Jack the Ripper Suspect ---By Richard Yang

George Chapman
SOURCE A
On of the Retired Chief Inspector Abberline(a detector of thr Scotland yard) told
the Pall Mall Gazette:
"As I say, there are a score of things which make one believe that Chapman is
the man; and you must understand that we have never believed all those stories
about Jack the Ripper being dead, or that he was a lunatic, or anything of that
kind. For instance, the date of the arrival in England coincides with the beginning
of the series of murders in Whitechapel; there is a coincidence also in the fact
that the murders ceased in London when Chapman went to America, while
similar murders began to be perpetrated in America after he landed there. The
fact that he studied medicine and surgery in Russia before he came over here is
well established, and it is curious to note that the first series of murders was the
work of an expert surgeon, while the recent poisoning cases were proved to be
done by a man with more than an elementary knowledge of medicine. The story
told by Chapman's wife of the attempt to murder her with a long knife while in
America is not to be ignored."
SOURCE B
Klosowski's real wife, Lucy Klosowski, who was present in the Central Criminal
Court last week, has made a startling statement as to what occurred in the New
Jersey shop. She states that on one occasion, when she had had a quarrel with
her husband, he held her down on the bed, and pressed his face against her
mouth to keep her from screaming. At that moment a customer entered the
shop immediately in front of the room, and Koslowski got up to attend him. The
woman chanced to see a handle protruding from underneath the pillow. She
found, to her horror, that it was a sharp and formidable knife, which she
promptly hid. Later, Klosowski deliberately told her that he meant to have cut
her head off, and pointed to a place in the room where he meant to have buried
her. She said, 'But the neighbours would have asked where I had gone to.' 'Oh,'
retorted Klosowski, calmly, 'I should simply have told them that you had gone
back to New York.'

SOURCE C:
Abberline attempted to address that issue in the Pall Mall Gazette:

As to the question of the dissimilarity of character in the crimes which one hears
so much about, I cannot see why one man should not have done both, provided
he had the professional knowledge, and this is admitted in Chapman's case. A
man who could watch his wives being slowly tortured to death by poison, as he
did, was capable of anything; and the fact that he should have attempted, in
such a cold-blooded manner, to murder his first wife with a knife in New Jersey,
makes one more inclined to believe in the theory that he was mixed up in the
two series of crimes.

SOURCE D Dear Boss Letter

Background: Born in Poland, George Chapman's polish name was Severin

Antoniovich Klosowski. Though he was a professional surgeon, his actual identity
was a serial killer, known to poison three of his wives and was later prosecuted,
hung after the last murder.
Guilt:
He was suspected as he was similar to a range of characteristics of "Jack the
Ripper":
Had more than elementary medical knowledge
Had a regular job - All murders committed after evenings.
Murders occurred when he was still single - freedom at night.
Personality was homicidal, violent, experience of beating up his wives.
Years later he began to and poison them to death, series killer who changed his
identity.
Arrived in London the time when the first murder took place.
Sources even suggested that he carried out a similar "ripper" style murder when
he was in New York
Had an infamous background

INNOCENCE:
HOWEVER: This suspect is still debatable because of the following:
He preferred slow death, i.e. poisoning rather than instantaneous death with a
knife later on.
White Chapel victims were of a completely different class and age to victims of
poison by Chapman.
The time span between the first killing and poison of his wife was over nine
years.
His Polish/non-english background makes the 'Dear Boss' letter not viable.
(Written at the time when he only just arrived in London.

DISCUSSION ON SUSPECTS GUILT AND INNOCENCE

The Whitechapel murders, a terrifying serial killing in the world history, is
significant for its brutality and that its suspect is still yet to be confirmed
amongst a list of them. George Chapman, a surgeon, is one of whom is highly
likely to be the guilty, infamous Jack the Ripper, nevertheless, several factors still
proves him innocent, just like the cohort of other suspects.

One reason proving Chapmans guilt for the murders is the many similarities he
shared with Jack the Ripper. He was undoubtedly a violent man, had sound
medical knowledge as a surgeon and was busy during week but free on
weekends. Although he was not a popular suspect, a number of detectives still
regarded Chapman as one of the most likely candidates due to his
characteristics, former Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard Abberline was one of
them. In Source A, he told the London paper Pall Mall Gazette that he believed
that George Chapman, hung, was Jack the Ripper. The reasons he provided was
that his timeline was coincidentally matching to the murders and his expertise in
the medical field, Abberline even stated The story told by Chapman's wife of the
attempt to murder her with a long knife while in America is not to be ignored,
suggesting that Chapman had a reputation of being homicidal and extremely
violent specifically towards women, which correlates to Source B, where
Chapmans violence towards his other wife was depicted in detail. Therefore
Chapman had fulfilled a number of characteristics of Jack the Ripper which
proves his guilt, and there is no reason for him to not be suspected.

Chapman was also known to be a serial killer, prosecuted however, for his
multiple killing of wives years after the Whitechapel murders. But there is the
possibility that Chapman was the man behind the two series of crime, simply by
considering the brutality and similarities between both. A man who could watch
his wives being slowly tortured to death by poison... described Abberline in
Source C, Chapman must have had past experience in dealing with
death/murdering if he found slow torturing of his own wife with poison bearable,
therefore we can directly make the assumption of that Chapman had either been
Jack the Ripper or had involvement in other brutal crimes. Although the

method between the two crimes were totally different, they shared the
similarities of being particularly targeted at women and intolerable in terms of
the methods used, both presented extremely outrages methods of murdering
with the total absences of human nature. Thus the possibility of George
Chapman being guilty for both serial killing cannot be eliminated.

Nevertheless, there are reasons behind George Chapman not being the most
believable or popular suspect. Many factors defends Chapmans innocence in the
Whitechapel murders. First is the difference between the methods of killing in the
two serial killings. If he was Jack the Ripper, then why would he prefer the slow
poisoning kill of his wives, revealed in Source A, but not the instant murders like
he did in Whitechapel? Furthermore, the rather suspicious Dear Boss letter,
Source D, was written at the time when Chapman first arrived in London from
Eastern Europe. As seen, clearly, the sentences and grammar in the letter are
natural and cannot show signs that it was by a man who had lived most of the
previous years of his life in a non-English speaking country, therefore it was
highly unlikely for Chapman to have written the Dear Boss letter whose author
is believed to be Jack the Ripper himself, whom should be an Englishman.
However Source D itself is highly doubtable therefore Chapmans innocence is
not strongly supported. Yet the fact that this man had drown little attention from
the officials other than a few detectives like Abberline and the fact that articles
on the man was only released after his prosecution may suggest that his
innocence was likely to be in existence.

To conclude, the solution to the mysterious case of the Whitechapel murders is

clear; there are a list of suspects who shares the common characteristic of being
guilt in some way while having factors that contributes to their innocence, just
like George Chapman, the Polish surgeon who had been hung for poisoning his
wives to death. It has been over a century since the murders and it seems that
this case would always remain unsolved due to the nature of the suspects,
historians would always have to roam between their guilt and innocence to
approach closer to the answer.

SUSPECT PROFILE
George Chapman