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Stephen P. Ryder
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 2999
Registered: 10-1997
| | Posted on Monday, March 01, 2004 - 3:17 pm: |       |
John Morrison's Jimmy Kelly's Year of Ripper Murders (1987) was the first publication as far as I know to ever suggest James Kelly as a Ripper suspect. In the sometimes hard-to-follow text, Morrison includes the following text from a supposed 1927 classified document:
The Home Secretary was immediately informed and a conference was speedily arranged with the Attorney General in command of the situation, and the following is what took place:-
THE STANLEY BALDWIN ADMINISTRATION OF 1927
1927 - HOME OFFICE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
Gentlemen, it has been established, beyond a possible doubt, that a certain James Kelly, who escaped from Broadmoore Lunatic Asylum on 28th January 1888 and the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' are one and the same person. According to the Attorney General's legal advice pertaining to this inquiry, no useful purpose would be served by a prosecution, for the simple reason that 90% of the evidence required to secure a conviction is being supplied by the accused and were he afforded good counsel, as indeed he would be, then he would be advised to withdraw his original statement. Such would be the case that the Crown would be left fighting a lost cause.
Further, the result of any ill-advised proceedings would result in the accused being returned to Broadmoore and, although not convicted of the Whitechapel Murders, the public would realise that in fact he was 'Jack the Ripper'.
The Crown would automatically become the laughing stock of the world and our police the butt of every music hall joke from now until the end of time.
There is also a more serious aspect with regard to this case that we should lend consideration to, and it is this: The Year 1927 has witnessed more nuisance on mainland Great Britain from the so called 'Irish rebels' than any preceeding year. And while there is no suggestion that this man James Kelly, is in any way connected with that particular movement, he is none-the-less an Irish national. Were these Irish rebels to learn that one of their clan had made a mockery of the detection methods of Scotland Yard, then we would be handing them propaganda on a plate - and propaganda to these people would be fodder for their cannon.
In view of the above, it is urgently requested that we agree to return this man to Broadmoor - inform the staff there that he is given to fantasies that he is 'Jack the Ripper' - but that he really is not. Because of his nuisance and record of escaping he is to be placed in solitary confinement until further notice from the Secretary of State. Which, of course, Gentlemen, will never come. And in the event of his death (and let us hope it is within the very near future) he be buried quickly and quietly in an unmarked grave near the Institution.
Now, the above is fairly hard-to-swallow, and I realize Morrison has not been considered a very reliable source. But I'd just like to know if there really was anything called the "Stanley Baldwin Administration of 1927", and whether any part of this bizarre statement might actually be based on fact.
Jim Tully, writing in the mid-90s, stated several times in his Prisoner 1167 that no-one suspected James Kelly of being Jack the Ripper until John Morrison in 1987. I would take that comment to mean that he believes the above extract from the 1927 "commission" to be completely illegitimate.
Stephen P. Ryder, Editor
Casebook: Jack the Ripper |
Chris Phillips
Inspector
Username: Cgp100
Post Number: 215
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 01, 2004 - 4:15 pm: | |
Stanley Baldwin was prime minister between 1924 and 1929, but I agree it doesn't sound at all genuine. Apart from anything else, surely the grammar is far too poor - the result of any ill-advised proceedings would result in ...?
Chris Phillips
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Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 936
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 01, 2004 - 4:22 pm: | |
All I can see at this stage that can be verified is that there was an "adminstration" for that year in that Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister of the UK for three terms, namely 1923-24, 1924-29 and 1935-37.
The attorney-general in question would have been D.Hogg and the Home Secretary was Sir William Joyson-Hicks. Baldwin's full cabinet for that period was as follows:
Stanley Baldwin's Second Cabinet, November 1924 - June 1929
Stanley Baldwin - Prime Minister
Lord Cave - Lord Chancellor
Lord Curzon - Lord President
Lord Salisbury - Lord Privy Seal
Winston Churchill - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Sir William Joynson-Hicks - Home Secretary
Sir Austen Chamberlain - Foreign Secretary
L.S. Amery - Colonial Secretary
Sir Laming Worthington-Evans - Secretary for War
Lord Birkenhead - Secretary for India
Sir Samuel Hoare - Secretary for Air
Sir John Gilmour - Secretary for Scotland
William Clive Bridgeman - First Lord of the Admiralty
Lord Cecil - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister - President of the Board of Trade
E.F.L. Wood - Minister of Agriculture
Lord Edward Percy - President of the Board of Education
Lord Peel - First Commissioner of Works
Sir A. Steel-Maitland - Minister of Labour
Neville Chamberlain - Minister of Health
Sir D. Hogg - Attorney-General
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Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 316
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 11:15 pm: | |
Hi Chris,
I was wondering if you are aware that some of the people in Baldwin's second administration did not serve out their full terms due to one reason or another. Lord Curzon died in 1925, and Birkenhead died in 1928. Are you sure that Johnson - Hicks and Sir Denis Hogg remained Home Secretary and Attorney General through 1927?
Jeff |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 317
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 8:08 pm: | |
My apologies. Yesterday I misnamed the Attorney General. It was Sir Douglas Hogg, not Sir Denis Hogg.
Jeff |
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