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→Suspects: could he be Jack?
MacNaughten described him as, "Kosminski, a Polish Jew and resident in the very heart of the district where the murders took place. This man became insane owing to many years indulgence in solitary vices. He had a great hatred of women, specially of the prostitute class and had strong homicidal tendencies; he was removed to a lunatic asylum around March 1889. There are many circs (arrest warrants) connected with this man which made him a strong suspect."
MacNaughten described him as, "Kosminski, a Polish Jew and resident in the very heart of the district where the murders took place. This man became insane owing to many years indulgence in solitary vices. He had a great hatred of women, specially of the prostitute class and had strong homicidal tendencies; he was removed to a lunatic asylum around March 1889. There are many circs (arrest warrants) connected with this man which made him a strong suspect."
Evidence against Kosminski being the Ripper is the fact that Swanson's notes appear at times to confuse Kosminksi with Cohen, especially concerning the date of death of the suspect, the fact that Macnaughten considered Druitt to be the main suspect, with Kosminski as an afterthought, plus the fact that he noted an incorrect date of incarceration. Additionally, the gap of over a year between the last murder (9 December 1888) and Kosminski's final incarceration in February 1891 would point against his involvement, as it is felt unlikely that his family could have have shielded him for so long and that his extreme schizophrenia would have prevented him from striking again during that period. However, until new evidence is found, he remains the most likely candidate to wear the sobriquet of "Jack the Ripper".
Evidence against Kosminski being the Ripper is the fact that Swanson's notes appear at times to confuse Kosminksi with Cohen, especially concerning the date of death of the suspect, the fact that Macnaughten considered Druitt to be the main suspect, with Kosminski as an afterthought, plus the fact that he noted an incorrect date of incarceration. Additionally, the gap of over a year between the last murder (9 December 1888) and Kosminski's final incarceration in February 1891 would point against his involvement, as it is felt unlikely that his family could have have shielded him for so long and that his extreme schizophrenia would have prevented him from striking again during that period. However, until new evidence is found, he remains, along with Ostrog, the most likely candidate to wear the sobriquet of "Jack the Ripper".
===Aaron Davis Cohen===
===Aaron Davis Cohen===
Evidence for Cohen being the suspect is that no other person matching Cohen's description and that of "Anderson's Suspect" (a poor Polish Jew) was admitted to any other London asylum or infirmary during the period and his date of incarceration ties in with the end of the Ripper murders. In addition, as Swanson had suggested, he died shortly after his incarceration at Colney Heath. However, although both Anderson and MacNaughton refer to the suspect being a Polish Jew, both name him unequivocally as Aaron Kosminki. In addition, Swanson believed that the date of the identification of Anderson's suspect took place after Cohen's death.
Evidence for Cohen being the suspect is that no other person matching Cohen's description and that of "Anderson's Suspect" (a poor Polish Jew) was admitted to any other London asylum or infirmary during the period and his date of incarceration ties in with the end of the Ripper murders. In addition, as Swanson had suggested, he died shortly after his incarceration at Colney Heath. However, although both Anderson and MacNaughton refer to the suspect being a Polish Jew, both name him unequivocally as Aaron Kosminki. In addition, Swanson believed that the date of the identification of Anderson's suspect took place after Cohen's death.
===Michael Ostrog===
Ostrog (c1833 - c1894) has been identified as possibly the most likely candidate to bear the infamous name. A confidence trickster and thief, he had a criminal record in England stretching back to 1863, when he was charged with swindling hoteliers in Oxford. Described variously as "Russian," "a Russian Pole" or "a Polish Jew," he described himself as a former surgeon in the Imperial Russian Guard. He was in and out prison on a regular basis, including one occasion when he was arrested for stealing valuables from Woolich Barracks. He was chased down by cadets and was found to be wearing cricket whites when caught. (Interestingly, Druitt was a competent cricketer, being the secretary and treasurer of the Blackheath Cricket Club).
One of the senior policemen involved in the case at the time mentioned him as a suspect. The Assistant Chief Constable, Sir Melville Macnaughten, mentioned him by name in his notes, describing him in 1894 as:
{{cquote|...a mad Russian doctor and a convict and unquestionably a homicidal maniac. This man was said to have been habitually cruel to women, and for a long time was known to have carried about with him surgical knives and other instruments; his antecedents were of the very worst and his whereabouts at the time of the Whitechapel murders could never be accounted for.}}
The police were already searching for Ostrog during October and November of 1888, although not in connection with the murders, and his description (5'11, dark brown hair, grey eyes, normally dressed in a "clerical" suit) matches closely to that of the man who ask a local shopkeeper's daughter for the address of George Lusk. She provided the address without a street number and the parcel containing the kidney, which Lusk received, was addressed the same way.
Theorists feel that until more details regarding his movements during the time of the murders comes to light, Ostrog remains the most likely suspect to have been Jack the Ripper.
==References & Notes==
==References & Notes==