Tweet
In his later editions of Psychopathia Sexualis (1903), Dr. Krafft-Ebing includes Jack the Ripper as a case study of Lustmord.
https://archive.org/details/psychopathiasex02krafgoog pg.90
Dr. Krafft-Ebing does not provide any names of the victims (he suspected 9 murders) but he does provide the following dates, which he attributed to being the lustful murders of Jack the Ripper:
December 1, 1887
July 7, 1888
August 8, 1888
September 30, 1888
October [??], 1888
November 9, 1888
June 1, 1889
July 17, 1889
September 10, 1889
The subject of "Fairy Fay" is ripper-lore, but it stands as a discussion starter regarding a possible murder occurring towards the end of 1887 (general consensus being, December time-frame). We have had discussions within threads regarding news articles that refer to "that murder" that happened at the end of last year. And here, Dr. Krafft-Ebing directly dates a murder that was brought to his attention in connection with Jack the Ripper.
The intent of this thread is not to identify Fairy Fay or confirm another Ripper victim. Still, the date of December 1, 1887 is a curio. My resource is limited to BNA; still, I presumed, if some murder-mystery had occurred on or around the date, that it would be reported in one of their many archived newspapers. And... there is nothing. Well, not nothing-nothing, but most of the murders reported on that date are "incestual" by far (a father cutting his child's throat with a razor, &c.) Nothing that cracks with the murder-mystery of a Jack the Ripper case exists for that date.
However; dialing back to the month of November...
Hannah Rosser was a young girl (18yo) who went missing from her home in Llansamet, Swansea, Wales in the first weeks of November 1887. Her body would be found in a canal at Morriston around the 23rd of November. The examining doctor believed whole-heartedly that she was murdered before being dumped into the canal (not mauled by a passing steamer) but the coroner seemed to gear the inquest towards resolving on suicide. Other than a lack of a struggle between Hannah and her attacker, there isn't much to suggest "Jack the Ripper" immediately; no abdominal injuries or slashes to the throat. In fact, her death may have been caused by a clubbing over her head. It was the facial injuries that caught my attention:
We found two small indentations at the back of the skull, triangular in shape. We found another clean cut on the right eye, on the external angle or orbit, extending downwards and inwards along the nose, two inches long, fracturing both nasal bones. At the left angle of the mouth was a cut through the cheek about one inch long. Corresponding was a deep cut in the left side of the tongue. In the center of the tongue, about a quarter of an inch of the tip, was a small punctured would extending through. There were several other incised wounds on the upper surface of the tongue ecchymosed, shewing that pressure had been used as well as puncture, probably caused by the teeth. Three front teeth on the lower jaw had been knocked out. There was evidence they had been recently forced out of their socket. The right incisor tooth of the upper jaw had its front knocked off. In the throat were two dark ecchymosed round marks. These were produced before death. There was a slight abrasion over the left collar bone. On the outer side of the lower third of the left foreleg there was a hole in the stocking, and corresponding with that was a fracture of the small bone of the leg. I have no doubt in my mind that this was produced after death, for there was no discolouration of the skin, and, as such a wound could not be produced without violence, that would be evidenced on the skin. That is all I saw on teh exterior of the body. Then we examined the brain. This was all healthy except on the top surface, and corresponding with a cut in the skull. All the membranes were cut through, and the cut extended about one inch into the substance of the brain... (lungs and heart are described as healthy and absent of water, clots, sand, grit)... The stomach contained a large quantity of food, which shewed she had taken a meal two hours previous to death.
-Dr. Morgan [with the assistance of Mr. G. Kelman M.B.] reporting his post-mortem examination at inquest
https://archive.org/details/psychopathiasex02krafgoog pg.90
Dr. Krafft-Ebing does not provide any names of the victims (he suspected 9 murders) but he does provide the following dates, which he attributed to being the lustful murders of Jack the Ripper:
December 1, 1887
July 7, 1888
August 8, 1888
September 30, 1888
October [??], 1888
November 9, 1888
June 1, 1889
July 17, 1889
September 10, 1889
The subject of "Fairy Fay" is ripper-lore, but it stands as a discussion starter regarding a possible murder occurring towards the end of 1887 (general consensus being, December time-frame). We have had discussions within threads regarding news articles that refer to "that murder" that happened at the end of last year. And here, Dr. Krafft-Ebing directly dates a murder that was brought to his attention in connection with Jack the Ripper.
The intent of this thread is not to identify Fairy Fay or confirm another Ripper victim. Still, the date of December 1, 1887 is a curio. My resource is limited to BNA; still, I presumed, if some murder-mystery had occurred on or around the date, that it would be reported in one of their many archived newspapers. And... there is nothing. Well, not nothing-nothing, but most of the murders reported on that date are "incestual" by far (a father cutting his child's throat with a razor, &c.) Nothing that cracks with the murder-mystery of a Jack the Ripper case exists for that date.
However; dialing back to the month of November...
Hannah Rosser was a young girl (18yo) who went missing from her home in Llansamet, Swansea, Wales in the first weeks of November 1887. Her body would be found in a canal at Morriston around the 23rd of November. The examining doctor believed whole-heartedly that she was murdered before being dumped into the canal (not mauled by a passing steamer) but the coroner seemed to gear the inquest towards resolving on suicide. Other than a lack of a struggle between Hannah and her attacker, there isn't much to suggest "Jack the Ripper" immediately; no abdominal injuries or slashes to the throat. In fact, her death may have been caused by a clubbing over her head. It was the facial injuries that caught my attention:
We found two small indentations at the back of the skull, triangular in shape. We found another clean cut on the right eye, on the external angle or orbit, extending downwards and inwards along the nose, two inches long, fracturing both nasal bones. At the left angle of the mouth was a cut through the cheek about one inch long. Corresponding was a deep cut in the left side of the tongue. In the center of the tongue, about a quarter of an inch of the tip, was a small punctured would extending through. There were several other incised wounds on the upper surface of the tongue ecchymosed, shewing that pressure had been used as well as puncture, probably caused by the teeth. Three front teeth on the lower jaw had been knocked out. There was evidence they had been recently forced out of their socket. The right incisor tooth of the upper jaw had its front knocked off. In the throat were two dark ecchymosed round marks. These were produced before death. There was a slight abrasion over the left collar bone. On the outer side of the lower third of the left foreleg there was a hole in the stocking, and corresponding with that was a fracture of the small bone of the leg. I have no doubt in my mind that this was produced after death, for there was no discolouration of the skin, and, as such a wound could not be produced without violence, that would be evidenced on the skin. That is all I saw on teh exterior of the body. Then we examined the brain. This was all healthy except on the top surface, and corresponding with a cut in the skull. All the membranes were cut through, and the cut extended about one inch into the substance of the brain... (lungs and heart are described as healthy and absent of water, clots, sand, grit)... The stomach contained a large quantity of food, which shewed she had taken a meal two hours previous to death.
-Dr. Morgan [with the assistance of Mr. G. Kelman M.B.] reporting his post-mortem examination at inquest
Comment