Tom Merry (1853-1902)

Tom Merry was the pen-name of cartoonist William Mecham (1853 – 21 August 1902). This striking cartoon features Jack the Ripper and British Justice debating the fate of the American Florence Maybrick, convicted of poisoning her husband in Britain. Maybrick served 14 years. The illustration above is courtesy Stewart Evans, author of The Lodger (1995) which has been updated and re-issued under the title Jack the Ripper First American Serial Killer. Stewart has a collection of over 8,500 books, newspapers, broadsheets and ephemera, much of it dealing with Jack the Ripper and true crime. One intriguing item he mentioned was possession of the last letter that Charles Peace wrote from the condemned cell on the eve of his execution. Hopefully Stewart will be sharing some more images with us in future.

The Tom Merry photo and text below is from Stead's London Review of Reviews circa 1890. At this period colour plates were being issued in America in Puck and Judge. The two London publications issuing color plates were the St. Stephen's Review and Vanity Fair. I have posted a high-res image of Merry's Ripper HERE for your enjoyment..