Portrait of a Killer

by Patricia Cornwell

  Madame Hinfray showed me the revolver. It had been soldered back together and painted black, and she was very proud of it. She showed me the master bedroom and said that Sickert used to keep the curtains open to the dark street and build such big fires that the neighbors could see in. Madame Hinfray sleeps there now, and the generous space is filled with plants and pretty colors. I had her take me upstairs last, to the room where Christine died, a former jail cell with a small wood-burning stove.

  I stood there alone looking around, listening. I knew that had Sickert been downstairs, or out in the yard or garage, he could not have heard Christine call him if the stove needed stoking or she wanted a glass of water or was hungry. He didn’t need to hear her because she probably couldn’t make a sound. She probably did not wake up very often, or if she did, she dozed. Morphine would have kept her floating in painless slumber.

  There is no record of the entire village gathering at Christine’s funeral. It seems that most in the crowd were Sickert’s people, as Ellen used to call them, and Christine’s father was there. He later recalled being “shocked” by Sickert’s “sangfroid,” or complete indifference. It was raining when I visited the old graveyard surrounded by a brick wall. Christine’s modest headstone was hard to find. I saw no “little wood” or “favorite walk,” and from where I stood, there was no “lovely view of the whole valley.”

  The day of Christine’s funeral was blustery and cold, and the procession was late. Sickert did not pour her ashes into her grave. He dug his hands inside the urn and flung them into the air, and the wind blew them onto the coats and into the faces of his friends.

  MY TEAM

  Without the help of many people and archival and academic resources, I could not have conducted this investigation or written the account of it.

  There would be no story of Walter Sickert—no resolution to the vicious crimes he committed under the alias of Jack the Ripper—had history not been preserved in a way that really is no longer possible because of the rapidly vanishing arts of letter writing and diary keeping. I could not have followed Sickert’s century-old tracks had I not been aided by tenacious and courageous experts.

  I am indebted to the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine—especially co-directors Dr. Paul Ferrara and Dr. Marcella Fierro and forensic scientists Lisa Schiermeier, Chuck Pruitt, and Wally Forst; Kevin McElfresh and The Bode Technology Group—especially Mitch Holland, who has helped walk me through the complexity of his laboratory’s mitochondrial DNA analyses; Sickert curator and researcher Vada Hart; art historian and Sickert expert Dr. Anna Gruetzner Robins; paper historian and forensic paper expert Peter Bower, whose scientific findings have proven to be the most important in this case; letterer Sally Bower; paper conservator Anne Kennett; FBI profiler and law-enforcement instructor Edward Sulzbach; Assistant New York District Attorney Linda Fairstein; rare documents and antiquarian book researcher Joe Jameson; and Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller.

  I thank artist John Lessore for his kind and gentle conversations and generosity.

  I am grateful to members of my relentless and patient staff who have facilitated my work in every way possible and demonstrated admirable talents and skills of their own: Irene Shulgin, Alex Shulgin, Sam Tamburin, and Jonathan Daniels.

  I fear I cannot remember everyone I have met along this grueling and often painful and depressing journey, and I hope any person or institution I might have overlooked will be forgiving and understanding.

  I could not have carried on without the following galleries, museums, and archival sources and their staffs: Mario Aleppo, head of preservation, Michael Prata, Paul Johnson, Hugh Alexander, Kate Herst, Clea Relly, and David Humphries of the Public Record Office, Kew; R. J. Childs, Peter Wilkinson, and Timothy McCann at the West Sussex Record Office; Hugh Jaques at the Dorset Record Office; Sue Newman at Christchurch Local History Society; Ashmolean Museum; Dr. Rosalind Moad at Cambridge University, King’s College Modern Archives Centre; Professor Nigel Thorp and Andrew Hale at Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department.

  Jenny Cooksey at Leeds City Art Gallery; Sir Nicholas Serota, director, Tate Gallery; Robert Upstone, Adrian Glew, and Julia Creed at the Tate Gallery Archive, London; Julian Treuherz at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Martin Banham of Islington Central Libraries, Islington Archives, London; Institut Bibliothèque de L’Institut de France, Paris; James Sewell, Juliet Banks, and Jessica Newton of the Corporation of London Records Office; University of Reading Department of History of Art.

  The Fine Art Society, London; St. Mark’s Hospital; St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; Julia Sheppard at the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, London; Bodleian Library, Oxford University, M.S. English History; Jonathan Evans at the Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum ; Dr. Stella Butler and John Hodgson at the University of Manchester, the John Rylands Library and History of Art Department ; Howard Smith, Manchester City Galleries; Reese Griffith at the London Metropolitan Archives; Ray Seal and Steve Earl at Metropolitan Police Historical Museum; Metropolitan Police Archives.

  John Ross at the Metropolitan Police Crime Museum; Christine Penny of Birmingham University Information Services ; Dr. Alice Prochaska at the British Library Manuscripts Collection ; National Register of Archives, Scotland; Mark Pomeroy of the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Iain MacIver of the National Library of Scotland; Sussex University Library Special Collections; New York Public Library; British Newspaper Library; rare books, autographs, and manuscripts dealers Clive Farahar and Sophie Dupre; Denison Beach of Harvard University’s Houghton Library.

  Registrar Births, Deaths and Marriage Certificates, London; Aberdeen University Library, Special Libraries and Archives, Kings College (business records of Alexander Pirie & Sons); House of Lords Records Office, London; National Registrar Family Records Center; London Bureau of Camden; Marylebone Registry Office.

  Since I do not speak French, I would have been quite helpless in all things French were it not for my publisher, Nina Salter, who mined the following sources: Professor Dominique Lecomte, Director of the Paris Institute for Forensic Medicine; Records of Department of the Seine-Maritime; Archives of the French National Gendarmerie; Archives of the Central Police Station in Rouen; the archives of the Town Council, Rouen; the archives of the prefecture in Rouen; the Rouen Morgue; Reports of the Central Police in Rouen; Records of the Sectors of Dieppe, Neuchâtel, and Rouen; Records of the French regional press; the National Archives in Paris; Appeal Courts 1895-1898; Dieppe Historical Collection; Appeal Courts of Paris and Rouen.

  Of course, my respectful, humble thanks to Scotland Yard, which may have been young and inexperienced in days of old, but is now an enlightened force against injustice. First, my gratitude to the remarkable Deputy Assistant Commissioner John D. Grieve; and to my British partner in crime fighting, Detective Inspector Howard Gosling; to Maggie Bird; Professor Betsy Stanko; and Detective Sergeant David Field. I thank the people of the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. All of you were nothing but cooperative, courteous, and encouraging. No one tried to get in my way or cast the slightest shadow of egotism, or—no matter how cold the case—to be an obstruction to long-overdue justice.

  My warmest gratitude, as always, to my masterful editor, Dr. Charles Cornwell; to my empowering agent, Esther Newberg; to my British publisher, Hilary Hale; to David Highfill and all the fine people at my American publisher, Putnam; and to my special publishing advisor and mentor, Phyllis Grann.

  I honor those who have gone before me and dedicated their efforts to catching Jack the Ripper. He is caught. We have done it together.

  Patricia Cornwell

  APPENDIX

  MITOCHONDRIAL DNA RESULTS

  *Swabs from paper perimeters surrounding envelope flaps or stamps were simply for the purpose of assuming that when someone licked or used a sponge on the adhesive, he or she was likely to also moisten the paper. It was known that even if we got significant compon
ents, we obviously would get large mixtures due to the number of people who have handled these documents over the decades.

  Note: Not all of these results are included in the text.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  There is already in print an abundance of information, misinformation, and speculation about the identity and crimes of Jack the Ripper. For factual details and the spelling of names, I have relied altogether on my primary sources and my newspaper of record, The Times.

  Epigraph: H. M., ’Twixt Aldgate Pump and Pope: The Story of Fifty Years Adventure in East London, The Epworth Press, London, 1935. (Note: H. M. was a missionary to the East End and in all of his publications remains anonymous.)

  PRIMARY SOURCES

  Abberline, Frederick. Inspector Abberline’s Press Cutting Book (private, unpublished diary kept by Frederick Abberline from 1878 to 1892). Courtesy of Scotland Yard.

  Alexander Pirie & Sons Ltd., Paper Manufacturers, Aberdeen, Scotland, Records and Papers: University of Aberdeen Historic Collections, Special Libraries and Archives.

  Anonymous. Eva May, The Foundling or The Secret Dungeon, Garrett & Co., New York, 1853. Author’s collection.

  Anonymous. The Murder of Harriet Lane, The Sensations Series—possibly published by Felix McGlennon Ltd., London, late-nineteenth century. (Harriet Lane was murdered in 1875.) Author’s collection.

  Anonymous. Poor Jack, the London Street Boy, St. George’s Publishing Office, London, late-nineteenth century.

  Anonymous, Rough and Ready Jack, Edwin J. Brett, Ltd., no date (circa mid-to-late 1880s). Author’s collection.

  Bird, Maggie, Inspecting Officer of the Records Management Branch of Scotland Yard. Interview, London, March 4, 2002.

  Cate letters, British Library.

  Christchurch Times, January 12, 1889 (obituary of Montague Druitt).

  Cobden, Ellen. Letter to her father, Richard Cobden, July 30, 1860. West Sussex Record Office, Cobden Papers, #38E.

  ———. Letters of Ellen Melicent Cobden Sickert, West Sussex Record Office, Ref. Cobden 965.

  Cobden, Ellen, and Richard Brook Cobden. Letters undated (circa late 1840s), West Sussex Record Office, Ref. Add Ms 6036.

  Cobden, Ellen Melicent. A Portrait, Richard Cobden-Sanderson, 17 Thavies Inn, 1920. (One of 50 copies printed for private circulation by Woods & Sons, Islington.)

  Cobden Papers: Ellen Cobden Sickert, Jane Cobden Unwin, Richard Cobden, Jr., and Richard Cobden. West Sussex County Library.

  Corporation of London Records Office, The Whitechapel Murders files. (These files include some three hundred letters pertaining to the Ripper crimes.)

  Daily Telegraph, The (London). Articles of September 1-28 and October 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7, 1888.

  Dalziel, Gilbert, editor. Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday, Fleet Street, London (incomplete volumes 1884-1891). Author’s collection.

  Denys Sutton Papers, Glasgow University, Birmingham.

  Dobson, James. Letter to his wife, February 13, 1787, the day before he was hanged before the Debtors Door of Newgate Prison. Author’s collection.

  “Double Duty.” The Police Review and Parade Gossip, April 17, 1893, and August 18, 1905.

  Druitt Collection. West Sussex Record Office.

  Druitt, Montague. Material at Christchurch Library, Dorset; Dorset Record Office; Greenwich Local History Library; and Lewisham Local History and Archives.

  Eastern Mercury. Articles of October 12, 1888, and February 12, August 6, September 10, 17, and 24, October 15, and December 17, 1889.

  Ffrangcon-Davies, Gwen. Letters, Tate Gallery Archive.

  Friel, Lisa, Esq., Assistant District Attorney. The People of the State of New York against John Royster. Transcript of her summation for the prosecution, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

  Hey, Ciceley. Papers of Ciceley Hey, Islington Public Libraries.

  Hill’s Hotel guest book, 1877-88. Lizard Point, Cornwall, England. Author’s collection.

  Home Office Records. Public Record Office, Kew, HO 144/220/ A49301 through HO 144/221/A49301K.

  Hudson, Nan. Letters, Tate Gallery Archive.

  Illustrated Police News, The: Law Courts and Weekly Record, London, September-December, 1888.

  Institut Bibliothèque de L’Institut de France, Paris. Jacques-Emile Blanche—Walter Sickert Correspondence, Document Numbers 128, 132, 136, 137, 139, 148, 150-55, 168, 169, 171, 179, 180, 183-86.

  Irving, Henry. Private correspondence (collection of letters that show the various cities where he and his company performed). Author’s collection.

  King Edward VII. Letter to Professor Ihre (Prince Albert Victor’s German tutor), July 12, 1884. Author’s collection.

  Lessore, John. Conversation with Lessore at his studio in Peckham, spring 2001.

  Llewellyn, Dr. Rees Ralph. Information regarding Dr. Llewellyn and fees charged by doctors called upon by coroners and police: Royal London Hospital Archives and Medical Directories at the Wellcome Medical Library.

  Macnaghten, Melville. Memorandum, February 23, 1894, courtesy of Scotland Yard.

  Metropolitan Police. Special reports of Martha Tabran’s murder, August 10-October 19, 1888, Public Record Office, Kew.

  Metropolitan Police, records of. Metropolitan Police Crime Museum.

  ———. Metropolitan Police Historical Museum, Metropolitan Police Archives.

  Metropolitan Police Museum, archives of. Details of police hand ambulances, buildings, salaries, uniforms, and equipment.

  Metropolitan Police Records, MEPO 2/22, MEPO 3/140-41, MEPO 3/182, MEPO 3/3153-57, Public Record Office, Kew.

  News of the World, Sunday Morning Special, London, September 15, 22, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 17, and December 1, 1907.

  Norwich, Julius, grandson of Dr. Alfred Duff Cooper. Telephone interview, spring 2001.

  Pall-Mall Gazette. Articles of September 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 21, 24, 25, 27, and 28, and October 1 and 2, 1888.

  Pash, Florence. Material in the Sickert Collection, Islington Public Libraries.

  Pritchard, Eleanor. “The Daughters of Cobden [part 2],” West Sussex Public Record Office, Ref. West Sussex History Journal, No. 26, September 1983.

  Rhind, Neil. Transcript of talk on November 21, 1988, Lewisham Local History and Archives.

  Russell, Lord Charles, Papers of Lord Charles Russell (regarding Florence Maybrick’s marriage to James Maybrick, and her trial for his murder, and subsequent conviction, 1889-1904). The collection includes news clippings (some clippings, added at a much later date, refer to the alleged James Maybrick—Jack the Ripper connection). Author’s collection.

  St. Mark’s Hospital. Interview with recordkeepers, 2001. I was told that any old patients’ records would be at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and a check of the record books there revealed nothing prior to 1900.

  Sands, Ethel. Letters, Tate Gallery Archive.

  Schlesinger, Louis. Telephone conversation, February 12, 2003.

  Sickert, Walter. Collected papers, Islington Public Libraries. This collection of Walter Sickert’s private papers includes some writings of his father, Oswald Sickert, and more than a hundred sketches on scraplike paper that have no titles, dates, or signatures. While one suspects that the sophistication of many of the drawings indicates they were done by Oswald, it is reasonable to attribute a number of the works to Walter, due to what appears to be a fledgling artist’s early attempts at drawing in addition to a familiarity of style that is seen in his mature art. Sickert scholar Dr. Anna Gruetzner Robins, who looked at the sketches, verified that some of them were most likely done by Walter as a boy and possibly as late as 1880 or 1881 when he was in art school.

  ———. “Exhibits,” draft, undated.

  ———. Letter to Jacques-Emile Blanche, 1906, Institut Bibliothèque de L’Institut de France, Paris. Jacques-Emile Blanche—Walter Sickert Correspondence, Document Numbers 183-86.

  ———. Letter to Jacques-Emile Blanche (circa 1906), Institut Bibliothèque de
L’Institut de France, Paris. Jacques-Emile Blanche—Walter Sickert Correspondence, Document Number 182.

  ———. Letter to Ciceley Hey (circa August 1923), Islington Public Libraries.

  ———. Letter to Bram Stoker, February 1, 1887, Leeds University Brotherton Library, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections.

  ———. Letter to unknown recipient, return address Frith’s Studio, 15 Fitzroy Street (circa 1915). Author’s collection.

  ———. Letters and edited drafts of his published articles. Author’s collection.

  ———. Letters to Miss Case, British Library Add.50956 f.109. (Letters of Eminent Persons Vol. I. Letters, mainly to members of the Case and Stansfield families, collected by Miss E. S. Case). No date.

  ———. Letters to Sir William Eden, Special Collections Dept., University of Birmingham Library, Birmingham, England.

  ———. Letters to William Rothenstein, Papers of Sir William Rothenstein, BMS ENG 1148 [1367], Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  ———. Letters to D. C. Thomson (circa 1890-1914), David Croal Thomson Papers, Getty Research Institute, Getty Center, L.A.

  ———. Letters to Virginia Woolf, New York Public Library.

  ———. “The New Age,” May 14, 1914, Islington Public Libraries, Sickert Collection.

  ———. Sketches of, Islington Central Library, Islington Archives, London.