He killed 17 girls before he could be identified and caught. No one had ever seen him. The Scotland Yard Police had no clues to identify, let alone book him. A very expert murderer, Jack the Ripper, never left any clues behind at the place of crime. The fearful women residents of East end of London as well as the businessmen of the city area had put up a petition against these horrific unsolved murders to Queen Victoria. The Queen notified the White chapel police ordered them to work with their full might in solving this most puzzling murder mystery of 1890s.
Robert James Lees was a celebrated spiritualist. He was under the wings of the Royal family. Robert Lees had developed psychic powers during childhood and from tender age of thirteen he had been spiritual consultant to Queen Victoria. His outstanding psychic powers made him the Queen's favorite. Apart from the royal contacts, Lees had a good reputation among the general public. So when Lees approached the Police Investigative Cell in connection with the jack the Ripper murders, they could not just ignore him. His claim of having a psychic vision of one of the murders being committed, was treated with consideration and referred to senior officials. Lees described the vision in full harrowing detail. He saw a court with gin palace nearby. He could see the name of the court clearly. He could even see the time in the clock on the wall of the gin palace - it showed 12:40 a.m. He further saw a man a woman entering the court. The man was sober but the woman was dead drunk. In her drunken state, she leaned against the wall for support. It was a dark, secluded corner. The man quickly closed her mouth with one hand. With the other hand he drew a knife and slit her throat. She fell on the ground. The man repeatedly stabbed her. Then coolly wiping the blade on her dress, he walked off.
The following night, Ripper killed a prostitute in the same manner at the same time and in same court, as foretold by Lees.
The news of this murder greatly disturbed Lees. Shaken by the horrific vision and subsequently its turning into reality or lived too much for Less. He was so shaken up by the experience that he went away to France for a brief holiday. It was only a few weeks later, when he nerves calmed down, he returned to England. During this period, Ripper murdered four women, but Lees remained untroubled by vision during his stay in France.
Once back in London, Lees had another vision of the Ripper murders. He saw that one of the Ripper's victim had her ears cut off. He also noted the peculiarity of the mutilations: "One ear was completely severed, the other was left clinging by a mere strand of flesh".
This time Scotland Yard had to take him seriously. As a matter of fact, they had already received a warning letter from the Ripper. It was written in red ink adorned with two bloody finger frints. It read:
"Tomorrow night I shall again take my revenge, claiming from a class of women who have made themselves most obnoxious to me - my ninth victim.
Jack the Ripper
PS: To prove that I am really Jack the Ripper, I will cut off the ears of the victim".
The contents of the letter were kept highly secret and there no was chance of Lees ever knowing about it.
Shortly, they discovered the body of the Ripper's ninth victim, whose ears were cut in the same manner as seen by Lees in his vision.
After a few days, Lees again contacted the police and told them about another vision. This was the murder of Mary Kelly, the 17th victim of Jack the Ripper.
On that fateful night, Lees was dining at a restaurant in Piccadilly with two Americans. Halfway through the meal. Lees cried out, "Great God! Jack the Ripper has committed another murder." They checked the time - it was 7:49 p.m. All three of them rush to Scotland Yard.
The police there had no inkling of any such happening. Nevertheless, they recorded Lees 'statement'. When Lees in the middle of his dictation, a telegram arrived stating that a body had been found in Crown Court. It was discovered at 8:10 p.m. They all drove to Crown Court. On reaching the spot, Lees pointed towards a dark corner and said, "Look at the wall. There is something written there".
The inspector ran forward. Chalked on the wall was:
"Seventeen, Jack the Ripper".
The inspector needed no more convincing.
It was at this point that he decided to carry out an experiment and make use of Lees' marvelous though incomprehensible psychic powers.
The plan was to use Lees as a 'psychic bloodhound' pick up the trail of the murderer. Though it sounds strange, comparing dog's sense powers to man's psychic abilities is just not fair. Nevertheless, Lees agreed to it. From the scene of crime, Lees set off through the London streets.
All that night Lees allowed strange magnetic influence to guide him. At 4 a.m. he landed at 74, Brook Street in Mayfair. when Lees pointed towards the elegant mansion, the police party stood stunned. For 74, Brook Street belonged to Sir William Gull, personal physician to Queen Victoria and her son, the Prince of Wales. Dr. Gull had been the apple her eye since he saved the life of the Prince of Wales 16 years ago by successfully treating him for typhoid. Gull was now 70 years old. He was partially paralyzed from a stroke.
Seeing the policemen hesitating, Lees repeated, "There is your murderer - the man you are looking for"
The dismayed policemen were now curious at the confident declaration of Lees. Still, considering the delicacy of the situation they decided to wait until daylight. In the meantime, just to get a further confirmation of Lees' psychic powers, the Inspector asked him to describe the interior of Dr. Gull's hall.
Without hesitation, Lees said, "The hall has a high porter's chair of black oak on the right hand as you enter it, a stained glass window at the extreme end, and a large mastiff is at this moment asleep at the foot of the stairs".
At 7 a.m., as soon as the servants woke up, they rang the doorbell. The door opened to reveal a hall exactly as described by Less, except for the dog. But the servants told that it did sleep at the foot of the stairs at night and was let out into the garden in the morning.
"This is the hand of God," whispered the Inspector.
He asked for Sir Williams wife. She told them an incredible story. Her husband was a dual personality. To the outside world, he was always a kindly and sympathetic man. But there were times in the privacy of home, when he turned into a brutal and uncontrollable sadist. To escape his rage, at times, she had to lock herself and the children into the bedroom. Then came the most horrible revelation. When the Ripper murders began to take place, she noticed whenever a murder had occurred, her husband was absent from home.
Sir Williams wife admitted that her husband experienced occasional lapses of memory. She recalled how he came home several times quite late at night with bloodstains on his clothes. On asking, Sir William explained them as frequent nosebleeds he suffered as a symptom of the stroke.
A search of the house brought proof that the Ripper had been found at last. The doctor's respectable personality was overcome by horror. Though the culprit begged to be killed at once, it was never considered. Instead, a team of 12 doctors was commissioned. The Ripper was declared insane and the matter was hushed up by swearing all the parties to secrecy.
The mad doctor was put into an asylum far away, where he was lodged under a pseudo name. However, to account for Sir William Gull's disappearance, a sham death and burial was arranged. The public was convincingly duped. Even the asylum keepers never thought that they had the custody of notorious Jack the Ripper murderer. To them, he was simply the inmate No. 124 till the day he died.
"Jack the Ripper was the unknown brutal murderer. He would kill young girls, mainly prostitutes, mercilessly."
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