Jack The Ripper - Is This The Real Killer?

Since the series of gruesome murders weresame time, other special interest groups used the
committed in London, England, 118 years ago, thepersonal circumstances of the victims -- having to
identity of the murderer, world famous as "Jackwork as prostitutes, because of lack of
the Ripper", has baffled police.During that time,respectable employment -- to highlight the
more than 170 people came under suspicion.deprivation and squalor in that part of east
These even included the author of "Alice InLondon, where the murders were all
Wonderland", Lewis Caroll and the Duke Ofcommitted.Others jumped on the bandwagon of
Clarence, a close relative of the then monarch,notoriety and the police received hundreds of
Queen Victoria. But a recent review of the originalletters from people, claiming to be the Ripper.
police material may finally put the mystery toThey even took the unusual step of publishing
bed.Only the Ripper knows exactly how manyphotographs of some of the more promising ones
women he killed, but five murders, committedin the vain hope the handwriting would be
between August 31 and November 9 1888, arerecognized.Among all the hysteria, the handwritten
officially attributed to him. However, many othernotes of the detective leading the hunt for the
unsolved murders have been loosely andkiller were largely ignored. But recently, they have
unofficially linked to the Ripper. Some of the wilderbeen re-examined and cast fresh light on this
estimates put the number as high as 13, whilstenduring mystery.The notes of Chief Inspector
some of the police officers at the time put theDonald Swanson, the man in charge of the
unofficial figure at nine.Common threads linking theinvestigation 118 years ago, show he, at least,
five official murders are the facts they were allwas convinced he knew the true identity of Jack
women (probably prostitutes) and appeared toThe Ripper.Swanson named the killer as Aaron
have been murdered when drunk.When theKosminski, a Polish immigrant barber, living close to
murders were announced the question onthe murder scenes. Due to the nature of the
everyone's lips was: "How did Jack the Ripperkilling, the police attributed some surgical skill to
murder his victims?".The savagery of the killingsthe murderer and it's interesting to note barbers
was extreme: the victims were probablyused to also conduct surgical operations, although
strangled first (to remove the risk of screaming),this part of their job was growing into the
their throats cut, their stomachs cut open andseparate, more prestigious, profession of
their entrails removed. Due to the surgical skillsurgeon.Kosminski first came to police attention
shown, suspicion fell on butchers and evenbecause of his violent behaviour in threatening his
surgeons.The most celebrated suspect was Princesister with a knife. His occupation lent further
Albert, Duke of Clarence. He was the son of theweight to the suspicion, but he could not be
future King Edward VII and grandson of Queenquestioned, as he was deemed to be insane. So
Victoria. Prince Albert had a reputation as a bit ofhe was taken to a seaside nursing home, where
a "ladies man", with a history of scandals, and hehe was subjected to an unofficial identity parade,
had forfeited a great deal of public sympathy.being viewed secretly by the only witness to one
Because of this his wife, Princess Alexander, wasof the murders.Although the witness positively
regarded -- for similar reasons -- with the sameidentified Kosminski as the person they saw
affection as Princess Diana, 110 years later.This,committing the murder, they refused to testify in
coupled with the rumours he was suffering fromcourt, because it would almost certainly mean
syphilis (reputed to turn the sufferer mad) putdeath by hanging for the suspect. Without that
him squarely "in the frame", at least as far as thecrucial piece of evidence, the police did not have a
public and press were concerned. However, thisstrong enough case against the suspect and he
theory conveniently ignores the undisputed factwas allowed to return to his brother's house, close
that, at the time of the first murder, Prince Albertto the scene of the murders.Needless to say, his
was some 200 miles to the north of London, inevery movement was monitored by the police,
Yorkshire. In addition, he was absent from Londonbut nothing further was seen and Kosminski died
at the times of other murders. This, plus hissoon after in Colney Hatch, to the north of
obvious lack of surgical skill, should have beenLondon.For such a spectacularly brutal series of
sufficient to rule him out from the veryinfamous murders, with such illustrious suspects,
start.Probably the reason such a wild theory wasthe probable truth is disappointingly
given so much weight was due to the nature andprosaic.Copyright 2006 Jon Michael and London
location of this crime.Although there had beenVacation SecretsJon Michael is a lifelong resident
serial killings in the past, there had been nothingof London, England and his hobby is discovering
like this in the very metropolitan heart of thethe hidden stories about this fascinating world
world's first superpower -- as Britain was at theclass city. Add to all that the daily honing of his
time. Consequently, these events caused aknowledge of London as a taxi cab driver and
unprecedented furore in the national press, withyou need look no further for information on the
the police coming under daily criticism. At thereal London.