Arthur Williams was a drunkard - possibly a lunatic - who made a long-winded statement at the Chiswick police station sometime shortly after the double-event of September 30th, 1888. In his largely incoherent statement Williams suggested he knew who the Ripper was and could lead the police to him. He resided in Beaconsfield Terrace, Leytonstone.

Several newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, Daily News and Morning Advertiser ran a lengthy extract from the written statement Williams presented to the Chiswick police:

"I am Williams. Will you send to Whitehall-place and tell them that I am going on to Feltham. It is of no use to employ men unless they are men of education. You will find the ordinary constable smoking his pipe, not looking after the Whitechapel murderer. Why do they not pay them as they do in France?... You will make a good pump if you have a good handle... Colonel Warren is no use; Monro is the man to look after them. I know the man well, and will find him out. I do not want the reward, but shall go mad soon if he is not found out. I am off to Hounslow and Feltham at once."

Williams was arrested in Chiswick for wandering in High Road, "apparently insane." He was brought before the Hammersmith Police Court on October 2nd, at which time his daughter pled for his release, suggesting that he was a drunk, and that he suffered some form of dementia brought on by sunstroke. Mr. Curtis-Bennett presided, and released Williams on his own recognizance. Several friends attended the hearing in support of the accused.

Note that "Arthur Williams" was also a pseudonym used by Frederick Bailey Deeming, who would become a Ripper suspect in 1892.

Contemporary Sources

Daily News (London) - 3 October 1888
Daily Telegraph (London) - 3 October 1888
Morning Advertiser - 3 October 1888