ROBERT JAMES LEES
AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"
AS PLAYED BY:
Ken Bones
From Wikipedia:
Robert James Lees (born 12 August 1849 in Hinckley, Leicestershire – died 11 January 1931 in Leicester) was a British spiritualist, medium, preacher, writer and healer of the late Victorian era and early twentieth century known today for claims that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper, responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888.
At the time of the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888, Lees was living in the London area. His diary entries for 1888 reveal that on October 2, during a month when no Ripper murders took place, Lees went to both the City of London Police and Scotland Yard offering his assistance in catching Jack the Ripper. However, he was turned away as a madman on both occasions, though Scotland Yard offered to write to him.
One story, frequently quoted in books and films on the subject, is that Lees, using his psychic power, lead the Police to Jack the Ripper. This story first appeared in print on April 28, 1895, in The Chicago Herald. Another version of the same story was also published in The People on May 19, 1895.
The Chicago Herald article claimed that over a number of years Lees had been troubled by psychic visions of Jack the Ripper killing his victims. Each of these visions came true. Lees became disturbed by the visions and sought medical advice, going abroad as a result, where he no longer had the visions. Back in London, he and his wife Sarah were travelling on an omnibus when a man got on at Notting Hill. Lees turned and told his wife that the man was 'Jack the Ripper'. Even though his wife laughed at him, when the man got off the bus at Marble Arch Lees followed him. Finding a Police Constable on the way Lees told him of his suspicions, but the Constable also laughed at him.
After more murders Lees was able to convince the Police of the truth of his visions and lead them to a fashionable house in London which was home to a noted physician who had treated members of the Royal Family. On being found in incriminating circumstances, the doctor was put in a lunatic asylum under the name of Thomas Mason 124, and a mock funeral held. According to the Chicago Herald, the tale had been related by a Dr. Howard of London, who, when drunk, had told the story to a man who then told the newspaper.
Some Ripperologists disregard the story but in 1970, Dr. Thomas Stowell, a surgeon who worked with Theodore Dyke Acland, wrote in The Criminologist magazine that Acland's wife, daughter of Sir William Gull, told him of a visit to her parents' home in Mayfair of a police inspector and a man calling himself a medium. It corresponded with Lees' own account of his visit to the home of the famous physician and Dyke Acland went against medical tradition by signing Gull's death certificate - perhaps giving some support to Lees' claim that a mock burial was held for the famous physician.
This account was dramatized in the episode "Jack The Ripper" from the TV series 'The Veil'. Only Lees was called Walter Durst and Dr. Gull was known as Dr. Willowden.
RICHARD MANSFIELD
AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"
AS PLAYED BY:
Armand Assante
From Wikipedia:
Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 - 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas and for his portrayal of the dual title roles in "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".
Mansfield was performing in the "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" in late summer – early autumn 1888 during the time that Jack the Ripper was murdering prostitutes in London. One frightened theatre-goer wrote to the police accusing Mansfield of the murders because he could not believe that any actor could make so convincing a stage transformation from a gentleman into a mad killer without being homicidal. Mansfield attempted to gain public favour and stem the criticism that he was receiving by offering a performance of "Prince Karl" for the benefit of the Suffragan Bishop of London's home and refuge fund.
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