Jack the Ripper: The Secret Police Files (34 page)

In December 2008 I was contacted by a lady called Fiona Saint. From talking to her she had been taking an interest into the Whitechapel murders. She is an artist/painter in her own right; she is intelligent, intellectual and has a wealth of knowledge into the arts. Fiona had read my book and wanted to volunteer some information in relation to the new recently discovered statement I have documented in my first book, which I found in the archives of Lord Salisbury.

Lord Salisbury instructed Sir Charles Warren to have a statement taken from a man by the name of Charles De La Ree Bott, who at the time of the murders had sent letters to a number of government cabinet members stating he had information in relation to the Whitechapel murders. The statement was taken on or about November 3rd, 1888, in which Bott stated: “
Regarding the Whitechapel outrages they may have been committed by perhaps 20 persons with some connivance. There is no necessity for immediate action; they are stopped for the present unless they occur again for mere bravado.”

Little was known about De La Ree Bott, Sir Charles Warren describes him as, “
An educated man who has studied hard, and appears to have eccentric ideas, though he is probably not a lunatic”
other information to hand suggests he was also a writer and in some way was connected to or had a great deal of knowledge of the Celtic faith. He admits to spending five years writing a book about the Celtic religion and in doing so had apparently incurred the wrath of the ritualistic Celtic priests regarding the intended publication of this book. Further investigations have revealed that there was a Charles De La Ree Breytte who was an art dealer who had close contact with many artistes of the day who are now famous names in the art world; Ms. Saint suggested these could be one and the same.

Having regard to the fact that the statement suggested no further murders would take place and of course it is known that subsequently a further murder did take place that of Mary Kelly on 8th November very little credence was taken of De La Ree Bott’s statement at the time. The content of the statement suggesting a large group of people might lead us back to the theory put forward by some Ripper experts suggesting that there could have been some ritualistic or Masonic involvement in the murders.

However, with regards to the murder of Mary Kelly as previously stated many people including myself have kept an open mind as to whether she was in fact a victim of the killer known as Jack the Ripper.

Ms. Saint also wanted my help in investigating a theory she also had in relation to the Whitechapel murders. I do not intend to elaborate or comment on that as Ms. Saint is still pursuing other lines of enquiry and I am given to understand she intends to publish the results of her specific investigation. For the record I will say that I agreed to help her with her work and in doing I cast a professional eye over the extensive research she had already carried out and ultimately passed on my comments and advised her accordingly.

So what was the information Ms. Saint wanted to give to me regarding The De La Ree Bott statement? Little did I know at the time that this would lead to another mystery within the Ripper mystery and would again cast a doubt about many aspects of this 125 year old murder mystery. It would also lead me to new evidence and a possible link the murders of Catherine Eddowes and the Carrie Brown murder in New York.

Ms. Saint suggested that the 20 referred to in De La Ree Bott’s statement could be a group who called themselves Les XX (20). They were a group of artists, playwrights, and writers. The group was originally formed in Belgium in 1883 and known to have anarchistic views, which they often made public.

Membership was by invitation only. Each year the original twenty would invite others to exhibit or perform and as the group grew it became increasingly radical; several of the original moderate members either resigned or were forced to resign. In later years some British artists were invited to join Les XX along with other foreigners. Walter Sickert had strong connections with Les XX and was invited to exhibit some of his work by them in 1887.

Other famous painters and artistes associated with Les XX over its ten-year lifespan included, Debussy, Strindberg, Cezanne, van Gogh, James Ensor, Monet, Seurat, Sisley, Toulouse Lautrec, Octave Mirbeau, Rodin, Whistler, Edvard Munch, Paul Signac, Paul Gauguin, Pissarro and his son Lucien.

In 1888 the International Workers Club in Berner Street becomes an important part of the Ripper mystery. At the time of writing it is not known exactly who the bulk of its members were. However, the uncovering of new police records may in the future tell us more and it would be interesting to see if any of the members of Les XX were actually members.

The International Workers Club offered a base for radical and trade union movements. It was an old wooden two-storey building with a spacious room for a capacity of over 200 people and contained a stage. Plays were performed at weekends invariably on Saturday or Sunday; there was a truly international gathering of Russian, Jewish, British, French, Italian, Czech, Polish and other radicals.

Interestingly also connected to the Berner Street club was a Benjamin Feigenbaum B.1860. Could he have been a relative of Carl Feigenbaum, and the reason for him to have been in Whitechapel, either as a resident during the times of the murders or as a visiting merchant seaman? The former could be a reason why his name or none of his aliases appear on the remaining crew lists for the Reiher in 1888. Or was it just another one of many coincidences that surround the Ripper mystery? Benjamin Feigenbaum was looked upon as an anarchist by the authorities in 1888. He coincidentally also immigrated to New York in 1891.

So all in all the International Workers Club in 1888 would appear to have been a hotbed for anarchists of many different nationalities and from many different walks of life including, artists, poets, and writers. It should not be totally discounted that at least one or more of the Whitechapel murders could have had political motives, given that Liz Stride's body was found almost at the door of the club. It should also be noted that a previous victim Annie Chapman was found murdered at the rear of 29, Hanbury Street. Located at 22, Hanbury Street, which was almost opposite, was the Christchurch Hall, which was also used for anarchist meetings.

The term anarchist in this context is defined as:

“An individual who advocates a political theory the main feature of which is an absence of any government or rule (this is the meaning of the word "anarchy") and occupies himself with conducting a propaganda by writing and speaking. This class of person is often, apart from the dangerous opinions he professes, harmless in himself.”

Could the Whitechapel murders have been act of “bravado” - the throwing down of a gauntlet by an international band of anarchists - to Sir Charles Warren? But was the group or any individual from or connected to Les XX responsible for one or more or all of the Whitechapel murders? If the answer is yes then what tangible evidence is there to corroborate this?

Ms. Saint cites a Ripper letter dated October 9th, 1888. This letter had two drawings set out at the top of which were two X’s is in the shape of crossed bones and crossed swords. Ms. Saint suggests this could this be the signature of Les XX. (Picture 10)

This letter on its own is certainly no proof of any involvement of Les XX or any of its members in any of the Whitechapel murders. However, little did I know that new significant evidence had literally been staring everyone in the face for over 125 years. This was to be found in the photographs showing the facial mutilations of Catherine Eddowes taken before her and after her post-mortem. I cannot offer any explanation as to what prompted me to go back and review the aforementioned photos. However, one day I found myself staring at the photos and there quite clearly can be seen two crosses clearly visible carved on each cheek of Eddowes. Could this also be the signature of Les XX, a signature left by the killer, which had been missed for 125 years? I had the photos enhanced and the two crosses are much more clearly visible and have been highlighted. (Picture 11) was taken before the post-mortem and (Picture 12) taken following the post-mortem.

It is widely known that there are many copies of photographs of Eddowes, which appear to have been taken at different times and from different angles, these and other Ripper photographs are freely available in the public domain. Over the years some Ripperologist’s and researchers have “played” around with the victims photos in an attempt to make them clearer by cleaning up the photos using modern-day photographic technology.

I subsequently visited The National Archives and was given access to all the Ripper photographs on file. As far as original Ripper victims and other likely victims photographs are concerned the only ones which I would suggest are totally original and untouched are one picture of each of the victims Nichols, Chapman, and Eddowes, and two showing the Kelly crime scene. In addition I found originals of Tabram and Coles and a copy of a photograph of McKenzie which clearly states this is a copy, and also states that the original, which had originally been there had gone missing around 1980.

All of the aforementioned photographs are sepia photographs and with the exception of one of the Kelly crime scene the photographs are no more than 4ins x 3ins. With exception of Coles and Tabram and McKenzie there is no provenance attached to these photographs. All of the others I have referred to are grouped together in a separate album. This is the album of photographs, which mysteriously appeared in 1988. An original photograph of Stride was also with the collection. However, that original is now also missing.

It is believed that the album had been in the possession of the family of a Commander Millen of the Metropolitan Police. He had apparently been using these photographs to give lectures within the police service and following his death the family ensured their safe return, coincidentally on the 100-year anniversary of the murders.

The Eddowes photo referred to from the album shows her in a standing position propped up against what appears to be a wall following the post-mortem. The photograph is very faint and is a distance shot rather than a close up but a close examination does show the crosses.

The only photograph of Stride on file was an 8ins x 4ins black and white photo, which was obviously a copy of the original... There is no back stamp and no provenance to the photograph, but it is the one which is currently in the public domain and taken from the original.

I then examined the specific file appertaining to the Eddowes murder. In this file I found four 6ins x 4ins black and white photographs of Eddowes. These are back stamped “City of London Police B Department April 24
^th
1968”. All are the same of which copies are freely available in the public domain.

One of the photographs shows Eddowes laying in what appears to be a coffin prior to the post-mortem again this shows what I believe to be a cross on her right cheek and a faint cross on her left cheek, (Picture 11).

Another one is her propped against the wall following the post-mortem it is a much closer shot than the sepia photograph described previous, and again shows the crosses, as does the head and shoulders photograph also taken following the post-mortem.