Joke Suspect

[Tani]

Pick a whacky suspect and make your case!

As for me, I believe PC Neil is JtR.

1. He was in Bucks Row and found the body.

2. He says he never saw Charles or Robert.

3. He could complete the murder on his beat and who would notice??

Ergo, PC Neil is JtR. Case closed.

[Fiver]

If the victims bled out as fast as Christer Holgren claims, the PC Neil is the most likely suspect.

[Geddy2112]

I believe Charles Lechmere to be Jack The Ripper because..

1) Christer told me so in his compelling documentary and book.
2) Ed Stow tells me so in his completely unbiased approach in his House of Lechmere videos.
3) He always seemed to walk past the murder sites when someone was being murdered.
4) He did not have any alibis
5) He was a cunning master criminal and produced a ruse to trick Paul and Mizen to evade suspicion.
6) He had a DeLorean with Flux capacitor to enable him to time travel.
7) He was also the Torso Killer and more than likely killed every woman in the East End from 1870 to 1892.
8) He had a documented hatred for women
9) He had a criminal record
10) He had a known propensity for extreme violence.
11) He knew Jimmy Saville.

[Barnaby]

M.J. Trow actually models how easily this can be done in a piece entitled "The Way to Hell" in the Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper.

[Tani]

M.J. Trow actually models how easily this can be done in a piece entitled "The Way to Hell" in the Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper.

I remember reading this over a decade ago! It was very well done, it had me!

[Holmes' Idiot Brother]

M.J. Trow actually models how easily this can be done in a piece entitled "The Way to Hell" in the Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper.

Are you referring to the naming of Dr. Barnardo as the Ripper? If so, that was an excellently written piece, and it had me hook, line, and sinker! Until the very end. Just shows how biases, speculation, and twisting evidence to suit theories instead of vice versa can be a very slippery slope!

[The Rookie Detective]

Are you referring to the naming of Dr. Barnardo as the Ripper? If so, that was an excellently written piece, and it had me hook, line, and sinker! Until the very end. Just shows how biases, speculation, and twisting evidence to suit theories instead of vice versa can be a very slippery slope!

Dr Barnardo remains a person of interest nonetheless.

He saw Stride days before her death after his speech in the kitchen of the lodging house she was residing at after she had just split from Kidney a day or so beforehand.
Barnardo even chose to go to the mortuary to identify Stride; for reasons only he knew.
He also appeared in court many times; having been accused of abducting children without the parents knowledge or consent.
Such was his sociopathic and narcissistic mindset; that he pleaded guilty and yet still walked away from the court a free man.
He used Philanthropy to conceal his darker side; as did other key "philanthropic" individuals like Booth who was also charged of child abduction; allegedly as part of an organised child extortion network that spread to Paris.

Barnardo even remarked that he had actioned the taking of children as a means to an end and was all in the name of Philanthropy.

Barnardo also assaulted a young woman after she had tried to unsuccessfully protect her father from being mobbed by a group of "Barnardo's Boys" on the orders of Barnardo himself.

There is some evidence of psychopathy...

He was a narcissist
He was a sociopath
He had an inflated sense of self worth
He was known to be arrogant
He had a complex and disruptive childhood
He thought he was above the law
He disliked people disobeying him
He used Philanthropy as a guise to mask a multitude of intentions
At the time of the Ripper murders, he wasn't even a qualified doctor. He quit his studies and lied about his qualifications; although he did have anatomical and surgical knowledge through the studies that he did undertake as a student surgeon at...The London Hospital in Whitechapel.




But I digress...this isn't a Barnardo thread after all.

To label him a joke suspect is to underestimate his potential as a viable suspect.

Now if we were talking about someone Joseph Merrick, then that would constitute a true joke suspect.

Joseph was known for his gentile nature and kindness and there is literally no chance he could have been the Ripper.

So...Joseph Merrick is my choice of joke suspect


We got there in the end

Haha


RD

[Holmes' Idiot Brother]

Excellent points! He does seem a very sinister character, indeed. At this point, I wouldn't be very much surprised WHO the Ripper was, as it could just as easily be almost anyone.

But my vote for Joke Suspect has to go to Lewis Carrol aka the Rev. Charles Dodgson. I read the book "Light-Hearted Friend" and was just gobsmacked at the absurdity. Only Cornwell's book rivals it for sheer incompetence and lunacy.

[erobitha]

I'm pretty sure we can rule Dr Barnardo out.

[The Rookie Detective]

I'm pretty sure we can rule Dr Barnardo out.

Excellent

I was aware that Barnardo was scheduled to visit Scotland at some point in September 88, but the report I read was different; I would need to check my notes.

The clincher would be...

A) a subsequent newspaper report that perhaps describes the event AFTER it happened; ergo, it still went ahead and Barnardo did in fact attend as stated here.

B) If he did attend and the event went ahead as advertised, then to confirm the journey time involved from London to Dundee in 1888 would have made it impossible for him to have killed Chapman and then caught the morning train up north.


RD

[Belloc]

The clincher would be...

A) a subsequent newspaper report that perhaps describes the event AFTER it happened; ergo, it still went ahead and Barnardo did in fact attend as stated here.

With apologies for the poor quality, this is from page 2 of The Courier and Argus newspaper, published in Dundee on September 10th, 1888:

[The Rookie Detective]

With apologies for the poor quality, this is from page 2 of The Courier and Argus newspaper, published in Dundee on September 10th, 1888:

Fabulous Belloc!

So we know for a FACT that Barnardo was in Dundee on the 9th September 1888.

This is evidenced by a Pre AND Post newspaper article that highlights his name and location.

The only outstanding question is...

Could a person of Barnardo's stature and influence have managed to kill Chapman on the morning of the 8th September and be physically able to be in Dundee approximately 30 hours later?


RD

[Belloc]

The only outstanding question is...

Could a person of Barnardo's stature and influence have managed to kill Chapman on the morning of the 8th September and be physically able to be in Dundee approximately 30 hours later?

The National Archives has many old railway timetables that might provide an answer, RD.

In the meantime, there's this, from the Courier and Argus again, this time page 4 of the May 25th 1888 issue:



After arriving in Edinburgh, it would be necessary to await a train to Dundee. The length of the Edinburgh-to-Dundee trip would have to be added, of course.

[The Rookie Detective]

The National Archives has many old railway timetables that might provide an answer, RD.

In the meantime, there's this, from the Courier and Argus again, this time page 4 of the May 25th 1888 issue:



After arriving in Edinburgh, it would be necessary to await a train to Dundee. The length of the Edinburgh-to-Dundee trip would have to be added, of course.

That is an absolutely excellent newspaper find Belloc.


This proves that Barnardo COULD have literally travelled on the 10am train from Euston to Glasgow or Edinburgh on the 8th September, just hours after Chapman was found.

It's more likely he would have travelled to Glasgow, because while Edinburgh is geographically closer to Dundee as the crow flies; the Forth bridge wasn't opened until 1890.
That would mean he almost certainly travelled through Stirling and Perth to get to Dundee, and the route through Stirling is much easier from Glasgow than Edinburgh.

So in all probability he travelled from Euston to Glasgow and COULD have arrived there by around 7pm on the evening of the 8th September.

The question then is; COULD he have then travelled from Glasgow to Dundee at some point from 7pm on the 8th September and arrive in time to be at the convention/seminar/gathering on the following afternoon/evening of the 9th September?

RD

[Belloc]

The question then is; COULD he have then travelled from Glasgow to Dundee at some point from 7pm on the 8th September and arrive in time to be at the convention/seminar/gathering on the following afternoon/evening of the 9th September?

The September 10th Courier and Argus report states Barnardo preached at the Hilltown Free Church on September 9th in the "forenoon", i.e. in the morning.