Ripperologist 111

[Monty]

Jonathan,

I think it was Tom who requested for your reasoning on this matter however my interest is also aroused.

I suggest you create a new thread for this subject as I suspect there may be a few opinions on this.

And hold nothing back, theres no need to self edit and condense. You'll open yourself up to all sorts of accusations if you do.

Good luck.

Monty

[Jonathan H]

Monty,

I am happy to put the argument for Macnaghten and Tumblety, as concisely as I can, but only if you were interested, and I quite understand if you are not.

[jason_c]

Well i guess you would know all about pots and kettles coming from the backwoods of Tennesse.

Have a nice day

[Monty]

Jonathan,

It seems as if you do misunderstand me.

Regards
Monty

[Hunter]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear

Hi Hunter

Please do not associate other Brits with that utterly stupid comment.

Hi Stephen,

I don't at all. The greatest reward that I have garnered from my long standing interest in JTR is what I've subsequently learned about British culture and history- the East End in particular. It enabled me to enter a world far removed from my own. If we never find out who JTR was I am satisfied in the related knowledge that I have acquired as a result, and the many friends I've obtained in the process.

Having said that, I believe Trevor had every right to respond to my comment, as I had every right to point out what I perceived as hypocrisy. Though I believe him to be wrong in many aspects of this case, I must admire his perseverance to his convictions.

[Tom_Wescott]

I agree with you in the sense that a strong, historical case can be made that Mac's preferred suspect, all along, was in fact Dr Tumblety

Surely that's not what Monty was suggesting. There's no link to Tumblety, unless you've found something...ANYTHING...to suggest he headed a plot to assassinate Balfour.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Jonathan H]

To Monty

I agree with you in the sense that a strong, historical case can be made that Mac's preferred suspect, all along, was in fact Dr Tumblety, concealed inside the 'Drowned Doctor' mythos -- with poor Druitt, a minor suspect, utilized as a Trojan Horse to the Home Office.

[Tom_Wescott]

I doubt it, Tom.
Ostrog was too well known to the police to have been confused with anyone.
Macnaghten quickly portrayed him as a dangerous maniac to make his memo more glamour, when in fact he knew nothing whatsoever that could link poor Ostrog to the Ripper murders.

"Unquestionably a homicidal maniac"..."habitually cruel to women"...and of course, he had "surgical knives"...
A fourth Macnaghten suspect would have been furnished with a gladstone bag.

Hi DVV. You hit on the problem here. Ostrog was not a homicidal maniac, habitually cruel to women, or known to possess knives, whereas Le Grand was all of these things. Le Grand is known from other sources to have been taken seriously by Scotland Yard as a Ripper suspect, whereas Ostrog is not. Both men were foreign, were exceptionally tall for the time (Le Grand 6ft and Ostrog 5ft 11in), were adept thieves, apparently went by the alias 'Grant' around the same time, and there are other similarities as well. I could see the alias problem causing some confusion amongst reports.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

However I think he his stating his favourite out of the 3, not his overall preferred suspect.

I thought I was the only one who thought this.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Stephen Thomas]

Well i guess you would know all about pots and kettles coming from the backwoods of Tennesse.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear

Hi Hunter

Please do not associate other Brits with that utterly stupid comment.

[Trevor Marriott]

Now ain't that the pot calling the kettle black.

Well i guess you would know all about pots and kettles coming from the backwoods of Tennesse.

Have a nice day

[Monty]

David,

Im not so sure he did.

Monty

[DVV]

Hi Monty,

what makes you think Macnaghten had an "overall preferred suspect" other than Druitt?

Amitiés,
David

[Monty]

Jason, Jonathan,

There is no proof against Kosminski at all, only belief. We have the memoirs of an aged former Inpector on the case which, oddly, seems to be completed at alternate times and released many years later as evidence of Kosminskis suspicion. No official document whatsoever. Therefore we should tread with caution

Im sure Macnaghten scouted for the next best, I never suggested they were mere names. However I think he his stating his favourite out of the 3, not his overall preferred suspect.

Cheers
Monty

[Jonathan H]

Monty, I agree with Jason.

I think that if we all we had was the Mac Report, official version, then I would agree; random suspects plucked out of his top hat -- and not very good ones at that.

But because we also have the Mac Report, unofficial version, in which Mac made it clear he favored Druitt, and his extraordinary memoirs which do the same about the same un-named suspect, and Anderson's comments, article and memoirs which favour the un-named Kosminski -- backed by Swanson's private notation -- then these were major competing suspects to two senior, possibly three, policemen.

A strong historical argument, I believe, can also be mounted for Littlechild's suspect, Tumblety, as well.