Introduction
Victims
Suspects
Witnesses
Ripper Letters
Police Officials
Official Documents
Press Reports
Victorian London
Message Boards
Ripper Media
Authors
Dissertations
Timelines
Games & Diversions
Photo Archive
Ripper Wiki
Casebook Examiner
Ripper Podcast
About the Casebook


Most Recent Posts:
Witnesses: The Stride Murder - by NotBlamedForNothing 3 minutes ago.
Casebook Announcements: Security Patch Update - by Admin 42 minutes ago.
Pub Talk: Senator Gerard Rennick... - by Svensson 56 minutes ago.
Lechmere/Cross, Charles: The Darkness of Bakers Row - by A P Tomlinson 1 hour ago.
Witnesses: A closer look at Eagle and Lave - by Wickerman 2 hours ago.
Annie Chapman: 29 Hanbury Street - by John Wheat 4 hours ago.
Witnesses: A closer look at Eagle and Lave - by Lewis C 4 hours ago.
Witnesses: A closer look at Eagle and Lave - by Lewis C 4 hours ago.

Most Popular Threads:
Witnesses: The Stride Murder - (47 posts)
Lechmere/Cross, Charles: The Darkness of Bakers Row - (39 posts)
Witnesses: A closer look at Eagle and Lave - (15 posts)
Witnesses: John Richardson - (8 posts)
Annie Chapman: 29 Hanbury Street - (3 posts)
Elizabeth Stride: What's in a name? - (2 posts)


 Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide 
This text is from the E-book Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide by Christopher J. Morley (2005). Click here to return to the table of contents. The text is unedited, and any errors or omissions rest with the author. Our thanks go out to Christopher J. Morley for his permission to publish his E-book.

William Holt

Holt was a doctor at St Georges hospital, who also thought of himself as a bit of a detective, he donned various disguises and went patrolling the East End hoping to capture Jack the Ripper. On 11 November, two days after the murder of Mary Kelly, when fear of the Ripper was at an all time high, Holt, dressed in one of his disguises, stepped out of the shadows wearing spectacles and with his face blackened with burnt cork. His strange appearance frightened a woman called Humphreys in George Yard, almost at the exact spot where Martha Tabram had been murdered. When she asked him what he wanted he simply laughed and ran away, her screams of, 'Murder', drew a crowd, who quickly encircled Holt. He was rescued just in time by the police as sticks were brandished and cries of, 'Lynch him', could be heard coming from the angry crowd. He was arrested, but was released the following day after he was able to satisfactorily prove his innocence. Described by the press as about 35 years of age, 5ft 7"tall, with a dark complexion and dark moustache, he wore no waistcoat but had an ordinary jersey beneath his coat, in his pocket he had a double peaked light check cap and was bareheaded. In press reports his spectacles were described as, 'White painted rings around his eyes', and thus was referred to as the white eyed man.







« Previous Suspect Next Suspect »


Related pages:
  William Holt
       Press Reports: Daily Telegraph - 12 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Echo - 12 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Manchester Guardian - 12 November 1888