John Anderson

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

Based on the discharge records, James Brame could still have sailed on the Annie Speer in 1894. I found another Danish sailor, Anton Anderson, and an Irish Andres Anderson, death but I don’t see them as viable candidates based on the timeline.

If you go by Barnes’s literal story and timeline, then one thing definitely eliminated by the records is any connection to the shoemaker Johannes Anderson who died in January of 1896 when Brame was already back in England in June of 1895 after leaving a different ship.

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

James Brame said he joined the Annie Speer in Shields in "October 1894".
The Annie Speer sailed from Sunderland on Sept 1, 1894 and arrived in Antofagasta, Chile on Dec 10.

Well, the England, Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1826-1930 records have something to say about James Brame for those who thought, as I did, that he went straight to the press when he got back to England (after 2 long years). Well he was back well before that. So, if his story was true, he must have sat on his Jack the Ripper story for 2 years because he had a stint in the hospital in June 1895.

He supposedly heard the confession in Chile in 1894 and he was in London in 1895. The story came out in August of 1896. He went right back into the hospital the next month as RJ Palmer mentions in Post 43.

All England, Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1826-1930 results for James Brame
.

View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	17 Jun 1922
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	2 Oct 1922
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	24 Nov 1922
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	22 Dec 1922
View Record	James Brame	abt 1848	England	23 Jan 1923
View Record	James Brame	abt 1848	England	15 Sep 1927
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	25 May 1929
View Record	James Brame	abt 1846	England	20 Sep 1924
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	27 Sep 1925
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	England	25 Sep 1926
View Record	James Brame	abt 1847	Lowestoft	Disch. 22 Sep 1896 4 days
View Record	James Brame	abt 1849	Lowestoft	Disch. 19 Jun 1895 7 days

.
Can I say "Roslyn D'Onston"?!

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

...Brame described a thirty-something able bodied seaman who was working as a cook.

This 'Johanes Anderson' is a sixty-four year old Danish shoemaker--which, the name aside, is quite a stretch for the man described by Brame....

Two months later (March 1896), there is a British cook who did indeed die in Iquique, but his name is 'John Robinson' --not 'John Anderson'--and he is also 64.

I would have to agree now that, if anything, we should be looking for a sailor and/or cook more than for someone named "John" or "John Anderson". Might we not even dismiss the idea that "Anderson" had to have died in Iquique or even that he had to have died in Chile after the docking of the Annie Speer in November of 1894?

I now have a feeling that James Brame and his alleged, fellow patient confessor would not have stayed long in the town of Iquique if they had both deserted and/or got stuck in Chile. Iquique is now listed as Chile's 14th largest city. Is Brame going to admit that he ended up in a hospital in, let's say, Antofagasta, 400 km away from where they docked?

In that direction, I found one or two Anderson sailor possibilities that died in a hospital elsewhere in Chile. I'll see if their records are worth posting.

PS The Annie Speer made port in Antofagasta on that trip. No report of stopping in Iquique. Maybe they stopped there to drop off the sick passenger.

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

With the witness Jorge Petersen being a Danish born resident, I have no doubt that the particulars of the civil death record are accurate enough, so Johannes Anderson who died in January of 1896 was a 64 year old shoemaker. (There is a handful of other possibilities in the Danish censuses for a shoemaker born in Denmark c. 1832 - even a maker of wooden shoes).

So this now makes it difficult for me to believe this man whoever he was is the man who allegedly confessed to being Jack the Ripper as he lay dying. Why doesn’t his profile match the 30 year old strapping sailor of the story?

If any of it is true, my guess is that Brame heard the story on the ship or in the hospital and then heard about the death of the man with a similar name. Maybe he even attended the funeral and put it his story,

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

Pedersen was representing the Lockett Brothers whom I recall bought out (Nitrate King) North and Jewell circa 1896.

https://books.google.ca/books?pg=RA1-PA643&lpg=RA1-PA643&dq=jorge+pedersen+%22iquique%22&sig=ACfU3U0NHpEXcdNyXi8JMoZJHri5bctKFA&id=L68pAAAAYAAJ&ots=qmiki2f0Lg&output=text

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

NAME OF THE APPEARING PARTY [WITNESS/INFORMANT]

name Pedersen Jorje
age thirty-two years
profession trader
domicile Bolivar 111
witness of the identity believed by the officer
confirmed the death by document 41

Iquique.jpg

Jorge Pedersen also appears to be Danish according to this family history. I'm guessing his given name was originally Jørgen.

FAMILIA PEDERSEN - HISTORIA DE VALDIVIA - CHILE

https://historiadevaldivia-chile.blogspot.com › ...
· Translate this page
PEDERSEN KIELMAN 1 JORGE PEDERSEN (DINAMARCA 1874-). CASADO CON MARÍA KIELMAN [VAR. KJELMAN]. HIJOS: 1.1 ANA LUISA PEDERSEN KIELMAN (IQUIQUE

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

I got Johannes Wigant Anderson dying with his middle name spelled Vigand in 1877.

We have to look elsewhere.

https://www.ancestry.ca/discoveryui-content/view/10701097:61607?tid=&pid=&queryId=f3c1380c2ef1b0f1f3cf5aa9c54bdc23&_phsrc=JCM1&_phstart=successSource

[R. J. Palmer]

Here’s a link to an old street map of Iquique. It shows the hospital near one of the two cemeteries.

It’s from 1895, the same year Brame and his Anderson were reportedly there, and Johannes Anderson was definitely there.

Here's another link to the same map which can be enlarged to as big as one would wish to go:

File:Iquique 1895.png - Wikimedia Commons

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

No shoe salesmen? So no Al Bundys?

Shoemakers/repair men came in second place in the survey of Top Skilled Jobs for serial killers. To include shoe repair, the survey data would have to go back a long way. I believe the results were published in 2018.

https://www.macleans.ca/society/the-preferred-jobs-of-serial-killers-aircraft-machinist-arborist-general-labourer-and-cop/amp/

[Kattrup]

Skomagersvend translates as shoemaker’s friend. Vend would be friend (or assistant?) and not derived from vendere (sell) as per my wild guess.

Skomager=shoemaker
mester=master
Svend=journeyman

So a skomagermester is an artisan with his own workshop, employing a number of journeymen and apprentices


both svend and ven are etymologically old Nordic words, roots of Sveinn “free man in another’s service” and Vinr “person to whom one is unrelated but whose company one enjoys”
So no Latin vendere, it’s barbary all the way down

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

Skomagersvend translates as shoemaker’s friend. Vend would be friend (or assistant?) and not derived from vendere (sell) as per my wild guess.

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

There are a few Johannes Andersen born in the right year and listed as shoemakers. One decent candidate would be Johannes Vigand or Wigand Andersen, born 1832 in Vejle. The reason he is perhaps a little more relevant than some of the others is that he seems to be no longer listed in census information after 1860. Perhaps indicating that he emigrated.

I think this candidate is worth a look. Since we know that Brame more than spiced up his stories, I don't think we're wedded to the "30 year old sailor" or even that he was on the Annie Speer. The 1896 Civil Record of the 64 year old shoemaker might be the only thing corroborating the story of a John Anderson who died in Iquique c. 1895.


Johannes Wigant Andersen

in the 1860 Denmark Census

Johannes Wigant Andersen

Mandlig (Male)

Ugift (Single)

27

1833

Veile

1860

Residence: Roskilde Købstad, Sømme, København (Kobenhavn), Danmark (Denmark)

Skomagersvend

Lutherske

20

28

Christian Lauritz Godtlib Zahle 37 Skomagermester Karen Emilie F. Dreier 30 Kone (Wife) Ida Schalotte Natalie Zahle 4 Barn (Child) Niels Wilhelm Sophus Zahle 2 Barn (Child) Laiaras Rasmus Møller 42 Skomagersvend Johannes Wigant Andersen 27 Skomagersvend Samuel Johansen 25 Skomagersvend Wilhelm Løitenberger 24 Skomagersvend Niels Peter Jensen 20 Skomagersvend Lauritz Godtlib Dreyer 21 Lærling

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

I've always been intrigued (if skeptical) of Brame's story, and it is fantastic to see these records have been digitized, but are we sure this is the right answer?
A sixty-four year old Danish shoemaker--which, the name aside, is quite a stretch for the man described by Brame.

Well, I no longer believe Brame’s story because his W H Corsair shipwreck story proved false.

I think it’s still possible he heard a deathbed confession from the shoemaker Johannes Anderson and he made a “Brame Stoker” story out of it.

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

James E Brame
in the Canada, Seafarers of the Atlantic Provinces, 1789-1935

James E Brame

Crew

36

b abt 1847

Suffolk, Virginia, USA

Wellington

Ship

Dep 20 Aug 1883

Liverpool, England

Arr. 5 Feb 1884

Liverpool, England

W865029

Windsor, Nova Scotia

1865

Joined 22 Aug 1883

Liverpool, England

Crew no 5

Signed name

No

Disch. 11 Dec 1883

New York City, New York, USA

Deserted

Last ship Same ship

Co from last ship 3

Steward

By the month

400

Sterling

[Markus Aurelius Franzoi]

This was the first and only example I found so far for comparison.

JB Poismans (above) died in the Iquique hospital like John Anderson supposedly did.

With a Belgian accent his mother Catherine becomes Catalina in the Civil Register. Maybe it's something to do with the pronunciation of the letter r.

He was a “employe” or worker at his marriage in Belgium in 1891 and he’s a farmer in the Register. He was listed as a farmer in Belgium in 1881, according to the unsourced Family Tree record but I doubt he was anything other than a farmhand in Chile since he arrived after his marriage in 1891 and he died in 1894.

His age is also 6 years off.

I’ll check for his wife later. P.S. His wife did not join him in Chile. He is listed as single - another inaccuracy.