Joseph Barnett (1858-1926)
Suggested in: "Jack the Ripper: The
Simple Truth" by Bruce Paley
Born in 1858 in Whitechapel, he was 30
years old at the time of the murders and
knew the area perfectly. He was of medium
build, fair complexion, with a moustache
and blue eyes, 5' 7" tall.
Joseph's father, himself a fish porter, died in 1864, and his mother
deserted the family soon after. As a result, he was raised by his
older brothers. All of the Barnett brothers were working at the local
fish market by 1878.
Joseph met Mary Jane Kelly on April 8th, 1887, and the two decided
soon after to room together at various locations for the next year
and a half. By the time of the Ripper murders, they were living in 13
Miller's Court, Dorset Street. In June 1888 he lost his job and Mary
returned to prostitution to bring more money in. The relationship
had begun to break down and he moved out when Kelly allowed a
prostitute to sleep at their house. Nevertheless he continued to
visit her and leave her money right up until her death on November
9th 1888.
The theory is that Joseph Barnett was tired of Mary Kelly
prostituting herself to other men. In an attempt to "scare" Kelly off
the streets, Barnett raged through Whitechapel murdering
prostitutes in the autumn of 1888. His plot didn't succeed, though,
so he murdered her in a rage. At this point the murders stopped.
In terms of evidence, ginger beer bottles were found in 13 Miller's
Court by police on November 9th. In the "Dear Boss" letter, the
author says that he "saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger
beer bottle over the last job to write with...". Secondly, Kelly's door
had been locked by the killer after he left - even though this could
only have been done by reaching through a broken window from
the outside, as Kelly and Barnett did after losing their key.
Francis Tumblety (1833-1903)
Suggested in: "Jack the Ripper: First American Serial
Killer" by Stewart Evans & Paul Gainey
Francis Tumblety was born either in Ireland or Canada
to poor working-class parents. His family moved to
Rochester, New York, when he was a child. Neighbors
and acquaintances who knew him as a teenager
thought him 'a dirty, awkward, ignorant, uncared-for,
good-for-nothing boy... utterly devoid of education.'
As a young man, he started his own practice as a doctor (despite having no
formal qualifications) and in 1857 arrived in Montreal as a man of
considerable wealth. He made a big impact: within a year he had been asked
to stand as a candidate in the local elections. However, he was then charged
(but never convicted) of performing an illegal abortion on a local prostitute.
It was at this time that Tumblety’s hatred for women became clear, as seen
in the testimony of a Colonel Dunham, who was one night invited to dinner
by Tumblety:
"Someone asked why he had not invited some women to his dinner. His face
instantly became as black as a thunder-cloud. He then fiercely denounced all
women and especially prostitutes. He then invited us into his office. One side
of this room was entirely occupied with wardrobes. When the doors were
opened quite a museum was revealed - shelves with glass jars filled with
internal body parts of every class of women".
As his reputation as a madman developed, he wrote and published The
Kidnapping of Dr. Tumblety, a short pamphlet to restore his reputation. It did
the opposite: the book was little more than a series of paranoid ramblings.
Tumblety spent increasing amounts of time in London from the late 1860s.
On 12th November he was then charged on suspicion of the Whitechapel
murders after the death of Mary Jane Kelly. Chief Inspector Littlechild, a top
name in Scotland Yard, believed him a ‘very likely suspect’.
James Maybrick (1838-1889) Evidence from ‘Jack the Ripper Case Book’
‘The Maybrick Diary’ emerged in the 1992 and has caused a
huge amount of debate if the diaries are a hoax. Despite
performing a number of scientific tests on the diary, it is
impossible to say if the diaries were written in 1888.
Although the diary does not actually identify himself by
name, from personal references and other information
contained in the document it is evident that the diary was
written by James Maybrick who was a well know cotton merchant in
Liverpool.
James Maybrick was born on October 24th 1838; he was one of six brothers.
In 1873 he formed the Maybrick and Company cotton merchants and was
living with his mother in London. In 1880 he was introduced to Florence
when on a business trip to America. Florence was really influential in helping
James Maybrick to establish his cotton trade in America. Despite the success
in the cotton trade, there was an economic slump which gave Maybrick a
number of financial worries. It was thought that Maybrick started using
powders during this period of time.
The argument for James Maybrick being Jack the Ripper is that he witnessed
his wife with her un-named lover. His wife’s relationship is thought to have
taken place in March 1888. This caused him to vent his pent up fury by
commencing a murder spree which resulted in the death of five prostitutes in
Whitechapel. James Maybrick and Florence had many marital problems,
despite the birth of their two children. In one incident he hit Florence which
resulted in her having a black eye. It is also known that he consumed
powders including arsenic and this resulted in his decline in health. Florence
Maybrick was accused of poisoning him with arsenic, following his death in
1889.
Is the diary a hoax?
The diary of Jack the Ripper gives a rambling account of the
murders. The diary ends with the sentence ‘I give my name
that all who know of me, so history do tell, what love can do to
a true born. Yours truly Jack the Ripper’. The diary does not
actually state the name James Maybrick but historians have
worked out that the author is Maybrick due to the family
members mentioned in the diary.
The content of the diary reveal many details of the crimes, however there are
some mistakes about the murders in the diary. For example when writing
about the death of Mary Jane Kelly, the author says that he placed her
breasts on the bedside table. The breasts were in actual fact found under her
head and by her foot.
However, there is other evidence in the diary that could only have been
possibly known by few people. Details in the diary discuss that an empty tin
box was discovered with the body of Catherine Eddows. This was not
mentioned in published police reports and would have only been known by
the police or the killer himself. The details of the empty tin box were
uncovered in police reports in the 1980s after the 100 year rule.
In 1993 discovered that a gold watch which he had purchased had on the
inside carved the initials of Jack the Ripper’s five victims. It also had the
signature ‘J. Maybrick’ ‘I am Jack’. As with the diary the watch has undergone
scientific testing and the scratches on the watch suggest the artefact is from
the time.
Aaron Kosminski (1864/5-1919)
Kosminski was a ‘low class Polish Jew’ who
immigrated to England from Europe in the 1880s
and worked as a hairdresser in Whitechapel in the
East End of London in 1881. On two occasions in July
1890 and February 1891, Kosminski was placed in a
workhouse because of his insane behaviour. On the
second occasion he was admitted to Conley Hatch
Asylum in February 1891, but who had begun to
display signs of insanity in the 1880s. He believed
that a higher power spoke to him and controlled all
of his movements. He refused to wash and would
not accept food from others, preferring to eat food
from the gutter.
Aaron Kosminski was named in police documents
that senior police officials believed Kosminski to be
Jack the Ripper. Anderson wrote in his memoirs that
the killer was a ‘Polish Jew’ and Swanson upon receiving a copy of Anderson’s memoir’s
pencilled in the margin that Kosminski was the suspect.
Anderson also claimed that the Ripper had been identified by the ‘only person who had
ever had a good view of the murder’ but it was impossible to prosecute because both
witness and suspect were both Jewish. The only witness who was Jewish and had a good
look at the suspect was Israel Schwartz who witnessed the attack on Elizabeth Stride in
Burner Street. Israel Schwartz described the man who threw down Elizabeth Stride as
being age about 30; height 5ft 5intches; complexion fair; hair dark; small brown
moustache; full face; broad shouldered; dress dark jacket and trousers; black cap with
peak and nothing in his hands.
Recent evidence…..
A shawl supposedly belonging to Catherine Eddowes was scientifically tested in
September 2014. A strand of the shawl was taken and it matched a descendent from
Catherine Eddowes family. Another descendent from the Kosminski family was also taken
and the DNA evidence revealed a 93% positive match. Some scientists and historians have
questioned the origin of the shawl and how trustworthy the evidence is after 126 years.
William Bury (1859-1889) From: William Beadle The real Jack the Ripper
Bury was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire on 25 May 1859.
This is the most detailed information on William Bury as a
child. There is no record of his education or his childhood up
until he was 28 years old. Bury is described by the author as
someone who was completely ‘unremarkable’. He had
previously worked as a horsemeat butcher until 1887 when he
migrated to the East End of London to work for a general dealer
in Bow as a sawdust collector. He married Ellen Elliot who was
recorded in a census as being a ‘servant’ but it is more likely
that she worked as a prostitute.
William’s motive for marrying Ellen, considering he hated women may seem puzzling but
she had recently inherited a small fortune of £300 (£20, 000). William was a heavy drinker
and forced Ellen to withdraw her fortune which he spent on alcohol. Bury was sacked for
stealing and then decided to set up his own sawdust business by buying a horse and cart.
It is important to note here that the horse and cart brought by Bury was kept in George’s
Yard which made the yard a close location to the bodies of the victims.
It is important to note William Bury’s mental state; it is reported by Elizabeth Haynes the
owner of a lodging house that he slept with a knife under his pillow. It is also reported
that on one occasion the lodging house owner witnessed Bury holding a knife to Ellen’s
throat. Eventually Ellen and William ran out of money and moved out of the East End of
London to Dundee to take up new work. Unfortunately for Ellen this was to be where she
ended her life. She was strangled to death and stabbed deeply in the abdomen. The body
was left for five days in a trunk and five days later Bury went to the police and said he had
found Ellen with Rope around her neck. He claimed he did not know how the body ended
up mutilated or in the trunk. He also said that his wife had committed suicide. The police
upon finding Ellen’s body discovered writing on the wall in the house. Behind the door to
the cellar was written the words ‘Jack is written at the back of this door’ and in the cellar
above the stairs the words ‘Jack the Ripper is in this seller’.
William Bury was found guilty of murdering his wife Ellen and was hanged in 1889. The
detectives investigating the Ripper murders went to Scotland to persuade the executioner
to get William Bury to confess to being Jack the Ripper. Bury replied ‘I suppose you think
you are cleaver to hang me’.