Jack the Ripper A-Z

[Chris]

Considering this book has been released and people with copies are already discussing it at the forums, I'm shocked it's not being discussed here, since it's the biggest JTR book release in years. I ordered mine on 09/03 from amazon.co.uk and can 't wait to get it. It's not yet available on amazon.com.

I am finding it not very easy to get hold of. The main Waterstones in London reputedly has a single copy, but is unable to find it. Their online service is "awaiting copies from supplier." Perhaps I should have ordered from Amazon, but as the official publication date was Monday I had expected it to be in the shops by now.

[Phil H]

I saw it on amazon (pre-publication), ordered a copy and received it before the publication date.

I'm impressed, but of course the devil is always in the detail with this sort of reference work.

All kudos to the writes/editors though. A mammoth task.

Phil

[Chris]

I tried my local W. H. Smith, and they had a copy in stock.

As you would guess, the entry on Aaron Kozminski was among the first I turned to. Unfortunately the genealogy is still wrong, which is perhaps surprising given the authors' research interests!

[Robert]

Chris, Scott Nelson said he was surprised that you weren't mentioned in the credits, and I agree with him.

[Chris]

Chris, Scott Nelson said he was surprised that you weren't mentioned in the credits, and I agree with him.

To be fair, there is a short list of sources at the end of the Kozminski article, which includes the Casebook thread I started on "Kozminski's Brother".

[Robert]

Oh OK. Well anyway, you and Rob House certainly advanced our knowledge of Kosminski's family to remarkable levels.

[Tom_Wescott]

I find it inconceivable that Chris wouldn't be mentioned. Perhaps you have to have a book out?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[The Grave Maurice]

Thanks for the tip, gentlemen. I didn't realise that it was out already. I've got a couple of copies winging their way from Blighty as we speak. One to read the dickens out of, and one to keep for good.

[Chris]

I see people have started posting corrections on jtrforums.com, so that people can annotate their copies if they wish. I thought it might be useful to post some here.

ABRAHAMS, WOOLF (p. 12) [and KOSMINSKI, WOLF (p. 278)]

Woolf was the usual spelling of his name (Woolfe occurs only in the 1891 census).

He was almost certainly born in 1860, not 1861. That is the year of his birth given in the Klodawa Book of Residents, and the register of births is missing for that year.

He was Aaron's brother, not his brother-in-law.

He was born in Klodawa, Poland.

He was described as a journeyman tailor until May 1890, but a master tailor from April 1891.

He married on 17 May 1881 (Gregorian calendar) in Kolo, Poland, Brucha (Betsy in England), the daughter of Kasriel Szlama Kozminski and his wife Ryfka. We think Kasriel was probably Woolf's first cousin.

They had nine children.

As far as I can tell Aaron was simply admitted to the workhouse, not the workhouse infirmary.

[Chris]

KOSMINSKI, ISAAC (p. 277)

He died in 1920, not 1924.

His name at birth was registered as Iciek Szyme Kozminski (Kozminska would be the feminine form).

He emigrated to London c. 1871. According to the CID report made when he applied for naturalisation, in February 1901, he had been in London for 30 years; apparently he arrived after the date of the 1871 census, but he was here by December 1872 when his son Marks was born.

His son Mark had left the Dolphin by the end of 1922, as Hyman Isbitsky is listed there in the 1923 Post Office Directory.

As noted on p. 274, "H. W. Abrahams" is a misreading of "I & W Abrahams," for Isaac and Woolf, Aaron's brothers. The document is a form requesting the steward of the asylum to deliver Aaron's body to the undertaker.

[Natalie Severn]

Chris,
Thankyou for this. Having discussed Kosminski case at length with various posters in the past years, I think the most crucial approach to his case now can only be that of sticking rigorously to the facts we have that exist and trying to avoid all preconceptions.This is what you have always done ofcourse,Chris,but it is heartening to see others here , apart from Stewart Evans and yourself ,sticking just as rigorously to specific historical data that is presented differently again,while putting Kosminski and his neighbours into a slightly differently presented " East End 1888".I am thinking in particular of the thread "Mr Ripper"s Neighbourhood" that Dave is compiling.It makes tedious reading at times, it has to be admitted , but it is priceless in terms of forming an objective and as near accurate understanding of the socio/economic context in which the people we study here,lived their lives.Dave so far has drawn heavily on the cartography of ordnance survey and other reliable maps of the era , presenting us with readable graphs drawn from statistics arising from Post Office Address books of the time, Government and Local Authority surveys etc. When studying these graphs it is necessary to throw away all preconceptions regarding the East End and Whitechapel / St George"s etc and look afresh at the East End ,unaffected by the usual conventions of Ripperology,and it is a refreshing and salutary experience indeed,
Best Wishes,
Norma

[Chris]

Norma

Thanks. I hope that whatever people's opinions are about Aaron Kozminski, the underlying facts can be common ground.


LUBNOWSKI, MORRIS (p. 307)

Morris came to England in June 1881 according to his application for naturalisation in 1888.

As already noted, I think Aaron was simply admitted to the workhouse, not the workhouse infirmary.

The family was at 5 Ashcroft Road by July 1910, when Matilda's mother Golda was admitted to the Mile End Old Town Infirmary.

Morris was using the name Cohen at least as early as July 1888, the qualifying date for the 1889 electoral register, in which he appears at 16 Greenfield Street. Two of his brothers also used the surname Cohen. But the family continued to be known as Lubnowski or Lubnowski Cohen for some purposes. In the 1931 electoral register Matilda was entered simply as Matilda Lubnowski, though her children were named as Lubnowski Cohen or just Cohen.

[Chris]

KOSMINSKI, AARON MORDKE

[p. 268]

Of course, we don't know when the Swanson marginalia were written - obviously not _before_ 1910.

Klodawa was in the gubernia of Kalisz (German Kalisch) and the province of Poznan.

He had four sisters and two brothers.

As noted above, his brother Iciek/Isaac emigrated c. 1871, and was certainly in London by the end of 1872. His brother Woolf and brother-in-law Morris Lubnowski followed in June 1881. Aaron almost certainly accompanied them, because at his death in March 1919 it was stated that he had been in England for 37 years.

See corrections above regarding Woolf Abrahams.

[p. 269]

As Stewart Evans has pointed out, according to the marginalia the police "sent" rather than "took" him for identification, which may be a significant distinction.

His brother Isaac had assumed the surname Abrahams by the end of 1872 when his son was born; probably he did so on his arrival in England.

The Mile End Old Town creed register for 1890 gives his surname as 'Kosorimski.'

[p. 270]

The extract on pp. 270, 271, like the notes on pp. 271, 272, are from the Colney Hatch Case Book Male Side new series no 20 (LMA H12/CH/B13/39), not the admission register.

[p. 271]

Two sentences are omitted from the summary of Cohen's information, after "He took up a knife and threatened the life of his sister":
"He says that he is ill and his cure consists in refusing food. He is melancholic, practises self-abuse."

Doctors' names and addresses aside:

In the note about his condition on admission, his instinct is said to be probably "aural hallucination," not "mental hallucination."

[p. 272]

The entry for 15.4.12 reads "Widal test negative," not "Didn't test negative." (This is a test for enteric fever.)

[p. 273]

I read the entry for 13.3.19 as "Ha[s?] right hip broken down," and the final entry as "sore on left hip & left leg."

[p. 274]

As noted above, Morris's family was known sometimes as Cohen, sometimes as Lubnowski and sometimes as Lubnowski Cohen.

[Chris]

COX, INSPECTOR HARRY (HENRY)

1859 was actually the year of his birth.

He retired in 1906, not 1896, and the first of his memoirs were published the same year.

The series continued until 2 March 1907.

The instalment on the Ripper case was entitled "The Truth about the Whitechapel Mysteries."

[Chris]

SAGAR, DET. CON. ROBERT (1852-1924) [pp. 451, 452]

Simonstone is in Lancashire, not Lincolnshire.