Jack the Ripper Black Magic Rituals--Satanism, the Occult, Murder...The Sinister Truth of the Doctor who was Jack the Ripper

by Ivor Edwards

  The chances are that D’Onston, being a doctor, diagnosed his own complaint and his case physician went along with it. It has been suggested that D’Onston was admitted with the DTs. Nothing could be further from the truth. This complaint does not take 134 days to cure, which was the duration of D’Onston’s stay in the hospital.

  The Cricketers Inn, Black Lion Square, Brighton. It is the oldest pub in Brighton and was well-known as being frequented by prostitutes in D’Onston’s day. The cubicle still exists where the prostitutes entertained their clients. The pub is a fine example of a 19th-century London-to-Brighton coaching establishment, retaining all of its original features including the stables.

  The Cricketers Inn houses a Jack the Ripper exhibition based on my work, which I was asked to supply by the owner. The famous Lanes shopping precinct and alleyways of Bohemian Brighton remind one of 19th-century Spitalfields, remnants of which can be seen around Artillery Lane

  I went to the London Hospital and viewed the patients register and D’Onston was admitted with neurosthenia. Symptoms are sleeplessness, tension and excitability. If one was to state that D’Onston’s complaint of neurosthenia entered in the hospital register was a mistake then all entries in all hospital registers of the period could be considered a mistake.

  The cubicle where the prostitutes entertained their clients. It could be curtained off to give greater privacy. Resident customers such as D’Onston could entertain prostitutes in the solitude of their own rooms if they so desired

  Some researchers on the subject failed to find a source for neurosthenia and questioned its very existence. It transpired that it was their research abilities that were at fault and not the entry in the hospital register.

  D’Onston had until 30 August to set a pattern and to adjust himself to his surroundings. Once settled in and confident that all possible measures had been taken to secure his success he made his move.

  We are dealing with a thinker and when this thinker made a move he made it with more than one aim in view. When D’Onston plumped to use the hospital as his base he took a great deal into consideration. To understand the type of location chosen by D’Onston it is imperative to view all the necessary advantages and requirements which suited his needs.

  There was only one location in Whitechapel that would meet with all his requirements, the London Hospital. He had to locate a base where the police were least likely to look for a killer. As a private patient in the hospital he would be in a position to create a very good alibi which could be substantially backed up by staff.

  The gates of the London Hospital were locked at night in 1888. This fact, coupled with his feigned illness, would enforce the belief by staff and others that it would be most unlikely for a sick patient to climb railings and to perform the murders. Creating such an impression would be child’s play to D’Onston.

  As a private patient he could reconnoitre the hospital prior to the murders. He gave himself over a month to assess the situation and to devise a means to come and go without arousing suspicion. Once in the hospital, booked in as a private patient, D’Onston would be in a position to blend in and mix with many of his own class. As a private patient, with his alleged illness, he would have access to outside areas at all times. Unlike today hospital patients in 1888 wore their own clothes.

  The hospital needed to be as close as possible to the first murder, for D’Onston intended to leave a trail which would lead away from him to Dorset Street and his last victim Mary Kelly. The plan is laid out so that D’Onston would be moving for the most part on the four major roads (apart from slipping down four side roads) which all converge at the centre on the Whitechapel Road. Ideally, he needed his lair on the Whitechapel Road if possible.

  A sick man in a hospital bed would not be suspected of being the killer. As far as I am concerned, D’Onston picked very good cover. The London Hospital fits all the requirements and the location is perfect. He was a doctor, a surgeon and a con man and as such he would have no problems in conning the hospital staff with symptoms of an illness which would fit in with his plans.

  After all, if he could fool Inspector Roots at Scotland Yard, along with other contacts on the police force, I see no reason why a problem should arise with a few medical people. Many cases exist where criminals have fooled members of the medical profession simply by doing their homework on their alleged complaint.

  The London Hospital in 1888 held one of the most extensive collections of preserved body parts and bodies in the country and D’Onston would have known that. Every part of the human body in all shapes, sizes, conditions and age groups were in evidence. A man such as D’Onston would have had little or no trouble in gaining access to them had he needed them.

  At the time it was possible to buy body parts for a small fee or a complete body for four pounds. D’Onston could have either stolen parts from the hospital or purchased a body for the organs he required if the motive was not occult. He never did so because the organs had to be taken from murdered prostitutes in a ritual manner at certain locations.

  Many war criminals on the run after the Second World War and many other murderers have used hospitals as cover. The commandant of the concentration camp portrayed in the film Schindler’s List was found posing as a patient in a hospital. It’s a trick that has been used before.

  The London Hospital of 1888 had extensive grounds, which were covered with trees, plants, scrub and empty builders’ sheds, where it would be easy to conceal any item. The railings around the hospital were of the same type and height (5ft) which were used at D’Onston’s home in Hull when he was a boy. D’Onston was nearly 6ft tall and he would have had no trouble getting over the railings at the hospital, so they did not constitute a problem to D’Onston. He may have had another means of coming and going at his leisure.

  Far too much has been taken for granted in relation to D’Onston’s age and faked illness. Many killers were far older and in frailer health than D’Onston. The oldest killer I ever met was aged in his 60s, while the youngest were still at school. They both strangled a man who had befriended them. One of the boys was 14 years of age and blond, a lookalike for the children in the film Village of the Damned.

  I remember the blond boy because, when I looked at him, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. This was the only occasion when I reacted in such a manner on coming face to face with a killer. It was partly due to his eyes, his look. There was something about this boy, he radiated evil, despite the fact that many killers I spoke to did not mince words and were more than forthright in stating all the finer details. Killing for some is no more than a means to an end.

  While having a great deal of experience with most types of killers I did not view every killer I met as dangerous. Many domestic murders are committed on the spur of the moment. With others it is simply a case of ‘there but for the grace of God go I’. At the other end of the spectrum we have the most obnoxious type of killer which I refer to as evil. D’Onston was such a killer.

  As for his fitness, I wish to make the point clear that many men in their 40s and 50s are very fit. Some months ago my brother came to visit for a few days. On the evening of his arrival he popped out for a while and forgot to take his key. Thinking I would be home before him I locked the premises, but left one bedroom window open upstairs. When I returned home I found him indoors.

  He had climbed 9ft, to the top of a bay window, and then a further 5ft to climb through a window 11in wide. My brother is lean and over 50. D’Onston was lean and in his 40s in 1888. Being a pipe-smoker with a complaint that made him stay awake at night, he could leave the ward at any time for a smoke in his own clothes in the grounds.

  D’Onston, as always, created a situation which he could manipulate. This was how he worked. Taking everything into consideration, D’Onston planned very well, giving thought to the finer details and placing a great deal of thought into each move he was to make. He also made sure he had all the answers to the questions the police were likely to ask him.<
br />
  I have made it apparent that I believe the perpetrator of the murders to be a Satanic killer, that he had medical knowledge, that he checked out the five murder sites and police beat times beforehand and that he picked his times when the main roads were very busy on weekends. I have already stated that it was essential to understand two murders which were to distort the true situation and influence events at a later date.

  I refer of course to the murders of Emma Smith and Martha Tabram. One misconception, which had far-reaching consequences, was that Jack the Ripper murdered from five to 14 victims in relation to the Whitechapel murders. Shortly after midnight on 3 April 1888 Emma Smith was found murdered. On 7 August 1888 Martha Tabram was found murdered. Police officers, Dr Robert Anderson and Inspector Abberline endorsed the belief that Tabram was also a Ripper victim.

  When D’Onston signed in at the London Hospital from Brighton, lady luck was on his side. For these two murders were considered to be the first two of the series. So when D’Onston committed his first murder in the series by killing Nichols in Bucks Row on 31 August 1888 it was listed as the third in the series. No one in the hospital (or elsewhere) would ever dream that D’Onston was the killer, because he was not in Whitechapel when the first two murders took place. So, one would reason, if he was not the killer of the first two victims then he could not possibly be the killer of the third victim.

  This state of affairs was not to end there. For after D’Onston had killed his fifth victim on 9 November 1888, various other murders took place which were also attributed to the Ripper. On Wednesday, 17 July 1889, Alice McKenzie of 54, Gun Street, Spitalfields was murdered. Her body was found by PC Andrews in Castle Alley. The victim’s throat had been cut. McKenzie was considered by many to be a Ripper victim. So now we have seven Ripper victims instead of five.

  This meant that anyone who suspected D’Onston of being the Ripper was on a sticky wicket. They may have concluded that they were wrong when in fact they were right. W.T. Stead of the Pall Mall Gazette thought D’Onston was the killer but at a later date he had second thoughts on the matter, which is hardly surprising under the circumstances.

  What we do know is that Stead thought him more than capable of committing the murders. D’Onston is on record as stating that the killer used the Whitechapel Road as a ‘sort of base’. He also gave the motive for the murders and other information. His comments are shown to be true in relation to my research. My beliefs were also shared by the press of the period as shown here.

  The special Sunday edition of the News of the World, London, 7 October 1888, printed a front-page story which concluded that the killer had peculiar surgical knowledge and some experience (however obtained) which should make it easier to hunt the criminal down. The article went on to add that the killer was:

  … cool, cautious, confident, cunning and daring, being previously familiar with the murder sites on which he had checked out the police beat times and that the need to change police beat times is essential as it is a friendly arrangement for burglars and assassins. Nobody noticed him, the reason being that the two neighbourhoods are so thickly populated, especially about midnight on a Saturday, and every man and woman, being intent either upon their market purchases or the last drop at the closing public houses, as to be regardless of anything else.

  The killer is also referred to as ‘a Satanic death dealer’. The article goes on to add that the killer kept to the main Whitechapel Road. The article voices the opinion that a better detective force is required and reform of the system essential. It also adds, ‘It is a general belief among the police that should they catch the assassin he will endeavour to make “short work of them”.’ They believe him to be a strong and powerful man. Vittoria Cremers who was D’Onston’s business partner did indeed refer to him as being ‘strong and powerful’.

  I have heard several reasons given why the killer only killed at the weekends. The favourite seems to be that he had a job during the week. I believe that D’Onston had several reasons for choosing the weekend to commit the murders. Staff reductions on the wards at the hospital took place on the weekends.

  It was a very busy time in the area so the killer would blend in as ‘invisible’; he would be just another tree in the forest. Sailors from the shipping in the local docks would be on weekend shore leave. All had money in their pockets with the intention of spending it on a good time.

  The Star, 19th December 1888 printed the following story: ‘Nurses and doctors were going in and out of a Croydon infirmary at night by scaling gates and walls. They were getting the night watchman to place false information in the official records.’ The Star of 4th October 1888 printed a story that police investigating hospitals were being obstructed in their duty by hospital staff and it is on record that night staff were going to sleep on the job.

  The prostitutes in the area would have known that the weekends were a very lucrative time for them. Therefore the maximum number would have been out and about on weekends. The killer would have known that more potential victims would be on offer. I now intend to cover the only piece of constructive comment I have heard to date by critics of D’Onston which casts doubt as to whether he was the killer. Some doubt has been raised as to how D’Onston managed to leave the hospital to commit murder and then return without being missed. This would be child’s play to a man such as D’Onston. From my own experiences in hospital I know that it is possible. On one occasion, while in hospital due to a very painful nerve injury to my arm, morphine was refused. The pain caused many sleepless nights and I often went for walks around the grounds. When the doctor and matron came on their rounds in the mornings I was never in my bed or in the ward and no questions were ever asked. In fact, I would moonlight for hours from the ward for a smoke and a drink, during both the day and the night. This was probably the method used by D’Onston in relation to his fake illness. Once I had set a pattern the staff became accustomed to it and never once questioned it. The security in a modern hospital is far tighter than in the Whitechapel hospital of 1888. The killer worked on Friday, Saturday or Sunday mornings and staff reductions took place on these days. During the day the ratio was one sister, two nurses and two probationers for every 30 patients. During the night the ratio was one staff nurse and two probationers for every 30 patients. These are the figures for the maximum number of patients. There was fewer staff still if there was a minimum number of patients. These figures are for weekdays only.

  John Merrick, the Elephant Man, was in the London Hospital at the same time as D’Onston. The curious would gain entry to the hospital grounds at night, after closing, to obtain a sight of Merrick. This became a problem. In fact, nothing could be done to stop people gaining access to the hospital grounds. So bars had to be placed on the window of Merrick’s private bedroom, not to stop him getting out but to stop others from getting in. If people were getting in to the hospital to view the Elephant Man after hours then D’Onston would have had no trouble getting out of the hospital. A friend, Mr Nicholas Way, enforces this point. ‘During 1997 I was involved in a discussion with Ivor Edwards concerning hospital security in the 1880s. I felt compelled to tell of two exploits involving patients at the Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. The first incident occurred in the mid-1980s.

  ‘A friend of mine, Martin Edwards, was involved in a motorcycle accident resulting in a few broken bones. It was midsummer and the patient was very hot and bothered in his ward. To cheer him up we smuggled him out in a wheelchair and went into Guildford for a few hours. After we had returned the patient to the ward we were very surprised that no one had even noticed him to be missing. We planned another trip for a later date.

  ‘The second incident happened about 1990 and could have resulted in dire consequences. Another friend, Ian Taylor, had been diagnosed with a very serious and rare disorder. He had been placed on a type of drip-fed machinery with digital counters and tubes. He had been placed in a ward full of very sick people. While visiting Ian, who loves the odd pint or two, he
talked me into taking him to his local pub, The Royal, in Stoughton, Guildford.

  ‘This seemed like a bit of a task due to all the machinery he was hooked up to, but we soon set about our task of sneaking him out of the hospital. We left unnoticed, complete with machinery, and enjoyed a few pints, much to the amusement of the pub regulars. Upon our return to the ward we were amazed that our antics had gone undetected.

  ‘In my opinion this strengthens Mr Edwards’s case that someone could easily enjoy relative freedom whilst residing in a hospital in the 1880s as the security couldn’t possibly match a modern general hospital with CCTV, security guards, etc.’

  Mr Way had only minutes to make a decision and to move the patient, and all was done on speculation. The situation demanded it be done on the spur of the moment. In spite of this fact, the objective was achieved on several counts; getting the patient out and back again without being seen on either occasion or without him being missed in the process.

  D’Onston had planned and plotted for over a month in the hospital before making his move. This man did not debunk on speculation. Dozens of cases exist where certain individuals have debunked from secure buildings at one place or another only to commit a crime and then return while not being missed. Many men have escaped from prison camps and other secure places and were gone for days or longer unnoticed. All it takes is some imagination and boldness.

  To even contemplate that such a thing could not be achieved by D’Onston shows a lack of imagination. It also shows that his abilities have been too easily discounted. Pall Mall Gazette editor W. T. Stead described D’Onston as the most amazing man he had ever met. Stead was the confidant of presidents and he was far from being a fool, so what exactly was it that made D’Onston so amazing in his eyes?