Saucy Jack 2

Welcome back to our look at the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper.

Last week was a quick rundown of the murders and the area in which they were committed, Whitechapel. Today we look at some of the suspects.

One of the earliest suspects was a violent and aggressive butcher called John Pizer. Apparently, he confessed but it was quickly discovered that he was innocent with an alibi for two murders and that the confession had been coerced by the arresting officer Sergeant Thick. The reason he was suspect was the fact that a piece of a leather apron was found at Annie Chapman's crime scene. This lead to the public calling the murderer Leather Apron, until Jack the Ripper was coined.

Moving on to other suspects in no particular order, we have Joseph Barnett.

He was Mary Kelly's lover, a fish porter who lost his job. It seems that Mary took up prostitution to bring in some money after Joseph was laid off, and that he hated that. They broke up but were seen talking the night Mary died. Inspector Abberline interviewed Barnett and ruled him out as the Ripper.

Next we have Charles Lechmere, also known as Charles Cross. Some modern Ripperologists find it highly suspect that he used two names, but apparently it wasn't that odd back in those days. Cross was a driver for Pickfords meat company and was the man who found Polly Nichols and alerted the police. Some have suggested that instead of finding the body, he put it there, but a second person arrived moments later, and it would be almost impossible to clean up in time, so there is little to pin on Charles.

Unlike our previous suspects Frederick Deeming was a murderer. An already unhinged individual, he became a sailor and contracted syphilis from a prostitute in Whitechapel. He is alleged to have wanted to kill her if he could, and he, prompted by the illusion of his dead mother, killed two wives and four of his children. He does fit the bill in many ways, but there is some evidence that he was in South Africa taking part in a diamond scam at the time of the Ripper murders.

One of the most likely (but never proven) suspects was Aaron Kosminski, a Jewish barber and generally unhinged person. He was known to hate women and he had violent tendencies. At the time, there was a lot of speculation that the murderer could be Jewish, in part due to regular garden variety antisemitism, but also because of the famous graffiti found on Goulston Street on the night of the double murder. It read: The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing. The spelling of juwes has been the subject of much speculation, as it could be a typo, but it could also be a reference to freemasonry. Either way, Police Commissioner Charles Warren ordered it washed away immediately. Most likely, it was to prevent a wave of violence against the many Jews who lived in the area, but since he was a Mason, it became fodder for the conspiracy minded.

There are of course many more suspects, but these are some of the more average suspects. Next week we are looking at the more famous ones. Suspects like Lewis Carroll, Walter Sickert, Sir William Gull and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, and Queen Victoria's grandson.

So tune in next week, and until then, stay safe and happy!