Jack the Ripper: Case Study

Lesson 3: A Host of Ripper Suspects and Theories

Francis Tumblety - An American Suspect

American Francis Tumblety was investigated by Scotland Yard at the time of the murders. He was rediscovered as a suspect in 1993 when some old papers were found in which Chief Inspector Littlechild identified him as the suspect whose name had been lost for over 100 years.

Not much is known about his early years. There are conflicting views on where he was born, but it is believed he hailed either from Ireland or Canada. Tumblety set himself up as a doctor in Canada and many places throughout the United States, though his credentials were questionable and it is believed he was a "quack" with little medical education or training.

In Canada, one of his patients died after taking medicine prescribed by him and Tumblety had to make a hasty retreat. He then moved to Boston. During the Civil War he professed to be a Union army surgeon.

Wherever he went, he had a pomp and arrogance about him, and was several times arrested for wearing military garb and medals he had not earned. Tumblety used many aliases and was even under suspicion for the Lincoln assassination. He was cleared of this charge.

In the late 1860's, Tumblety left America for England. He found himself in trouble with the law on several occasions, mostly for homosexual activity. Tumbelty was known to have a profound hatred for women.

He was fond of aliases and disappearing without a trace. He was in London at the time of the Ripper murders and may have been the infamous "Batty Street Lodger."

He had some anatomical knowledge and was known to collect female wombs. This, more than anything else, makes him a likely candidate for being Jack the Ripper. That, and the fact that the Ripper murders stopped after he fled England.

Tumblety was a suspect in the Whitechapel murders, but he fled first to France, then to the United States. He could not be arrested and sent back to England because there was not enough proof to extradite him. His escapades were followed closely in the American newspapers but not the British ones.

Though he was considered a serious suspect in the Ripper murders, there was never enough evidence to bring charges against him. There is some proof that he was in police custody for some other crime when Mary Kelly was murdered, and that may be the reason he was not charged with the murders. Though suspicion hung about him all of his life, he was never arrested and died in St. Louis a wealthy man.

For more information on this suspect go to Casebook: Jack the Ripper

For Further Reading: Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer explores the theory that Tumblety was Jack the Ripper.

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