Ripperologist #173

[Geddy2112]

It's odd that only now is Ed throwing his hat in the ring, but I suspect he's been following the discussion on JTR Forum and is using the opportunity to take a rather over-the-top jab at the Ripperologist.

Thank you. Yeah he is also poking, or failing to successfully poke holes in the 'missing' article with the Robert Paul criminal record. IMO the forums should not be public, if you are not a member then you should not be allowed to read them but hey-ho it's not that I would not say exactly the same thing (or worse) to his face anyway.

[Geddy2112]

That’s Ripperologist Magazine: The Last Word in Ripperological Academic Vigour.

Well there is the next episode's tag line... rather catchy to be honest. Probably the only decent thing he has ever posted

[jmenges]

Thats because Ripperological Academic Vigour is what he whispers over and over to himself in his bathroom mirror.

JM

[Geddy2112]

It's odd that only now is Ed throwing his hat in the ring, but I suspect he's been following the discussion on JTR Forum and is using the opportunity to take a rather over-the-top jab at the Ripperologist.

I think he is suggesting he first wrote about it all in the Whitechapel Society publication... sorry no dates given.

[rjpalmer]

I think he is suggesting he first wrote about it all in the Whitechapel Society publication... sorry no dates given.

It was in the October 2017 issue.

Would it be kosher to post the second page?

[Geddy2112]

It was in the October 2017 issue.

Would it be kosher to post the second page?

I dunno...

[rjpalmer]

Thanks. It's a pretty good article by Ed, so I guess it explains his exasperation that the Cohen/Gertrude Smith connection is still getting an airing.

Although he's probably correct (and I think he is correct) that Martin Fido jumped to the wrong conclusion, it wasn't merely a matter of Cohen having been in court on the same date--it is a bit more complicated; he was given the same Minute of Adjudication number as the Smith/Jones/Hickey cases. As such, it was perhaps understandable that some would view this as evidence that the incidents were connected, but such does not appear to be the case when one starts examining similar numbering.

I believe that Jose Oranto must be correct in thinking these numbers have something to do with the transfer of prisoners from the police station to the holding cells at the court. The prisoners are then brought in in batches, all with the same Minute of Adjudication number, though the cases weren't necessarily related. Sometimes they were, sometimes they weren't.

Gertrude Smith, by the way, was her real (married) name. Alias Smith and Jones was a popular television show in the 1970s, so Ed's remark made me smile.

[Debra A]

Is there such a thing as a minute book for these court records?

[rjpalmer]

Is there such a thing as a minute book for these court records?

It's a good question.

It would perhaps be going too far to insist that Cohen's arrest wasn't connected to the brothel raid, but there is certainly reasonable doubt about it.

[seanr]

From this issue of Ripperologist:

...Weird
Coincidences...
…253 Whitechapel Road was the location where Thomas Coran found a bloodied knife in the early hours of the 1st October 1888. It was next door to 254 Whitechapel Road, a brothel where David Cohen was arrested in December 1888. Prior to that, 254 Whitechapel Road had been a cigar shop owned by John Levy. John’s brother Levi lived at 8 Mitre Street, which backed on to the spot where Catherine Eddowes body was found on the 30th September 1888…

I wonder who came up with that?

And was it a coincidence?

Interesting.

[Scott Nelson]

Stow's 2017 article in the Whitechapel Society publication closely paralleled my earlier articles in Ripperologist 130 and in the Ripperana 87 (2013). He didn't cite any names, but he's actually responding adversely to my speculations, including the possibility of tying Cohen to the Coram knife and to having some association with the two brothels. And I actually suggested that it was John Levy's sister, Fanny, who lived across the street from Mitre Square at 29 Mitre Street at the time of the murders.

I first realized that the December 9, 1888 story in Reynolds Newspaper found by Nina and Howard Brown describing the raid and arrests (even though David Cohen's name wasn't mentioned -- he was sent to the workhouse on December 7th) could be significant because of the location of the brothels to the knife. Apparently, Jonathan Tye changed the significance of the 29 Mitre Street house to another location -- the former house of John's brother Levi at no. 8 -- because it backed up to the murder location in the corner of the square. But all of the Mitre Street speculations regarding John Levy may be moot because the latest posting information (RJ Palmer and others) indicate he died several years earlier and there's nothing to tie Cohen to 254-255 Whitechapel Street except the questionable "minute of adjudication" court log. But because the names are lumped together with the same court number, I believe, like Martin Fido did, the cases may still be linked by location and time of the arrests.