Read Online The Complete and Essential Jack the Ripper by Paul Begg, John Bennett - Free Book Online
Authors: Paul Begg, John Bennett
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Joseph Barnett. In his search to find Joseph Barnett in the records, he settled on a different Barnett as Mary Kelly’s lover. This one lived from 1860 to 1927, whereas later research found that the real Barnett lived from 1858 to 1926.
The early 1980s were a period of relative inactivity in a field that had attracted considerable recent interest, but it was merely the calm before the storm. After all, the centenary of the Whitechapel murders was fast approaching, and this would bring with it media coverage without precedent, producing some of the most valuable discoveries in the case. 5 By 1986 numerous authors had already begun to put together their individual contributions to the literary output of the period. In August of that year, John Morrison, a former lorry driver from Leytonstone, made a rather unique contribution to the Ripper theory bank. Morrison had his own ideas about the identity of Jack the Ripper and claimed to have been researching the case since he had lost his job in 1982. Apparently, like a modern-day Stuart Cumberland or Robert Lees, it all came to him in a dream:
I dreamt I was in court. They were trying Jack the Ripper. Lord Hailsham was the judge. He called for the evidence – and they produced a
Guinness Book of Records
. Next morning I went along to the library and looked up the
Guinness Book
. And there it was! James Kelly was listed as the longest-ever escapee from Broadmoor. He had murdered his wife in Liverpool and been declared insane. 6
He then went on to propose the theory that James Kelly had had an affair with Mary Jane Kelly (who took his surname)in Liverpool and was so infatuated with her that he killed his wife. Mary deserted him after carrying his child, which James considered ‘vile treachery’, and he made his way to the East End, where he murdered ten prostitutes in his hunt for Mary Kelly. Each time he asked them their names and then murdered them to silence them. But Morrison’s story was riddled with dubious sources, including an alleged book written by the mistress of Inspector Joseph Chandler, which, although disguised as fiction, set out the story. Morrison’s ideas received a considerable amount of media coverage, particularly in the local press, and he was in and out of the newspapers for a good two years after his original claims were published. James Kelly would be reconsidered as a suspect several years later, when James Tully, using considerably better sources, made him a more promising prospect. 7
In early June 1883, James Kelly married Sarah Bridler, his landlady’s daughter, but shortly after the marriage he became increasingly mentally unstable. Furious quarrels with his wife and mother-in-law ensued, climaxing in him fatally stabbing Sarah in the neck with a pocket knife. Kelly was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but a new Criminal Lunacy Act led to his undergoing further mental examination by specialists, and they concluded he was mentally disturbed. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was sent to Broadmoor. In January 1888 he escaped and was later seen in east London. At the end of the year, he went to France, returning to England at some point before going to New York in 1892. He continued to travel extensively in America, periodically returning to Britain and eventually, tired of running and in ill-health, he presented himself at Broadmoor, where he stayed until his death in 1927. The case against Kelly as the Ripper was that he did not appear to have been dangerous toany women other than his wife, and there was no evidence that he was actually in London at the time of the murders. 8
The run-up to the 1988 centenary saw a quick surge of new works. Authors such as Martin Fido, Martin Howells, Keith Skinner, Terrence Sharkey and Melvin Harris made their Ripper debuts at this time and were joined by such members of the old guard as Colin Wilson, Robin Odell and paranormal researcher Peter Underwood. Donald
wrong
Joseph Barnett. In his search to find Joseph Barnett in the records, he settled on a different Barnett as Mary Kelly’s lover. This one lived from 1860 to 1927, whereas later research found that the real Barnett lived from 1858 to 1926.
The early 1980s were a period of relative inactivity in a field that had attracted considerable recent interest, but it was merely the calm before the storm. After all, the centenary of the Whitechapel murders was fast approaching, and this would bring with it media coverage without precedent, producing some of the most valuable discoveries in the case. 5 By 1986 numerous authors had already begun to put together their individual contributions to the literary output of the period. In August of that year, John Morrison, a former lorry driver from Leytonstone, made a rather unique contribution to the Ripper theory bank. Morrison had his own ideas about the identity of Jack the Ripper and claimed to have been researching the case since he had lost his job in 1982. Apparently, like a modern-day Stuart Cumberland or Robert Lees, it all came to him in a dream:
I dreamt I was in court. They were trying Jack the Ripper. Lord Hailsham was the judge. He called for the evidence – and they produced a
Guinness Book of Records
. Next morning I went along to the library and looked up the
Guinness Book
. And there it was! James Kelly was listed as the longest-ever escapee from Broadmoor. He had murdered his wife in Liverpool and been declared insane. 6
He then went on to propose the theory that James Kelly had had an affair with Mary Jane Kelly (who took his surname)in Liverpool and was so infatuated with her that he killed his wife. Mary deserted him after carrying his child, which James considered ‘vile treachery’, and he made his way to the East End, where he murdered ten prostitutes in his hunt for Mary Kelly. Each time he asked them their names and then murdered them to silence them. But Morrison’s story was riddled with dubious sources, including an alleged book written by the mistress of Inspector Joseph Chandler, which, although disguised as fiction, set out the story. Morrison’s ideas received a considerable amount of media coverage, particularly in the local press, and he was in and out of the newspapers for a good two years after his original claims were published. James Kelly would be reconsidered as a suspect several years later, when James Tully, using considerably better sources, made him a more promising prospect. 7
In early June 1883, James Kelly married Sarah Bridler, his landlady’s daughter, but shortly after the marriage he became increasingly mentally unstable. Furious quarrels with his wife and mother-in-law ensued, climaxing in him fatally stabbing Sarah in the neck with a pocket knife. Kelly was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but a new Criminal Lunacy Act led to his undergoing further mental examination by specialists, and they concluded he was mentally disturbed. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was sent to Broadmoor. In January 1888 he escaped and was later seen in east London. At the end of the year, he went to France, returning to England at some point before going to New York in 1892. He continued to travel extensively in America, periodically returning to Britain and eventually, tired of running and in ill-health, he presented himself at Broadmoor, where he stayed until his death in 1927. The case against Kelly as the Ripper was that he did not appear to have been dangerous toany women other than his wife, and there was no evidence that he was actually in London at the time of the murders. 8
The run-up to the 1988 centenary saw a quick surge of new works. Authors such as Martin Fido, Martin Howells, Keith Skinner, Terrence Sharkey and Melvin Harris made their Ripper debuts at this time and were joined by such members of the old guard as Colin Wilson, Robin Odell and paranormal researcher Peter Underwood. Donald
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