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Bucks County Gazette
Bristol, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
13 December 1888

AH THERE! TUMBLETY
The Notorious Whitechapel Suspect and His Ways and Manners

Tumblety has tumbled to himself, and the detectives are "onto him" in America.

But he isn't Jack the Ripper, the Whitechapel murderer, by a long tumble.

Neither is he the accomplice of Dr. Blackburn, who was accused of a conspiracy to introduce yellow fever into northern cities; nor is he an accomplice of Wilkes Booth, or of Guiteau, though he has been accused of all these and many other bad things. The very curious fact about Tumblety is that he is two totally different men; that is, he has lived two totally distinct lives, and there are two irreconcilable histories given of him, each by witnesses who are positive they are correct.

This much, however, is certain, that he has sought notoriety persistently in many parts of the United States and in England, and has finally got altogether too much of it and of a kind that he does not enjoy; so he now seeks solitude as earnestly as he once sought publicity. Two or three times in his life he has had plenty of money, and enjoyed spending it; but he has outlived that, and since his arrest by the London police and escape by forfeiting his bail he has lived as retired and economically as police surveillance would allow. His real history is coming out by fragments here and there, but as to his origin there are two accounts; one makes him the son of a poor laborer, born in Canada and reared in Rochester, N.Y., with very little education; the other, which is direct from one of his former intimates, makes him the son of a wealthy Irish gentleman from Dublin and a well educated physician.

In 1866 he was a "herb doctor" in Cincinnati and made lots of money, though he privately confessed that all his pills, powders and tonics were made of tanbark. He cured everything, from tetter and pimples to cross eyes and Bright's disease, and had many certificates of his success. He attended high mass at the cathedral, and was preceded to the service by a colored page in gorgeous livery, carrying a big prayer book in a velvet covered stand. This scandalized the worshippers and the "doctor" was requested to worship less ostentatiously or go elsewhere.

He spent the early years of the war in Brooklyn, where his odd dress and the immense dog which accompanied him on the streets attracted much attention. His intimate companion was young Harold, the same who was with Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Lincoln and was hanged for it. Several years later he was an associate in New York of Charles J. Guiteau, who murdered President Garfield. At the close of the war he was arrested on a charge of complicity with an attempt to introduce yellow fever into New York, and he still claims that the authorities robbed him of several thousand dollars in United States bonds.

He calls himself "Doctor Francis Tumblety," and though the oddity of the name suggests that it is assumed, he has been called by it ever since he was first known in America, though the Rochester witnesses think it was there spelled Twombletey (sic). His "herb doctoring" finally became unprofitable in America; so he went to London, located near the Whitechapel road and for a while did a big business. His oddity of manner, dress and speech soon made him notorious as the "American doctor"; but he enjoyed notoriety and turned it into money, till the Whitechapel horrors caused a general overhauling of suspicious characters.

He talked a great deal about the butcheries, dropped mysterious hints and was arrested - probably what he wanted - but it proved unprofitable, for the London courts made it very expensive for him and put him under bail of $1,500 as a fraud and suspicious character. He forfeited his bail, fled to France, and early in December came to New York, travelling very light in the matter of baggage. He is a very tall, dark, queer looking man, with a regular hussar mustache, and certainly has had rare luck in acquiring notoriety.


Related pages:
  Francis Tumblety
       Dissertations: A Slouch Hatted Yank: A Few Thoughts on the Newly Found I... 
       Dissertations: A Theory on Francis Tumblety 
       Dissertations: The Canterbury Encore: The Further Adventures of Dr. Tumb... 
       Dissertations: Tumblety Talks 
       Message Boards: Francis Tumblety 
       Official Documents: The Littlechild Letter 
       Press Reports: Arkansas Gazette - 16 April 1891 
       Press Reports: Arkansas Gazette - 19 April 1891 
       Press Reports: Atchison Daily Globe - 15 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Atlanta Constitution - 21 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 
       Press Reports: Brandon Mail - 22 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 10 May 1864 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 10 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 18 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 19 June 1865 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 2 February 1889 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 27 April 1890 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 28 January 1889 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 4 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 6 May 1864 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 8 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Bucks County Gazette - 20 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Burlington Weekly Hawkeye - 6 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Chicago Tribune - 22 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Chicago Tribune - 22 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Chicago Tribune - 6 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Courier du Canada - 4 November 1857 
       Press Reports: Courier du Canada - 6 November 1857 
       Press Reports: Daily Alta California - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Examiner - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Examiner - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Sun - 22 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Decatur Daily Herald - 26 June 1889 
       Press Reports: Decatur Review - 19 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 11 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 17 April 1862 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 19 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 2 June 1865 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 21 April 1862 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 21 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 27 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 3 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 30 June 1862 
       Press Reports: Evening Star - 4 December 1861 
       Press Reports: Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel - 18 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel - 19 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Frederick News - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Frederick News - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Frederick News - 5 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Galveston Daily News - 7 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Hamilton Evening Times - 29 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Hamilton Evening Times - 8 May 1865 
       Press Reports: Hornesville Weekly Tribune - 21 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Irish Canadian - 12 October 1875 
       Press Reports: Manitoba Daily Free Press - 29 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Manitoba Daily Free Press - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 14 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 16 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 23 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 24 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 25 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 26 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 28 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Montreal Pilot - 30 September 1857 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 10 July 1860 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 11 August 1860 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 13 September 1860 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 14 August 1860 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 16 October 1860 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 27 September 1860 
       Press Reports: Morning Freeman - 39 September 1860 
       Press Reports: New York Herald - 19 November 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Herald - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Herald - 21 November 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Herald - 26 June 1903 
       Press Reports: New York Herald - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 10 June 1865 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 19 November 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 26 June 1903 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 5 May 1865 
       Press Reports: New York Times - 7 May 1865 
       Press Reports: New York Tribune - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: New York World - 19 November 1888 
       Press Reports: New York World - 2 December 1888 
       Press Reports: New York World - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: New York World - 5 December 1888 
       Press Reports: New York World - 6 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Newark Daily Advocate - 30 May 1903 
       Press Reports: Oakland Daily Evening Tribune - 8 December 1890 
       Press Reports: Olean Democrat - 3 January 1889 
       Press Reports: Olean Democrat - 7 February 1889 
       Press Reports: Olean Democrat - 8 August 1889 
       Press Reports: Perth Courier - 26 November 1858 
       Press Reports: Pittsburgh Daily Chronicle and Telegraph - 27 November 18... 
       Press Reports: Reno Evening Gazette - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser - 4 April 1881 
       Press Reports: Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser - 5 April 1881 
       Press Reports: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - 23 June 1905 
       Press Reports: Rochester Democrat and Republican - 3 December 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Chronicle - 18 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Chronicle - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Chronicle - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Daily Morning Call - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Daily Report - 21 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Daily Report - 23 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Examiner - 25 November 1888 
       Press Reports: San Francisco Examiner - 27 November 1888 
       Press Reports: St. Thomas Weekly Dispatch - 20 March 1862 
       Press Reports: St. Thomas Weekly Dispatch - 28 March 1861 
       Press Reports: Syracuse Herald - 30 November 1888 
       Press Reports: The Headquarters - 12 February 1862 
       Press Reports: Times [London] - 1 December 1873 
       Press Reports: Times [London] - 17 July 1886 
       Press Reports: Trenton Times - 19 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Trenton Times - 4 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Trenton Times - 6 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Vallejo Chronicle - 20 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Vanity Fair - 3 August 1861 
       Press Reports: Washington Post - 18 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Washington Post - 19 November 1890 
       Press Reports: Washington Post - 21 March 1905 
       Press Reports: Washington Post - 22 April 1891 
       Press Reports: Williamsport Sunday Grit - 9 December 1888 
       Ripper Media: A Few Passages in the Life of Dr. Francis Tumblety 
       Ripper Media: Dr. Francis Tumblety: A Sketch of the Life of the Gifted,... 
       Ripper Media: Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide - Francis Tumblety 
       Ripper Media: Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer 
       Ripper Media: Narrative of Dr. Tumbletyy 
       Ripper Media: The Writings of Francis Tumblety 
       Suspects: Francis Tumblety 
       Suspects: Francis Tumblety's Grave 
       Victorian London: Batty Street