Ripperologist 122: September 2011

[AdamNeilWood]

EDITORIAL: WE’RE NOT GOING TO STAND HERE AND TAKE IT ANYMORE
by Adam Wood

IN THE WAR OFFICE COLLECTION
by Joe Chetcuti

CATS AND DOGS IN PHOENIX PLACE
by J G Simons

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY AT ABERGAVENNY: THE 1892 MURDER OF MARY CONNOLLY
by Paul Williams

WHITECHAPELS OF THE AMERICAN WEST: PART 2
by Howard and Nina Brown

AMAZING DOGS
by Jan Bondeson

CHRIS SCOTT’S PRESS TRAWL

SPITALFIELDS LIFE
by The Gentle Author

JACK THE BLOGGER
by Mike Covell

VICTORIAN FICTION: DARK DIGNUM
by Bernard Capes

https://www.ripperologist.biz

https://www.facebook.com/ripperologist

[Tom_Wescott]

Stride no longer a suspect?

Donald Rumbelow followed up with a presentation on ‘Jack the Ripper -‐ An Historical Overview of the Suspects.’ Don made a good case that Stride should not be considered among the Ripper suspects... - pg. 65

I'm sorry to have missed this revelation. It must have been a hard sell for Don. It's no secret that his favorite Ripper suspect is Mary Kelly, so I'm sure the question of bias will be raised. However, I heard that Don claims to have established an ironclad alibi for Elizabeth Stride on the nights of the Eddowes and Kelly murders. Call me a 'doubting Thomas', but I'm still not convinced that Stride's hands were clean.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

The return of Joe Chetcuti

It's great to see Joe is still around and I enjoyed his piece very much. The Tower of London angle was a new one, and although it might not have bore any real fruit, it's good to know that someone as thorough as Joe is looking into such dark corners.

I look forward to reading more of this issue, hopefully this evening.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

Donovan

Hello Tom. I thought Don Rumbelow favoured Donovan as JTR?

Cheers.
LC

[Rob Clack]

Hello Tom. I thought Don Rumbelow favoured Donovan as JTR?

Cheers.
LC

Not anymore. At the start of Don's talk he acknowledged Debs research into Timothy Donovan and now doesn't believe Donovan was the Ripper. As he said to me Debs has exploded his theory.

Rob

[caz]

There was a poor woman called Stride,
Who was blamed for the victims who died
At the hands of Jack,
So to get her own back
She decided on suicide.

Hi Tom,

According to Don, the knife that killed Stride with a single slice was short and blunt.

Verdict: Suicide by butter knife (taken from the scene by the same dog that took Eddowes's pinny to Goulston).

Just to cheer you up....

Love,

Caz
X

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi all,


Was it completely lost on everyone that I was having fun with the fact that Rip mistakenly called Stride a Ripper 'suspect' instead of a 'victim'? Oh well, I thought my post was funny.

According to Don, the knife that killed Stride with a single slice was short and blunt.

Yes, I heard about that. I hope he didn't put this forth as fact in his talk, since it's not.

Verdict: Suicide by butter knife (taken from the scene by the same dog that took Eddowes's pinny to Goulston).

I'm going to assume this is YOU having fun now. As misguided as Don's other musings are about Stride, I know better than to think he'd ever suggest her as a suicide, or suggest that anything from the murder scenes was moved by a dog.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[caz]

Good grief, Tom, I too was having fun with Rip's slip of the pen concerning Stride as a suspect.

I thought you of all peeps would have realised. The limerick ought to have given the game away. The suicide bit was me being sarcastic about all the theories that have tried to wrench Stride by hook or by crook or by boot scraper or Kidney from Jack's deadly grasp. The added bonus being that suicide rhymed nicely.

Oh well...

And I'm on your side on Stride. That knife was sharp enough to slash the edge of Stride's scarf along with her neck. The only serious part of my post was to report what Don said about the knife at the conference. I cannot see how it could have been blunt or had to be short.

Love,

Caz
X

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Caz, I figured out you were joking, but considering the ridiculous stuff I've had to hear relating to the Stride murder, it really isn't beyond reason to imagine someone taking a stage and seriously suggesting Stride was a suicide. It's curious that a thread for this 'conference' wasn't started here at Casebook. Or maybe it was, and nobody posted after it was over.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

zowie

Hello Rob.

"Not anymore. At the start of Don's talk he acknowledged Debs research into Timothy Donovan and now doesn't believe Donovan was the Ripper. As he said to me Debs has exploded his theory."

Heilige Kuh! Santa vaca!

First Trevor ejects Feigenbaum, now this? What next, I wonder?

Cheers.
LC

[Tom_Wescott]

Trevor no longer supports Feigenbaum? I missed this. Where does he discuss this? He was just recently pushing Moore and the sailor theory on the Kozminski thread.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

JTR no more

Hello Tom. I thought it was on the Kos thread. He said something about rejecting the notion of JTR. called it mythology. (I think I may love him--heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

aqui

Hello Tom. Go here, #39.

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=187403&highlight=myth#post187403

Also on Kos thread.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

other

Hello Tom. Here's the other. Post #332.

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=181&page=34

Cheers.
LC

[mklhawley]

Greetings all,

Joe Chetcuti asked me to please post this message:

Congratulations to Adam, Chris, and the Ripperologist staff for their success in putting out these issues. I hope authors continue to consider the Ripperologist journal when they decide to submit an article. Chris does an excellent editing job, and he is a good man to work with.

As for the cover story, I'm happy to say that the library at the Tower of London has a copy of this Ripperologist article, and the library has extended its thanks for this donation. Bridget Clifford has been my main contact person at the Tower this past year, and she has been terrific. Despite her busy work schedule, she has taken the time to kindly help with the article and has done so in a very courteous and professional manner.

Three other people need to be mentioned. Of course, Dr. Geoffrey Parnell, the former Keeper of Tower History, was instrumental in guiding us in this research. In the near future, Dr. Parnell will have more of his work published. His knowledge of the Tower of London's history is unequaled.

As usual, Simon Wood's input was quite useful. He has a remarkable talent for locating tough-to-find items.

The other person who helped out greatly was Lee Richards. He is the perfect man to contact if a researcher wants to have material looked into at Kew. I highly recommend Lee. He is very affordable and efficient. You could find him at his web site www.arcre.com

Congratulations to all the other writers who submitted an article or material to the Sept 2011 issue. Your hard work keeps journals like Ripperologist going strong, and it keeps the memory of the Whitechapel mysteries fresh in our minds.