The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-05-11

TWELVE PAGES.
probability have beaten the child to
death if l had not interfered. In his
normal moods he was an excellent hus,
band and father and one of the gentlest
and most tractable of men. l have fire.
quently heard him express sincere SYM
pathy with persons in misfortune"
The circumstances which led to the de-
lection of this inhuman monster with q
dual nature are extraordinary and alto
gether unparalleled in the history of
crime. AS the fact of the arrest and i'm
prisonment of Jack the Ripper has now
been divulged by DR.. Howard it is only
right that proper credit should be given
to the man who put the London police
upon his track. He himself has sacredly
observed his promise-he refused to take
any oath on the ground of religious
soruples-not to divulge the identity of
the Ripper.
Robert James Lees, the gentleman to
whom the unfortunates of the east end
of London owe their present immunity
from the attacks of monster who for
long years made every one of them ven
ture out at night literally with her life
in her hands, is the person entitled to
the
CREDIT OF TRACKING JACK THE
RIPPER.
Mr.. Lees is at present the proprietor Of
a novel institution for the higher edu-
cation of the workingmen at Peckham.
Over 1900 workmen attend
large sum of money in the enterprise,
which is now on a paying basis. Mr..
Lees is recognized today as one of the
most advanced labor leaders in England
and is an intimate friend of Kier Hardy,
the leader of the independent labor par
ty. He at present resides at &c The Gar
dens. Peokham Rye, London, S. E.
In his early years MIR. Lees developed
an extraordinary clairvoyant power,
which enabled him to discern, as with
the eyes of a seer, things hidden from
the comprehension of ordinary men born
without this singular gift. At the age
of 10 he was summoned before the queen
at Birmingham, where he gave evidence
of his powers as a clairvoyant which
excited her majesty's utmost astonish-
ment. Having considerable means of his
own. however. he devoted himself to
literary pursuits became a profound
theologian and ultimately took up the
study of spiritualism and theosophy. He
8 at present the recognized leader of the
Christian Spiritualists in Great Britain.
At the time of the first three murders
by the ripper, Mr.. Lees was in the height
of his clairvoyant powers. One day he
was writing in his study when he. be-
came convinced that the ripper was
about to commit another murder. He
tried in vain to dispel the feeling. AS
be sat at his table the whole scene arose
before him. He seemed to see two per-
sons, man and woman, walking down
the length of mean street. He followed
them in his minds eye and saw them
enter narrow court. He looked and
read the-name of the court. There was
a gin palace near this court, ablaze with
light. Looking through the widows be
saw that the hands of the clock in the
bar pointed to IL. 40, the hour at which
the public houses are closed for the
night in London.
As he looked he saw the man and
woman enter dark corner of the court.
The woman was half drunk. The man
was perfectly sober. H was dressed in
dark suit of Scotch tweed, carried a
light overcoat on his arm. and his light
blue eyes glittered in the rays of the
lamplight which dimly illuminated the
dingy retreat the pair had chosen. The
woman leaned against the wall and the
man put one hand over her mouth. She
struggled in feeble manner, as if too
much overcome by liquor to make any
effectual resistance. The mau then drew
knife from his inside vest pocket aud
cut the woman's throat. The blood
streamed out from the wound, some of it
squirting over his shirt front. He he'd
his hand over the woman's mouth until
she fell to the ground. Then divesting
the lower limbs of his victim of their
apparel, the butcher inflicted sundry
gashes upon her with
HIS LONG KNIFE.
These were delivered in scientific
manner, and resulted in the ripper;s lay
ing certain organs beside the body of his
victim. He then deliberately wiped his
knife upon the clothes of the woman,
sheathed it, and putting on his light
overcoat deliberately buttoned it up so
as to hide the blood stains on his shirt
front, after which he walked calmly
away from the scene of the murder.
Such was the extraordinary clairvoyant
vision presented to the second sight of
Mr.. Lees. So impressed was he by what
he had thus miraculously witnessed that
he at once went to Scotland Yard and
detailed the whole matter to the detec-
tives. AS they regarded him as nothing
short of a lunatic. and had been for
some months visited by all sorts and