Tråden om Jack the Ripper

The fact that there was an innocent Kosminsky, and a very similar figure in David Cohen whom I believed to be guilty, led me to think there must have been some confusion. I now believe the Swanson marginalia (which emerged after and in response to my work) bear this out completely. In essence, Swanson says four things about the suspect, two of which apply uniquely to Kosminsky and two to Cohen. He says the suspect was called Kosminsky and he lived at his brother's house in Whitechapel. These are definite Kosminsky points. But he also says he was taken to the infirmary with his hands tied behind his back. Since restraint of lunatics had to be recorded, we know that this is untrue of Kosminsky, who was never put under restraint at any time. Cohen, on the other hand, was definitely taken from the infirmary to the asylum under restraint (and since his first action was to throw himself on the floor and roll around, it seems likely that this was restraint of his upper body or hands) and was later put into 'strong clothes' to stop him from tearing his garments off. And, most importantly, Swanson says the suspect died shortly after transfer from the infirmary to the asylum.

Kosminsky was still alive when he [Swanson] wrote this (and would live another 9 years). Cohen, on the other hand, died within a year of going to Colney Hatch, and was the only Jewish patient to die prematurely between 1888 and 1892. This seems to me to leave no possibility of doubt that Cohen and Kosminsky had somehow become confused in Swanson's mind and he thought they were one and the same person.