be identified with many if not all of them. His malignancy can also be detected in Caroline Konradâs evaluation.
Some of the most cowardly and horrendous acts of exploitation were the senseless murders of Whitechapel prostitutes, in the year 1888. From the list of suspects, only one name was drawn out and commented on by a former Scotland Yard Chief Inspector. The name was Tumblety, and ever since those words from John Littlechild have been made known, Ripperologists have debated over whether or not this manipulative doctor committed these unforgettable murders.
If ever the day should come when new evidence enables us to declare Francis Tumblety innocent of the Whitechapel atrocities, certain Ripperologists will experience a feeling of satisfaction. The most content Ripper historians might very well end up being those who rely on modern day criminal profiling techniques. Many use this popular system as a beacon in their search for Jack the Ripper. No light shines upon Tumblety when the profiling methods of today are superimposed on the East End of London, in 1888. As Roger Palmer once said, âTumblety runs 100 per cent counter to everything we are taught. Everything the Resslers are yelling from the roof-tops.â 7 Simply stated, after utilising offender profiling techniques, no student of this method will draw a conclusion about how a fifty-eight-year-old homosexual male killed and mutilated a handful of female prostitutes. Due mainly to his age and sexual preference, Tumblety does not come close to being linked with the current image designed for the Whitechapel fiend.
Conversely speaking, if evidence should arise resulting in a moral certainty to Tumbletyâs guilt in the Whitechapel Murders, then other Ripperologists would be satisfied; such as, those who respected the words of Inspector Walter Andrews, in December 1888, when he stated the Whitechapel murderer could be found among the current list of suspects. Tumblety was the best-known Ripper suspect in North America when Andrews came to Canada and shared his impressions.
Those who believed Inspector Andrews were not drawn in by the yellow journalism of the New York Herald . The pro-Irish newspaper wrote of how Andrews had come from England to engage in an illegal political enterprise. Some researchers simply did not buy into this. Instead, they sensed Andrews had voyaged across the Atlantic to gather information on the antecedents of Francis Tumblety; a task which was in accord with the Inspectorâs official duty of taking charge of the Whitechapel Murders investigation. This was a duty he shared with Inspectors Abberline and Moore.
As for the author, it is his belief that Tumblety was suspected as a Whitechapel murderer at a very early stage in the drama â as early as 7 August 1888, when the first East-End victim fell in George Yard. The suspicions against him did not arise from the police or the citizens of London. Instead, they came from a Royal Artillery Colonel who saw right through the phoney act his suspect engaged in. The officer took part in a military investigation of the George Yard murder, and revealed some of its details to the American press. The Colonel claimed his suspect was a phoney medical man and spiritually polluted. The correlation between Tumblety and the English Colonel, Sir Francis Charles Hughes-Hallett, is lengthy and requires its own chapter.
It is as true today as it was in 1888: those who understand Tumblety the best, are the ones who take him seriously. He was a Ripper suspect who was gripped by a lifelong malignant personality disorder. He was a manipulator of religion and a harmful exploiter of the vulnerable; a disturbed man who skilfully hit his targets without empathy.
Notes
  1.   National Archives, War Dept. records, File âBâ, Doc. 261, JAO
  2.   Nobody has located any official record of McClellan having issued that order, yet it is true Tumblety had a history of
Some of the most cowardly and horrendous acts of exploitation were the senseless murders of Whitechapel prostitutes, in the year 1888. From the list of suspects, only one name was drawn out and commented on by a former Scotland Yard Chief Inspector. The name was Tumblety, and ever since those words from John Littlechild have been made known, Ripperologists have debated over whether or not this manipulative doctor committed these unforgettable murders.
If ever the day should come when new evidence enables us to declare Francis Tumblety innocent of the Whitechapel atrocities, certain Ripperologists will experience a feeling of satisfaction. The most content Ripper historians might very well end up being those who rely on modern day criminal profiling techniques. Many use this popular system as a beacon in their search for Jack the Ripper. No light shines upon Tumblety when the profiling methods of today are superimposed on the East End of London, in 1888. As Roger Palmer once said, âTumblety runs 100 per cent counter to everything we are taught. Everything the Resslers are yelling from the roof-tops.â 7 Simply stated, after utilising offender profiling techniques, no student of this method will draw a conclusion about how a fifty-eight-year-old homosexual male killed and mutilated a handful of female prostitutes. Due mainly to his age and sexual preference, Tumblety does not come close to being linked with the current image designed for the Whitechapel fiend.
Conversely speaking, if evidence should arise resulting in a moral certainty to Tumbletyâs guilt in the Whitechapel Murders, then other Ripperologists would be satisfied; such as, those who respected the words of Inspector Walter Andrews, in December 1888, when he stated the Whitechapel murderer could be found among the current list of suspects. Tumblety was the best-known Ripper suspect in North America when Andrews came to Canada and shared his impressions.
Those who believed Inspector Andrews were not drawn in by the yellow journalism of the New York Herald . The pro-Irish newspaper wrote of how Andrews had come from England to engage in an illegal political enterprise. Some researchers simply did not buy into this. Instead, they sensed Andrews had voyaged across the Atlantic to gather information on the antecedents of Francis Tumblety; a task which was in accord with the Inspectorâs official duty of taking charge of the Whitechapel Murders investigation. This was a duty he shared with Inspectors Abberline and Moore.
As for the author, it is his belief that Tumblety was suspected as a Whitechapel murderer at a very early stage in the drama â as early as 7 August 1888, when the first East-End victim fell in George Yard. The suspicions against him did not arise from the police or the citizens of London. Instead, they came from a Royal Artillery Colonel who saw right through the phoney act his suspect engaged in. The officer took part in a military investigation of the George Yard murder, and revealed some of its details to the American press. The Colonel claimed his suspect was a phoney medical man and spiritually polluted. The correlation between Tumblety and the English Colonel, Sir Francis Charles Hughes-Hallett, is lengthy and requires its own chapter.
It is as true today as it was in 1888: those who understand Tumblety the best, are the ones who take him seriously. He was a Ripper suspect who was gripped by a lifelong malignant personality disorder. He was a manipulator of religion and a harmful exploiter of the vulnerable; a disturbed man who skilfully hit his targets without empathy.
Notes
  1.   National Archives, War Dept. records, File âBâ, Doc. 261, JAO
  2.   Nobody has located any official record of McClellan having issued that order, yet it is true Tumblety had a history of
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