Unknown Secretary
According to William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, a secretary he once employed, but refused to name, made a sinister prediction concerning an alleged future victim of Jack the Ripper. Booth related that on 10 February 1891 his secretary became twitchy and agitated on hearing people discuss the Whitechapel murders, and suddenly exclaimed, 'Carrotty Nell will be the next to go'. Booth and his friends agreed, this was a strange and morbid thing for the usually timid man to say. Three days later, 25 year old prostitute Frances Coles (nicknamed Carrotty Nell) due to her red hair, was murdered. Thomas Sadler was arrested for the murder, but later released through lack of evidence. Booth's secretary, who had predicted Carrotty Nell's fate, vanished into obscurity before the police could question him about his sinister foreknowledge. This story appears to have confused Salvation Army General William Booth, who did not favour any suspect, with Salvation Army Commissioner David Lamb, who suspected a visiting sign writer who mentioned Carrotty Nell would be the next victim.
