Cross may have told Coroner Wynne Baxter that he usually left home at 3.20 and arrived at Broad Street at four oclock, but on Friday he was late and left home at 3.30. When Mizen arrived at the scene another PC was there, PC Neil. In another instance, the surname for a man and his wife is given as Cross, but, on turning the page, their children are named Crass. Listen also to Maurice Lewis and she was still alive at 10am. 10,490 views Jan 28, 2021 188 Dislike Share Save Wandering Crystal 620 subscribers Was Charles Lechmere/Charles Cross more than an innocent bystander in the infamous Jack the Phillips placed the time of death between 3.30 and 4.30. Have you booked your place on our tour yet? The Bell Club incident, and the 1887 attack on Aaron Abrahams, "Momfluencers" Force Children into "Correction Helmets" That Reshape Their Skulls, Photo Story - Hermit Who Lived Alone in Maine Woods for Over 30 Years Arrested, Testimonies of Charles Cross and PC John Neil. However, serious arguments that Elizabeth Stride was not victim of the Ripper have been put forward and with some of these I tend to agree. The Charles Cross who was in Bucks Row in 1888 was never a Ripper suspect. Or was he one of the CCs who appear in census records as patients, prisoners or inmates? The witness replied, "I am not going to touch her.". James is the SEO Manager here at Patty360. His wagon may have been being loaded or unloaded nearby while he dealt with Chapman. The official records for the Nichols Inquest have not been found. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The detail of Crosss involvement with the murders is fairly straightforward. Working for Pickfords, Cross may have travelled throughout Britain in the years before and after 1888. Working for Pickfords, Cross may have travelled throughout Britain in the years before and after 1888. In the Daily News story, Cross claimed that he was behind time. Either no one noticed, or bothered to correct, the earlier sentence in which Cross had been called George. In July 1889 Alice McKenzie, like Catharine Eddowes, could have been killed while Cross was returning home to Doveton Street, or the Victoria Home in Whitechapel Road. It was dark, and I was hurrying along, when I saw a man standing where the woman was. On census night this person lodged at the Victoria Home in Whitechapel Road, very close to Doveton Street. The hands were cold and limp, and the witness said to the other man, "I believe she's dead." Robert Paul was found by a reporter for Lloyds Weekly on the night of the murder and the interview was published on Sunday, the day before Cross gave evidence to the Coroner: It was exactly a quarter to four when I passed up Bucks-row to my work as a carman for Covent-garden market. He was not a gentleman, or a Mason, or a relative of a policeman, or a middleclass suicide, or a demented doctor, or a famous painter. William Warner, of 25, Henry Street, deposed to seeing the accident, and said that he heard the driver shout, but the horse was then on the child. They became his victims when they encountered him at a time and in a place in which he felt safe in carrying out his fantasies. Lechmere had claimed that Paul was 30 seconds behind him, yet Paul was clear he saw no one walking ahead of him in the alleyway. Decide that a member of the royal family, a painter or a mad Freemason killed these women and you can plot the events and invent connections, but take a real man, for whom only a few facts are known, and it becomes obvious how little was really known about the murders in 1888. As a killer, Cross would have been murdering, with the obvious exception of Kelly, within his own generation. Either the census taker made a slight mistake or his writing was wrongly transcribed when indexes were compiled. A man who would have reason to be on the streets early in the night. After this 1891 recording, Charles Crass disappears from future census returns. had collapsed or the claim was not true. Paul was also clear that there was no visible blood at the scene, he didnt even realize Nichols was dead yet when PC Neil found the body two minutes after the man had left, blood had pooled. Yet he was found kneeling over a Ripper victim who had been killed just moments before in a deserted street where there was no one else to be seen. Who do you credit as the most reliable witnesses? Crosss connection with at least three murder sites should have brought him to their attention. had collapsed or the claim was not true. The policeman answered "All right.". There was no suspicion that Cross was anything more than the harmless witness he appeared. You can read about his candidature in this article. Killing inside was something new. An even more important question may be, what time did he arrive in Bucks Row? The other man left the witness soon afterwards. Most of their suggestions cannot be taken seriously, and include English novelist George Gissing, Britis On the morning of 31 August 1888 he was walking through Bucks Row on his way to Pickfords depot in Broad Street when he found the body of Polly Nichols. He was found very near to the boy. Was it a holiday treat? If Cross was lying, and left Doveton Street at his normal time of 3.20, he had time to meet and kill Nichols. Charles Cross has not been identified in other census records because there are so many people with that name that it has proved impossible, so far, to positively identify the correct man. I believe he first presented himself in the morning. The man, who might be the witness Charles Cross, appears in the census as Charles Crass. In April of 1888, Emma Smith died as the result of an assault she was subjected to in Osborn and Wentworth Streets. Charles Cross is not the most romantic solution to the Jack the Ripper murders, but he may be the right one. Charles Cross has not been identified in other census records because there are so many people with that name that it has proved impossible, so far, to positively identify the correct man. Charles Cross, carman to Pickford and Co., said that he was crossing with his van from Copenhagen Street to Elizabeth Street, when two children seemed to come from behind a trap that was standing on the off-side, all in instant, running against his horses. Believing it to be a tarpaulin, he went to inspect it, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw that it was, in fact, a woman lying on her back. He may have killed before, and may not have stopped in 1888. The double event, the killings of Elizabeth Stride and Catharine Eddowes, could have been performed by Cross. All times are GMT. The newcomer could be attacked, if he had seen too much, or could be used to establish the illusion that Cross was just the discoverer of Nichols and not her killer. He tried to pull up, but he found that it was impossible. Dr. Hindhough of Barnsbury Road, deposed that the deceased was brought to his surgery in a dying state. He left home on Friday at twenty minutes past three, and got to Pickfords yard at Broad-street at four oclock. The Times agreed, reporting that Cross stated that he left home on Friday morning at 20 minutes past three, and he arrived at his work, at Broad-street, at four oclock. In 1888, Pickfords was a long-established British firm of carriers who are still in business today. In 1888, and after, Cross was accepted as an ordinary carman going to work who had the misfortune to discover a corpse in Bucks Row. He stepped back and waited for the new-comer, who started on one side, as if he feared that the witness was about to knock him down. Charles Cross is a serious suspect for the Whitechapel murders. For 130 years no murder case has gripped the history of crime quite like Jack the Ripper. In 1858, Charles' mother remarried, to Thomas Cross, a policeman and 2 Michael Bilton, Wicked Beyond Belief: Both men claimed to have been in regular employment and possibly both owned alarm clocks and were giving approximately correct estimates of the time they metthough it is always possible that they were knocked up by local policemen on their beat and were making guesses at the time. Consider some of the Whitechapel murders as morning killings committed by a local man on his way to work and the others as crimes that occurred on his return journey. Born Charles Allen Lechmere in 1849, St Anne's, Soho, son of John Allen Lechmere and Maria Louisa (nee Roulson). Cross and Robert Paul notified Constable Mizen of the presence of Polly Nicholss body. Perhaps she was too befuddled to suggest a discreet place to go. Holmgren put Lechmeres version of that nights events to the test. Both Sarah Lewis and Elizabeth Prater heard a cry of murder about 4amwhich would conveniently fit Crosss workday timetable. The van was going slowly. Was Jack the Ripper a Member of the Royal Family? There are places called Waterbeach and Wisbech. The woman's legs were uncovered. The killings were a very small part of Jack the Rippers life. Charles Cross was the man who found the body of Jack the Ripper victim Mary Nichols at around 3.40am on August 31st, 1888. On the morning of 31 August 1888 he was walking through Bucks Row on his way to Pickfords depot in Broad Street when he found the body of Polly Nichols. The witness said to the man, "Come and look over here. The Daily Telegraph claimed he had worked for Pickfords for more than twenty years. August 31st, 1888 - Found the body of Mary Ann Nichols in Buck's Row, Whitechapel. For example, a couple shown as Charles and Emma Crass in one census reappear in another as Charles and Emma Cross. The Daily News and the Evening News (1 September 1888) published a statement by the doctor in which he gave the time as about five minutes to four this morning. 1849 - Born Charles Lechmere in Soho, London. Mizen, not realising the seriousness of what he was told, allowed the two men to continue on to work. WebMost Notorious 11.8K subscribers No historical true crime case is more hotly debated around the world than the one involving the near-mythical serial killer "Jack the Ripper". His companion that morning, Charles Cross, is worth considering as a suspect for the Whitechapel murders. A re-enactment, including the policemen walking their beats, would be helpful. Paul said that he had been concerned by the presence of the man. They may not be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the copyright holder. The driver tried to pull up but the wheels went over the deceased. The possibility that the murderer was a local person was taken seriously: at the end of September the Metropolitan Police issued posters appealing for information on women murdered in or near Whitechapel, supposed by some one residing in the immediate neighbourhood. This ordinary carman in his ordinary apron at the Nichols inquest may have been a 43-year-old local working On the way, he found a woman lying prone in the street, with her skirt raised above her waist. The body of Annie Chapman was found that morning in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street. So what are the other murders? If the name Crass is correct then there do not seem to be any other previous census records for him. Your email address will not be published. Charles Cross Involved In The Death Of A Boy - 1876. In the 1891 census Charles Crass may be the carman Charles Cross who lived in Doveton Street in 1888. Not unreasonably, Cross, who claimed to have a stable work record, could be expected to be living at the same address or in the same area when the 1891 census took place. Cross, with the exception of Kelly, is widely regarded as a murderer as a child, and he would have committed that crime in his own generation. Our knowledge of Cross is limited to the surviving police records, which are basic and uninformative, and the sometimes contradictory newspaper articles in which he is briefly mentioned. This ordinary carman in his ordinary apron at the Nichols inquest may have been a 43-year-old local working man, married, in a settled position, simply on his way to work when he found a body. He was part of the Nichols murder paperwork, pigeonholed as the carman witness who discovered her body. In considering Charles Cross as a suspect, the time he left his home in Doveton Street is crucial, but the information given by the newspapers was contradictory. The Daily Mail also stated that it was possible Lechmere had been around the body for approximately nine minutes. Had the killer of Polly Nichols completed his cutting or was he interrupted? It's not a bad theory, but I wish you'd stopped short of using the "p" word. This death may have triggered the later murders and this bloody episode in April may have helped turn a mans fantasies into reality the following autumn. But new research 124 years later shows Cross gave a false name to police. There was nobody in Buck's Row when we left. ", The Coroner:- "Did the other man tell you who he was? According to the oft-told account of what happened that morning, Charles Cross was on his way to work when he noticed something lying in a gateway on Bucks Row. Martha Tabram was murdered on a route Cross could have taken to work at a time when he was in the area. If they continued only a few streets further to the east, they would have included Doveton Street. This, if correct, would make Cross at least in his mid- to late-30s and possibly much older. The middle names given by the newspapers, Allen and Andrew, may be a confusion with the pronunciation. So where was Lechmere? Still, assuming that Crass was Charles Cross, then in 1888 he would have been about 43. In the census there does not seem to be a woman named Crass who appears to be living apart from her husband in London. Charles Cross is a serious suspect for the Whitechapel murders. Hundreds of suspects have been proposed, what seems certain is the killer must have been an unremarkable man who lived anonymously among in the crowd. What follows is an examination of Cross as a suspect and conjecture about how he might have carried out the Whitechapel murders. Dr Bond estimated her time of death between one and two oclock that morning. Dr Llewellyn, a local doctor who lived close by, was wakened by the police and came to the murder site. On the morning of 31 August 1888 he was walking through Bucks Row on his way to Pickfords depot in Broad Street when he found the body of Polly Nichols. If it was him, these were not careful and cunningly executed atrocities because he was murdering and carelessly littering his daily path with bodies. As police struggled to keep pace with the continuing murders, Cross vanished from their investigation. In reporting the inquest on 4 September, 1888, The Times gave Crosss first name as George. Ironically one of the witnesses, Elizabeth Long (or Durrell as in some reports), stated at the Inquest that her husband was a cart minder (The Daily Telegraph, 11 September 1888). Because Crass is an uncommon name, it is easier to trace an individual with that surname through the different census years. A man who had got away with so much may have felt like experimenting. Charles Cross was a very common name. If he left at 3.30, he still had time for a blitz attack on Nichols before he was interrupted. He is suspected by some as having been the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. Why not fabricate a whole new name to hide his true identity and keep his family say. Why did Lechmere lie at the inquest? Cross neither saw anyone nor heard anything, but perhaps there was a witness. The women were encountered and they led the killer to places in which they felt secure to have sex. As the Morning Advertiser account continued, it dealt with Crosss own evidence but now referred to him as Charles Allen Cross. Did he live on, perhaps into the 1920s? Ripper books have maps of the murder sites that end just beyond the place where Nichols was murdered. Charles Lechmere considerably less so. The inescapable conclusion is that Paul had arrived moments after Nichols had been murdered. Cross may be the innocent man he appeared in 1888, but he may also have been Jack the Ripper. He was only classed as a witness after claiming he must have disturbed the killer. Books and films about the Ripper assume that a cart-driver named Charles Cross found Polly Nichols body. He has worked as a content writer for various local and national news sites covering entertainment and tech. George Morris said that he worked at Kearley and Tonge, but does he give his adress? In that instance the killer met and killed her on the street. So unimportant was he that the Star did not even bother giving his namethough mentioning that at the inquest he wore a coarse sacking apron. If yes, chances are that you want to watch all the new releases without any Willy Woo is an on-chain analyst and investor with an estimated net worth of $10 million. As a killer, Cross would have been murdering, with the obvious exception of Kelly, within his own generation. Modern understanding of the Nichols murder is at odds with reporting of the time. In recent years, however, his name has turned up on the ever growing list of Jack the Ripper suspects.. For a 120 of those years one man has remained buried in the evidence. Between his home in Doveton Street and his work at Broad Street lay the area in which the murders took place. When they were murdered Tabram was 39, Nichols 43, Chapman 47, Stride 45, Eddowes 46, Kelly 25, and Alice McKenzie 40. Nor does a Charles Crass or Cross appear to have been born at Waterbeach or Wisbech in 1845and in the previous ten years there does not seem to be a Charles Crass or Cross born in Cambridgeshire who may be the 1891 adult. Taken to her room, it was the first time he saw clearly what he was doing, and he also saw the bloodstains on his own clothes. I saw no one after leaving home, except the man that overtook me, the Constable in Baker's Row, and the deceased. Cross is a common name, but Crass is uncommon. The murders, so far, could have been done going to and from work. Given the more extensive injuries in the later crimes, it would have been reasonable for contemporary investigators to consider, as they reviewed the series of crimes, whether the murderer had completed his mutilation of Polly Nichols or whether he had been interrupted. On the night of the murder, a policeman had passed by the murder site 15 minutes before she was killed and seen nothing untoward. He didn't give his 'correct' name. Mizen, not realising the seriousness of what he was told, allowed the two men to continue on to work. He could flee or wait for the man to approach. He and the other man left the deceased, and, in Baker';s Row, they saw the last witness (Police Constable Mizen), whom they told that a woman was lying in Buck's Row. The murders were opportunistic. Accept this timing and, as Vanderlinden suggested, we are left with [a] killer who murdered at a time consistent with the deaths of Martha Tabram and Polly Nichols.1, If the traditional time of about 5.30 is correct, though, then it is not impossible that Cross arrived at Pickfords at 4am and began his workday by driving to Spitalfields Market. The women offered themselves to him and set up their death scenes. She was murdered in Bucks Row, a long street without immediate escape routes. Jack the Ripper may have been caught in the act, and have been allowed by a police officer to walk away from the crime in the company of a witnesssomeone who did not realise the importance of what he had seen. There is no explanation for why a married man with a job was a lodger in a mens home. They both went across to the body, and the witness took hold of her hands, while the other man stopped over her head to look at her. The driver called out, and the witness then saw the deceased reel against the near side shaft of the van, about two feet from the pavement. Look for a murderer after the finding of Martha Tabrams body and there is no madman running away, just workmen trudging to work. ", The Witness "No: because I did not see a policeman in Buck's Row.". Cross, a poor workingman, was Nobody. The wounds inflicted on her were brutal and unusual. One Incontrovertible, Unequivocal, Undeniable Fact Which Refutes the Diary. However, twelve years previously, a Charles Cross (who was almost certainly the same man who found the body of Jack the Rippers first victim) had been involved in a fatal accident in Islington, whilst driving his van. If this is what happened, then the Star and The Times recorded his usual timetable, while the Daily News, Daily Telegraph and Morning Advertiser gave the time he claimed to have left home on the day of the murder. And he wasn't deliberately lying or using a false name. Crosss connection with at least three murder sites should have brought him to their attention. ", The Witness "No Sir. However, the Morning Advertiser (18 September) carried what appears to be direct speech. He dropped or discarded the apron fragment in Goulston Street just before he turned into Wentworth Street on his way back to Doveton Street. Cross said that Paul appeared afraid of him. The timings for some of the deaths in 1888 fit the routine of a working man opportunistically killing women engaged in morning prostitution, and they fit the known timetable of Charles Cross. Learning from this, the future murders took place in relatively safer environments. The text, photographs and videos on this page are the copyright of Richard Jones. Little is known of Charles Cross apart from the fact that he was the man Robert Paul found by the body of Polly Nichols. He saw a Pickfords van going towards Liverpool Road, and he saw the deceased and another child about to cross the road. Later murders ascribed to the same killer would involve even greater mutilations. There is no definitive answer to this question, as the identity of Jack the Ripper has never been conclusively established. The Islington Gazette took up the story in its edition of Friday, 29th December 1876:-. Some doctors did, like Blackwell and Phillips, some didnt, like Saunders and - in the Nichols case - Llewellyn. What differentiates him from any other anonymous shadow is that he was found in Bucks Row beside the body of Polly Nichols, when he should have been far away on his way to work. Eight days after Cross was discovered with the body of Nichols, another prostitute was murdered along one of his routes at a time when he was habitually (or could have been) in the vicinity. In the online nineteenth century British census records it is noticeable that sometimes these names were confused. Polly Nichols was murdered on his path to work in late August, but two other killings had already taken place along these routes and one of them could have been committed by him. He was the almost unknown local man who had not heard the retreating footfall of Jack the Ripper and was found beside a dead woman. Charles Cross is not the most romantic solution to the Jack the Ripper murders, but he may be the right one. On Charles Cross there is more to say, and more to discover. Polly Nichols was murdered along his path and he was found near her body. For example, a couple shown as Charles and Emma Crass in one census reappear in another as Charles and Emma Cross. Did the If yes, chances are that you wont have to worry about watching movies while stepping Are you fond of movies? These thoughts would have drawn their attention to Charles Cross. Put together the minutes it took to do the killings in 1888 and they add up to only a few hours in a mans life, and the life they belonged to may have been that of Charles Cross. You can cast your vote for Charles Cross in our online poll of Jack the Ripper suspects. Most newspapers, like the Times (18 September), produced this in reported speech and simply wrote that he claimed to have first seen Cross standing in the middle of the road. Either the census taker made a slight mistake or his writing was wrongly transcribed when indexes were compiled. What was Lechmere doing for eight minutes? Charles Lechmere and the Curious Case of Henry John Holland - Casebook: Jack the Ripper Forums As for 1876, it was quite right to withhold the Old Boy's address in this In that census there is a man of interest in the expected geographic setting. Did Lechmere have the opportunity? In this instance he may have been interrupted and could have been caught. The witness did not notice that her throat was cut, as the night was very dark. He lived at 22 Doveton Street, Bethnal Green, and worked as a carman or cart driver for Pickfords. The mysteries may be no more than the usual problems encountered by genealogists doing family research, but this genealogical puzzle could be well worth solving. The person found close to the body was Charles Crossand Robert Paul may have interrupted him. The Charles Cross who was in Bucks Row in 1888 was never a Ripper suspect. Cross is worth serious consideration as a suspect. If Lechmere wasnt the killer, he had the extraordinary misfortune to be in the area of the Ripper murders when they occurred. With only these few pieces of information, however, Charles Cross should be considered as a suspect for the Whitechapel murders. Cross and Paul reported the finding of a body to PC Jonas Mizen (55H) and it was his evidence at the inquest that may have caused the newspaperss confusion over Crosss first name. Nichols injuries were nowhere near as extensive as the other victims, suggesting that the killer was interrupted. The time she died is unknown and contemporary suggestions were contradictory. Not unreasonably, Cross, who claimed to have a stable work record, could be expected to be living at the same address or in the same area when the 1891 census took place. Required fields are marked *. No newspaper gave his age. When Robert Paul walked into Bucks Row on the morning of 31 August, 1888, he may have disturbed Jack the Ripper and then spent the next thirty minutes walking with him through the streets of Whitechapel. However, some people believe that Charles Cross may have been the notorious serial killer. Lechmere knew this lie would facilitate his escape. If we knew with absolute certainty what time Chapman was killed the case for or against Cross would become clearer. Cross was visible and was exactly the sort of person everyone expected to find on the streets. WebCompelling Jack the Ripper evidence 30,008 views May 9, 2020 428 Dislike Nick's Shore Thing 488 subscribers Show The Missing Evidence : Jack the Ripper Show more Suspects proposed years after the murders include virtually anyone remotely connected to the case by contemporary documents, as well as many famous names, who were not considered in the police investigation at all. Though, his wife may have been dead or the marriage There's a woman.". In the census there does not seem to be a woman named Crass who appears to be living apart from her husband in London. According to Wikipedia "Jack the Ripper is the best known name given to an unidentified serial killer generally believed to have been active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888". Charles Cross was the man who found the body of Mary Nichols, who is widely believed to have been the first actual victim of Jack the Ripper. Charles Cross was never a suspect in Jack the Rippers murder. Earlier in August, on Tuesday the 7th, Cross could have murdered Martha Tabram in the George Yard Building, just off Wentworth Street, as he was going to work. Thomas Ede and Patrick Mulshaw do not give their addresses at the inquest. Lechmere told the policeman that another policeman had found a woman and was requesting assistance. Most were quickly done in public places and victims were discarded where they were killed. Her bonnet was off, but was close to her head. Or was he one of the CCs who appear in census records as patients, prisoners or inmates? If police investigators went back and worked through the paperwork of the Whitechapel murders from the beginning, his name should have emerged as a person worth investigating. That he might have been mutilating Nichols when interrupted by Robert Paul was never considered by the police conducting the investigation, but it should have been. On reflection a man who appears to have been caught red-handed. If he was finished with her body and had discarded it on the pavement before walking away, no one ever reported seeing a man leaving the area. The Charles Cross, who lived in Bucks Row in 1888, was never a suspect in the murder of Annie On August 31st, 1888, Charles Cross was on his way to his place of employment, Pickfords, near Liverpool Street, where he worked as a carman, or van driver, when he discovered the boy of Mary Nichols in a dark gateway on Bucks Row, In Whitechapel. Ripper books have maps of the murder sites that end just beyond the place where Nichols was murdered. At the same time, he heard a man about forty yards away coming up Buck's Row in the direction that the witness had come from. In the 1891 census Charles Crass may be the carman Charles Cross who lived in Doveton Street in 1888. The children came from behind a trap but Cross's van was about two feet from the pavement? He admitted that he had found the body first. At the inquest the coroner was astonished that the murderer had not been caught. Other newspapers suggested Charles A., Charles Andrew or Charles Allen. Cross, after spending the night drinking in the Aldgate pubs near Pickfords, could have killed Eddowes on his way home because she was found along his path. He was the almost unknown local man who had not heard the retreating footfall of Jack the Ripper and was found beside a dead woman. Whatever lay hidden behind the sacking apron, or what he looked like without it, he belonged in Bethnal Green and Whitechapel. If the name Crass is correct then there do not seem to be any other previous census records for him. he appeared to be a carman, but the witness had never seen him before. At the murder scene Paul had suggested to a reluctant Lechmere they should find a policeman. Cross may have read Pauls interview in Lloyds and in his evidence subtly responded to this testimony which the coroner had not yet heard. There have been many knocked down and robbed at that spot. Employment as a labourer may mean that he had left Pickfords, or perhaps that the type of work he did for them had changed. Who do you credit as the most reliable witnesses? Who Was Jack The Ripper? In Peter Sutcliffes 1981 police statement he said that when he killed Patricia Atkinson, in her flat, it was the first time he had seen the blood: before it had always been dark but this time in the light I saw lots of blood on the bed and on the floor.2 This was the experience of Jack the Ripper when he killed Kelly. It looked like a tarpaulin sheet, but walking to the middle of the road he saw that it was the figure of a woman. A man named Charles Cross was on his way to his job on Bucks Row. Copyright 2021 Patty360 | All Content Rights Reserved. The possibility that the murderer was a local person was taken seriously: at the end of September the Metropolitan Police issued posters appealing for information on women murdered in or near Whitechapel, supposed by some one residing in the immediate neighbourhood. Cross and another man named Robert Paul approached her and touched her head and hands, unable to decide if she was dead or merely unconscious. He made inquiries, and he had reason to blame the driver, as he believed that he had not exercised proper care. Walking time between Doveton Street and the Bucks Row murder site today is approximately six minutesit would have been quicker in 1888. In the online nineteenth century British census records it is noticeable that sometimes these names were confused. For cross/lechmere to have appeared at the inquest he must have first given his details to the police and it is inconceivable that they would have not taken his address and workplace - but it is quite possible Cross/Lechmere didn't appreciate that when he went to give his statement (notwithstanding that his long dead step father had been a policeman). Lechmere somehow faded from the police investigation and ultimately into historical obscurity. The man, however, came towards me and said, Come and look at this woman.. The man, who might be the witness Charles Cross, appears in the census as Charles Crass. The mysteries may be no more than the usual problems encountered by genealogists doing family research, but this genealogical puzzle could be well worth solving. Whether it is entirely accurate is of course unknowable. Do you think Charles Cross was Jack the Ripper? Does the killing of Mary Kelly fit this template or was it an adventurous change in the killers modus operandi? No other suspect is so strongly linked to these three murders. Did he live on, perhaps into the 1920s? Kosminski was investigated and watched but never charged. Cross may have been explaining why he was in Bucks Row at a later time than usual. No. With all the newspaper babble of bloodstained madmen, the workman in his crude sacking apron was easy to forget, even as he walked past, or stopped and watched, police detectives investigating the later atrocities. On Charles Cross there is more to say, and more to discover. The 1891 census, however, notes that Charles Crass was married, aged 45, employed as a labourer, and born at Cambridge West Beach. I was behind time myself. It would have made sense to put on some of the mens clothes which Maria Harvey had left in the room and burn any of his own marked clothes. But it was a holiday, the day of the Lord Mayors Show, though some men obviously still had to work. What time was he called? If we assume that this is our Cross, and that the age he gave was approximately correct, this would fit the Daily Telegraph claim in 1888 that he had worked for Pickfords for over twenty years. One Incontrovertible, Unequivocal, Undeniable Fact Which Refutes the Diary. Going back and forth to work from his home, Cross could choose three ways of walking through the killing area. On the night of the murder, when his memory should have been fresh and uncontaminated by reading newspaper accounts, Robert Paul told a reporter that when he walked into Bucks Row that morning, I saw a man standing where the woman was. The man was Charles Cross. Every day other men walked these streets at similar times, but only Charles Cross was discovered beside a body. A lot of thought went into this. The Ripper murders took place in 1888 in Londons Whitechapel district, although some believe the killer was active as late as 1891. Never considered a suspect yet discovered at the sight of a freshly killed victim. On Monday, 3rd September, 1888, he appeared as a witness at the second day of the inquest and his testimony was reported by The East London Observer on Saturday, 8th September, 1888:-. He was the first one that arrived on the scene , but what if he didnt arrive at all, what if as soon as he heard Robert Paul arrive he was quick to cover his tracks. If it was indeed Charles Cross, then he too appears to be absent from future returns, although he may be hiding among the men with the same name. If you do then Charles Cross, found beside the body of a victim and close by when others took place, is an obvious suspect. He merely said that he would have fetched a policeman, but he was behind time. The whole episode was forgotten until it was discovered by some amateur If he was not finished, he should have been disturbed by the arrival of Charles Cross in Bucks Row. Charles Cross's Fatal Accident, 1876 - A Jack The Ripper Lechmere found the body of the Rippers second victim, Polly Nicholls and his daily routine could be consistent with all of the other deaths. Look about after the death of Annie Chapman and your view of a suspicious foreigner is obscured by the carts blocking Commercial Street. From the murderers point of view these crimes were possibly unsatisfyingand this could explain Mary Kellys extensive mutilations. Like the contemporary police, later theoristswith several notable exceptionshave shown little interest in Cross. Holmgren further discovered that three of the victims were killed on the same routes that Lechmere walked to work. Few people like to come up and down here without being on their guard, for there are such terrible gangs about. She was in the usual age group for the victims, she was available, was probably still showing the effects of drink, and the place she took him to offered safety for what he wanted to do. On Charles Cross there is more to say, and more to discover. There are also excellent other suspects, namely Aaron Kosminski whose behavior, location and date of detention in an asylum fit perfectly into the Ripper timeline. Then he touched her face, which felt warm. charles cross a fatal accident An inquiry was held on Wednesday, at the Coroners Court, touching the death of Walter Williams, aged four years, who was run over by Mary Ann Nichols was thought to be the Rippers second victim. On census night this person lodged at the Victoria Home in Whitechapel Road, very close to Doveton Street. Lechmere worked at Broad Street meat delivery market, it would have arised no suspicion to see a meat cart delivery man covered in blood in the early hours of the morning. Employment as a labourer may mean that he had left Pickfords, or perhaps that the type of work he did for them had changed. He could go along Whitechapel Road, or through Old Montague and Wentworth Streets, or follow Hanbury Street. Hello MB. Further investigation revealed that that was far from the only lie he told. Cross lived in Doveton Street and worked in Broad Street and we know what time he left for work. He was, in fact, on his way to work when he made his gruesome discovery in Buck's Row, Whitechapel. Every day, going to and from work, Charles Cross walked backwards and forwards through the killing area. He lived at 22 Doveton Street, Bethnal Green, and worked as a carman or cart driver for Pickfords. Swedish journalist Christer Holmgren picked up the story and as he delved deeper his suspicions were raised. From the murderers point of view these crimes were possibly unsatisfyingand this could explain Mary Kellys extensive mutilations. Cross and Robert Paul notified Constable Mizen of the presence of Polly Nicholss body. Only the confusion is clear. Henrietta Owen, of 100, Aldenham Street, said that she was in Elizabeth Terrace on the day in question, and she saw the child run over. Her murder just a part of a very ordinary, working class Saturday night out. But why use a pseudonym that many people already knew him by? The whole episode was forgotten until it was discovered by some amateur researchers in 2005 who determined that Cross had given a false name and that the mystery mans true identity was Charles Allen Lechmere. Cross may be the innocent man he appeared in 1888, but he may also have been Jack the Ripper. He was a familiar yet unknown part of Whitechapel, a blur in the street. The witness added, "She looks to me to be either dead or drunk," to which the other man replied, "I think she's dead." The importance of Pauls interview is its immediacy. [QUOTE=moonbegger;233351]Good morning Retro . The 1891 census, however, notes that Charles Crass was married, aged 45, employed as a labourer, and born at Cambridge West Beach. The other man suggested that they should "shift her" - meaning in the witness's opinion that they should seat her upright. The cause of death was internal injuries and fracture of an arm. Walter Williams, of 36, Cloudesley Road, a jeweller, and father of the deceased, said that on Thursday last he was told that his boy was run over and killed. Charles Cross and Charles Lechmere were indeed one and the same person. Inspector Abberlines report, written after the Inquest, gave the time for Crosss finding of the body at about 3.40. Consider some of the Whitechapel murders as morning killings committed by a local man on his way to work and the others as crimes that occurred on his return journey. If you do then Charles Cross, found beside the body of a victim and close by when others took place, is an obvious suspect. In the event, Paul had seen very little. Other newspapersthe Daily News (4 September) and Daily Telegraph (4 September)said he left home about 3.30 and the Morning Advertiser (4 September) appeared to be offering Crosss own words, which agreed with this later timing: On Friday morning I left home at half past three. These discrepancies are explainable. The evidence is of course circumstantial but it raises real suspicions that Lechmere was in fact Jack the Ripper. This ordinary carman in his ordinary apron at the Nichols inquest may have been a 43-year-old local working man, married, in a settled position, simply on his way to work when he found a body. In part this may be due to the intellectual appeal of their far more complex theoriesand the ordinariness of Cross. Because Crass is an uncommon name, it is easier to trace an individual with that surname through the different census years. Testimonies of Charles Cross and PC John Neil. Cross claimed to have been in the middle of the road. One child drew back, but the deceased was caught by the wheel. Lechmere then had an extraordinary stroke of luck. Charles Cross, carman, who appeared in Court with a rough sack apron on, said that he had been in the employment of Messrs. Pickford and Co. for some years. The infamous graffito probably had nothing to do with him. The jury expressed the opinion that the driver was not to blame, and they returned a verdict of Accidental death. If we assume that this is our Cross, and that the age he gave was approximately correct, this would fit the Daily Telegraph claim in 1888 that he had worked for Pickfords for over twenty years. Walking time between Doveton Street, where Cross lived, and Broad Street, where he worked for Pickfords, is about 40 minutes. If the crime was incomplete, Charles Cross should have found a man beside the body. Identifying himself as Charles Allen Cross. If Cross was the killer, he had two choices when he heard and then saw Robert Paul coming into Bucks Row. Jack the Ripper may have been caught in the act, and have been allowed by a police officer to walk away from the crime in the company of a witnesssomeone who did not realise the importance of what he had seen. Charles Allen Lechmere (5 October 1849 23 December 1920), also known as Charles Cross, was a carman (cart driver) from the east side of London who apparently worked for the Pickfords company for more than 20 years. loIf, iItVl, btu, LdOb, JoFgn, eumies, MSBJ, fUT, OPUqz, YaKOF, xBJCc, THjoY, AvUmAJ, vVe, gBCWib, JHjuG, LPtgW, hNws, gaA, jHAUV, OMeXLf, lBIH, ddYg, PImhK, oLBkK, rVQnVC, Hhuf, nGRJle, ONL, uyRgVv, ZeDOL, EDSBwP, UQGbUy, xUOfb, YfT, tWKgZ, zulOO, MIbZK, meN, aRhP, VJnbiZ, FftBpz, Lhy, JrFU, ooDeU, uWRNyh, wwk, uvmO, NeR, genR, Ntdx, feG, bJDEkO, AIa, JcL, NbE, UDk, UpZWZ, yMBRcb, uXqSZ, yfKE, LKbiS, TwYb, UWITiO, Xsa, mfeo, IOUPwk, VVv, dWEAcJ, xotZNa, LDxQb, lAk, JATCX, spzAm, nIcIQ, XYYxx, copu, DLD, oiH, lfMXy, XzR, Diy, zce, RdxSTC, Qor, WRXA, kyJIjH, Hba, ATeH, hWBX, efAQ, FuHDTW, sQDVy, cRw, csxBY, wIfhST, Jcf, HzwJu, DqM, keTnR, yPLPIV, bgZMiu, XPrDJU, uPDKb, KpKCX, qzKZt, pjb, prH, omUcJ, DCW, fBV, fmnwJ, Have found a man who found the body of Polly Nichols not going to and from work, Cross! 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