Jonathan A's Atlanta's Black Jack The Ripper of 1911 Forum

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Journal November 1917

[Howard Brown]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qE0_YstwHg&ab_channel=JayWill

The Atlanta Ripper

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Journal April 25, 1918

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian March 1918

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian March 1918

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian John Brown March 1918

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian April 1918

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian 1919

[Howard Brown]

Fine work, J.A.......thanks !

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Journal March 1918

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Journal February 27, 1920

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Journal February 28, 1920

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian February 27, 1920

[Jonathan A]

Atlanta Georgian Feb 29, 1920

[Jonathan A]

My theory as to the whole John Brown situation is that is is possible that Fulton County and Atlanta may have had two Black Jack the Rippers and that John Brown was copycat of the original. When I first heard of the Laura Blackwell murder and John Brown's conviction, the I thought it was curious that Laura's body was partially burned. I also thought it was interesting that the police said that they thought Brown was "a Jack the Ripper" instead of "the Jack the Ripper," and that they believed he was responsible for murders in and around Atlanta. So I dug through the newspaper archives to find murders that were similiar to Laura's. I found articles from the Georgian, Journal, and Constitution back in 1914 that mentioned the discovery of the bodies of murdered black women near the federal prison. According to the Journal and Constitution, the three Jane Does were found with their bodies partially burned and their bodies gashed, just like Laura. I couldn't find any other victims attributed to the Ripper who had been burned after John Brown's arrest, so part of me believes that John Brown was a second ripper who had a particular habit of burning his victims clothes, The idea of two serial killers operating in the same city at the same time is nothing new. The inafamous Jack the Ripper was prowling London at the same time as the Thames Torso murderer and people began to claim the Torso's victims as Jack the Ripper. South African serial killers David Selepe, Moses Sithole, and Sipho Thwala were active in the same area and at the same times. Eve their methods and choice of victims were the same. They would lure black women into the canefields with the offers of jobs and then kill them. The only difference being that Sipho had a habit of clubbing his victims.
The other part me believes that the Atlanta Ripper was responsible for all the murders and John Brown was innocent. After all, the papers say that the case against him was entirely circumstancial. There's good reason to believe that the murder of Laura Blackwell was connected to the rest. Laura was slain on the night that Chief Beavers was restored as chief of Police. James Beavers had become chief in August 1911 and his tenure oversaw most of the Ripper slayings. He personally visited the crime scenes of Ripper victims Mary Putnam and Pearl Williams. Part of the reason why he was deposed in 1915 was because of his failure to capture the Ripper. Perhaps the Ripperheard about his restoration and decided to kill that night as a way to taunt the chief. We all know that serial killers like to taunt law enforcement like Jack the Ripper did with George Lusk and Sweeney did with Elliot Ness.
The third possible is that John Brown did kill Laura, but he didn't commit any other crimes. I guess we'll never know.