Jack the Ripper was a serial killer who killed 5 prostitutes between August and November 1888. There are many theories about who Jack the Ripper was. There are over 500 suspects who have been gathered over the years from various clues and records from trials and people's lives. The three most likely suspects are James Maybrick, Aaron Kosminski and Michael Ostrog. Each of these suspects left behind evidence and personal vendettas that made them the three most likely Jack the Ripper suspects. The first suspect, James Maybrick, was a cotton merchant based in Liverpool and married to Florence Chandler. He went to the United States in the 1870s and contracted malaria. He had to take arsenic and strychnine to control his malaria so it wouldn't kill him. During the 1880s, Maybrick opened a cotton business, but it began to deteriorate and sales fell and he began to lose money. This weakened her marriage to Chandler and they couldn't afford everything they wanted. He had to use his money to buy malaria medicine and a new wife. Chandler left with their two children and found another younger man who made more money. He was first suspected of being Jack the Ripper when his book "Maybrick Diary" was published. Before this book was published, he had never been suspected of being Jack the Ripper. Maybrick's book caused a heated controversy between various "ventrologists" and journalists. Some journalists believed that this book was a hoax and it was not James Maybrick who wrote it. Other journalists and "rippers" believed it was all true and that James Maybrick was really Jack the Ripper. The diary was received by Michael Barrett in 1992 from his friend Tony Devereux. The...... middle of paper ......e. He also served six months of hard labor during which he received several floggings. He didn't get a very large sum from all his thefts – only a gold watch he stole from a barmaid and two valuable books from a schoolmaster at Eton. Even though he didn't make much from his thefts, he was still a dangerous man. He had a loaded eight-round revolver in his possession when he was taken to Burton-on-Trent police station. He had removed it and was pointing it at the arresting officer when the officer grabbed him and turned the muzzle to face him. Ostrog showed signs of insanity, so he pleaded insane during one of his trials. He was transferred from Wandsworth Prison to the Surrey Pauper Lunatic Asylum, suffering from mania. He was reported to have been recovered upon parole on March 10, 1888, but he did not report to the asylum..