”Jack the Ripper! Few names in history are as instantly recognizable. Fewer still evoke such vivid images: noisome courts and alleys, hansom cabs and gaslights, swirling fog, prostitutes decked out in the tawdriest of finery, the shrill cry of newsboys -’Whitechapel! Another ’orrible murder! Mutilation!’ – and silent, cruel death personified in the cape-shrouded figure of a faceless prowler of the night, armed with a long knife and carrying a black Gladstone bag.”
Philip Sugden, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper
Motives
In an attempt to assign a motive to these terrible murders, one can only be given by listing some of the suspects that have been implicated into the ’Ripper’ legend over the years. These theories range from the plausible to the outlandish. Nevertheless, they allow a scope of possibilities to be viewed, which previously never existed.
SUSPECTS
Jill/Jane/Julie the Ripper – Mad Midwife
It has been suggested that the perpetrator of these violent crimes may have been a woman practising under the guise of abortion techniques which would go in some part to explain the brutal mutilations undertaken. But the main objection to this theory is that there has never been a recorded case of a woman performing sadistic mutilation murders.
Montague John Druitt
A failed lawyer whose body was found in the River Thames in December 1888. This coincided with the sudden end of the savage murders.
Severin Klosowski
A Polish immigrant who changed his name to George Chapman upon his arrival to London, and deserving a sub-section all for himself (wife poisoner), he was labelled (But later retracted) as being Jack the Ripper when arrested by Frederick Abberline (in charge of the Ripper atrocities at the time). It is exceptionally unusual for a murderer to change so swiftly his method of killing, and is more likely that in desperation to pin the murders on someone, Klosowski fit the bill.
Dr. Roslyn D’Onston Stephenson
An author and magician who preferred to keep his own activities to himself, has been labelled as the murderer by theorising that the murders were committed as part of some secret initiation/ritual process (5 murders ties in with the belief that the pentagram symbol can be used to channel power to individuals). This belief may have faded over time were it not for Stephenson ’disappearing’ sometime in 1904.
HRH Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
Scandal has always been welcome at the expense of royalty, which is exactly what happened to Queen Victoria’s grandson and the spate of East End murders. It has been suggested that Prince Albert, directly or indirectly, had knowledge of who was involved in the murders. Others who may have been instigators of the murders themselves include Sir William Gull (the royal physician), Walter Sickert (An artist) and John Netley (A royal coachman in service). The murders were apparently committed to prevent any ’loose ends’ involving a Prince’s indiscretion, an illegitimate child and future blackmail attempts. If this is so, why then did five women die if only one was required to be eliminated, of which the identity was known? and why were they killed so gruesomely?
James Kenneth Stephen
Directly linked to Prince Albert by way of being his tutor at Cambridge, it has been claimed he was the murderer due to his homosexuality culminating into a pathological hatred of women in general. If this is so, why didn’t he kill any female that he saw, instead of merely confining his murders to the East End?
Dr. Thomas Neil Cream
A serial-killer himself (lady poisoner both abroad and in Europe), his link with the ’Ripper’ legacy is that he blurted out ”I am jack…” just as he was hanged. The fact that he was incarcerated on American soil at the time hasn’t diminished the link.
James Maybrick
Perhaps being one of the most important developments to arise from continued Whitechapel investigations was the surfacing of the infamous ”Jack the Ripper Diary” in which the self-confessions of the purported murderer are laid out in an almost enigmatic fashion, with pages torn out and passages scribbled out. Unfortunately, instead of the laying to rest one of the most intriguing cases in human history, equal amounts of scorn and ridicule from sceptics matches the proponents of the diary, firmly believing in the authenticity of the document.
James Kelly
Birth is unknown died in 1929. he was suspected because he murdered his wife, stabbing her in the neck several times. He was also known to have been of unsound mind and a resident of the East End as well as being a resident of Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum for more than three decades.
Timeline
Below is a timeline of Ripper-related events covering the 110 years between 1887 and 1997.
APRIL 1887
April 6, 1887 — Elizabeth Stride brings charges of assault against her lover, Michael Kidney.
April 8, 1887 — Joseph Barnett and Mary Kelly meet for the first time.
JUNE 1887
Severin Klosowski arrives in London from Poland.
June 10, 1887 — Elizabeth Stride, using the name ’Annie Fitzgerald’, is brought before Thames Magistrates Court for drunk and disorderly conduct.
June 28, 1887 — Israel Lipski poisons Miriam Angel at 16 Batty Street.
AUGUST 1887
Mary Ann Cox charged on assault charges in front of Thames Magistrates Court.
August 22, 1887 — Israel Lipski is hanged for the murder of Miriam Angel.
SEPTEMBER 1887
Michael Ostrog sent into Surrey Pauper Lunatic Asylum, suffering from mania, on September 30th, 1887.
OCTOBER 1887
William Henry Bury moves to Bow, where he lives until January, 1889.
NOVEMBER 1887
November 13, 1887 — ”Bloody Sunday” A mass riot of the unemployed in Trafalgar Square, which Sir Charles Warren suppresses through military force. One man dies, and the radical press never forgets the incident.
DECEMBER 1887
December 26, 1887 — The alleged murder of ’Fairy Fay’ near Commercial Street.
JANUARY 1888
January 1, 1888 — Nicolas Wassili released from lunatic asylum either in France or Tiraspol.
James Kelly escapes from Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
FEBRUARY 1888
February 25, 1888 — Annie Millwood attacked and stabbed by a strange man with a clasp knife. She survives the attack.
MARCH 1888
William Henry Bury caught stealing from James Martin.
March 10, 1888 — Michael Ostrog released from Surrey Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
March 24, 1888 — Nathan Kaminsky diagnosed as syphilitic at the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary.
March 28, 1888 — Ada Wilson stabbed twice in the neck, barely surviving her attack.
APRIL 1888
William Henry Bury marries Ellen Elliot.
April 3, 1888 — Emma Smith attacked by a gang of young men around 12:30 am.
April 5, 1888 — Emma Smith dies in the London Hospital as a result of her injuries.
MAY 1888
Nathan Kaminsky released from the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary, cured of his syphilitic infection.
JUNE 1888
JULY 1888
Joseph Barnett loses job as a fish porter at Bilingsgate.
Ann Druitt, mother of suspect Montague John Druitt, is certified as insane at the Brooke Asylum, Clapton.
Michael Kidney jailed for three days for drunk and disorderly conduct.
AUGUST 1888
August 4, 1888 — John Pizer charged with indecent assault before Thames Magistrates, but the case is dismissed.
— Oswald Puckeridge released from Hoxton House Lunatic Asylum.
August 7, 1888 — Martha Tabram murdered in George Yard Buildings.
August 14, 1888 — Henry Samuel Tabram identifies the body of Martha Tabram, his former wife.
August 28, 1888 — An envelope which would be found near the body of Annie Chapman on September 8th, is postmarked, ”London, 28 August, 1888.”
August 29, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor left for Danby Lodge, Grosmont, Yorkshire.
August 30, 1888 — Fire breaks out at the Shadwell Dry Dock and burns until late the next morning, which later helps to establish John Pizer’s innocence.
August 31, 1888 — Polly Nichols killed in Bucks Row
— Robert Anderson appointed Assistant Commissioner for Crime; selects Donald Swanson to head the case.
— L.P. Walter writes to the Home Office, requesting a reward be offered for the capture of the murderer. Request is denied by E. Leigh Pemberton.
SEPTEMBER 1888
Catharine Eddowes goes hop-picking with John Kelly.
September 1, 1888 — William Nichols identifies the body of his estranged wife, Polly Nichols.
— Coroner Wynne E. Baxter begins the inquest into the murder of Polly Nichols at the Whitechapel Working Lads’ Institute — adjourned until the 3rd.
— Mrs. Sarah Colwell claims to have seen spots of blood in Brady Street, adding to the theory that Nichols was killed elsewhere.
September 3, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Polly Nichols reconvened. Adjourned until the 17th.
September 4, 1888 — The first press reports of a man named ’Leather Apron’ appear.
September 6, 1888 — Polly Nichols is buried at Little Ilford Cemetery.
September 7, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor travelled to Cavalry Barracks in York.
— First official mention of John Pizer as ’Leather Apron.’
September 8, 1888 — Annie Chapman killed in Hanbury Street.
— Amelia Palmer identifies Annie’s body at 11:30 am.
— Robert Anderson leaves for Switzerland on sick leave.
— Thomas Ede sees Henry James outside The Forrester’s Arms, in possession of a large knife.
— Mrs. Fiddymont sees suspicious bloodstained man in the Prince Albert.
September 9, 1888 — Miss Lyons claims to have had a drink with a man she suspected to be ’Leather Apron’ at the Queen’s Head pub.
— John Evans and Mr. Fountain Smith both identify Annie Chapman’s body.
September 10, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor returned to London from York.
— Samuel Montagu offers a 100 reward for the capture of the murderer.
— George Lusk elected president of The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee.
— John Pizer arrested as ’Leather Apron.’
September 11, 1888 — Dr. Cowan and Dr. Crabb inform police that they believe Jacob Issenscmid to be the Ripper.
September 12, 1888 — Coroner Wynne E. Baxter begins the inquest into murder of Annie Chapman at the Whitechapel Working Lads’ Institute — adjouned until the 13th.
— Inspector Joseph Luniss Chandler is quoted in the Star as saying the ’bloodstains’ found on the fence in the yard of 25 Hanbury Street were simply urine stains.
— Mrs. Darrell identifies the body of Annie Chapman.
— Laura Sickings discovers ’bloodstains’ on the fence in her yard at 25 Hanbury Street, later said to be urine stains.
September 13, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Annie Chapman reconvened. Adjourned until the 14th.
— Edward McKenna is arrested in connection with the Ripper murders, but is released soon after.
September 14, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Annie Chapman reconvened. Adjourned until the 19th.
— Annie Chapman is buried at Manor Park Cemetary.
September 16, 1888 — B. Harris of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee requests that the Home Secretary add to the reward money offered.
September 17, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Polly Nichols reconvened. Adjourned until the 23rd.
— Jacob Issenschmid confined to Fairfield Row Asylum, Bow.
September 18, 1888 — Charles Ludwig threatens Elizabeth Burns with a knife near the Minories, and soon after threatens Alexander Freinberg at a coffee stall, leading to his arrest.
September 19, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Annie Chapman reconvened. Dr. Philips suggests the uterus of the woman might have been removed for sale to a medical student who had been inquiring about obtaining such specimens. The Inquest was adjourned until the 26th.
— Inspector Abberline reports that Issenschmid was the man seen by Mrs. Fiddymont.
September 23, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Polly Nichols completed.
September 26, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Annie Chapman completed.
September 27, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor leaves for Abergeldie, Scotland.
— Catherine Eddowes and John Kelly return to London, having been hop-picking all month.
— The ’Dear Boss’ letter is received at the Central News Agency, the first to use the name ’Jack the Ripper.’
September 29, 1888 — Catherine Eddowes arrested at 8.45 pm for public drunkenness by Sergeant James Byfield.
September 30, 1888 — Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes killed at 1:00 and 1:45 am, respectively.
— Prince Albert Victor dines with Queen Victoria in Abergeldie, Scotland.
— Whitechapel Vigilance Committee sends letter to the Home Office requesting a reward be officially offered. Request denied.
— Diary entry in the Swedish Church Parish Register records the death of Stride, possibly ”murdered by Jack the Ripper?” If indeed written on the 30th September, this is the earliest known use of the name ”Jack the Ripper.”
OCTOBER 1888
October 1, 1888 — Coroner Wynne E. Baxter begins inquest into the murder of Elizabeth Stride at the Vestry Hall, Cable Street. Adjourned until the 2nd.
— The morning issue of the Daily News first prints the text of the Dear Boss letter.
— Thomas Coram finds a bloodstained knife in Whitechapel Road, with a blade of about 9 inches.
— The Financial News contributes 300 toward a reward for the capture of the murderer.
— Lord Mayor offers 500 reward.
— Sir Alfred Kirby offers 100 reward and 50 militia men to help apprehend the criminal. Offer declined.
— Queen Victoria telephones the Home Office at 3:30 pm and expresses her shock at the murders.
— The ’Saucy Jacky’ postcard is received at the Central News Agency.
— Michael Kidney arrives drunk at Leman Street Police Station, blaming the PC on duty at the time of Stride’s murder, and asking to speak with a detective.
— The Star prints the text of the Saucy Jacky postcard in the evening edition.
— The first of many imitative hoax letters is received, with the word ”Boss” hastily inserted in play of ”The City Police.”
October 2, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Elizabeth Stride reconvened. Adjourned until the 3rd.
— George Lusk sends petition to the Home Office requesting a reward by offered by the police.
— Clairvoyant Robert James Lees offers his psychic assistance to the police, but is denounced as a fool.
— Two private detectives, Grand and Batchelor, find a grape stalk in the drain near the spot where Elizabeth Stride’s body was found.
October 3, 1888 — Unidentified trunk of a woman discovered in Whitehall.
— Inquest into the murder of Elizabeth Stride reconvened. Adjourned until the 5th.
— Clairvoyant Robert James Lees offers his psychic assistance to the police, but his offer is refused.
October 3, 1888 — Grand and Batchelor take Matthew Packer to view the body of Catharine Eddowes, implying that it is Elizabeth Stride in order to evaluate his testimony. Packer passes the test, saying he does not recognize the body.
October 4, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Catharine Eddowes opened by Coroner Langham at the Golden Lane Mortuary.
— Clairvoyant Robert James Lees offers his psychic assistance to Scotland Yard, who respectfully decline.
— Matthew Packer views the body of Elizabeth Stride and confirms it as the woman he saw on the night of the double murders.
— Facsimiles of the Dear Boss and Saucy Jacky letters first published in the Evening Standard.
October 5, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Elizabeth Stride reconvened. Adjourned until the 23rd.
October 6, 1888 — Elizabeth Stride buried at East London Cemetery.
October 7, 1888 — George Lusk writes the Home Office, requesting that a pardon be granted for the murderer’s accomplice(s), in the hopes that these accomplices would reveal his identity.
October 8, 1888 — Catharine Eddowes is buried at Little Ilford.
October 9, 1888 — Police test out the bloodhounds Barnaby and Burgho, successfully, at Regent’s Park.
— Sir Charles Warren replies affirmatively to Lusk’s request of a pardon, but the idea is struck down by Matthews.
October 10, 1888 — The bloodhounds are tested again, this time personally by Sir Charles Warren in Hyde Park. They were not successful this time, however, and this incident was quite an embarrassment for Warren.
October 11, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Catharine Eddowes completed.
October 12, 1888 — E.W. Bonham, from Boulogne, brings suspect John Langan to the attention of the Home Office
October 16, 1888 — John Langan’s innocence verified by police.
— George Lusk receives a package including the ”From Hell” letter and half a kidney, allededly from the body of Catharine Eddowes.
October 21, 1888 — Maria Coroner charged with hoaxing several ”Jack the Ripper letters” claiming the murderer would claim his next victim in Bradford.
October 23, 1888 — Inquest into the murder of Elizabeth Stride completed.
October 30, 1888 — Joseph Barnett and Mary Kelly quarrel — Barnett leaves their room at 13 Miller’s Court.
NOVEMBER 1888
November 1, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor arrives in London from York.
November 2, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor leaves for Sandringham.
November 7, 1888 — Francis Tumblety arrested in London on charges of gross indecency.
November 9, 1888 — Mary Kelly killed in Miller’s Court.
— Sir Charles Warren resigns.
November 10, 1888 — Pardon offered to ”anyone other than the murderer” by the Home Office.
November 11, 1888 — Dr. William Holt, with his face blackened and wearing spectacles, frightens a woman outside of George Yard and is attacked by a mob soon after.
November 12, 1888 — Prince Albert Victor returns to London from Sandringham.
— The inquest into the murder of Mary Jeanette Kelly, presided over by Coroner Roderick Macdonald, begins and concludes in one day.
— Dr. William Holt is released from police custody, having explained that he was tracking down the murderer using various disguises.
— George Hutchinson gives police his description of a suspicious man he saw with Kelly on the night of her murder (after the inquest had finished).
November 13, 1888 — Edward Knight Larkins tells police of a man named Antoni Pricha who resembled Hutchinson’s description.
November 15, 1888 — Wolf Levisohn accosted by two prostitutes who shouted ”You are Jack the Ripper!” after he refused to accept their solicitations.
November 17, 1888 — Nikaner Benelius, a Swedish man, is arrested by P.C. Imhoff for breaking into Harriet Rowe’s house and staring at her silently with an impudent grin. He was briefly suspected of being the Ripper but was later cleared of all charges.
November 19, 1888 — Edward Buchan, not suspected as Jack the Ripper until a century later, commits suicide.
— Mary Jeanette Kelly is buried at Leytonstone Roman Catholic Cemetary; no family members attend.
November 20, 1888 — Annie Farmer allegedly attacked by Jack the Ripper.
November 24, 1888 — Francis Tumblety flees to France, and then to America under the name ’Frank Townshend.’
November 30, 1888 — Montague Druitt dismissed from his position at a school in Blackheath.
DECEMBER 1888
Inspector Walter Andrews sent to New York to investigate an unnamed possible Ripper suspect.
December 1, 1888 — Probable date of Montague John Druitt’s suicide.
December 6, 1888 — Joseph Isaacs arrested, believed by the press to have been Jack the Ripper, but charged only with stealing a watch.
December 7, 1888 — David Cohen arrested and placed in Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary.
December 11, 1888 — William Druitt hears of his brother Montague’s disappearance.
December 20, 1888 — Rose Mylett killed in Clarke’s Yard.
December 21, 1888 — David Cohen transfered to Colney Hatch Asylum.
— Coroner Wynne E. Baxter begins the inquest into the murder of Rose Mylett in Poplar Coroner’s Court. Adjourned until January 3rd.
December 24, 1888 — Sir Melville Macnaghten’s father dies.
December 28, 1888 — David Cohen separated from his fellow patients, listed as dangerous and ’physically ill.’
December 31, 1888 — The body of Montague Druitt discovered floating in the Thames.
JANUARY 1889
* Dr. Jon William Sanders dies of heart failure.
* William Henry Bury and his wife Ellen move to Dundee
* Alfred Gray is arrested in Tunis on burglary charges, and is briefly suspected to be Jack the Ripper.
January 2, 1889 — The inquest into the death of Montague John Druitt concludes in one day.
January 3, 1889 — Inquest into the murder of Rose Mylett reconvened. Adjourned until the 9th.
January 9, 1889 — Inquest into the murder of Rose Mylett completed.
FEBRUARY 1889
February 10, 1889 — William Henry Bury tells police his wife has committed suicide.
MARCH 1889
William Bachert, Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, allegedly told by police officials that the Whitechapel murderer drowned in the Thames at the end of 1888.
APRIL 1889
William Henry Bury hanged in Dundee, convicted of murdering his wife.
MAY 1889
James Maybrick dies.
JUNE 1889
Sir Melville Macnaghten joins Scotland Yard as an Assistant Chief Constable.
Parts of Elizabeth Jackson’s body wash up on the shores of the Thames throughout the middle weeks of June.
Michael Kidney treated for a syphilitic infection at the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary.
JULY 1889
July 17, 1889 — Alice McKenzie killed in Castle Alley.
— Margaret ’Mog’ Cheeks, a friend of Alice McKenzie is missed at her lodgings and feared dead as well.
— John McCormack identifies Alice McKenzie’s body.
— Coroner Wynne E. Baxter begins the inquest into the death of Alice McKenzie. Adjounred until the 19th.
July 19, 1889 — Margaret ’Mog’ Cheeks is discovered, having stayed with her sister for a few days.
— Police force augmented with 1 inspector, 5 sergeants and 50 constables.
— Inquest into the death of Alice McKenzie reconvened. Adjourned until August 14th.
July 23, 1889 — Reverend Samuel Barnett publishes a letter in the Times concerning degradation in Whitechapel.
July 25, 1889 — Letter signed ’Jack the Ripper’ arrives at Scotland Yard, reading: ”Dear Boss — You have not caught me yet you see, with all your cunning, with all your ”Lees’ with all your blue bottles. I have made two narrow squeaks this week, but still though disturbed I got clear before I could get to work — I will give the foreigners a turn now I think — for a change — Germans especially if I can — I was conversing with two or three of your men last night — their eyes of course were shut and thus they did not see my bag. Ask any of your men who were on duty last night in Piccadilly (Circus End) if they saw a gentleman put 2 dragoon guard sergeants into a hansom. I was close by & heard him talk about shedding blood in Egypt I will soon shed more in England. I hope you read mark & learn all that you can if you do so you may and may not catch — Jack the Ripper.”
AUGUST 1889
August 14, 1889 — Inquest into the death of Alice McKenzie completed.
SEPTEMBER 1889
Michael Kidney treated for lumbago and dyspepsia at the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary.
September 10, 1889 — The Pinchin Street Torso is discovered under a railway arch.
OCTOBER 1889
October 15, 1889 — David Cohen is confined to his bed at the asylum.
October 20, 1889 — David Cohen dies in Colney Hatch Asylum
JULY 1890
Aaron Kosminski treated at the Mile End Old Town Workhouse and diagnosed as having been insane for the past two years (July 12). He is released three days later into the custody of his brother, Wolf. (July 15).
NOVEMBER 1890
Ann Druitt, mother of suspect Montague John Druitt, commits suicide.
JANUARY 1891
An individual named Colicott stabs about 6 women from behind over a month-long period.
FEBRUARY 1891
February 4, 1891 — Aaron Kosminski taken to Mile End Workhouse Infirmary.
February 7, 1891 — Aaron Kosminski transfered to Colney Hatch lunatic asylum.
February 11, 1891 — Thomas Sadler meets Frances Coles.
February 13, 1891 — Frances Coles killed in Swallow Gardens.
February 15, 1891 — Coroner Wynne E. Baxter begins the inquest into the murder of Frances Coles at the Working Lads’ Institute. Adjourned until the 16th.
February 16, 1891 — Inquest into the murder of Frances Coles reconvened. Adjourned until the 20th.
February 20, 1891 — Inquest into the murder of Frances Coles reconvened. Adjourned until the 23rd.
February 23, 1891 — Inquest into the murder of Frances Coles reconvened. Adjourned until the 27th.
Fenruary 27, 1891 — Inquest into the murder of Frances Coles completed.
A scare similar to the ’Leather Apron’ scare of September, 1888, begins anew with a man named Jacobs, believed by the public to be the killer soon after the Frances Coles murder.
MARCH 1891
March 5, 1891 — Thomas Cutbush held in Lambeth Infirmary as a lunatic, but escapes soon after.
March 9, 1891 — Thomas Cutbush arrested, charged with stabbing Florence Grace Johnson and attempting to stab Isabelle Frazer Anderson in Kennington.
DECEMBER 1891
Prince Albert Victor engaged to Princess May of Teck (later Queen Mary)
JANUARY 1892
Prince Albert Victor dies of complications from influenza.
FEBRUARY 1892
J.K. Stephen dies.
FEBRUARY 1893
Superintendent Thomas Arnold interviewed by Evening Post.
1894
April 13, 1894 — Aaron Kosminsky transfered to Leavesden Asylum for Imbeciles, noted as ’Demented and Incoherent.’
Sir Melville Macnaghten writes his memoranda, in response to an article in the Star.hy
1895
April 25, 1895 — The Chicago Sunday-Times Herald publishes a story which describes a ’psychic hunt’ of Robert James Lees’s which ended up in his tracking down ’an eminent physician.’
1896
Superintendent Charles Henry Cutbush, uncle of Thomas Cutbush, commits suicide.
Dr. George Bagster Phillips dies.
John Pizer dies.
1898
Journalist Thomas J. Bulling, alleged in the Littlechild Letter to have written the ”Jack the Ripper letters”, is fired from the Central News Agency for sending a telegram reporting Bismarck’s death which read ”Bloody Bismarck is dead.”
Major Arthur Henry Griffiths publishes the first volume of Mysteries of Police and Crime, with the two remaining volumes released by 1903.
1900
PC Ernest Thompson, who discovered the body of Frances Coles on his first night on the beat, is stabbed and killed while arresting a disorderly man at a coffee-stall.
1901
* King Edward VII rises to the throne.
* Robert Anderson retires and is knighted — makes first public statement that the Ripper’s identity is known.
* Dr. Thomas Bond, who was involved in the examinations of Mary Kelly, Alice McKenzie and Rose Mylett, commits suicide by throwing himself from his bedroom window.
1902
Fogelma, a Norweigan suspect, dies in Morris Plains Lunatic Asylum, USA.
1903
Cabman John Netley is killed when he is thrown from his seat and run over by his own carriage.
Severin Klosowski (alias George Chapman) is hanged.
1904
Major Arthur Henry Griffiths publishes Fifty Years of Public Service.
1907
Sir Robert Anderson writes Criminals and Crime, again stressing that the Ripper’s identity was known.
1908
Book Hvem Var Jack the Ripper? released, suggesting the murderer was Alios Szemeredy.
Vassily Konovalov dies.
1909
Issue of the Ochrana Gazette is published, allegedly including an article implicating Pedachenko as the Ripper.
1910
* King Edward VII dies.
* Sir Robert Anderson publishes his memoirs under the title The Lighter Side of My Official Life.
* Sir Henry Smith publishes his memoirs, From Constable to Commissioner: The Story of Sixty Years: Most of Them Misspent.
1913
September 23, 1913 — Chief Inspector John George Littlechild writes the recently discovered ’Littlechild letter,’ which was addressed to G.R. Sims and discussed his feelings about the Tumblety suspect.
1914
Police Work From Within written by Hargrave Lee Adam.
Sir Melville Macnaghten publishes his memoirs, Days of My Years.
1915
Film Farmer Spudd and his Missus Take a Trip to Town released in England.
1919
March 24, 1919 — Aaron Kosminsky dies in Leavesden Asylum for Imbeciles, from gangrene.
1920
The Police Encyclopaedia written by Hargrave Lee Adam, with an introduction by Sir Robert Anderson.
Annie Elizabeth Crook dies in the Lunacy Ward of Fulham Road Workhouse.
Wynne E. Baxter dies.
James Monro dies.
1923
October 28, 1923 — The Evening Standard reports the only known account of the Fogelma suspect.
1924
Chief Inspector Donald Swanson dies.
Film Waxworks released in Germany.
1926
Alfred Hitchcock film The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog released in the UK.
1927
James Kelly voluntarily returns to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, 39 years after his escape from the same institution.
William Le Queux dies.
1928
The Britannia, the public house at which Mary Kelly was seen on the night of her death, is demolished during a project to renovate Spitalfields Market.
Film, Die Busche der Pandora (Pandora’s Box) released in Germany.
1929
Inspector Abberline dies.
James Kelly dies at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
Leonard Matters publishes The Mystery of Jack the Ripper
1930
The Trial of George Chapman written by Hargrave Lee Adam.
Sergeant William Thick dies.
According to local legend, the Duke of Clarence, Prince Albert Victor, dies in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. (He officially died in 1892).
1931
C.I.D.; Behind the Scenes at Scotland Yard written by Hargrave Lee Adam.
Robert James Lees dies.
PC Robert Spicer writes to the Daily Express, relating his tale of the ’Brixton doctor’ suspect (later named ’Dr. Merchant’)
1932
Film The Lodger (The Phantom Fiend) released in the UK; a remake of the Hitchcock original, with sound.
1935
Dr. Harold Dearden writes article ’Who was Jack the Ripper?’ in Great Unsolved Crimes.
Jean Dorsenne writes Jack L’Eventreur.
1937
Film Drole de Drame ou L’Etrange Aventure de Docteur Molyneux released in France.
Edwin Thomas Woodhall publishes Jack the Ripper: Or, When London Walked in Terror, forwarding the Olga Tchkersoff theory.
Hugh Pollard gives Miss Dorothy Stroud a knife he claims was used by Jack the Ripper.
1938
Walter Dew publishes his memoirs, I Caught Crippen.
1939
William Stewart publishes Jack the Ripper: A New Theory, suggesting a midwife was the murderer.
1941
Detective Sergeant George Godley dies.
1942
Walter Sickert dies.
1944
Film The Lodger released in the US.
1947
Aleister Crowley dies.
1950
October 29, 1950 — Terence Robertson, writing in the Reynold’s News, makes the first known reference to ’Fairy Fay.’
Film Room to Let released in the UK.
1951
Leonard Matters dies.
1953
Film Man in the Attic, starring Jack Palance, is released in the US.
1954
Ada Reeve publishes Take it for a Fact.
1958
American television series Cimarron City airs episode ’Knife in the Darkness.’
Film Jack the Ripper released in Great Britain.
American television series The Veil airs episode ’Jack the Ripper.’
1959
Dr. Dennis Gratwick Halstead publishes Doctor in the Nineties, naming the Ripper as a North Sea fisherman.
Lady Aberconway, daughter of Sir Melville Macnaghten, shows her father’s now famous memoranda to Daniel Farson, who makes them public for the first time.
Donald McCormick publishes The Identity of Jack the Ripper, stressing the culpability of Michael Ostrog and Vassily Konovalov.
November 5, 1959 — Programme Farson’s Guide to the British airs its first episode (cont’d November 12).
November 7, 1959 — Daniel Farson prints article ’On the Trail of Jack the Ripper’in TV Times.
November 12, 1959 — Programme Farson’s Guide to the British airs its second, final episode, revealing for the first time the initials of Macnaghten’s suspect: M.J.D.
1961
American television series Thriller airs episode ’Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper.’
1962
Phillppe Julien makes the first public allegation that Prince Albert Victor was the Ripper in his book, Edouard VII.
1965
Tom Cullen publishes Autumn of Terror — a.k.a When London Walked in Terror, or The Crimes and Times of Jack the Ripper. First to use the Macnaghten memoranda and to name his top suspect, Montague John Druitt.
Robin Odell publishes Jack the Ripper in Fact and Fiction, suggesting a shochet to be the killer.
Film A Study in Terror released in the UK.
1966
The August 1966 edition of Crime and Detection includes an article which describes how a journalist for the Star (named Best) claimed to have written all the ”Jack the Ripper letters” ever sent to the press and police.
American television series The Green Hornet airs episode, ’Alias the Scarf.’
1967
Film No Orchids for Lulu released in Austria.
Popular television series Star Trek airs episode ’Wolf in the Fold.’
1969
Inspector Lewis Henry Keaton, who joined the MEPO force in 1891, gives a tape-recorded interview discussing police activity at the time.
1970
Dr. Thomas Stowell publishes the first article implicating Sir William Gull in the Criminologist, and writes to the Times in November of the same year that he did not suggest that the Ripper was Prince Albert Victor. By the time the letter was published, Stowell was dead.
1971
Film Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde released in England.
Film Hands of the Ripper released in England.
1972
Michael Harrison writes Clarence, a biography of Prince Albert Victor.
Arthur Butler writes a series of articles for the Sun, furthering the ”Jill the Ripper” theory.
Film Jack El Destripador de Londres released in Spain and Italy.
Daniel Farson releases Jack the Ripper, forwarding the Montague John Druitt theory.
’Alexander Kelly’ publishes Jack the Ripper: A Biography and Review of the Literature.
American television series The Sixth Sense airs episode ’With Affection, Jack the Ripper.’
1973
Leonard Gribble publishes ’Was Jack the Ripper a Black Magician?’ in the March, 1973 issue of True Detective, discussing the Dr. Stanley theory.
BBC Documentary Miniseries, Jack the Ripper, airs in the UK, culminating in an interview with Joseph Sickert, in which he names Gull as the Ripper.
Irving Rosenwater publishes ’Jack the Ripper — Sort of Cricketing Person?’ in The Cricketer, January 1973.
1974
Donald Bell publishes ”Jack the Ripper — The Final Solution” in the Spring, 1974 edition of Criminologist, arguing Thomas Neill Cream to be the Ripper.
Arthur Douglas writes Will the Real Jack the Ripper?
American television series Kolchak airs episode ’The Ripper.’
1975
Movie Black the Ripper is released in the US, starring Hugh van Patten.
Richard Whittington-Egan writes A Casebook on Jack the Ripper.
Donald Rumbelow publishes The Complete Jack the Ripper.
Thomas Mann publishes ’The Ripper and the Poet: A comparison of Handwriting’ in WADE Journal, June 1975.
Chaim Bermant publishes Point of Arrival: A Study of London’s East End; chapter 9, ’Jacob the Ripper.’
Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd publish The Ripper File, based on the 1973 BBC miniseries Jack the Ripper.
Seymour Shuster publishes ’Jack the Ripper and Doctor Identification’ in the International Journal of Psychiatry.
1976
Film Der Dirnenmoreder von London released in Switzerland.
The Ten Bells public house is renamed the Jack the Ripper.
Stephen Knight publishes Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, forwading the Sickert story of royal conspiracies.
1977
Leonard Gribble publishes ’The Man They Thought was Jack the Ripper’ in March, 1977 issue of True Detective, which dismisses the George Chapman theory.
Mark Andrews publishes The Return of Jack the Ripper, a fictional work which proposes that Mary Kelly’s lover was the Ripper.
1978
Two separate films, one American and one French, are released, both entitled Lulu.
Frank Spiering publishes Prince Jack: The True Story of Jack the Ripper.
Joseph Sickert publicly states that his story of Masonic conspiracy was a hoax.
1979
Film Murder By Decree released in Canada and Great Britain.
Film Time After Time released in the US.
Arthur Douglas publishes Will the Real Jack the Ripper?
1980
American series Fantasy Island airs episode, ”With Affection, Jack the Ripper.”
Television documentary Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution produced in Australia, following the lines of the book by the same name.
1982
April 1982 — Bruce Paley publishes ’A New Theory on the Jack the Ripper Murders’ in True Crime, publicly forwarding the theory that Joseph Barnett was the Ripper for the first time.
1983
The Scotland Yard folio on the murder of Emma Elizabeth Smith is first reported missing in December, 1983.
1984
’Alexander Kelly’s’ Jack the Ripper: A Bibliography and Review of the Literature is updated in a second edition.
1985
Author and researcher Stephen Knight dies of a brain tumor.
Joseph Sickert recants his previous confession that his story of Masonic conspiracy was a hoax.
Film The Ripper is released in the US.
1986
Euan Macpherson first calls attention to suspect William Bury.
John Morrison erects a headstone above the previously unmarked grave of Mary Jeanette Kelly.
1987
Martin Fido publishes The Crimes, Detection and Death of Jack the Ripper.
A number of Ripper-related documents are returned anonymously to Scotland Yard, including the post-mortem notes of Doctor Bond concerning the Mary Kelly autopsy.
Melvis Harris publishes Jack the Ripper: The Bloody Truth.
Martin Howells and Keith Skinner publish The Ripper Legacy.
Terence Sharkey publishes Jack the Ripper: 100 Years of Investigation.
Peter Underwood publishes Jack the Ripper: One Hundred Years of Mystery.
Colin Wilson and Robin Odell publish Jack the Ripper: Summing Up and Verdict.
The Swanson Marginalia are published for the first time, in the Daily Telegraph.
1988
April 21, 1988 — The Evening Standard makes the first public mention of the existence of the Abberline Diaries.
William Eckert of the Milton Helpern Institute of Forensic Sciences, prepares the FBI’s psychological profile of Jack the Ripper.
The Home Office Files are placed on microfilm.
Television miniseries Jack the Ripper, starring Michael Caine, airs in the US and UK.
The Jack the Ripper public house is restored to its original name, The Ten Bells.
Film Jack’s Back released in the US, starring James Spader.
Colin Kendell publishes ’Did Mary Kelly Die?’ in the Criminologist, Autumn 1988.
November 1988 — Television programme The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper airs in the US.
Simon Wood first draws attention to the apparent initials visible on the photo of Mary Kelly’s body.
Paul Begg’s Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts is published.
1989
Film Edge of Sanity released in Great Britain.
Neal Shelden publishes ’Victims of Jack the Ripper’ in January, 1989 issue of True Detective.
N.P. Warren publishes ’A Postal Kidney’ in the Spring, 1989 issue of the Criminologist.
1990
Spring, 1990 — Mason Jay writes ’The Ripper — A Layman’s Theory’ in the Spring, 1990 issue of The Criminologist.
September, 1990 — Roger Barber writes ”Did Jack the Ripper Commit Suicide?” in the Autumn, 1990 issue of Criminologist, forwarding Edward Buchan as the Ripper.
December, 1990 — Andrew Holloway publishes ”Not Guilty?” in the Cricketer, suggesting M.J. Druitt was murdered by his older brother,William.
LWT TV broadcasts Crime Monthly: Who Was Jack the Ripper in the London area, advancing the Aaron Kosminski theory.
Jean Overton Fuller publishes Sickert and the Ripper Crimes.
Melvin Harris publishes The Ripper File.
1991
Melvyn Fairclough publishes The Ripper and the Royals.
Paul Harrison publishes Jack the Ripper: The Mystery Solved.
Booklet Jack the Ripper released as part of the Scandal series, written by Paul Begg.
Booklet Who Was Jack the Ripper? released as part of the Murder Casebook series, written by Paul Begg.
Martin Fido releases audio-book On the Trail of Jack the Ripper.
1992
Stephane Bourgoin publishes Jack L’Eventreur.
N.P. Warren publishes article in the Spring 1992 edition of Criminologist concerning the ’Dr. Merchant’ suspect.
Video Jack the Ripper: Gescichte Eines Morders released in Germany.
Publication Ripperana is begun by N.P. Warren.
Begg, Fido, and Skinner print first edition of the revolutionary The Jack the Ripper A to Z.
1993
Shirley Harrison’s The Diary of Jack the Ripper is published; Martin Howells’s video of the same name is released soon after.
Stewart Evans discovers the Littlechild Letter, bringing the Tumblety suspect to light.
William Henry publishes ’The Ripper case: New Evidence’ in Spring, 1993 issue of the Criminologist.
Sue Iremonger delivers paper ’Jack the Ripper Revisited’ to the WADE Conference in June, 1993, detailing her handwriting analysis of a number of Ripper letters and documents.
A.P. Wolf publishes Jack the Myth: A New Look at the Ripper.
The London Dungeon opens The Jack the Ripper Experience.
John Wilding publishes Jack the Ripper Revealed, suggesting that M.J. Druitt and J.K. Stephen were together Jack the Ripper.
Map/Pamphlet Jack’s London released by Daryl Sullivan and Andrew Cocknell.
Gary Rowlands publishes ’Jack the Ripper: The Writing on the Wall’ in the Summer, 1993 issue of the Criminologist.
1994
The Cloak and Dagger Club begun by Mark Galloway.
Philip Sugden publishes The Complete History of Jack the Ripper.
Researcher D.S. Goffee publishes ’The Search for Michael Ostrog’ in the October, 1994 edition of Ripperana, revealing much new information on the suspect.
Melvin Harris publishes The True Face of Jack the Ripper.
Martin Fido releases narrated audiotape In the Footsteps of Jack the Ripper, which includes directions for individuals to take a tour of Whitechapel.
’Alexander Kelly’s’ Jack the Ripper: A Bibliography and Review of the Literature is updated in a third edition.
1995
April, 1995 — Mark Angus publishes article in Spring, 1995 issue of Criminologist arguing against the authenticity of the Maybrick diary.
Bernard Brown publishes ”Was Jack the Ripper a Policeman?” in The Journal of Police History Society Journal.
Patricia Cory writes An Eye to the Future.
Stewart Evans and Paul Gainey publish The Lodger.
Martin Fido releases audiotape Jack the Ripper.
Scott Palmer publishes Jack the Ripper: A Reference Guide.
William Beadle publishes Jack the Ripper: Anatomy of a Myth, forwarding William Henry Bury as the Ripper.
The London Dungeon updates and revamps The Jack the Ripper Experience
Bruce Paley publishes Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth.
Camille Wolff publishes Who Was Jack the Ripper?
1996
January 31, 1996 — Casebook: Jack the Ripper goes on-line.
February 29, 1996 — American cable channel A&E airs programme ”Biography: Jack the Ripper.”
UK National Conference takes place in Ipswitch, April 1996.
Peter Fisher publishes An Illustrated Guide to Jack the Ripper, which identifies the Ripper as a Turkish priest named Eppstein.
Peter Turnbull publishes The Killer that Never Was.
1997
January 3, 1997 — American television station FOX airs Sliders episode ”Murder Most Foul.”
April 10-26, 1997 — Musical ”Jack the Ripper” premiers at the Boston Center for the Arts.
Catherine Eddowes a.k.a. Kate Kelly
Catherine Eddowes is born on April 14, 1842 in Graisley Green, Wolverhampton. At the time of her death she is 5 feet tall, has hazel eyes and dark auburn hair. She has a tattoo in blue ink on her left forearm ”TC.”
At the time of her death, Catherine Eddowes is suffering from Bright’s Disease, a form of Uremia. Friends spoke of Catherine as an intelligent, scholarly woman but one who was possessed of a fierce temper.
Wearing at the time of her murder:
Mortuary photograph of Catherine Eddowes.
Black straw bonnet trimmed in green and black velvet with black beads. Black strings, worn tied to the head.
Black cloth jacket trimmed around the collar and cuffs with imitation fur and around the pockets in black silk braid and fur. Large metal buttons.
Dark green chintz skirt, 3 flounces, brown button on waistband. The skirt is patterned with Michaelmas daisies and golden lilies.
Man’s white vest, matching buttons down front.
Brown linsey bodice, black velvet collar with brown buttons down front
Gray stuffed petticoat with white waistband
Very old green alpaca skirt (worn as undergarment)
Very old ragged blue skirt with red flounces, light twill lining (worn as undergarment)
White calico chemise
No drawers or stays
Pair of men’s lace up boots, mohair laces. Right boot repaired with red thread
1 piece of red gauze silk worn as a neckerchief
1 large white pocket handkerchief
1 large white cotton handkerchief with red and white bird’s eye border
2 unbleached calico pockets, tape strings
1 blue stripe bed ticking pocket
Brown ribbed knee stockings, darned with white cotton
Possessions
2 small blue bags made of bed ticking
2 short black clay pipes
1 tin box containing tea
1 tin box containing sugar
1 tin matchbox, empty
12 pieces white rag
1 piece course linen, white
1 piece of blue and white shirting, 3 cornered
1 piece red flannel with pins and needles
6 pieces soap
1 small tooth comb
1 white handle table knife
1 metal spoon
1 red leather cigarette case with white metal fittings
1 ball hemp
1 piece of old white apron with repair
Several buttons and a thimble
Mustard tin containing two pawn tickets, One in the name of Emily Burrell, 52 White’s Row, dated August 31, 9d for a man’s flannel shirt. The other is in the name of Jane Kelly of 6 Dorset Street and dated September 28, 2S for a pair of men’s boots. Both addresses are false.
Printed handbill
Portion of a pair of spectacles
1 red mitten
History:
Her father was George Eddowes, a tin plate worker working or apprenticed at the Old Hall Works in Wolverhampton. Her mother is Catherine (nee Evans). She has two sisters, Elizabeth (Eddowes) Fisher and Eliza (Eddowes) Gold. She also has an uncle named William Eddowes.
One contemporary newspaper report gives her history as follows:
”Her father and his brother William left their jobs as tinplate workers in Wolverhampton during the tinmen’s strike, about 1848. They and their families walked to London. In London they eventually found employment. George and his family stayed, while William took his family back to Wolverhampton and resumed work at Old Hall Works. In the early 1860s Catherine returned to Wolverhampton to visit her family. Her relatives recalled the visit and described her ”as very good looking and jolly sort of girl.”
Catherine is educated at St. John’s Charity School, Potter’s Field, Tooley Street until her mother dies in 1855, when most of her siblings entered Bermondsey Workhouse and Industrial School.
Her education continues when she returns to the care of her aunt in Bison Street, Wolverhampton. She attends Dowgate Charity School. By 1861-1863 she leaves home with Thomas Conway.
The Wolverhampton paper summarizes her history somewhat differently:
George Eddowes completes his apprenticeship at Old Hall Works and marries Catherine Evans, a cook at the local hostelry. The two go to London in search of their fortunes. While there, George fathers 12 children. His wife, Catherine, dies in 1851 and George a few months later. Catherine is returned to Wolverhampton into the care of an aunt who lived in Bison Street. This may be the aunt who, according to an article in the January 1995 Black Country Bugle, made a gift of a miniature portrait to Catherine which became the basis for the portrait which appears in the Penny Illustrated Paper at the time of her death.
At the age of 21, Catherine is still living with her aunt but becomes involved with Thomas Conway, an older pensioner from the 18the Royal Irish. Conway enlisted and drew his pension under the name Thomas Quinn. The couple went to Birmingham and other towns making a living selling cheap books of lives written by the pensioner. Again, according to the article in the January 1995 Black Country Bugle, they also specialized in the production of gallows ballads. On one occasion she hawked such a ballad at the execution of her cousin, Christopher Robinson, hanged at Strafford in January 1866.
In the course of their travels they returned to Wolverhampton where Catherine gave birth to a child. They return to London but Kate tries to return to her aunt’s house after ”running away from the pensioner.” Her aunt refused her admittance and Kate took refuge in a lodging house on Bison Street.
There is no evidence to suggest that she and Conway were ever married. As a couple they had three children. Annie, born 1865, George, born around 1868 and another son born around 1875.
Annie married a lampblack packer named Louis Phillips. At the time of her mother’s death she was living at 12 Dilston Grove, Southwark Park Road. Two years earlier Kate had nursed her daughter through her confinement, but Kate’s over drinking and appeals for money had forced mother and daughter to part on bad terms. At that time Annie had been living on King Street but soon moved and left her mother no forwarding address. Annie says at the inquest into Kate’s death that she hadn’t seen her mother in 25 months when she had paid her to act as her nurse. She had not seen her father and brothers for 18 months previously since they had stopped living with her.
The entire family withheld their address from Kate. Annie says that her parents had parted on bad terms due to Kate’s drinking seven or eight years ago. She says that her father was a teetotaler but that he was on bad terms with the family when he moved out of Annie’s. Annie also states that Conway knew about the next man Kate takes up with, John Kelly.
Kate’s sister, Elizabeth Fisher, gives an entirely different story. ”My sister left Conway because he treated her badly. He did not drink regularly, but when he drew his pension they went out together, and it generally ended with his beating her.”
Whichever is the case, Conway and Eddowes split in 1880 with Kate taking Annie and Conway the boys.
In 1881 Catherine moved to Cooney’s lodging house, 55 Flower and Dean Street and met John Kelly. Kelly jobbed around the markets but had been more or less regularly employed by a fruit salesman named Lander. He is described as quiet and inoffensive with fine features and sharp and intelligent eyes. He was also a sick man suffering from a kidney complaint and a bad cough.
Somewhere in this period Catherine’s daughter Annie marries Louis Phillips and begins to move around Bermondsey and Southwark to avoid her mother’s scrounging.
Frederick William Wilkinson, deputy at Cooney’s lodging house says Catherine ”was not often in drink and was a very jolly woman, often singing.” She was generally in the lodging house for the night between 9 and 10 PM. He says she wasn’t in the habit of walking the streets and he had never heard of or seen her being intimate with anyone other than Kelly. Kelly himself claimed no knowledge of her ever walking the streets. He says that she sometimes drank to excess but wasn’t in the habit. Another sister, Eliza Gold, said that Catherine was of sober habits.
Every year, during the season, Kelly and Eddowes went hop picking. In 1888 they went to Hunton near Maidstone in Kent. ”We didn’t get along too well and started to hoof it home,” Kelly says, ”We came along in company with another man and woman who had worked in the same fields, but who parted from us to go to Cheltenham when we turned off towards London. The woman said to Kate, ’I’ve got a pawn ticket for a flannel shirt. I wish you’d take it since you’re going up to town. It is only for 2d, and it may fit your old man.’ So Kate took it and we trudged along… We did not have money enough to keep us going till we got to town, but we did get there, and came straight to this house (55 Flower and Dean). Luck was dead against us… we were both done up for cash.”
They reached London on Friday, September 28. John managed to earn 6d. Kate took 2d and told Kelly to take the 4d and get a bed at Cooney’s. She said she would get a bed at the casual ward in Shoe Lane.
The superintendent of the casual ward said that Kate was well known there, but that this was the first time she had been there for a long time. Eddowes explained that she had been hopping in the country but ”I have come back to earn the reward offered for the apprehension of the Whitechapel murderer. I think I know him.” The superintendent warned her to be careful he didn’t murder her. ”Oh, no fear of that.” she replied. (There is no cooberative evidence for this story and it should be treated with a great deal of skepticism.)
Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30:
At 8:00 AM on September 29 she returns to Cooney’s lodging house and sees Kelly. She has been turned out of the casual ward for some unspecified trouble. Kelly decided to pawn a pair of boots he had. He does this with a pawnbroker named Smith in Church Street. It was Kate who took them into the shop and pledged them under the name Jane Kelly. She receives 2/6 for the boots and she and Kelly take the money and buy some food, tea and sugar. Between 10 and 11 AM they were seen by Wilkinson eating breakfast in the lodging house kitchen.
By afternoon they were again without money. Eddowes says she is going to see if she can get some money from her daughter in Bermondsey. She parts with Kelly in Houndsditch at 2:00 PM, promising to be back no later than 4:00 PM. ”I never knew if she went to her daughter’s at all,” Kelly says at the inquest. ”I only wish she had, for we had lived together for some time and never had a quarrel.” Kate could not have seen her daughter who had moved since the last time Kate saw her.
8:00 PM: Catherine Eddowes is drunk and attracting a crowd by doing imitations of a fire engine in Aldgate High Street. After the fire engine imitations she lays down on the street to sleep. She is arrested by PC Louis Robinson outside 29 Aldgate High Street. She is very drunk and laying in a heap on the pavement. Robinson was told by the crowd that no one knew her. He pulled her up to her feet and leaned her against the building’s shutters but she slipped sideways. With the aid of PC George Simmons they brought her to Bishopsgate Police Station.
Arriving at the station she was asked her name and replied ”Nothing.” At 8:50 PM PC Robinson looked in on her in her cell. She was asleep and smelled of drink. At 9:45 PM PC George Hutt took charge of the prisoners. He visited the cell every half hour during the night.
12:15 AM: Kate is heard singing softly to herself in the cell. 12:30 AM: She calls out to ask when she will be released.”When you are capable of taking care of yourself.” Hutt replies. ”I can do that now.” Kate informs him.
12:55 AM: Sergeant Byfield instructs PC Hutt to see if any prisoners were fit to be released. Kate was found to be sober. She gives her name as Mary Ann Kelly, and her address as 6 Fashion Street. Kate is released.
She leaves the station at 1:00 AM.
”What time is it?” she asks Hutt.
”Too late for you to get anything to drink.” he replies.
”I shall get a damn fine hiding when I get home.” She tells him.
Hutt replies, ” And serve you right, you had no right to get drunk.”
Hutt pushes open the swinging door of that station.
”This was missus,” he says, ”please pull it to.”
”All right'” Kate replies, ”Goodnight, old cock.”
She turned left out the doorway which took her in the opposite direction of what would have been the fastest way back to Flower and Dean Street. She appears to be heading back toward Aldgate High Street where she had gotten drunk. On going down Houndsditch she would have passed the entrance to Duke Street, at the end of which was Church Passage which led into Mitre Square.
It is estimated that it would have taken less than ten minutes to reach Mitre Square. This leaves a thirty minute gap from the time she leaves the police station to the time she is seen outside Mitre Square.
1:35 AM: Joseph Lawende, a commercial traveler in the cigarette trade, Joseph Hyam Levy, a butcher and Henry Harris, a furniture dealer leave the Imperial Club at 16-17 Duke Street. At the corner of Duke Street and Church Passage they see Eddowes and a man talking. She is standing facing the man with her hand on his chest, but not in a manner to suggest that she is resisting him. Lawende describes the man as 30 years old, 5 foot 7 inches tall, fair complexion and mustache with a medium build. He is wearing a pepper and salt colored jacket which fits loosely, gray cloth cap with a peak of the same color. He has a reddish handkerchief knotted around his neck. Over all he gives the appearance of being a sailor. Lawende will later identify Catherine Eddowes clothes as the same as those worn by the woman he saw that night.
The location of the body found in Mitre Square.
1:45 PM: PC Watkins discovers Eddowes body in Mitre Square.
Mitre Square is a small enclosed Square on the edge of the City. It is defined by Mitre Street, King Street (Creechurch Lane, today), Duke Street (Duke’s Place, Today), and Aldgate. Between King Street and Mitre Square lies St. James Place known then as the Orange Market. Between Duke Street and the Square was the Great Synagogue and Kearly and Tonge’s Warehouse. Another warehouse belonging to Kearly and Tonge formed the northwest side of the square along with Police Constable Pearse’s house. Between Aldgate and the Square stands the Sir John Cass School.
Access to Mitre Square was by a broad, lighted opening from Mitre Street, Church Passage, a narrow, covered opening from Duke Street, south of the Synagogue or another narrow covered entry from St. James Place. On the right of the broad entry coming of Mitre Street are three unoccupied cottages forming a blind corner with a high fence sealing off the yard between the school and the square. The body lay in the square in front of the empty cottages.
Post-mortem
Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown, London police surgeon called in at the murder, arrived at Mitre Square around 2:00 AM. His report is as follows.
”The body was on its back, the head turned to left shoulder. The arms by the side of the body as if they had fallen there. Both palms upwards, the fingers slightly bent. The left leg extended in a line with the body. The abdomen was exposed. Right leg bent at the thigh and knee. The throat cut across.
The intestines were drawn out to a large extent and placed over the right shoulder — they were smeared over with some feculent matter. A piece of about two feet was quite detached from the body and placed between the body and the left arm, apparently by design. The lobe and auricle of the right ear were cut obliquely through.
Contemporary sketch of Catherine Eddowes’ body in situ.
There was a quantity of clotted blood on the pavement on the left side of the neck round the shoulder and upper part of arm, and fluid blood-coloured serum which had flowed under the neck to the right shoulder, the pavement sloping in that direction.
Body was quite warm. No death stiffening had taken place. She must have been dead most likely within the half hour. We looked for superficial bruises and saw none. No blood on the skin of the abdomen or secretion of any kind on the thighs. No spurting of blood on the bricks or pavement around. No marks of blood below the middle of the body. Several buttons were found in the clotted blood after the body was removed. There was no blood on the front of the clothes. There were no traces of recent connexion.
When the body arrived at Golden Lane, some of the blood was dispersed through the removal of the body to the mortuary. The clothes were taken off carefully from the body. A piece of deceased’s ear dropped from the clothing.
I made a post mortem examination at half past two on Sunday afternoon. Rigor mortis was well marked; body not quite cold. Green discoloration over the abdomen.
After washing the left hand carefully, a bruise the size of a sixpence, recent and red, was discovered on the back of the left hand between the thumb and first finger. A few small bruises on right shin of older date. The hands and arms were bronzed. No bruises on the scalp, the back of the body, or the elbows.
Mortuary photograph of Catherine Eddowes.
The face was very much mutilated. There was a cut about a quarter of an inch through the lower left eyelid, dividing the structures completely through. The upper eyelid on that side, there was a scratch through the skin on the left upper eyelid, near to the angle of the nose. The right eyelid was cut through to about half an inch.
There was a deep cut over the bridge of the nose, extending from the left border of the nasal bone down near the angle of the jaw on the right side of the cheek. This cut went into the bone and divided all the structures of the cheek except the mucuous membrane of the mouth.
The tip of the nose was quite detached by an oblique cut from the bottom of the nasal bone to where the wings of the nose join on to the face. A cut from this divided the upper lip and extended through the substance of the gum over the right upper lateral incisor tooth.
About half an inch from the top of the nose was another oblique cut. There was a cut on the right angle of the mouth as if the cut of a point of a knife. The cut extended an inch and a half, parallel with the lower lip.
There was on each side of cheek a cut which peeled up the skin, forming a triangular flap about an inch and a half. On the left cheek there were two abrasions of the epithelium under the left ear.
The throat was cut across to the extent of about six or seven inches. A superficial cut commenced about an inch and a half below the lobe below, and about two and a half inches behind the left ear, and extended across the throat to about three inches below the lobe of the right ear.
The big muscle across the throat was divided through on the left side. The large vessels on the left side of the neck were severed. The larynx was severed below the vocal chord. All the deep structures were severed to the bone, the knife marking intervertebral cartilages. The sheath of the vessels on the right side was just opened.
The cartoid artery had a fine hole opening, the internal jugular vein was opened about an inch and a half — not divided. The blood vessels contained clot. All these injuries were performed by a sharp instrument like a knife, and pointed.
The cause of death was hemorrhage from the left common cartoid artery. The death was immediate and the mutilations were inflicted after death.
Mortuary photograph of Catherine Eddowes
We examined the abdomen. The front walls were laid open from the breast bones to the pubes. The cut commenced opposite the enciform cartilage. The incision went upwards, not penetrating the skin that was over the sternum. It then divided the enciform cartilage. The knife must have cut obliquely at the expense of that cartilage.
Behind this, the liver was stabbed as if by the point of a sharp instrument. Below this was another incision into the liver of about two and a half inches, and below this the left lobe of the liver was slit through by a vertical cut. Two cuts were shewn by a jagging of the skin on the left side.
The abdominal walls were divided in the middle line to within a quarter of an inch of the navel. The cut then took a horizontal course for two inches and a half towards the right side. It then divided round the navel on the left side, and made a parallel incision to the former horizontal incision, leaving the navel on a tongue of skin. Attached to the navel was two and a half inches of the lower part of the rectus muscle on the left side of the abdomen. The incision then took an oblique direction to the right and was shelving. The incision went down the right side of the vagina and rectum for half an inch behind the rectum.
There was a stab of about an inch on the left groin. This was done by a pointed instrument. Below this was a cut of three inches going through all tissues making a wound of the peritoneum about the same extent.
An inch below the crease of the thigh was a cut extending from the anterior spine of the ilium obliquely down the inner side of the left thigh and separating the left labium, forming a flap of skin up to the groin. The left rectus muscle was not detached.
There was a flap of skin formed by the right thigh, attaching the right labium, and extending up to the spine of the ilium. The muscles on the right side inserted into the frontal ligaments were cut through.
The skin was retracted through the whole of the cut through the abdomen, but the vessels were not clotted. Nor had there been any appreciable bleeding from the vessels. I draw the conclusion that the act was made after death, and there would not have been much blood on the murderer. The cut was made by someone on the right side of the body, kneeling below the middle of the body.
I removed the content of the stomach and placed it in a jar for further examination. There seemed very little in it in the way of food or fluid, but from the cut end partly digested farinaceous food escaped.
The intestines had been detached to a large extent from the mesentery. About two feet of the colon was cut away. The signoid flexure was invaginated into the rectum very tightly.
Right kidney was pale, bloodless with slight congestion of the base of the pyramids.
Police sketch showing the wounds of Catherine Eddowes.
There was a cut from the upper part of the slit on the under surface of the liver to the left side, and another cut at right angles to this, which were about an inch and a half deep and two and a half inches long. Liver itself was healthy.
The gall bladder contained bile. The pancreas was cut, but not through, on the left side of the spinal column. Three and a half inches of the lower border of the spleen by half an inch was attached only to the peritoneum.
The peritoneal lining was cut through on the left side and the left kidney carefully taken out and removed. The left renal artery was cut through. I would say that someone who knew the position of the kidney must have done it.
The lining membrane over the uterus was cut through. The womb was cut through horizontally, leaving a stump of three quarters of an inch. The rest of the womb had been taken away with some of the ligaments. The vagina and cervix of the womb was uninjured.
The bladder was healthy and uninjured, and contained three or four ounces of water. There was a tongue-like cut through the anterior wall of the abdominal aorta. The other organs were healthy. There were no indications of connexion.
I believe the wound in the throat was first inflicted. I believe she must have been lying on the ground.
The wounds on the face and abdomen prove that they were inflicted by a sharp, pointed knife, and that in the abdomen by one six inches or longer.
I believe the perpetrator of the act must have had considerable knowledge of the position of the organs in the abdominal cavity and the way of removing them. It required a great deal of medical knowledge to have removed the kidney and to know where it was placed. The parts removed would be of no use for any professional purpose.
I think the perpetrator of this act had sufficient time, or he would not have nicked the lower eyelids. It would take at least five minutes.
I cannot assign any reason for the parts being taken away. I feel sure that there was no struggle, and believe it was the act of one person.
The throat had been so instantly severed that no noise could have been emitted. I should not expect much blood to have been found on the person who had inflicted these wounds. The wounds could not have been self-inflicted.
My attention was called to the apron, particularly the corner of the apron with a string attached. The blood spots were of recent origin. I have seen the portion of an apron produced by Dr. Phillips and stated to have been found in Goulston Street. It is impossible to say that it is human blood on the apron. I fitted the piece of apron, which had a new piece of material on it (which had evidently been sewn on to the piece I have), the seams of the borders of the two actually corresponding. Some blood and apparently faecal matter was found on the portion that was found in Goulston Street.