jack facts

latest news report:

Files on Victorian lunatic throw new light on Jack the Ripper suspect
Medical records belonging to a Victorian mental patient suspected of being the serial killer Jack the Ripper have been made public.
By Alastair Jamieson Last Updated: 12:22PM GMT 19 Nov 2008 check out for the full story!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3482227/Files-on-Victorian-lunatic-throw-new-light-on-Jack-the-Ripper-suspect.html

Now back to business: The facts!!!!

• Jack the Ripper was an alias for a killer who preyed on prostitutes


• The murders occurred between 1888-1891, killings that terrorized London's East End


• The drama played out in a 1-mile area around the district known as Whitechapel, part of City of London proper The killing spree was believed to be too much for the Whitechapel CID and Scotland Yard became involved, sending in reinforcement

• Ripper victims possibly numbered 11 with a strong belief that actual Ripper casualties were about 5 women
  
• The nature of the murders included throat slitting and abdominal mutilation. Surgeons who examined the bodies saw evidence of a degree of anatomical knowledge on the killer's part, which included clean cuts and exact excision.

• The “Jack the Ripper” handle was derived from a mysterious letter that was sent to Central News Agency, and then forwarded on to the Metropolitan Police. The letter related that the author was “down on whores” and that he wouldn't cease “ripping them.”


• Although there were a number of suspects in the case, eventually this was narrowed down to four contenders :

1. Kosminski, a poor Polish Jew resident in Whitechapel



2. Montague John Druitt, a 31 year old barrister and school teacher who committed suicide in December 1888



3. Michael Ostrog, a Russian-born multi-pseudonymous thief and confidence trickster, believed to be 55 years old in 1888, and detained in asylums on several occasions



4. Dr Francis J. Tumblety, 56 Years old, an American 'quack' doctor, who was arrested in November 1888 for offences of gross indecency, and fled the country later the same month, having obtained bail at a very high price.

• The Ripper murders and the Whitechapel murders are not one and the same thing


• The notoriety of the murders became international, with lurid accounts appearing in newspapers of the day


• A female torso was discovered in the cellars of the new police building under construction at Whitehall


• The chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee received half a human kidney in a box accompanied by a letter “From Hell” that concluded: “Catch me when you can.” Was Jack taunting authorities?


• The murders apparently ceased by 1891


• In 1896, another “Jack the Ripper” letter surfaced, with corresponding press activity and speculation that the Ripper had returned


• Immediately after the Eddowes murder a piece of her bloodstained apron was found in a doorway in Goulston Street, Whitechapel. Above the piece of apron, on the brick fascia in the doorway, was the legend, in chalk, "The Juwes are The men that Will not be Blamed for nothing." A message from the murderer, or simply anti-Semitic graffiti? Expert opinion is divided.


• Prince Albert Victor (Eddy)
  During the time of the Ripper murders, there were no actual theories presented linking Eddy to the crimes. Those would come much later after many of the principal characters in the theories were dead. It would not be until 1962 when the first theory regarding Eddy's involvement in the murders became known.


• "Official UK government" archives which were originally marked "Secret..not to be opened until 1988"...............only to find that no further clues were forthcoming, and some information had mysteriously gone missing


• The Oxford English Dictionary defines a ripperologist,-as " a student of the crimes of Jack the Ripper"


• The Oxford English Dictionary defines Jack -"Used as a form of address to an unknown person. colloq. (orig. U.S.)."

Useful sorces
http://dictionary.oed.com/


http://www.casebook.org/jacktheripper

http://www.met.police.uk/history/ripper.htm