The Image Of The Ripper: The Press Creation?

[How Brown]

I don't know how many here have viewed the documentary featuring Christopher Frayling,entitled, "The Shadow of The Ripper"...but Mr. Frayling...who gave a presentation at the recent Docklands Exhibit, posited the concept that the majority of what individuals in 1888 perceived about the Ripper was primarily due to the West End press and less on the reality of the situation...being that these five murders were blown out of proportion.

This exaggerated sense or conceptualization of what the Ripper was or who he was was touched upon by Stan Russo in his excellent trilogy featured in Ripperologist Magazine over the past three months.

L.Perry Curtis also covered press influences in his work....Mike Covell recently dredged up 36 pages of Mr. Curtis' work for Forums members to peruse elsewhere on the site.

I won't debate or argue against what Mr. Frayling posits, as there is much truth in what he says.

My question for Forums members is....Did the press really affect the way the Police handled the issue of the Whitechapel Fiend?

I think not or not that much. I think that the police displayed extraordinary interest in the skein of murders because such efforts were and are still seen evident and usually exclusive to cases of those with money,privelege,and "rank' in society more so than those...The Have Nots and prostitutes and those on the margins of society.

So how far does Mr. Frayling's theory extend in your mind?

Thank you.

[hmcalendin]

As media went in those days I doubt any "unfortunates" in the White Chapel area had ready access to news or media. It may be in the upper class it had more of an effect but certainly not to the extent we may take for granted in moder times.

[Donald Souden]

Howard,

Since there is no similar series of murders in the West End at the same time it is rather hard to say the police put less effort into apprehending an East End murderer than one from the tony West End. However, as I pointed out in a November article in Ripperologist ("Solved in Minutes?") the officers of H division seemed to have undertaken a very diligent and dutiful investigation of Martha Tabram's murder, including arranging for four separate mass lineups at various military barracks in the area. And this was before JtR had become a cause celebre.

As for media access, we do have Joe Barnett's word that he read the newspaper to Mary and I am sure they were not unique in that regard. Indeed, the penny-press revolution was an important aspect of LVP history and if not purchased, I have no dou8bt that newspapers were otherwise scrounged and shared.

Don.

[Robert Linford]

I think it's a mistake to see the eastenders as total illiterates. Go back 50 years to the days of the Chartists and one finds people reading the newspapers and having them read to them, especially up north.

How, are you thinking here of Alex Chisholm's work too?

[How Brown]

Robert...No,buddy...I wasn't. I have to tell you that I have not read the book, "News From Whitechapel".

Dear Don... You stated:

"Since there is no similar series of murders in the West End at the same time it is rather hard to say the police put less effort into apprehending an East End murderer than one from the tony West End. However, as I pointed out in a November article in Ripperologist ("Solved in Minutes?") the officers of H division seemed to have undertaken a very diligent and dutiful investigation of Martha Tabram's murder, including arranging for four separate mass lineups at various military barracks in the area. And this was before JtR had become a cause celebre.

Understood Don....however....and let me "flip flop" for a second and take the opposing view in the next paragraph...because overall I agree with you as I remarked at the outset here....that the police did appear to me to "care" about the murders being solved in a manner that circumlocuted the class differences and how murders were approached that one might expect to have existed.

Is it not also possible that the efforts you refer to here...in regard to Tabram... were a result of the belief in Pearly Poll and/or PC Barrett's statements about Guardsmen being involved? Presumably, there would a far easier time in rounding up uniformed soldiers as opposed to rank and file barflys in the East End to cull through for the perpetrator and/or his unwitting ally ( the gentleman that Barrett mentioned seeing, ostensibly "waiting" for his colleague outside the George Yard dwelling). For sure, Inspector Reid waited 6 weeks before reporting to Inspector West in mid-September that his efforts were, at that point in time,futile, in finding just one person who could remember seeing the coterie Tabram was allegedly bar-hopping with.

So,yes, the police ( H Division ) did engage in a fairly long inquiry into Tabram's murder...which,in my view, was hamstrung by what I believe was false witness ( Pearly Poll & her entire story).

Then...24 days later....Nichols' murder occurred.

I think I am not alone in the observation that by the time of Nichols' Inquest, there was a sense, exacerbated by the Press in the headlines of various papers, that one person was behind the Smith,Tabram and Nichols murders and that because of this sense...again, enhanced or whatever one wishes to describe it...the police...less than a year after Bloody Sunday...were ultra-concerned with these three crimes and what it might mean if they were not treated as if they were West End crimes for the sake of comparison. The same Police commissioner in 1887 was still on the throne in 1888.

In addition:

In Smith's case..the consensus was that she was attacked by at least two youths,if not more. With Tabram, the possibility that a Guardsman was behind the attack was foremost...and in Nichols' case, which did not really resemble Chapman's murder scenario ( Llewellyn & the police worked rather briskly to remove Polly off the street before hordes of onlookers came on that scene )the differences within these three murders seem to have been overlooked by the Press,who,as mentioned before...linked them all together by the time or immediately following Nichols' Inquest.

Now, if the perception of a lone and very savage killer encouraged by the press makes its way to the public, the possibility exists that this also affected the way the police decided to handle the existing three murders on their plate and any subsequent outrages.

So...and again,I agree with you that what we know of the efforts in 1888 today in 2008 seem to indicate a level of concern that is not "lesser" than one might expect.... yet,do the efforts on the part of the Met Police appear to have been kicked up a notch after the Nichols'Inquest,at least, in your view, due to press pressure?

Thanks for the reply...and that goes double for the excellent article in November's Ripperologist.:kiss: