Nicaragua ripper

[mostfoul]

How come there is so little information around regarding this killer?

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

There is a news report which states that they were a hoax, although not everyone believes this to be true. However, several researchers, including myself, have been unable to find any evidence that they actually occured (not in official reports, news reports or even in local oral tradition) and it now seems likely, much like the supposed Jamaican Ripper series, that they never happened.

Wolf.

[mostfoul]

That's very interesting thanks for that. Perhaps they didn't happen then, I guess it does sound like the kind of event that would created by the press. Were there any other cases that happened in England around the same time that were believed to be linked to him?

Cheers

[Malcolm X]

i cant find anything either, only a link to Marriott's book.

[Celesta]

I've searched and searched on this also and found nothing. I didn't know the Jamaican murders didn't occur. Once again, Wolf, you've taught me something new about these cases. I appreciate it.

[Christine]

You would think that if it happened, not only would the Nicaraguan papers have info about it, but also the Nicaraguan police would be able to cross check the ships that had been docked there and in London during the key dates and therefore be able to reduce the suspect pool to a very small group. Indeed, you'd expect the general public to work this out simply by talking among themselves since this information wasn't exactly secret.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Hi Celesta.

Thank you for the kind words.

It was Stephen Ryder who discovered that the supposed three Jamaican Ripper murders, which reportedly occurred in late November, 1888, was in fact only one.

The details are that on the 28th of December, 1888, Letitia Crawford, a black woman in her mid twenties, was found lying dead at the side of the road between Old Harbour and Spanish Town, Jamaica. She had been hit in the face with a board, suffering massive head and facial injuries, and then had her throat cut. The young man that she had been sharing a cart with, one Benjamin Ranger, was quickly arrested, tried, convicted and hanged. There were no other murders and no note signed “Jack the Ripper,” as was reported.

See The Jamaican Jack the Ripper, by Stephen Ryder, Ripperologist No. 48, August 2003.

Wolf.

[Celesta]

Hi Wolf,

Thank you.

I was thinking about the Nicaragua question last night. I seem to remember hearing about that prior to Trevor's book, but I don't know where I heard about it. Trevor's book just reinforced what I'd already heard. I sometimes wonder if the Jack El Destripador, Argentina, didn't get morphed into Nicaragua by someone at some point.

I'll have to find Stephen's article on the the Jamaican myth. Thanks again.

Best,

Cel