The suspect list for the Whitechapel Murders is long. The only thing that anyone can agree on, is that they all cannot have been Jack the Ripper. Perhaps even, none of them were Jack the Ripper. It’s possible that the notorious Victorian serial killer went under the radar and avoided the history books altogether. However, even though the Jack the Ripper suspect list is long, there are suspects in there which are more interesting and thought-provoking than others. Thomas Neill Cream is one of those on the Jack the Ripper suspect list which stands out.
Could he, have been the notorious Whitechapel killer that we have been searching for all of this time? Possibly. Without anyone being convicted of being Jack the Ripper it is impossible to rule anyone out. But if we are to assume that he was Jack the Ripper, then, we need evidence that Thomas Neill Cream was the Whitechapel killer during the late Victorian era. Was Thomas Neill Cream Jack the Ripper? For us to say that Thomas Neill Cream was Jack the Ripper, we need good evidence to believe that he was the killer. To do that, we first have to put him at the scene of the crime. There is good reason to believe that he was nowhere in or near Whitechapel during the Whitechapel Murders; as Cream was in prison in Chicago in the United States. He was serving time in prison there for murder throughout the 1880s. He was only released from prison on the 31st of July 1891, which was long after the Autumn of Terror. The Autumn of Terror is when Jack the Ripper murdered five women during the Autumn of 1888. The last Whitechapel Murder happened on the 13th of February 1891. Cream only arrived in England on the 1st of October 1891, long after the Whitechapel Murders had stopped. Therefore, due to Cream being in prison at the other side of the Atlantic, we have good reason to believe that he was nowhere in or near Whitechapel during the time of the Whitechapel Murders. Due to Cream not even being in the United Kingdom when the murders took place, we have very good reason to rule him out completely as a Jack the Ripper suspect. It seems highly unlikely that Thomas Neill Cream was Jack the Ripper, just based on the fact alone that he was in prison in a different country at the same time that the Whitechapel Murders were happening. So, why is Neill Cream even a suspect?
‘’I am Jack…’’ the Ripper
The reason why Neill Cream is still a Ripper suspect to this day is because of the words he apparently said before his death. The words he said before his death was ‘’I am Jack…’’. He was potentially meaning that he was Jack the Ripper. He said the words ‘’I am Jack…’’ just before he was hanged and the noose fell on him, making him unable to complete what he was saying. Cream was hanged for the murder of a woman named Miranda Clover, who he was found guilty of murdering. Miranda Clover, like Jack the Ripper’s victims, was a prostitute. However, the modus operandi that Cream used on Clover was different from Jack the Ripper’s modus operandi. Where Jack the Ripper used a knife to kill his victims, Thomas Neill Cream used poison to kill his victims. Cream is thought to have killed several women by poisoning them. Therefore, unlike many Jack the Ripper suspects, who we have no evidence to presume that they where murderers, Neill Cream is one of the Jack the Ripper suspects known to have murdered.
What is different from Jack the Ripper’s murders and Thomas Neill Cream’s murders is their modus operandi - both of their methods of killing their victims were different, this is another reason, or piece of evidence to suggest that Neill Cream was not Jack the Ripper.
The Other Jack The Ripper Suspects Who Claimed To Have Been The Ripper Cream was not the only suspect who claimed to have been Jack the Ripper. There is another suspect who claimed or might have claimed the same thing. For example, not long after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly (Jack the Ripper’s last thought of victim), there was writing found in the home of another Jack the Ripper suspect (William Bury), the writing was found on a door in William Bury’s house, that writing read: ‘’Jack the Ripper is in this sellar’’. The writing on the door in William Bury’s house was probably written by William Bury’s wife who lived with him. Not long after the writing was discovered, William Bury murdered his wife, and the murder was in a similar fashion to the way that Jack the Ripper had murdered. William Bury was living in Whitechapel during the times of the Whitechapel Murders, unlike Neill Cream. Therefore, if we should take a confession seriously, it shouldn’t be that of Cream’s, giving that he wasn’t in Whitechapel at the time, instead, we should take the confession (?) within William Bury’s house seriously, as he was within Whitechapel at the time and he did commit murder in a similar way to Jack the Ripper. However, William Bury was investigated by the police for the Whitechapel Murders and was cleared of those murders, the police at the time must have had a good reason to rule William Bury out as being Jack the Ripper. Whether William Bury was the Whitechapel murderer or not, both he and Cream couldn’t have been the killer, as most experts believe that the Canonical Five victims (and possibly Martha Tabram) were killed by the same hand. In other words, there was no more than one killer that committed the Canonical Five murders. Therefore, even if we were to presume that either Thomas Neill Cream or William Bury was Jack the Ripper, then one of the confessions has to be a lie. Either Cream’s ‘’I am Jack…’’ was a lie or the Bury house ‘’Jack the Ripper is in this sellar’’ is a lie, they cannot both be true, as the two men can’t have been Jack the Ripper. Perhaps both are lies. It is most likely certain that Thomas Neill Cream’s ‘confession’ was a lie. He couldn’t have committed the Whitechapel Murders as he wasn’t even in the United Kingdom at the time. So, why would he lie? Only Cream knows the reason why he lied. But, we can make a guess why he would have lied about being Jack the Ripper. Perhaps he wanted attention and notoriety. If that’s the case, then he certainly found that attention and notoriety, as it’s unlikely that he would have even had been remembered in history if he wasn’t linked to the Jack the Ripper case. Those who favour Neill Cream as having had been Jack the Ripper have come up with fanciful, if not rather comical explanation for how Neil Cream could have committed the Whitechapel Murders. They claim that he had a body double that was in prison and that it helped Cream to escape prison in America, for him to go over to England to commit Jack the Ripper’s murders, and then flee back to go to prison in America. It really doesn’t make sense. Why would Neill Cream return to prison when he successfully broke out of it and got a body double to take his place? It seems like a weak theory which isn’t based on any evidence. We may not know who Jack the Ripper was, but we can rule out suspects based on lack of evidence, weak reasoning and evidence which points to the contrary (like Cream being out of the country during every single Jack the Ripper murder). If we can rule any Jack the Ripper suspect out as being the Whitechapel Murderer, then it is Thomas Neill Cream, for he wasn’t in the country and when he did murder, he had a different modus operandi. A final reason why we can rule him out is due to the actual confession itself. Neill Cream didn’t say that he was Jack the Ripper, he just said he was Jack. It’s possible that he was going to say that he was Jack the Ripper, and yet, it’s also as possible that he was going to say that his real name was Jack something else. Perhaps his real name was Jack? Whatever the case, Thomas Neill Cream most likely wasn’t Jack the Ripper, as all of the evidence points against him being Jack the Ripper. So, if it wasn’t him, then who was Jack the Ripper? Sources: https://www.casebook.org/suspects/bury.html https://www.casebook.org/suspects/cream.html
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Jack the Ripper - the notorious serial killer - is thought to have at least killed five women in the latter half of the Victorian era, in Whitechapel London. However, there has been speculation and debate since those notorious Whitechapel Murders happened.
What Where The Whitechapel Murders? The Whitechapel Murders were a series of murders that happened from 1888 to 1891. Eleven women in total, were murdered in Whitechapel between 1888 and 1891, all of these eleven women have been linked to Jack the Ripper at one point or another. In other words, all of the eleven victims in the Whitechapel Murders have, at one point or another, thought to have been killed by Jack the Ripper. Most historians today believe that Jack the Ripper killed five, possibly six, of these eleven women. At the time of the murders however, there wasn’t the same clear consensus and many thought that all eleven women were victims of Jack the Ripper.
Alice MacKenzie and the Whitechapel Murders
Alice MacKenzie was one of the Whitechapel Murders victims. She was murdered in the early morning hours on the 17th of July, 1889. Her murder took place in Castle Alley in Whitechapel. Alice MacKenzie was found murdered and mutilated by PC Andrews in Castle Alley at around 12.50am that morning. Her murder compared to Jack the Ripper’s murders in several ways: . She was murdered in the early morning hours . She was mutilated . It’s thought that she may have been a prostitute All of these things were consistent with Jack the Ripper’s murders of the Canonical Five. The Canonical Five were the five women believed to have been murdered by Jack the Ripper in the Autumn of 1888. Alice MacKenzie’s murder was similar to the Canonical Five murders, and her murder took place just a few months after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly (Mary Jane Kelly is assumed to have been Jack the Ripper’s final victim).
Was Alice MacKenzie A Victim Of The Ripper’s?
Given the similarity of the Canonical Five murders, and Alice MacKenzie’s murder, it must be wondered: ‘Was Alice MacKenzie a victim of Jack the Rippers’? At the time of the murder, there was disagreement between those involved in the Whitechapel Murders case as to whether or not MacKenzie was a Ripper victim: some of them believed she was, while others believed that she was. Sir Robert Anderson - a senior police officer at the time - didn’t believe that Alice MacKenzie was a victim of Jack the Ripper’s. His position was supported by the doctor at the scene of the murder: Dr Phillips was the doctor at the scene of the murder of Alice MacKenzie, he did not believe that she was a victim of the Ripper.s. Sir Robert Anderson, on the other hand, was not at the scene of the crime, and was not even in the country at the time, therefore, his knowledge of the murder was second hand. Compared to that of PC Munro, who had first hand experience of the murder of Alice MacKenzie, disagreed with Sir Robert Anderson. PC Munro believed that her murder was ‘’identical with the notorious Jack the Ripper’’ murders of the previous years. Given that Alice MacKenzie was murdered in a similar fashion, looked similar to the other victims, was murdered at a similar time and was thought to be in the same profession, it is hard to disagree with PC Munro’s sentiment that Alice MacKenzie’s murder was identical to the other Jack the Ripper murders - it was an identical murder to the Canonical Five murders. This assertion is also supported by Dr Bond, who was also involved in investigating the murder of Alice MacKenzie at the time. As Dr Bond simply put it: ‘’I see in this murder evidence of similar design to the former Whitechapel murders’’. A Change In Perspective If Alice MacKenzie was indeed a victim of Jack the Ripper’s, then it changes our whole perspective on the case. It would mean that Jack the Ripper did not stop murdering at the end of Autumn 1888 - one of the main questions that have been asked about Jack the Ripper, is: ‘’Why did he stop murdering after Mary Jane Kelly? Did he die? Etc’’ If Dr Bond and PC Munro were right, that Alice MacKenzie was a victim of Jack the Ripper, then it changes our view about the list of Jack the Ripper suspects we have. For example, it would rule out suspects like Druitt, who died sometime in November 1888, therefore he couldn’t have murdered Alice and therefore, wouldn't be the Ripper. What if the reason that we haven’t discovered who Jack the Ripper was, because we have been looking in the wrong places all this time? Is the key to the Ripper’s true identity, lurking in the shadows of Castle Alley? Sources: https://www.casebook.org/victims/mckenzie.html https://www.casebook.org/police_officials/po-monro.html https://www.casebook.org/police_officials/po-ander.html https://www.casebook.org/suspects/druitt.html
The Autumn of Terror in 1888, was the season where Jack the Ripper reigned his terror. Jack the Ripper has become the world's most notorious serial killer, however, he appeared and disappeared quickly. In other words, the murders that Jack the Ripper committed, did not happen over a long period of time.
As the name'Autumn of Terror' suggests, Jack the Rippers murders happened throughout the Autumn of 1888. The murders began in August 1888 and stopped in November 1888; the murders finished as suddenly as they started that Autumn. Jack the Ripper disappeared into obscurity, his identity never discovered and something which is debated to this day. What Happened In The Autumn of Terror? The murders started on either August 7th 1888, or the 31st of August 1888. Two different women were murdered on those dates. A local prostitute named Martha Tabram was murdered in the early morning hours of August 7th 1888. Whereas, Mary Ann Nichols, another local prostitute, was murdered in the early morning hours of the 31st of August 1888. The killer was never identified for either woman, which is part of the reason some suspect that Jack the Ripper murdered both women. Some Ripperologists argue that Martha Tabram was the first victim of Jack the Ripper; while others argue that the first victim was Mary Ann Nichols. Most Ripperologists do seem to think that Nichols was murdered by Jack the Ripper, but she was not the last woman to meet her end. How Many Women Were Murdered? There was a total of five women murdered, these are known as the canonical five. If we include Martha, then he killed six women. There's also the possibility that Jack the Ripper had other victims that we don't know about. The true extent may never be known. Most Ripperologists, however, think that he had at least five victims. These are the canonical five victims. They are as follows: Mary Ann Nichols - 31st of August 1888 Annie Chapman - 8th of September 1888 Elizabeth Stride - 30th of September 1888 Catherine Eddowes - 30th of September 1888 Mary Jane Kelly - 9th of November 1888 The Double Event As you can see from above, there were two women killed on the same this, this has become known as the Double Event. The Double Event was when the Ripper killed two women on the same night. The two women Jack the Ripper murdered, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, were murdered within just 45 minutes of each other. It's thought that the Ripper was disturbed killing Elizabeth Stride, they he became angry, or sickly dissatisfied and went on to kill Catherine Eddowes because of it. Whatever his reasons for killing two women that night, it showed that he was completely out of control that night and erratic. He would have had the police out in force that night when Louis Diemschutz alerted the police to the murder of Elizabeth. Louis Diemschutz found her body just minutes after the Ripper had killed her, he also thought that the Ripper was hiding in the shadows, therefore, the police would have been out in force trying to catch Jack. It indicates that Jack the Ripper was out of control that night. The Silence Of October There were no murders during October 1888 (at least that we know of). Perhaps that was down to the Double Event when Jack almost got caught. Perhaps he lay low that October 1888 because he almost got caught. There was, however, several letters that were addressed by Jack the Ripper. Three of these letters remain significant. They are the Dear Boss letter, the Saucy Jack postcard and the From Hell letter. Most likely the Dear Boss letter and the Saucy Jack postcard were fake and forged by a journalist at the time. The From Hell letter is different, it's probably the only letter sent by Jack the Ripper. It was a letter which was short and to the point. But it was also a letter that was accompanied with half a human kidney. The Last Victim, Mary Jane Kelly The last victim was a local prostitute named Mary Jane Kelly. Mary Jane Kelly was murdered and mutilated like most of his other killings. However, the mutilation of Mary Jane Kelly was far more graphic. She was murdered in the early morning hours of the 9th of November 1888 and became the Rippers last victim (that we know of). Why Jack suddenly stopped has remained as much of a mystery as his identity. There have been many theories about why things suddenly stopped. The most common reasons as 1) He stopped because he died, 2) He stopped because he was sent to a mental asylum, and 3) He stopped because he was too ill to carry on. Whatever the reason was, knowing why he suddenly stopped could help us discover who he was and why he committed those crimes. Drawing 1888 To A Close As 1888 drew to a close, Jack the Ripper wasn't caught. Speculation about his identity has persisted for 130 years after that Autumn of Terror. The Autumn of Terror began in August 1888, when Jack the Ripper began his notorious killing spree. The events of the Autumn of Terror would result in Jack the Ripper becoming the World's most notorious and elusive serial killer to this day. To this day, the identity of Jack the Ripper is debated. The identity of Jack the Ripper is shrouded in as much mystery today, as it was in 1888 when he committed his heinous acts. Another thing which is shrouded in mystery is Jack the Rippers first victim. Some Ripperologists argue that Jack the Rippers first victim was Martha Tabram, who was murdered on the 7th of August 1888. While other Ripperologists argue that his first victim was Mary Ann Nichols, who was murdered by the ripper on the 31st of August 1888. Whether the ripper's first victim was Martha Tabram or Mary Ann Nichols, what is clear, is that his Autumn of Terror began on that August month of 1888. Let's look at a timeline of events throughout that month. August 7th 1888 Martha Tabram is murdered in George Yard Buildings in the early morning hours. Tabram was first found by a man called Alfred Crow at 3.30am that morning, though he didn't know it at the time - he saw Tabram's body lying at the bottom of stairs in George Yard Buildings and thought the person was homeless. It was pitch black at the time Alfred Crow saw Tabram, so it's understandable that he hadn't realized she had been murdered. By 4.45am (with daylight breaking), another man called John Reeves found the body of Martha. It was obvious to John Reeves that she had been murdered, with daylight, he could see the pool of blood that she was lying in. The time of her death was estimated to be between 2am and 2.45am that morning, by Dr Timothy Killeen. 9th of August 1888 The inquest into the murder of Martha Tabram began on this day in history. The inquest took place in the Working Lads Institute on Whitechapel Road. 14th of August 1888 Martha's body was identified by her former husband. 23rd of August 1888 The inquest of the murder of Martha reconvened. The inquest resumed again in the Working Lads Institute on Whitechapel Road. The inquest concluded that Tabram suffered 39 stabs wounds and that her death was by murder. The identity of that murderer was never concluded. 24th of July 1888 Mary Ann Nichols moves into 56 Flower and Dean Street, just one week before her murder. This would prove to be her last address. 25th of August 1888 Martha's death certificate is issued. 30th of August 1888 A dock fire breaks out on the London Docks. It would rage for hours into the night and into the early morning hours; turning the sky a blood red colour. TheLondon dock fire broke out at around 8pm, the fire was so intense because there was liquor stored in the docks. 31st of August 1888 Mary Ann Nichols is murdered by Jack the Ripper in the early morning hours of the 31st of August 1888. Mary Ann Nichols was last seen that morning at 2.30am, by her friend Emily Holland. Emily Holland said that Mary Ann Nichols was drunk by the time that she had seen her and that Mary went on to earn her doss money for a bed that night. Mary had already earned that money, three times over, according to Emily, but she had spent it on drink and had to earn the money again. The body of Mary Ann was discovered at 3.40am that morning on Bucks Row, by a man named Charles Cross. This year marks 130 years since the Whitechapel Murders began. It marks 130 years since Jack the Ripper reigned his terror over London. Who Was Jack the Ripper? Jack the Ripper was a notorious Victorian serial killer. The identity of Jack the Ripper remains unknown to this day, although, there are hundreds of Jack the Ripper suspects. These Jack the Ripper suspects vary from the believable to the ridiculous. The Jack the Ripper suspects include everyone from the painter Walter Sickert, to the Royal Prince Albert. There are also everyday men of the time, who are named Jack the Ripper suspects. These include people such as Montague Druitt and Aaron Kosminski. These men have secured their place in history by being accused of being the World's most notorious serial killer. If it wasn't for them being linked to the Jack the Ripper case, these men would have been lost to history - they are only known because of this case. Everyone and anyone who lived in the Victoria Era seems to have been linked to the Jack the Ripper case; if they were a man. There are many theories about Jack the Ripper's identity. But, the only thing about the theories of Jack the Ripper's identity; is that they can't all be right. Either only one of these theories is right. Or, none of these theories is right. Without going into who Jack the Ripper was, at this moment, let's go on to focus on what his crimes were. What were Jack the Rippers Crimes? Why Is He Infamous The Ripper is infamous for the crimes he committed, and gained notoriety for both the nature of his crimes and was the first serial killer recorded in history by the media. The Rippers crimes were gruesome; he murdered, mutilated and disembowelled most of his victims, something which shocked the World and struck fear into the residents of Whitechapel. The victims of Jack the Ripper has been one of huge debate and speculation. Today, there are many theories about how many victims Jack the Ripper had. At the time, there were as many as eleven murders linked to the Ripper case, these victims were known as the Whitechapel Murders. Today, however, most of the victims of the Whitechapel Murders are not thought to be victims of Jack the Ripper. Only five of the eleven Whitechapel Murders are now thought to have been at that hand of Jack. These five victims are known as the Canonical Five: The Canonical Five The Canonical Five are five women, most experts believe, that were murdered by Jack the Ripper. The Canonical Five victims were murdered by Jack from the 31st of August 1888 till the 9th of November 1888. All of the Canonical Five women were prostitutes. The Canonical Five women were: Mary Ann Nichols - killed in the early morning hours of the 31st of August 1888, in Bucks Row, Whitechapel. Annie Chapman - killed just a week later, early in the morning of the 8th of September 1888 in Handbury Street, Whitechapel. Elizabeth Stride - killed on the 30th of September 1888, Berner Street, Whitechapel. Catherine Eddowes - was killed on the same night as Elizabeth Stride, just around an hour later in Mitre Square, on the 30th of September 1888. Mary Jane Kelly - the final victim, in the early morning hours of the 9th of November, 1888, in Miller's Court. What Happened To Jack the Ripper? After the murder of Mary Jane Kelly, the Ripper killed no more. Things had suddenly stopped, as quickly as they started. The question that many Ripperologists wonder, is why he stopped. There are many theories from Ripperologists why things suddenly stopped. Most think that the Ripper either died or incarcerated. It remains a mystery within a wider mystery. Montague Druitt, The Suspect Who Committed Suicide
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