Jack The Ripper The Simple Truth - reviewed by Peter Whitby

By Bruce Paley - Published by Headline - ISBN 0 7472 7794 X 1995 208pp Illus.

With the emphasis on the differences on the final murder from the other, Bruce Paley conveniently moulds Joe Barnett snugly into all the ill – defined so – called requirement categories needed of a Ripper suspect. These include familiarity with the territory; physical attributes; basic anatomical knowledge; knife skills and a worthy excuse for being out at night; all afforded him by his fish-porters job.

Accurately fitting a resemblance to apparent eye witness reports of the killer (but then again who didn’t), he also expressed a strong dislike of prostitutes, was a likely suspect for the author of the genuine “Jack the Ripper” letters, and overall, fulfilled the Ripper projects psychological profile of the killer.

The possibility that Barnett and Mary knew all the other victims, which now seems to have been turned into a probability thanks to romantic speculation, is re – iterated, as is the stammering contradictions of Barnett’s police and press statements, and the mystery of the missing key from No 13.

The book relies heavily on newspaper accounts and intuitive impressions rather than accepted historical methods, and the central thesis, that Barnett committed the crimes to force his lover to abandon prostitution has one main objection, namely the motive’s lack of conviction.

We are asked to believe a true love-turned-to-hate scenario, of a man prepared to go to any lengths to keep his lover, which when they failed meant no-one else could have her either.

But Barnett, until now a dark horse of Ripper lore, has his background thoroughly researched. Certainly, despite his apparently simple exterior, more serious students of the case can’t help but feel there was more to their little saga than he wished to reveal, and are reluctant to dismiss him so easily without closer scrutiny.

This book offers some refreshing new features, notably a previously unseen picture of the Britannia and Ten Bells (c 1908), a press report proposing that Cathy Eddowes occasionally slept in a homeless night refuge shed said to be the adjacent room to Kelly’s, and proof that, contrary to popular belief, murder itself was not commonplace in Whitechapel (Emma Smith’s being the first for over two years.)

As well as offering a suspect, the early chapters superbly paint a vivid portrait of the drudgery of East End existence. Using work from G.R. Sims, Andrew Mearns and Jack London, he captures the prevailing autumn pandemonium precisely.

In a gallant attempt to add to the rather scanty canvas, Barnett and the Dorset Street folk have passed down to us, and to fill the void in current knowledge of Ms. Kelly’s mysterious existence, the book examines their domesticity throughout. Taking us into the cramped conditions of No 13 and between the lines of their tumultuous twenty – month relationship that would be cut short so sadly. For had Barnett kept his job, Kelly may well have survived. But with six weeks back rent owing, old Jack Frost approaching and death prowling the neighbourhood, Paley illustrates the essence of her predicament, and indeed of all those other poor unfortunates, precisely.

Despite being largely based on inference and conjecture, it is difficult to imagine we will ever see a better interpretation of events which transpire to shape the last few months of Mary Kelly’s life (and according to Paley – death).

This admirable new approach sheds some light, but as always, Millers Court is still a dark place. We can drive the shadows away for only brief intervals, before they close around us again to envelope us in impenetrable gloom.

Meticulously referenced and with enticing front cover, this is as close as we can get to being a fly-on-the-wall of No 13. As a theory, this is not at all as implausible as some of its predecessors. Maybe, after all, the truth is a little closer to home.

“ONLY WHEN ONE HAS FIRST EXCLUDED THE PROBABLE, SHOULD ONE EXCLUDE THE IMPROBABLE” - E. Howard