Top Ten Questions About Jack the Ripper

Israel Schwartz was a Hungarian immigrant, described in newspaper reports as of Jewish appearance. On September 30th at 12:45 am, Schwartz was walking towards Berner Street (later Henriques Street), the crime scene of Elizabeth Stride, the Ripper's supposed third victim. Schwartz states he saw a man speaking to a woman and then throw her to the floor, to which she screamed three times.

He then saw a second man standing on the opposite side of the street, in a doorway, smoking a pipe. The man who threw the woman down called out the name Lipski. Scared, Schwartz took off, but finding that the second man was following him, he ran towards the nearby railway arch and lost him. Schwartz later reported this to the police and confirmed at the mortuary that it was Elizabeth Stride he had seen with the first man. However, he could not confirm whether or not the two men were together or separate.

One significant thing is the use of the word Lipski. This was the second name of the convicted Jewish murderer who was sentenced to hang only a year before. The name had now itself become an anti-Semitic insult. Therefore, police were uncertain if the name Lipski was referred to Schwartz himself or the other man, in which case it may have been his name. However, if we are to assume the latter and that the men Schwartz saw were working together, it begs the question: were the two men working as a team, with one as a lookout and one as the Ripper himself?

Police constable James Harvey was 33 years old and possibly the closest any police officer had come to catching the killer. At approximately 1:40 am, PC Harvey was walking towards Mitre Square, the scene of the crime where Catherine Eddowes was brutally murdered. He claimed he heard nor saw anything. However, on his return, he came across night watchman George Morris, who was blowing his whistle and crying that a woman had been ripped up in Mitre Square.

It was later found that Eddowes was sighted sometime before at about 1:35 am. Therefore, if this is correct, then Harvey would have been within a whisper of the killer, maybe even capturing him in the act. Interestingly, Harvey was never questioned further and was suddenly dismissed in 1889, a year after the killings took place. The dismissal was listed as unknown, and the reasons were never brought to light despite efforts to find out why.

In May 2011, the Metropolitan police won a legal battle to keep files detailing the investigation of the Ripper case a secret. The reason was to maintain confidentiality for Victorian informants. The documents were said to include four new suspects, which detail over 36,000 entries between 1888 and 1912.

With so much effort put into keeping these files a secret, it makes us wonder if over a hundred-year-old informants are really the main reason to keep these files a secret, or if it is something closer to home that could no way be brought into the public eye. Anyone interested in the Ripper killings will know some of the ludicrous suspects that have been tipped as being the Ripper, one of which includes Queen Victoria's nephew, Prince Albert. We could conclude that the main reason for the police to keep such files under lock and key may be something to do with a great royal cover-up.

George Hutchinson was a local man who lived in the East End and knew the area well. Hutchinson is notable because he gave a heavy and detailed witness statement where he described a man who was with Mary Jane Kelly on the night she was supposedly murdered. Hutchinson described everything from the color of the man's hair to the buttons on his boots.

Being of some importance to the police, the leading detective at the time, Frederick Abberline, interviewed him intensely and seemed satisfied with his account, therefore releasing him. Hutchinson stuck around, and it was said that the police had walked with him around Whitechapel in search of the man he had described. Then, as quickly as he had appeared, Hutchinson disappeared, with only rumors of his whereabouts popping up somewhere years later.

If Hutchinson did indeed describe the Ripper, then it is the most detailed account we have so far. However, some people say that Hutchinson himself was the Ripper and was, in fact, trying to describe the complete polar opposite of himself to avoid capture.

There have been thousands of theories about how Jack the Ripper made his infamous escapes, ranging from paranormal activity to blending into the crowd. A new idea has recently arisen, suggesting that Jack used the newly built tunnels to escape capture and disappear into thin air.

If we look at the times the victims of the 'canonical five' were killed, we can see that all five were murdered after midnight, making the tunnels empty and unguarded. This would certainly make sense if we consider the murder scene of the first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, which is only a five-minute walk from Whitechapel station, still standing today.

Francis Tumblety was a Canadian quack doctor ousted from his native homeland and was known to be in London at the time of the murders. Tumblety fits many requirements of what we now know as the Jack the Ripper killer profile. He had a supposed hatred of women and prostitutes and was also said to have a tendency to be violent. He had definite anatomical knowledge and knew his way around the female body.

Tumblety was also most likely the Batty Street lodger, with numerous reports connecting him with the house and the area. The police obviously agreed and pursued him when Tumblety fled across the pond back to the USA, but unfortunately, they were unlucky in their search. However, despite the many things that put Tumblety in the frame, there are also many doubters. Tumblety was arrested for indecency with another male whilst in London. Therefore, if we are to refer to the Jack the Ripper killer profile, Tumblety's homosexuality would rule him out as a suspect due to the belief that homosexual serial killers are more likely to attack male victims rather than female.