Montague John Druitt -- A
graduate of Winchester College and
an avid sportsman who was discovered drowned in the Thames river on
December 31, 1888. He is considered by many to be the number one suspect
in the case. Interestingly enough, there is very little evidence with
which to implicate his guilt.
Druitt decided upon a career in law, and in 1885 he was called to the bar. Only a few months later, his father passed away as a result of a heart attack, leaving a total of 16,579 pounds inheritance, but leaving Montague and his two older brothers a slim cut.
For some time he had chosen to teach at a school in Blackheath in order to earn some extra money. In late November, 1888, however, Montague was dismissed for a reason unknown -- conjecture has it that there were homosexual reasons for his firing, but it is also probable that it was merely because he believed himself to be insane.
His mother was taken to an asylum in the summer of that year, and Montague obviously thought he had inherited some of his mother's mental sickness. She was to die on December 15, 1890 of "melancholia and brain disease."
Montague was last witnessed alive four weeks before his body was discovered in the icy Thames, December 3. It is believed that soon after that date he decided to klil himself -- weighting his pockets with stones and throwing himself into the river.
In his possession, Montague's body held some money, as well as a ticket from Blackheath to London, and a second half-return from Hammersmith to Charing Cross dated December 1. His coat pockets were filled with the four stones he used to weigh himself down into the river.
The brunt of the argument lies with a quote made by Inspector Macnaghten, who was no doubt referring to Montague in the following quote:
The senior officers responded to his complaint, and was told that if he were to swear to secrecy he would be given information about the case. In his own words, he explains:
The link was made most probably because of his claim of insanity and his subsequent suicide. But could a professional such as Macnaghten make such a blatantly groundless accusation? Or were they simply searching for a dead patsy on which to blame the murders, thereby exonerating the then prominent claims of police incompetence and ameliorating the public's fear? Indeed, it seems this was the case.
Most of the information for this excerpt was found in Donald Rumbelow's The Complete Jack the Ripper.
To read an article contributed by Matthew Fletcher concerning his own take on the M.J. Druitt theory, please click here.