Ripper Myth 4 - A Masonic Conspiracy
Over the years much attention has centred around the Ripper's
practise of stabbing and disembowelling his victims and the
question of whether or not the murders have echoes of certain
Masonic rituals. Those who favour the Freemason conspiracy theory
always cite the chalked message in Goulston Street, close to where
Catherine Eddowes' mutilated body was found on 30 September 1888.
The message read:
"The Juwes are the men who will not be blamed for nothing."
Cryptic certainly. Was the double negative deliberate, implying
guilt on the part of the "Juwes," or the note simply mis-spelled
and illiterate, a reference to anti-Jewish feeling running high in
the East End at the time? (There had already been considerable
public and press speculation that the Ripper might be Jewish.)
The Masonic conspiracy theorists argue that "Juwes" refers to
three Masons of history: Jubela, Jubelo and Jubilim, who murdered
their grand master Hiram Abiff during the building of Solomon's
Temple. Their punishment was to be mutilated in a supposedly
identical fashion to the injuries suffered by some of Jack the
Ripper's victims.
They go on to claim that Sir Charles Warren, chief commissioner
of the Metropolitan Police, himself a Freemason, recognised the
reference to Juwes in the graffiti and ordered its immediate
erasure. He certainly ordered it to be removed, but the reason he
gave - wanting to avoid stoking up dangerous anti Jewish sentiment
in an already volatile situation - could well have been genuine, if
misguided.
As to why a group of well-connected and influential men who
might have their corruptions and peculiarities but who have rarely
been known to indulge in ritual homicide should embark on a
murderous rampage, the most colourful reason offered brings poor
old Prince Albert Victor back into the frame.
Historian Stephen Knight, in his 1976 book, "Jack the Ripper,
The Final Solution", argues that Prince Albert married and had a
daughter by a young Catholic woman, Annie Elizabeth Crook. Annie
was subsequently incarcerated in a lunatic asylum by the Queen's
physician, Freemason Sir William Gull, where a lobotomy turned her
into a gibbering idiot.
When a group of prostitutes in the know threatened to blackmail
the Government, Robert Cecil the prime minister (and Freemason) was
ordered to act. He and Sir William together with Walter Sickert,
another Freemason, (who allegedly had introduced Prince Albert to
Annie Crook), drove round the East End, locating and dispatching
the blackmailers.
There is no evidence, either medical or historical, to support
this theory and it contains numerous factual inaccuracies and
discrepancies. The victims were murdered where they were found, not
in a royal carriage and a carriage could not be driven into many of
the areas in question. Not all the victims were mutilated. Sir
William was in his seventies and in poor health.
It's an entertaining idea, but not one that comes anywhere close
to a final solution.
Not guilty (probably): Sir William Gull and the Freemasons