Special Sub-Topic: Pick Your Ripper Authored by: ripper1 Sub-topic of: Jack The Ripper

When did Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward, the Duke of Clarence, first become a suspect in the Ripper murders?

1962. The allegation first surfaced in Phillippe Jullien's book, "Edouard VII". The author claimed that the Duke of Clarence committed the murders with the aid of the Duke of Bedford.

Bertrand Ashley, Claude Clayton and Ashley Nabokoff were aliases used by which suspect?

Michael Ostrog. Ostrog was one of three suspects named by Chief Constable of the CID, Sir Melville Macnaghten, in his 1894 report, which has come to be known as the "Macnaghten Memoranda".

The nature of the murders, not surprisingly, cast suspicion upon medical men. However, only one police official claimed, in writing, that a "doctor" was responsible for the murders. Which doctor was named in the "Littlechild Letter"?

Dr. Francis Tumblety. Chief Inspector John G. Littlechild named Tumblety as "a very likely suspect" in a 1913 letter written to journalist, George R. Sims.

What do suspects Montague John Druitt, George Chapman, Roslyn D'Onston and Francis Tumblety, have in common?

They were all named in official police documents.. Druitt was named by Macnaghten, Chapman by Abberline, D'Onston by Stead and Tumblety by Littlechild.

Which high ranking case official considered that "Jack The Ripper" might actually be, "Jill The Ripper"?

Frederick George Abberline. Abberline's thought that the murderer might be a woman was formulated after the Miller's Court murder of Mary Kelly. Caroline Maxwell's adamant testimony of seeing Kelly "after" her murder, led Inspector Abberline to consider that Maxwell didn't see Kelly, but rather the killer dressed in Mary's clothes.

Whose death mask did New Scotland Yard claim belonged to Jack The Ripper?

Frederick Deeming. Eventhough evidence puts Deeming in South Africa at the time of the murders, his death mask and skull, now held in the Black Museum, were identified as being that of the infamous Whitechapel murderer.

Still considered by many to be the prime suspect, which one statement has been used to best implicate Montague John Druitt in the murders?

That he was named in the "Macnaghten Memoranda".. Like the other suspects, there is no physical evidence linking Druitt to the murders. He only became a suspect when Sir Melville Macnaghten stated that he had "private information" implicating Druitt. Information that Macnaghten readily admitted to destroying, due to it's potentially inflammatory nature. Druitt is a suspect because Macnaghten named him as such and for no other reason.

George Chapman was arrested on October 25, 1902 for the murders of three women. It was this event that allegedly prompted the then retired Inspector Abberline to proclaim, "That Jack The Ripper had finally been caught". Although it was Abberline's opinion that Chapman and the Ripper were one in the same, he was bothered by what discrepancy?

That Chapman was younger than eyewitness descriptions provided in the Ripper murders.. Most witness descriptions put the Ripper at between thirty-five and forty years of age. The youngest estimate, that of approximately twenty-eight years, was provided by PC Smith. However, at the time of the Whitechapel murders, Chapman was only twenty-three years of age.

In the 1988 television documentary, "The Secret Identity of Jack The Ripper", who did the panel of experts unanimously identify as the infamous murderer?

Aaron Kosminski. The panel consisted of law enforcement officers from both Scotland Yard and the FBI, among others.

In the late 1990's, "Casebook: Jack The Ripper", conducted a poll of viewers to their website (www.casebook.org). Ranking twenty-two suspects in order of popularity, which man did the public choose as Jack The Ripper?

James Maybrick. Kosminski was runner-up at Number 2, followed by Chapman at Number 3. Druitt made the Top Ten at Number 9. "Alice In Wonderland" author, Lewis Carroll, finished last, at Number 22.