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Chris Phillips
Police Constable
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 9
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 10:12 am: | 
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Chris Scott discovered two reports in American newspapers on the killing of Augusta Dawes by Reginald Saunderson, in Kensington, in November 1894 - from the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier and Ogden Standard.
This case is interesting firstly because after committing the crime Saunderson sent a letter to the police, signed "Jack the Ripper" and secondly because the crime, together with the "Kensington stabbings", is said in the first report to have caused the authorities to announce that they believed the Ripper had been "several years in his grave."
John Ruffels had earlier sent me verbatim duplicates of that report from an Australian newspaper, the Koroit Sentinel, as late as 1900 and 1901.
I looked into the reports of the inquest and trial, and I'm copying some notes below. It's striking that Saunderson, who was found to be unfit to plead, had been confined to an institution by his father six years before (i.e. in 1888) when he was found to be mentally "defective". But as Saunderson is said to have been only just 21 at the time of the 1894 killing, he can hardly have committed the Whitechapel murders.
Incidentally, Saunderson was another well-connected Victorian killer. A quick Internet search turned up more on the Colonel Saunderson, M.P., mentioned in the reports - he was Colonel Edward James Saunderson (1837-1906), M.P.for North Armagh 1885-1906 and a leading Ulster Unionist. Another web page confirmed that Reginald's father Llewellyn was the M.P.'s brother - Llewellyn was later described as of "Kingstown, Dublin".
The Times
Friday 30 November 1894
INQUESTS
THE MURDER IN KENSINGON
[Augusta Dawes was brutally murdered in Holland-park-road, Kensington, last Sunday night [25 November].
She was an "unfortunate" who lodged with Lilian Creber, of St Clement's-road, Notting-dale, and was known as "Gussie Dudley".
She was discovered shortly before a quarter to 12, lying in a pool of blood with her throat cut, a sharp shoemaker's knife being found nearby. The inquest was adjourned until 10 December.]
Tuesday 11 December 1894
THE MURDERS IN THE WEST-END
THE HOLLAND-PARK-ROAD CRIME
Colonel Saunderson, M.P., accompanied by Mr Llewellyn Saunderson, the father of the young man who is charged with the murder, was present during the enquiry.
[Following evidence by a witness to the crime:]
Francis Rollison, one of the masters at Eastcote, Hampton Wick, said Reginald Saunderson was one of the pupils there, and he was well acquainted with his writing. He had no doubt that the letter and envelope produced, and dated November 27, 1894, had been written by Saunderson.
Mr Avory [barrister for the Public Prosecutor] - The letter is signed "Jack the Ripper," and is addressed to "The Police Station, Kensington, London, W., England."
The witness went on to give details as to Saunderson's escape from Hampton Wick, and as to his possession of a knife similar to that found.
Mrs Mary Langdon-Downs, of Eastcote, wife of Dr. Langdon-Downs, said Saunderson had been a resident there for six years.
He had absented himself many times for short periods without permission, and had had to be brought back, but not within the past two years.
[Saunderson's father gave evidence that he had discovered 6 years previously that his son's mind was defective, and had been advised to put him under medical care.]
Mr. Saunderson, continuing, said his residence was in Switzerland, but he was now living at Kington. His son's full name was Reginald Treherne Bassett Saunderson, and he was 21 on November 23 last."
[Further evidence was given about Saunderson's movements.
The letter (quoted) was received at Kensington Police Station on 28 November, having been sent from Dublin.
Saunderson had been taken over by F Division from the custody of the Royal Irish Constabulary.
The jury found that the victim died of wounds inflicted by Saunderson.]
Tuesday 12 January 1895
[Central Criminal Court, January 11.
The judge granted an application to postpone the case until next sessions.]
31 January 1895
[Central Criminal Court, 30 January, before Mr Justice Wills]
Reginald Treherne Bassett Saunderson, 21.
[He was found to be insane and not in a condition to plead, having been examined by Dr Forbes Winslow and others.
He had been under the observation of Dr Walker, the medical officer of Holloway, in the gaol since December 8.
At he last Sessions he had been of opinion that he was fit to plead, but his mental condition had very much deteriorated since then.
They had had to put him in a strait-waistcoat and place him in a padded cell.
He was liable to great excitement and paroxysms of violence.]
Chris Phillips
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Chris Phillips
Sergeant
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 23
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2003 - 4:45 pm: |
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Some other reports in The Times give details of the "Kensington stabbings", which together with Saunderson's crime were alleged to have prompted an announcement in 1894 that the Ripper had been "several years in his grave".
Monday 3 December 1894, p. 7:
An Unfounded Murder Report
A report was published yesterday that another murder resembling that which was committed in Kensington last Sunday had taken place in the West-end on Saturday night. Inquiry, however, showed that the report was unfounded. It appears to have originated in the fact that an assault was committed on a well-dressed woman at the northern extremity of Stanhope-gardens between 9 and 10 o'clock in the evening, and during the prevalence of a dense fog. About that time the woman was discovered lying on the ground with a wound on the fore part of her head, which may have been inflicted either by the hand of someone who wore rings or by some blunt instrument. She was taken to High-street Police-station, and it is understood that she is in no danger. No arrest has been made.
Tuesday 4 December 1894, p. 10:
The Kensington Murder and Stabbing Cases
[Following a report on the Holland-park-road crime:]
It is now supposed that the assailant of the servant girl who was assaulted in Stanhope-gardens on Saturday night was a woman, and the same woman who a fortnight ago stabbed a caretaker in the face at almost the same spot and inflicted a severe wound. Fortunately the servant girl was not much injured. The woman is described as being "about 30 years of age, 5ft. 2in. in height, dressed in a dark jacket and dress, and wearing a thick black veil." The police have been ordered to keep a look-out for such a person, who is expected to turn out to be a lunatic wih murderous instincts.
So the timetable seems to be as follows:
Around 20 November 1894: Caretaker stabbed in or near Stanhope Gardens.
Sunday 25 November 1894: Augusta Dawes murdered by Reginald Saunderson in Holland Park Rd.
Saturday 1 December 1894: A servant girl assaulted (stabbed?) in Stanhope Gardens.
If any sort of announcement was really prompted by these crimes, it seems likely to have been made in the first few days of December 1894.
Chris Phillips
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Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 5423
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 1:45 pm: |
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The Times, Dec 5th 1894
Robert |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 2999
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 2:09 pm: |
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Thanks Robert, much appreciated.
This is an absolutely astonishing case.
The similarities between this young man and Thomas Cut bush - and Colicitt - are just uncanny, but not just that, there is a hell of a lot more.
For here we have a young disturbed man, clearly influenced by the press reports he has been reading of the murder of women, so he escaped his supposed ‘carers’ and goes out to do just that: murder a woman, and he picks on the class of woman that he knows will be available to a respectable young gentleman, an ‘unfortunate’.
He possesses the same agility and strength as Thomas Cutbush, even trying to make a dramatic escape from the court trying him by bashing an officer of the court and hurtling off down a passage way.
He writes mad letters.
While confined to his private ‘asylum’ he often goes missing for days at a stretch, but no worries he always comes back, so a nurse states in her court testimony.
Only half the story is revealed in the press reports here on Casebook, and much more comes to light when one studies The Times reports of 6, 11, 17, 22, 29 of December 1894, and 4, 8, 30, 31 of January 1895. |
Natalie Severn
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Severn
Post Number: 2727
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 6:12 pm: |
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Thanks for these postings Ap and Robert.I can see what you mean Ap-some apparently influenced behaviour
between all three.
Its almost as though they are obsessively copying each other.But I imagine that their condition stretched well beyond that of an obsessive/compulsive disorder.
Natalie |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 3001
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 1:50 pm: |
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No worries, Natalie.
I'm still reading the press reports, but there is much in this case that needs to be discussed.
For instance, how he was allowed to pass his knife to a servant at the private asylum for 'sharpening', and then stole a razor from the master of the asylum... this shows premeditation I think.
But one thing that is absolutely weird and spooky is that this terribly mad young man appears to have had some uncanny inkling of the Clapham Junction rail crash in 1988.
He gave the killed as 16. It was 35, but maybe he lost touch with reality?
Weird stuff. |
Natalie Severn
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Severn
Post Number: 2729
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 3:43 pm: |
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Ap,
Did you know that Cutbush and Collicit had a famous precursor?He was nicknamed,"The London MONSTER" and he serially attacked 50 women in the capital between 1788 and 1790.He was described in Wilson and Caulfield"s,"Wonderful Characters" as having" unnatural and unaccountable propensities in maliciously cutting" [open the clothing covering
their buttocks] "and stabbing females with a sharp instrument" in their exposed buttocks and running away very swiftly.When he couldnt manage to catch some "young lady" in St James"s Park or other areas of London where they were walking while "taking the air" he went after prostitutes and savagely attacked and stabbed at their buttocks instead.
Maybe its a more common fettish than has been thought?----will move this to another thread if its of interest.
Fascinating to have had any inkling of a rail crash that happened nearly a hundred years later!
Natalie |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 3002
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 4:30 pm: |
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Yes, Natalie, I know that London Monster.
It is funny how these characters are always 'gentlemen' from respectable families isn't it?
Saunderson was much moved by murderous events he had read of in the press, and I believe Cutbush and Colicitt would have been as well.
Now, I wonder what might have motivated them?
Saunderson was a real escape artist, amongst many other things.
When the police captured him in Belfast, and then transported him to Dublin - to appear before an uncle of his in court, who was advised to step down and did - he managed to escape his numerous police captors, and eluded them for days afterwards.
There are so many amazing aspects to this case that I cannot believe it hasn't been more widely discussed before.
Just as a for instance, Saunderson's father turns up at the inquest, unrequested and uninvited, into the murder of the 'unfortunate' and attempts to address the inquest.
The coroner quite rightly slung him out of court.
Strings were being pulled furiously in this case, and there are damage limitation measures going on all over the place.
From the police, from the government, from the family.
The poor murdered woman remains forgotten in this mad process.
I see something very, very relevant here to the earlier cases we discuss.
More Saunderson and less Jack is what I recommend, for here we have a most peculiar insight into the internal machinations of the LVP. |
Natalie Severn
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Severn
Post Number: 2730
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 5:25 pm: |
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Ap-that,funnily enough was my very first thought!
Cutbush,Collicit,The London Monster and this Reginald Saunderson----all "gentlemen"-swift,athletic and mad as hatters!But in the cases of The London Monster,Collicit,Saunderson
totally helped by their connections!Only Cutbush,despite having possibly the most influential"connections" of all was, apparently, abandoned by his Mother,Aunt and Uncle Charles in his hour of greatest need-----and hurried off to Broadmoor.
Yes,Ap,it would seem to be a very instructive case this Saunderson one.
Natalie |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 3008
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 1:07 pm: |
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It is interesting that Saunderson was represented in court by CF Gill - later Sir Charles Gill KC - as he usually took the prosecution rather than the defence, but when upper-class folk with high connections found themselves in a ’difficult’ position he was the man you wanted in court… on your side.
And then when you wanted someone - who represented a genuine threat to that upper class society - well and truly prosecuted for fairly harmless indiscretions, then it was Sir Charles Gill KC who you wanted in court… on your side.
For it was Gill who prosecuted Oscar Wilde.
Although it might appear that Gill bit off more than he could chew with the Saunderson murder trial, I don’t believe that to be strictly true. In fact Gill seems to have made a brilliant job of confounding and befuddling a simple issue of premeditated murder; and although Saunderson was obviously of unsound mind, I don’t believe that he was unaware of his crime or of the reason that he was in court charged with murder.
However Gill changed all that with his brilliant defence tactics.
I do wonder if he wasn’t involved - perhaps in the background - in the Colicitt trial?
Thomas Cutbush could have certainly used him. |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 3009
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 1:15 pm: |
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And thinking on Chris’s comments above where he quite reasonably states that Saunderson would have been too young to have been involved in the Whitechapel Murders.
It is important to note that this is based solely on a claim made by Saunderson’s father in court that his son was 21 at the time of this murder of a prostitute in 1894.
I have to say that reading through the court transcripts it does appear that Reginald Saunderson may well have been a good deal older than ‘21’.
Can anyone dig out his record of birth?
It is a noble family.
His full and complicated name appears in one of the press reports.
I’ll see if I can’t find it. |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 5444
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 3:51 pm: |
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AP, he was born 73 according to this :
Robert |
AP Wolf
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Apwolf
Post Number: 3011
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 4:15 pm: |
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That's a shame, Robert.
15 aint that bad though.
Something to dwell on.
Many thanks for the DOB. |
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