Bachert & The Sauce

[Howard Brown]

The Globe
July 1, 1891
**********

[Jerry Dunlop]

Writing letters to himself signed, Jack the Ripper

West Coast Times, Issue 9106, 25 August 1891

Mr Albert Backert, Chairman of the so called Whitechapel Vigilance Association, has been writing himself fearsome letters again signed 'Jack the Ripper.' At the time of the original scare, Mr Backert, who is a consequential small tradesman in the murder neighborhood, recognised a glorious opportunity for self-advertise-ment. He instituted the Vigilance patrol, discovered all sorts of strange facts and circumstances which the police had somehow overlooked, and crammed those scores of hungry reporters and amateur detectives who then infested the neighborhood with his unique experiences. As a result the name of Albert Backert became familiar to our ears as household words. He positively permeated the Whitechapel tragedies, and claimed increased importance and notoriety with each new assassination. Unfortunately even murder scares don't last for ever.

After a time the memory of Jack the Ripper began to fade, and Mr Backert, horrified, saw himself sinking back gradually into black obscurity. Obviously something must be done. Better a sham Jack the Ripper than no Jack the Ripper at all. Mr Backert's first little comedy consisted of a mysterious interview with an unknown and untraceable female who knew Jack well ; and was a great success till the Star made fun of it. Since then Mr Backert has not been, to use Whitechapelese, 'so much thought on.' He still, however, remains the local authority on the murders ; and all the curious Americans and Australians who venture to the scene of the fabled Ripper's exploits are referred to him. When sober, or merely 'a little on,' the great man's narratives are highly entertaining, but on Mondays and Tuesdays, according to the police, he is ' mostly boozed.' This fact transpired at the Thames Police Court on Wednesday, whither Mr Backert was haled for being (drunk and disorderly. The police are long suffering with rowdiness in Whitechapel, but on Monday the Chairman of the Vigilance Committee tried them too far. After being forcibly ejected four times from the shop of an unbelieving butcher, who threw doubts on his 'Ripper rot,' Mr Backert got up a fight in the street. This was too much, and that night the great man made acquaintance with the cells, to which he has so often in imagination consigned ensanguined murderers.

source: National Library of New Zealand

[Howard Brown]

Excellent find, JD.....and thank you for sharing

The report is an in-depth look into Bachert....seems someone was paying attention to him going back some 3 years. And, once more, his named is spelled incorrectly.

Again, thanks Jerry.

[Jerry Dunlop]

Excellent find, JD.....and thank you for sharing

The report is an in-depth look into Bachert....seems someone was paying attention to him going back some 3 years. And, once more, his named is spelled incorrectly.

Again, thanks Jerry.

Thanks Howard.

His name is so often misspelled as you mentioned. There is a thread on this forum that Debs pretty conclusively (in my mind anyways) shows he was born as Charles Frederick Bachert and at christening/baptism his name was changed to that of his deceased brother (Wilhelm Albert or William Albert). So, it seems his life was full of mishaps with name.

[Debra Arif]

Ecxellent find, Jerry

[R. J. Palmer]

"...and was a great success till the Star made fun of it..."

Thanks, Jerry. This makes it sound as if the West Coast Times article may have originally appeared in the Star, maybe at the beginning of July 1891(?)

The tone of this screed is almost angry, and one wonders if Bachert had somehow earned the Star's personal enmity, or at least the ire of one of its reporters (?)

[Jerry Dunlop]

Ecxellent find, Jerry

Thanks, Debs!

[Jerry Dunlop]

"...and was a great success till the Star made fun of it..."

Thanks, Jerry. This makes it sound as if the West Coast Times article may have originally appeared in the Star, maybe at the beginning of July 1891(?)

The tone of this screed is almost angry, and one wonders if Bachert had somehow earned the Star's personal enmity, or at least the ire of one of its reporters (?)

RJ,

If your talking about the fight with the butcher, I'm not sure if it appeared in the Star, but Howard's first post in this thread is an account of that incident. His article is dated July 1, 1891.

[Anna Morris]

If Bachert was a consistently heavy drinker, he might have "confabulated" a lot of his 'information'. He might not have been entirely a publicity seeker.

[R. J. Palmer]

RJ,

If your talking about the fight with the butcher, I'm not sure if it appeared in the Star, but Howard's first post in this thread is an account of that incident. His article is dated July 1, 1891.

Hi Jerry,

I'm speculating, but it just seems very unlikely that this bit of editorializing about Bachert would have originally appeared in a mining town newspaper in New Zealand; the date/circumstances suggest it was culled from an earlier London source, probably shortly after at the incident with the butcher. And since the article mentions the Star it seems likely the Star is the most obvious source. It would be interesting to know the name of the butcher Bachert was harassing; was he a suspect in the murders? Is this why he kept going to his shop?

[Chris Phillips]

Hi Jerry,

I'm speculating, but it just seems very unlikely that this bit of editorializing about Bachert would have originally appeared in a mining town newspaper in New Zealand; the date/circumstances suggest it was culled from an earlier London source, probably shortly after at the incident with the butcher. And since the article mentions the Star it seems likely the Star is the most obvious source. It would be interesting to know the name of the butcher Bachert was harassing; was he a suspect in the murders? Is this why he kept going to his shop?

The A-Z has an account of apparently the same incident, placing it at 4 Whitechapel High Street on 29 June. The butcher is named as "Tomas Davis." Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of 5 July 1889 is cited, but I presume that's an error for 1891. It also refers to another appearance at the Magistrate's Court on 25 July 1891 when Bachert applied for warrants against two H Division officers he accused of perjury [Reynolds's Newspaper, 26 July 1891].

[Anna Morris]

I once looked at New Zealand newspaper archival sources for a famous 1922 case and it seemed the NZ papers printed information from other sources weeks after events happened. I do not mean this as a criticism and I have no idea how news reached the country or what was important to the editors and readers of the time. Telegraphs were available from before JtR and certainly in the 1920's. American papers got long articles about JtR from London and printed, I think within 24 hours. However I also know there was a big historic event about laying telegraph cable across the Atlantic ocean, connecting Europe to USA.

[Karsten Giese]

Hi Chris, Hi R.J.,

"Thomas Davis, 4 Whitechapel High Street"

Years ago I noticed in the Post Office Directory of 1891 the following:

Lankester and Chamberlain, meat salesmen, 2 Whitechapel High Street
Benjamin James Wood, butcher, 3 Whitechapel High Street
Charles Henry Knight, meat salesman, 4 Whitechapel High Street
Horwitz & Lialter, meat salesmen, 6 Whitechapel High Street

Opposite these shops:

Simon van der Linde, meat salesman, 146 Whitechapel High Street

Karsten.

[R. J. Palmer]

The A-Z has an account of apparently the same incident, placing it at 4 Whitechapel High Street on 29 June. The butcher is named as "Tomas Davis." Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper of 5 July 1889 is cited, but I presume that's an error for 1891. It also refers to another appearance at the Magistrate's Court on 25 July 1891 when Bachert applied for warrants against two H Division officers he accused of perjury [Reynolds's Newspaper, 26 July 1891].

Thanks, Chris. Yes, it looks like the account was in Lloyd's Weekly on 5 July, 1891, and also in Reynold's and The People on the same date.

I notice that Karsten's man "Charles H. Knight" (thanks) was living at the same address in 1881, and employed a butcher, so perhaps Davis was another employee. I can't readily find the shop in 1891, but will look again later. It just strikes me as odd that Bachert would frequent this shop (let alone any butcher shop) when he was "in his cups." There must be more to the story, somehow.

[Karsten Giese]

Hi RJ!

"so perhaps Davis was another employee"

That is very probable.

A few days ago I found a list with Lankester, Wood, Knight, Horwitz & Lialter on it plus the number of their employees (only for Knight and H&L???). Unfortunately, I can´t recall where it was.

When I read "Thomas Davis" I immediately thought of Thomas Coughtrey Davies and the "Davies, Cohen & Company" ("Davies, Cohen & Company", Jacob Cohen -a Butcher- & Woolf Abrahams). Of course, I am exaggerating, but...

I remembered "a Mrs J Lialter of 6 Aldgate High Street" when I found the meat salesmen, Horwitz & Lialter, 6 Whitechapel High Street.

Scott Nelson, The Butchers Row Suspect:

"Both Frederick and his son George (Louisson) were the carcass butchers listed at nos. 57 and 59 Aldgate-High Street in the 1890- 91 directories. By 1891, Frederick and his wife, Annie, lived at 3 High Street, Whitechapel. Annie was the daughter of an Isaac and Rachel Isaacs who lived in Harrow Alley, which ran behind Butcher’s Row. The Isaacs had three other children living in 1883, a Mrs H S Harris of 116 Houndsditch, a Mrs J Lialter of 6 Aldgate High Street and a Mrs D Levy of 60 Rodney Street, Liverpool."

Who knows, maybe this "Butchers Row"/ Whitechapel (2-6 Whitechapel High Street) belonged to Sagar´s Butchers Row/ Aldgate.

James Littlefield, at no. 43 AHS Butchers Row/ Aldgate- entrance Mansell Street- Public House no. 1 WHS- Lankester and Chamberlain/ no. 2 WHS/ Whitechapel. I always thought Butchers Row begins with Bosman (62) and ends with Littlefield (43). Quite possible it ends with Horwitz & Lialter, 6 Whitechapel High Street.

(Btw.: There was a James Robert Palmer, butcher, 67 Whitechapel High Street :-) )