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.