Walter Dew's account......

[The Station Cat]

Have just started reading Walter Dew's account of his involvement in the Ripper murders, I must say it's very interesting reading and well worth a read. If only more officers had written about it too

[Wickerman]

Have just started reading Walter Dew's account of his involvement in the Ripper murders, I must say it's very interesting reading and well worth a read. If only more officers had written about it too

If Dew's account had been written directly after his involvement it may have been more valuable. As it stands there are two many years in between the events and the publication, which likely explains the numerous errors.

[GUT]

If Dew's account had been written directly after his involvement it may have been more valuable. As it stands there are two many years in between the events and the publication, which likely explains the numerous errors.

Yep. Nowhere near contemporary.

[The Station Cat]

Well I enjoyed it and it's one of only a few written that give an incite into what it was like for the police during this period. I don't believe it should be so easily dismissed.


I also found it interesting that he was more drawn not to WHO the Ripper was but HOW he operated with seemingly impunity. Especially on the night of the supposed event.


I was particularly interested in his opinion that Stride wasn't a Ripper victim and the Goulston graffiti was nothing to do with the Ripper. Opinion's that I share, but was unaware that someone directly involved had the same thoughts.

[Mayerling]

Dew I think began his "literary career" after he became an international figure by his pursuing and capturing Dr. Hawley Crippen. In fact his memoirs is entitled "I Caught Crippen". But whatever merits he had as a police detective (one realizes he got to the title of "Inspector Walter Dew") he never was considered one of the leading figures at the Yard like "The Big Four" (which included Frederick Carlin, Arthur Neil (the Detective on the "Brides in the Bath Case") and Frederick Wensley), or Elias Bower, who handled the "Moat Murder Case" in 1903. Just before the 1910 Crippen Affair, Dew had been one of the Detectives in the matter of the Duke of Portland - Thomas Druce case of the 1905-1908 period, where various members of the Druce family insisted Thomas Druce was actually the Duke of Portland (he wasn't). That was only resolved by digging up the late remains of Thomas Druce. His involvement in the Whitechapel Murders is really of interest due to his being a constable at the time, and seeing the area on a fairly continuous basis. In that sense his comments are of considerable interest.

[The Station Cat]

Putting all that aside for a minute.

I still say it's an interesting read and I recommended it, if you haven't read it.

Finally he would still have been an interesting chap to have a pint with down the pub!!!!

[Joshua Rogan]

Well I enjoyed it and it's one of only a few written that give an incite into what it was like for the police during this period. I don't believe it should be so easily dismissed.


I also found it interesting that he was more drawn not to WHO the Ripper was but HOW he operated with seemingly impunity. Especially on the night of the supposed event.


I was particularly interested in his opinion that Stride wasn't a Ripper victim and the Goulston graffiti was nothing to do with the Ripper. Opinion's that I share, but was unaware that someone directly involved had the same thoughts.

I agree that Dew's account is an interesting read, but I'm not sure he discounts Stride as a victim of the Ripper. He does express some doubt, but this seems to be more because of Packer's evidence than any dissimilarity with the other killings.
For those who haven't read it, the section of Dew's memoirs about the hunt for Jack can be read here;

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/rps.walterdew.html

[AdamNeilWood]

The Annotated I Caught Crippen by Walter Dew

"I knew Marie quite well by sight. Often I had seen her parading along Commercial Street, between Flower-and-Dean Street and Aldgate, or along Whitechapel Road. She was usually in the company of two or three of her kind, fairly neatly dressed and invariably wearing a clean white apron, but no hat.

Marie Kelly was the most horribly mutilated of all Jack the Ripper’s victims. I know because I was the first police officer on the scene of that ghastly crime in Miller’s Court, a cul-de-sac off Dorset Street."

DET. INSPECTOR WALTER DEW

----------

THE ANNOTATED I CAUGHT CRIPPEN, edited with an Introduction by Nicholas Connell, is now available in hardback and Kindle formats.

Over 376 pages Dew describes the transatlantic chase to catch the murderer Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, and offers the lengthiest account of the hunt for Jack the Ripper by an officer closely involved in the investigations. His memoirs have long been out of print, and are now extremely difficult to find.

Faithfully reproducing Dew's autobiography, with extensive notes and commentary, we're delighted to make this scarce book available again.

http://mangobooks.co.uk/book.php?b=29

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Adam,

Have you any idea when your Swanson book will be available?

[RockySullivan]

where can i buy just the hunt for jack the ripper book by dew? how much of capturing jack the ripper by neil bell is about the ripper investigation?

[Sam Flynn]

where can i buy just the hunt for jack the ripper book by dew?

There isn't one, as far as I know. Dew's account of his (probably exaggerated) role in the case appears in one chapter of "I caught Crippen".

[John Malcolm]

The Hunt for Jack the Ripper, I believe, was just a bound reproduction of Dew's chapter on the murders. It's come up for sale here and there over the years, but for the average asking price, not worth the investment. Especially with the entire thing now available.

[RockySullivan]

Ok thanks Sam & John maybe i'll just read that chapter online.