JACK THE RIPPER 2The Suspects
Jack was never captured. At least not publicly. Comments like that keep the legend alive. Listed are some of the more popular suspects:
Montague John Druitt – son of a physician. He was a barrister and assistant schoolteacher. Said to have mental problems. Committed suicide by throwing himself in the Thames River shortly after Kelly’s murder.
George Chapman – Polish immigrant known to have had some medical knowledge. A man with a violent reputation. Murdered his three wives with poison.
Aaron Kosminski – Russian immigrant who was known to have had a great hatred of women and strong tendency to violence. Also matched description of man seen near one of the killings. Died in 1919 in mental asylum.
John Pizer – a bootmaker in Whitechapel known as “Leather Apron.” Strong suspect of locals
Dr. Thomas Neill Cream – an abortionist who traveled between England, Canada, and the US. Murdered several in each country. Hanged in London for murder in 1892. Supposedly his last words, before the noose cut him off, were: “I am Jack---.”
Many others came under the umbrella of suspects including author Lewis Carroll, Sir William Gull physician-in-extraordinary to Queen Victoria, Sir John Williams a friend of Queen Victoria and obstetrician to her daughter Princess Beatrice, and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence.
For me, if I were writing a novel or screenplay about the Ripper, I would conclude with the police closing in on Druitt who kills himself. The murders end so the case is closed. But since there was no confession or solid evidence linking Druit to the murders, the chief detective would wonder if he was the right man. Then we would see, Cream (or perhaps a midwife as Doyle suggested) examining their trophies from the killings. The person would look out a window as the ship he/she were on sailed into New York Harbor.
Montague John Druitt – son of a physician. He was a barrister and assistant schoolteacher. Said to have mental problems. Committed suicide by throwing himself in the Thames River shortly after Kelly’s murder.
George Chapman – Polish immigrant known to have had some medical knowledge. A man with a violent reputation. Murdered his three wives with poison.
Aaron Kosminski – Russian immigrant who was known to have had a great hatred of women and strong tendency to violence. Also matched description of man seen near one of the killings. Died in 1919 in mental asylum.
John Pizer – a bootmaker in Whitechapel known as “Leather Apron.” Strong suspect of locals
Dr. Thomas Neill Cream – an abortionist who traveled between England, Canada, and the US. Murdered several in each country. Hanged in London for murder in 1892. Supposedly his last words, before the noose cut him off, were: “I am Jack---.”
Many others came under the umbrella of suspects including author Lewis Carroll, Sir William Gull physician-in-extraordinary to Queen Victoria, Sir John Williams a friend of Queen Victoria and obstetrician to her daughter Princess Beatrice, and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence.
For me, if I were writing a novel or screenplay about the Ripper, I would conclude with the police closing in on Druitt who kills himself. The murders end so the case is closed. But since there was no confession or solid evidence linking Druit to the murders, the chief detective would wonder if he was the right man. Then we would see, Cream (or perhaps a midwife as Doyle suggested) examining their trophies from the killings. The person would look out a window as the ship he/she were on sailed into New York Harbor.
3 comments:
Suspect-wise:I vote for none of the above. I don't think the killer was a suspect (ever). I don't believe the murders can be solved.
In your proposed screenplay, I'm curious why you'd choose to send the Ripper from England to the U.S? <<<<< Curiosity. ;-)
Dink:
You're probably right. The real killer was probably never considered as a suspect.
Long time ago, I read somewhere that a series of murders occurred in NY a year after the Ripper killings ended that were very similiar to Jack's style. That tidbit stuck in my head.
Ahhh ...I see. I was thinking it was a bit out of the fire into the frying pan since the crimes were so well reported all over the U.S. AND part of what seemed to help the Ripper was his familiarity with the area in which he did the killing.
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