The Deathly Female Contemporary of Jack the Ripper

[Howard Brown]

Margaret Waters


https://medium.com/memoirsfromhistor...r-1eeb8806df32


I guess it's too much to ask her, but I wonder why Rubenhold is avoiding the numerous cases of women who committed serial murder or one-offs.

Probably wouldn't fit in with her clique of manginas and whacky feminists.

[Anna Morris]

If you look at Wikipedia lists of historic serial killers it is surprising the number of women who killed many people, usually for profit. There are a number of poisoners in addition to baby farmers. There is usually a factor of physical brutality in the work of male serial killers and SEX is a frequent component. Those crimes make more titillating newspaper articles, compared to a female who may have quietly poisoned family and friends for decades. Personally, I think I would rather fall prey to a male SK who is capable of killing in a matter of hours rather than be slowly poisoned by a female.

I have long thought this would be an interesting study for serial-killerology, a comparison of males and females. Female poisoners and the like are equally deadly and frequently have more victims. Both breeds of SK's are reprehensible.

Another interesting comparison in Victorian Massachusetts is Sarah Jane Robinson, a poisoner and Lizzie Borden, an accused and acquitted axe murderer. We don't know much about Sarah Jane but Lizzie is legend. Additionally, as I recall, another prolific female poisoner who operated in Massachusetts after Lizzie's trial, was completely unknown to me until news articles were posted here on the Forum. I think her name was Jane and she died in an asylum.

Like we learned in the first journalism lesson, if it bleeds, it leads.