Jack the Slasher in Fortean Times.

[Mike Covell]

This morning I took delivery of the September 2011 issue of Fortean Times, (FT279) and was quiet suprised to see a two page article, by Theo Paijmans, on Philadelphia's Jack the Slasher. The article, part 32 in the Blast from the Past series, looks at the press, the public, and whether or not the case was one of a genuine madman, the sensationalism of the press or the mass hysteria of the locals.

[Howard Brown]

Give us a review,Covell-Cremers...give us a review !

[Howard Brown]

Thanks to Mike for generously sending the scans over.



Right off the bat, it's startling because I do not recall reading or hearing about this case...and yet, one of the early 'victims' was a local girl from Wissahickon ( the neighborhood in Philly in which I just moved from ) named Quinn. The article also mentions the Slasher appearing in NW Philadelphia, which is Roxborough,Wissahickon,and Manayunk.
Quinn's are like horseshit in Wissahickon...even today...pretty common surname. I know one or two.

[Howard Brown]

Good news regarding the Fortean Times article, Mike....

The author, Theo Paijmans, has joined the Forums.

[Mike Covell]

Excellent.

[Henry Parsons]

Is this Jack the Shoe Slasher? Or another?

[Tom_Wescott]

Ripper Notes carried an article on Jack the Slasher a number of years ago. Has nothing to do with the Ripper case.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Howard Brown]

Henry:
Jack The Slasher ( or at least the one Tom Wescott is referring to ) was a fellow named Henry Dowd ( Wolf Vanderlinden wrote a very good article about the Slasher affair, as Tom stated, in Ripper Notes ) who did his thing in New York City.
He cut people, not shoes or dresses...or furniture ( There actually was one in Washington D.C. who had a thing for sofas and chairs....)
There have been a few Jack The Slashers....almost all in the 1895-1905 time frame.

[Henry Parsons]

There were many, many Jack the Slashers. Actually, one of the things I'm working on, likely for a book eventually, is sorting through the masses of accounts of "Jack the X" stories. There've been Jack the Slashers, Jack the Stabbers, Jack the Shoe-Slashers, Jack the Vitriol-Slingers, Jack the Ink-Slingers, Jack the Clippers, Jack the Clubbers and most common of all, Jack the Huggers. The labels obviously began, as you say, following the Ripper and for a length of time afterward.

There've even been people who obtained a sort of sexual satisfaction from breaking windows. It does seem to have very much been a media phenomenon, just labelling these offenders "Jack the X", and the reason it's gone away isn't so much because the offenders have, but because with our modern understanding of psychology they're simply labelled as something else.

[Howard Brown]

Henry:
Don't forget the Jack The Kisser , Jack The Peeper, Jack The Water Thrower, Jack The Haircutter....and the dreaded, Jack The Smiler.

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?p=99231&highlight=%22jack+kisser%22#post99231

[Howard Brown]

Henry;
Let me know if this PDF doesn't work....its the front page enlarged.
St. Paul Globe...April 3, 1892

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059522/1892-04-03/ed-1/seq-11.pdf