Knife clue could solve mystery of the Ripper

[emad]

Tony Thompson, crime correspondent
Sunday April 24, 2005
The Observer

A badly blunted surgical knife belonging to an eminent Victorian surgeon is at the centre of a row over the identity of Jack the Ripper.

A new book claims that the man behind the murders of five London prostitutes in 1888 was Sir John Williams, a friend of Queen Victoria and obstetrician to her daughter, Princess Beatrice, and his surgical knife was the murder weapon.

Williams founded the National Library of Wales in the early 1900s, donating his personal collection of 25,000 books. A number of his personal items including the knife, several tissues samples and diaries are kept there and have, until now, been available to the public on request.

The mystery of the murders has become a multi-million-pound industry. The women were killed with surgical precision and their sexual and internal organs removed, leading to speculation the killer must have had extensive medical knowledge.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1468998,00.html

[MichiganVote]

1. I wonder if they ever compared the tissue samples for DNA

[MsConduct]

2. Thanks for this, the Jack the Ripper mystery fascinates me to no end! n/t

[pretzel4gore]

3. i think the police knew who the psycho was

i think they kept it quiet cuz of class....druitt was upper class. The murders were the 1st real popular true crime event that, because of the secrecy, and emergence of widespread literacy etc transcended local interest...and, since there's money to be made....(?)
we should not forget too that class war against common people is still being carried out by the upper class twittery (see 911)....and they're still ashamed one of 'theirs' would hack up poor homeless addicted and doomed working women - by maintaining the fiction there's a big mystery, they eat their kake and have it too...all sorts of upper class twits re: this williams, the artist pat cornwell named, the 'prince'(?) and a few others, plus a couple working class guys thrown in to confuse the issue; get 'credited' with being the most famous murderer ever until herr bush came along....