JACK THE RIPPER

By Miss Boughey

www.SchoolHistory.co.uk

Charles Cross walked through Whitechapel just

before four in the morning in August 1888. The
street was dark and looked deserted. It was chilly
and damp, typical for London in the summer. He saw
something that looked like tarpaulin lying on the
ground before the entrance to a stable. He walked
closer, and saw a woman lying on her back, skirts
lifted almost to her waist. He saw another man
walking the same way. "Come and look over here," he
asked the man, assuming that the woman was drunk
or a victim of an assault. They tried to help her in
the darkened street, neither saw the awful wounds
that had nearly decapitated her. They fixed her
skirt for modesty's sake and went to look for a
policeman.

Victim One

A few minutes later, Police Constable John Neil found the body
whilst walking his beat. From the light of his lantern, he saw that
blood was oozing from her throat which had been slashed from ear
to ear. Her eyes were wide open. Even though her hands and wrists
were cold, Neil felt warmth in her arms.
The wounds to the victims throat had been fatal. Since parts of
her body were still warm, a local doctor felt she had been dead no
longer than half-hour. Her neck had been slashed twice, cutting
through her windpipe. She had been killed where she was found,
but there was very little blood on the ground. Most of the lost
blood had soaked into her clothing. The body was taken to the
local mortuary, which was part of the workhouse there. When the
body was stripped, Inspector Spratling discovered that her
abdomen had been mutilated.

There were no identifying marks on the

body. The victim was approximately five feet
two inches tall with brown hair, brown eyes
and several missing front teeth.
As news of the murder spread around
Whitechapel, the police learned of a woman
named "Polly," who lived in a local lodging
house. Eventually a woman from the Lambeth
Workhouse identified the victim as Mary
Ann Nichols, age 42. The next day her family
identified the body. Polly had been a heavy
drinker. Mostly, Polly had been living off her
small earnings as a prostitute. Every once in
awhile, she would try to get her life back
together, but it never worked out. She was a
sad, destitute woman, but one that most
people liked and pitied. Her death upset
many people.

Annie Chapman, age 47, was seen as a

pathetic woman. She lived at common
lodging houses when she had the money
and roamed the streets looking for
ways to earn a little money for shelter
and drink. Eventually Annie turned to
prostitution, despite her plain features,
missing teeth, and plump figure. Just
before two in the morning on Saturday,
September 8, a slightly drunken Annie
was turned out of her lodging house to
earn money for her bed. Later, she was
found dead several hundred yards away
in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street,
Spitalfields.

The body was lying in the yard on her

back. The left arm was across the left
breast, legs were drawn up, feet resting
on the ground, and knees turned outwards.
The face was swollen, and the tongue
stuck out between the front teeth, it was
much swollen. The small intestines were
lying on the ground on the right side of
the body but were still attached. There was lots of blood with part
of the stomach. The body was cold, except for some heat under the
intestines. Rigor Mortis was starting. The throat was cut deeply.
The cut was jagged, and reached right round the neck. Newspapers
worsened the obvious fear and anger of the people in London,
feeding on every rumour and story. Two unsolved murders left
the busy streets quiet and virtually deserted at night.

Louis Diemschutz was driving his cart to Dutfield Yard in

Whitechapel on Sunday, September 30, 1888. As he did so, he saw
an object on the ground near the wall of a building. He lit a match
and saw it was a woman. He rushed into a nearby building and
asked a man for help. When they saw that the object was a
woman with a stream of blood running from her body, the two men
ran screaming for a policeman. The police arrived and discovered
that her neck was warm, as were the legs and face. The hands
were cold. The right hand was open on the chest and smeared with
blood. The left hand was lying on the ground. The face was
peaceful. The mouth was slightly open. In the neck there was a
long cut which started on the left side below the angle of the jaw,
and almost in a direct line with it, severing the vessels on that
side, cutting the windpipe completely in two, and stopping on the
opposite side.

While the police were coping with yet another murder, a most
extraordinary thing happened less than a mile away in Mitre
Square. At night, when the businesses were closed, Mitre Square
became a dark and somewhat secluded area. The Square was on the
beat of Police Constable Watkins. He had been through the square
at 1:30 and all was quiet. He came around 14 minutes later, just 45
minutes after the discovery of the first body. When he shined his
lantern in one corner of the square, he made a horrible discovery.
He described it to the coroner a few days later: I saw the body of
a woman lying on her back with her feet facing the square, her
clothes up above her waist. I saw her throat was cut and her bowels
protruding. The stomach was ripped up. She was lying in a pool of
blood. This was to be Jacks fourth victim!

While the police were coping with yet another Whitechapel

murder, an extraordinary thing happened not far away in Mitre
Square. It was generally a respectable area surrounded by
commercial buildings and warehouses, with very few residences.
At night, when the businesses were closed, Mitre Square
became a dark and somewhat secluded area. Mitre Square was
on the beat of Police Constable Edward Watkins. He had been
through the square at 1:30 and all was quiet. He came around
again at 1:44 a.m. Again, it was quiet and deserted. When he
shined his lantern in one corner of the square, he made a
horrible discovery. The body of a woman lying on her back with
her feet facing the square, her clothes up above her waist. The
throat was cut and her bowels protruding. The stomach was
ripped up. She was lying in a pool of blood."

A constable found a
piece of a bloody apron
lying in the entrance to
a building in Goulston
Street. There was also
a message written in
chalk.

How this murderer was able to

accomplish two such murders in
such a short time, particularly
with the mutilations of the
second victim, without being
seen by the police or anybody
and then, when the area was in
a heightened state of alarm,
and create the chalk writing on
the archway is nothing short of
amazing.
In one night both Elizabeth
Stride and Catharine Eddowes
had lost their lives. Both were
women of the street.

25 Sept: 1888
Dear Boss

of letters
murderer
were
sent
towont
the police,
IHundreds
keep on hearing
thefrom
policethe
have
caught me
but
they
fix me
newsyet.
agencies
people
linked
with
solving
the crime.
Only
just
I haveand
laughed
when
they
look
so clever
and talk
about
threeon
ofthe
these
letters
Two,
in particular,
whichme
being
right
track.were
Thatbelieved.
joke about
Leather
Apron gave
are written
bydown
the same
individual,
created
the
name
real
fits. I am
on whores
and Iactually
shant quit
ripping
them
till I do
"Jack
the Ripper."
The two
in red
ink,
gave
get
buckled.
Grand work
theletters,
last jobwritten
was. I gave
the
lady
no the
time to
murderer
name.
was me
received
Central
News
squeal.
Howhis
can
theyIt
catch
now. Iby
love
my work
andonwant to start
September
27,
1888
andofwas
to The
Boss.
again.
You will
soon
hear
meaddressed
with my funny
little
games. I saved
some proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to
write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit
enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip. The lady's ears
off and send to the Police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep
this letter back till I do a bit more work then give it out straight.
My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I
get a chance.
Good luck.
Yours truly

Jack the Ripper

By October things were returning to normal

in Whitechapel. With no murders for a
month women began to ply their trade in
force. One such woman was a good-looking
young Irish girl by the name of Mary Kelly.
Police officer Walter Dew knew her by
sight. "She was usually in the company of
two or three of her kind, fairly neatly
dressed and invariably wearing a clean
white apron, but no hat. Mary had a lot on
her mind at the beginning of November.
She was several weeks behind in her rent
and her lover, was unemployed. She
rented a first floor room in Miller's Court in the back of Dorset
Street. On Friday November 9th Marys landlord, sent his assistant to
see if he could collect any rent from her. When his knock went
unanswered, he reached inside the window and pulled aside the curtain.

He wasn't sure what he saw, but it caused him to

run back to McCarthy. McCarthy looked through the
window and was so horrified that he sent for the
police. Soon the police surgeon was there. They
opened the door to a small room with almost no
furniture. Mary's body, lay sprawled on the bed.
The cause of death was the cutting of the artery in
the throat. The horrendous mutilation of this last
Ripper murder was done after her death. There
was an agreement that the same monster who killed
the other four women murdered Mary Kelly. All of
women were murdered with "a very sharp, strong
knife about an inch in width and at least six inches
long."

Michael Ostrog, a
Russian doctor, and
convict, who was
held in a lunatic
asylum as a
homicidal maniac.
Hiis whereabouts at
the time of the
murders could never
be discovered.

A Mr. Druitt, was

a doctor in a
good family, who
disappeared at
the time of the
Miller's Court
murder, & whose
body was found
in the Thames on
31st December.

In 1992 Michael
Barrett, from
Liverpool, found a
diary reputedly
written by James
Maybrick who died
in 1889. In this
diary, Maybrick
confessed to being
Jack the Ripper.

A well known
theory is that
Prince Edward
was the Ripper
because he liked
to slum it in the
East End and he
had the influence
to cover up
murders