On August 31, 1888, Constable Jonas Mizen discovered the body of Mary Ann Nichols, the first canonical victim of Jack the Ripper, also known as the Whitechapel Murderer. The killer is believed to have murdered and mutilated at least five women in and around London’s Whitechapel district from August to November 1888.
The name “Jack the Ripper” came from the “Dear Boss Letter” written by someone claiming to be the murderer. The letter was widely published by the press, and many believed it to be a fraud that may have been written by journalists in an effort to increase interest in the story and newspaper sales.
As FBI Special Agent John E. Douglas stated in his July 6, 1988, criminal investigative analysis prepared for Cosgrove-Meurer Productions Inc.:
“Another aspect of this case worth mentioning was the communiques allegedly received from Jack the Ripper,” Douglas said. “It is quite rare when a serial murderer of this type communicates with police, media, family, etc.. … In summary, I would not put emphasis on the communiques during this investigation.”
The canonical five Ripper victims were Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. The Whitechapel murders include another four murders that occurred after the canonical five: Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie, the Pinchin Street torso, and Frances Coles. Most experts attribute only the canonical five to the Ripper. Some say that only three, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, and Catherine Eddowes, are the work of a single killer.
Top 5 Suspects according to The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper (1988 TV documentary):
Dr. Robert Donston Stephenson (also known as Roslyn D’Onston; 20 April 1841 – 9 October 1916) was a journalist and writer interested in occult and black magic and a medical doctor.
Montague John Druitt (15 August 1857 – early December 1888) was a Dorset-born barrister.
Sir William Withey Gull (31 December 1816 – 29 January 1890) was physician-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria.
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892)
Aaron Kosminski (11 September 1865 – 24 March 1919) was a Polish Jew admitted to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in 1891.
Over the decades, more than 100 suspects have been named, from the likely to the ridiculous. Given the more than 130 years that have passed, the primitive state of forensics at the time of the murders, and that many of the Whitechapel murders files were destroyed in the WW II bombings of London in 1940-41, it is doubtful the identity of the killer will ever be definitively proven.
Interestingly enough, multiple US newspapers in 1888, including the Atlanta Constitution and the New York Daily News, suggested the Whitechapel murderer might be the same man who committed ten murders in Austin, Texas, in 1884-1885 and was never apprehended. Their theory appeared to be that it was more likely that the Texas murderer had caught a steamship to London than that there might be two homicidal maniacs in the world.
Who was suspected to be the killer known as the Austin Axe Murderer or the Midnight Assassin? Who were his victims? What were the circumstances of the crimes? That is a story for another day.
In 2015, the Jack the Ripper Museum opened in East London.
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Sources:
“Jack the Ripper.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper
Jack the Ripper Suspects Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper_suspects
Douglas, John E. “Jack the Ripper Part 1 of 1.” FBI, December 6, 2010. https://vault.fbi.gov/Jack%20the%20Ripper/Jack%20the%20Ripper%20Part%201%20of%201/view.
Atlanta Constitution, GA, Tuesday, October 02, 1888, Page 6, “Is it the Man from Texas?”
The Guardian, London, Wednesday, December 26, 1888, Page 7, “An American View of the Whitechapel Murders”
Buffalo Commercial, NY, Saturday, December 15, 1888, Page 2, “Who and Where is Jack the Ripper?”
The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper (1988 TV documentary) by Cosgrove-Meurer Productions Inc. (Available on YouTube.)
