WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Jack the Ripper unmasked: How amateur sleuth used DNA breakthrough to identify Britain's most notorious criminal 126 years after string of terrible murders
- DNA evidence on a shawl found at Ripper murder scene nails killer
- By testing descendants of victim and suspect, identifications were made
- Jack the Ripper has been identified as Polish-born Aaron Kosminski
- Kosminski was a suspect when the Ripper murders took place in 1888
- Hairdresser Kosminski lived in Whitechapel and was later put in an asylum
Incredibly cool.
More here:
As reported by The Mail on Sunday, a shawl which was found by victim Catherine Eddowes has now been analysed using sophisticated modern forensic techniques.
As well as containing her DNA, it also had the killer's DNA on it.
This shawl has now been examined by world-renowned Dr Jari Louhelainen, who analyses evidence from historical crime scenes.
He then managed to compare DNA from the shawl to DNA from the victim's relatives and the suspects - leading to Dr Louhelainen concluding that Kosminski was the killer.
And some background on the Metropolitan policeman whose voice, echoing over the many years, can be heard saying "I told you so." Which normally no one likes, but we'll give him a pass.
Hairdresser? I thought the butler did it. : (
Posted by: henry | September 06, 2014 at 10:10 PM
Wow. Maybe one day they'll find out who really killed JFK.
Posted by: fdcol63 | September 06, 2014 at 10:13 PM
OK, killed that one. Eat you're heart out, TK!
Posted by: Eric in Boise | September 06, 2014 at 10:25 PM
"your"
I know what the JOM guidebook says, but I can't let that stand.
Posted by: Eric in Boise | September 06, 2014 at 10:28 PM
Fascinating!
Posted by: miss Marple | September 06, 2014 at 10:54 PM
I had my money on Colonel Mustard in the Billiard Room with the candlestick.
Posted by: MarkO | September 06, 2014 at 11:07 PM
Ha! Just like JFK, a bunch of people don't believe it in the comments.
Posted by: miss Marple | September 06, 2014 at 11:11 PM
It was the Duke of Clarence. Trust me.
Also, the Big Ten stinks, and stinks quite badly. It will have no representative in the four-team playoff. Trust me.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | September 06, 2014 at 11:30 PM
Who killed JFK? Easy.
"Oswald fired three shots--the first wounding the President in the back and neck, the second missing the President completely and hitting Governor Connally in the back, chest, and thigh, and the third missing the 25-foot-long limousine entirely.
While Oswald was spraying bullets wildly, another shooter, an expert marksman on the top of another building, fired a fourth shot, a near-perfect fatal hit at the center of the back of the president's head that exited the right side of the head and struck the governor's right wrist."
Remember, that crack shot Oswald missed everything with his first shot.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/11/08/how-investigated-president-john-f-kennedy-assassination/
Posted by: MarkO | September 06, 2014 at 11:37 PM
*third*
Posted by: MarkO | September 06, 2014 at 11:40 PM
the Daltex building, that was the one at the center of the previous Bobby Lee Swagger book,
he retconned the rest of the series to do so,
Posted by: narciso | September 06, 2014 at 11:46 PM
Also, the Big Ten stinks, and stinks quite badly. It will have no representative in the four-team playoff. Trust me.
Yep. Mich State, OSU, Michigan...
Posted by: Stephanie accidentally OnT? | September 07, 2014 at 12:07 AM
Also, the Big Ten stinks, and stinks quite badly. It will have no representative in the four-team playoff. Trust me.
Two weeks into the season and every major conference program has suffered a setback by either losing or underperforming. I think I said a while ago that the four teams should be SEC East, SEC West. either USC/Oregon and Florida State. I doubt that the powers that be will want two teams from the same conference so maybe some team like Oklahoma should replace the loser in the SEC title game.
Posted by: Captain Hate | September 07, 2014 at 12:08 AM
For beasts:
http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/oregon-fan-says-alabama-cant-spell-misspells-gameday-sign/
Posted by: Stephanie accidentally OnT? | September 07, 2014 at 12:10 AM
"Yep. Mich State, OSU, Michigan..."
And how can anyone at JOM forget Wisconsin?
I am really puzzled about how ADs - including, among others, Pat Hayden of USC - can be on the playoff selection committee. Strange.
Posted by: Danube on iPad | September 07, 2014 at 12:23 AM
Dang, the Pac-12 channel isn't digital.
I now have five, count em five, SEC channels.
McElroy four putted from five feet today. Eastlake is probably panicking as Michelson didn't make the cut for next week. No Tiger. No Phil.
Posted by: Stephanie riding a streetcar named Desire | September 07, 2014 at 12:34 AM
Condi is also on the selection committee. That dude for SC needs to be replaced. What a turd.
Posted by: Stephanie riding a streetcar named Desire | September 07, 2014 at 12:37 AM
And Sarkisian is a pussy. He texted the AD to come down to the field cause the big bad meanies in black and white stripes gave him a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"Whaaaaah, dadddddy, come help me out and fuss at the meanies." WTF!!!! There's no whining in football.
Posted by: Stephanie riding a streetcar named Desire | September 07, 2014 at 01:14 AM
ZOMGWTFBBQ!
It's tomorrow. You know what that means........
HAPPY BIRTH MONTH MISS MARPLE!!!!
I gave you an extra exclamation mark today.
Posted by: Jeff Dobbs | September 07, 2014 at 01:34 AM
Burn.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152226736206008&set=a.79220456007.90110.598181007&type=1
Posted by: Stephanie accidentally OnT? | September 07, 2014 at 02:56 AM
Aaron Kosminski?
And here all along I thought it was

Oh well:(
Posted by: daddy | September 07, 2014 at 03:00 AM
Here is a very cool short video via Watts Up of the recent New Guinea Volcano eruption and it's shock wave:
Dramatic video of explosive volcanic eruption with compression wave
Posted by: daddy | September 07, 2014 at 04:15 AM
Clarice's most excellent assessment --LUN
Posted by: anonamom | September 07, 2014 at 06:54 AM
Clarice, Great Pieces today!
Posted by: Pagar a bacon, ham and sausage supporter | September 07, 2014 at 07:04 AM
Things I hate:
1. Barack Obama
2. Notre Dame
3. Brussel sprouts
4. Hangovers
Off for a cleansing jog...
Posted by: Beasts of England | September 07, 2014 at 07:09 AM
Brussel sprouts aren't so bad. Try them roasted.
Posted by: peter | September 07, 2014 at 07:23 AM
Not to take anything away from USC but Stanford did so many dumb things to not win yesterday. Because of the nature of the beast, unlike baseball and basketball for good reason, I wonder what would happen if they played each other say four times. And an exercise in "what if" is all it will be.
Congratulations to Janet, Walter and any other Va Tech fans whom I've interacted with/ teased / offended in the past. No Chokies last night. I have a lot of Buckeye fans with whom I'm sympathetic, but looking at the meltdown on the Scout board makes those online idiots about as classless as Penn State fans. USC does a much better job of picking up the pieces after the loss of a QB.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPad | September 07, 2014 at 07:35 AM
Excellent Pieces, Clarice. One exception.
I know Pat Condell from my days in the UK. He is an atheist and is critical of all religions including Catholic and Jewish. It's just the Islamists who being the most extreme in his mind.
But he does support Israel.
Posted by: Jim Eagle | September 07, 2014 at 07:54 AM
Clarice's Pieces is excellent. Thanks for linking it, anonamom!
Snow next week in the northern tier (Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan).
Another "polar vortex", which seems to be, dare I say it, a fancy name for early cold weather.
I still remember the multiple articles I had to read in college about the coming ice age.
I figure when the power starts going out due to multiple overloads, and the windmills freeze up, people will suddenly demand coal power again.
Posted by: Miss Marple | September 07, 2014 at 07:55 AM
Sautéed Brussels sprouts with a little maple syrup get the nod @ chez Hate. Hard to believe a cultured man of the South like Beasts wouldn't enjoy that.
HB Miss Marple.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPad | September 07, 2014 at 07:57 AM
I keep trying to like Brussels sprouts, but every time I try them my mind says they should taste like little cabbages, which they do NOT. It's the same reaction you get when drinking a big swig of Dr Pepper when you think you are getting Coke.
Posted by: Miss Marple | September 07, 2014 at 08:01 AM
I remember a brutal cold snap in early September in east central Pennsyltucky where it got down to around zero and everybody was wondering WTF. I think it was in the late 70s which probably produced a bunch of inbred births from those hilljacks which ended up being the current crop of warmists.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPad | September 07, 2014 at 08:03 AM
Thanks.
Posted by: clarice | September 07, 2014 at 08:06 AM
I have no deep animosity for Ohio St., but it will never hurt my feelings to see Urban Meyer lose. Heh.
Brussels sprouts with maple syrup, huh? Or roasted? I'm having brunch with Mama Beasts at some artsy-fartsy brasserie today and the online menu shows frog legs and escargot, so they have to have some sprouts, right? Maybe I'll man-up and order some. ;)
Posted by: Beasts of England | September 07, 2014 at 08:08 AM
Captain Hate, The late 70's was when they were saying "new Ice Age." Also when we had the historic blizzard here.
Posted by: Miss Marple | September 07, 2014 at 08:10 AM
A real tour de force, Clarice.
Posted by: Skoot | September 07, 2014 at 08:11 AM
Brussels sprouts have a certain bitter taste which differentiates them from cabbage or cauliflower.
Excellent Pieces, clarice.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPad | September 07, 2014 at 08:14 AM
of course. I've thought the whole administration falls into that category:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/09/progressive_moral_depravity_a_confederacy_of_dunces.html
great pieces, clarice
Posted by: narciso | September 07, 2014 at 08:27 AM
Brava, Clarice! Truly superb!!
Posted by: Beasts of England | September 07, 2014 at 08:29 AM
When you think of the Rotherham story remember:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/at-behest-of-hamas-linked-cair-doj-sues-minnesota-town-for-rejecting-mosque
Yet there appear to be Americans who wonder how Rotherham could have fostered such horror.
Posted by: Pagar a bacon, ham and sausage supporter | September 07, 2014 at 08:29 AM
I just steal from you guys..How could it be bad in your eyes? XOXOXO
Posted by: clarice | September 07, 2014 at 08:34 AM
CAIR should be investigated for various and sundry crimes.
If Scotland gets independence, do they get to send all of their Muslim UK immigrants to England?
Just wondering.
Posted by: Miss Marple | September 07, 2014 at 08:35 AM
Roasted Brussells Sprouts - yummo!
I love Dr Pepper, too. Coke? Never touch it.
Great Pieces to read this morning. Glad you're back on Sunday mornings Clarice.
Posted by: Centralcal on iPad | September 07, 2014 at 08:36 AM
Fantastic Pieces, Clarice!
Posted by: James D. | September 07, 2014 at 08:39 AM
For all the (well earned_ scorn we heap on Krugman, Friedman and the rest of the twits at the NYT, for my money, there might not be a more obnoxious, irritating jackass in the NY newspaper world than Mike Lupica.
Posted by: James D. | September 07, 2014 at 08:40 AM
Clarice, spotted a typo ...
I think it is worse than fear of being called racist. That is just the final excuse used when confronted."I was afraid of being called racist"
They measure their adherence to multicultural ideals by the distance between their "tolerance" and "traditional" norms.
At least Asian men are more honest about what they are doing.
Who are you to say they're wrong?"
Well you were derelict in human decency and now you're going to pay for that.
Tough.
Posted by: boris | September 07, 2014 at 08:44 AM
Alas...the electric grid is repaired right in time to read Clarice's Pieces! Clarice, you are always spot ON!
Posted by: Bela1 | September 07, 2014 at 08:46 AM
"a shawl which was found by victim Catherine Eddowes"
Not so artfully phrased, if I may say.
One of your best, Clarice.
Posted by: jimmyk on iPad | September 07, 2014 at 08:54 AM
Costanza's favorite "author", Mike Lupica. Sports writers should know their limitations per Harry Callahan.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPad | September 07, 2014 at 08:59 AM
We have a Brussell sprouts recipe involving sautéing them in butter and mustard. Universal acclaim, except for our 13-year-old.
"I know Pat Condell from my days in the UK. He is an atheist and is critical of all religions including Catholic and Jewish. It's just the Islamists who being the most extreme in his mind."
The same failing as Hitchens, as brilliant a writer as he was. Incidentally, it's not the atheism that's the failing--he can believe or not as he wishes--it's the hostility to religion and the belief that its net contribution is evil.
Posted by: jimmyk on iPad | September 07, 2014 at 09:02 AM
"Sports writers should know their limitations per Harry Callahan."
As should sports commentators (Olbermann, cough, cough).
Posted by: jimmyk on iPad | September 07, 2014 at 09:04 AM
Clarice - Thanks for yet another great "Pieces" for our Sunday morning reading pleasure.
Heartbreaking story of one of the Rotherham victims, Emma, and the rapes/abuse she suffered, in the LUN.
(Sorry, it's from the BBC, but worth watching)
Posted by: Patriot4Freedom | September 07, 2014 at 09:06 AM
Yes, Hitch's over the top disdain for all things having to do with religion effectively prevented him from discussing it objectively.
Posted by: Captain Hate on the iPad | September 07, 2014 at 09:07 AM
Excuse me for wondering about the Minnesota town rejecting a mosque, but suppose a town rejected allowing a Trinity United Church led by Jeremiah Wright fomenting action against a class of people or a Jim Jones wannabe urging suicide?
Cloaking one’s actions as religion does not mean it is a religion. If there is ample evidence of using a church as cover for promoting illegal acts.
The DOJ should investigate prioritize its investigations of illegal acts because fomenting the beheading of people, rape, suicide, and the subversion of the country far outweighs the placement of a church.
Posted by: sbw | September 07, 2014 at 09:09 AM
Where has Frau been?
Posted by: AliceH | September 07, 2014 at 09:19 AM
Even the Guardian says so: Isis recruitment moves from online networks to British mosques
Posted by: sbw | September 07, 2014 at 09:19 AM
IPatriot, I am sending that to everyone I know, and reposting for emphasis--
BBC interview with one of the Rotherdam victims.
I thought I'd never be more outraged and sickened than I was with the Church's pedophilia scandal, but I find this even more horrendous--the police and prosecutors and child welfare people did this, with complete and full present day knowledge of the criminality of it.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-28948660
Posted by: anonamom | September 07, 2014 at 09:33 AM
"...string of lunatic asylums". That got past the PC police?
Posted by: Sue | September 07, 2014 at 09:41 AM
Trigger warning: angry tirade.
Something that's been bugging me about Rotherham since I first heard about it: why has no one been arrested even now? The Wikipedia article on "Limitation Periods in the UK" says "Unlike other European countries the UK has no statute of limitations applying to serious sexual crimes." Shouldn't the government be taking testimony from the 1400 victims and arresting every one of the bastards they name as perpretrators or facilitators? (Some of their testimony should be in the files of the police who ignored it at the time, if it hasn't been destroyed.) I haven't heard that the Muslim men of Rotherham have been rushing to the airport in large numbers for one-way tickets to Pakistan. Why not? Are they completely confident that they will never be punished?
As for the politicians, bureaucrats, and policemen who covered for them, shouldn't every damned one of them have been fired by now? Prosecuted, too, if the statute of limitations hasn't run out on their various crimes. But even if it has, they can surely be fired without a pension for gross dereliction of duty and have their names put up on a website 'wall of shame' that will prevent them from ever being hired for any job of trust again. I've only heard of one that resigned, and I believe she got a higher-paying job elsewhere!
Finally, why isn't anyone else (so far as I have noticed) asking these questions? Are Muslim sex crimes like bad weather - everyone's shocked and horrified, but no one thinks they can do anything about it? Of course, the crimes cannot be undone, but they sure as Hell could be punished, and punished so severely that criminals and policemen and politicians and bureaucrats in other cities and countries would be afraid to do (or ignore) anything like this again. What kind of wimps are running the UK that it doesn't seem to have occurred to them to do anything so obviously necessary as to prosecute these crimes?
Posted by: Dr Weevil | September 07, 2014 at 10:10 AM
Thanks, Boris--I caught it last night and signalled the night editor. Caught it again this morning and it's now been fixed.
Posted by: clarice | September 07, 2014 at 11:18 AM
Alice, I'm sure I saw frau here within the past week.
Posted by: clarice | September 07, 2014 at 11:20 AM
Clarice: I've been looking for Frau in particular since all the 9/1 birthday wishes. Haven't seen her, though it's possible I missed it.
I did a search for "by: Frau" within JOM site, and the most recent comment I find is from August 7. Again, it's possible my google skills are at fault, but... it really seems like a month since I've seen her here.
Posted by: AliceH | September 07, 2014 at 11:36 AM
Clarice,
My Sundays are straight again, your Pieces and now Football, yeah. Great pieces as usual.
I would like to add one thing that you did not mention, that the actions by the officials demonstrate their contempt that they have for themselves and by extension the victims.
I read that some officials call the victims "little sluts" that were asking for it, it was in a story by the Telegraph or Guardian. Anyhow, their own contempt for all things Western plays a role in the attitude of those officials.
Posted by: Bori | September 07, 2014 at 12:01 PM
I thought is was a very powerful Pieces.
It brought to mind a lot of past stories....
Like the Jon Stewart & Colbert "rally to restore sanity"- set up to mock the Restoring Honor rally.
Read the media reaction section - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoring_Honor_rally
Why?...it was so ugly & petty.
Posted by: Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself | September 07, 2014 at 12:22 PM
Faith, Hope, Charity
Why would they want to mock that?
Posted by: Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself | September 07, 2014 at 12:25 PM
You could be right, alice. Lately I've been signing off early and since she's posting from CAL I often don't see her stuff until the next day ..
Bori, I think it was worth the cops job to try to do something and the denigration of these kids was a defense mechanism. In any event, British cops these days are very unaggressive about ALL crimes..except maybe recycling offenses.
Posted by: clarice | September 07, 2014 at 01:28 PM
((British cops these days are very unaggressive about ALL crimes..except maybe recycling offenses.))
That's because rape and the failure to report it doesn't offend their religion (climate change) whereas not recycling is an offense against their god GAIA.
Excellent pieces, Clarice.
Posted by: Stephanie riding a streetcar named Desire | September 07, 2014 at 01:52 PM