Melbourne, March 20.
Considerable excitement was caused here today by a statement published by the Argus, which declared that Deeming, the murderer, had made a confession. There has been a strong suspicion entertained here and in England that Deeming is none other than the notorious Jack the Ripper, the slayer of the Whitechapel, London, outcasts and this suspicion is borne out in a measure not only by Deeming's appearance, which closely tallies with the description given of the Whitechapel fiend, but by his alleged confession. The Argus is a reliable newspaper and there is no reason to doubt the truthfulness of the statement it makes today that Deeming has acknowledged that he killed his wife and four children at Dinham villa, at Rainhill, near Liverpool, and that he murdered and mutilated the last two women whose bodies were found in the purlieus of Whitechapel.

Although he has confessed that these two Whitechapel women fell victims to his mania for murder, he, while not denying, does not admit that he killed the other women whose murders at the time attracted the attention of the whole world. It is believed, however, that when he finds all hope of escape from the clutches of the law cut off he will confess not only these murders, but others of which the police knew nothing. In his confession, the Argus says, Deeming makes no mention of his object of mutilating the bodies of his Whitechapel victims and removing certain of the organs, but, it adds, there is scarcely a doubt that the man is afflicted with a disease similar in some respects to nymphomania. The case is a most peculiar one in all its aspects, and public curiosity here is excited to the highest pitch to learn all the details of Deeming's many crimes.

It is said that Deeming made his confession to an official at Perth, West Australia, where he was arrested on the charge of having murdered his wife at Windsor, a suburb of Melbourne. Deeming secured counsel and made a strong fight against being sent back to Melbourne, but the court ordered his surrender to the authorities of this city and yesterday he started in custody of officers on his return. He told the Perth official to whom he made his confession that he was not guilty of the Windsor murder. His wife, he claimed, had eloped with another man.

It has transpired that the unfortunate woman whose body was found, together with those of her four children, under the floor of the Rainhill residence was not Deeming's first wife. Some years ago a sensation was created in Australia by the mysterious disappearance of the wife and two children of a man who then went by the name of Williams but who turns out to be Deeming. The family then resided in Sydney. There was grave suspicion of foul play at the time but the bodies were not found, and, this essential proof of murder being lacking, the matter was allowed to drop. Deeming subsequently went to Eng land and then it was he married the woman whose murder he is now said to have confessed.