Jack The Ripper - Mark Whitehead [0]
MIRIAM RIVETT & MARK WHITEHEAD
POCKET ESSENTIALS
This edition published in 2006 by Pocket Essentials P.O.Box 394, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 1XJ www.pocketessentials.com
© Mark Whitehead & Miriam Rivett, 2001, 2006
The right of Mark Whitehead & Miriam Rivett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of the publishers.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 10: 1 904048 69 2
ISBN 13: 978 1 904048 69 5
24681097531
Typeset by Avocet Typeset, Chilton, Aylesbury, Bucks Printed and bound in Spain
Other books in this series by Mark Whitehead:
Slasher Movies
Roger Corman
Animation
For Ian and Joel, who put up with endless
Ripper discussions,
and for Meryl, who knew it all already.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Paul, Ion and David, for patience, encouragement and books (you all know which).We would also like to extend our thanks to Philip Sugden, Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Keith Skinner, Stewart P Evans, Donald Rumbelow and Ross Strachan, whose research and diligence aided our own work invaluably.
Contents
Introduction: The Trouble with Jack
1: In Hindsight
Were Emma Smith and Martha Tabram early victims of the Ripper?
2: ‘Watchman, Old Man, I Believe Somebody Is Murdered Down the Street’
Mary Ann Nichols is murdered in front of a stable yard on Buck’s Row
3: ‘Cool Impudence and Reckless Daring’
Annie Chapman dies in the backyard of 29, Hanbury Street
4: Interlude
Some contemporary suspects including Leather Apron, William Henry Pigott, Jacob Isenschmid and Charles Ludwig
5: Double Event
Elizabeth Stride and Catharine Eddowes are murdered on the same night
6: A Study in Terror
Mary Jane Kelly’s horrific death in 13, Miller’s Court and the vital evidence of George Hutchinson
7: Jack’s Back
Were Rose Mylett,Alice McKenzie and Frances Coles later victims of the Ripper?
8: The Suspects Assemble
A list of people named as being the Ripper
9: Ripping Yarns
Books, comics, films and television shows which have used the Ripper as a fictional character
10: Ripper Haunts
A list of major books and websites where you can begin your own research into the Ripper mystery
Introduction
The Trouble with Jack
‘I was killing when killing wasn’t cool’ Al Columbia
‘In this business no one knows anything’ William Goldman
You might not have heard of Amelia Dyer. In the late 1880s this ex-Salvation Army ‘soldier’ fostered orphaned infants. While she collected their boarding fees, she swiftly disposed of her charges by strangling and dumping them in the Thames. She was known as ‘The Reading Baby Farmer’.
Nor may you have heard of Herman Webster Mudgett (aka HH Holmes). Mudgett ran a hotel in Chicago which benefited in more ways than one from the 1893 World’s Fair. A gothic eyesore, the place was a massive killing jar, full of secret entrances, trapdoors and hidden rooms. By the time the police twigged, Holmes had fled. Estimates of the dead found range from twenty-seven to over two hundred.
Or Rhynwick Williams. In 1790, he was arrested and tried as the ‘London Monster’.With over fifty victims to his name, the Monster had been the terror of London women from 1788. He approached them with lascivious talk then slashed their buttocks with a knife.
Other names do stick in the mind. Brady and Hindley, Peter Sutcliffe, Fred and Rose West.They remain in our collective consciousness, their memory sustained by tabloid hysteria and broadsheet pontificating. Their victims’ lives have been chronicled exhaustively through oral tradition, the media and