Unidentified Serial Killer in London, England in 1888.
The murders typically involved female prostitutes who lived and worked largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district.
Jack would cut his victim's throats and then mutilate the abdominal genital-area and face and remove internal organs.
He had some anatomical or surgical knowledge.
It is still unclear how many murders Jack the Ripper committed.
Letters were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard from a writer or writers purporting to be the murderer.
The name "Jack the Ripper" originated in a letter written by someone claiming to be the murderer that was sent out in the media.
The "From Hell" letter received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee came with half of a preserved human kidney, reportedly taken from one of the victims.
There were eleven separate murders, stretching from April 3, 1888 to February 13, 1891.
Police called them "The Whitechapel Murders"
There are a basic five, "The Canonical Five", that people think he probably did kill.
The five victims were:
Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
White Chapel Murder Timeline
April 3, 1888, Tuesday, Early Morning-
Emma Elizabeth Smith was robbed and sexually assaulted on Osborn Street.
She said it was a gang.
April 4, 1888-
Emma died the next day at the hospital.
August 7, 1888 Tuesday 2:30 a.m.-
Martha Tabram's body was found, stabbed 39 times, on George Street.
#1 APPRIL 1, 1888, Friday, 3:40 a.m.-
Mary Nichols' body was discovered on Buck's Row (now Durward Street).
The throat was severed by two cuts, and the lower part of the abdomen was partly ripped open by a deep, jagged wound.
Several other incisions on the abdomen were caused by the same knife.
#2 SEPTEMBER 8, 1888, Saturday, 5:30a.m.-
Annie Chapman is seen with a dark-haired man of "shabby-genteel" appearance.
6a.m.- Her body was discovered near a doorway in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields.
Her throat was severed by two cuts, her abdomen was slashed entirely open, and it was later discovered that the uterus had been removed.
#3 SEPTEMBER 30, 1888, Sunday, 1 a.m.-
Elizabeth Stride's body was found in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (now Henriques Street).
Cause of death was one clear-cut incision which severed the main artery on the left side of the neck.
Absence of mutilations to the abdomen.
Witnesses saw her with a man that night, but give differing descriptions.
#4 Sunday 1:45a.m.-
Catherine Eddowes' body was found in Mitre Square in the City of London.
Her throat was severed and the abdomen was ripped open by a long, deep, jagged wound.
Her left kidney and the major part of the uterus had been removed.
Joseph Lawende passed through the square with two friends shortly before the murder.
He described seeing a fair-haired man of shabby appearance with a woman who may have been Eddowes.
Part of Catherine's bloodied apron was found at the entrance to a tenement in Goulston Street.
Some writing on the wall above the apron piece seemed to implicate a Jew or Jews.
It was unclear whether the graffiti was written by the murderer as he dropped the apron piece, or incidental.
#5 NOVEMBER 9, 1888, Friday, 10:45 a.m.-
Mary Kelly's mutilated and disemboweled body was discovered lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller's Court, off Dorset Street, Spitalfields.
Her throat had been severed down to the spine, and the abdomen almost emptied of its organs.
Her heart was missing.
December 20, 1888, Thursday-
Rose Mylett (also known as Catherine Millett and Lizzie Davis) was found strangled in Clarke's Yard, off Poplar High Street.
July 17, 1889, Wednesday, 12:40 a.m.-
Alice McKenzie's body was found in Castle Alley, off Whitechapel High Street.
September 10, 1889, Tuesday, 5:15 a.m.-
A woman's torso was found under a railway arch in Pinchin Street, Whitechapel.
February 13th 1889, 2:15 a.m.-
Frances Coles' body is found beneath a railway arch between Swallow-gardens and Orman-street.
Other Alleged Victims
December 26, 1887-
"Fairy Fay" was a nickname given to a victim allegedly found "after a state had been thrust through her abdomin" , but there were no recorded murders in Whitechapel at or around Christmas 1887.
February 25, 1888-
Annie Millwood was admitted to Whitechapel workhouse infirmary with stab wounds in the legs and lower torso.
March 31, 1888-
Annie died from natural causes after she was discharged.
March 18,1888-
Ada Wilson reportedly survived being stabbed twice in the neck.
November 21, 188-
Annie Farmer lived at the same lodging house as Martha Tabram.
She had a superficial cut on her throat, but it was possibly self-inflicted.
The Whitehall Mystery
October 2, 1888-
The discovery of a headless torso of a woman in the basement of the new Metropolitan Police headquarters being built in Whitehall.
An arm belonging to the body was previously discovered floating in the river Thames near Pimlico, and one of the legs was subsequently discovered buried near where the torso was found.
The mutilations were similar to those in the Pinchin Street case, where the legs and head were severed but not the arms.
The Investigation A large team of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries throughout Whitechapel.
More than 2,000 people were interviewed, "upwards of 300" people were investigated, and 80 people were detained.
Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, of the Metropolitan Police headed the initial investigation.
After the murder of Nichols, Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore, and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist.
Detective Inspector James McWilliam, the City of London Police got involved after Eddowes murder.
A group of volunteer citizens in London's East End called the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee patrolled the streets looking for suspicious characters.
The alibis were investigated of local butchers and slaughterers.
Some people thought that the pattern of the murders indicated that the culprit was a butcher or cattle drover on one of the cattle boats that plied between London and mainland Europe.
Whitechapel was close to the London Docks.
Usually such boats docked on Thursday or Friday and departed on Saturday or Sunday.
Criminal Profile
20-35 years
5"5- 5"7
Stocky, with a fair complexion and a mustache.
Seen wearing an overcoat and a dark hat.
"Perfectly sane, frighteningly normal, and yet capable of extraordinary cruelty".
Police Surgeon, Thomas Bond was asked to give his opinion on the extent of the murderer's surgical skill and knowledge. His assessment was based on his own examination of the most extensively mutilated victim and the post mortem notes from the four previous canonical murders.
Thomas wrote:
" All five murders no doubt were all committed by the same hand. In the first four the throats appear to have been cut from left to right, in the last case owning to the extensive mutilation it is impossible to say in what direction the fatal cut was made, but arterial blood was found on the wall in splashes close to where the woman's head must have been lying.
All the circumstances surrounding the murders lead me to form the opinion that the women must have been lying down when murdered and in every case the throat was first cut."
He was strongly opposed to the idea that the murderer possessed any kind of scientific or anatomical knowledge, or even" the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer".
His opinion was, the killer must have been a man of solitary habits, subject to "periodical attacks of homicidal and erotic mania". with the character of the mutilations possibly indicating "satyriasis".
All that means that he thought that the killer had very strong sexual desires that built up and got out of control from time to time.
Bond also stated
"The homicidal impulse may have developed vengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that religious mania may have been the original disease, but i do not think that either hypothesis is likely".
Psychologists suppose that the penetration of the victims with a knife and "leaving them on display in sexually degrading positions with the wounds exposed" indicates that the perpetrator derived sexual pleasure from the attacks.
Seweryn Kłosowski(George Chapman)
14 December 1865 – 7 April 1903
Polish serial killer known as the Borough Poisoner.
Moved as an adult to England, where he committed his crimes.
Convicted and executed after poisoning three women.
Joseph Barnett
c. 1858–1927
A former fish porter.
Victim Mary Kelly's lover from 8 April 1887 to 30 October 1888.
Some authors suggest he killed Kelly only, and mutilated the body to make it look like a Ripper murder,
Other acquaintances of Kelly's put forward as her murderer include her landlord John McCarthy and her former boyfriend Joseph Fleming.
31 December 1816 – 29 January 1890
19th-century English physician to Queen Victoria.
Governor of Guy's Hospital, Fullerian Professor of Physiology and President of the Clinical Society.
Remembered for a number of significant contributions to medical science, including advancing the understanding of myxoedema, Bright's disease, paraplegia and anorexia nervosa (for which he first established the name).
Coachman John Netley has been named as his accomplice.
In his seventies at the time of the murders and had recently suffered a stroke.
James Kelly
20 April 1860 – 17 September 1929
Murdered his wife in 1883 by stabbing her in the neck.
Deemed insane.
Committed to the Broadmoor Asylum, from which he later escaped in early 1888, using a key he made himself.
In 1927, almost forty years later, he unexpectedly turned himself in to officials at the Broadmoor Asylum.
He died two years later, presumably of natural causes.
Retired New York Police Department cold-case detective Ed Norris examined the Jack the Ripper case for a Discovery Channel program.
Norris reported Kelly's Broadmoor Asylum file from before his escape.
His eventual return has never been opened since 1927 until Norris was given special permission for access to it, and that the file is the perfect profile match for Jack the Ripper.
Charles Allen Lechmere(Charles Cross)
1849–1920
Meat cart driver for the Pickfords company.
Conventionally regarded as an innocent witness who discovered the body of Polly Nichols.
Lechmere lied to police, claiming that he had been with the body for a few minutes.
Research on his route to work from his home demonstrated that he must have been with her for about nine minutes.
He gave evidence under the name "Charles Cross". at the inquest.
His home address, visits to family, and route to work link him to the times and places of murders.
He passed three streets where Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols, and Annie Chapman were murdered roughly at the same time the murders are estimated to have occurred.
Murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes occurred on his only night off from work.
Stride was killed near Lechmere's mother's house.
The direct route from Stride's murder scene to the location of Eddowes's murder followed a path to Lechmere's route to work that he had used for twenty years.
Mary Kelly was also murdered on his route to work.
The time frame in which she is estimated to have been killed matches his route. He had numerous stepfathers.
He grew up in a series of different homes.
Some believe that Lechmere may have been responsible for several other murders in addition to those of the canonical five victims and Martha Tabram.
Jacob Levy
1856 – 29 July 1891
Born in Aldgate.
Followed in his father’s trade as a butcher.
1888 he was living in Middlesex Street with his wife and children, right in the heart of the ripper territory, and close to where Catherine Eddowes was murdered.
Levy contracted syphilis from a prostitute.
James Maybrick
Son of an engraver.
Liverpool cotton merchant.
His wife Florence was convicted of poisoning him with arsenic.
A diary purportedly by Maybrick,contains a confession to the murders.
The diary was discredited by historians who pointed to factual errors in relation to some of the crimes.
Document experts pronounced the diary a fake.
31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942
German-born artist of British and Danish ancestry.
He had a fascination with the Ripper murders, going so far as to stay in a room that was rumoured to have once had Jack the Ripper himself as a lodger.
Depicted similar scenes in many of his paintings.
Strong evidence shows he was in France at the time of most of the Ripper murders.
Joseph Silver(Joseph Lis)("King of Pimps")
A Polish Jew.
Terrorized women in Johannesburg, South Africa during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
He was the son of a tailor and a petty criminal.
No evidence that Silver was ever in London during the time of the murders.
Francis Thompson
16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907
English poet, mystic and opium addict.
His dad was a doctor.
Entered medical school at the age of 18.
Left home at 26 and lived on the streets.
Between 1885 and 1888 he spent some time homeless in the Docks area south of Whitechapel.
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale
8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892
Grandson of Queen Victoria.
Suspicion that Clarence had committed the murders after being driven mad by syphilis.
Some claim that he secretly married and had a daughter with a Catholic shop assistant, and that Queen Victoria, British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, his Freemason friends, and the Metropolitan Police conspired to murder anyone aware of Albert Victor's supposed child.
Sir John Williams, 1st Baronet, of the City of London
Obstetrician to Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Beatrice.
Claim that the victims knew the doctor personally.
That they were killed and mutilated in an attempt to research the causes of infertility,
That a badly blunted surgical knife, which belonged to him, was the murder weapon.
Some people suspected his wife Lizzie.
That she was unable to have children and, in an unhinged state, took revenge on those who could by killing them.
Other theories.
Other named suspects include Swiss butcher Jacob Isenschmid, German hairdresser Charles Ludwig, , Swedish tramp Nikaner Benelius, and social reformer Thomas Barnardo, who claimed he had met one of the victims (Elizabeth Stride) shortly before her murder.
L. Forbes Winslow, whose suspected a religious maniac, G. Wentworth Bell Smith.
"Dr. Stanley",cult leader Nicolai Vasiliev, Norwegian sailor "Fogelma",and Russian needlewoman Olga Tchkersoff, might be fake names.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has theories involving a female murderer dubbed "Jill the Ripper".
Supporters of this theory believe that the murderer worked, or posed, as a midwife, who could be seen with bloody clothes without attracting suspicion and would be more easily trusted by the victims than a man.
Possible female suspects were convicted murderers Mary Pearceyand Constance Kent, and Theosophist Helena Blavatsky.
Lizzie Halliday, a mentally ill Irish immigrant suspected of leaving a string of dead husbands in her wake before being arrested in upper New York State for the murder of two women and her last husband.
She was likewise accused of the Whitechapel murders, of which she spoke "constantly".
Patricia Cornwell, believe the killer sent letters to the police and press.
Jeff Mudgett, a descendant of notorious American serial killer H. H. Holmes, used these handwriting samples in an attempt to link Holmes to the Ripper case.
Several people suggest that "Jack the Ripper" was actually more than one killer
Stephen Knight thought that the murders were a conspiracy involving multiple miscreants.
Others have said that each murder was committed by unconnected individuals acting independently of each other.
Author Frank Pearse, claims to have access to a written confession, argues that the murders were performed by a man named John Pavitt Sawyer (who held multiple similarities, such as location and profession, to alternate suspect George Chapman), as part of an occult Freemason initiation.
Police believe that Jack the Ripper was a local resident of Whitechapel.
That his ability to disappear immediately after the killings suggests that he knew the Whitechapel neighborhood intimatly, including its back alleys and hiding places.
The population of Whitechapel was transient, impoverished and often used aliases.
The lives of many of its residents were little recorded.
Canonical Five
Mary Ann "Polly"Nichols(Walker)
August 26, 1845 – August 31, 1888
Born to locksmith Edward Walker and his wife Caroline,in Dean Street in London.
Married William Nichols, a printer's machinist, on January 16, 1864.
Between 1866 and 1879, the couple had five children.
Their marriage broke up in 1880 or 1881.
Her father accused William of leaving her after he had an affair with the nurse who had helped the birth of their final child.
Mary claimed to have proof that their marriage had continued for at least three years after the date alleged for the affair.
He said his wife deserted him to be a prostite.
Police reports say they separated because she was a drunk.
William Nichols paid her an allowance every week until 1882, when he heard she became a prostitute and not required to support her if she was earning money through illicit means.
Mary lived mostly in boarding houses or work houses, living off charitable handouts and her meager earnings as a prostitute.
She lived with her father for a year or more but left after a quarrel.
Lived with a blacksmith named Drew in Walworth.
Early 1888, she was placed in the Lambeth workhouse after being discovered sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square.
Left the work house in may to take a job as a domestic servant in Wandsworth.
She left two months later, stealing clothing.
Nichols was living in a Whitechapel common lodging house in Spitalfields, her roomate was Emily"Nelly" Holland.
Last Hours
August 30, 11 a.m. - last seen walking White Chapel Road.
August 31, 12:30 a.m.- seen leaving a pub in Brick Lane, Spitalfields.
1:30 a.m., turned out of 18 Thrawl Street for not having money.
Last recorded words that she would soon earn the money on the street.
2:30 a.m.- last seen alive standing at the corner of Osborn Street and Whitechapel Road.
Claimed she had earned enough money to pay for her bed three times that evening.
Spent the money one alcohol.
3:40 a.m.Meat cart driver named Charles Allen Lechmere (claimed to have discovered Mary Ann Nichols lying on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, Whitechapel, about 150 yards from the London Hospital and 100 yards from Blackwall Buildings.
Her skirt was raised.
Passing cart driver on his way to work, Robert Paul, approached and saw Cross kneeling over the body.
Lechmere expressed his opinion that she was dead.
Paul thought she might simply be unconscious.
They pulled her skirt down to cover her lower body, and went in search of a policeman.
Cross informed the constable Jonas Mizan: "She looks to me to be either dead or drunk, but for my part, i believe she's dead".
PC John Neale came from the opposite direction on his beat.
Then PC John Thain, arrived to the scene.
Dr Henry Llewellyn, arrived at 4:00 a.m. and decided she had been dead for about 30 minutes.
Her throat had been slit twice from left to right.
Her abdomen mutilated with one deep jagged wound, several incisions across the abdomen, and three or four similar cuts on the right side caused by the same knife,
At least 6–8 inches (15–20 cm) long, used violently and downwards.
Small amount of blood at the crime scene, "about enough to fill two large wine glasses, or half a pint at most".
Speculation she wasn't killed where she was found.
The blood from her wounds had soaked into her clothes and hair, and there was little doubt that she had been killed at the crime scene by a swift slash to the throat.
Death would have been instantaneous.
The abdominal injuries, would have taken less than five minutes to perform and were made by the murderer after she was dead.
When the body was lifted a "mass of congealed blood", lay beneath the body.
She was 43.
The coroner inquest, reported in The Times:
"Five of the teeth were missing, and there was a slight laceration of the tongue. There was a bruise running along the lower part of the jaw on the right side of the face. That might have been caused by a blow from a fist or pressure from a thumb. There was a circular bruise on the left side of the face which also might have been inflicted by the pressure of the fingers. On the left side of the neck, about 1in. below the jaw, there was an incision about 4in. in length, and ran from a point immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below, and commencing about 1in. in front of it, was a circular incision, which terminated at a point about 3in. below the right jaw. That incision completely severed all the tissues down to the vertebrae. The large vessels of the neck on both sides were severed. The incision was about 8in. in length. The cuts must have been caused by a long-bladed knife, moderately sharp, and used with great violence.
No blood was found on the breast, either of the body or the clothes. There were no injuries about the body until just about the lower part of the abdomen. Two or three inches from the left side was a wound running in a jagged manner. The wound was a very deep one, and the tissues were cut through. There were several incisions running across the abdomen. There were three or four similar cuts running downwards, on the right side, all of which had been caused by a knife which had been used violently and downwards. The injuries were from left to right and might have been done by a left-handed person. All the injuries had been caused by the same instrument"
The inquest into Nichols' death had concluded, another woman, Annie Chapman, had been murdered, it was noted "The similarity of the injuries in the two cases is considerable."
The police investigations into the murders of Chapman and Nichols were merged.
Annie Chapman(Eliza Ann Smith)
c. 1841 – 8 September 1888
Daughter of George Smith of the 2nd Regiment Life Guards.
May 1,1869- married her maternal relative John Chapman, a coachman.
Lived in West London.
Had three children.
First born died of meningitis at 12.
1881- moved to Windsor, Berkshire.
Chapman and her husband took to heavy drinking and separated in 1884.
1886- moved to Whitechapel where she lived with a man who made wire sieves.
She received a weekly allowance from her husband.
At the end of 1886 the payments stopped.
Her husband had died of alcohol-related causes.
1888- living in common lodging houses in Whitechapel, occasionally in the company of Edward "the Pensioner" Stanley, a bricklayer's laborer.
Earned income from crochet work, selling flowers and casual prostitution.
Before her death she was feeling ill after being bruised in a fight with Eliza Cooper.
They were rivals for a hawker, Harry.
Last Hours
He was described as over 40, dark hair, and of foreign, "shabby-genteel" appearance.
September 8, 1888, 6 a.m.- her body was discovered by a
1:45 a.m.- Morning of her death, Chapman found herself without money for her lodging and went out to earn some on the street.
5:30 a.m.- seen talking to a man just beyond the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields resident of number 29, market porter John Davis.
She was lying on the ground near a doorway in the back yard.
Son of a resident of the house, had been in the back yard shortly before 5 a.m. to trim a loose piece of leather from his boot.
Carpenter Albert Cadosch had entered the neighboring yard at 27 Hanbury Street at about 5:30 a.m.
Both claim to have heard voices in the yard followed by the sound of something falling against the fence.
Two pills, which she had for a lung condition, part of a torn envelope, a piece of muslin(light weight cotton cloth), and a comb were recovered from the yard.
Brass rings she was wearing earlier were not recovered.
Two farthings were found in the yard.
Medical students polished farthings so they could be passed off as sovereigns to unsuspecting prostitutes.
Nichols had also suffered a slash to the throat and abdominal wounds, and a blade of similar size and design had been used.
May have been killed as late as 5:30 a.m., in the enclosed back yard of a house occupied by sixteen people, none of whom had seen or heard anything at the time of the murder.
The passage through the house to the back-yard was unlocked.
frequented by the residents at all hours of the day.
Front door was wide open when the body was discovered.
Dr George Bagster Phillips, the police surgeon, described the body as he saw it at 6:30 a.m. in the back yard of the house at 29 Hanbury Street:
"The left arm was placed across the left breast. The legs were drawn up, the feet resting on the ground, and the knees turned outwards. The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen. The front teeth were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were. The body was terribly mutilated ... the stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but was evidently commencing. He noticed that the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incision through the skin were jagged and reached right round the neck ... On the wooden paling between the yard in question and the next, smears of blood, corresponding to where the head of the deceased lay, were to be seen. These were about 14 inches from the ground, and immediately above the part where the blood from the neck lay. ...
The instrument used at the throat and abdomen was the same. It must have been a very sharp knife with a thin narrow blade, and must have been at least 6 to 8 inches in length, probably longer. He should say that the injuries could not have been inflicted by a bayonet or a sword bayonet. They could have been done by such an instrument as a medical man used for post-mortem purposes, but the ordinary surgical cases might not contain such an instrument. Those used by the slaughtermen, well ground down, might have caused them. He thought the knives used by those in the leather trade would not be long enough in the blade. There were indications of anatomical knowledge ... he should say that the deceased had been dead at least two hours, and probably more, when he first saw her; but it was right to mention that it was a fairly cool morning, and that the body would be more apt to cool rapidly from its having lost a great quantity of blood. There was no evidence ... of a struggle having taken place. He was positive the deceased entered the yard alive ...
A handkerchief was round the throat of the deceased when he saw it early in the morning. He should say it was not tied on after the throat was cut. "Her throat was cut from left to right.
She had been disemboweled.
Her intestines thrown out of her abdomen over each of her shoulders.
Part of her uterus was missing.
Protruding tongue and swollen face.
May have been asphyxiated with the handkerchief around her neck before her throat was cut.
No blood trail leading to the yard.
Killed where she was found.
She suffered from a long-standing lung disease.
Sober at time of death.
The murderer must have possessed anatomical knowledge to have sliced out the reproductive organs in a single movement with a blade about 6–8 inches long.
Her body was not examined extensively at the scene.
Her organ could have removed by mortuary staff,
who took advantage of bodies that had already been opened.
Possibly murdered deliberately to obtain the uterus, on the basis that an American had made inquiries at a London medical school for the purchase of such organs.
And author
Dr Phillips's estimate of the time of death (4:30 a.m. or before) contradicted the testimony of the witnesses Richardson, Long and Cadosch, which placed the murder later.
Her body could have cooled more quickly than normally expected.
Emma died the next day at the hospital.
August 7, 1888 Tuesday 2:30 a.m.-
Martha Tabram's body was found, stabbed 39 times, on George Street.
#1 APPRIL 1, 1888, Friday, 3:40 a.m.-
Mary Nichols' body was discovered on Buck's Row (now Durward Street).
The throat was severed by two cuts, and the lower part of the abdomen was partly ripped open by a deep, jagged wound.
Several other incisions on the abdomen were caused by the same knife.
#2 SEPTEMBER 8, 1888, Saturday, 5:30a.m.-
Annie Chapman is seen with a dark-haired man of "shabby-genteel" appearance.
6a.m.- Her body was discovered near a doorway in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields.
Her throat was severed by two cuts, her abdomen was slashed entirely open, and it was later discovered that the uterus had been removed.
#3 SEPTEMBER 30, 1888, Sunday, 1 a.m.-
Elizabeth Stride's body was found in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (now Henriques Street).
Cause of death was one clear-cut incision which severed the main artery on the left side of the neck.
Absence of mutilations to the abdomen.
Witnesses saw her with a man that night, but give differing descriptions.
#4 Sunday 1:45a.m.-
Catherine Eddowes' body was found in Mitre Square in the City of London.
Her throat was severed and the abdomen was ripped open by a long, deep, jagged wound.
Her left kidney and the major part of the uterus had been removed.
Joseph Lawende passed through the square with two friends shortly before the murder.
He described seeing a fair-haired man of shabby appearance with a woman who may have been Eddowes.
Part of Catherine's bloodied apron was found at the entrance to a tenement in Goulston Street.
Some writing on the wall above the apron piece seemed to implicate a Jew or Jews.
It was unclear whether the graffiti was written by the murderer as he dropped the apron piece, or incidental.
#5 NOVEMBER 9, 1888, Friday, 10:45 a.m.-
Mary Kelly's mutilated and disemboweled body was discovered lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller's Court, off Dorset Street, Spitalfields.
Her throat had been severed down to the spine, and the abdomen almost emptied of its organs.
Her heart was missing.
December 20, 1888, Thursday-
Rose Mylett (also known as Catherine Millett and Lizzie Davis) was found strangled in Clarke's Yard, off Poplar High Street.
July 17, 1889, Wednesday, 12:40 a.m.-
Alice McKenzie's body was found in Castle Alley, off Whitechapel High Street.
September 10, 1889, Tuesday, 5:15 a.m.-
A woman's torso was found under a railway arch in Pinchin Street, Whitechapel.
February 13th 1889, 2:15 a.m.-
Frances Coles' body is found beneath a railway arch between Swallow-gardens and Orman-street.
Other Alleged Victims
December 26, 1887-
"Fairy Fay" was a nickname given to a victim allegedly found "after a state had been thrust through her abdomin" , but there were no recorded murders in Whitechapel at or around Christmas 1887.
February 25, 1888-
Annie Millwood was admitted to Whitechapel workhouse infirmary with stab wounds in the legs and lower torso.
March 31, 1888-
Annie died from natural causes after she was discharged.
March 18,1888-
Ada Wilson reportedly survived being stabbed twice in the neck.
November 21, 188-
Annie Farmer lived at the same lodging house as Martha Tabram.
She had a superficial cut on her throat, but it was possibly self-inflicted.
The Whitehall Mystery
October 2, 1888-
The discovery of a headless torso of a woman in the basement of the new Metropolitan Police headquarters being built in Whitehall.
An arm belonging to the body was previously discovered floating in the river Thames near Pimlico, and one of the legs was subsequently discovered buried near where the torso was found.
The mutilations were similar to those in the Pinchin Street case, where the legs and head were severed but not the arms.
The Investigation A large team of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries throughout Whitechapel.
More than 2,000 people were interviewed, "upwards of 300" people were investigated, and 80 people were detained.
Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, of the Metropolitan Police headed the initial investigation.
After the murder of Nichols, Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore, and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist.
Detective Inspector James McWilliam, the City of London Police got involved after Eddowes murder.
A group of volunteer citizens in London's East End called the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee patrolled the streets looking for suspicious characters.
The alibis were investigated of local butchers and slaughterers.
Some people thought that the pattern of the murders indicated that the culprit was a butcher or cattle drover on one of the cattle boats that plied between London and mainland Europe.
Whitechapel was close to the London Docks.
Usually such boats docked on Thursday or Friday and departed on Saturday or Sunday.
Criminal Profile
20-35 years
5"5- 5"7
Stocky, with a fair complexion and a mustache.
Seen wearing an overcoat and a dark hat.
"Perfectly sane, frighteningly normal, and yet capable of extraordinary cruelty".
Police Surgeon, Thomas Bond was asked to give his opinion on the extent of the murderer's surgical skill and knowledge. His assessment was based on his own examination of the most extensively mutilated victim and the post mortem notes from the four previous canonical murders.
Thomas wrote:
" All five murders no doubt were all committed by the same hand. In the first four the throats appear to have been cut from left to right, in the last case owning to the extensive mutilation it is impossible to say in what direction the fatal cut was made, but arterial blood was found on the wall in splashes close to where the woman's head must have been lying.
All the circumstances surrounding the murders lead me to form the opinion that the women must have been lying down when murdered and in every case the throat was first cut."
He was strongly opposed to the idea that the murderer possessed any kind of scientific or anatomical knowledge, or even" the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer".
His opinion was, the killer must have been a man of solitary habits, subject to "periodical attacks of homicidal and erotic mania". with the character of the mutilations possibly indicating "satyriasis".
All that means that he thought that the killer had very strong sexual desires that built up and got out of control from time to time.
Bond also stated
"The homicidal impulse may have developed vengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that religious mania may have been the original disease, but i do not think that either hypothesis is likely".
Psychologists suppose that the penetration of the victims with a knife and "leaving them on display in sexually degrading positions with the wounds exposed" indicates that the perpetrator derived sexual pleasure from the attacks.
Suspects
Montague John Druitt
15 August 1857 – early December 1888
His dad was a surgeon, justice of the peace, a governor of the local school, and a regular worshipper at the local Anglican church, the Minster.
He lived at the biggest house in town, Westfield House.
Studied at Winchester College and the University of Oxford.
Assistant schoolmaster at a boarding school and pursued a parallel career in the law, qualifying as a barrister in 1885.
Played Cricket.
November 1888, he lost his post at the school.
One month later he committed suicide.
His body was discovered drowned in the River Thames.
His death roughly coincided with the end of the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper.
His dad was a surgeon, justice of the peace, a governor of the local school, and a regular worshipper at the local Anglican church, the Minster.
He lived at the biggest house in town, Westfield House.
Studied at Winchester College and the University of Oxford.
Assistant schoolmaster at a boarding school and pursued a parallel career in the law, qualifying as a barrister in 1885.
Played Cricket.
November 1888, he lost his post at the school.
One month later he committed suicide.
His body was discovered drowned in the River Thames.
His death roughly coincided with the end of the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper.
Seweryn Kłosowski(George Chapman)
Polish serial killer known as the Borough Poisoner.
Moved as an adult to England, where he committed his crimes.
Convicted and executed after poisoning three women.
Was apprenticed at age 14 to a senior surgeon.
Assisted in procedures such as the application of leeches for blood-letting.
Then enrolled on a course in practical surgery. Emigrated to London in 1888.
Had four mistresses he poisoned to death.
Often used to go out during the night for hours on end.
known to beat his common-law-wives and was prone to other violent behavior.
His description matched the man seen with Mary Jane Kelly.
Aaron Kosminski(Aron Mordke Kozminski)
Michael Ostrog
c. 1833–in or after 1904
Russian-born professional con man and thief.
Had once been a surgeon in the Russian Navy.
Prison records showing that Ostrog was jailed for petty offences in France during the Ripper murders.
Last mentioned alive in 1904; the date of his death is unknown.
John Pizer
c. 1850–1897
Polish Jew who worked as a bootmaker in Whitechapel.
Locals suspected that "Leather Apron"was the killer.
Had a prior conviction for a stabbing offence.
Committed a string of minor assaults on prostitutes.
Cleared of suspicion when it turned out that he had alibis for two of the murders.
James Thomas Sadler
Friend of Frances Coles.
At sea at the time of the first four "canonical" murders, and was released without charge.
"Was a man of ungovernable temper and entirely addicted drink and the company of the lowest prostitutes".
Francis Tumblety
c.1833 – 28 May 1903
Irish-born American who earned a small fortune posing as an "Italian Herbs" doctor.
Eccentric self-promoter.
Often in trouble with the law.
Age of 17 he was selling books, which were possibly pornographic, along the Erie Canal between Rochester and Buffalo.
Briefly employed as a cleaner at "Lispenard's Hospital" in Rochester.
By 1857 he was practicing medicine in Canada, before moving to New York and Washington, D.C.
Medicinal approach was based on herbal remedies over "poisons"mineral (mercury) or surgical techniques.
Connected to the death of one of his patients, but escaped prosecution.
In 1865, he was arrested for alleged complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
No connection was found and he was released without being charged
1881 he was arrested in New Orleans for pick pocketing.
Reserved a special hatred for prostitutes.
His friends said that he showed off a collection of "matrices" (wombs) from "every class of woman".
In England in 1888.
Temporarily resident in a boarding house in the Whitechapel district.
Arrested November, apparently for engaging in homosexuality, which was illegal at the time.
Awaiting trial, he fled to France and then to the United States.
The New York City Police said, "there is no proof of his complicity in Whitechapel murders, and crime for which he is under bond in London is not extraditable".
Died in St. Louis, Missouri of Heart Disease in 1903.
Assisted in procedures such as the application of leeches for blood-letting.
Then enrolled on a course in practical surgery. Emigrated to London in 1888.
Had four mistresses he poisoned to death.
Often used to go out during the night for hours on end.
known to beat his common-law-wives and was prone to other violent behavior.
His description matched the man seen with Mary Jane Kelly.
Aaron Kosminski(Aron Mordke Kozminski)
11 September 1865 – 24 March 1919
Jewish Polish emigrant
Worked in a hospital before coming to London.
His dad was a tailor.
Hairdresser in Whitechapelin the East End of London.
1891 threatened his sister with a knife and institutionalized in an insane asylum.
He had been ill since at least 1885.
Had auditory hallucinations, a paranoid fear of being fed by other people that drove him to pick up and eat food dropped as litter, and a refusal to wash or bathe.
By February 1919, he weighed just 96 pounds.
Died the following month.
In 2014, DNA analysis tenuously linked Kosminski with a shawl said to have belonged to victim Catherine Eddowes.
The inventor of genetic fingerprinting – dismissed the claims as unreliable.
c. 1833–in or after 1904
Russian-born professional con man and thief.
Had once been a surgeon in the Russian Navy.
Prison records showing that Ostrog was jailed for petty offences in France during the Ripper murders.
Last mentioned alive in 1904; the date of his death is unknown.
John Pizer
Polish Jew who worked as a bootmaker in Whitechapel.
Locals suspected that "Leather Apron"was the killer.
Had a prior conviction for a stabbing offence.
Committed a string of minor assaults on prostitutes.
Cleared of suspicion when it turned out that he had alibis for two of the murders.
James Thomas Sadler
Friend of Frances Coles.
At sea at the time of the first four "canonical" murders, and was released without charge.
"Was a man of ungovernable temper and entirely addicted drink and the company of the lowest prostitutes".
Francis Tumblety
Irish-born American who earned a small fortune posing as an "Italian Herbs" doctor.
Eccentric self-promoter.
Often in trouble with the law.
Age of 17 he was selling books, which were possibly pornographic, along the Erie Canal between Rochester and Buffalo.
Briefly employed as a cleaner at "Lispenard's Hospital" in Rochester.
By 1857 he was practicing medicine in Canada, before moving to New York and Washington, D.C.
Medicinal approach was based on herbal remedies over "poisons"mineral (mercury) or surgical techniques.
Connected to the death of one of his patients, but escaped prosecution.
In 1865, he was arrested for alleged complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
No connection was found and he was released without being charged
1881 he was arrested in New Orleans for pick pocketing.
Reserved a special hatred for prostitutes.
His friends said that he showed off a collection of "matrices" (wombs) from "every class of woman".
In England in 1888.
Temporarily resident in a boarding house in the Whitechapel district.
Arrested November, apparently for engaging in homosexuality, which was illegal at the time.
Awaiting trial, he fled to France and then to the United States.
The New York City Police said, "there is no proof of his complicity in Whitechapel murders, and crime for which he is under bond in London is not extraditable".
Died in St. Louis, Missouri of Heart Disease in 1903.
Joseph Barnett
A former fish porter.
Victim Mary Kelly's lover from 8 April 1887 to 30 October 1888.
Some authors suggest he killed Kelly only, and mutilated the body to make it look like a Ripper murder,
Other acquaintances of Kelly's put forward as her murderer include her landlord John McCarthy and her former boyfriend Joseph Fleming.
Lewis Carroll(pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
A 1996 book by Richard Wallace in which Wallace proposed a theory that British author Lewis Carroll, (1832–1898), and his colleague Thomas Vere Bayne (1829–1908) were responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders.
Theory was based primarily on a number of anagrams derived from passages in two of Carroll's works,"The Nursery "Alice" , an adaptation of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"for younger readers, and from the first volume of "Sylvie and Bruno".
He first published both works in 1889 and was probably still working on them during the period of the Ripper murders.
Wallace claimed that the books contained hidden but detailed descriptions of the murders.
Not many people take his seriously as a suspect.
David Cohen
1865–1889
Polish Jew whose incarceration at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum roughly coincided with the end of the murders.
Described as violently antisocial.
Speculated that Cohen's true identity was Nathan Kaminsky, a bootmaker living in Whitechapel who had been treated at one time for syphilis
Exhibited violent, destructive tendencies while at the asylum, and had to be restrained.
He died at the asylum in October 1889.
William Withey Gull(1st Baronet)
Theory was based primarily on a number of anagrams derived from passages in two of Carroll's works,"The Nursery "Alice" , an adaptation of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"for younger readers, and from the first volume of "Sylvie and Bruno".
He first published both works in 1889 and was probably still working on them during the period of the Ripper murders.
Wallace claimed that the books contained hidden but detailed descriptions of the murders.
Not many people take his seriously as a suspect.
David Cohen
1865–1889
Polish Jew whose incarceration at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum roughly coincided with the end of the murders.
Described as violently antisocial.
Speculated that Cohen's true identity was Nathan Kaminsky, a bootmaker living in Whitechapel who had been treated at one time for syphilis
Exhibited violent, destructive tendencies while at the asylum, and had to be restrained.
He died at the asylum in October 1889.
William Withey Gull(1st Baronet)
31 December 1816 – 29 January 1890
19th-century English physician to Queen Victoria.
Governor of Guy's Hospital, Fullerian Professor of Physiology and President of the Clinical Society.
Remembered for a number of significant contributions to medical science, including advancing the understanding of myxoedema, Bright's disease, paraplegia and anorexia nervosa (for which he first established the name).
Coachman John Netley has been named as his accomplice.
In his seventies at the time of the murders and had recently suffered a stroke.
Murdered his wife in 1883 by stabbing her in the neck.
Deemed insane.
Committed to the Broadmoor Asylum, from which he later escaped in early 1888, using a key he made himself.
In 1927, almost forty years later, he unexpectedly turned himself in to officials at the Broadmoor Asylum.
He died two years later, presumably of natural causes.
Retired New York Police Department cold-case detective Ed Norris examined the Jack the Ripper case for a Discovery Channel program.
Norris reported Kelly's Broadmoor Asylum file from before his escape.
His eventual return has never been opened since 1927 until Norris was given special permission for access to it, and that the file is the perfect profile match for Jack the Ripper.
Charles Allen Lechmere(Charles Cross)
Meat cart driver for the Pickfords company.
Conventionally regarded as an innocent witness who discovered the body of Polly Nichols.
Lechmere lied to police, claiming that he had been with the body for a few minutes.
Research on his route to work from his home demonstrated that he must have been with her for about nine minutes.
He gave evidence under the name "Charles Cross". at the inquest.
His home address, visits to family, and route to work link him to the times and places of murders.
He passed three streets where Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols, and Annie Chapman were murdered roughly at the same time the murders are estimated to have occurred.
Murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes occurred on his only night off from work.
Stride was killed near Lechmere's mother's house.
The direct route from Stride's murder scene to the location of Eddowes's murder followed a path to Lechmere's route to work that he had used for twenty years.
Mary Kelly was also murdered on his route to work.
The time frame in which she is estimated to have been killed matches his route. He had numerous stepfathers.
He grew up in a series of different homes.
Some believe that Lechmere may have been responsible for several other murders in addition to those of the canonical five victims and Martha Tabram.
Jacob Levy
1856 – 29 July 1891
Born in Aldgate.
Followed in his father’s trade as a butcher.
1888 he was living in Middlesex Street with his wife and children, right in the heart of the ripper territory, and close to where Catherine Eddowes was murdered.
Levy contracted syphilis from a prostitute.
24 October 1838 – 11 May 1889
Son of an engraver.
Liverpool cotton merchant.
His wife Florence was convicted of poisoning him with arsenic.
A diary purportedly by Maybrick,contains a confession to the murders.
The diary was discredited by historians who pointed to factual errors in relation to some of the crimes.
Document experts pronounced the diary a fake.
Alexander Pedachenko
1857–1908
There is a supposed manuscript in French written by Rasputin stating that Jack the Ripper was an insane Russian doctor named Alexander Pedachenko, an agent of the Okhrana (the Secret Police of Imperial Russia), whose aim in committing the murders was to discredit Scotland Yard.
Supposedly assisted by two accomplices: "Levitski" and a tailoress called Winberg.
Walter Richard Sickert
1857–1908
There is a supposed manuscript in French written by Rasputin stating that Jack the Ripper was an insane Russian doctor named Alexander Pedachenko, an agent of the Okhrana (the Secret Police of Imperial Russia), whose aim in committing the murders was to discredit Scotland Yard.
Supposedly assisted by two accomplices: "Levitski" and a tailoress called Winberg.
Walter Richard Sickert
German-born artist of British and Danish ancestry.
He had a fascination with the Ripper murders, going so far as to stay in a room that was rumoured to have once had Jack the Ripper himself as a lodger.
Depicted similar scenes in many of his paintings.
Strong evidence shows he was in France at the time of most of the Ripper murders.
Joseph Silver(Joseph Lis)("King of Pimps")
A Polish Jew.
Terrorized women in Johannesburg, South Africa during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
He was the son of a tailor and a petty criminal.
No evidence that Silver was ever in London during the time of the murders.
James Kenneth Stephen
25 February 1859 – 3 February 1892
25 February 1859 – 3 February 1892
English Poet.
He was bipolar.
Eventually committed to an asylum.
There are similarities between his handwriting and that of the "From Hell" letter.
He was bipolar.
Eventually committed to an asylum.
There are similarities between his handwriting and that of the "From Hell" letter.
English poet, mystic and opium addict.
His dad was a doctor.
Entered medical school at the age of 18.
Left home at 26 and lived on the streets.
Between 1885 and 1888 he spent some time homeless in the Docks area south of Whitechapel.
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale
Grandson of Queen Victoria.
Suspicion that Clarence had committed the murders after being driven mad by syphilis.
Some claim that he secretly married and had a daughter with a Catholic shop assistant, and that Queen Victoria, British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, his Freemason friends, and the Metropolitan Police conspired to murder anyone aware of Albert Victor's supposed child.
Sir John Williams, 1st Baronet, of the City of London
Claim that the victims knew the doctor personally.
That they were killed and mutilated in an attempt to research the causes of infertility,
That a badly blunted surgical knife, which belonged to him, was the murder weapon.
Some people suspected his wife Lizzie.
That she was unable to have children and, in an unhinged state, took revenge on those who could by killing them.
Other theories.
Other named suspects include Swiss butcher Jacob Isenschmid, German hairdresser Charles Ludwig, , Swedish tramp Nikaner Benelius, and social reformer Thomas Barnardo, who claimed he had met one of the victims (Elizabeth Stride) shortly before her murder.
L. Forbes Winslow, whose suspected a religious maniac, G. Wentworth Bell Smith.
"Dr. Stanley",cult leader Nicolai Vasiliev, Norwegian sailor "Fogelma",and Russian needlewoman Olga Tchkersoff, might be fake names.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has theories involving a female murderer dubbed "Jill the Ripper".
Supporters of this theory believe that the murderer worked, or posed, as a midwife, who could be seen with bloody clothes without attracting suspicion and would be more easily trusted by the victims than a man.
Possible female suspects were convicted murderers Mary Pearceyand Constance Kent, and Theosophist Helena Blavatsky.
Lizzie Halliday, a mentally ill Irish immigrant suspected of leaving a string of dead husbands in her wake before being arrested in upper New York State for the murder of two women and her last husband.
She was likewise accused of the Whitechapel murders, of which she spoke "constantly".
Patricia Cornwell, believe the killer sent letters to the police and press.
Jeff Mudgett, a descendant of notorious American serial killer H. H. Holmes, used these handwriting samples in an attempt to link Holmes to the Ripper case.
Several people suggest that "Jack the Ripper" was actually more than one killer
Stephen Knight thought that the murders were a conspiracy involving multiple miscreants.
Others have said that each murder was committed by unconnected individuals acting independently of each other.
Author Frank Pearse, claims to have access to a written confession, argues that the murders were performed by a man named John Pavitt Sawyer (who held multiple similarities, such as location and profession, to alternate suspect George Chapman), as part of an occult Freemason initiation.
Police believe that Jack the Ripper was a local resident of Whitechapel.
That his ability to disappear immediately after the killings suggests that he knew the Whitechapel neighborhood intimatly, including its back alleys and hiding places.
The population of Whitechapel was transient, impoverished and often used aliases.
The lives of many of its residents were little recorded.
Canonical Five
Mary Ann "Polly"Nichols(Walker)
Born to locksmith Edward Walker and his wife Caroline,in Dean Street in London.
Married William Nichols, a printer's machinist, on January 16, 1864.
Between 1866 and 1879, the couple had five children.
Their marriage broke up in 1880 or 1881.
Her father accused William of leaving her after he had an affair with the nurse who had helped the birth of their final child.
Mary claimed to have proof that their marriage had continued for at least three years after the date alleged for the affair.
He said his wife deserted him to be a prostite.
Police reports say they separated because she was a drunk.
William Nichols paid her an allowance every week until 1882, when he heard she became a prostitute and not required to support her if she was earning money through illicit means.
Mary lived mostly in boarding houses or work houses, living off charitable handouts and her meager earnings as a prostitute.
She lived with her father for a year or more but left after a quarrel.
Lived with a blacksmith named Drew in Walworth.
Early 1888, she was placed in the Lambeth workhouse after being discovered sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square.
Left the work house in may to take a job as a domestic servant in Wandsworth.
She left two months later, stealing clothing.
Nichols was living in a Whitechapel common lodging house in Spitalfields, her roomate was Emily"Nelly" Holland.
Last Hours
August 30, 11 a.m. - last seen walking White Chapel Road.
August 31, 12:30 a.m.- seen leaving a pub in Brick Lane, Spitalfields.
1:30 a.m., turned out of 18 Thrawl Street for not having money.
Last recorded words that she would soon earn the money on the street.
2:30 a.m.- last seen alive standing at the corner of Osborn Street and Whitechapel Road.
Claimed she had earned enough money to pay for her bed three times that evening.
Spent the money one alcohol.
3:40 a.m.Meat cart driver named Charles Allen Lechmere (claimed to have discovered Mary Ann Nichols lying on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, Whitechapel, about 150 yards from the London Hospital and 100 yards from Blackwall Buildings.
Her skirt was raised.
Passing cart driver on his way to work, Robert Paul, approached and saw Cross kneeling over the body.
Lechmere expressed his opinion that she was dead.
Paul thought she might simply be unconscious.
They pulled her skirt down to cover her lower body, and went in search of a policeman.
Cross informed the constable Jonas Mizan: "She looks to me to be either dead or drunk, but for my part, i believe she's dead".
PC John Neale came from the opposite direction on his beat.
Then PC John Thain, arrived to the scene.
Dr Henry Llewellyn, arrived at 4:00 a.m. and decided she had been dead for about 30 minutes.
Her throat had been slit twice from left to right.
Her abdomen mutilated with one deep jagged wound, several incisions across the abdomen, and three or four similar cuts on the right side caused by the same knife,
At least 6–8 inches (15–20 cm) long, used violently and downwards.
Small amount of blood at the crime scene, "about enough to fill two large wine glasses, or half a pint at most".
Speculation she wasn't killed where she was found.
The blood from her wounds had soaked into her clothes and hair, and there was little doubt that she had been killed at the crime scene by a swift slash to the throat.
Death would have been instantaneous.
The abdominal injuries, would have taken less than five minutes to perform and were made by the murderer after she was dead.
When the body was lifted a "mass of congealed blood", lay beneath the body.
She was 43.
The coroner inquest, reported in The Times:
"Five of the teeth were missing, and there was a slight laceration of the tongue. There was a bruise running along the lower part of the jaw on the right side of the face. That might have been caused by a blow from a fist or pressure from a thumb. There was a circular bruise on the left side of the face which also might have been inflicted by the pressure of the fingers. On the left side of the neck, about 1in. below the jaw, there was an incision about 4in. in length, and ran from a point immediately below the ear. On the same side, but an inch below, and commencing about 1in. in front of it, was a circular incision, which terminated at a point about 3in. below the right jaw. That incision completely severed all the tissues down to the vertebrae. The large vessels of the neck on both sides were severed. The incision was about 8in. in length. The cuts must have been caused by a long-bladed knife, moderately sharp, and used with great violence.
No blood was found on the breast, either of the body or the clothes. There were no injuries about the body until just about the lower part of the abdomen. Two or three inches from the left side was a wound running in a jagged manner. The wound was a very deep one, and the tissues were cut through. There were several incisions running across the abdomen. There were three or four similar cuts running downwards, on the right side, all of which had been caused by a knife which had been used violently and downwards. The injuries were from left to right and might have been done by a left-handed person. All the injuries had been caused by the same instrument"
The inquest into Nichols' death had concluded, another woman, Annie Chapman, had been murdered, it was noted "The similarity of the injuries in the two cases is considerable."
The police investigations into the murders of Chapman and Nichols were merged.
Annie Chapman(Eliza Ann Smith)
Daughter of George Smith of the 2nd Regiment Life Guards.
May 1,1869- married her maternal relative John Chapman, a coachman.
Lived in West London.
Had three children.
First born died of meningitis at 12.
1881- moved to Windsor, Berkshire.
Chapman and her husband took to heavy drinking and separated in 1884.
1886- moved to Whitechapel where she lived with a man who made wire sieves.
She received a weekly allowance from her husband.
At the end of 1886 the payments stopped.
Her husband had died of alcohol-related causes.
1888- living in common lodging houses in Whitechapel, occasionally in the company of Edward "the Pensioner" Stanley, a bricklayer's laborer.
Earned income from crochet work, selling flowers and casual prostitution.
Before her death she was feeling ill after being bruised in a fight with Eliza Cooper.
They were rivals for a hawker, Harry.
Last Hours
He was described as over 40, dark hair, and of foreign, "shabby-genteel" appearance.
September 8, 1888, 6 a.m.- her body was discovered by a
1:45 a.m.- Morning of her death, Chapman found herself without money for her lodging and went out to earn some on the street.
5:30 a.m.- seen talking to a man just beyond the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields resident of number 29, market porter John Davis.
She was lying on the ground near a doorway in the back yard.
Son of a resident of the house, had been in the back yard shortly before 5 a.m. to trim a loose piece of leather from his boot.
Carpenter Albert Cadosch had entered the neighboring yard at 27 Hanbury Street at about 5:30 a.m.
Both claim to have heard voices in the yard followed by the sound of something falling against the fence.
Two pills, which she had for a lung condition, part of a torn envelope, a piece of muslin(light weight cotton cloth), and a comb were recovered from the yard.
Brass rings she was wearing earlier were not recovered.
Two farthings were found in the yard.
Medical students polished farthings so they could be passed off as sovereigns to unsuspecting prostitutes.
Nichols had also suffered a slash to the throat and abdominal wounds, and a blade of similar size and design had been used.
May have been killed as late as 5:30 a.m., in the enclosed back yard of a house occupied by sixteen people, none of whom had seen or heard anything at the time of the murder.
The passage through the house to the back-yard was unlocked.
frequented by the residents at all hours of the day.
Front door was wide open when the body was discovered.
Dr George Bagster Phillips, the police surgeon, described the body as he saw it at 6:30 a.m. in the back yard of the house at 29 Hanbury Street:
"The left arm was placed across the left breast. The legs were drawn up, the feet resting on the ground, and the knees turned outwards. The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen. The front teeth were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were. The body was terribly mutilated ... the stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but was evidently commencing. He noticed that the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incision through the skin were jagged and reached right round the neck ... On the wooden paling between the yard in question and the next, smears of blood, corresponding to where the head of the deceased lay, were to be seen. These were about 14 inches from the ground, and immediately above the part where the blood from the neck lay. ...
The instrument used at the throat and abdomen was the same. It must have been a very sharp knife with a thin narrow blade, and must have been at least 6 to 8 inches in length, probably longer. He should say that the injuries could not have been inflicted by a bayonet or a sword bayonet. They could have been done by such an instrument as a medical man used for post-mortem purposes, but the ordinary surgical cases might not contain such an instrument. Those used by the slaughtermen, well ground down, might have caused them. He thought the knives used by those in the leather trade would not be long enough in the blade. There were indications of anatomical knowledge ... he should say that the deceased had been dead at least two hours, and probably more, when he first saw her; but it was right to mention that it was a fairly cool morning, and that the body would be more apt to cool rapidly from its having lost a great quantity of blood. There was no evidence ... of a struggle having taken place. He was positive the deceased entered the yard alive ...
A handkerchief was round the throat of the deceased when he saw it early in the morning. He should say it was not tied on after the throat was cut. "Her throat was cut from left to right.
She had been disemboweled.
Her intestines thrown out of her abdomen over each of her shoulders.
Part of her uterus was missing.
Protruding tongue and swollen face.
May have been asphyxiated with the handkerchief around her neck before her throat was cut.
No blood trail leading to the yard.
Killed where she was found.
She suffered from a long-standing lung disease.
Sober at time of death.
The murderer must have possessed anatomical knowledge to have sliced out the reproductive organs in a single movement with a blade about 6–8 inches long.
Her body was not examined extensively at the scene.
Her organ could have removed by mortuary staff,
who took advantage of bodies that had already been opened.
Possibly murdered deliberately to obtain the uterus, on the basis that an American had made inquiries at a London medical school for the purchase of such organs.
And author
Dr Phillips's estimate of the time of death (4:30 a.m. or before) contradicted the testimony of the witnesses Richardson, Long and Cadosch, which placed the murder later.
Her body could have cooled more quickly than normally expected.
Elizabeth "Long Liz" Stride(Gustafsdotter)AKA Anne Fitzgerald
She lived in common lodging-house at 32 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, within what was then a notorious criminal rookery.
Her parents were a swedish farmer Gustaf Ericsson, and his wife, Beata Carlsdotter.
Worked as a domestic in the Gothenburg parish of Carl Johan.
March 1865 she was registered by the Gothenburg police as a prostitute.
Treated twice for a sexually transmitted disease.
April 21, 1865- had a still born child.
March 7, 1869- she married John Thomas Stride, a ship's carpenter.
March 1877- Liz Stride was admitted to the Poplar Workhouse, suggesting that the couple had separated.
Reunited by 1881, but separated permanently by the end of that year.
She told acquaintances that her husband and two of her nine children had drowned in the sinking of the Princess Alice in the River Thames in 1878.
John Stride died of tuberculosis in Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum on 24 October 1884.
They had no children.
She lived after her and her husband separated common lodging-house in Whitechapel, with charitable assistance once or twice from the Church of Sweden in London.
1885 until her death lived much of the time with a local dock labourer, Michael Kidney, in Devonshire Street.
Earned income from sewing and housecleaning work.
Spoke Yiddish in addition to English and Swedish.
April 1887, she laid an assault charge against him but failed to pursue it in court.
He left Kidney again a few days before her death.
Supposedly she was staying at the lodging house at 32 Flower and Dean Street on Wednesday 26 September.
Last Hours
September 29- wearing a black jacket and skirt, with a posy of a red rose in a spray of maidenhair fern or asparagus leaves.
She also wore a black crêpe bonnet.
11:00 p.m.-Seen with a client, a short man with a dark moustache wearing a morning suit and bowler hat, at around near Berner Street.
11:45 p.m-Seen again with a man with a peaked hat.
12:35 a.m.- Seen with a man wearing a hard felt hat opposite the International Working Men's Educational Club at 40 Berner Street, in Whitechapel.
The man was carrying a package about 18 inches in length.
September 30, Sunday, 1 a.m.- Her body was discovered by Louis Diemschutz, the steward of the Workers' Club, in the adjacent Dutfield's Yard.
With blood still flowing from a wound in her neck, it appeared that she was killed just moments before he arrived.
Between 12:30 and 12:50 a.m., departing club members had seen nothing amiss in the yard.
Mrs. Mortimer, had stood in Berner Street to listen to the singing from the club at about the same time, and had not seen anyone enter the yard.
She reported seeing a man with a shiny black bag race past.
One of the club's members, Leon Goldstein, identified himself as the man Mortimer had seen.
12:45 a.m.- A witness named Israel Schwartz reported seeing Stride being attacked and thrown to the ground outside Dutfield's Yard.
Her attacker may have called out "Lipski" to a second man standing nearby.
Thought to be an anti-Semitic taunt derived from the name of a notorious poisoner, Israel Lipski.
Schwartz did not testify at the inquest.
About the same time, Stride, or someone matching her description, was seen by James Brown rejecting the advances of a stoutish man slightly taller than her in the adjacent street to Berner Street.
Files on the case points out that there was time for Stride to meet another man between her death and the latest sightings of her.
The steward Diemshutz later said that he believed that the killer was still in the yard when he drove into it.
No money was on her body.
It's possible she was robbed either in the attack seen by Schwartz, or by her murderer.
It seems she had gone into the yard with her murderer alive, presumably on the basis that he was a client.
Unlike the other murders in the case, she had nothing beyond her slit throat.
Shares similarities to the pattern of Ripper killings, such as day of the week, time, type of site, characteristics of the victim and the method of murder.
Catherine Eddowes was murdered within walking distance less than an hour later.
Stride and Eddowes lived in Flower and Dean Street.
Dr George Bagster Phillips reported:
"The body was lying on the near side, with the face turned toward the wall, the head up the yard and the feet toward the street. The left arm was extended and there was a packet of cachous in the left hand. ... The right arm was over the belly; the back of the hand and wrist had on it clotted blood. The legs were drawn up with the feet close to the wall. The body and face were warm and the hand cold. The legs were quite warm.
The deceased had a silk handkerchief round her neck, and it appeared to be slightly torn. I have since ascertained it was cut. This corresponded with the right angle of the jaw. The throat was deeply gashed, and there was an abrasion of the skin about one and a quarter inches in diameter, apparently stained with blood, under her right brow.
At 3 p.m. on Monday at St. George's Mortuary, Dr Blackwell and I made a post-mortem examination. Rigor mortis was still thoroughly marked. There was mud on the left side of the face and it was matted in the head. ... The body was fairly nourished. Over both shoulders, especially the right, and under the collarbone and in front of the chest there was a blueish discoloration, which I have watched and have seen on two occasions since.
There was a clear-cut incision on the neck. It was six inches in length and commenced two and a half inches in a straight line below the angle of the jaw, three quarters of an inch over an undivided muscle, and then, becoming deeper, dividing the sheath. The cut was very clean and deviated a little downwards. The arteries and other vessels contained in the sheath were all cut through. The cut through the tissues on the right side was more superficial, and tailed off to about two inches below the right angle of the jaw. The deep vessels on that side were uninjured. From this it was evident that the hemorrhage was caused through the partial severance of the left carotid artery and a small bladed knife could have been used.
Decomposition had commenced in the skin. Dark brown spots were on the anterior surface of the left chin. There was a deformity in the bones of the right leg, which was not straight, but bowed forwards. There was no recent external injury save to the neck.
The body being washed more thoroughly, I could see some healing sores. The lobe of the left ear was torn as if from the removal or wearing through of an earring, but it was thoroughly healed. On removing the scalp there was no sign of bruising or extravasation of blood. ... The heart was small, the left ventricle firmly contracted, and the right slightly so. There was no clot in the pulmonary artery, but the right ventricle was full of dark clot. The left was firmly contracted as to be absolutely empty. The stomach was large and the mucous membrane only congested. It contained partly digested food, apparently consisting of cheese, potato, and farinaceous powder [flour or milled grain]. All the teeth on the lower left jaw were absent. "He thought that that Stride might have been pulled backwards on to the ground by her neckerchief before her throat was cut.
It was likely to be on the ground when she was killed by a swift slash left to right across the neck.
Bruising on her chest might also suggest that she was pinned to the ground during the attack.
It's believed that Stride had been attacked with a swift, sudden action.
Lack of obvious marks of a struggle indicated that she lay down willingly.
She was still holding a packet of breath freshening sweets in her left hand when she was discovered.
That indicates that she probably didn't have time to defend herself.
A grocer implied that he had sold grabes to stride and the murderer.
Pathologists stated emphatically that Stride had not held, swallowed or consumed grapes.
Her stomach contents were "cheese, potatoes and farinaceous powder".
Private detectives did discover a grape stalk in the yard.
The grocer described the man as aged between 25 and 30, slightly taller than her and wearing a soft felt hat.
Catherine "Kate" Eddowes
Her parents were tinplate worker George Eddowes and his wife.
On losing this job, she took up with ex-soldier Thomas Conway in Birmingham.
She moved to London.
1880- She started drinking and left her family.
The following year she was living with new partner John Kelly at Cooney's common lodging-house at 55 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields.
She took casual prositution to help pay rent.
At the time of her death she was described as being five feet tall, with dark auburn hair, hazel eyes, and a tattoo that read "TC", for Tom Conway, in blue ink on her left forearm.
Last Hours
September 29, Saturday 8:30 p.m,- found lying drunk in the road on Aldgate High Street and taken into custody to Bishopsgate Police Station.
September 20, 1 a.m.- She was released and gave her name and address as "Mary Ann Kelly of 6 Fashion Street".
Instead of turning right to take the shortest route to her home in Flower and Dean Street, she turned left towards Aldgate.
1:35 a.m.-She was last seen alive by three witnesses, Joseph Lawende, Joseph Hyam Levy and Harry Harris, who had just left a club on Duke Street.
She was standing talking to a man at to the entrance of Church Passage,
It led led south-west from Duke Street to Mitre Square along the south wall of the Great Synagogue of London.
Lawende described the man as a fair-moustached man wearing a navy jacket, peaked cloth cap, and red scarf.
Between 1:35 and 1:45 a.m- She was killed and mutilated in the square.
1:45 a.m.- Her mutilated body was found in the south-west corner of Mitre Square by the square's beat policeman PC Edward Watkins.
Watkins said that he entered the square at 1:44 a.m.
Police surgeon Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown, who arrived after 2:00 a.m., said of the scene:
"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. A thimble was lying off the finger on the right side. The clothes drawn up above the abdomen. The thighs were naked. Left leg extended in a line with the body. The abdomen was exposed. Right leg bent at the thigh and knee.
The bonnet was at the back of the head—great disfigurement of the face. The throat cut. Across below the throat was a neckerchief. ... 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. There was a quantity of clotted blood on the pavement on the left side of the neck round the shoulder and upper part of the 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 connection."He conducted a post-mortem that afternoon, noting:
"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. ... The cause of death was haemorrhage from the left common carotid artery. The death was immediate and the mutilations were inflicted after death ... There would not be 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. ... The peritoneal lining was cut through on the left side and the left kidney carefully taken out and removed. ... 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. The parts removed would be of no use for any professional purpose. It required a great deal of knowledge to have removed the kidney and to know where it was placed. Such a knowledge might be possessed by one in the habit of cutting up animals. I think the perpetrator of this act had sufficient time ... It would take at least five minutes. ... I believe it was the act of one person"Police physician Thomas Bond's report to police stated: "In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge. In my opinion he does not even possess the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer or any person accustomed to cut up dead animals."
In addition to the abdominal wounds, the murderer had cut Eddowes' face: across the bridge of the nose, on both cheeks, and through the eyelids of both eyes.
The tip of her nose and part of one ear had been cut off.
Based on his analysis of the surviving documents, it was concluded that "the cuts shown on the body could not have been done by an expert."
A tin containing two pawn tickets issued to Emily Birrell and Anne Kelly was discovered on Eddowes' body.
No money was found on her.
Even though the murder occurred within the City of London, it was close to the boundary of Whitechapel.
The mutilation of Eddowes' body and her missing left kidney and a missing part of her womb by her murderer bore the signature of Jack the Ripper and was very similar in nature to that of earlier victim Annie Chapman.
3 a.m.- the same day as Eddowes was murdered, a blood-stained fragment of her apron contaminated with fecal matter was found lying in the passage of the doorway leading to Flats 108 and 119, Model Dwellings, Goulston Street, Whitechapel.
Above it on the wall was a graffiti in chalk commonly held to have read: "The Juwes are the men that Will not be Blamed for nothing".
The writing may or may not have been related to the murder.
Mitre Square had three connecting streets: Church Passage to the north-east, Mitre Street to the south-west, and St James's Place to the north-west.
PC Harvey saw no-one from Church Passage, and PC Watkins saw no-one from Mitre Street, the murderer must have left the square northwards through St James's Place towards Goulston Street.
Goulston Street was within a quarter of an hour's walk from Mitre Square, on a direct route to Flower and Dean Street, where Eddowes lived, hinting that her murderer also resided nearby and headed back there after the killing.
Acting Commissioner of the City Police, claimed in his memoirs to have discovered bloodied water in a public sink in a court off Dorset Street, and as the water was slowly running out of the basin, he calculated that the Ripper had been there only moments before.
There is no mention of the sink in official police reports.
Mary Jane Kelly(Marie Jeanette Kelly, Fair Emma, Ginger, and Black Mary)
She was about 25 years old, and living in poverty at the time of her death.
Kelly's origins are obscure and undocumented, and much of it is possibly embellished.
According to a man she had recently lived with, Joseph Barnett, she told him,she was born in Limerick, Ireland, in around 1863.
And her family moved to Whales when she was young.
He said that Kelly had told him her father was named John Kelly and that he worked in an iron works in either Caernarfonshire or Carmarthenshire.
She said she have several brothers and sisters.
One brother, named Henry, supposedly served in the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.
She claimed to be from a rich family.
1879, Kelly was reportedly married to a coal miner named Davies.
He was killed three years later in a mine explosion.
1884, She apparently found work in a brothel in the more affluent West End of London.
Reportedly, she was invited by a client to France, but returned to England within two weeks.
It is believed to be at this stage in her life that Kelly chose to adopt the French name "Marie Jeanette".
Reported as being a blonde or redhead, whereas her nickname, "Black Mary", suggests a dark brunette.
Reported eye color was blue.
Reports of the time estimated her height at 5 feet and 7 inches.
She was a"quite attractive" and "a pretty, buxom girl".
She was known to have "considerable personal attractions".
By some, Kelly had been known as "Fair Emma".
She reportedly lived with a man named Morganstone near the Commercial Gas Works in Stepney.
Later with a mason's plasterer named Joe Flemming.
Kelly would get drunk, she could be heard singing Irish songs; in this state, she would often become quarrelsome and even abusive to those around her, which earned her the nickname "Dark Mary."
April,1888-
Barnett meets Marry.
1888- Both moved into 13 Miller's Court, a furnished single room at the back of 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields.
Mary's door key was lost, so she bolted and unbolted the door from outside by putting a hand through a broken window beside the door.
Barnett worked as a fish porter at Billingsgate Fish Market.
When he lost his job Mary turned back to prostitution.
They argued over Mary sharing a room with another prostitute.
October 30- Barnett moved out, but continued to visit.
Last Hours
November 8, 1888, 7:00- 8:00 p.m.-
Barnett visited Mary for the last time.
She had a friend already there named Maria Harvey.
Maria and Barnett left about the same time.
11:45 p.m.-
Fellow Miller's Court resident and prostitute, Mary Ann Cox, reported seeing Mary Kelly returning home drunk in the company of a stout ginger-haired man wearing a bowler hat and carrying a can of beer.
Cox and Mary Kelly said goodnight to each other.
Kelly went into her room with the man and then started singing the song "A Violet I Plucked from Mother's Grave When a Boy."
12:00 a.m-
Mary Kelly was still singing when Cox went out.
1:00 a.m.-
Mary Kelly was still singing when Cox came back.
1:30 a.m.-
The singing had stopped.
2:00 a.m.-
Laborer George Hutchinson, who knew Mary Kelly, asked him for a loan of sixpence.
He claimed to be broke and that as Mary went on her way she was approached by a man of "Jewish appearance".
Later gave the police an extremely detailed description of the man right down to the color of his eyelashes despite it being the middle of a dark winter night.
He said that he overheard them talking in the street opposite the court where Kelly was living about her losing her handkerchief, so the man gave her a red one of his own.
Hutchinson claimed that he was suspicious of the man because although Kelly seemed to know him.
Hutchinson said that the man's opulent appearance made him seem very unusual in that neighborhood, but only reported this to the police after the inquest on Kelly had been hastily concluded.
2:45 a.m.-
Hutchinson claimed that Mary and the man headed for her room, that he followed them, and that he saw neither one of them again.
His statement appears to be partly corroborated by laundress Sarah Lewis.
2:30 a.m.-
Sarah reported sees a man watching the entrance to Miller's Court as she passed into it to spend the night with some friends, the Keylers.
3:00 a.m.-
Cox returned home again.
She reported hearing no sound and seeing no light from Mary Kelly's room.
4:00 a.m.-
Elizabeth Prater, who was woken by a kitten walking over her neck, and Sarah Lewis both reported hearing a faint cry of "Murder!"
They did not react because they reported that it was common to hear such cries in the East End.
Sarah claimed not to have slept and to have heard people moving in and out of the court throughout the night.
5:45 a.m-
Sarah thought she heard someone leaving the residence.
5:30 a.m.-
Prater did leave , to go to the Ten Bells public house for a drink of rum, and saw nothing suspicious.
November 9, 1888-
Mary's landlord John McCarthy sent his assistant, ex-soldier Thomas Bowyer, to collect the rent.
10:45 a.m.-
Bowyer knocked on her door but received no response.
He reached through the crack in the window, pushed aside a coat being used as a curtain and peered inside.
Mary Kelly's horribly mutilated corpse was on the bed.
The wife of a local lodging-house deputy, Caroline Maxwell, claimed to have seen Kelly alive at about 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the murder.
Her description of Mary did not match that of those who knew her more closely.
The scene was attended by Superintendent Thomas Arnold and Inspector Edmund Reid from Whitechapel's H Division, as well as Frederick Abberline and Robert Anderson from Scotland Yard.
1:30 p.m.-
Arnold had the room broken into after the possibility of tracking the murderer from the room with bloodhounds was dismissed as impractical.
A fire fierce enough to melt the solder between a kettle and its spout, fueled by clothing, had burnt in the grate.
Inspector Abberline thought Mary's clothes were burnt by the murderer to provide light.
The mutilation of Mary's corpse was by far the most extensive of any of the Whitechapel murders.
Dr. Thomas Bond and Dr. George Bagster Phillips examined the body.
They timed her death about 12 hours before examination.
Phillips suggested that the extensive mutilations would have taken two hours to perform.
Bond noted that rigor mortis set in as they were examining the body.
That indicated that her death occured between 2:00 and 8:00 a.m.
Bond's notes read: "The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle and lying across the abdomen. The right arm was slightly abducted from the body and rested on the mattress. The elbow was bent, the forearm supine with the fingers clenched. The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk and the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubis.
The whole of the surface of the abdomen and thighs was removed and the abdominal cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds and the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone.
The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus and kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the right foot, the liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side and the spleen by the left side of the body. The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table.
The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, and on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about two feet square. The wall by the right side of the bed and in a line with the neck was marked by blood which had struck it in several places.
The face was gashed in all directions, the nose, cheeks, eyebrows, and ears being partly removed. The lips were blanched and cut by several incisions running obliquely down to the chin. There were also numerous cuts extending irregularly across all the features.
The neck was cut through the skin and other tissues right down to the vertebrae, the fifth and sixth being deeply notched. The skin cuts in the front of the neck showed distinct ecchymosis. The air passage was cut at the lower part of the larynx through the cricoid cartilage.
Both breasts were more or less removed by circular incisions, the muscle down to the ribs being attached to the breasts. The intercostals between the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs were cut through and the contents of the thorax visible through the openings.
The skin and tissues of the abdomen from the costal arch to the pubes were removed in three large flaps. The right thigh was denuded in front to the bone, the flap of skin, including the external organs of generation, and part of the right buttock. The left thigh was stripped of skin fascia, and muscles as far as the knee.
The left calf showed a long gash through skin and tissues to the deep muscles and reaching from the knee to five inches above the ankle. Both arms and forearms had extensive jagged wounds.
The right thumb showed a small superficial incision about one inch long, with extravasation of blood in the skin, and there were several abrasions on the back of the hand moreover showing the same condition.
On opening the thorax it was found that the right lung was minimally adherent by old firm adhesions. The lower part of the lung was broken and torn away. The left lung was intact. It was adherent at the apex and there were a few adhesions over the side. In the substances of the lung there were several nodules of consolidation.
The pericardium was open below and the heart absent. In the abdominal cavity there was some partly digested food of fish and potatoes, and similar food was found in the remains of the stomach attached to the intestines."
Phillip believes that Mary's throat was slashed before the mutilations took place.
Bond stated in a report that the knife used was about 1 in wide and at least 6 inches long.
He did not believe that the murderer had any medical training or knowledge.
He wrote:
"In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge. In my opinion he does not even possess the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer or a person accustomed to cut up dead animals."
The Letters
Dear Boss Letter
September 27,1888
Central News Agency receives a letter postmarked the same day.
"Dear Boss,
I keep on hearing the police
have caught me but they wont fix
me just yet. I have laughed when
they look so clever and talk about
being on the right track. That joke
about Leather Apron gave me real
fits. I am down on whores and
I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last
job was. I gave the lady no time to
squeal. How can they catch me now.
I love my work and want to start
again. You will soon hear of me
with my funny little games. I
saved some of the 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 ladys 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
Dont mind me giving the trade name
Wasnt good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it. No luck yet. They say I'm a doctor
now. ha ha".
September 29, 1888It is forwarded to Scotland Yard.
Written in red ink, the message, like most alleged Ripper letters that followed, contains spelling and punctuation errors.
Initially the letter seemed to be one of the many hoaxes.
Septmeber 30, 188-
The body of Catherine Eddowes was found with one earlobe severed.
The Metropolitan Police published handbills with facsimiles of it, hoping someone would recognize the handwritting.
Soon hundreds of other letters claiming to be from "Jack the Ripper" were received, most copying key phrases from this letter.
After the murders, police officials stated that they believed this letter was a hoax.
One journalist claimed to have written in and others "to keep his business alive".
This was not publicized.
Modern scholars are divided on which, if any, of the letters should be considered genuine.
This letter is one of three named most frequently as potentially having been written by the killer.
Long after the original investigation ended, the letter disappeared, 1987-
It was returned anonymously to Metropolitan Police.
1993-
The handwriting of the letter was compared to that of the purported diary of James Maybrick.
The report noted that the "characteristics of the Dear Boss letter follow closely upon the Round Hand writing style of the time and exhibit a good writing skill."
Saucy Jacky Postcard
October 1-
Received by the Central News Agency.
A postcard, dubbed "Saucy Jacky".
The letter reads:
"I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you'll hear about Saucy Jacky's work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish straight off. Had not got time to get ears off for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.
Jack the Ripper "It is not know if it is definitively genuine.
Had information that was compelling enough to lead investigators to publish a facsimile of the communication in hopes that someone might recognize the handwriting.
It claimed responsibility for Stride's and
Eddowes' murders.
It has been argued that the postcard was mailed before the murders were publicized.
Postmarked more than 24 hours after the killings took place.
Later police claimed they identified the author as a journalist.
Years later it was lost.
Letter From "Hell"(The "Lusk Letter")
October 16, 188-
George Lusk, Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received a parcel containing half a human kidney accompanied by a note the following day of the postmark.
The letter reads: From hell.
Mr Lusk,
Sor
I send you half the
Kidne I took from one woman
prasarved it for you tother piece I
fried and ate it was very nise.
I may send you the bloody knif that
took it out if you only wate a whil
longer
signed Catch me
when you can
Mishter Lusk
The letter's writer claimed to have eaten the other half.
This letter has gained serious attention as possibly genuine.
This letter is different from the previous two.
It is not signed "Jack the Ripper".
It was delivered to Lusk, instead of a media outlet.
And it's literacy level is lower.
It has a lot of typos.
The letters are cramped together haphazardly.
There are many inkblots.
The day before Mr. Lusk recieved the letter a Shopkeeper, Emily Marsh, had encountered a visitor at her shop, located in London's Mile End Road, with an odd, unsettling manner in both his appearance and speech. The visitor asked for the address of Mr. Lusk, which he wrote in his notebook, before abruptly leaving.
This occurred in the area in which it is considered to have been postmarked.
Forensic handwriting expert Michelle Dresbold, has argued that the letter is genuine based on the peculiar characteristics of the handwriting, particularly the "invasive loop" letter "y"s.
Criminal profiling experts created a profile of the killer, stating that he possessed a deranged animosity towards women and skills at using a knife.
Based on linguistic clues (including the use of the particular spelling of the word "prasarved" (preserved), it is that the letter showed strong evidence that the writer was Irish or of Irish extraction, linking the letter to Ripper suspect Francis Tumblety.
Lusk was persuaded by his fellow Committee members to take the"From Hell" and the kidney, to Dr Frederick Wiles, who had a surgery nearby on the Mile End Road.
Dr. Wiles was out, so his assistant, F S Reed, took the kidney to Openshaw at the nearby London Hospital.
He believed that the kidney was from the left side of a human body.
Openshaw was frequently mentioned in press reports at the time in connection with the kidney and "From Hell" letter.
His name became widely known to the general public.
The Openshaw Letter
October 8, 1888-
Openshaw received a letter through the post addressed to 'Dr Openshaw, Pathological curator, London Hospital, Whitechapel' and was postmarked:'LONDON E', 'OC29 88'.
The letter reads:
"Old boss you was rite it was the left kidny i was goin to hoperate agin close to your ospitle just as i was going to dror mi nife along of er bloomin throte them cusses of coppers spoilt the game but i guess i wil be on the job soon
and will send you another bit of innerds
Jack the Ripper
O have you seen the devle
with his mikerscope and scalpul
a-lookin at a kidney
with a slide cocked up.."
Received by the Central News Agency.
A postcard, dubbed "Saucy Jacky".
The letter reads:
"I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you'll hear about Saucy Jacky's work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish straight off. Had not got time to get ears off for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.
Jack the Ripper "It is not know if it is definitively genuine.
Had information that was compelling enough to lead investigators to publish a facsimile of the communication in hopes that someone might recognize the handwriting.
It claimed responsibility for Stride's and
Eddowes' murders.
It has been argued that the postcard was mailed before the murders were publicized.
Postmarked more than 24 hours after the killings took place.
Later police claimed they identified the author as a journalist.
Years later it was lost.
Letter From "Hell"(The "Lusk Letter")
October 16, 188-
George Lusk, Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received a parcel containing half a human kidney accompanied by a note the following day of the postmark.
The letter reads: From hell.
Mr Lusk,
Sor
I send you half the
Kidne I took from one woman
prasarved it for you tother piece I
fried and ate it was very nise.
I may send you the bloody knif that
took it out if you only wate a whil
longer
signed Catch me
when you can
Mishter Lusk
The letter's writer claimed to have eaten the other half.
This letter has gained serious attention as possibly genuine.
This letter is different from the previous two.
It is not signed "Jack the Ripper".
It was delivered to Lusk, instead of a media outlet.
And it's literacy level is lower.
It has a lot of typos.
The letters are cramped together haphazardly.
There are many inkblots.
The day before Mr. Lusk recieved the letter a Shopkeeper, Emily Marsh, had encountered a visitor at her shop, located in London's Mile End Road, with an odd, unsettling manner in both his appearance and speech. The visitor asked for the address of Mr. Lusk, which he wrote in his notebook, before abruptly leaving.
This occurred in the area in which it is considered to have been postmarked.
Forensic handwriting expert Michelle Dresbold, has argued that the letter is genuine based on the peculiar characteristics of the handwriting, particularly the "invasive loop" letter "y"s.
Criminal profiling experts created a profile of the killer, stating that he possessed a deranged animosity towards women and skills at using a knife.
Based on linguistic clues (including the use of the particular spelling of the word "prasarved" (preserved), it is that the letter showed strong evidence that the writer was Irish or of Irish extraction, linking the letter to Ripper suspect Francis Tumblety.
Lusk was persuaded by his fellow Committee members to take the"From Hell" and the kidney, to Dr Frederick Wiles, who had a surgery nearby on the Mile End Road.
Dr. Wiles was out, so his assistant, F S Reed, took the kidney to Openshaw at the nearby London Hospital.
He believed that the kidney was from the left side of a human body.
Openshaw was frequently mentioned in press reports at the time in connection with the kidney and "From Hell" letter.
His name became widely known to the general public.
The Openshaw Letter
October 8, 1888-
Openshaw received a letter through the post addressed to 'Dr Openshaw, Pathological curator, London Hospital, Whitechapel' and was postmarked:'LONDON E', 'OC29 88'.
The letter reads:
"Old boss you was rite it was the left kidny i was goin to hoperate agin close to your ospitle just as i was going to dror mi nife along of er bloomin throte them cusses of coppers spoilt the game but i guess i wil be on the job soon
Jack the Ripper
O have you seen the devle
with his mikerscope and scalpul
a-lookin at a kidney
with a slide cocked up.."
This letter has become known as the 'Openshaw Letter' .
A copy of the letter is on display in the Royal London Hospital's museum in Whitechapel.
Thomas ("Tommy")Horrocks Openshaw
Consulting Surgeon to the London Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.
October 18, 1888
Dr. Openshaw examined kidney, brought to him by Mr. Francis Reed.
October 29,1888
He recieves a letter from "Jack the Ripper".
Who Do You Think is Jack the Ripper?
I Think Jack the Ripper was two people.
I think two of thesee suspects are the murders of the Canonical five.
George Hutchenson , James Kelly, Charles Cross.
Not much is know about George Hutchenson.
He disapeared when the murders stopped.
Did the killer move on to the United States?
Some people believe that is why the murders stopped.
Some believe he is or worked for H.H. Holmes.
In 1891, there was a prostitute murdered in Old New York.
Her name was Carrie Brown.
At the time people thought that maybe Jack the Ripper moved to the United States.
H.H. Holmes the Killer?
If Charles Cross Did
Buzz Feed Says
Walter Sickert Did It
From New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell comes Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, a comprehensive and intriguing exposé of one of the world’s most chilling cases of serial murder—and the police force that failed to solve it.
Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art—as well as extensive evidence—points to another name, one that’s left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material—including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause—and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.
Incorporating material from Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed, this new edition has been revised and expanded to include eight new chapters, detailed maps and hundreds of images that bring the sinister case to life.
Due to the red on grey lettering, parts of this were unreadable.
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