Another Mystery Solved? Jack The Ripper

With the news coming out a few days ago that DNA may have finally solved the Whitechapel murders of 1888 along with PBS possibly solving the Servant Girl Annihilator case it seems I am way behind in solving history's greatest crimes.  So I'll just go ahead and say this: Elizabeth Borden was totally guilty. There. Take that... other historic crime... people.  However, this may not be the final word on Saucy Jack. The DNA testing method used has not been studied and the results of the tests need to be independently verified. Like many amature crime sleuths, I first discovered the world of historic true crime through Jack the Ripper. In 1988 the murders were 100 years old and TV (that's what we used to watch back in the day) was awash in Ripper specials...even an awful made for TV movie starring David Hasselhoff. But one show I really got into, The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper , was hosted by the great Peter Ustinov and featured a panel of experts who were given information on five suspects and asked to give their assessment as to which of these was most likely the killer. I grabbed a notepad and a pencil and parked in front of the TV to studiously take notes. The only reason I remember this at all is because at the end of the program, when the experts revealed their most likely suspects, they all said what I had written down...Aaron Kosminski. One of the experts on the panel was FBI Special Agent John Douglas, one of the FBI's first criminal profilers. I am an admirer of Mr. Douglas' and find his insights into the criminal mind to be quite interesting. You can read a brief write up about the recent Ripper Revelation TM on his website and I highly recommend you read his books.

Victimology: Ruth Cowing Hill

Thomas F. Cowing, Sr.

Thomas (Tom) F. Cowing emigrated from England as a child with his family and grew up in Wisconsin on his parent's farm. He enlisted in the 2nd Infantry of Wisconsin in 1861 and was wounded  and captured at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run on August 28th, 1862. His wound was considered fatal and the Confederates released him. However he recovered and was transferred to the Veterans Reserve Corp in December of 1863 until his term of service ended in June of 1864. He returned to Wisconsin and married Abby Bennett a month later. Eventually he moved to the fledgling town of Alexandria, MN and, with a partner, opened a hardware and implement store. Selling hardware and farming implements paid well and Thomas built a new house for his family. This is the house in which Ruth would spend the first 11 years of her life and it still stands today. Thomas Cowing was a well respected and prosperous member of the town, and Douglas county, when he passed the Minnesota Bar exam in October of 1889, but he promptly moved the entire family to Oregon City. He was named Notary Public of Clackamas county and passed the Oregon Bar in December of the same year. By February of 1890 he had opened a partnership with his oldest son Eugene, arguing land grant cases. It seems this early business venture may not have worked out because he was soon working for J.B. Brockenbrough's land agency. I don't know why Mr. Cowing decided to leave a prosperous life behind and move his whole family to Oregon but it worked out for him financially. Mr. Cowing, and his family, would prosper in the West.

Popping By To Say Hello

My mentor

Wow. What's it been? Two years since I posted new content. Okay, well the truth is, there really isn't anything new to post. This leaves you, the reader, trapped listening to the ravings of an anonymous blogger who takes his name from a character in a  favorite childhood movie. I'm actually awaiting the release of Dr. Epperly's forthcoming book on the Villisca Murders. I still answer emails and reply to comments but short of re-posting old articles there's not much to write about. Anyone who may have watched that episode of History Detectives can see what it is I have to do to research these cases. However I'm just me; I don't have a office of interns and producers doing the research for me. Nor do I have the ability to jump on a plane and travel to every town a murder occurred in. But I haven't been entirely lazy; I actually have dug deeper into the Ardenwald / Hill Family murders a lot more. That will be the subject of my future article.

The Austin, Texas Servant Girl Annihilator - Solved?

The excellent PBS series History Detectives makes a special investigation into one of American history's forgotten and most brutal serial murderers. The entire episode is available for free. The investigators make some great insight's into how crime was handled in the late 19th and early 20th century. This case is also a great example of what can happen when public pressure is applied to criminal investigations. Watch this show!

Revisiting the Walker Case: Old Posts Never Die

Richard Hickock & Perry Smith

In the comments of this post from 2008, "Lonnie" reminds me I never followed through on this.  Now it seems investigators are giving this case another, another look.  Now I have to admit, I haven't followed this case very carefully due to lack of information coming out.  The last I heard, two of the original suspects were cleared by the DNA evidence.  The primary suspect was a cousin of Mr. Walker's who was believed to have been having an affair at one time with Christine Walker.  The affair likely didn't happen and the DNA cleared the suspect.  The other man who was cleared was Cliff Walker's friend, Don McLeod  the man who discovered the crime.  The investigators still had about 20 suspects to test.  With this latest news of the exhumation of Hickock and Smith for testing, I can only assume the other twenty people have been cleared as well.  In all, 30 suspects have been ruled out.  Now they are exhuming the bodies of the Hickock and Smith and personally, I think this is a high profile waste of time. Update: I was right; no match.  

Post #100! Catching up with the Jordans

As the title says this is post number 100 for the old Inspector.  Remember all the way back in 2008?  I wrote my first post about the assault of Mrs. Bell Jordan, which occurred on the morning of October 31st, 1911, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.  This was just a day later then the two-week "schedule" the killer seemed to be keeping starting in Colorado Springs.  I noted in that article that there had been a prowler along the tracks a day before and a few days after the assault on Mrs. Jordan.  This prowler tried to enter a grocery store and was heard tapping on windows of other houses in the neighborhood around the railroad tracks.  Whether or or not this was all the work of the same person is not known.  At the time I was writing that post, I believed this was a botched attempt at murder by the Midwest Axeman.  Today I do not.  But first, a little bit more about the Jordans...