Casebook Blotter

The Australian press has exploded recently over claims made by Paul Tully that he has unearthed information that will prove that Walter Thomas Porriott was the real Jack the Ripper.  Porriott was first put forward as a suspect by his great-great-grandson, Steve Wilson, in 1997.  His candidacy was also discussed by Dusty Miller in a Ripperoo article entitled “New Suspect: Walter Thomas Porriott.”

Salient points about Porriott:

• He was around 19 or 20 years old in 1888.
• He was better known as Andrew John Gibson, but had a slew of other names including Charles Ernest Chadwick
• He sailed from England to Australia on 9 November 1888, the date of the Mary Kelly murder
• He married a Francis Mary Scally (or Skelly) in 1891.  He would later marry another woman named Kelly in the United States.
• He spent roughly 44 years of his life in prison for various offenses
• He often impersonated a doctor in his later years, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1940 after killing a pregnant woman.  (He had been posing as her gynecologist).
• It is claimed he married at least twenty times, most often to his “patients” whom he would then fleece of their money.

More information:

Paul Tully’s maintains a blog discussing his research at:
http://ripper1888.blogspot.com/

There’s been some good forum discussions on the Casebook, including a number of early to mid-20th century press reports posted by Chris Scott about Porriott at:
http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=38188

Alan Sharp has written a response to the press buzz on Porriott at:
http://extra.rippernotes.com/?p=95