Jack the General

[General Franz]

Opening Salvo:

Okay....There are 2 ways to approach Motives and Reasons:
1. By jumping into a debate on theoretical motivations and rationales like Psychopathy, Criminal Insanity, Ideology etc....some of which I agree with, or
2. by starting with confirmed or verifiable factors in serial crime, such as Drug Use.....

Non-theoretical Motives and Reasons can be validated one way or another with known cases, judged for relevance, and build into a discussion on the psychological theories from a firm foundation in fact.

I suggest the Military as a subject.

[How Brown]

Well....Stephenson was in the military. He certainly knew about battle and blood.

You know,among the many ideas I have had regarding " what made RDS the Ripper "[ hypothetically] was the notion that his experience in Garibaldi's Corps scarred him psychologically.

He comes back from the War [ only 20 years old ]....and perhaps tried to "find himself" [ the trip to London to discuss theology with the Duke of Canterbury ]....but didn't. He returns to a sinecure with this desk job and slowly...drifts....into drink...and eventual dismissal. He felt out of place, because of the war years.

Its quite possible that his behavior,regardless of his candidacy as being JTR, had some basis in the fact he,like many returning veterans of wars,felt out of place and adjustment never took place in the way it should have for him.

I sort of see him in a sympathetic way [ when looking at him as just a regular guy ].

But back to your original idea,Franz....

Do you see a precision in the manner in which the victims were dispatched which indicates a trained hand-to-hand combatant ?

[General Franz]

Nothing indicates to me a trained combatant. Other than knowing how to keep the windpipe from getting in the way of slicing the artery, which I heard about somewhere and you can guess at, I don't see anything that shows he's a military knife expert. It's not about skill anyway for me when I'm talking soldiering.
I'm talking more about conditioning. The mental preparation of military training and the trials of warfare, and even the acculturation of civilians who live in that climate, is what I mean.
Soldiers are hardened, tempered by training, inured by war, taught to be cold and clinical, taught how to kill like a machine. Jack had some of that.

[How Brown]

Franz:

"Soldiers are hardened, tempered by training, inured by war, taught to be cold and clinical, taught how to kill like a machine..."

Well that would knock RDS out of the frame for me...He'd been out of the military for almost three decades by 1888. If it was someone with military background,it would have to be someone who learned of those qualities rather recently....at least I'd think so.

Have you got someone in mind,mon General?

[General Franz]

The seed of coldness could have been sown early and then nurtured by the secret occult or masonic societies with their own agendas. Like the military, powerful groups need people who relate well to their objectives and often prize persons with a preference for any objective above and beyond regard for welfare of individuals.

It looks like we're developing a Rambo First Blood scenario, Howard. (Rambo was not Italian, in case you're thinking what I'm thinking.) A literal soldier, or someone dressed as one, did, I believe, kill Martha Tabram. But things are not always that easy.
It gives you a direction in which to look. I say look in that GENERAL area.
We could use a few good men, though. If just to prove we didn't need to go the military route ourselves to become GENERALS.
It's an attitute, a bearing. Not a title or an office.

[How Brown]

Franz:

What you seem to be inferring is that the Tabram murder [ by no means a discounted Ripper murder according to such diverse sources as my buddy Dave Radka to our own and beloved Dan Norder ] might have been done at the behest of "higher ups".....and that likewise,the subsequent murders committed for these wirepullers.

If I am correct,please elaborate as I am interested to the nth degree.

If not,please correct me,sor. ;)

[General Franz]

The "Plymouth Bretheren" are as high up as I'm willing to go with the higher-ups....(Masons are there too but you don't have to go that powerful or that occultish! They'd neither help nor hinder in my estimation except perhaps in certain specificities of the M.O.)...
I'm predisposed to a more informal, unofficial alliance of these New England elitists....
How do you think I became a General?

[How Brown]

General Franz:

Plymouth Bretheren also included the likes of Sir Robert Anderson and Mabel Collins family.

Are you intimating police participation perhaps?

[Shawn-a]

I'm predisposed to a more informal, unofficial alliance of these New England elitists....
I'm disputin' Rasputin!
The Plymouth Bretheren aren't from New England. They're a church that started in Dublin and moved to Plymouth in South West England....
The Franz must have confused the PBs with the Merry Pilgrims from Nottinghamshire who were English Separatists....And came over on the Mayflower in 1620 with the London Contingent who were non-religious.
However he does seem to be looking North for his anti-establishment 'soldier', a little west of Hull, though....The Mayflower's soldier in charge of the pilgrim's defence was from Lancashire--Miles Standish....
Anti-establishment soldiers in the U.S. do tend to come from certain geographic areas....

[Chris G.]

Franz:

"Soldiers are hardened, tempered by training, inured by war, taught to be cold and clinical, taught how to kill like a machine..."

Well that would knock RDS out of the frame for me...He'd been out of the military for almost three decades by 1888. If it was someone with military background,it would have to be someone who learned of those qualities rather recently....at least I'd think so.

Have you got someone in mind,mon General?

Hi Howard

Yes but that's exactly the sort of statement that Melvin Harris makes in The True Face of Jack the Ripper for why D'Onston could have been the Ripper -- that he could behead a foe at a stroke, etc, etc, with no proof of course that D'Onston did anything like that as a volunteer with Garibaldi.

Chris

[Night Stalker]

Hey all :

I'm sorry but I have to disagree.

Firstly, I believe RDS was a Walter Mitty type character, who told tall tales to impress the people he thought he had a superior intellect over. To talk so easily about his suppossed '42' battles I don't believe for a second. He was a man who craved fame and would say or hint at anything to achive it.

Secondly, in reference to Howards' question. My father left the military over 25 years ago. He is 65 and still built like the proverbial "brick shit house". He is still capable of doing things a man of his age would not be expected to do, this is due to his military training and background.

Just my own opinion, NS -

[Shawn-a]

Walter Mitty might be a better analogy than my Cyrus Trask one--Steinbeck's Trask was actually in one battle, losing his leg, before claiming to have been at every battle.

RDS claims he met a household-name General in India who was in the Charge of the Light Brigade (Crimea, of course). I'm wondering if that's anywhere near verifiable for the RDS chronology of the decade 1871-81....

If he can be identified, then maybe so can the major-surgeon of the Gurkhas that he also 'knew'....
Gurkhas, Italian Army....I think RDS wants to be you, NS....

"My battle of New Orleans is killing me!"
Chico and the Man

[Night Stalker]

Shawna, the three house hold names, involved were :-

Lord Raglan : died 1855

Earl of Cardigan : died 1868

Lord Lucan : died 1888 (don't think he visited India)


I think RDS can but dream, eh !!!