On the book of Jack the Ripper
...ast end of London as a place where, “citizens wear a black eye, and no one ever combs his hair…a place that belongs to the unemployed and disorderly drunks”(p.17). This book has the ability to enhance a reader’s knowledge of the Victorian Age of Britain, the cases, the suspects, and the legend of Jack the Ripper. Donald Rumbelow presents the suspects in which, he and other ripperologists believe to be the killer to the reader by supporting their theories with strong facts that may lead the reader to understand who could most likely could have been Jack the Ripper. The arguments presented in this book are neither strong nor weak, but are whether equally distributed among the suspects unlike the facts supporting them. By presenting the facts, the audience can sense that he is not trying to force his ideas and opinions on the reader but instead, Rumbelow wants to present the facts and allow the reader to decide who they feel the murderer may be. The objective of Donald Rumbelow, are the facts that he shows in the book pointing a finger of proof at two certain suspects, Sir William Gull and Mr. M.J. Druitt. Rumbelow goes to state: “One day his landlady, as she was dusting, asked Walter Sickert if he knew the identity of the person previously occupying his room. When told that he didn’t, the landlady replied that it was Jack the Ripper.”(p.152) This statement was the proof that was examined by police against the insane doctor M.J. Druitt. Conversely, Rumbelow also believed strongly against some ripperologist that Sir William Gull could have been Jack the Ripper too. Sir William Gull’s wife asserts, “Her husband had sudden manias for inflecting pain” and “her husband’s absences from home coincided with the time of the murders.” (p.199) I strongly agree more with the facts when Rumbelow presents: “Gull found bloodstains on his shirts and on other occasions scratches on his face which he could not account for.” This evidence of the police report printed in the books lead me to believe Rumbelow and the other Ripperologists mentioned, which the police did too. Donald Rumbelow does a fantastic job of proving the specifics with his documented resources. He uses copies of the original letters supposedly written by Jack the Ripper, including the letters “From Hell to Mister Lusk,” “the Double Event,” and “the Dear Boss letters.” The letters are very important evidence that Rumbelow points out to say, “The signatures on all these letters do not match.”(p.85) Therefore with that said Rumbelow seems to think copycats murders were occurring in White Chapel. Donald Rumbelow also uses old black and white photos of the women disemboweled bodies such as Mary Kelly, and Catherine Eddowes. The pictures are very graphic to what you see, but the picture in way tells its own story. Rumbelow backs up his facts and storylines the pictures tell with actual copies of documents written during the Victorian Era: the police reports, diaries, and the journals of so-called suspects. This book could be second-hand in teaching a class on the Victorian Era of England and the legends of Jack the Ripper. It contains the history and contains the facts to teach the different believes of suspects. In “The Complete Casebook: Jack the Ripper,” Donald Rumbelow states his opinion that the women being in the streets begging for money was an accident waiting to happen when they met the wrong man. Forty year old ladies showing only, but an ankle to lure a mystery men into their reach to give them shelter, pleasure, and little bit of poundage. Jack the Ripper is a legend that will n...