California, U.S.A.
23 November 1888
A Local Celebrity Arrested in London on Suspicion of Being Connected With the Whitechapel Butcheries.
Something About the Antecedents of Dr. F. Tumblety.
Since the dispatch from London, announcing that Dr. Tumblety had been arrested on suspicion of being connected with the Whitechapel murders, appeared in the local papers, Chief Crowley has been investigating Tumblety's antecedents.
He has ascertained that Dr. Tumblety arrived here in April, 1870, and stopped at the Occidental Hotel. He then opened an office at 20 Montgomery street and remained here until the following September, when he disappeared.
While he was living in this city he opened an account with the Hibernia Savings Bank and deposited certain sums, which he has not drawn out even to this day. The next heard of Tumblety, after he left here, was from New York in the following year.
C.F. Smythe, an employe (sic) of the Hibernia Bank, was very well acquainted with the doctor. He first made his acquaintance in Toronto in 1858. In that city he was looked upon as an oddity. It was his habit to parade about the streets profusely decorated with medals.
Owing to his condemnable habits his practice gradually left him, until finally he was compelled to turn his hand to something else. While in this city it is said that Tumblety's morals were of the lowest order. The practice he enjoyed was confined almost entirely to the disreputable classes.
Specimens of his handwriting are still preserved at the Hibernia Bank. Chief Crowley, deeming that a copy of these specimens might be serviceable to the London detective police, telegraphed on the 19th inst., asking if they desired them. Yesterday he received a dispatch from Henderson, Chief of the London detective force, stating that they would be very thankful for the specimens, and requesting that they be sent.
In one of the dispatches received concerning Tumblety, it was stated that he was in the habit of walking about the streets clad in odd attire. A prominent feature of his dress was his high-top boots. A few yards behind him, it was usual for him to have a colored boy, in livery, conducting two huge greyhounds.
Chief Crowley says that this is a mistake. The person who was in the habit of performing such freaks was a Dr. Stanley, who had an office at 634 Washington street. Stanley was a ponderous Englishman, 6 feet 2 inches in height, who conducted himself on the street in the manner attributed to Tumblety. Stanley finally left here and went to Honolulu.