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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Archive through May 26, 1999
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Suspects: Specific Suspects:
Contemporary Suspects [ 1888 - 1910 ]:
Kosminski, Aaron:
Archive through May 26, 1999
Author: james
Monday, 12 April 1999 - 12:09 am |        | Thanks, Stewart, for those comments - they certainly provide a useful overview of the recent literature, much of which, sorry to say, I haven't read. The Australian research you mention sounds fascinating.
James |
Author: Ashling
Monday, 12 April 1999 - 01:49 am | | Hi all.
Is it Wolf or Woolf???
Take care,
Ashling |
Author: James
Tuesday, 13 April 1999 - 12:11 am | | Paul Begg has Woolf.
Another couple of interesting points of comparison (though doubtless picked up elsewhere):
Swanson says Kosminski was sent to the Seaside Home where he was identified, then returned to his brother's home in Whitechapel.
Mile end workhouse records: Kosminski was treated there for three days, and was then discharged into the hands of his brother, who lived in Whitechapel.
Also:
MacNaughton says: Kosminski became insane owing to "many years indulgence in solitary vices."
Colney Hatch Records: Aarron Kosminski "practiced self abuse."
James |
Author: Caz
Tuesday, 13 April 1999 - 09:37 am | | Blimey, must be an awful lot of insanity around.
(I only wear glasses for extremely small print.)
Love,
Caz |
Author: Jules
Tuesday, 13 April 1999 - 08:55 pm | | G'day everyone
I'm glad my brothers hands (no, I think I'll leave this one alone).
Sorry for the interuption.
Jules |
Author: Scott Nelson
Tuesday, 20 April 1999 - 12:20 am | | Recent research has revealed a Kozminski family residing in Whitechapel in 1891 (Ripperana, No. 15, Jan. 1996). The census for this year shows the following persons residing at #76 Brunswick Buildings, Goulston St., Whitechapel: Issac Kozminski, 43, Boot and Shoe Maker, born Poland; Elizebeth Kozminski, 45, born Poland; Michael Kozminski, 21, Boot and Shoe Maker, born Poland; Betsy Kozminski, 17, Tailoress, born Whitechapel. Thus, this family had resided in Whitechapel since at least 1874. The year before this census, in July 1890, Aaron Kosminski was sent from his lodgings at Sion Square to the Mile End Old Town Infirmary for medical treatment and released three days later to the care of his "brother" (actually brother-in-law) Woolf Aabrams. Woolf was married to Betsy Kozminski, Aaron's sister, and they lived at #3 Sion Square. A birth certificate dated 26 May, 1890 , records the birth of Matilda to Woolf and Betsy (Ripperana, No.11, Jan. 1995).
Aaron had another sister, Matilda, who was married to Morris Lubnowski, a boot rivettor. They resided at 16 Greenfield St. (Note: The Matilda born to Besty was probably named after the mother's older sister). It was from this address that Aaron Kosminski was readmitted to the Infirmary on 4 February, 1891. Thus, between Aaron's initial admission to the Infirmary in 1890 and his readmission, he had changed addresses from the care of his younger sister's husband, Woolf, to the residence of his older sister, Matilda and husband Morris Lubnowski.
Where, then did Betsy Kozminski live in 1890-91? She is listed in the 1891 census as being a resident of #76 Goulston St. (presumably the daughter of Issac and Elizabeth Kozminski). If, in fact, she was also the wife of Woolf (residing at #3 Sion Square, at least in 1890 when their daughter Matilda was born) why was she subsequently listed as resident at her parent's residence in 1891? The answer, I believe (if she was Aaron's Sister), is that she was formerly residing at #3 Sion Square with Woolf (in 1890) and that she and the baby (Matilda) were forced to move back in with her immediate family sometime between 1890-91, when Aaron's increasing psychosis made it dangerous for mother and infant daughter to be living with him. Brother-in-law Woolf would have had temporay ward of Aaron at this address. Three days later, on 7 February, 1891, when Aaron was admitted to Colney Hatch, Woolf Aabrams was listed as his next of Kin.
Now lets look at Issac Kozminski. He was 43 years old in 1891, making him 40 at the time of the murders in 1888. He is also described as a boot and shoe maker. If he was Betsy Kozminski's father and Betsy was Aaron's sister, then Issac was Aaron's Father. In other words, Aaron was an older son who probably resided at #76 Goulston St. at one time or another. So why wasn't Issac listed as Aaron's next of Kin? The answer, I believe, is that Issac himself was at this time incarcerated. More on this briefly.
Now, the most compeling evidence for another Ko(s)(z)minski connection in this confusing saga: The location of #76 Brunswick Buildings, Goulston St. This address was approximately halfway between New Goulston (a narrow east-west alley-way between Middlesex and Goulston Streets, and Aldgate-High St. to the south. This Goulston St. location is in the Metropolitan Police search radius as shown on the Whitechapel Map in A-Z., and is very close to most of the murder sites. More significantly, the only tangible physical clue ever left by the Ripper was the piece of Cathrine Eddowe's blood-stained apron found near the doorway of nos. 108-119 Wentworth Model Buildings, Goulston St. on the night of her murder in Mitre Square.
If one projects the flight of the Ripper on the night of the Eddowes murder from Mitre Square to the location of the deposited piece of apron (near the Wentworth/Goulston St crossing), the most likely route would have been through the St, James Place covered passage to King St., east along King St., across Houndsditch to Stoney Lane, then north on Middlesex, turning east on Wentworth, before making the corner south on Goulston St., where the piece of apron was found. This route differs slightly from the route shown in A-Z in that the authors show the flight from Middlesex through the narrow alley-way of New Goulston St, then NORTH on Goulston St. before turning the corner east on Wentworth and continuing east. The reason for this difference: The A-Z authors are apparently speculating that the Ripper was returning to his residence at Sion Square or Greenfiels St. BUT, if his residence was at #76 Goulston St. during the night of the murder, the former route makes perfect sense: Suddenly realizing, as he made the turn onto Goulston St. from Wentworth St., that he would be arriving soon at the entrance to his residence with blood covering his hands, and to avoid alarming the family, wipes them on the piece of apron and disgards it before proceeding south on Goulston St., shortly to arrive at #76. But why would he not take the much shorter route back through the Duke St. Passage to Duke St., thence on Aldgate High before turning north onto Goulston St.? It is likely because the Aldgate-High Police Station was near the corner of Aldgate-High and Goulston Streets. The killer knew this because he resided less than 100 yards away!
Now the main question is, who was JTR? At this point, I seem to be advocating both Issac and Aaron, but if we permit even more outrageous speculation than the preceeding, certain factors begin to fall into place. What if Issac, like his son Aaron, was psychotic? Perhaps not quite as far gone as Aaron may have been at the time: a harmless imbecile, who at 23, did not work, was dirty, unkept and wandered the streets. Now Issac would have resided in Whitechapel for at least 17 years (if we use the birthdate of Betsy as a starting point), and was regularly employed as a boot and shoe maker. What of his general character? We don't know since nothing is known about him. But IF he was mentally ill, say a psychotic schizophrenic, but outwardly respectible in appearence, inwardly cunning and hating of prostitutes, his residence location and occupation would make him an attractive suspect. His age and trade are certainly more in line with witness descriptions than that of a feeble, wandering 23-year-old, who may not even have spoken English (either could not or would not). Aaron, if he ever worked at all, was described as a hairdresser.
The local suspicion of a boot-maker nick-named "Leather Apron" was never resolved even after the arrest of John Pizer, who was never known by that name. This mysterious figure was known to lurk in and about the Buck's Row area, and although seen from time to time by the locals, was never arrested or questioned by the police. Could this person have been Issac?
Finally, why was the Kozminski family at #76 Goulston St. so distant from Aaron, if in fact, they were his immediate family? We have seen that Woolf, his brother-in-law, was listed as the next-of-Kin, not his father, mother, brother (Michael) or sisters (Matilda, Betsy). I believe that at this time (Feb. 1891) his father may have been incarcerated and that this is the "Kosminski" mentioned by the McNaghton Memoranda and by the Swanson Marginalia. This Kosminski is the one who died shortly after his incarceration in Colney Hatch, as both Anderson and Swanson maintained, not in 1889, but in 1891 or shortly afterwards.
The fact that Issac is listed in the 1891 census may be due to the possibility that it was conducted prior to his arrest. Aaron's incarceration was facilitated by his deteriorating mental condition; his family had abandoned him out of fear, or had given up on him, possibly influenced by Issac's situation. If Issac was positively identified as JTR, but official evidence admissible by law was inconclusive, all asylum records may have been censored or retained by the police after his death.
The fact that Aaron's asylum records survived may by incidental or unrelated; the police knew he wasn't JTR, only a relative. The witness who refused to testify against "Kosminski" may have been a family member, perhaps even Aaron himself.
Afterword: Few facts and a lot of speculation go a long way. No primary research was done. The only sources are: A-Z and the two articles in Ripperana, one listing the census, the other listing the birth certificates, both by Mark King, who, I'm sure, does not endorse any of the above speculations. IF it can be shown that the Kozminski family residing at 76 Goulston St was unrealted to Aaron Kosminski, or that Issac Kozminski resided in the area beyond in early 1890's, disregard all of the above. |
Author: D. Radka
Tuesday, 20 April 1999 - 10:37 am | | Scott,
Thank you very much. Your above contribution is the kind that can result in some atomically explosive posts to these Boards, and I congratulate you for your integrity, intelligence and hard work. You may have just creaked open a crack in a door that had been painted shut a long time. I'm thinking, and will be back on this subject.
David |
Author: Wolf
Wednesday, 21 April 1999 - 01:18 am | | Hi Scott, I'm a bit confused, although very impressed by your deductions. I have not read the articles by Mark King, but it is my understanding that Aaron Kosminski's brother, rather than brother-in-law, was a woolf Kosminski. The same Woolf Kosminski who died in April, 1930, while residing at 23 Baker Street, Stepney. This is supposidly the same Woolf Kosminski who lived at number 3 Sion Square. Has it been proven that this man was not Aarons brother but as you stated, his brother-in law?
When Aaron was discharged to Leavesden Asylum for Imbeciles, the order of admission lists his mother, mrs. Kosminski of 63 New Street, New Road, Whitechapel, as his nearest known relative.
As for Pizer being Leather Apron or not, the police certainly thought so. Sergeant Thicke, who had known Pizer for eighteen years, certainly identified him as being known as Leather Apron, at the Chapman inquest. Pizer himself addmitted as much at the same inquest. Although Pizer later recanted this identification and friends and family members backed him up on this, it was Pizer who was harrased in the neighbourhood for being Leather Apron.
It is also interesting that apon hearing that the police were looking for Leather Apron, Pizers brother warned him to lie low, which Pizer did, going into hiding on September 6th.
Wolf |
Author: James
Wednesday, 21 April 1999 - 11:51 pm | | Scott has produced a very thorough piece of research - the fact that it was put together from secondary sources is certainly encouraging to those of us who haven't got access to unpublished primary sources!
Two things:
the documented facts - that Betsy is listed in the census as residing at Goulston St; that she was married to a man named Woolf; and that Aaron was released into the care of his brother(-in-law) named Woolf - certainly suggest to me a connection between Aaron and the Goulston street Kosminskis;
as the police records seem quite firm on Kosminski's incarceration it would appear to discount Issac unless new evidence turns up showing that he was committed to an asylum. Or could it be that Aaron was a family scapegoat for his father's crimes? But, if a witness positively identified Aaron, that couldn't be right.
At this stage it would be nice to come up with a link between one of the witnesses and the Kosminskis - the Levy/Martin Kosminski connection was promising, but now seems to be a red herring. Were any of the witnesses close neighbours of the Kosminskis, had the same profession, attended the same Jewish club or synagogue or whatever?
James |
Author: Caz
Thursday, 22 April 1999 - 03:58 am | | Hi James!
How are you?
I think there are a lot more red herrings waiting beneath the surface of the pool, if you were to ask me.
And this Aaron/Isaac/family scapegoat stuff rings vague biblical bells with me. Trouble is, my Sunday School days are long gone, so maybe I'm just muddled thismorning (wouldn't be the first time, hey! Big grin).
Love,
Caz |
Author: Scott Nelson
Friday, 23 April 1999 - 12:11 am | | According to Martin Fido it was common practice in Victorian England to call brothers- or sisters-in-law as brothers or sisters. He surmises that it was a clerical error that lead Woolf Abrahams to be entered as "Wolf Kosminski" in the Colney Hatch Asylum records (Ripperana No. 12, April, 1995). (Note: I misspelled Abrahams as "Aabrams" in a previous post). The Woolf Kosminski, who resided at 23 Baker St, Stepney, and died in 1930, was found by Paul Begg (Uncensorned Facts, p.246). It was assumed at the time of this discovery that this was the "Wolf" mentioned in the Asylum records, based on the similar sir name and the asylum record recorded as his being Aaron's "brother". To date, it has NOT been established that the Wolf Kosminski, Master Tailor, who resided at #23 Baker St, Stepney, had any connection with Aaron Kosminski, nor that this "Wolf" had ever resided at #3 Sion Square. Indeed, he may have been totally unrelated to Aaron, or perhaps he was a distant relative. What we do know is that Woolf Abrahams resided at #3 Sion Square from the 1890 birth certificate of Matilda to Betsy and Woolf.
Interestingly enough, the Swanson Marginilia describes the suspect's return to his BROTHER'S house in Whitechapel after the alleged identification at the Seaside Home, before being sent to Stepney Workhouse, thence to Colney Hatch. This may have strengthened the argument that Aaron did, indeed, have a brother residing in Whitechapel, who was subsequently identified as "Wolf".
When Aaron Kosminski was moved from Colney Hatch to the Leavensden Asylum, on 19 April 1894, his nearest relative was listed as "Mother, Mrs. Kosminski, of 63 New Street, New Road, Whitechapel" (Leavensden Asylum, Orders for Asylum Patients, No. 7367, from Sugden, Complete History JTR, 1995, p. 404, 521). Unfortunately, we have no further information. Who was "Mrs. Kosminski"? Was she Elizabeth? If she was, where was Issac at this time? It was (and still is) common practice in patriachal societies like the U.S., the U.K. and European Nations for the male head of a family to typically grant permission to institutionalize another insane family member, that is, unless the father-figure is dead, or indisposed. Why does "Mrs. Kosminski" suddenly appear, and where were sons-in-law Woolf Abrahams and Morris Lubnowski by this time? Perhaps the family events of the past few years had taken a toll on both the immediate family and their in-laws, the latter "washing their hands" of the Kozminski family.
A caveat to the above paragraph: Why was Aaron transfered from Colney Hatch to the Levensden Asylum in 1894? His incarceration at Colney Hatch lasted approximately 3 years. Then, without any known reason, he is transfered. It may be, perhaps, because his FATHER was also incarcerated at Colney Hatch, and authorities were attempting to extract incriminating evidence fron Aaron, who may have known of his father's activities. To speculate further: The father dies shortly after his confinement. The mother of Aaron, not wishing to inflict any further grief or guilt on an already fragile psyche, certifies his transfer to another asylum to alleviate the terrible memories.
A birth certificate records the daughter Jane, born to Matilda (nee Kozminski) and Morris Lubnowski on 15 December, 1888. The address is 16 Greenfield St, the same address as given in the February, 1891 admission record. However, the April 1891 Census records 16 Greenfield St as being "unoccupied" (Ripperana, no. 11, Jan 1995, p. 14). Thus, it would appear that the Lubnowskis had left sometime between Dec. 1888 and April 1891. It is to recalled, however, that Aaron was readmitted to the Mile End Old Town Infirmary from this address on 4 February, 1891. It is likely, perhaps, that the Lubnowskis lived at this address for another one or two months, following Aaron's readmission. And yet, recall a newspaper account apparently derived from the MacNaghten Memorandum, that the suspect was the sole occupant of a certain premises in Whitechapel after night-fall (sorry, I havn't the specific reference).
To digress a little: Admittedly the Leather Apron connection is weak, as with all arguments citing various suspects. After re-reviewing sources concerning Pizer and having suspicions of my own about "Leather Apron" for about 25 years, I would reiterate that Leather Apron was never caught. I think, moreover, that there was uncertainty among both the police and the Whitechapel populace as to who Leather Apron really was. Sgt. Thicke certainly had known Pizer for many years, but the matter of his innocence was hastly concluded at his hearing (and rightly so), but his acquittal did little to quell the persistent discussion and fear among the locals of repeated sightings of this individual in the area. It is unfortunate that there are no surviving reports concerning friend "Mickeldy Joe", who police would certainly have interviewed if they had found him. The fact that "Mickeldy Joe" never appeared at Pizer's inquest would seem to suggest that there was no known connection between them (But enough! This is a Kosminski webpage).
Finally, how common a name was "Ko(z)(s)minski in the East End of this sprawling Metropolis, replete with mass immigration towards the turn of the nineteenth century? I think one of the focal points to a Kosminski-Goulston St-JTR connection has to be the name that has come down to us, "Betsy Kosminski", presumably Aaron's younger sister. Her name, as we have seen, is linked to #76 Goulston St around the relevant time, and is also linked to Aaron by the #3 Sion Square address. Presumably, Betsy was named after her mother, Elizabeth, but went formally by "Betsy". Intuitively, I would think this would have been a rather uncommon first name for the daughter of Polish immigrants, even though named after her foreign-born mother, and she, herself born in Whitechapel. The point is that this rather "uncharacteristic" name has provided us with an extraordinary series of connections, I believe, to the possible identity of JTR.
My thanks to David Radka and Wolf for their early comments to this study. |
Author: D. Radka
Friday, 23 April 1999 - 01:42 pm | | Scott,
Please be mindful that all of "Elizabeth", "Betsey" and "Wolf" may be anglicizations of foreign names. "Woolf" or "Woolfe" becomes "Wolf", "Zuzannah" becomes "Susan," "Reinhardt" becomes "Richard," "Amelia" becomes "Emily," "Gerhard" becomes "Gary," etc. My point is that if the Kosminskis and their extended clan were a group that demonstrably practiced one anglicization (e.g., "Betsey,") they may have practiced others.
David |
Author: Caz
Saturday, 24 April 1999 - 07:34 am | | Yeah, David, you have a point. What better way for a 'foreigner' to try to be accepted into a strange and racist community than by adopting the indigenous type of nomenclature (where the f... did that come from??) It would have been ten times worse in Victorian times, but we still have the same thing nowadays.
I personally find it sad if a need is felt to change one's given name in order to get a sense of 'belonging'. If it's done out of affection for their new home, that's great. But otherwise it says strange things about the community in which these folk find themselves. We have local Chinese fish and chip shops which call themselves Fred's Plaice or Roger's Crispy Cod Piece (well, nearly accurate...), rather than risk using real Chinese names which might turn the customers away.
Sorry for digressing...
Love,
Caz |
Author: Scott Nelson
Thursday, 20 May 1999 - 07:11 am | | Let us consider something which most previous researchers have not: that what if almost everything Robert Anderson and Donald Swanson said about their suspect were true. That is, how they remembered the facts because they were witnesses to the actual events: that the suspect was identified by a witness, that he was returned to his brother’s house, that he was watched by police day and night; that he was confined at Stepney Workhouse Infirmary, then transfered to Colney Hatch Asylum and died shortly afterwards. Swanson, recounting events as he experienced them first hand, and Anderson, who must have witnessed most of them but didn’t reveal the details, gave matter-of-fact, categorical accounts of what they both observed, i.e., the identification and arrest of JTR. I agree with Paul Begg and others who have stated that Anderson and Swanson were in a better position than their colleagues to know the facts, particularly concerning their prime suspect, “Kosminski”, and that they MEANT what they said about him. Yet, modern researchers discount some of the statements, particularly those made by Swanson, about the details of the incarceration, i.e., asylum records do not confirm the suspect’s initial confinement at Stepney Workhouse or his subsequent death occurring shortly after his transfer to Colney Hatch. This is because the suspect is assumed to be Aaron Kosminski.
I maintain, however, that the above statements are probably true, given the possibility that the suspect was another “Kosminski”. I agree that the only major difference in their recollections is that Swanson said the identification occurred BEFORE the incarceration at Stepney Workhouse. Anderson maintained that it occurred AFTERWARDS. In everything else, they agree. I would say that all of the significant statements concerning the suspect’s identification, arrest and confinement are probably TRUE. It is just that they fit another “Kosminski” more than they do Aaron, the current “suspect” based on existent asylum records.
In 1895, Swanson claimed that the Ripper crimes were the work of a man who was then dead (Pall Mall Gazette, 7 May 1895). This same event was remarked on years later in his Marginilia notes where he maintained that “Kosminski” died shortly after his incarceration at Colney Hatch. Anderson also said that he believed the killer had died in an asylum; to quote from his son Arthur Anderson’s account of his father’s involvement in the case: “Sir Robert states as a fact that the man was an alien from Eastern Europe, and believed that he died in an asylum” (Sir Robert Anderson, a Tribute and Memoir, by Arthur Anderson, 1919, quoted by Nick Connell in Ripperana, no 22, Oct 1997). We know that Aaron Kosminski outlived Anderson by one year. Who was he referring to then? We know that MacNaghten’s draft Memorandum dated 23 February, 1894, alleges that “Kosminski” was still living and incarcerated in March 1889. Considering the above, the “Kosminski” suspect may have died sometime between early 1894 and early 1895.
Swanson’s Marginilia notes state that, “After the suspect had been identified at the Seaside Home where he had been sent by us with difficulty in order to subject him to identification and he knew he was identified.” The place of identification was the Metropolitan Police Convalescent Home (actually, the Police Seaside Home at Hove, located at St Clarendon Villas). In A-Z, it is described as being formally established in 1893, but had been used from 1890-93. Sugden (Complete History JTR, p.409) describes the Home at St. Clarendon Villas, West Brighton, as officially opened in March, 1890, maintaining that if the identification took place PRIOR to incarceration, it would likely have occurred between March 1890 and 7 February, 1891, when Aaron was indefinitely committed to the Colney Hatch Asylum from Mile End Old Town Infirmary. A-Z says that if the Home was used in March, 1890, and again, assuming that Aaron was the suspect, the identification would have taken place at least 18 months after the witness sighting (presumably 30 September, 1888), and 16 months after the last murder (9 November, 1888). This would put the identification sometime after March, 1891. Yet, Aaron was already committed to Colney Hatch by this time (one can only assume that the authors of A-Z put more stock in Anderson’s version of the i.d. because it fits what is known about Aaron to this point).
Assuming Swanson’s notes relate to factual events and that the identification occurred before confinement, the suspect was then watched at his brother’s house by city police day and night, perhaps no longer than a few months, and that after a short time, the suspect was lead to the Workhouse Infirmary with his hands tied behind his back. This does not fit the early asylum profile of Aaron Kosminski. This point in time would bring us, possibly, to the summer of 1891. From Swanson’s wording, one can surmise that the tenure at Stepney did not last very long. This possibility would put the time of the subsequent incarceration at Colney Hatch sometime in late 1891. Yet, this scenario is based on Aaron’s initial asylum confinement, which we know occurred in February, 1891; therefore, Swanson’s reckoning of events must relate to someone else.
Speculation as to why the Seaside Home was used for the identification varies: it was where the witness was staying (i.e., a convalescing policeman), or that it was an out-of-the-way place to obtain a low-publicity identification, in contrast to a police station (where City police would be involved), or at the asylum itself. It seems logical for the identification to have occurred where the witness or the suspect was staying, but it could be considered too public and insecure, particularly if the police (MET) were trying to avoid publicity before making an official arrest. The fewer the number of police officers involved, the more secrecy could be ensured. After all, they were trying to pin JTR, and this was a exceedingly high-profile case, which was being investigated by the City police as well as the MET. This is why the identification did not occur at a police station. So the witness and suspect (one, I think, an asylum patient, the other shortly to be) were brought to the Police Convalescent Home because it was the only locally available, low-profile facility under MET police jurisdiction, that would not attract a great deal of attention. Trevor Spinage cites an 1891 census at the Seaside Home, recording only three borders resident on census night: one Inspector and two Constables (Ripperana, no. 10, Oct. 1994, p.12-14).
Nick Connell, in “Did Kosminski try to return to Colney Hatch?” writes that Leavesden Asylum’s patients were Metropolitan Imbeciles, where chronic infirmity was not due to old age (Ripperana, no. 16, April 1996). It is not clear why such a relatively insecure institution was thought suitable for Aaron Kosminski following his alleged identification as JTR while confined at Colney Hatch, unless it was recorded that Aaron was not violent and not a physical threat to others (we have minor instances in which he was). As late as September, 1893, he could still answer questions about himself. By 13 April, 1894, he is described as “demented and incoherent”, and on 19 April, upon admission to Leavesden, as a “chronic harmless lunatic, idiot or imbecile” (from Sugden Complete History JTR, p.403-04). In other words, by this time not the typical JTR-type suspect.
If we conjecture that the witness and suspect were known to each other, not just from a singular sighting, but from family testimony, the identification could follow thus: father (suspect) and son (witness) are brought together to the Seaside Home because the publicity generated at Colney Hatch, had the identification taken place there, would have made an already uncomfortable situation for witness and suspect worse, as well as requiring extra police to maintain security (and secrecy). The low attendance at the Seaside Home, assuming it extended through the period of the identification, suggests that the police trusted a few MET retirees to confidentiality, perhaps, more so than the medical staff at the asylum. The Metropolitan Police Convalescent Seaside Home is described as having “a room for special cases”, i.e., lunatics. Is this why the identification of JTR took place here? (from Police Review and Parade Gossip, 1893, cited in Ripperana, no. 21, July, 1997, p.28).
With regard to Wolf Kosminski, Master Tailor, resident at 23 Baker St, Stepney, who died at age 86 in 1930, there is no known connection between himself and Aaron Kosminski, although they may have been relatives. Since the sir name of Woolf Abrahams, resident of #3 Sion Square and Aaron’s brother-in-law, was entered as “Wolf” in asylum records, it was thought that by researchers that this was the person who had initially admitted Aaron to the Infirmary in 1890. Aaron would have been 25 years of age, Wolf 46. It has been remarked that this age difference seems a bit odd for brothers, or even brothers-in-law. But if we speculate that, perhaps, Wolf Kosminski had some connection with to the Kozminski family resident at #76 Goulston St., Whitechapel, say perhaps, that he was Issac’s brother or brother-in-law, then the ages between the two become more compatible (Issac 42 or 43, Wolf, 46).
What if Swanson’s statement about the suspect being returned to his brother’s house in Whitechapel actually refers to Wolf Kosminski (the “brother”), who had nothing to do at all with Aaron, but perhaps with Aaron’s father, Issac? What about Wolf’s address in 1930 at 23 Baker St, Stepney? Assuming this may be the brother (Wolf) described in Swanson’s notes, his residence in Stepney (assuming he had lived there 40 years or more!) and the proximity to the Stepney Workhouse Infirmary, where the suspect was led from his brother’s house, presents an interesting coincidence. Would Stepney Workhouse have been the closest place to bring a violent suspect? To wit, Aaron K. was brought to the Mile End Old Town Workhouse Infirmary from his brother-in-law, Woolf Abraham’s residence at Sion Square in July, 1890. He was returned here from 16 Greenfield St. (brother-in-law Morris Lubnowski’s home) on 4 February, 1891. “Kosminski”, the JTR suspect, was taken from his brother’s house, under restraint, subjected to identification at the Seaside Home, then returned to his brother’s home (possibly Wolf Kosminski’s residence in Stepney, although Swanson said it was in Whitechapel). Then the suspect was incarcerated at Stepney Workhouse Infirmary and very shortly afterwards, incarcerated at Colney Hatch Asylum. Aaron and Issac may have been confined together at Colney Hatch. While Aaron was not the violent type of patient suitable for this institution, he may have been committed as a pawn of the police to gather information on his father and to eventually, AGAIN, attempt to testify against him. After his father’s death, Aaron was transferred to the more appropriate Leavesden Asylum for Imbeciles.
This line of reasoning is not totally unlike that used by Martin Fido (Crimes, Death & Detection, JTR, 1987) in that he found a suspect that fit most of the events noted by Anderson and Swanson. In his scenairo, like the one presented above, the events described did not totally match the facts found about Aaron Kosminski in asylum records, in census data, and death certificates. He then tried to find a local suspect who better matched the requisite time-frame, age, incarceration date(s) and suspect motive, and DID (Kaminski/Cohen). The most significant difference between Fido’s approach and the present study (if you could call it that) is that he found existing asylum records of Aaron Kosminski, Kaminski/Cohen and Karnsky. The present study has not found any evidence of Issac Kozminski incarcerated in an asylum.
Adding to the inevitable confusion of names, dates and places, invariably as the case is in a high profile crime where police, other officials and the press become intimately involved, are time-lapses, contamination of evidence gathered haphazardly, and official SECRECY, often necessasy to carry out further investigations unhindered. In sum, it is UNLIKELY that Anderson and Swanson, the two senior police officials closely involved in the case, would misremember important facts concerning their prime suspect, even years after the crimes. After all, the Whitechapel Murders captured world-wide attention at the time. It seems more likely that Anderson/Swanson and Company continued to oversee efforts to obtain a confession from or witness identification of their suspect up until the time of his death in Colney Hatch Asylum.
Afterword: This theory is really a house of cards, as I have intimated before. Behind every bizarre speculation, there is a veritable storehouse of hard facts or simple common-sense observations, any one of which can send the house tumbling down. One observation: that upon Aaron Kosminski’s transfer from Mile End Old Town Infirmary to Colney Hatch Asylum, the Infirmary Relieving Officer, Maurice Whitfield, noted that none of Aaron’s relatives were KNOWN to be insane at the time (notes for the benefit of receiving doctors at Colney Hatch, cited from Sugden, p.402). This may not be as damaging as first imagined; the present study suggests that Issac was a composed psychotic in comparison to Aaron, and that some time had elapsed between his crimes and the unmistakable signs of homicidal mania that led to his arrest in 1891. |
Author: D. Radka
Thursday, 20 May 1999 - 06:25 pm | | Scott,
Do you know for sure that Isaac was Aaron's father? Do you have any information that Isaac was ever committed to an asylum or sentenced to prison? You would appear to be grabbing at straws until you could demonstrate some connective points like these, despite the intensity of your thought.
I appreciate your speculative thinking on the case--this aspect is missing quite often on these pages. Could you please fill us in on what editions of the Ripperologist, and other sources, you are reading to derive your views? Thank you.
David |
Author: Jane T.
Wednesday, 26 May 1999 - 08:46 am | | Hello All
Am I the only one who's visited Kosminski's grave? It's just that a few years ago I heard a speaker telling a crowd of tourists in The Alma PH that there was a significant reward for its location. This was in addition to the LWT documentary in 1988 (anyone remember?) hosted by Paul Ross, which teased us with a first glimpse but refusal to divulge the location. |
Author: Jane T.
Wednesday, 26 May 1999 - 08:49 am | | Hello All
Am I the only one who's visited Kosminski's grave? It's just that a few years ago I heard a speaker telling a crowd of tourists in The Alma PH that there was a significant reward for its location. This was in addition to the LWT documentary in 1988 (anyone remember?) hosted by Paul Ross, which teased us with a first glimpse but refusal to divulge the location. |
Author: adam wood
Wednesday, 26 May 1999 - 09:10 am | | Hi Jane
There's a photo in the JTR A-Z, I believe taken by LWT at the time of their shooting Crime Monthly.
Are you not going to tell us where it is? :-)
Adam |
Author: Paul Begg
Wednesday, 26 May 1999 - 12:23 pm | | | I visited Aaron's grave, Jane. There is no reward for saying where it is! When we did the LWT programme we did not reveal the location of the grave for fear of anti-Semitic vandalism. Then one of the newspapers stupidly published it and I am told that there was some trouble. |
Author: D. Radka
Wednesday, 26 May 1999 - 01:59 pm | | Jane T.,
You wouldn't be Jane Toppan, noted serial murderer, would you?
David |
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