Edmund Reid

just touched to guide-rope expected to be paid a shilling each. Then an inspector entered the station, having
coincidentally just returned from the Crystal Palace where he had seen Reid take off. They came up with a plan
to help Reid escape unseen. A police officer went out and found a horse-drawn brake which was taken back to
the station. Reid concealed himself under a seat and the brake drove off through the oblivious crowd. Reid was
reunited with his friends at the South London Music Hall.
Deciding to settle the claim out of court, Reid eventually paid the
onion farmer £20, but thought that if it had gone to court he would
have won, or been fined less than £20. One thing he was certain of
though was that he never wanted to go to Barking again. 21
As a young man Reid had an interest in parachuting and had once
made a small parachute which he attached to a mouse’s tail with
cotton threads. He then dropped the mouse from a high building.
The parachute worked and the mouse scurried off with the parachute
still attached to its tail. Reid had also seen a monkey and a cat
making parachute descents at the music halls.
Without giving any specific details of his own parachute jumps,
Reid explained his method:
Now let us suppose I am about to make a parachute descent.
The first thing I do is to see that the balloon is ready with the
bag of ballast at its side. I may here mention that on the top
of the parachute is a wire hook, and that has to be hooked into
a ring. I told you of inside the canvas tube at the side of the
balloon, and having seen that that is all right, and that all the
cords attached to the parachute are clear, and not in a tangle,
then I attach my basket to my seat which is fastened to the
ropes that hold the net over the balloon, in such a way that I
can slip in and release myself when I want to. Then I take my
place on my seat, hold the ropes, and cry ‘Let go,’ and the men
standing round holding the balloon down, let go, and the world
appears to drop away from me.
When I begin to lose sight of the people on earth, I slip into my
basket and leave the rest to do its work; my weight releases
the basket from the seat, the hook in the ring becomes straight and comes out of the tube and the
parachute opens like an umbrella.
When the balloon is released of its weight the bag of ballast pulls the top down, and the mouth up, and
lets the hot air out, and the question is which reaches the ground first, you or the balloon.
That is my style of parachuting, with a basket to stand in. In the case of a balloon you may sometimes
pick the place for coming down, but with the parachute you must come down where it likes to drop you.
When you are up in a balloon, or dropping with a parachute, there you are, don’t you know, you may
call yourself professor, captain, or some other grand name, it’s all the same, you have got to get down. 22
This eccentric detective, daring balloonist and notable man of Kent, whether up in the air, or with his feet on
terra firma, remains one of the most interesting and unusual individuals associated with the Whitechapel murders.
21 Whitstable Times, 5 April 1913.
22 Whitstable Times, 20 April 1913.
NICHOLAS CONNELL is the co-author of The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper: Edmund Reid-Victorian Detective.
Ripperologist 147 December 2015 13