Jack the Ripper, Who Was It?

The identity of the killer of five - or possibly six - women in the East End of London in 1888 has remained a mystery, but the case has continued to horrify and fascinate.

Between August and November 1888,the Whitechapel area of London was the scene of five brutal murders. The killer was dubbed 'Jack the Ripper'. All the women murdered were prostitutes, and all except for one - Elizabeth Stride - were horribly mutilated.

The first murder, of Mary Ann Nicholls, took place on 31 August. Annie Chapman was killed on 8 September. Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddoweson were murdered 30 September and Mary Jane Kelly on 9 November. These are often referred to as the 'canonical five' Ripper murders, although Martha Tabram, stabbed to death on 6 August 1888, is considered by some 'ripperologists' to be the first victim.

There has been much speculation as to the identity of the killer. It has been suggested that he or she was a doctor or butcher, based on the evidence of weapons and the mutilations that occurred, which showed a knowledge of human anatomy. Many theories have been put forward suggesting individuals who might be responsible. One theory links the murders with Queen Victoria's grandson, Prince Albert Victor, also known as the Duke of Clarence, although the evidence for this is insubstantial.

Violence to prostitutes was not uncommon and there were many instances of women being brutalised, but the nature of these murders strongly suggests a single perpetrator.

A quarter of a mile from the scene of Catherine Eddowes' murder, the words 'The Juwes are not the men to be blamed for nothing,' were found scrawled on a wall in chalk, and it was suggested this was written by the killer. A police officer ordered the words to be removed, fearing an anti-Semitic backlash in an area with a large Jewish population. The murderer is also sometimes thought to have made contact by letter with several public figures. These letters, like the chalk message, have never been proved to be authentic, and may have been hoaxes.

Jack the Ripper was never caught and he is not thought to have killed again after November 1888.

During the ‘autumn of terror’ 5 London east end prostitutes were savagely murdered, the murders are all thought to be from the same hand.
Many people have claimed to know the identity of the Ripper the suspects have ranged from butchers to royalty.
But the case remains unsolved to this day still, will it be solved? Can it be solved? Regardless of what side of the fence you stand on, everyone has their ‘prime’ suspect.

Here I give my prime suspects.
Through study in books, TV shows, documentaries etc. I have put all the pieces together and came up with my own opinion on who could have committed those murders.

First let me start by saying I believe there was at least 5 but no more than 6.
For me the first could quite easily be Martha Tabram though I’m not so sure, she was found brutally murdered on the floor in a hallway of a lodging house on 7^th of august 1888, found to have up to 36 stab wounds to her body, the fatal blow believed to be to the heart.
The coroner stated the wounds were caused by two different blades one a long blade which struck the fatal blow to the heart and a small bladed instrument. This signals to me an opportunistic murder by someone contemplating it and then given the opportunity to exercise those thoughts.
My guess is if it was the ripper, Martha Tabram went out drinking got worse for wear and ended up getting spotted vulnerable and alone and was followed to her destination, once there the murderer has the time and privacy to commit his act.
The amount of stab wounds says to me that the murderer was nervous and to be honest a little bit reckless, the repeated stabbing is the murderer getting in a frenzy and losing control, I would say if it was the Ripper I think the first wound therefore would have been the blow to the heart, the ripper always made sure he was in total control from the start and a fatal blow to begin with is an ideal way to achieve that. Once he’s in control his ‘evil side’ takes over.
If the ripper did not commit the murder of Martha Tabram I would not be surprised, for example as we can see in modern times stabbings are common among gangs and there was a lot around the east end along with pimps, drunks etc.

Over the next 3 months there would be 5 more murders, now the first thing that jumps out to me is why so quick? Modern day serial killers prove they ‘space’ out there crimes, some over 25 years. So again why so quick? Well in my opinion the murderer seems to work himself up into frenzy that he can’t control himself when the need to kill takes over, although could quite easily look in total control when not in that frame of mind.
Idea that the Ripper was ‘lucky’ can’t be ignored too, if he was indeed just plain and simply mad, could he kill 5 women in 6 months and then ‘disappear?
Well it depends on what you think may of happened , if he was mad he could have been committed to one of the many insane asylum’s around then, If he was a touch more ‘in control’ he could of left the country or stopped for some other reason like an illness or wound.

The next Murder is that of Mary Ann Nichols on August 31, 1888 found mutilated in in Bucks Row, this murder is far bloodier and gruesome than the one of Martha Tabram with the first fatal wound a cut to the throat, which leads me to think it is a different murderer and the ‘start of the Rippers work’.
The next murder is on September 8, 1888, Annie Chapman killed in Hanbury Street, again mutilated with the fatal blow a cut to the throat.
Now there starts the pattern, again organs where either removed or attempted to be and the throat was cut.
So now we can see he has his developed method, I say developed because this is something he had learned and that worked for him and satisfied the urges. So it’s my opinion he had committed similar acts before, I wouldn’t had learned his method through committing previous murders, because he may of learned them from Medical school or even butcher and such trades. But either way it was a method of killing that he liked and was for what it seems he was able to be in control although maybe not calm.
The next murders were what have become known as the ‘double event’ this was the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes on September 30, 1888, killed at 1:00 and 1:45 am respectively.
Out of all the original 5 victims thought to be killed by Jack the Ripper the Stride murder is the one that is given the most doubt, Stride had just her throat cut with no mutilations, it is common consensus that the killer may have been disturbed by a man arriving in the yard with his horse and wagon.
The fact is, if this was the ‘work’ of the Ripper he would of have had to of cut Strides throat at 1:00 and then got to Mitre Square, a good 10 to 15 minutes brisk jog/walk away found Eddowes, murdered and mutilated her by 1:45am.
Not impossible by any means but just suppose he can’t find a girl for another 5 minutes, then has to walk with her to a secluded area and then kill her. Even if you round up the time to 20-25 minutes, he is still only leaving himself around 20 minutes to commit the mutilations.
For that reason the murder of Elizabeth Stride is another I believe is not by the Ripper and is just pure coincidence it was committed on the same night as Catherine Eddowes.

The fifth and what I believe to be the final murder is, that of Mary Kelly killed in Miller's Court on November 9, 1888.
Kelly had took the killer back to her room in Miller’s Court where she was killed. This murder was by far the worse of the lot; the killer had the time to do exactly everything he wanted resulting in one of the most savage murder scene’s probably ever to be seen at the time.

The murder of Mary Kelly is the clear indicator of the ‘end’ in the mind of the killer for me, a stopping point, whether it is for years or more.
It does not mean he didn’t want to do it anymore or died, it could. But as I have said it could be for many reasons such as illness or leaving the country etc.
either way this time the killer had the time to be given free rein on a victim for a substantial amount of time with not a threat of policeman or witness able to see him, in other words he could be safe to do whatever he wanted.

The human brain is a funny thing it can allow you to convince yourself of many wrongs to be right and in a killer such as Jack the Rippers mind, In my opinion he was somewhat safe from his own conscious by the fact he had thought of a lot worse things to do if he was given the time, but at the moment had not acted, through probably the thought of capture and death. Once given the situation in to be able to act out his thoughts he did and even by the maddest of minds once you have committed an act you had so far kept as a ‘conscious blocker’ the mind will crumble and many emotions and feelings then come into play such as fear, nervousness, nausea etc. which can then trigger reactions they are less in control of and being in a very unstable state of mind.

So what sort of person should we be looking for?
Well in my opinion they would be very ordinary for the times, maybe a bit loose and prone too mood swings. Violence would be prominent in this person’s life, whether it is man or woman.
They would have some level of education and more than likely have a frequent cash flow.
That’s not saying they were of the ‘upper class’ or even middle but all the characteristics of these murders point me towards someone ‘comfortable’ in there being, an almost ‘normal’ life, on the outside.

So who do I think committed these murders? Well I can’t really pin down one suspect and convince myself of their guilt, but out of all the names I have looked at the 3 most creditable suspects are;

George Chapman- a.k.a. Severin Antoniovich Klosowski .
Born as Severin Antoniovich Klosowski in the Polish village of Nargornak on December 14, 1865 to Antonio and Emile Klosowski. His father, a carpenter, apprenticed Severin to a Senior Surgeon in Zvolen named Moshko Rappaport, whereupon he entered into a career as a surgeon from December 1880 until October 1885, after which he completed his studies in the Hospital of Praga in Warsaw. Rappaport claimed he was "diligent, or exemplary conduct, and studied with zeal the science of surgery." Another unnamed source spoke of Klosowski's "very skilful assistance to patients."
This man was a nasty piece of work. His date of entry to the east end of London is in the spring of 1888, he eventually left London for America where he was hung for poisoning his wife, it’s worth pointing out when we was arrested in America he never admitted guilt and lied about where he was in 1888 onwards. Did he have something to hide?

David Cohena.k.a. Nathan Kaminsky
In December 1888 a young and confused Polish Jew, found rambling on the streets and speaking little but Yiddish, was brought in by the police to the Leman station. Since he was uncommunicative, it was decided that he was unable to care for himself and that he should be taken to the parish workhouse. Then he suddenly became violent and had to be brought in under restraint. Since he didn't give them his name or address, and no one recognized him, he was registered at the Infirmary as "David Cohen", which supposedly was used as a "John Doe" for East End Jew's without known identity, address and next-of-kin.
In the Infirmary Cohen proved too dangerous for the other patients (and himself) and was therefore transferred to Colney Hatch, once again under restraint. There he had to remain under constant observation due to his violent tendencies; he was rambling and described as "spiteful and mischievous", he spat out food, had to be force-feed, tore down a lead pipe and wire window-guard in the yard, he was destructive, kicked passers-by and had to wear a "strong dress" in order not to tear his own clothes into pieces. Today he would most likely have been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. In October 1889 he was confined to his bed in the asylum and a few days later he died.
There is no doubting that David Cohen was a raving lunatic, which would give good credence to the ‘lucky’ and the murders kept him sane theory.

The last is a strange one and to any1 familiar with the Ripper case recently will have heard of James Carnac.
Carnac was supposedly from Tottenham, north London although know one has been able to locate a person or family by that name, this could be because he changed the names in his manuscript or he is simply lying.
James Carnac moved in with his uncle after his father a doctor; slit his mother’s throat and then his own, leaving James Carnac a rather wealthy man for the time.
After a few years at his uncles he decided to go to medical school but dropped out after ‘’getting an urge to cut throats’’. After a few altercations with himself and his obvious split personality from schizophrenia, he fled his uncles one night after deciding to follow through with his thoughts of slitting his throat and found him in his uncle’s bedroom with a knife, only for his uncle to wake up and see him.
He fled to the East end of London, Whitechapel.
He says he eventually stopped because of an accident when his leg was run over by a taxi being pulled by a horse, resulting in him having to have a leg amputated.
This is all based upon a book found by a toy seller who brought a box of the famous Sydney George Hulme Beaman, famously known for creating Larry the lamb and toy town.
in the box was an envelope containing a manuscript from someone called James Carnac confessing to be Jack the Ripper, now obviously it sounds fairy tale stuff but in the book he describes certain areas of the case very well and in great detail in which only someone who was there would know how to.
All in all, my feeling is it is an incredible work of fiction but either way he deserves a lot attention and maybe research.

So to put my suspects in order of who I think is more likely to have committed the Jack the Ripper murders it would have to go;

1/ George Chapman - a.k.a. Severin Antoniovich Klosowski

2/ David Cohen - a.k.a. Nathan Kaminsky

And maybe if a bit more research can be done and found that the writer of the manuscript can be identified.

3/ James Carnac

Either way I feel it’s very unlikely ever to get enough proof to solve this case it’s still very intriguing to study the case, look at the little evidence there is and put a case together for your own suspects.

Thank you very much for taking the time out to read this, I would love to know your suspects too.

Chris