How Brown
09-23-2007, 04:44 PM
1. Some of us are wondering if it's possible that in the near future Ripperologist magazine will be offering a disk with all the ezine issues on it. Any plans for this in the future?
Probably not a disk. We are looking into the possibility of publishing a year-end book that would accumulate the articles we have published during the year. This could be given free (we hope) to subscribers and sold to others. No promises yet though until we have fully investigated the economics of doing what we have discussed!
2. In all your years in Ripperology which murder site is the most baffling to you in terms of how the Ripper executed that particular murder?
I think the most mysterious of the crime scenes is the murder of Annie Chapman in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street. How did he do what he did in virtual silence around 5:30 am with people like Richardson and Cadosch about, not to mention all the people who lived in other houses close to the yard? Additionally, how did the killer escape and not be noticed? The Chapman murder appears to be more mysterious the more one ponders it, constantly eluding explanation.
3. Do you believe that the murder of Mary Ann Nichols was more likely to have been a blitz killing or more like your typical Prostitute-John liason gone wrong?
Well it was a prostitute-John liasion gone wrong but only because he specifically set out to target a prostitute.
I feel that Jack was in charge in all the killings he did. I think this is shown by the deep neck cut in every instance and the following mulitation and removal of organs, the latter done in every canonical murder except Stride. I believe he knew what he was doing, so the term "blitz killing" is incorrect for the best-known Ripper murders.
Now the murder of Martha Tabram seems to have been more of a blitz killing by someone who was out of control. I thus would exclude Tabram and include Stride. It frustrates me that people so easily exclude Stride when she did, after all, have the same deep neck cut that the other canonical murders had, only not the abdominal mutilation. Perhaps I am a traditionalist but I hold to the old view that the killer was interrupted and went off in search of another victim.
But perhaps I should clarify that statement. It need not have been Diemschutz entering the yard with his horse and cart that stopped the killer going further. Remember, the killing took place next to a busy socialist club. It could have been some noise that came from the club that made him realize he was making a mistake trying to carry out his "full menu" (as it were) next to the club, so he did not go all the way in that one murder.
4. What area or aspect of Ripperology do you think that all of the web sites need to focus on more and perhaps focus on less?
Undoubtedly the Maybrick Diary has received much more attention that it should have both here and at Casebook.org -- I suppose I must be unapologetic to some extent because coming from Liverpool, the "problem" of the Maybrick Diary personally interests me. How did the Diary come about? Who is responsible for it? The writer was probably not James Maybrick, although the text of the Diary points to him as having been the author. Indeed, all the signs seem to point to him not having done it, if we allow that the writing does not match his, the inclusion in the Diary of wording which closely matches the wording of the police list of Eddowes belongings ("tin matchbox empty") and the (to me) bloopers that the Diary mentions the Poste House pub in Liverpool which was not known by that name in 1888, the writer's repeated idea that brother Michael Maybrick was a rhymer of verse rather than a composer of music. Who had the idea of putting together the two famous Victorian cases -- the Ripper and the Maybrick cases? That is what continues to intrigue me.
5. Which Ripperologists within the field in the last 5 years are making an impact and are influential in their own unique way?
There are a lot of unsung Ripperologists who are making important contributions to the field. I mean people like Robert McLaughlin with his book on the victim photographs; Gavin Bromley and his work on the Batty Street lodger; Rob Hills and his research into George Morris, the watchman in Mitre Square, and James Hardiman, the cat's meat man; and Neal Shelden and his research on the victim photographs, to name a few. Through the extensive and diligent work of such researchers, I am confident that we will continue to learn more about the case and its different aspects -- even if we never find out who Jack was.
Probably not a disk. We are looking into the possibility of publishing a year-end book that would accumulate the articles we have published during the year. This could be given free (we hope) to subscribers and sold to others. No promises yet though until we have fully investigated the economics of doing what we have discussed!
2. In all your years in Ripperology which murder site is the most baffling to you in terms of how the Ripper executed that particular murder?
I think the most mysterious of the crime scenes is the murder of Annie Chapman in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street. How did he do what he did in virtual silence around 5:30 am with people like Richardson and Cadosch about, not to mention all the people who lived in other houses close to the yard? Additionally, how did the killer escape and not be noticed? The Chapman murder appears to be more mysterious the more one ponders it, constantly eluding explanation.
3. Do you believe that the murder of Mary Ann Nichols was more likely to have been a blitz killing or more like your typical Prostitute-John liason gone wrong?
Well it was a prostitute-John liasion gone wrong but only because he specifically set out to target a prostitute.
I feel that Jack was in charge in all the killings he did. I think this is shown by the deep neck cut in every instance and the following mulitation and removal of organs, the latter done in every canonical murder except Stride. I believe he knew what he was doing, so the term "blitz killing" is incorrect for the best-known Ripper murders.
Now the murder of Martha Tabram seems to have been more of a blitz killing by someone who was out of control. I thus would exclude Tabram and include Stride. It frustrates me that people so easily exclude Stride when she did, after all, have the same deep neck cut that the other canonical murders had, only not the abdominal mutilation. Perhaps I am a traditionalist but I hold to the old view that the killer was interrupted and went off in search of another victim.
But perhaps I should clarify that statement. It need not have been Diemschutz entering the yard with his horse and cart that stopped the killer going further. Remember, the killing took place next to a busy socialist club. It could have been some noise that came from the club that made him realize he was making a mistake trying to carry out his "full menu" (as it were) next to the club, so he did not go all the way in that one murder.
4. What area or aspect of Ripperology do you think that all of the web sites need to focus on more and perhaps focus on less?
Undoubtedly the Maybrick Diary has received much more attention that it should have both here and at Casebook.org -- I suppose I must be unapologetic to some extent because coming from Liverpool, the "problem" of the Maybrick Diary personally interests me. How did the Diary come about? Who is responsible for it? The writer was probably not James Maybrick, although the text of the Diary points to him as having been the author. Indeed, all the signs seem to point to him not having done it, if we allow that the writing does not match his, the inclusion in the Diary of wording which closely matches the wording of the police list of Eddowes belongings ("tin matchbox empty") and the (to me) bloopers that the Diary mentions the Poste House pub in Liverpool which was not known by that name in 1888, the writer's repeated idea that brother Michael Maybrick was a rhymer of verse rather than a composer of music. Who had the idea of putting together the two famous Victorian cases -- the Ripper and the Maybrick cases? That is what continues to intrigue me.
5. Which Ripperologists within the field in the last 5 years are making an impact and are influential in their own unique way?
There are a lot of unsung Ripperologists who are making important contributions to the field. I mean people like Robert McLaughlin with his book on the victim photographs; Gavin Bromley and his work on the Batty Street lodger; Rob Hills and his research into George Morris, the watchman in Mitre Square, and James Hardiman, the cat's meat man; and Neal Shelden and his research on the victim photographs, to name a few. Through the extensive and diligent work of such researchers, I am confident that we will continue to learn more about the case and its different aspects -- even if we never find out who Jack was.