Bury in Two Recent Suspect Overviews

Williams, Paul.  Jack the Ripper Suspects: The Definitive Guide and Encyclopedia.  [Toronto]: VP Publications, an Imprint of RJ Publishing, 2018. C.J. Morley.  Jack the Ripper Suspects.  CreateSpace, 2018. In their respective books Williams and Morley have taken on the monumental task of describing the large number of individuals who at one time or another have … [Read more…]

William Bury’s Height

The standard view is that William Bury was 5 feet 3½ inches tall.  This is the height given in Euan Macpherson’s The Trial of Jack the Ripper (1) and William Beadle’s Jack the Ripper Unmasked (2) and these authors are evidently using the February 12, 1889 editions of The Dundee Advertiser and The Dundee Courier, the two newspapers that … [Read more…]

James Berry Letter Auctioned

A letter written by James Berry two days after he executed William Bury was recently made available at an auction in the United Kingdom.  The Courier reported that the letter sold for £1,300, about two or three times what was estimated.  A reproduction of the letter and information about it is available through this link.  Stewart … [Read more…]

Film Review: The Trial of William Bury

The Trial of William Bury. Presented by Dan Snow. Directed by Nathan Williams. Hit Networks, 2018. 54 minutes. https://tv.historyhit.com/watch/27937289. The Trial of William Bury is a documentary about the February 2018 mock trial of William Bury for the murder of his wife Ellen. It does not provide a detailed examination of the evidence linking Bury … [Read more…]

Outcome of Mock Trial

On February 3, a mock retrial of William Bury for the murder of his wife Ellen Bury took place in Dundee, Scotland.  Lord Hugh Matthews, a Scottish Supreme Court justice, commanded the trial.  The two sides, mooting societies from the University of Dundee (prosecution) and the University of Aberdeen (defense), were each able to call … [Read more…]