Seweryn Klosowski
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Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski (14 December 1865 – 7 April 1903), better known under his pseudonym George Chapman, was a Victorian era Polish
serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
known as the Borough Poisoner. Born in
Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
, Chapman moved to England as an adult, where he committed his crimes. He was convicted and executed after poisoning three women, but is remembered today mostly because some contemporary police officers suspected him of being the notorious serial killer "
Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...
".


Early life

Seweryn Kłosowski was born to Antoni and Emilia Kłosowski in the village of (today part of
Koło Koło () is a town on the Warta River in central Poland with 23,101 inhabitants (2006). It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodship and it is the capital of Koło County. History Koło is one of the oldest towns in Poland. It was granted ...
) in the
Warsaw Governorate Warsaw Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of Congress Poland of the Russian Empire. It was created in 1844 from the Masovia Governorate, Masovia and Kalisz Governorates, and had the capital in Warsaw. In 1867 ter ...
of
Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
. His father was a carpenter. According to a certificate found in his personal effects after his arrest, he was apprenticed at age 14 to a senior surgeon, Moshko (Mosze) Rappaport, in
Zwoleń Zwoleń ( ''Zvolin'') is a town in eastern Poland, in Masovian Voivodeship, about east of Radom. It is the capital of Zwoleń County. Population is 8,048 (2009). Zwoleń belongs to Sandomierz Land of the historic province of Lesser Poland, and ...
, whom he assisted in procedures such as the application of
leech Leeches are segmented parasitism, parasitic or Predation, predatory worms that comprise the Class (biology), subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the Oligochaeta, oligochaetes, which include the earthwor ...
es for blood-letting. He then enrolled on a course in practical surgery at the Warsaw Praga Hospital. This course was very brief, lasting from October 1885 to January 1886 (attested to by another certificate in his possession) but Kłosowski continued to serve as a nurse, or doctor's assistant in Warsaw until December 1886. Kłosowski later left Poland for the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, settling in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
; the exact time he arrived in the capital has never been reliably ascertained. A receipt for hospital fees from February 1887 indicating that Kłosowski was still there is the last record of him in Poland, and papers documenting his early life ended abruptly at that month, indicating that he potentially left for the UK at around that time. Witness testimony at his trial seems to indicate that he emigrated in 1888. Kłosowski settled in the East End and became a hairdresser's assistant in either late 1887 or early 1888, with records indicating that he worked for an Abraham Radin of 70 West India Dock Road. He stopped working there after five months, and he subsequently opened a barbershop at 126 Cable Street,
St George in the East St George-in-the-East is an Anglican Church dedicated to Saint George; located on Cannon Street Road, between The Highway and Cable Street, in the East End of London. Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original graveyard. Histor ...
; this was also listed as his residence in an 1889 London directory. It is possible that this was his residence during the
Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...
murders in the autumn of 1888. In 1889, Kłosowski married a young Polish girl, Lucie Badewski, despite already having a wife back in Poland. He was soon confronted by his first wife, although she soon returned to Poland. The couple had two children and moved around different residences in London before moving to the United States in 1891. The last census record of them in London is from April of that year. The family settled in
Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous
,
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, where Kłosowski found work in a barbershop. However, bitter fights often erupted between husband and wife, culminating in an incident in February 1892 in which Kłosowski attacked Lucie while she was pregnant and threatened to kill her. Lucie returned to London, moved in with her sister and gave birth to a daughter. Kłosowski himself eventually returned to London, and the two briefly reunited before ending their relationship permanently. In 1893, while working as an assistant in Haddin's hairdresser shop, Kłosowski met a woman named Annie Chapman (no known relation to the Ripper victim). They began a relationship, moved in together and he took her surname, thereafter being known as George Chapman. In 1894, after almost a year of
cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
, Chapman brought another woman to live with them, and a pregnant Annie left a few weeks later. In early 1895, Annie told Chapman about their baby, but he offered no support. That same year, he became an assistant in William Wenzel's barbershop at 7 Church Lane,
Leytonstone Leytonstone ( ) is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the nor ...
, while lodging at the house of John Ward in Forest Road.


Crimes and execution

Chapman took at least four
mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a female lover of a married man ** Royal mistress * Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
es, who posed as his wife; he killed three by poisoning. They were Mary Isabella Spink (1858 – 25 December 1897), Bessie Taylor (died 13 February 1901) and Maud Marsh (died 22 October 1902). He administered the compound tartar-emetic to each of them, having purchased it from a chemist in
Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
,
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
. Rich in the metallic element
antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...
, tartar-emetic can, if used improperly, cause painful death with symptoms similar to
arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
poisoning. Chapman had met Spink while working at Wenzel's barbershop. Spink, an
alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...
whose husband and son had left her, joined him in a fake marriage and left him a legacy of £500 (). They began living together and leased a barbershop in a poor section of Hastings. This business was unsuccessful, and they moved their shop to a more prosperous location and began offering "musical shaves", in which Spink played the piano while Chapman serviced the customers. This proved popular, and the couple earned a sizable income. Chapman eventually purchased his own sailing boat, which he named ''Mosquito''. However, he repeatedly subjected Spink to brutal beatings. A woman who lived in the same building claimed to have often heard Spink crying out in the night and to have noticed abrasions and bruises on her face and marks on her throat. On 3 April 1897, Chapman purchased a one-ounce dose of tartar-emetic from the shop of William Davidson, a chemist in High Street. Their barbershop eventually failed, and Chapman resorted to managing a
pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
in Bartholomew Square. It was there that he fatally poisoned Spink. Soon afterwards, he hired Taylor, who had been a restaurant manager, and they entered into a relationship. Chapman again became abusive, reportedly shouting at Taylor and at one point threatening her with a
revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
. After she began coming down with the same symptoms that Spink had shown, Chapman left London with her to avoid controversy, moving to the
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
of
Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...
,
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, where he ran The Grapes Pub. The couple eventually returned to London, where he leased the Monument Tavern. Despite an operation, Taylor's condition grew steadily worse and she died in 1901. Chapman also attempted to commit
arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
on the Monument Tavern, which was quickly losing its lease. In August 1901, he hired Marsh as a barmaid for the Monument Tavern. He again entered into a false marriage with her and again engaged in physical abuse. She too was eventually poisoned to death. Suspicions surrounding this death led to a police investigation, which found that Marsh and the other two women, whose bodies were exhumed, had died by poisoning. An
indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...
for murder could contain only one count and Chapman was therefore charged only with the murder of Marsh. He was prosecuted by Sir
Archibald Bodkin Sir Archibald Henry Bodkin Order of the Bath, KCB (1 April 1862''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812'' – 31 December 1957) was an English lawyer and the Director of Public Prosecutions (England and W ...
and the solicitor-general, Sir
Edward Carson Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire), King's Counsel, KC (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician ...
, convicted on 19 March 1903, sentenced to death by Mr Justice Grantham, and
hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
at
Wandsworth Prison HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...
on 7 April 1903. Chapman's motives for these murders are unclear, they may have been purely psychological. While Spink had left him a legacy of £500, he gained nothing from the other two victims.


Jack the Ripper suspect

Inspector
Frederick Abberline Frederick George Abberline (8 January 1843 – 10 December 1929) was a British chief inspector for the London Metropolitan Police. He is best known for being a prominent police figure in the investigation into the Jack the Ripper serial kille ...
of
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
, who was one of the original investigators in the Ripper case, is reported to have told George Godley, the policeman who arrested Chapman: "You've got Jack the Ripper at last!" In two 1903 interviews with the ''Pall Mall Gazette'', Abberline spelt out his suspicions, referring to Chapman by name. Abberline thought Chapman was the Ripper because, during the original investigation, he had closely interviewed Chapman's first "wife", Lucie Badewski, and she had told him that her husband often used to go out during the night for hours on end. Speculation in contemporary newspaper accounts and books has led to Chapman, like fellow serial killer
Thomas Neill Cream Thomas Neill Cream (27 May 1850 – 15 November 1892), also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, was a Scottish-Canadian medical doctor and serial killer who poisoned his victims with strychnine. Cream murdered up to ten people in three countri ...
, becoming one of many suspects in the Ripper murders. As far as is known, Chapman was not a suspect at the time of the murders. Recent writers are divided about whether Chapman should be regarded as a serious Ripper suspect. Philip Sugden considered that Chapman is the most likely candidate among known Ripper suspects, but that the case against him is far from proven. However, John Eddleston rated Chapman at only two ("a remote possibility") on his zero-to-five rating of Ripper suspects. Paul Begg only dealt with Chapman briefly and evidently did not regard him as a serious suspect. The case against Chapman rests mainly on the point that he undoubtedly was a violent
misogynist Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised ...
. He was known to beat his common-law wives and was prone to other violent behaviour. While living in the US, Chapman allegedly forced his wife Lucie down on their bed and began to
strangle Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...
her, only stopping to attend to a customer who walked into the shop which adjoined their room. When he left, she was said to have found a knife under the pillow. Chapman reportedly later told Lucie that he had planned to behead her, even pointing out the spot where he would have buried her and reciting what he would have said to their neighbours. Chapman had arrived in
Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...
roughly around the time the first murder took place. His description matched the man seen with
Mary Jane Kelly Mary Jane Kelly ( – 9 November 1888), also known as Marie Jeanette Kelly, Fair Emma, Ginger, Dark Mary and Black Mary, is widely believed by scholars to have been the final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, w ...
(the fifth victim of the "canonical five") and the murders stopped when he left for the United States. It has even been suggested that he carried out a Ripper-style killing in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, the murder of Carrie Brown, but recent research suggests he did not reach the United States until after this murder. Robert Milne, recently retired from the Metropolitan Police's Directorate of Forensic Services, presented a paper to the International Association for Identification Conference in 2011 and to the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences in 2014, suggesting Chapman as the most likely Ripper suspect. Based on his expertise, review of investigation documents, and the use of geographical profiling software, he was convinced that the killer lived in the area of the murders; Chapman fit that bill accurately. Milne also discussed a 1902 (or 1901) murder victim, Mary Ann Austin, who had described a client before her death: "a Russian 5ft 7 inches tall with a black moustache hovisited Mary and in the course of having sex stabbed her and tried to cut out her
uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the hollow organ, organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic development, embryonic and prenatal development, f ...
." However, there is a lack of any hard evidence that would link Chapman to the Ripper murders. The main argument against treating him as a serious suspect is that it would be unusual for a serial killer to change his ''
modus operandi A (often shortened to M.O. or MO) is an individual's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as . Term The term is often used in ...
'', from mutilation to poisoning, although some authorities have cast doubt on whether this is as unusual as is supposed. There is also some doubt about whether he could speak English at the time, as the Ripper would have almost certainly had to according to eyewitness reports about the suspect holding conversations with some of his victims, and whether as a recent immigrant, he would have had the intimate knowledge of the Whitechapel district that the Ripper seems to have had. The Ripper appears to have selected victims who were previously unknown to him, while Chapman killed acquaintances, and although Chapman did live in Whitechapel it was not particularly near the scene of the murders. Chapman's story was dramatised twice by Towers of London, firstly in 1949 in ''Secrets of Scotland Yard'' as ''George Chapman... Poisoner, Publican and Lady Killer'' and then again in a 1951 episode of ''
The Black Museum Black Museum may refer to: * the Black Museum at New Scotland Yard, now known as the Crime Museum * Black Museum (Southwark), a museum of engineering components gathered by David Kirkaldy * ''Black Museum'' (Black Mirror), an episode of Black Mir ...
'' entitled "The Straight Razor". Both conclude with a brief argument for Chapman's identity as Jack the Ripper.


See also

*
Jack the Ripper suspects A series of murders that took place in the East End of London between August and November 1888 have been attributed to an unidentified assailant nicknamed Jack the Ripper. Since then, the identity of the Ripper has been widely debated, with ov ...
*
List of serial killers in the United Kingdom A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. The British Centre for Crime and Justice Studies defines a seri ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, George 1865 births 19th-century murderers 20th-century murderers 1903 deaths 19th-century Polish criminals 20th-century executions by England and Wales 20th-century Polish criminals Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United Kingdom Executed people from Greater Poland Voivodeship Executed Polish serial killers People convicted of murder by England and Wales People from Koło County People from Warsaw Governorate Poisoners Polish people convicted of murder Polish people executed abroad Jack the Ripper suspects