"I know more about it than you." : Mrs Paumier's Statement

[Anna Morris]

Hi Anna.
Yes, and we might hark back to the attack on Annie Milwood, and the man with the red rash (sunburned face?).
Later a similar aged suspect described as having a very white face?
(I'm wondering if he used a powder to cover the rash, like was used in the theatre?)
This similar aged suspect is also described as having no eyelashes.

Although there are many causes for a loss of eyelashes, one of them is syphilis, c/w the facial skin rash.

If you recall the earliest Jack the Ripper theories concerned some notion of revenge due to the perpetrator contracting syphilis from a prostitute?

I just read something in a contemporary press report today about a peculiar man something like we seek, who was said to have had a career but he spent a great deal of time with East End prostitutes, caught a terrible disease, was unable to work...and vowed destruction to such women.

That is not really an original sounding story but it was allegedly said by someone at the time the man with the stiff knee and overalls was observed. We really need a whole thread for this peculiar man. I was thinking of rounding up information for a starter but I have a headache and hope I can find the article again.

The peculiar man was also frequently said to be fairly well dressed. Not extremely well dressed, not dirty from a day's work as a labourer, not ragged. Shabby genteel or whatever. Maybe like a man who had had some success in the world and then lost his position?

I think the hunt for Jack has gone astray because there has been the desire to find a man with very special traits; a doctor, an American, a foreigner, a lunatic, an artist, etc. I think Jack was a man more in the middle, someone who was overlooked or never suspected. He wasn't poor or rich. A youngish man who had lost his business or occupation makes sense. He had some decent clothes. He came out at night. Maybe because of disability or disfigurement from a disease, he didn't show himself often. Maybe night made him feel comfortable. Maybe that is why no one really put it together, that Jack was a fellow seen here and there.

I don't think he went home to the West End nor did he cross the sea. I think he lived near Whitechapel but not necessarily IN it. IMO he may have travelled to and fro via Bethnal Green Road.

[Wicker Man]

Everthing you said Anna


If you use the CB Press search window, and enter 'overalls', you will get a few press sources.
Here's one that provides a large paragraph on the suspect, about halfway down:
http://www.casebook.org/press_report...dt881112.html?




I just can't imagine a guy wearing white overalls going unnoticed!!!!

[Wicker Man]

It's probably as well to mention that there was an accusation of a journalist inventing this assault in Cambridge Heath Road. Both Tom W. & I went over this a few years ago. We were looking for examples of stories invented by the press.
I just do not recall most of the details as to what extent the story was made up, or whether it was just the assault part.

[Anna Morris]

Thanks Jon and thanks again for the research tip.

What if Jack was a fellow who was disfigured, perhaps in the face? How would society in general have thought about him? If he was somewhat repulsive might he have been written off as unlikely to have interactions even with street prostitutes? Maybe the women themselves would have said they would not go with him for a variety of reasons?

What if someone considered him but there was a general opinion about him as harmless, shy, weak, crippled, etc.? He is too weak. He moves too slow. He can't walk fast enough to get away. He isn't interested in women. No woman would go near him.

Or maybe he was occasionally known in the area but not known to interact with prostitutes. Perhaps his only interactions were sporadic and through murder?

His odd face, perhaps without eyelashes, could have been due to any number of conditions. If it was a lifelong condition perhaps he was never able to have a meaningful relationship with a woman. A skin medication which I believe was available at the time was zinc oxide which could account for the very pale appearance of Mrs. Kennedy's man.

[Wicker Man]

I'm inclined to think disfigurements, both facial & physical, would have been common in the East End.
Being either born that way, or some accident in life disfigured you, then sooner or later you will be an outcast either in your job or among your social clan. Ending up with all the other down-and-outs in the East end might be expected.
Plus the fact working conditions for labourers were practically none existant, especially in factories or the docks. If crippled, can't work, can't pay your way, then there's always the East End to go to where you will be among your own kind.