Jack the Ripper:Case Still Open
New Suspects in a Century-Old Case-Sickert,Tumblety and Feigenbaum
Oct 15, 2007
In 1888, five prostitutes were brutally murdered in the Whitechapel area of London. Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride,Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly are the five women generally accepted as being victims of Jack the Ripper.
Some theorists believe there may have been more vicitims, others suspect that Mary Kelly was not killed by the same person as the other four. Three contemporary books reconsider the case, pointing the finger in turn at Walter Sickert, Francis Tumblety, and Carl Feigenbaum. Could one of these men have been Jack the Ripper?
Walter Sickert
In Portrait of a Killer, crime writer Patricia Cornwell named artist Walter Sickert as Jack the Ripper. Her belief that he was the Ripper was based on the uncanny similarities of some of his paintings to the Ripper crime scenes. She also believed that some of the taunting letters to the police were written by Sickert. She contended his motivation was that a childhood operation had made him impotent, which caused him to have feelings of inadequacy and a bitter hatred and resentment toward women.
Though Cornwell spent six million on an investigation using modern forensic techniques to test DNA on one of Sickert’s paintings and one of the Ripper letters, the results were inconclusive. Sickert was not considered a suspect at the time of the murders and there is evidence in the form of handwritten letters received by his family that suggest he was in France at the time of most of the Ripper murders.
Frances Tumblety
Unlike Sickert, Tumblety was considered a suspect at the time of the Ripper murders. However, the identity of this unknown suspect was lost until some old papers were discovered that named him. StewartP. Evans and Paul Gainey’s 1995 book, Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer, follows Tumblety’s story. Born into a poor family that moved to New York from Canada, Tumblety set up practice as a “quack” doctor. His medical practices were more than once called into question, as was his rather bizarre behavior. He loved to show off by wearing a military outfit and medals he didn’t deserve. His paranoia and hatred of women was well-known.
Tumblety left the U.S. for London, where he was arrested on Nov. 7th, 1888 on charges of indecency (homosexual activities). He was also charged on suspicion of the Whitechapel murders, but skipped bail and fled to France. He was soon discovered living back in New York, but there was not enough proof for Scotland Yard to extradite him. The notoriety soon blew over and he vanished into obscurity. He was never arrested for the murders and died a wealthy man.
Evans and Gainey outline fifteen convincing reasons why they believe Tumblety was Jack the Ripper, including his being arrested, no more murders being committed after he left London, his ability to change identities and evade the police, his medical knowledge and wealth that would make travel and disguise possible However, the fact that Tumblety was homosexual does not fit the profile of the typical killer of female prostitutes. There is also some evidence he may have been incarcerated at the time of Mary Kelly’s murder. That would mean he was not Jack the Ripper, unless Mary Kelly, as some theorists believe, was not one of the Ripper's victims.
Carl Ferdinand Feigenbaum
The most recent “new” Jack the Ripper suspect was introduced by author Trevor Mariott in his 2007 novel, Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation. Former murder squad detective Mariott puts forth the idea that Feigenbaum was responsible for the Whitechapel murders as well as other vicious murders across the US and Europe in the 1880s and 1890s, including the unsolved murder of Carrie Brown in New York.
Mariott contends there may have been up to nine victims instead of the five generally acknowledged as being victims of Jack the Ripper. Mariott brings forth the theory that they were all committed by Carl Feigenbaum. Feigenbaum was executed in 1896 at Sing Sing prison, New York, for the murder of Juliana Hoffman, a widow who had taken in the out -of -work gardener, a fellow German, as a boarder. He attacked her with a knife, slitting her throat from ear to ear. Her son witnessed the murder, and Feigenbaum was given the death penalty.
Shortly after his execution, his lawyer made a statement that he believed Feigenbaum to be Jack the Ripper. He suspected the attack on Mrs. Hoffman to be a botched Jack the Ripper attack. The lawyer claimed the drifter Feigenbaum pretended to be simple-minded but in fact was quite cunning and knowledgeable about many subjects, including surgery. Lawton said his client had confessed about having an uncontrollable desire to murder and mutilate women. He also said he had proof Feigenbaum had been in London in 1888. The murder of Mrs. Hoffman, however, appeared to be robbery related. Feigenbaum never did not confess to anything but Mrs. Hoffman’s murder. Though Lawton believed that his client was the Ripper, he was unable to prove Feignebaum had been in London in 1888.
For furher information on Jack the Ripper
Free Course Jack the Ripper:Case Study
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