While most Americans were likely not that interested in the gruesome details of a series of murders taking place in London's Whitechapel district back in 1888, that probably changed with a rather bizarre news story that made headlines in November of that year. Based on details sent by cable from London, the story announced that police had arrested an American citizen living in the city on suspicion of being involved in the Whitechapel murders as well as assorted other morals charges. Even more impressive was that the American in question was well-known in the U.S., a rather flamboyant "Indian Herb doctor" named Francis Tumblety.
While his actual origins remain obscure, "Doctor" Francis Tumblety is believed to have been born in Ireland during the 1830s through his entire family, including ten siblings, all immigrated to Rochester, New York, soon after his birth. After leaving home at the age of seventeen, Tumblety soon distinguished himself with a shameless gift for self-promotion. A few years after leaving home, he had set himself up as a medical doctor (despite the lack of anything resembling a formal education). Billing himself as an "Indian Herb Doctor", Tumblety managed to set up practice in numerous cities (usually skipping out just ahead of the law).
And he didn't limit himself to any one country either. One of the earliest news stories I could find on him was in the Montreal Gazette in 1857 when Tumblety was charged with inducing a miscarriage in one of his patients. According to testimony, he administered the unknown substance to the young girl in question (quaintly described as "enceinte" in the news story). He poured the fluid into her mouth in the presence of witnesses and then promised that the pregnancy would disappear in just a few days. Unfortunately for Tumblety, the patient and the witnesses in the case were part of a police sting operation to put the good doctor out of business.
But Tumblety managed to beat the charge with the help of his able defense attorney as well as written testimonials from satisfied customers who insisted that they had been cured of assorted diseases such as scrofula A letter posted in the papers on October 30 dismissed the entire case against him as a "work of malice and wicked design which we trust will be frustrated." Still, whether due to lingering doubt over his medical skills or simply because he had grown bored with Montreal, the good doctor soon relocated to Toronto. Once there, he quickly opened his practice with great fanfare and a letter to the newspaper in the form of a testimonial that listed the names of dozens of satisfied customers.
Whether due to pressure from legitimate doctors and police or simply because of homesickness, Tumblety soon relocated to Buffalo, New York, where he, once again, made newspaper headlines by suing George Percival, the proprietor of the Canterbury Music Hall for libel. Apparently, one of the farces Percival had presented for his customers had been named "Doctor Tumblety's First Patient" and reportedly intended to ridicule his professional reputation. The newspaper story reporting on this case went on to describe Tumblety as a "very handsome man" but added that he was "eccentric and odd in his manners, appearing at times as an English sportsman with tremendous spurs attached to his boots and accompanied at times by a pair of gray hounds lashed together and at other times in full Highland costume." Percival, for his part, insisted that the farce wasn't based on Francis Tumblety at all and had been presented in other cities with no problems (which was true).
Whatever the outcome of the case, Tumblety didn’t stay in Buffalo long, given that the next news story I was able to find on him had him practicing in Brooklyn just two years later. However, this time, he was the one on trial after a patient charged him with fraud after the Tumblety sold him a remedy for arthritis that didn't work as promised. By then, his reputation as a quack had caught up with him, and newspapers openly denounced him as a fake. One piece from May 1865 referred to him as "an illiterate fellow, with a small share of brains but plenty of impudence, sometimes called "cheek" to carry him through the world." The story also added that "whatever he knew of medicine, he picked out of twenty-five cent yellow cover medicine works."
But that was just the beginning of Francis Tumblety’s problems. Not long after that news story was run, he was arrested and taken to Washington, D.C. on the orders of Secretary of War, Edward Stanton. Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 15 of that year, there were numerous arrests of people who had been implicated in the assassination plot. For whatever reason, Tumblety was caught up in the hysteria due to his supposed association with one of John Wilkes Booth's co-conspirators. For good measure, he had also been implicated in a supposed plot by Confederate sympathizers to spread yellow fever through various Northern cities.
Though Tumblety was soon released due to lack of evidence, the publicity over his supposed involvement in these various plots was enough to damage his medical reputation (such as it was). He also accused Edward Stanton of confiscating some valuable securities, though nothing came of this either. He tried to fight back by writing a leaflet describing his "kidnapping" and resulting ordeal, but hardly anyone read it (though it's still available online).
Tumblety soon dropped out of sight aside from repeated arrests for vagrancy with time served in workhouses across New England. But nothing could hold down the "Indian Herb Doctor" for long, and he eventually managed to re-open his medical practice in Pennsylvania. The news item advertising his new business boasted of his extensive travels through Europe and even included an excerpt of a testimonial supposedly signed by Abraham Lincoln himself.
This new business didn't last long because the next news story I could find on him placed him in Liverpool, U.K., just three years later. Billing himself as the "American Doctor," Tumblety boasted of a practice that included various prominent Europeans, including Charles Dickens, Napoleon III of France, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, etc. Naturally, his advertisements also had all his American patients, including Abraham Lincoln, Generals Sherwood and Lee (presumably he worked for both sides during the Civil War), and Horace Greeley.
Not that this saved him from legal problems, including his suspected role in the death of at least one of his patients. This likely led to his returning to the United States and his 1881 arrest for pickpocketing in New Orleans. There is also evidence that he was homosexual and had frequent affairs with men on both sides of the Atlantic, something that led to frequent arrests on morality charges. It also may have played a direct role in his becoming a suspect in the Whitechapel murders of 1888.
Even before he became a "person of interest" in the killings, Tumblety had already been arrested on an unspecified morals charge (probably relating to homosexuality which was illegal at the time). Adding in the fact that Tumblety lived around the killings, was a known misogynist with a particular distaste for prostitutes, and the pressure on Scotland Yard to make an arrest, it was likely inevitable that he would be pulled in for questioning. But, once again, it was the newspaper publicity surrounding his arrest made him seem guilty (at least in the United States). With headlines such as "Is He The Whitechapel Murderer?" in newspapers back home, nobody seemed inclined to believe his innocence though the actual evidence against him was minimal at best.
Of course, newspapers did their best to play up all Tumblety's displays of wealth despite not having any visible income (except possibly from his pimple cream - his most popular item), his quirky lifestyle, his bizarre mode of speech, and his odd way of dressing. They also mentioned his history of medical malpractice, including suggestions that he had fled Nova Scotia where he allegedly killed a patient with the wrong medication. The newspapers also mentioned his arrest on a morality charge in London and his long history of association with "young men and grown-up youths" (leaving readers to assume the worst).
Given Tumblety’s numerous legal problems, many officers who investigated him over the years were also interviewed. Despite no actual evidence of violence on his part, the officers quoted rarely had anything good to say about him. One even went so far as to say, "Knowing him as I do, I should not be in the least surprised if he turned out to be Jack the Ripper."
But Tumblety's case never went to trial. Since the police had no hard evidence against him, he was allowed to post bail, and he promptly fled the country in late November 1888. This date is significant because Mary Kelly, the last known victim of the Whitechapel murders, was killed on November 9, not long after Tumblety's release. Also, though this is likely a coincidence, the Ripper killings stopped after Tumblety left England. While Scotland Yard was likely embarrassed at losing Tumblety, the British press hardly noticed that there were still other suspects to be investigated. Eventually, the trail petered out, and no arrest was ever made.
As for Francis Tumblety he eventually returned to New York City through the notoriety from all the press he had received would dog him for the rest of his life. He died in St. Louis, Missouri in 1903 at the age of 82. It probably says a lot about his success as a quack doctor that he left behind a substantial estate (about $140,000 in 1903 dollars) that sparked a major legal battle among his heirs. In the end, Tumblety was buried in Rochester, New York’s Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
Though he largely faded into obscurity after his death, Francis Tumblety's name became front-page news again in 2002 with the publication of a new book linking him to the Ripper killings. Written by retired constable Steward Evans and co-author Paul Gainer, the book was titled "Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer" and suggests that Tumblety was guilty after all. While the case Evans builds is mainly circumstantial, including Tumblety's quirks, his misogyny, and his once displaying a collection of human body parts (including the uterus of a prostitute), the book still makes for in an intriguing read. But it is still no more conclusive than any of the other books purporting to "solve" the Whitechapel murders (none of which ever name the same suspect).
So, was Francis Tumblety the Ripper? Probably not, considering he had no known history of violence before or after 1888. To this day though, Tumblety's name is still included in every list of potential Ripper candidates. Which likely isn't the kind of immortality this flim-flam artist would have wanted.
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