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It is not true serial killing was an unknown phenomenon before Jack started his 'autumn of terror'. For the masses it was, but reading through the press section I found some reports and letters written by people who had a good idea of it already - back then it was called 'homicidal mania'.
Dr. Forbes Winslow quoted in the 'Morning Advertiser', 13th September:
"It is a well-known and accepted fact that homicidal mania is incurable, but difficult of detection, as it frequently lies latent. It is incurable, and those who have been the subject of it should never be let loose on society. I think that the murderer is not of the class to which 'Leather Apron' belongs, but is of the upper class of society, and I still think that my opinion given to the authorities is the correct one, viz., that the murders have been committed by a lunatic lately discharged from some asylum, or by one who has escaped. If the former, doubtless one who, though suffering from the effects of homicidal mania, is apparently sane on the surface, and consequently has been liberated, and is following out the inclinations of his morbid imaginations by wholesale homicide."
... and in 'People', 23th:
"Homicidal lunatics are cunning, deceptive, plausible, and on the surface - to all outward appearance - sane, but there is contained within their innermost nature a dangerous lurking after blood, which, though at times latent, will develop when the opportunity arises."
Jack was by no means the first one. Other cases are mentioned. For example this one:
Evening News, 14th September:
"Sir-At a time when public attention is fixed upon the weird series of murders in Whitechapel, it might be of interest to recall the singular case of Philippe, who was guillotined some 25 years ago in Paris, convicted of no-less than 10 murders of women, committed in Paris and other parts of France. This wretched being was a clerk in a well-known firm of chemists, and greatly respected. He was about 35 years of age, and fairly good looking. His manners were agreeable, and he was industrious and decidedly intelligent. He was frequently sent to different parts of Europe and the East as a commercial traveller. A series of mysterious murders in Paris and its neighborhood having attracted a great deal of attention, it seems that on one occasion, Philippe dropped a razor enveloped in tissue paper at the foot of one of his mistresses. The woman picked it up, and, being suspicious, made a pretext to leave the room, and immediately summoned the police. Philippe, on seeing the police enter the chamber, at once and without any hesitation gave himself up. 'It is of no use,' he said, 'this horrible mania has caused me so much agony that my life is unbearable. Yes,' he said, 'I am guilty not only of the murder of which everybody is speaking, but of many others.' In the course of his trial he was found guilty of 10 different murders of women, all of them of the same unfortunate class, and he confessed himself guilty of seven others, which he had perpetrated in foreign countries. He was evidently the victim of a horrible mania, and it was said that so great was his cunning he was never suspected by his employer or by any of his most intimate friends of being otherwise than a most inoffensive person. He even on occasions disguised himself in the pursuit of his awful pleasure, if so it can be called, as an organ grinder, and it was by his extraordinary dexterity that he evaded the police for so long a time.-Yours, &c., R. D."
'Star', 13th September:
"SIR, - It may interest your readers to learn in connection with the Whitechapel murders that a number of parallel cases occurred some seven years ago near Bochum in Westphalia. The murderer was in the habit of lassooing women, and treating them in exactly the same manner as his confrère of Spitalfields. After many fruitless efforts on the part of the police to catch the perpetrator of the outrages, they at last arrested a gipsy, who was duly sentenced to death and beheaded. Unfortunately, a few days after his execution the murders recommenced! The assassin had the impudence to write to the magistrate of the district that he meant to kill a certain number of victims and would then give himself up. The papers applied to such a murder the expressive term of lustmord (pleasure murder).
My German friend, who reminds me of this case would not feel astonished to hear that the Bochum lustmörder has put in an appearance at Whitechapel. - Yours, &c.,
S."
I searched Wikipedia for 'Philippe' and the 'lustmörder', but found nothing. It seems to me, throughout history there have always been as many serial killers as today, they only had less press coverage and were forgotten.
Dr. Forbes Winslow quoted in the 'Morning Advertiser', 13th September:
"It is a well-known and accepted fact that homicidal mania is incurable, but difficult of detection, as it frequently lies latent. It is incurable, and those who have been the subject of it should never be let loose on society. I think that the murderer is not of the class to which 'Leather Apron' belongs, but is of the upper class of society, and I still think that my opinion given to the authorities is the correct one, viz., that the murders have been committed by a lunatic lately discharged from some asylum, or by one who has escaped. If the former, doubtless one who, though suffering from the effects of homicidal mania, is apparently sane on the surface, and consequently has been liberated, and is following out the inclinations of his morbid imaginations by wholesale homicide."
... and in 'People', 23th:
"Homicidal lunatics are cunning, deceptive, plausible, and on the surface - to all outward appearance - sane, but there is contained within their innermost nature a dangerous lurking after blood, which, though at times latent, will develop when the opportunity arises."
Jack was by no means the first one. Other cases are mentioned. For example this one:
Evening News, 14th September:
"Sir-At a time when public attention is fixed upon the weird series of murders in Whitechapel, it might be of interest to recall the singular case of Philippe, who was guillotined some 25 years ago in Paris, convicted of no-less than 10 murders of women, committed in Paris and other parts of France. This wretched being was a clerk in a well-known firm of chemists, and greatly respected. He was about 35 years of age, and fairly good looking. His manners were agreeable, and he was industrious and decidedly intelligent. He was frequently sent to different parts of Europe and the East as a commercial traveller. A series of mysterious murders in Paris and its neighborhood having attracted a great deal of attention, it seems that on one occasion, Philippe dropped a razor enveloped in tissue paper at the foot of one of his mistresses. The woman picked it up, and, being suspicious, made a pretext to leave the room, and immediately summoned the police. Philippe, on seeing the police enter the chamber, at once and without any hesitation gave himself up. 'It is of no use,' he said, 'this horrible mania has caused me so much agony that my life is unbearable. Yes,' he said, 'I am guilty not only of the murder of which everybody is speaking, but of many others.' In the course of his trial he was found guilty of 10 different murders of women, all of them of the same unfortunate class, and he confessed himself guilty of seven others, which he had perpetrated in foreign countries. He was evidently the victim of a horrible mania, and it was said that so great was his cunning he was never suspected by his employer or by any of his most intimate friends of being otherwise than a most inoffensive person. He even on occasions disguised himself in the pursuit of his awful pleasure, if so it can be called, as an organ grinder, and it was by his extraordinary dexterity that he evaded the police for so long a time.-Yours, &c., R. D."
'Star', 13th September:
"SIR, - It may interest your readers to learn in connection with the Whitechapel murders that a number of parallel cases occurred some seven years ago near Bochum in Westphalia. The murderer was in the habit of lassooing women, and treating them in exactly the same manner as his confrère of Spitalfields. After many fruitless efforts on the part of the police to catch the perpetrator of the outrages, they at last arrested a gipsy, who was duly sentenced to death and beheaded. Unfortunately, a few days after his execution the murders recommenced! The assassin had the impudence to write to the magistrate of the district that he meant to kill a certain number of victims and would then give himself up. The papers applied to such a murder the expressive term of lustmord (pleasure murder).
My German friend, who reminds me of this case would not feel astonished to hear that the Bochum lustmörder has put in an appearance at Whitechapel. - Yours, &c.,
S."
I searched Wikipedia for 'Philippe' and the 'lustmörder', but found nothing. It seems to me, throughout history there have always been as many serial killers as today, they only had less press coverage and were forgotten.
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