Reid Challenges Anderson 1910

[Howard Brown]

East London Observer
April 30, 1910
***********

[Chris G.]

Hi all

Former Whitechapel Detective Inspector's Edmund Reid's response to Sir Robert Anderson is quite illuminating in the way he dismisses the various theories as to who the Ripper was and valuably makes the point that Anderson's contention that the killer was a Jew "was never suggested at the time of the murders."

Coming from a member of the Metropolitan Police detective force hunting the Ripper, Reid's letter tells us that the police had no idea who the Whitechapel Murderer was. In other words, the police were as much in the dark as everybody else. Let's not let Sir Robert Anderson's high position in Scotland Yard lead us to think he knew any better. Anderson remember was the man who in the words of Inspector John George Littlechild "only thought he knew."

Best regards

Chris

[Trevor Marriott]

Hi all

Former Whitechapel Detective Inspector's Edmund Reid's response to Sir Robert Anderson is quite illuminating in the way he dismisses the various theories as to who the Ripper was and valuably makes the point that Anderson's contention that the killer was a Jew "was never suggested at the time of the murders."

Coming from a member of the Metropolitan Police detective force hunting the Ripper, Reid's letter tells us that the police had no idea who the Whitechapel Murderer was. In other words, the police were as much in the dark as everybody else. Let's not let Sir Robert Anderson's high position in Scotland Yard lead us to think he knew any better. Anderson remember was the man who in the words of Inspector John George Littlechild "only thought he knew."

Best regards

Chris

Reid was on the front line of the investigations so what he says has to be respected.


He also gave another newspaper interview with the news of the world in which he says that all the organs from Mary Kelly were accounted for and the killer did not take away any of them.

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Phil Carter]

Hi all

Former Whitechapel Detective Inspector's Edmund Reid's response to Sir Robert Anderson is quite illuminating in the way he dismisses the various theories as to who the Ripper was and valuably makes the point that Anderson's contention that the killer was a Jew "was never suggested at the time of the murders."

Coming from a member of the Metropolitan Police detective force hunting the Ripper, Reid's letter tells us that the police had no idea who the Whitechapel Murderer was. In other words, the police were as much in the dark as everybody else. Let's not let Sir Robert Anderson's high position in Scotland Yard lead us to think he knew any better. Anderson remember was the man who in the words of Inspector John George Littlechild "only thought he knew."

Best regards

Chris

Hello Chris,

It tells me two things.

That Robert Anderson didn't know his backside from his elbow....

And that anybody today using the Anderson "Jew" story to prop up their theory re ANY Jew, is clearly being deliberately ignorant of the facts as Reid tells us.
And Reid should know. He uses the term "at the time".
Sort of puts it all into perspective, imho.

Best regards


Phil

[Chris Phillips]

Of course, the trouble is that it certainly was suggested that the Ripper was a Jew at the time of the murders, and the resulting danger of anti-semitism was a major concern in Whitechapel.


Unfortunately that, together with his strange assertion that [Druitt] died before any of the Ripper murders were committed, suggests his latter-day recollections were at least as faulty as those of Anderson.

[Gary Barnett]

And the last sentence, coming as it does from the man who grilled Pearly Poll, is full of potential.

[Paul]

A Jew was suspected at the time of the murders. Reid says no Jew was suspected at the time of the murders. So, unless Macnaghten was wrong, that's one thing Reid didn't know about. What else didn’t he know? Nobody is saying that a Jew was Jack the Ripper, only that one was suspected, apparently seriously, especially by Anderson. Why is it assumed that Reid knew everything and that Anderson, Macnaghten, and Swanson were fabulating?

[Trevor Marriott]

A Jew was suspected at the time of the murders. Reid says no Jew was suspected at the time of the murders. So, unless Macnaghten was wrong, that's one thing Reid didn't know about. What else didn’t he know? Nobody is saying that a Jew was Jack the Ripper, only that one was suspected, apparently seriously, especially by Anderson. Why is it assumed that Reid knew everything and that Anderson, Macnaghten, and Swanson were fabulating?

Reid was directly involved in the investigation, any relevant information would have gone through him before being channeled along the chain of command.

Macngahten wasnt even with the Met Police at the time of the murders so whatever he wrote years later was hearsay.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Chris Phillips]

Reid was directly involved in the investigation, any relevant information would have gone through him before being channeled along the chain of command.

Macngahten wasnt even with the Met Police at the time of the murders so whatever he wrote years later was hearsay.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

Can you really be arguing on the basis of what's said in that article that in 1910 Reid's recollections of and claims about the case were reliable?

[Trevor Marriott]

Can you really be arguing on the basis of what's said in that article that in 1910 Reid's recollections of and claims about the case were reliable?

Yes without a doubt, if you read the article in relation to the Kelly murder he gets all the relevant facts correct in detail with the exception of the time Bowyer went to Kellys room.

That doesn't indicate a man suffering from memory loss as some would try to say.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Chris Phillips]

Yes without a doubt, if you read the article in relation to the Kelly murder he gets all the relevant facts correct in detail with the exception of the time Bowyer went to Kellys room.

You say that all the claims reported in that article were accurate? Astonishing.

[Trevor Marriott]

You say that all the claims reported in that article were accurate? Astonishing.

In relation to the Kelly murder because he attended the crime scene and I believe the postmortem.

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[Chris Phillips]

In relation to the Kelly murder because he attended the crime scene and I believe the postmortem.

But you agree the claims in that article aren't reliable about the case more generally?


That was what I asked you about.

[Paul]

Reid was directly involved in the investigation, any relevant information would have gone through him before being channeled along the chain of command.

Macngahten wasnt even with the Met Police at the time of the murders so whatever he wrote years later was hearsay.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

Information may have been channeled through Reid in the normal course of events, but he stated that no Jew was suspected at the time of the murders. But a Jew did become a suspect before February 1894, so clearly that piece of information wasn’t channeled through him.

Macnaghten wasn’t in the Metropolitan Police in 1888, but it isn’t known that suspicion fell on the Jew at that time. If it fell on him after the middle of 1889 then it would have been when Macnaghten was serving with the Met. But Macnaghten had had an interest in the case, and he had access to the case papers and to people involved in the investigation, so it doesn’t really matter whether he was writing from direct personal experience. Macnaghten could have been writing hearsay, but that doesn’t mean it was wrong. Anyway, unless Reid was writing from personal experience, he would only have been repeating what he’d been told; hearsay too.

[Trevor Marriott]

Information may have been channeled through Reid in the normal course of events, but he stated that no Jew was suspected at the time of the murders. But a Jew did become a suspect before February 1894, so clearly that piece of information wasn’t channeled through him.

Who was the specific Jewish suspect from the police files in 1888, and where is the evidence to support that suspect?

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk