Whatever Happened to Constance Kent?
Constance Kent is one of the most enigmatic murderesses of all time. The story of the child-murder to which she confessed and the trial that resulted has been told in literally dozens of books, fiction and non-fiction.
The lady herself, however, after causing such a stir around the world in her youth, fell off the map afterward. So whatever happened to her?
A new book takes a look at the last fifty-plus years of her life in Australia – they were, thankfully, much quieter than her first years in England.
Australian professor Noeline Kyle has spent years unearthing the rest of the story. She has written A Greater Guilt: Constance Emilie Kent and the Road Murder. The short version: Constance changed her name, became a nurse, and lived to be a hundred years old! That's a helluva long time to be burdened witha murder she committed as a child herself....
More details on the new book are at the publisher's site as well as the author's home page.
One of the Weirder Persons of Interest in the Greatest Mystery of All Time
Francis Tumblety, an Irish-born American quack, was a weird fellow. His moustache was so wide he probably dusted door frames as he passed through them. He was also an unabashed misogynist, and, according to some, he was Jack the Ripper!
A Ripperologist has done a lot of digging of late and has written the first full-length biography of one of the more flamboyant Ripper suspects.
The book is Prince of Quacks: The Notorious Life of Dr. Francis Tumblety, Charlatan and Jack the Ripper Suspect
Author Timothy Riordan recently talked about his research in A Portrait of Francis Tumblety, a “Rippercast” (podcast) which can be found on the Casebook site.
One of the more interesting things he turned up in his research was the one and only known photo of Francis Tumblety, which graces the cover of the book.
If he's done enough digging to impress that Rippercast crowd, it's thoroughly researched indeed.
Aha! A couple of years ago, I came across a reference to Kyle doing research for this book, and I've been waiting ever since for it to come out. I'm glad to finally have the chance to check it out.
The Tumblety book sounds interesting, too, (he was nothing if not a colorful character.) However, as far as the Ripper connection goes, didn't the two men who wrote a book arguing he was JTR have to admit, in a rather sheepish appendix to their work, that they had learned Tumblety was in jail during at least one of the "canonical" Ripper murders?
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