Days of My Years

Those who are versed in the theories of criminal psychology will doubtless find an abundance of curious and interesting material in Sir MELVILLE MACNAGHTEN'S "Days of My Years," a book that has just made its appearance in London. Two years ago Sir MELVILLE retired from his position as head of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard. His career as a London detective covers a period of twenty-four years, and his book is naturally concerned with the details of most of the famous crimes that came under his observation during that time. The Whitechapel murders furnished him his initial experiences at Scotland Yard, and in his present volume of reminiscences he gives it as his belief that the "Jack the Ripper" of that strange series of crimes was a sexual maniac who committed suicide in 1888. He finds the same criminal impulses at the root of the Crippen case, and in that of Dr. NEIL CREAM, the Lambeth poisoner of 1892. Sir MELVILLE's theory regarding the Whitechapel murders corroborates to a large extent the theory cleverly elaborated by Mrs. BELLOC-LOWNDES in her last story, "The Lodger."

Source: The New York Times Book Review, November 15, 1914, Page 502