Great interview with Beers with Queers: A True Crime Podcast hosted by Jordi and Brad over in Tennessee. We bridged the Atlantic this week with me talking to the guys about my theory that Jack the Ripper was a gay Irish American who had a major downer on women. And how this person got himself implicated in both the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865 and the Ripper murders in 1888.
In summary, my candidate for Jack the Ripper is an openly homosexual man called Francis Tumblety. Born in Dublin but his family emigrated to Rochester, New York state, looking for a better life. Tumblety became a herbal doctor – for which read: huckster and fraud. He made serious money out of selling cures that he claimed could cure everything from pimples to cancer.
Tumblety was quite the celebrity, well known across the United States and Canada. Appearing in public dressed as a cavalry officer, riding a circus horse. Must have been quite a sight! But like many celebrities in our own time, he had a sinister side.
He was brought to court twice, accused of manslaughter. A police sting operation in Montreal saw him caught red-handed trying to perform an illegal abortion. And both the police and Pinkerton detective agency took a very active interest in his incessant cruising for young men – who he repeatedly employed as “valets” in his medical business, only to have them rob him, and then accuse Tumblety of sexual assault. Yet – he was never convicted of any crime – and I investigate why.
The guys were really interested in the research that I did into the lives of gay men in the mid to late 19th century in cities like New York and Washington DC. I believe that Tumblety developed strong Irish and gay networks to protect himself as he had repeat brushes with the police and courts. Just as prison – or even the hangman’s noose – beckoned, an influential person would step forward to get him out of trouble.
Enjoy the podcast and remember to subscribe to Beers with Queers!
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