Tumblety's Candidature

IS HE "JACK THE RIPPER?"

New York Police Keeping Sight of an Erratic American.

NEW YORK, Dec. 4. - Dr. Francis Tumblety, an erratic American who was suspected by the London authorities of being implicated in the Whitechapel atrocities and who suddenly disappeared from England, arrived in the city Sunday from Havre on the French Line steamer La Bretagne. The detectives were awaiting the arrival of the steamer at the pier, and though he had travelled under an assumed name, his identity was discovered. He was permitted to land without any interference and was traced to a boarding house on West street, where he is now domiciled. As there is no charge or indictment against Dr. Tumblety for any criminal offence he will not be arrested. Detectives will keep him under surveillance for several days to come, so as to be able to reach him in case he is wanted.

Source: The Eldora Weekly Ledger, Thursday December 6, 1888, Page 6

A few problems with Tumblety's candidature as JTR:

1. Police do not report any of their covert surveillance details in the newspapers.
2. If the police on either side of the Atlantic seriously felt that Tumblety was Jack the Ripper, he would not have even been allowed to leave the country of England or enter America.
3. The police are only going to keep the Ripper under surveillance for a few days? Why is that? So that they can then escort him to some other hideaway?
4. Keeping him at close range so as to be able to reach him? What for? He is not under arrest nor was he indicted in any crime?
5. He quite tall and was famed for his huge moustache which would have been noted. Witnesses describe him as having a slight moustache and a short, stocky appearance.
6. He was homosexual, and it is extremely rare for sexual killers to murder those whose gender they are not attracted to.

the only thing that could actually make him a viable suspect is the fact of his odd collection.
because seriously if people can make a few dollars on body snatching just think of the possibilities that could happen within the east end that and correct me if i am wrong but back then did anyone actually care about people living in the east end what i mean is I'll get right down to the point he could not buy the uterus's from the hospital so the next thing to do would have been attack the people that nobody would notice?
anyway this is just a theory because as you pointed out mordke that tumblety did not fit the rest of the suspects descriptions

I really do not believe Tumblety could have been the Ripper - and you're right to point out that the only thing really connecting him was the fact that he bought all those uterus's. Other than that, he just appears to be a dodgy character in the wrong place at the wrong time, and police caught up on it.

And no, I don't think they really did care too much about people in the east end before the Ripper murders; it was only after the murders when the world suddenly looked at the east end and realised how dreadful it was, then decided to do something about it. So in that case, the Ripper did a good thing bringing light on that part of London, just in the worst way possible.

The Eldora Weekly obviously had sources beyond the understanding of normal human beings.
I could be wrong. We know newspapers during that time period only used provable, carefully researched facts from reliable sources. And, since the article does not make any legal or investigative sense, it must be accurate.
I also have a dissection knife reliably traced to the Mary Kelly murder scene through DNA analysis that I will let go for only 800 U.S. dollars(plus shipping and handling costs).
Why would I lie about a thing like that?

Wow - where did you get that from? It must have cost you a fortune! Was it used in the post mortem or by the killer?

Newspapers were generally accurate, but lots of the articles became botched su has the batty street lodger story, I think it was printed various times before they managed to uncover the truth and even then they mised up a suspect dead in the investigation and proved innocent. I still think they were covering up something the the article though and trying to protect the perpetrator. It's an interesting story none the less.