New ID on Jack the Ripper [Artist Walter Richard Sickert, 1860 - 1942]

This is London ^ | December 7, 2001 | Unattributed Standard Reporter

[Irene Adler]

"Oh, my wife and I went on "The Ripper Tour" while were were in London over the summer. Nothing special and not highly recommended, but it was interesting. The guide takes you to all the spots, except for one, where the victims were found. The one no longer exists as they have built a factory over it. He explains each of the murders and tells about the victims and other stuff. Don't expect too much from it though."

I have read pretty much all of the better quality stuff about the Ripper in the last 20 years or so. I was in London a couple of years ago and didn't have time to take a Ripper tour. Even though you didn't think there was much to it, I still wish I could have done so. A lot of the area was greatly changed by getting bombed in WWII, so I imagine not a lot of the original buildings and streets are there, now.

I will have to research this new theory and see what I think of it.

[exmoor]

Whats in a name "SICK"ert's...

[x]

I'd imagine Cornwell's novels have lots of details taken from actual crime scenes. Maybe someone should check out her alibi.

P.S. I'm sure the "arts community" will appreciate Patsy's destroying works of a valued and established artist.

[Aurelius]

BUMP

[archy]

There's also the tenuous connection between the London Ripper killings, some of which took place in London's Cleveland street district, and those in Twentieth Century Cleveland USA, investigated by none other than previously Untouchable Elliott Ness of Chicago fame. Unlike the London murders, both male and female victims were discovered, though at least some were prostitutes and capable surgical skill was exhibited in the dismemberments.

A fan or acolyte of the London deaths, perhaps? There might be some interest in those cases closer to home for Cornwell, especially if the later Cleveland copycat also thought he had discerned the identity of Jack the Ripper.

-archy-/-

[Chemnitz]

Like Rev. Witch, the witch.

[stanz]

Thanks for posting the transcript of "Prime Time."

[SlickWillard]

Thanks for posting the transcript of "Prime Time."

These things have a funny way of disappearing into thin air. It's nice to preserve them for posterity here at FR.

[Colofornian]

Cornwell is not the first one to come to this conclusion. Sickert's son, Walter, passed on a story about prostitutes bribing British royalty...Other Sickert relatives then said Walter claimed he made the story up...it led to some authors contriving a Masonic connection whereby there were a trio of Rippers who continued killing prostitutes--with Wm. Sickert being one of the three (but only after 1900).

That story doesn't seem to hold up well (tho I am no fan of the Masons...one Mason threatened my grandfather preacher after he preached against Masonry back in the 40s).

A more interesting book I have not read but has now piqued my interest based upon the Sawyer-Cornwell interview is a 1990 British book by Jean Overton Fuller entitled, "Sickert and the Ripper Crimes." From the one description I've read of this book, apparently Fuller's mother was confided in by a friend/colleague/fellow artist of Sickert's --a woman by the name of Florence Pash...who waited til her late 80s to convey what she knew. Apparently, Pash knew something and passed it on.

Even one web site zeroing in on Sickert's art work has this one sentence in his bio (they don't believe Sickert was the Ripper): "He had a morbid fascination with sexual violence and the crimes committed by Jack the Ripper." (http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com)

Eyewitness reports of the last three confirmed murders reported similar physical characteristics: 3rd murder--About age 28; 5-foot-7, stoutish, mustache...(ABC report said Sickert was 28 in 1888)...4th murder--About age 30; 5-foot-7 , mustache...5th murder--about age 34-35; 5-foot-6, stout.

Question for Freepers: Anybody know if Sickert was about 5-7 & stout?

[mlo]

Even one web site zeroing in on Sickert's art work has this one sentence in his bio (they don't believe Sickert was the Ripper): "He had a morbid fascination with sexual violence and the crimes committed by Jack the Ripper." (http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com)

That URL is missing something. Do you have the full URL?

[SlickWillard]

Whaddya think?

[DC Ripper]

They've found my long-lost Grandpappy!

DC Ripper

[white rose]

Which of the Ripper letters is she using as a comparison? Most of the experts on the case believe that all except one of the letters (the one that begins, "From Hell,") were hoaxes. She's probably wasting her time following that angle.

It's an interesting theory, though. I have my doubts whether Sickert was actually the Ripper, but there is no doubt that he was a rather loathsome human being, and it seems almost certain that he, at least, had more knowledge about the murders than he ever let on. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he knew who the Ripper was.

BTW, does Cornwell mention that it's a fact that Sickert knew Mary Kelly, the Ripper's last victim?

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Very interesting. Learn something new every day

(well, not every day...)

[2sheep]

Bump.

[Ligeia]

Dec 15, 2001

Case of the moving novelist

Cornwell shifting operations to Connecticut

BY BILL MCKELWAY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Murder novelist Patricia Cornwell, who parlayed the city's morgues and annals of crime into a fortune of words and money, is pulling up stakes in Richmond and moving to Connecticut.

Cornwell, 45, said this week that she will maintain some Virginia connections, but acknowledged that she's restaffing her office, shutting down her Richmond base of operations and moving out.

"I have not cut my Virginia ties but simply found it better for me to live closer to New York," Cornwell said in a faxed response to questions from The Times-Dispatch.

The shift comes as Cornwell, in a fashion familiar to millions of the writer's fans, finds herself embroiled in controversy over her nationally televised claim that she's established the identity of the London serial murderer Jack the Ripper.

Cornwell says she's "100 percent" certain that the killer is turn-of-the-century painter Walter Richard Sickert, whose flimsy ties to the crimes have been investigated, written about and largely debunked by scores of Ripper experts for four decades.

"This is so serious to me that I'm staking my reputation on this," Cornwell told Diane Sawyer on ABC's "PrimeTime" last week. "Because if somebody literally proves me wrong, not only will I feel horrible about it, but I will look terrible."

Cornwell, not by coincidence, has a book in the works on the subject, and she's promised that it will be the shell that holds the pea of proof.

A spokesman for Putnam Publishing in New York said yesterday a publication date and title are uncertain.

Cornwell wasn't adding new details, either, except to say that Virginia will remain the focus of her forensic studies. Continue