"I am Jack------"

WAS JACK THE RIPPER HANGED.

The personality of the celebrated Jack the Ripper has always remained a mystery, but a curious sidelight on the subject is now thrown by a statement of James Billington, the late hangman. The latter declared that Dr. Neill Cream, the notorious poisoner, said on the scaffold: "I am Jack------"
Before he could get any further Billington pulled the bolt, and Cream was no more. Billington, however, was convinced that had he waited a second longer the words "the Ripper" would have been uttered.
The mutilation of the Whitechapel victims was apparently done by a hand skilled, to some extent, in surgery, and certainly after Dr. Cream's death the crimes ceased.

Source: The Daily Express, London, Thursday December 19, 1901, Page 8

N.B. It has since been ascertained that during the Whitechapel murders of 1888-1889, Dr. Cream was serving time in a prison in Illinois, U.S.A.

Karen wrote:N.B. It has since been ascertained that during the Whitechapel murders of 1888-1889, Dr. Cream was serving time in a prison in Illinois, U.S.A.

Cream is still a person of interest in this field of study because he was a legitimate serial killer operating at the same time and place and killing the same type of victim.

Even if he is not the Ripper, does anyone think he might still fit the profile of the Ripper, as far as age (41), and social standing, and maybe even profession (doctor) and other background and/or influence?

Or does poisoning rather than knifing rule him out? Doesn't the fact of the victims being prostitutes in both cases, have precedence over choice of murder weapon?

I am Jack ....of life anyway!

The former is a common saying here in Oz.

Quite possibly has a British origin.

No eye deer!