Jack the Ripper

The first victim was found before four in the morning on Friday August 31, 1888 in Whitechapel’s Buck’s Row in London, England. At first Charles Cross on this chilly and damp morning thought he saw tarpaulin lying on the ground before the entrance to a stable yard. Taking a closer look he realized it was a woman lying on her back and seeing another man asked him to come take a look. He assumed the woman was either drunk or a victim of an assault. When the two men tried to help her they saw the awful wounds that had nearly decapitated her. They went in search of a policeman.

A few minutes later, Police Constable John Neil went patrolling by. In the light of his lantern he saw the woman’s throat had been slashed and that her eyes were wide open and staring. A doctor and an ambulance were summoned. People from some of the nearest residences were awakened and questioned. Dr, Rees Llewellyn concluded that she had been dead no longer than half an hour. When the body was taken it the mortuary it was discovered that her abdomen had also been wounded and mutilated.

As news of the murder spread around Whitechapel the police learned of a woman simply named „Polly" who lived in a lodging house in Thrawl Street. Investigating further a woman came forth from the Lambeth Workhouse and identified the victim as Mary Ann Nichols 42 years of age. A positive ID came from her father and husband the next day. She was a sad, destitute woman with a drinking problem who had met with a tragic end.

Interestingly enough a murder had occurred several weeks before on Monday August 6, 1888 when Martha Tabram, a 39 year old prostitute was found murdered in George Yard. She had been stabbed 39 times. However in this case another prostitute Mary Ann Connelly told the police that she and Martha had been in the company of two soldiers until a few hours before Martha was killed. Even though the police checked out the soldiers they were cleared of the crime.

The East End of London, in Victorian England was a place outcast from the city, both economically and socially. It was a teeming slum. Cattle and sheep were herded through the streets of Whitechapel to the slaughterhouses leaving the streets stained with blood and excrement while rubbish and liquid sewage gave the area a horrible smell.

The police were at a loss since at this time in history there was no crime laboratory at Scotland Yard. While searching for the killer of „Polly" Nichols a bizarre story surfaced. It was about a character called „Leather Apron". Apparently this man wanted prostitutes to pay him and if they didn’t he would beat them. A newspaper claimed that the man was a Jewish slipper maker. With all the publicity surrounding the murder and this story circulating the „Leather Apron" went into hiding.

Annie Chapman another destitute woman 47 years old had turned to prostitution when life got too tough. On Friday, September 7, 1888 Annie told her friend Amelia she was feeling ill but had to go out in the streets. She didn’t know she had tuberculosis. Just before two in the morning on Saturday September 8 a bit tippsy Annie was turned out of her lodging house to earn money for her bed. She was found later that morning several hundred yards away in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields which was just across from the Spitalfields market. The market opened at 5 AM and it was John Davis, an elderly carman who found Annie’s body a little after 6 AM. No one had heard anything suspicious nor seen anyone with bloody clothing or a weapon. The murderer was risking much in this daylight crime. The veteran police surgeon, Dr. George Bagster Philips described how the body had been mutilated, intestines removed and throat slashed. He figured that there were no cries because she had been strangled into unconsciousness.

There were three important witnesses: one was John Richards who was out in the yard of 29 Hanbury just as it was beginning to get light and told the police that at that time there was no body, Albert Cadosh who was living next door said that just after 5:20 AM he overheard the word "no" being said and the sound of something falling against a fence, and Mrs. Elizabeth Long who was going to Spitalfields market passed through Hanbury Street. She heard the Black Eagle Brewery clock strike 5:30 AM and saw a man and a woman talking while standing close against the shutters of No. 29. Elizabeth Long identified Annie as the woman who was facing her however the man who may have been the killer had his back to her.

Then on Tuesday, September 11, a few days after the murder John Pizer, the famous "Leather Apron" was arrested. He was a man with one documented cast of stabbing against him. There was a cruel and sardonic look about him. He stated that his brother suggested he go into hiding after the murders. Unfortunately the man also had alibis. Others who were picked up and questioned were either eccentric or drunken characters or simply insane.

At 1 AM on Sunday, September 30, Louis Diemshultz, a Russian Jew was driving his pony cart to Dutfield Yard in Whitechapel to take care of the premises of the International Working Men’s Educational Club (IWMC). Pulling into the club’s yard he saw something on the ground near the wall of the club building. He struck a match and saw that it was a woman. Diemschutz got a young member from the club to help him. They both saw that blood was streaming from the woman and ran to summon a policeman. A few minutes later Police Constable Henry Lamb and his associate were on the scene. Dr. Frederick Blackwell concluded that once again the woman’s body had been badly mutilated, her throat slashed. However this time the police were in for a far more unpleasant surprise. A quarter of a mile away in Mitre Square Police Constable Edward Watkins walking his beat discovered the body of a woman lying facing the square. Her throat slashed and stomach ripped open. Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown made his examination and also discovered terrible mutilations to her face.

At 2:55 AM Constable Alfred Long found a bloody apron lying in the entrance to a building in Whitechapel’s Goulston Street. Written on the black bricks of the archway was "The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing". The piece of bloody apron came from the woman murdered in Mitre Square and the police believed the writing was the killer’s.

The woman murdered in Dutfield’s Yard was identified as Elizabeth Stride who was born in Sweden and came to England most likely as a domestic worker. Constable William Smith stated that he had seen Liz talking to a man about thirty years old with dark hair and moustache around 12:30 AM. He further said that the man was dressed in a dark felt deerstalker hat with a black diagonal cutaway coat, white collar and tie and was carrying a good-sized parcel. Israel Schwartz saw a man stop to speak to a woman standing in the gateway at 12:45 AM. The man tried pulling her into the street then turned her round and threw her down on the footway and she screamed three times. Schwartz crossed to the opposite side of the street and saw a second man lighting his pipe. This man was dark haired with a fair complexion and a moustache he wasn’t carrying a parcel. The man who had thrown the woman called out to the man with the pipe "Lipski" and then Schwartz walked away but found that he was being followed by the second man and ran. The man didn’t continue following him. Schwartz identified the body as that of the woman he had seen. Two more witnesses also came forward each stating that they had seen Liz and each time she was talking to a man.

The woman murdered in Mitre Square had pawn tickets on her making her easier to identify. After the tickets were publicized John Kelly came forth. He was the man she had been living with for seven years. The woman was Catherine Eddowes whom everyone called Kate. She like the others had a drinking problem. The evening before Kate told Kelly she was going to visit her daughter and he in turn reminded her to be back early because of the Whitechapel killer. However Kate never made it to her daughter’s. Along the way she found some money, got drunk and wound up in the Bishopsgate Street Police Station. At about 1AM Constable Hutt let her go. It was an eight minute walk from the police station to Mitre Square. The next time anyone heard anything about Kate was that her throat had been slashed and her face and body badly mutilated.

A witness Joseph Lawende came forth. He and his friends had left the Imperial Club at about 1:35 AM. They saw a couple conversing at Church Passage near Mitre Square. The young man was dressed in a dark jacket with a deerstalker hat and had a moustache. They didn’t see the woman’s face but identified Kate’s clothing. It was 9 minutes after the men had seen the couple that Kate was murdered.

Then came the letters. Hundreds of letters apparently from the murdered were sent to the police, new agencies and individuals associated with solving the crimes. One of the letters was signed Jack the Ripper giving the notorious murderer his name. The letters were circled around to see if anyone would recognize the handwriting to no avail. One letter sent to George Lusk the head of the Mile End Vigilance Committee came with a piece of human kidney.

Fear swept through the East End especially after the double murder. Soon the streets of Whitechapel were virtually deserted after dark. Trade suffered as people from other areas were afraid to go to Whitechapel. Soon things began to get back to normal. There had been no murder for a month and prostitutes returned to the streets. On Friday, November 9, 1888 was the day for the Lord Mayor’s Show. A major festive event in the city. On this he would be sworn into office. Like any other Londoner Mary Kelly, a lovely girl who had turned to prostitution and lived at Miller’s Court with her friend Joe Barnett, was looking forward to seeing the event. On that Friday morning John McCarthy sent his assistant Thomas Bowyer to collect rent from Mary. There he got no answer and breaking a window looked in at a horrific sight. He went to tell McCarthy and soon Officer Walter Dew was at 13 Miller’s Court. It was terrible. Mary’s body lay on the bed her throat slashed, her body and face most horrendously mutilated. Body parts cut off. This was the last and most hideous of the Ripper murders.

Panic swept the streets of Whitechapel. George Hutchinson a laborer who knew Mary Kelly was able to say he had met her at about 2AM on Friday morning and she had asked him for some money. He had none to spare and as she walked away she stopped to speak to another man. This was most likely Jack the Ripper. Hutchinson said he followed them awhile until they went up the court. He then went to the court to see if he could see them be he couldn’t. He stood there awhile to see if they came out and when they didn’t he went away. Another prostitute said she had seen Mary going into Miller’s Court with a man at 11:45 PM and she was very drunk.

There was a laundress Sarah Lewis who had been walking with her girlfriend at 8 PM on Wednesday, November 7 and they were approached by a man who wanted them to follow him. He wore a short black coat and carried a black bag. The girls refused and he persisted. They ran away. Then on Friday morning at about 2:30 AM around the time Mary Kelly was murdered Sarah was coming to stay with friends at 2 Miller’s Court and saw the same man. She eluded him. Then just before 4 AM she heard a woman shriek "Murder!"

Interestingly enough after all the investigations the police could find no evidence to link anyone to the murder and the Jack the Ripper file was closed in 1892 the case unsolved. The murderer so to speak slipped into notoriety. His legend lives on in films and books. Why did he stop murdering I guess there is no one now who could answer this all important question but it must have taken a long time before the people could feel safe again on the streets of Whitechapel.

Who were the major suspects? Mr. M. J. Druitt a doctor who disappeared at the time of the Miller’s Court murder and whose body was found in the Thames on 31st December. The man was sexually insane and it was believed that his own family may have though he was the murderer.

Kosminski, a Polish Jew and resident of Whitechapel. He became insane because of his indulgence in solitary vices. He hated prostitutes and had strong homicidal tendencies. In March 1889 he was placed in a lunatic asylum.

Michael Ostrog, a Russian doctor and convict who was detained in a lunatic asylum as a homicidal maniac.