TW: Content contains topics such as murder, body mutilation and suicide
During the late 1880s, a series of murders took place in the Whitechapel district of London. Out of many of his suspected murders, only five of them were traced back to the same killer known as Jack the Ripper.
His victims are currently known as the “Canonical Five,” whose murders took place in the span of 12 weeks (Aug. 31, 1888- Nov. 1888). In order, the five include Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine ‘Kate’ Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. In each of these instances, the Ripper had brutally killed them by not only slitting their throats, but also mutilating their bodies. The Metropolitan and City of London Police were finally made aware of these murders in Oct. 1888, when they were mailed half of a kidney, thought to be from one of the victims, along with several taunting notes under the alias “Jack the Ripper.”
Many investigations took place regarding this serial killer, which resulted in many different suspects. Aside from the true perpetrator, the men Montague John Druitt and Carl Feigenbaum were commonly accused of being the culprits.
Montague John Druitt
Coming from a well-off family and prosperous life at Winchester College, Druitt had suddenly gotten dismissed from his role at a London boarding school for reasons still unclear today. In what seemed like an attempted suicide, Druitt was found in the River of Thames around Dec. 1888, a little while after Kelly was murdered. At the time, rumors had spread that Jack the Ripper had drowned in the same river. This idea was strengthened after the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset, Henry Richard Farquharson, publicly stated that the killer had committed suicide after Kelly’s murder, which aligned with Druitt’s circumstances. Even though this story seems very similar to that of the Ripper, Druitt wasn’t found to be the murderer.
Carl Feigenbaum
Not much is known about Feigenbaum’s past since he had allegedly changed his name multiple times throughout his life. But from what we do know, he seemed like a probable suspect to many theorists, as he shared the same mentality as the Ripper. Feigenbaum, a German sailor and florist, had previously confessed he had wanted to mutilate women’s bodies and knew an extensive amount on human anatomy, which many related to the kidney incident. This case was furthered once his lawyer, William Sanford Lawton, stated that he thought Feigenbaum to be Jack the Ripper. However, this was suggested to be false when reports showed he wasn’t near the area when the murders took place.
Although the authorities attempted to find and capture this mystery murderer, they could only form speculations as to who it was due to the lack of proper technology during the 1880s. That is, until now. Historian Russell Edwards conducted a DNA test from a shawl he bought in 2007, which previously belonged to Eddowes. The same shawl was found at the scene of her murder but was never used as evidence to catch the criminal. Through the DNA test, Edwards identified Jack the Ripper as 23-year-old Aaron Kosminski, formerly known as Aron Mordke Kozminski, who had been a long-term suspect in these murders. This was because of his similar grammar, caused by his lack of fluency in English, along with a body type akin to the criminal’s. After the murders took place, Kosminski was diagnosed with schizophrenia and put into a mental asylum, where he later died in 1919 due to gangrene in his leg, causing his body tissue to die due to a severe loss of blood.
With the true identity of Jack the Ripper being revealed, this centuries-old case can finally be put to an end, letting the victims and their families rest easy knowing this mystery has been solved.
