A Genuine “Catch”
The London correspondent of tie New York Herald telegraphs:—The most intense amusement has been caused among all classes of the London world by the arrest last week of little Sir George Arthur on suspicion of being the Whitechapel murderer. Sir George is a young baronet holding a captaincy in the regiment of Royal Horse Guards, and is a member of most of the leading clubs in town. He is also a well-known amateur actor, and was a great friend of the late Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Since the past few weeks the old mania for “ slumming ” in Whitechapel has become fashionable again. Every night scores of young men who have never been to the East End before in their lives prowl round the neighbourhood in which the murders were committed, talking with the frightened women and pushing their way into overcrowded lodging-houses. So long as any two men keep together, and do not make a nuisance of themselves, the police do not interfere with them. But if a man goes alone and tries to lure a woman of the street into a secluded corner to talk with her, he is pretty sure to get into trouble. That was the case with Sir George Arthur. He put on an old shooting coat, a slouch hat, and went down to Whitechapel for a little fun. He got it. It occurred to two policemen that Sir George answered very much the description of Jack the Ripper. They watched him, and when they saw him talking to women, they proceeded to collar him. He protested, expostulated, and threatened them with the venegeance of royal wrath, but in vain. Finally, a chance was given to him to send to a fashionable western club to prove his identity, and he was released with profuse apologies for the mistake. The affair was kept out of the newspapers. But the jolly young baronet s friends at Brook’s Club considered the joke too good to be kept quiet. Sir George is quite a figure in his way in London. He is a son of the late Sir Frederick Arthur, who was an influential man in his day. Sir George was conspicuous on the turf a few years ago and was intimately associated with the Dowager Duchess of Montrose. He then turned his attention to theatricals, and when the Bancroft’s produced “ Fedora” they allowed Sir George to appear as the corpse.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GSCCG18890131.2.21
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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 254, 31 January 1889, Page 4
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405A Genuine “Catch” Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 254, 31 January 1889, Page 4
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