started taking lunatics to ease the load from Broadmoor yet when I read through the whole of Parkhurst census of 1891 not one is labelled ' insane ' , they all have the word ' convict ' .
I do agree that there is a lot against Guhee being JTR but a suspect , is a suspect - I feel a little like Crown Prosecution Service trying to build a case which keeps falling over

[CertainSum1]

...And despite what many may think viscous attacks on prostitutes were not that common during the period. I have only cataloged a dozen or so of them over a 20 year period.

I wonder if they typically didn't report to the police, even if they needed medical attention.

[Ausgirl]

I wonder if they typically didn't report to the police, even if they needed medical attention.

It's like that even now, so I imagine it would have been worse, there and then.