Jack's 9-5 job?

[Adam Went]

Hey all,

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I think it's worthwhile raising this point again....

I've noticed that all 5 of the canonical victims were killed on the weekend (between Friday and Sunday), and I'm wondering if perhaps this could be a hint towards JTR's life - could that be a suggestion that he was at work, or busy with some sort of commitments during the week, so that the weekend was the only time he could strike?

Perhaps it also brings in another option, that we have been thinking Jack lived in the wrong place all along - what if he worked outside London during the week and only traveled to stay in London over the weekend? Perhaps he had family in London who he stayed with?
If that was the case, it brings in a whole new range of possibilities.

Of course, it could just be a coincidence - it's likely the weekend would be the busiest time for prostitutes, therefore, more of them out and about and therefore, more potential victims - and it fails at my own personal view that Martha Tabram was a JTR victim - she was killed on a Tuesday.

However, it's an interesting stat and perhaps worth more consideration.
What do we all think?

Cheers,
Adam.

[WRITEFX]

Apart from him living away I don't necessarily think a regular job would stop him unless it was shift work. Or he lived with his family and they were very watchful of him. Like an overprotective or abusive mother. Perhaps she went to stay with a relative at weekends and he was free.

Or else -

1. Could be that weekends had some sort of association for him to whatever drove him to kill.

2. Religious mania would fit in to that weekends.

3. Nightime attacks, apart from hoping there were more women about, what if he had some sort of disfigurment, or even if a psychological condition like body dysmorphia. Or had that sunlight disability.

4. Has there ever been a thought that he might be a vicar or priest?

5. He was a full time carer of a parent and got relieved at weekends?

Actually once you start thinking about it, the list is endless. I'll stop now before I go on all night :dance:

[How Brown]

Yo Adam...

Wouldn't it be a bitch if JTR was the president of a bank?

I'd think he worked ( if he did ) in the general area....and lived close to or in Spitalfields-Whitechapel.

[Adam Went]

Hey all,

WFX:

What you said about the possibility of Jack having an abusive/overprotecting mother/parents is a good point and it actually raises another one - what if Jack was a man with some sort of disability, be it physical or mental, which required him to be looked after by members of his family, who were overprotective? If he was a man in or around his 30's (which the majority of witness descriptions indicate), a grown adult, maybe he felt like he was trapped in an abusive household that he could never get out of, therefore, all of his built up frustration with the situation and the people around him turned into his killing of those women?

IMO, the nature of the murders seem to suggest some element of revenge or rage about something, particularly in the case of Mary Kelly.
So it would be interesting to find out what sort of living arrangements Jack did have in 1888.....anyway, very interesting points made by you there!

How:

JTR? President of a bank? If he was, it's no wonder he was so skilled at hiding from everyone.... ;)

I agree that he lived and worked close by to the murders, but I still reckon there's some significance to the fact that the 5 canonical murders all occurred across the weekend.

Cheers,
Adam.

[WRITEFX]

Hi Adam,

Thinking about the disfigurments/disability angle -

engaged without revealing details of covered up disability
or fiance aware of disability but later disgusts her
either way, possibly been jilted

I think that I'm going to follow the coverage of the Ipswitch ripper case, see what information can be used, like whether he matches any of the JTR FBI profile.

[Adam Went]

Hey WFX,

Definitely agree that Jack having been burned by a former lover is a big possibility - although you'd think that'd have to be a BIG burning to cause him to murder that many women in such a brutal fashion, unless he really did already have some dormant psychological issues.

Perhaps he wanted the notoriety - a lot of nobody's who want to be somebody have done similar things in the past. Jack could have just killed the women without the mutilation and organ removal, etc, but that's essentially what made him so brutal and what gave him the attention that perhaps he was seeking. Just a thought.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Dustin Gould]

Adam...You make a decent enough arguement for Jack being an "out-of-towner". The phrase, "Don't s@#t where you eat." comes to mind. Why soil your own home turf with a bodycount, when you can do so elsewhere?

[Adam Went]

Hey Dustin,

Exactly! The police in 1888 were all looking for a bloke living in and wandering the streets in the immediate vicinity of the murders, so it almost makes sense for him to have lived elsewhere. He seems to have been quite capable of making himself "disappear" from crime scenes, and the East End of London in 1888, with all the prostitutes, would have been an ideal hunting ground for someone like himself. It seems that few people, if anyone, suspected at the time that he might have been travelling in to London from elsewhere around the country.

The one problem with that theory, though, is that most people that JTR had a pretty decent understanding of how to find his way around the streets and alleys of the East End, in the dark. So if we assume for a moment that he was an out-of-towner, how did he come to gain that knowledge? Did he live in London at some point earlier in his life? Did he "plan" the murders and survey the scene first?

I still believe he more than likely lived in London atleast, and probably close to the murders, but it would throw a major spanner in the works if a lot of us, including the police of 1888, had been looking for him in the wrong place for 120 years....

Cheers,
Adam.

[Dustin Gould]

Adam....

I live in Mississauga. Approximately 30 km's from my birthplace of Toronto (never lived there). However, you'd be hardpressed to try and purposely get me lost anywhere in that city. And such knowledge was acquired stricly from short ventures. Never staying in town for more than a few hours at a time. Just at different sections. Sometimes, I honestly believe the mind files away necessary geographical info to be used at a later date, almost by osmosis. Much like it is predisposed to maintain excess water so it doesn't dehydrate. Which might explain when people sometimes find themselves in unusual surroundings, they just somehow "know" which direction to follow in order to get back.

I think Jack may have became knowledgable with London's various routes the same way. Short jaunts in various sections, would permit him to survey alleyways and boarding houses required for quick ecapes. Also allowing for much diversity in his routes. Just using downtown Toronto as an example, I can traverse entire sections of the downtown core, without so much as entering a public street for more than a few seconds. The alleyways are THAT connected. In the middle of the night, with minimal lighting? A covert "piece of cake". I've even done so drunk. Although I wouldn't advise that to others. :)

However, as you pointed out, he could just have easily have lived there at some point.

[Adam Went]

Hey Dustin,

It's interesting that you've never lived in Toronto and yet you probably wouldn't get lost there - that'd take an exceptional memory.
So I guess it depends on the type of person Jack was - I must be exactly the opposite of you, because where I live (in a small city of only 25,000 people), having lived here for a few months and having visited here regularly before moving here, I still don't know my way around certain parts of the town properly. I guess it just depends how often you visit certain areas - you can live in a city for decades and yet there are some residential places you'd never have been to.

I think it's important to bear in mind as well, though, that Jack wasn't just cruising around or going for a leisurely walk - this was in the dark of night, and he had to flee to safety, so I think that would have required that extra little bit of knowledge.

Cheers,
Adam.

[WRITEFX]

Knowing the area v outsider?

Adam, I'm going to bring up an old chestnut - a policeman.

[Caroline Morris]

Hi All,

Jack only has to have been a red light area frequenter to know that the street women would only venture as far from the main roads as they absolutely had to, so they could return post haste to pick up their next pay master. It wouldn't take more than a reasonable sense of direction to find one's own way back to the nearby pick-up point.

I believe that a familiarity with one of the oldest routines in the world would have given Jack everything he needed to modify it to one of murder and mutilation.

If he worked hard during the week, a habit to please himself on a Saturday night and to hell with anyone else just got way out of hand. :eek:

Love,

Caz
X

[Mike Covell]

As I mentioned on the Ispwich Prostitute thread, how do we know Jack wasn't a landlord???

This was the former career of the accused in the afore mentioned trial and all the victims in the Whitechapel crimes loved a tipple!!

Mike

[WRITEFX]

Mike, I don't know about pub landlords as such but what about house landlords e.g. J. McCarthy, Mary Kelly's landlord (if I've got his name right off the top of my head)

[Adam Went]

Hey all,

WFX:

Policeman is an interesting possibility. It would certainly explain why JTR always managed to escape the policemen on the beat in the area of each killing, but then there is a flaw in that as well - correct me if I'm wrong here, but at the height of the murder scare, most of the police force and more were on the beat looking for the killer, so if JTR was a cop himself, wouldn't be be on the beat himself and in police uniform on atleast some of the nights of those murders? Unless of course he wasn't working on the weekends....but then were low ranking police officers aware of the times and places of the beats for their fellow officers? Otherwise, it would have been of no advantage to him. You wouldn't think a policeman in uniform would have had much of a chance of approaching the prostitutes, and anyway, the witness descriptions never picked up on anyone being in a police outfit.

UNLESS he was a former cop who was committing the murders to exact revenge of some sort....now there's a thought.... ;)

Mike:

You can name just about any occupation that existed in 1888 and find some reason why JTR could have been in that particular job, but as for landlord....remember that these women were on the street in the first place because they didn't have enough money to pay for lodgings for the night, and they'd already spent what money they might have had on alcohol - if it was a landlord that committed the murders, then he would have had to follow them from where they were staying or drinking and approach them elsewhere. The victims more than likely would have recognised him and become suspicious anyway. It's still a possibility, but could it really have happened that way - atleast 5 times??

Cheers,
Adam.

[WRITEFX]

HI Adam, I can't remember the exact story now, but isn't there some theory about a policeman that used some sort of tunnels - that's why he could disappear and appear without being seen.

[Adam Went]

Hey WFX,

Can't say I've heard of that story before....although it's an interesting image to think of Jack running through tunnels, sewers and what not... ;)

Perhaps another possibility is that Jack knew people within the police force - people he could bribe? A lot of the police officers in 1888 were just out to make a quid - if Jack was a man of reasonable means, maybe it's not out of the question to suggest that he payed his way to safety?
If not, he certainly made some miraculous escapes....

Cheers,
Adam.

[WRITEFX]

Adam, I think they were railway tunnels.

Bribery - JTR would have to have something very heavy on someone else to silence him. What could that be? Unless of course we think like Instructor in his thread - a twin, or relative.

[Adam Went]

Hey WFX,

I was thinking more along the lines of paying money to the police officer(s) on the beat on the night of the murders to perhaps "change their beat" a little? You wouldn't think many would fall for that if they knew there was a chance there and then for them to be the one to haul in JTR, as the reward for that would have been far greater, but if JTR used a different excuse...?? And of course the officer would never admit to that, as they would have literally been the officer to let JTR get away.

Probably not very likely, but atleast that would provide some sort of solution as to why Jack was able to seemingly escape by the skin of his teeth several times.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Mike Covell]

Morning all.

Here is the link to a site regarding Jack the Railway Policeman,

http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/Publications/History%20Society/Crime%20on%20line/Was%20Jack%20the%20Ripper%20a%20Railway%20Policema n.htm

It's quite a long article but intresting and worth a read.

Regards Mike

[Adam Went]

Thanks for that Mike.

Cheers,
Adam. :)