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William Brodie and Jack the Ripper (He was a Scottish cabinet maker,…
William Brodie and Jack the Ripper
William Brodie was born in 28 September 1741 - 1 October 1788
He was also known as Deacon (president) Brodie
He was a Scottish cabinet maker, deacon of a trades guild and Edinburgh city councillor who maintained a secret life as a burglar
Did it for the thrill and for gambling
Brodie was a respectable tradesman and Deacon (president) of the Incorporation of Wrights
Also the head of the Craft of Cabinetmaking, which made him a member of the Town Council
Part of his job in building was to install and repair their locks and other security mechanisms and repair door locks.
He socialised with the gentry of Edinburgh, and met the poet Robert Burns and the painter Sir Henry Raeburn.
At night, however, Brodie became a burglar and thief.
He used his daytime job as a way to gain knowledge about the security mechanisms of his clients and to copy their keys using wax impressions.
As the foremost wright of the city, Brodie was asked to work in the homes of many of the richest members of Edinburgh society.
He used the illicit money to maintain his 2nd life, which included a gambling habit and 5 children to 2 mistresses (who did not know of each other, and were unknown in the city).
He reputedly began his criminal career around 1768 when he copied keys to a bank door and stole £800.
Stevenson, the writer of Jekyll and Hyde, was fascinated by the life of Deacon Brodie and his secret life.
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.
The name Jack the Ripper originated in a letter written by someone claiming to be the murderer that was widely disseminated in the media.
The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax, and may have been written by journalists in an attempt to heighten interest in the story and increase their newspaper's circulation.
Within the crime case files as well as newspaper accounts the killer was called ‘the Whitechapel Murderer’ as well as ‘Leather Apron’.
Attacks ascribed to Jack the Ripper typically involved female prostitutes who lived and worked in the slums of London. Their throats were cut.
The removal of internal organs from at least 3 of the victims led to proposals that their killer possessed anatomical/ surgical knowledge.
Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and letters from a writer or writers purporting to be the murderer were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard.
The ‘From Hell’ letter, received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, included half of a preserved human kidney, purportedly taken from 1 of the victims
Mainly because of the extraordinarily brutal character of the murders, and because of media treatment of the events, the public came increasingly to believe in a single serial killer known as ‘Jack the Ripper’.
There's a great horror and fascination of the murders that took place but they seem to be entirely unknowable.
The date they began, or ended, is unknown. The number and sometimes the names, of the victims is disputed.
There was no arrest, no trial, and no verdict to draw a line under the case
Only a shadowy figure and a nickname that came from a letter but its believed that its almost certainly written by a hoaxer.
5 women at least, and possibly more, were murdered and mutilated in the East End of London.
Whether it was by a single person, as is popularly supposed, or by more, is unknown. Many at the time and since have suggested that the murderer was an outwardly ‘respectable’ (middle- or upper-class) man.