Russian Ripper Wassilyi

IS THE FIEND A RUSSIAN?
A "JACK THE RIPPER" IN PARIS SOME YEARS AGO FORESTALLED THE MURDERER.

The Paris Temps recalls, in connection with the Whitechapel murders, a series of similar horrors which occurred in Paris six years ago. A Russian subject named Wassilyi murdered eight women of loose character and was tried for the crimes. The jury declared him to be insane, and he was handed over to the Russian authorities and sent back to his own country, where he was confined in an asylum until January 1, 1888, when he was set at liberty.
The supposition naturally arises that he may have found his way to England and there renewed his crusade against fallen women.

Source: The News and Observer, Raleigh, North America, Friday Morning, November 16, 1888

"JACK THE RIPPER."
A Possible Clew to the Identity of the Whitechapel Murderer.

NEW YORK, Nov. 12. - Special Telegram. - The New Yorker Zeitung of today contains a cable from Paris, from their regular correspondent, telling of a possible clew to the Whitechapel (London) murderer. The correspondent says that years ago when he was in Paris, that city was startled by a series of murders by a man who was called "Saver of Lost Souls." The correspondent made inquiries into the case, and gleaned the following facts: His name was Nicholaus Wassilyie, and he left the Russian city of Tiraspol on the 1st of January this year. Wassilyie had been imprisoned there for many years.
This is the story of his career in Paris: In the year 1872 there was a movement in the orthodox church of Russia against some sectarians which caused a good deal of excitement. Nicholaus Wassilyie left a good home and wealthy parents. But Nicholaus was a fanatic sectarian, and he soon assumed the role of leader among them. The chief belief of his sect was the renunciation of all earthly joys in order to secure immortal life in paradise. Wassilyie fled to Paris. He was an excellent type of a Russian. He had a tall, elastic figure, a regular manly physiognomy, with burning, languishing eyes, and a waxen-like complexion. He used to stay all day long in his room studying some large books. At nightfall he went out and wandered aimlessly through the streets until the morning dawned. He was often seen talking with abandoned women in the street, and it soon became known that he followed a secret mission in doing so. That is why the voice of the people called him "Saver of Lost Souls." First, he tried mild persuasion in speaking to the poor fallen creatures. When mere words had no effect he went so far as to

PUT PREMIUMS ON VIRTUE,

and gave large sums to the cocottes on condition that they would enter a new life. Some of the women were really touched by his earnestness, and promised to follow his advice. He could often be seen on the street corners preaching to gaudily dressed nymphs, who bitterly shed tears.
But his mission did not seem to be crowned with success. He had often met girls who had taken a holy oath that they would sin no more again on the street. Then there was a change. He would approach a woman, speak to her in a kindly way, and would follow her home. Then when alone with the helpless creature he would take out a butcher knife, kneel on her prostrate body and force her to take an oath not to solicit again. He seemed to believe in these forced oaths, and always went away seemingly happy. One evening the "Saver of Souls," as usual, left his home. In the Rue de Richlieu he met a young woman. She had an elegant figure and beautiful blue eyes. Wassilyie was armed against the glances of women, but this girl's look seemed to make a deep impression on him. He spoke to her - she was a lost one too - but not with brutal force. With kind sympathy he touched her so deeply that she told him the whole story of her life - the story of a poor, parentless girl whom fate had torn from happiness and splendor into a world of misery and shame. Wassilyie for the first time in his life felt in love with a woman. He procured her a place in a business house and paid liberally for her support, although he made her believe that she was supporting herself. For several weeks the girl, who had some regard for her protector,

KEPT STRAIGHT

in the path of virtue. But one day when Wassilyie visited her home (a thing he seldom did and then only when an old guardian of hers was present), he found that she was gone. She had left a letter to him, in which she said that, though thankful to him for all his kindness, her life was too "ennuyant" for her, and that she preferred to be left alone. Wassilyie was in a fearful mood after this. He wandered so restlessly through the streets as to awaken the attention of the constables. Eight weeks afterward he disappeared. At the same time Madeline, the woman whom he had supported, was found murdered in the quarter where she had formerly led a life of shame. Two days afterward in a quiet side street of the Faubourg St. Germain, the corpse of another murdered woman was found. Three days afterward a Phryne of the Quartier Mouffetard was butchered at night time. All the murders were perpetrated in the same horrible way as those in Whitechapel. Jewels and everything of value on the corpses remained untouched. Five more victims were found butchered in the Arrondissement des Pantheon between the boulevards St. Michel and De l'Hopital. Then in the Rue de Lyon an attack was made on a street girl, who had the chance to cry for help before she was strangled. A throng gathered, the police arrived, and the would-be murderer was captured. It was Nicholaus Wassilyie. The mob wanted to lynch him, but he was protected. When his trial was in progress his lawyer, Jules Glaunier, claimed that his client was insane. The jury decided that such was the case, and Wassilyie was sent back to Russia after a short stay in the private asylum of Bayonne. From Tiraspol he was released on Jan. 1 of this year.
Is Wassilyie the Whitechapel murderer? He is in the possession of considerable wealth.

Source: The Daily Inter Ocean, Tuesday Morning, November 13, 1888, Page 3