The American Murders of Jack the Ripper: Tantalizing Evidence of the Gruesome American Interlude of the Prime Ripper Suspect

by R. Michael Gordon

The most notorious serial murderer in the annals of British crime may have actually set foot on American soil during the late nineteenth century. In 1891 and 1892, four women were brutally mutilated and killed in New York and New Jersey. Because they were murdered in the same general area and time frame, the circumstances point to the possibility that the women were all victims of the same killer. Severin Klosowski (aka George Chapman, the “Borough Poisoner”), a prime suspect in the Ripper case, was living in the area at the time.
With Victorian-era New York as his backdrop, author R. Michael Gordon recounts the gruesome scenes, focusing on the details that strongly suggest Chapman and the Ripper were one and the same.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

209 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2003

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author is a bit obsessed with his "Severin Klosowski is Jack the Ripper" theory. In this book, as in all his others, he treats his theory as fact, cites his own previous books as authorities without mentioning their authorship, and tries to pin a number of very different murders in America on Klosowski/Jack. Only one was a Ripper-style murder, a prostitute who was strangled, her throat cut, her abdomen mutilated. One woman was shot. One elderly woman was stabbed to death when she surprised a burglar at her home. Gordon also includes several British murders which are by no means certain Ripper crimes -- in fact, some of them were most definitely NOT.

In addition, the book is badly written and there is gross overuse of exclamation points.

I normally want to read every Jack the Ripper book I can get my hands on, and I've read one of Gordon's previous books. But I think it's a waste of time to read any more of his work. There are many better treatments of the subject.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book starts with a conclusion and then tries to make the facts fit that conclusion. It doesn't work. I did like reading about the NY-area murders, but the idea that they're from the same person, let alone Jack the Ripper, is preposterous.

Gotta admire the author's confidence in his convictions, but every time he brings them up instead of letting the reader draw a natural conclusion, the book slogs and it reminds you these are selected facts, not impartial ones.

Even for those who study the Ripper, this is a hard pass.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a special on a cable network about the possible american murders of Jack the Ripper a month or so ago that I found very interesting. Then I found this book and found it even more so.

Of course, like everything, it is all speculation but it does seem to have a lot of validity as a theory. Certainly the murder of Carrie Brown.

And of course the suspect, Klosowski was a favorite of Abberline among others. And the timing fits. The switch to poisoning is a major area for possible diagreements of course. WOULD a serial killer switch methodology that much? Lots of food for thought here if you enjoy Ripper theories though.