The Crime Book

270

Apron” – was named by the media

as a suspect in the killings. On

10 September, Pizer was arrested

despite the lack of evidence against

him. When Pizer was able to give

an alibi for two of the murders he

was released. He later sued a local

newspaper for libel.

With few leads, the people of

Whitechapel took matters into their

own hands. Local businessmen

concerned about the effect the

murders were having on commerce,

organized the Whitechapel

Vigilance Committee to patrol the

streets after dark. They elected a

local builder, George Lusk, as the

committee’s chairman. Each night

the group convened at 9pm at the

Crown pub to inspect patrollers

JACK THE RIPPER

Whitechapel and

neighbouring Spitalfields are

areas of east London. In the

19th century, Whitechapel

was home to the working

class, migrants, and

Jews, all crowded into

cheap accommodation.

• underemployed men who were
  paid a pittance to walk the beat
  armed with nothing but a cudgel.

The double event

For a while, all was quiet, and the

people of Whitechapel began to

relax. The increased police

attention and vigilantes probably

deterred the killer from striking

again. Then, on 30 September 1888,

came the “double-event”. Two new

victims were discovered within an

hour of each other.

At 1am in east Whitechapel,

a steward of the worker’s club,

Louis Diemschutz, directed his

pony-drawn cart into Dutfield’s

Yard. When the animal began to

act strangely, the steward struck a

match and crept into the darkness.

There, in the flickering light, he

beheld the body of a woman in a

pool of blood. Her dead hand

clutched a packet of cachous –

I am down on whores and I

shant quit ripping them till

I do get buckled.

Jack the Ripper

7 August, 3:30am, Martha

Tabram discovered at George

Yard Buildings [now known as

Gunthorpe Street]

31 August, 3:40am, Mary

Nichols discovered at Buck’s

Row Stables [now known as

Durward Street]

8 September, 6am, Annie

Chapman discovered at 29

Hanbury Street

30 September, 1am, Elizabeth

Stride discovered at Dutfield’s Yard

[now known as Henriques Street]

30 September, 2am,

Catherine Eddowes

discovered in Mitre Square

9 November, 10:45am, Mary

Kelly dicovered at Miller’s Court,

off Dorset Street [now known as

White’s Row car park]

Spitalfields

1

2

4

5

3

6

Whitechapel

The

City

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271

The “Dear Boss” letter was sent

to London’s Central News Agency on

27 September 1888, suggesting that

the killer wanted notoriety. He even

gave himself a name: Jack the Ripper.

sweets used to freshen the breath.

Obviously, the attack had been

swift and unexpected. Later,

Diemschutz testified that he

believed the killer was still lurking

in the yard when he came upon the

body. The victim was Elizabeth

Stride, a 44-year-old prostitute.

However, the night’s bloodshed

had just begun. Within an hour, the

body of a second woman was found

in the south corner of Mitre Square,

a 15-minute walk from Dutfield’s

Yard. Dr Frederick Brown attended

the scene at 2am.

Like Annie Chapman, her

bowels were strung over her right

shoulder, and her legs were spread.

This time the Ripper had used his

blade on her face, slicing off the tip

of her nose and eyelids, and carving

triangular incisions into her cheeks.

During the autopsy, Dr Brown

discovered that the left kidney and

part of the womb were missing.

John Kelly identified the second

victim as his 46-year-old common-

SERIAL KILLERS

law wife, Catherine Eddowes, after

reading in the paper about two

pawn tickets found on her person.

Notes and graffiti

Searching along Goulston Street

at 3am on the night of the double

event, PC Albert Long happened

upon a bloodied piece of apron

discarded in a stairwell. A cryptic

message was scrawled in white

chalk on the wall: “The Juwes are

the men that will be blamed for

nothing.” Police Superintendent

Thomas Arnold was among the first

to arrive at the scene. Fearing that

the graffiti would spark antisemitic

rioting, he ordered the “Goulston

Street Graffito” to be washed away.

The high level of attention that

the killings received in the media

led to numerous hoax letters being

sent to the investigators. While

initially considered to be another

hoax, a letter sent on 27 September,

written in red ink, would come to

take a particular hold on the

investigation – it claimed to come

from the killer, and promised to

“clip the ladys ears off” the next

victim. When the autopsy of

Catherine Eddowes revealed a

mutilated earlobe, the police took

the implications of the red letter

seriously. They distributed copies

of the letter among the public

through handbills, hoping to get a

lead. The letter signed off with the

first use of the nickname “Jack the

Ripper”, which soon captured the

public’s imagination.

More clues were forthcoming.

On 16 October, a package arrived

at the doorstep of George Lusk, ❯❯

Prostitutes as victims

Social stigma around sex work

often means that prostitutes

have tenuous family bonds and

poor relationships with police.

Their disappearances are not

typically met with the same

outrage as those of other women.

Their transient lifestyles mean

they may travel from city to city

without telling anybody, and are

therefore not reported missing

until it is too late.

Their profession may provide

a twisted moral justification for

killers – when speaking with

police about the women he

murdered, “Green River Killer”

Gary Ridgway said, “I thought

I was doing you guys a favour,

killing prostitutes.”

Sex workers are frequently

placed in vulnerable positions

with strangers. The damaged

egos of their clients, who are

often unknown quantities, can

put prostitutes at risk. The

correlation between sex work

and substance addiction also

means that some are led by the

desperation of their situation to

lower their guard or take risks

they normally would not take.

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