St. Louis History: Jack the Ripper Died in St. Louis?

One of the most infamous serial killers ever might have come to St. Louis. Jack the Ripper, the serial killer that terrorized London could have been an American and he might have died here in St. Louis.

In 1903, St. John’s Hospital stood at the corner of 22nd & Morgan Streets. On May 28 of that year a man came here to die. Many believe that man was really Jack The Ripper.

Francis Tumblety lived in St. Louis in the 1860s. “Casebook.org” a website dedicated to “Jack The Ripper” states “Tumblety moved to St. Louis, setting up his ‘medical’ practice, and again promenading himself around the city with arrogant splendor. It was here that another aspect of Tumblety’s character emerges — his paranoia. He was arrested in St. Louis for wearing military garb and medals he did not deserve, but Tumblety himself took it as persecution from his medical competitors. Soon after her traveled to Carondelet, Missouri and was again imprisoned for a time on the same charge.”

In the 1880s he was living both in the U.S. and Europe.

“He evidently lived in London and lived in a boarding house. There are some witnesses who say they saw him coming and going at suspicious times and behaving suspiciously around the time these murders were taking place,” said Missouri History Museum Librarian Emily Jacox.

On November 12, 1888, Tumblety was charged on suspicions of being the “Jack The Ripper” killer. He secured bail four days later. A December 10 trial date was set, but Tumblety didn’t wait around. He fled to France under an alias and eventually boarded a steamer for New York City.

Casebook.org says, “New York officials knew of his impending arrival in the city and had the ports watched for the suspect, but to no avail. New York City’s Chief Inspector Byrnes soon discovered Tumblety was lodging at 79 East Tenth Street at the home of a Mrs. McNamara, and he had him under surveillance for some days following. Byrnes could not arrest Tumblety because, in his own words, ‘there is no proof of his complicity in the Whitechapel murders, and the crime for which he was under bond in London is not extraditable.”

Before Christmas of 1888, Tumblety disappeared again, surfacing again Rochester in 1893. He would die a decade later in St. Louis at St. John’s Hospital.

Tumblety’s further connection to the Ripper case emerged nearly 90 years later when author Stewart Evans acquired what has now become known as the Littlechild Letter.

In 1913, Chief Inspector John Littlechild of Scotland Yard, in response to some questions asked of him by a British journalist, wrote in a letter that Tumblety as ‘a very likely suspect,’ and provided the first insight into a Scotland Yard suspect whose name was lost for 105 years. From KSDK’s series on St. Louis history.

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St. Louis History: The Maroons

Another post about St. Louis history. This one involving my favorite sport, baseball. Many St. Louis people may already know this because a St. Louis baseball fan isn’t just a fan. We are usually historians on the topic.

Today we wear Cardinals’ Red, but it could have been Maroon’s maroon.

In 1884, St. Louis millionaire and baseball aficionado, Henry Lucas attempted to bring the National League to St. Louis. But his attempts were thwarted and the league did not grant him a team. Not to be out done, Lucas decided to draw upon his personal fortune and create his own league, which became the Union Association.

St. Louis’ team, the Maroons, were clearly the best team in the league and their owner, Lucas, did not hide the fact that he loaded the St. Louis team with as much talent as possible. While this made for a successful team in St. Louis, it did not bode well for the rest of the league. The Union Association lasted one season.

According to Christopher Gordon, Director of Library Archives at the Missouri Historical Society, soon after the league folded, Lucas’ luck continued to go down hill.

“He had built Union Park, which was the baseball stadium for the Union League. In the midst of all this, fireworks during a fireworks display, the stadium caught on fire and he had no insurance so the last of his money was wiped out,” said Gordon.

St. Louis History: Macaroni and Cheese is Born

To continue with posts about St. Louis history as reported by KSDK, here’s a bit about Kraft and the birth of Macaroni and Cheese.

In 1937, poor sales leads the National Dairy Products company to adopted the idea of one of its St. Louis salesmen. The idea? To combine grated American cheese with Tenderoni Macaroni, thus Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was born.

So next time you get those “blue box blues” you have the great city of St. Louis to thank.

St. Louis History: Battle of Fort San Carlos

Here is another post giving some little-known information about the city of St. Louis. Did you know that St. Louis and the Battle of Fort San Carlos was a crucial moment of the Revolutionary War? I didn’t. Some historians think the country could have wound up a very different place if the colonists did not win this battle. Via KSDK.

When you think of the great battles of the Revolutionary War, you might not include the battle of St. Louis. To learn more, we turned to Dr. Robert Archibald, President and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, and the National Parks Service.

“What most people don’t realize is that the battle in the American Revolution that took place the farthest west occurred there in May of 1780,” said Archibald.

According to the National Parks Service, St. Louis, in 1780, was a Spanish Colony and under the leadership of Spanish Lieutenant Governor, Fernando DeLeyba. As the American Revolution began heating up, particularly after the French became open allies of the Americans in 1778, the Spanish began to provide covert aid and supplies to the English colonists.

DeLeyba, fearing British reprisals, urged that four stone towers be built to protect St. Louis. At the top of the hill, near where the Old Courthouse exists today, the first of the towers, called Fort San Carlos was built in April, 1780 and a trench was dug around the town.

On May 26, 1780, between 1,300 and 2,000 British-led Sioux, Sac, Fox and Winnebago warriors suddenly fell upon the unsuspecting community of 900 people. The Indians killed several settlers and slaves who were tending their fields on the outskirts of town. The firing alerted St. Louis’s militia, who ran to the barely-completed entrenchments. The attackers were hit with a withering fire from militia musketry. But it was the cannon placed in the tower called Fort San Carlos that repelled the attack.

The battle lasted for two hours, with 21 villagers killed and 71 captured. George Rogers Clark and his Americans drove off a simultaneous British attack against Cahokia on the east side of the river.

“Historians say it may have been one of the seminal battles of the Revolutionary War, because if it had been lost, it’s possible all that land in North America might have been retained by Great Britain. we may have ended up a very different nation,” said Archibald.

Very interesting. You learn something new every day. Stay tuned for more little-known facts about St. Louis.

St. Louis History: Disney World St. Louis

KSDK in St. Louis has been running specials during their news giving little known facts about St. Louis history. I think it’s a great thing they are doing because it’s important for people to know about where they live and a little history never hurt anyone. Plus it’s something positive and not the same old negative story you see on every other news broadcast. I’m going to start posting the ones I find most interesting since I am a history fan and I love the city of St. Louis. Today’s article is about St. Louis being the original site for Disney World (now located in Florida).

In 1964, downtown St. Louis was being courted as a possible location for, believe it or not, Walt Disney World.

“Disney was going to plan this sort of historical thing, it had rides, it had places dedicated to the mississippi river, places that were designed to give you an experience like Lewis and Clark and this was on a grand scale, this was no small plan,” said Dr. Archibald.

Legend has it that Disney abandoned the St. Louis plan over a disagreement with August Busch II over sale of alcohol.

While the fact that Disney planned for an alcohol free environment at his park, Dr. Archibald believes that the reasons the plans never went through were far less sinister.

“The truth seems to be that, financially the project wasn’t feasible, that disney got additional property in Florida at a very, very low price for the development of Epcot and the development of Disney World,” said Dr. Archibald. Source