Widnes Examiner. — 1895-09-28 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

HAS "JACK THE RIPPER" BEEN FOUND?  DR. FORBES WINSLOW'S OPINION.  That well-known specialist on madness, Dr. Forbes Winslow, is at present in New York, where he has gone to attend a Medico-legal Congress, and will read a paper on " Suicide considered as a Mental Epidemic." 'fliis is, says " Science Siftings," the first time, we believe, that there has been a Medico-legal Congress anywhere, and its utility is very manifest. Dr. Forbes Winslow will preside over the department of insanity and mental medicine. He will be particularly useful to the Congress, for he has qualified both in medicine and law. On his way out to the States a reporter took the opportunity of interviewing the doctor, and he made a most interesting statement about "Jack the Ripper," who by his crimes terrorised London a few years ago. The wretched creature, it appears, is incarcerated in a county lunatic asylum in England, and those horrormongers who have been speculating as to his fate may now rest satisfied. Dr. Winslow says this fact is known to the authorities, but they have hushed up the case. The speciality of Dr. Winslow has been insanity, and particularly cases of murder, where the perpetrator has been insane.  "As an expert witness," says the Doctor, " I have testified in an enormous number of cases and won them all save one. In that case a man killed his wife and then cut his own throat. Be missed killing himself by the merest fraction. Had he succeeded, the verdict would have been murder and suicide while temporarily insane. He was, however, nursed back to life and tried. I testified that the man was insane, but the jury thought *therwiss. lie was found guilty of murder and banged.  „ "Insanity is very largely on the increase in England. There are now 94,000 insane persons in England, and the number is increasing at the rate of 2,000 a year. To what do I attribute the cause? Drink, undoubtedly. It IS a sad fact, but nevertheless true, that the drinking habit is on the increase in England, and particularly among women. They do not do their drinking at the table. "Mrs. Major So-and-so does not drink anything —oh, dear, no; but she has probably got a bottle concealed under the mattress in her bedroom. This class of dypsomaniacs is the most dangerous and the most cunning. The evil is largely attributable to the fact that under our system alcohol can be purchased from the grocer, and the consumption among women of cherry brandy, far instance, obtained through the medium stated, is enormous. Our inebriate law is a dead letter, and I find it necessary to send my patients to asylums in Belgiusa..  "As to suicide, I am rather loath to discuss it, since that is the subject upon which I have prepared a paper to read at the forthcoming congress. In that paper I shall treat ot what diseases induce a disordered brain to commit suicide. My main arealmeat will be that a suicide is insane and irrespon4ble. In my opinion, all suicides are insane. At the same time, there is no doubt that many suicides occur as the result of imitation. If a man jumps off the Monument in London on Monday, two will repeat the act on Tuesday. ''l take the view that suicide is a complaint which is not te be regard as premeditated. It is an impulsive act, committed on the spur of the moment. Suicidal acts comes in waves, spasmodic generally. The statistics of suicide compiled recently in England show a recent enormously high percentage. I consider that this is due to the epid imic of influenza that swept ever England. All suicides are insane, and no responsibility, moral or legal, attaches to their taking off." Dr. Winslow related some of his experiences with insane patients, and the many times his life had been threatened. In this manner the conversation got around to " Jack the Ripper," of whom the doctor said : " Jack the Ripper" was a medical student, of good family. He was a young man,of slight build,with light hair andiblue eyes. He studied very hard, and his mind, being naturally weak,ga've way. He became a religious enthusiast and attended etrly service every morning at St. Paul's. His religious fervour resulted in homicidal mania towards the women of the street, and impelled him to murder them. He lodged with a man whom I knew,and suspicion was first directed towards him by reason of the fact that he returned to his lodgings at unseasonable hours; that he had innumerable coats and hats stained with blood. I have in my possession now a pair of Canadian moccasins stained with blood that the Rip- ' per 'wore while on his murderous expeditions. I notified the Scotland Yard authorities, but at that time they refused to co-operate with me. Subsequently the young man was placed in confinement and removed to a lunatic asyluel,where be is to-day. Since his incarceration there has been no repetition of the horrible murders that he perpetrated. These facts are all known to the English authorities, and it is conceded that the man now in the asylum is 'Jack the Ripper.' It was deemed desirable however to hush the matter up. The details were too hr.rrible to be made the subject of a public trial, and there is no doubt of the men's hopeless insanity. And that tempts me to say that there is no such thing as a hirmless lunatic. Ail lunatics are dangerous, and should be kept in confinement. The man who believes that there is such a thing as a harmless lunatic is labouring under a delusion bimself." •