New York, Nov. 19.
The Dr. Tumblety, who was arrested in London on suspicion of complicity in the Whitechapel murders, is
remembered by Brooklynites and New Yorkers as Dr. Blackburn, the Indian herb doctor. He is the fellow,
who in 1860, burst upon the people of Brooklyn as a sort of modern Count of Monte Christo, and cut a
wide swath in the affections of certain susceptible women. After a few months he dropped out of sight
as suddenly as he had appeared, and was next heard of being implicated in the famous yellow fever
importations and "Black bag" plots that the rebel sympathisers tried to develop in New York during the
civil war. Afterwards he visited the city and Brooklyn at about semi-yearly intervals and became a
member of several questionable clubs. Ten years ago he finally disappeared.
Tumblety came to New York in 1864 from Nova Scotia, where he was known as doctor Sullivan. It is claimed Sullivan fled to the States to escape arrest for malpractice, having nearly killed a patient he had been called upon to attend by administering wrong medicines. The authorities were informed of the strange goings on in the doctor's office, but were unable to get sufficient evidence against Sullivan or Tumblety to warrant them taking him into custody. Sixteen or seventeen years since Tumblety had some difficulty with Editor Ralston of Frank Leslie's Weekly. The outcome was a full exposure of his doings in Nova Scotia, and also in this city. He has been known to Inspector Byrne for over twenty years and has always been regarded as a suspicious and mysterious individual.
