James Shaw
Shaw was arrested as he left the steamer Wyoming, on suspicion of being the wife murderer James Pennock, of Pickering, North Riding, Yorkshire. Pennock had murdered his wife on November 7 1888 and was described as 47 years old, 5 ft 7"tall, with ginger hair and whiskers, and a protuberance the size of a walnut on his head. Shaw, who admitted his real name was Heddington, declined to say why he was travelling incognito. He claimed to live in Leeds, and that he had kissed his wife goodbye on November 9 1888 saying, he was going west. Shaw came under suspicion because he apparently fitted the description of Jack the Ripper. In his pocket was found an illustrated account of the Whitechapel murders. Deputy Marshal Fred Bernardt, interviewed Shaw and satisfied himself that he was not the Whitechapel Murderer. Neither could Shaw have been James Pennock, for he was two inches shorter than the Yorkshire man, and had no walnut on his head nor scar where it might have been.
