This article from the London Times (via Mirabilis) tells how a copy of Sir Robert Anderson’s memoirs, annotated by Chief Inspector Donald Swanson of Scotland Yard, may give the true identity of Jack the Ripper.
I believe I’ve read about this copy of the memoirs before, so I don’t think it’s actually new news. The Times article also doesn’t mention the reason I’ve most often seen given for the suppression of the serial killer’s identity, that the police were afraid there might be antisemitic riots if Jack was revealed to be Jewish.
Sir Robert Anderson, by the way, was a prominent and vocal evangelical Christian, besides being a senior police official. I’ve often thought there was a great Christian novel in the story of his investigation of the Ripper murders.
I guess I haven’t read much about this, but I haven’t heard about the Ripper possibly being Jewish. From the London Times, it appears the man who could have put him away didn’t do it for racial reason, being a Jew himself. Did the Chief Inspectors believe the Ripper was a mental case from the murder or did something happen to him in the process?
I don’t recall the details. I think the man just went batty and was incarcerated, then was identified as the murderer.
The article said they put him away for threatening his sister with a knife.
Do you think the memoir would make good reading?
Probably stilted Victorian stuff. I read a great anecdote about Anderson once though. Maybe I’ll post it (as I recall it) tomorrow.
So it wasn’t Walter Sickert (sp)?
Patricia Cornwell wrote a book a few years ago called Portrait of a Killer that proposed artist Sickert as the Ripper. Using her own money, she got access to the evidence in the case, including the original Ripper letters, as well as hundreds of Sickert documents. The case she laid out was pretty convincing. There was even some DNA connections, although it wasn’t 100% conclusive (something to do with the stamps and the glue on the Ripper letters).
I haven’t read Cornwell’s book. I’ve been convinced by the Kozminski theory for some time. My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with information.
I don’t think Cornwell’s book met critical acclaim. Professionals in the know were unmoved as I recall.
Do you know if Anderson and Swanson held back on the Ripper’s jewishness in order to protect Jews in general or was that something the Yard did after their deaths?
My understanding was that the government (under this scenario) made the decision as soon as they knew it was Kozminski. Not a police decision. A political one (and, in my opinion, probably the right one).
I agree it was a good decision, but I asked because if Christians made that decision, it would be the reversal of a Hollywood stereotype, wouldn’t it? Christians protecting Jews from the anti-semites of the world–that never happens.
That’s how it looks to me.