Olga Tchkersoff
Olga Tchkersoff was named as Jack the Ripper by author Edwin Thomas Woodhall, in the book When London Walked In Terror. Olga, a 24 year old immigrant from Russia, described as dark, olive skinned and handsome, came to England on 22 February 1887 with her parents and younger sister, blonde, blue eyed, fresh complexioned 19 year old Vera.
Olga, a skilled needlewoman, soon found work from the local Jewish traders, and the family bought a large run down house in Spitalfields, with Olga wishing to use the many rooms in the house for tailoring and dressmaking. Her father Ivan, however had other ideas, he decided to let every room and all available floor space to as many people as was possible, for as much rent as possible. Madame Tchkersoff, herself was apparently not too particular who stayed there.
Vera soon fell under the influence of some of the more undesirable women in the house, and much to the consternation of her elder sister became a prostitute. Her parents spent the rent money on alcohol, and both died in 1888 as a result of drink. Her father Ivan from pneumonia, caused by excessive drinking, and her mother from a fall while in a drunken state.
The death of her parents and the fact that her beloved sister had fallen into prostitution, convinced Olga that this class of creatures who had brought Vera to her ruin, were to blame. She was overheard saying that if she had her way, she'd hack them all to pieces. Her sister Vera died on 28 July 1888 from septic poisoning after an illegal abortion.
Olga quickly cleared the house of all the tenants, except for an old Russian couple, whom she allowed to stay on as caretakers. One day the old housekeeper, who looked after the property, saw Olga dressed in men's clothing. On commenting about this, he was told that she was trying out a new style of clothing for men. Knowing Olga to be a forward looking tailoress, he thought no more of it. A short while later, while she had been away from the property for sometime, he entered her room and began to look around, opening a chest of drawers he discovered wrapped in a towel a large bloodstained clasp knife, and noticed still smouldering in the fire, the partly charred remains of a man's jacket and trousers. Putting all the clues together, the old man realized that Olga was in fact Jack the Ripper. Feeling some empathy towards her, with them both being Russian, plus the fact that he was very fond of her and knew the traumas she had suffered since she came to England, he decided to cover up her crimes, and destroyed all evidence implicating her in the Whitechapel murders. Two days later he set sail for America and dropped the knife overboard.
As truly intriguing as this story is, no evidence nor records have ever been found to prove that Tchkersoff existed.
