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Jack in Atlanta, Georgia, 1911?
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Suspects: General Discussion :
Jack in Atlanta, Georgia, 1911?
Author: Joe Tynan
Saturday, 10 June 2000 - 05:19 am |        | | There's a still-unsolved case of twenty women murdered in the U.S.- Atlanta, Georgia- from May 1911 to May 1912. According to the news reports at the time the victims were all attractive mulatto women. The attacks happened at night. The victim would be choked unconscious, have her throat slit from ear to ear, after which the killer carved and mutilated the lower "female" regions. No evidence that any were raped. I suppose it's unlikely, but I'll be keeping in mind as I read about various candidates for JTR, which, if any, might.... |
Author: Ashling
Saturday, 10 June 2000 - 06:21 am | | Hi Joe. Your post reminded me of the below link I found recently, and haven't read in full yet ... Serial murders of black servant girls and then a couple of white females in Austin Texas from 1884-1885. This site will also interest O. Henry fans.
Austin's Jack the Ripper
Janice |
Author: Joe Tynan
Saturday, 24 June 2000 - 07:59 pm | | | Ashling: Thanks very much for that interesting link. I must look for that book about those Austin, Texas murders. Interesting how, for some reason, the Whitechapel murders were to become famous, but the Austin murders were all but forgotten. There are probably several reasons for this. I know there are unsolved axe murders in New Orleans ((1918-19) and Texas/Louisiana (1911-12) and I'm sure connections have been considered with those and the Austin murders. What grabbed me about the Atlanta murders, though, was that they seem so similar to the Whitechapel killings. |
Author: Ashling
Monday, 26 June 2000 - 03:48 am | | Hi Joe. Do you know a web page that gives info on the Atlanta murders of 1911-1912? Did the newspapers give a nickname to the unknown murder? I'm unfamiliar with this case and would like to learn more.
Thanks,
Janice |
Author: Joe Tynan
Tuesday, 27 June 2000 - 02:47 am | | | Janice: Actually, I don't know if the case is covered on any website, but here it is from the book Still At Large: A Casebook of 20th Century Serial Killers who Eluded Justice (Michael Newton, Loompanics Unlimited, 1999, publisher's website http;//www.loompanics.com). "'Jack the Ripper'-Georgia (1911-12). In the 12 months between May 1911 and May 1912, black residents of Atlanta, Georgia were terrorized by the activities of a knife-wielding maniac who preyed exclusively on women of color, leaving them with throats slashed and bodies mutilated after death. Inevitably he was christened Jack the Ripper by the local press, and like his namesake in 19th-century London, he was never captured or identified. Unlike his predecessor though, Atlanta's Ripper claimed an even 20 victims, while the original Jack had satisfied himself with five. The early murders in Atlanta were committed with a shocking regularity, the slayer claiming victims on seven successive Saturday nights, between May 20 and July 1, 1911. White newsmen were quick to point out that the victims were all attractive well-dressed mulattos, with no 'out-and-out black women' slain by the stalker. In each case there was evidence of the woman being choked unconscious, after which her throat was slit from ear to ear and "the carving of the victim- always in the same area of the body- begins.' None of the women had been raped, but from the nature of the mutilations, tactfully unspecified in media reports, it was apparent that the crimes were sexual in nature. As in the case of London's Jack (and nearly all his imitators), newsmen noted that the killer 'seems to possess some knowledge of anatomy' Number seven on the Ripper's list was 40-year-old Lena sharp, slain in the late hours of July 1, her head nearly severed, her body 'horribly mutilated' after death. Concerned when Sharp was late arriving home, her daughter started searching in the streets. She was accosted by a well-dressed black man, but his mannerisms frightened her, and as she turned to flee he stabbed her in the back. Escaping with her life, she offered homicide investigators a description of the man, but no arrest resulted from the lead. The Ripper's first near-miss resulted in a change of schedule, slowing down his pace." (Joe Tynan note: I think the author is jumping to conclusions here that that "well-dressed black man" was definitely the Atlanta Ripper.)"He would require 10 months to claim another 13 victims in Atlanta, mutilating his last target- a 'comely yellow girl' of 19 years- on Friday, May 10, 1912. A large reward collected by the black community produced no takers, and the case remains unsolved today." Incidentally, the book Still At Large is VERY good, and seems very well-researched. It covers about 200 cases of unsolved serial killings. |
Author: Jill De Schrijver
Tuesday, 27 June 2000 - 03:35 am | | Hi Joe,
Thank you very much for your input. This is very interesting.
Indeed the author has some points to suspect 'the wel-dressed black man'. We know that SK's tend to kill people of their own colour. Black men kill mostly black women. White men kill mostly white women. Besides that how should this black man be dresses to come near these 'well-dressed' women. By being dressed-well himself. So a sighting and stabbing and escape from a 'well-dressed black man' and the notion this is the murderer, isn't that unlogic.
Greetings,
Jill |
Author: Joe Tynan
Tuesday, 27 June 2000 - 11:10 pm | | | Hi Jill: I agree with you on all those points. I just thought the author shouldn't have DEFINITELY stated that the "well-dressed black man" was the killer. You're right that serial killers almost always choose victims of their own race (there are a few, very rare exceptions), so the Atlanta Ripper was almost certainly a black man. Still, though, it's an intriguing possibility to think that London's Jack wound up in Atlanta and found mulatto women attractive and thus they became his next victims. Very unlikely though, I admit. |
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