The Escape Of Jack The Ripper ( Hainsworth & Agius, 2020)

[Joe Chetcuti]

What Paul was referring to can be found on page 138 of the book. It reads:

"...it has always puzzled researchers as to why Montague Druitt's sporting club ended his membership on 21 December 1888 for "having gone abroad". The cryptic wording of the sporting club's minutes does make sense if his fellow gentlemen had been informed he had travelled to a foreign sanatorium for urgent treatment (and for an indefinite period)."

If Montague was really taken to the French asylum, and his sporting club was told he has gone abroad for medical treatment, then it can be assumed that the Druitt family became more discreet about the situation as time went on.

If this were the actual case, then it can be said that the Druitt family started out by openly informing the sporting club of Montague's travel plans, but when the travel plans went into effect, they changed their minds and applied an alias name to Montague.

[Paul Butler]

Absolutely. "Gone abroad" can have quite a wide meaning, and could be used euphemistically by anyone not wanting to be too specific.

[Joe Chetcuti]

The authors speak of an asylum near Paris that they suspect was the location where the patient from England may have been taken to. The asylum had printed an advertising pamphlet, and some of its contents were shared on the top of page 136 of Jonathan and Christine's book.

The two doctors who founded the French asylum had spent time in England and their pamphlet explained that they have several English patients in their establishment and that they understand the peculiar management they require.

While it's cool to publicly talk about Jonathan and Christine's hard work, to be fair to them, their book should really be read in its entirety to get a complete picture of what they are saying.

[Chris Phillips]

Here's a positive review of the book by John Rimmer on the Magonia Review website:

http://pelicanist.blogspot.com/2020/04/protecting-ripper.html