Jack the Ripper Breakdown

 Case Breakdown: Jack the Ripper

By Nathan Burley

Preface, London 1888

Victoria is queen, she had just celebrated her Golden Jubilee the year before. In the late summer of 1888 she had been queen for 51 years. Historians would come to call this point in history the Victorian era. 

Life was especially hard for women during this time. There was very little work and money which in turn led to many of them turning to prostitution as a form of income due to high demand. These women were dubbed “the unfortunates” as they owned only what was on their person and often lived in very close quarters that were paid for nightly by their daily income. The problem with this was if they did not make the money during the day they either would sleep in the street or become indebted to more fortunate men. This was not all these women had to deal with in these living conditions life was dirty, with meant disease and infections were common. 

The impoverished and starving lined the muddy cobblestone streets but the housing was not much better. Houses were short on space, having to share beds and rooms with strangers. The cold, damp atmosphere only gave the disease and sickness a place to thrive. The awful living conditions and likely worse working conditions led many to use substances to survive. 

Electricity is still new to most people, this meant he streets were lit by gas lamps or worse no light at all.

In an issue of The Palace Journal (4/24/1889) Arthur G. Morrison wrote this about life in Whitechapel at the end of the 19th century

“A Tour of Whitechapel”

A horrible black labyrinth, think many

people, reeking from end to end with

the vilest exhalations; its streets, mere

kennels of horrid putrefaction; its every

wall, its every object, slimy with the

indigenous ooze of the place… 

The catacombs of London darker, more tortuous, 

and more dangerous than those of Rome, and supersaturated with

foul life. Others imagine Whitechapel

in a pitiful aspect. Outcast London.

Black and nasty still, a wilderness of

crazy dens into which pallid wastrels

crawl to die; where several families lie

in each fetid room, and fathers, mothers,

and children watch each other starve…

The canonical Five

1: Mary Ann Nichols (43).  August 31st, 1888

• 3:40 am Mary is found by Emily Holland on Dunward St. Whitechapel

Mary, known most commonly as Polly, had been seen an hour prior, alive. Emily was her friend and bunk mate at the lodging on Thrawl St., Spitalfields. When Mary was found her throat had been cut twice, one of these had severed the neck all the way to the vertebrae. She had been vaginally assaulted with the knife as well. There were several other wounds inflicted on her, most noticeably in her abdomen causing her bowels to spill out. There were no body parts missing.

On September 4th, 1888 news broke that authorities were looking for someone known to locals as “Leather Apron”. He had been know to violently assault prostitutes and threats them with a knife. His real name was John Pizer, his nickname derived from the apron he wore while working. On September 11th, he was found at 22 Mulberry St. This would be the first of many false leads that seemed to plague this investigation.

2: Annie Chapman (47). September 8th, 1888

• Around 6 am Annie is found by John Davis near the door at the rear of 29 Hanbury St., Spitalfields. An eyewitness had reported seeing Annie outside the Hanbury residence close to 5:30am with a dark haired man in a dark cloak and deerstalker cap.

  As with the Nicols, Annie was found with two deep cuts in her throat. Her stomach had been completely cut open and the flesh from the opening was placed on her left shoulder. Her small intestine and other bits of flesh were placed on her right shoulder. The medical examiner reported that part of her vagina, bladder and uterus had been removed and taken.

1. “Dear Boss” letter arrives at the Central News Agency September 27th, 1888

The “Dear Boss” letter was post marked for September 25th, 1888 it read:

“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 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 haha The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the 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 sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance.

Luck.

Yours truly

Jack the Ripper

Dont mind me giving the trade name

(PS) 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 haha”

 

This was the first time the name Jack the Ripper was used and would give way to the myth behind the name. 

 The writer of the letter mentions clipping off the ears of his next victim for “jolly”. This made the the authorities look closer at it after learning of Catherine Eddowes missing ear.

3 & 4. The Double Event: Elizabeth Stride (44) and Catherine Eddowes (46) September 30th, 1888

• 1 am Elizabeth Stride is found by Louis Diemschutz in Dutfields Yard near Berner St. with only her throat cut, windpipe severed. Elizabeth had been seen about 30 minutes earlier with a man wearing a deer stalker earring a small bag that could have been a medical bag. Elizabeth was found laying on her side, legs together, the things she had been carrying had rolled into the gutter. When the Dr. Fredrick Blackwell had arrived at 1:15am to examine her body she was still warm. He determined she had been dead for almost 30 minutes. She had escaped the vicious mutilation that had been done to the other two women. This raised the question of whether it was even the same killer or that he’d been interrupted.

• 1:45 am Catherine Eddowes is found by Constable Edward Watkins in the southwest corner of Mitre Square, he said she was “ripped open, like a pig in the market”. Her face was so severely mutilated she was almost unrecognizable. She had likely been seen ten minutes earlier by three men with a man of about 30. When pressed, one of the men said he would not be confident of recognizing the man.  Police surgeon Fredrick Brown arrived at the scene around 2 am. 

   Brown wrote “the body was on its back, clothes drawn up above the abdomen, the thighs naked, abdomen exposed. There was great disfigurement of the face, the throat was cut across the intestines were drawn out to a large extent and placed over the right

shoulder they were smeared over with some feculent matter, a piece of about two feet were 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 was cut obliquely through ... There were no traces of recent connection.” Catherines uterus and kidney were both taken from the scene by her killer.

The discovery of Catherine Eddowes so shortly after Elizabeth Strides murder was a big factor in the thought that Stride’s killer had been interrupted while slaying her. The viciousness in the murder of Catherine Eddowes had shown that her killer had a deep thirst for blood.

Subsequently a piece of Eddowes bloody apron was found on on Goulston St. the same night around 3 am by Constable Alfred Long. The apron was found near a wall with the chalk graffiti that read “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing”. There was no indication whether this was mere coincidence or a clue. Long reported that the graffiti had not been there when he passed the spot at 2:20 am.

b. “Saucy Jack” postcard arrives at the Central News Agency October 1st, 1888.

This letter looked to be written by the same hand that wrote the “Dear Boss” letter. The postcard referenced the previous letter as well as The Double Event. Whoever this shadowy killer was he was taunting the authorities.

The postcard read:

I want codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip. You’ll hear about Saucy Jackys work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldnt finish straight off. Had not

time to get ears for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.

Jack the Ripper

c. “From Hell” letter is delivered to George Lusk in a small box on October 16th, 1888

In the box along with the letter is half of a human kidney, thought to be the kidney of Catherine Eddowes. Due to the way it was written it was obvious that the letter had not been written by the same person as the previous two. The differences included the lack of slang and there was clear Irish idiolect. 

The letter read:

From hell.

Mr Lusk,

Sor

I send you half the Kidne I took from one women, 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 whi longer

signed

Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk

Even though there were the letters after The Double Event there was a period of nearly a month and a half with no murders, had Jack disappeared? The shadow that had haunted the East End for almost a month was strangely absent. Life was almost normal again.

5. Mary Jane Kelly (25). November 9th, 1888

Mary was found by rent collector Thomas Bowyer at 10:45 am in her bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Millers Court off of Dorset St., Spitalfields. She was torn to shreds, the scene would haunt Bowyer for the remainder of his life.  

Mary had been seen around 2 am, by George Hutchinson with another man after she had propositioned Hutchinson. Hutchinson stated that he had watched Mary for some time with the other man. He was likely her killer. The man Mary was with was described as mid 30s, dark hair, and mustache. Hutchinson said he had a respectable appearance and walked in very sharp Jewish way.

Mary’s body was obliterated and completely disembowelled when she was found. Mary”s neck had been severed to the spine. Her uterus, kidneys and one breast were near her head on the bed. There were other parts spread around the room and on the bedside table. Her heart was missing. There were several kinds of ash found in the room indicating that her killer had worked hard to keep the room lit while he mutilated her. She is considered the final victim of The Ripper.

Kelly Hurlbert

 Kelly Hurlbert

I live in Traverse City, MI. Every year over the first week of July we have a festival called The National Cherry Festival, as we are the cherry capital of the world.  Our city triples in population that week due to the influx of tourists and festival goers. As the festival came to a close in 2013 the was a tragic death...

Here are the facts... (I will attempt to lay them out as chronologically as I know them) 

On July 4th Kelly Hurlbert had worked the late shift at a local restaurant. Her husband Paul was in the pub under the restaurant playing with his band. When her shift ended she quickly went to see her husband wrap up his set. After the set ended around 1 am, the couple stayed and spent some time with friends. Shortly before 2 am Kelly left for home, a mere 5 blocks from the pub. They rode their bikes as they lived so close to where they both were employed. That night Paul had his band equipment so he stayed to finish packing it up. 

Kelly was on her bike alone on Washington St. Where she was riding the road runs parallel to the main downtown one way, Front St. which is one block north of her location. At about 2 am she is hit by a car. The impact knocks her off her bike and throws the bike. She is trapped under the car and is subsequently dragged for 2 blocks. The car leaves the scene and Kelly is left in the road. Someone calls 911 and ambulances arrive and work to stabilize her. The police contact Paul who is home by now from the pub, he thought it odd that Kelly was not there when he arrived. He sees the ambulance lights from his porch, a little over a block away as he speaks to the police. When informed that it's Kelly, he drops everything and runs toward the scene. She is rushed to the hospital with severe injuries and passes away hours later. 

Now in discussion with others it's always brushed off as a drunk driver or a tourist or just an accident. Please note I don't use the word accident because I don't think it was. 

Here's why...

[Edit from the original] 

In the two years prior there were two other similar incidents involving a hit and run by a black SUV or truck in the same area of town

The first caused minor injuries while the second caused broken limbs, the victims looked similar to Kelly. 

In my study of JTR I have learned the markers of escalation and that is what this seems like because the third incident resulted in death...

Several months prior to Kelly's death there was another incident that was almost identical in a small town south of Traverse City. A lady was hit and dragged under the vehicle and the then dislodged by the driver and left to die in an empty lot.

[Original]

Witnesses say the vehicle was a black truck or SUV... 

Paul said that Kelly knew to stay close to the curb and that there is plenty of room on that road for cars and bikes. If she was that close to the curb how and why did the truck get that close with at least hitting the curb.

That road is residential and 25 mph. Though you can do damage a 25 I don't think the force or momentum is enough to do THAT much. 

The driver had to have felt the impact or at the very least running her over.

Lastly and the one point that is the reason I believe this was calculated... the people who lived one the road could hear her screaming in their house set back from the road. This is the historic district so the houses are old and it's late at night. The part that is perplexing is why if the neighbors heard her WHY COULDNT THE DRIVER? Was he ignoring them? People have said maybe he had the radio on but screams like that pierce through. 

Side note: I say "he" because if this was calculated it's likely a man.

This is all true, I've been to the scene. There have been no incidents since. It remains unsolved...

Wrong Time

Chapter 1

1.

    8:30pm 

        I hadn’t played a gig in years due to life, family, kids and divorce. This, this felt like I was supposed to be here. Arriving at the local bar early I had done sound check, made sure all my settings were right where they were. Finally before leaving the stage I tuned my guitar. 

The gig was incredible. Just a small venue but damn did we blow the roof off of it. All of it with only a minor problem. I stepped on my cable once, almost made it through a song before I realized it. We played for almost three hours. We played, the audience danced. The joy and energy was intoxicating, so much so that there was nearly no need to drink. After the last chord rung out and we did a bow, tear down started. 

I had taken the last few things out to my car, made sure it was all secure and waved at the few people that were still hanging around. I was driving home still flying high on the left over adrenaline. There was some minor road construction happening in our town so there was a detour right in the heart of it. The turn the detour sent me on was another main road in town but if you followed the directions all the way to the next sign, which I had to do, I would drive down one of the two dark alleys. I rarely drove this way until the detour. I took the turn and flicked on my brights. 

The lights covered the alley in bright white. As I slowly drove down the road I saw a shadow off to the side about fifteen feet from the turn. I approached slowly in case something came out and I had to brake quickly. I was almost to where it was I started to speed up a bit as it didn’t look like anything was moving. As I passed it I looked in my mirror and by dim light of my rear lights I saw a man’s bleeding face!

2.

I’m pretty sure you could hear my brakes screech for miles. I threw the old car in park and jumped out, turned on my phone’s flashlight and ran back towards the face. I almost tripped over him I was in such a haze of confusion. I knelt down next to him and asked if he was alright. There was no response. I checked for signs of life only to met with what probably was the last weak beats of his heart. The rain had started as I took out my phone and dialed 911, 1:57am. They told me to ten minutes or less. I was at a loss of what to do at this point but to wait for the ambulance. I decided to attempt to see what took his life. I walked around his lifeless body slowly shining my flashlight on it, and even though it was bright I could only see small part of the scene clearly. When my light reached his hand I saw it catch something shiny. It was raining and dirty behind the building in this alley that was mostly sand and gravel, what was clean and shining!

     When the ambulance arrived I had only taken what was in his hand and put it in my pocket. I still had no idea what it was. The paramedics confirmed he had died, packed his body in the ambulance, thanked me for calling and left for the hospital. The police had arrived shortly after the ambulance so I had to give a statement before I could leave. When the police were finally done it was going on 3 am. I was tired both emotionally and mentally, and I wanted to look at the thing that felt like a thousand pounds in my pocket. 

      I got in my car and sent a quick text to my girlfriend to let her know I was alright.”hey I’m alright, long story, talk in the morning. Love you” I didn’t expect a response, I just felt better knowing she knew. I turned the key and headed home, I had almost forgotten about the object I was carrying and fell in to bed. 

3.

9:30am

When woke the next morning I checked my phone. There was a message from my girlfriend “I am glad you are alright. Call me when you can.” I went to the bathroom and then quickly dialed her number. We spoke for about fifteen minutes as I recounted the previous nights events. The call ended with “I love you, see you in a few hours.” No sooner had the call ended when the screen lit up with Private Number in my hand “Hello?” I said cautiously. 

“Hello this is Detective Pullman, it is my understanding that you had quite an evening last night. Can you tell me about it?”

“Yes, I will. I went to play guitar at a show I had booked for a small band I had put together. It was great.” 

“What time was that?” 

“We took the stage around 9pm, and played for nearly three hours.” 

“What happened after the show?” Detective Pullman quickly responded

I recounted for the detective what had happened after I left the venue the night before. How I had found the man in the alley and only put my ear to his chest to see if he was still living.

“Did you move him or touch him in anyway?” Pullman asked after I had told my story.

“No, not at all, I did look around a little to see if I could see what had killed him.” I said as evenly as possible because at this moment I remember that that shiny object was silently in my pocket.

“Ok, Thank you, we will be in touch. Please call if you have anymore information.” 

“ Wait, I do have a question… well two. Do you have any information on who the man was, or what killed him? I replied quickly 

There was a long pause “Yes, no name yet, he seems to have died from a violently inflicted stab wound to the neck. You probably couldn’t see the wound in the dark. There was something strange about him though…”

Chapter 2

1.

10:40am

After the conversation ended I quickly got up and went to my room. When I got to where thrown my pants from the night before I stopped. Why did I take this object? What was I possibly getting myself into? I picked up the pants and reached in the front right pocket. The metal was cold in my palm as I took the round piece out. I went to my desk and set it under the magnifier I use for making wiring repairs on my instruments. With the lamp on I started to look for anything to indicate what it was. The same piece of metal was thicker than a coin but it clean and the light from the lamp was shining off of it. Peering through my magnifier I started to examine it. There were markings on it but they seemed to be worn down enough that I couldn’t make out what they were. One of the sides looked like it had a face of something on it but the refining or cleaning process obscured the full image. When I turned it over there were words on the back, more like letters, “T_F  K_LL” underneath that was a clear “MI”. I figured this meant Michigan. Aside from this I had no idea what I was looking at. I wondered why anyone would give their life for this.

As if being jerked out of a dream, “Daddy” I heard a small voice say. It was my weekend.

2.

11:10

My ex-wife, had dropped off our daughter a little early but I wouldn’t ever think of it as a burden. I love my daughter and spending time with her was one of my favorite things to do. She was 12 and already smarter than me at 35 it seemed. She had a great memory, razor sharp intuition, and a hunger for knowledge. I was sure I was doing one thing right. After we ate some lunch, canned ravioli, we packed up our library books. My daughter had read  all her books so she was excited to get more. My books were always far less exciting by her standards, long sad stories. The books she was referring to were the crime books I was always reading, the last being a book about criminal psychology. 

12:00

After we got all the books packed up it was off to the library. The weather was sunny but not hot on this Saturday afternoon in early June. When we got to the library I asked her what she wanted to look for, her immediate answer was “I would like to read about bees” We found a few and headed to a table to decide which ones we should borrow. This was never easy and she liked to take her time so that I had to wait to look for “the sad books” as she had started calling them. We headed upstairs to the adult section after almost a half hour of deliberation and a dog puppet that we were able to borrow. As we made it to the top of the stairs I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. I want to know what the thing on my desk meant and why that man would have had it.

  13:00

I stood in front of the computer library catalogue trying to keep my daughter near while trying to figure out what to look for. I shrugged and turned to my daughter, holding the metal talisman out “What do you think this is?” She cautiously looked in my hand, tilted her head and said “Money?”

“No, it is too thick to be money” I had hardly answered when she took it. The clean metal gleamed in the fluorescent light of the library as she held it in her hands.

“There is letters on it, it looks like T,E,K,L,L. That’s not a word that I know.” Her answer was almost sad.

“It is definitely not a word I know either”

“Where did you get it? Maybe that person would know.” With that she turned it over and her eyes widened “MI! Thats Michigan”

“You are correct. As for where I got it, I don’t think I can ask that person anymore.” I answered slowly.