Jack the Ripper: The Secret Police Files

by Marriott, Trevor

  The murder occurred in a lodging house at Great Coram Street in the centre of London. The victim was Harriet Buswell. She had left her lodgings at about 10pm that night after borrowing a shilling (5p) from a fellow lodger, and had returned with a male guest, supposedly a German, around midnight. She had returned home with bags of apples, oranges and nuts as well as her guest, and was then able to pay her landlady half a sovereign (50p). The man was heard to leave the house at 6.30am on Christmas morning. At about midday, other occupants of the house, concerned about not seeing her, opened the locked door to her room and found her brutally murdered her throat had been cut.

  It is unclear as to whether the police merely had suspicions or any direct evidence but they went to Ramsgate and arrested the chaplain of a German ship Dr. Gottgried Hessell. Following interrogation and seemingly reliable identification evidence they charged Hessell with the murder. However, the case was thrown out at court due to the identification evidence being deemed to be unreliable and the fact that the police had not interviewed the alibi witness given by Dr. Hessell. This case still remains unsolved. Sadly no details of Dr. Hessell are known (age, description etc.) and one significant matter regarding this murder is that another witness who was never called (I wonder why?) gave a statement to the police.

  The witness was a greengrocer who stated he served the victim with fruit at about 12.40am. He gave a description of the man with her: “The man looked like a mechanic. He had on dark, but common clothes. He was a stern-looking young man, and I should know him again. I guess him to be about 5’ 6” to 5’ 8” in height. He had small black spots like moles on his face. He was a dark-complexioned aged about 24-25 years.” Perhaps the reason he was never called was that his description was totally different to Dr. Hessell. In any event this case was never solved.

  Having regard to Feigenbaum’s age when arrested he could have been able to commit these murders. Due to the passage of time there is no record of Feigenbaum’s whereabouts on the dates of both murders.

  In the earlier chapter on the murder of Mary Kelly I made mention of the Metropolitan Police file numbered MEPO 18/1 and the Crime Record Book. Another entry in that book related to the murder of Harriet Buswell. This file however had a Special Branch number SB 77. The entry was amongst a number of other entries in the book relating to the Whitechapel murders. This raised a number of questions. Did the police suspect that the same killer who murdered Buswell was also responsible for the Whitechapel murders, and why was Special Branch involved? The latter question would later become even more important.

  April 11th 1890 Hurley, Wisconsin USA

  The murder of Laura Whittlesay as reported in the Northern Star Newspaper, Wisconsin and a newspaper from Bessemer, Michigan.

  Hurley was last night the scene of a murder that equals in horror any of the Whitechapel crimes. Early this morning the body of Laura Whittlesay, alias Lottie Morgan, a woman of the demi-monde, was found in the rear of Ives' saloon, the toughest place in town. Over the right eye was a deep, long cut which caused her death. An axe was discovered with bloodstains upon it in a shed nearby. This was undoubtedly the weapon used by the murderer. A revolver identified as belonging to the victim was found near her head. None of the chambers were empty. Several valuable diamond rings and other jewellery and over $20 in cash were found on the body showing conclusively that the deed was prompted by other motives than robbery. The Morgan woman was last seen about eleven o'clock in John Sullivan's saloon, from whence she started up an alley towards her rooms. The murderer was probably lying in wait for her and struck her and left her as she fell. The only explanation offered at all plausible is that she was killed by a jealous lover of whom she had quite a number. The police say there is no clue to the perpetrator of the ghastly crime. Lottie Morgan was a favourite actress here in the balmy days of Hurley variety theatres but has since fallen to the lowest depths.

  Bessemer, Michigan. April 11th

  Lottie Morgan, who was about twenty-seven-years-old and belonged to the demi-monde, was found murdered behind a saloon in Hurley this morning. Her head was split open, cut off and awfully mutilated with an axe. The police are working on a clue. This is a Jack the Ripper case.

  This crime remains undetected. The first positive link to both Whitechapel and Feigenbaum is that the victim in this murder was a prostitute. The second positive link is that William Lawton stated he knew Feigenbaum to have been in Wisconsin at the time. I did find official records that showed a Carl Zahn resided in Waukesha County, Wisconsin at that time, but I was unable to confirm whether they are the same person.

  The third positive link is the fact that the motive for this murder was not robbery, nor were the motives for the Whitechapel murders or the earlier aforementioned London murders. The fourth positive link is that no one was ever arrested for this murder and it remains to this day undetected just like the Whitechapel murders.

  The negative point of this case is the weapon used, in this case it was an axe. However, if Feigenbaum was in this location firstly we don’t know how long he had been there, or what he was doing there. He may well have known the location very well by reason of frequenting or working casually there, or perhaps he was possibly passing through. The way Lawton describes Feigenbaum would categorize him as a homicidal psychopath. Feigenbaum stated he had a burning desire to kill and mutilate women, which he could not control. Could it have been the fact that on this occasion, perhaps fuelled by drink or desire, and being unable to suppress the urge to kill made him take advantage of the situation and use whatever weapon available to him in order to fulfil his desire? Or could he have been working as a gardener/handyman in that location and would have had easy access to the shed and the axe?

  Referring back to the Mary Kelly murder there was a suggestion that perhaps an axe had also been used to inflict some of the mutilations and cuts to her body.

  April 28th 1890 Benthen, Germany

  As reported in the Indiana Democrat, Pennsylvania, USA 30th April 1890.

  Another frightful atrocity, similar to those committed by Jack the Ripper was reported from Benthen, a German town, on the Polish frontier. The body of a woman was found behind the Military hospital in that town. The abdomen having been cut open from the navel down, and the rest of the body subjected to savage mutilations including the face which was subjected to the same mutilations as those inflicted on Mary Kelly’s face. The victim was identified as the wife of a local tailor.

  This crime remains undetected. This murder took place a short time after the Wisconsin murder. The question is could Feigenbaum have been responsible for both or only one or neither? Both are believed to have been committed by the killer known Jack the Ripper. However, as can be seen, if Feigenbaum had committed both of these murders then of course he would have had to leave the USA and then return to Germany. It would have been possible as the steamships took only nine days to travel from New York to Germany. Of course, if he was working at the time as a merchant seaman on a passenger vessel sailing back and forth between the USA and Germany then without a doubt it would be have been possible for him to have committed both murders, and as previously stated there were steamships operating between Germany and the USA which owned the merchant vessel the Reiher previously mentioned in relation to the Whitechapel murders.

  The negative side of this murder is that the victim was not a prostitute and a local doctor was arrested but never charged. It is believed he was having an extramarital relationship with the victim. In the absence of anyone ever being convicted of the murder it should not be dismissed as being the work of Jack the Ripper as was suggested at the time.

  April 23rd/24thh 1891 Jersey City, New Jersey USA

  The Carrie Brown murder.

  Carrie Brown an elderly prostitute checked into the East River Hotel New Jersey, on the southeast corner of Catherine Slip and Water Streets, with a man between 10:30 and 11:00 on the night of April 23rd. Her lifeless body was discovered lying on the bed the next morning, naked from the
armpits down, according to the night clerk who found her. Her body was mutilated, she had wounds to her lower abdomen her vaginal area, and she had been strangled with a piece of cloth. The doctor who performed the autopsy, named Jenkins, is said to have thought that the killer had attempted to completely gut his victim. The murder weapon was never found. A man was later charged and sentenced for this murder but was later freed on appeal having been found to be totally innocent.

  The Carrie Brown murder was always looked upon by some as being the work of Jack the Ripper. George Chapman, a Jack the Ripper suspect who I investigated and concluded was not Jack the Ripper, was suspected as being responsible for this murder. But could Carrie Brown have been a Ripper victim? Looking at her murder in the same way as the Wisconsin murder there are also positive points and negative points in relation to Feigenbaum, Whitechapel, and Jack the Ripper.

  The positive points are that Carrie Brown was also a prostitute, she was also mutilated and a knife used. She was also strangled. It is also a fact that some of the Whitechapel victims were also strangled. Brown was killed in a room, and we know Mary Kelly was also killed in a room. As far as Feigenbaum is concerned we know he was in the USA at the time of her murder and was known to commit a similar murder in this area in 1894. So there is every reason to suggest he could have been there at the time of her murder.

  The man seen entering the building with her was described as aged about 32, five feet eight inches in height, of slim build, with a long, sharp nose and a heavy, light-coloured moustache. He was clad in a dark-brown cutaway coat and black trousers and wore an old black bowler hat with a heavily dented crown. He was described as a foreigner, possibly a German. The description given by the witness is questionable in any event, as the police at the time did not believe the accuracy of this description given by the witness who saw them entering the hotel. It does not fit Feigenbaum by reason of the moustache and the age. However, it is not known how Feigenbaum looked and dressed in 1891. So he could have been the killer. Later evidence I obtained would throw up a possible link between this murder and the murder of Catherine Eddowes in Whitechapel on September 30th.

  October 26th 1891 Berlin Germany

  Bismarck Daily Tribune October 27th 1891

  The body of a woman, well known in the haunts of dissipation, was found lying on the floor of her room Saturday night frightfully mutilated. It is believed in the police circles that the woman was a victim of Jack the Ripper of Whitechapel fame. The victim was seen to enter the house with a stranger about 2 o'clock a.m. and shortly afterwards the man was seen to go away. Fifteen minutes later the woman was found dead, lying on the floor dressed, even to the matter of gloves. The body of the woman was nearly severed, and was ripped from the neck down. It seems that another woman tried to enter the room before the awful crime was committed. Her attempt disturbed the assailant, who rushed out, pushing aside several who were in the way. The inmates of the house were awakened by the screams, and the unknown was hotly pursued, but he escaped. The murder weapon was never found.

  This crime remains undetected. Having read the report it is somewhat ambiguous, as it is unclear as to whether the man chased was the same man who had entered with the woman initially or whether there were two different men one being the killer, the other totally innocent, who came across the body and did not want to be looked upon as the killer. In any event there is no description given. However, it highlights a second murder committed in Germany both with many similarities to the Whitechapel murders, and we do have a German suspect in Carl Feigenbaum who by reason of his travels could have been in Germany at that time.

  January 31st 1892 New Jersey USA

  The murder of Elizabeth Senior.

  The victim was a 73 year old woman named Elizabeth Senior who was found murdered in her own home in New Jersey close to the Carrie Brown murder scene in 1891. Mrs. Senior was found with her throat cut and she had been stabbed repeatedly. Robbery appeared to have been the motive however it was the nature of the killing that was of interest to me. The murder weapon was never found.

  The murder of Elizabeth Senior creates more questions than answers. It was the first murder I had investigated where on first indications appear to show a motive, that being robbery. However, with regards to the murder for which Feigenbaum was convicted for, I would suggest that this should not be accepted as fact. Was the murder of Elizabeth Senior a robbery, which went wrong? Was the offender disturbed and then forced to kill her? If this was the case then it is identical to the murder of Julia Hoffman for which Feigenbaum was convicted. Was the killer of Elizabeth Senior Feigenbaum and after killing her did he steal property as an afterthought?

  The only positives that can be drawn are that the killer used a knife to cut her throat and she was stabbed repeatedly and that Feigenbaum was known to be in that location when committing the murder in 1894.

  Furthermore, as can be seen not all of the aforementioned murders resulted in the victims being killed in the same way. Some of the victims were stabbed repeatedly in frenzied attacks, others had their throats cut and their bodies were then subjected to mutilations. These differences to some people suggest that these victims were not all murdered by the same killer. However, there is a plausible explanation, which I would suggest they all could have perhaps been victims to the same killer.

  In the case of some of the victims it would seem that the killer may have had an advantage over them i.e. being able to initially attack them from behind in the dark after gaining their confidence, therefore if a man were skilled in the art of killing with a knife it would be much easier to cut the throats of the victims. But in other cases whereby the victims may have had the opportunity to initially resist, then stabbing them repeatedly would be an easier option open to the killer.

  Looking yet again at the murder of Juliana Hoffman, this is of course the most important murder of the whole investigation. As has been documented it was suggested that the motive for her murder may have been theft. Looking at all the circumstances surrounding her murder as I have described that may not have been the case.

  When examined the knife used by Feigenbaum had traces of old dried blood. Now it is an accepted fact that serial killers will as a rule use the same murder weapon. No knives were ever found at the scenes of any of the Whitechapel murders. However, a knife was found at the scene of the Carrie Brown murder so if Feigenbaum had been her killer he could have dropped it or left it behind forcing him to obtain a new one.

  When Feigenbaum’s room was searched following the murder of Mrs. Hoffman as previously stated a cloth was found in his room, which housed the knife used to kill Mrs. Hoffman and also a whetstone for sharpening the knife. The knife the police recovered bore a maker’s mark from Madison, Wisconsin clearly confirming that Feigenbaum had been to Wisconsin as Lawton had suggested.

  Further investigative work would uncover an interesting and apparently unsolved Ripper-like murder in Wisconsin in 1893. This murder was reported in a number of newspapers of the day one of those being:

  Elkhart Daily Review August 21st 1893

  “An atrocious murder was committed at Perkinstown, a small village west of here. The victim was a fallen woman who lived in a shanty about half a mile from the village, and about one mile from a logging camp operated by Z Darwin. When found her body was found with knife wounds 39 in number, probably inflicted while she was struggling for life, as the greater part of the wounds were on the hands and arms. The left side of her throat was cut. The large arteries being severed, and her face was hacked and slashed in a frightful manner. The woman’s name is Konneamn and her home Schofield, Marathon County, Wisconsin. A man whose name is unknown has been arrested for the crime, and is now in jail here. When arrested his clothing was soiled with blood. He was a workman in Darwin’s camp and his employers say he believes the man insane. The circumstances point to the guilty man as he was seen going towards the shanty only a short time before the crime was discovered. And he had previously quarreled with the w
oman.”

  It should be noted that there is no trace in any of the newspapers stating that the suspect had been charged with this murder. Nor are there any details of the name of the suspect in question. It can only be assumed that the police were either able to eliminate him or simply did not have enough evidence to bring a charge. This unsolved Wisconsin murder therefore adds more credibility to Feigenbaum’s lawyer’s subsequent press statement following Feigenbaum’s execution. It is also interesting in as much as that this murder is almost identical to the murder of Martha Tabram on August 7th 1888, where she was stabbed 39 times.

  As far as the USA and German murders are concerned as I have highlighted there are similarities linking each of them, which suggest Feigenbaum could have been responsible for some or even all of them. But was he Jack the Ripper and responsible for the Whitechapel Murders? There are also dissimilarities between the American/German murders and the Whitechapel murders, one is the MO. The Whitechapel murder victims were all prostitutes. Two of the American victims were however not prostitutes and were murdered off the street. So the question is can a serial killer change their MO? Well in some case the answer is yes. I believe this is one such case.

  Whitechapel at the time of the murders was different to any other part of the UK, and probably most other major cities and ports worldwide. It is a fact Whitechapel was a poor crime-ridden area with a high number of prostitutes of all levels plying their trade day and night. The narrow cobbled streets and alleyways were often fogbound and dimly light with gaslights, which often went out or were extinguished. This would have been perfect cover for Feigenbaum to stalk and fulfil his grisly desire to murder and mutilate by befriending prostitutes who were so desperate to earn money just to survive they would go anywhere and do almost anything, making them easy prey.

  Why Feigenbaum finally decided to go to live in the USA we do not know. However, when he initially arrived in America he would have encountered a new way of life. There were obviously areas where prostitutes solicited but these would have been so different from Whitechapel. He had told Lawton that he had tried to suppress his urges and the time gaps between the murders suggested he had, but inevitably the desire and the urge overcame him and with psychotic killers they have to succumb to their desires. We know that two of the US victims were prostitutes but the later two victims were not and we know that Feigenbaum killed one of these. This shows quite clearly that a killer can change his MO.