DEEMING IS ADMITTED TO BE THE WHITECHAPEL FIEND
Melbourne, April 8.
The defence of Deeming, the murderer, is to be of an extraordinary character. It will be in substance that owing to a pre-natural impression on his mother, who happened to be frightened by the butchery of an animal, he was born with an irresistible mania for homicide, which was gratified at every opportunity and with unnatural cunning. No attempt will be amde to deny that he has been guilty of any of the crimes attributed to him, the defence resting solely on insanity. The greater the murders laid to his charge the better satisfied the defence will be. There is and will be no denial that he is "Jack the Ripper", and that he committed several, if not all, of the crimes laid to the charge of that mysterious assassin.
The government will be asked to pay the expense of Deeming's witness from England, as his relations are very poor. Deeming appears to be breaking down.
London, April 8.
The evidence pointing to the identity of Deeming with "Jack the Ripper" is growing stronger. Last evening Deeming's appearance was found to tally almost exactly with the only authentic description of the Ripper recorded at Scotland Yard. This description was given by a man who left the Duke street club house on the night of September 30, 1888, shortly before the murder of Mrs. Eddowes, the Ripper's sixth victim. Shortly before reaching Mitre square he noticed a man and woman in the Mitre passage. The woman was Mrs. Eddowes. The man was about 35 years old, square shouldered, and had a heavy sandy moustache. It is certain, moreover, that Deeming was in London at that time. The only statement to the contrary is made by detective Brandt, who says that to the best of his recollection Deeming was then in the Transvaal. This statement, however, is discredited by reports from the Cape.
