The Crime Book

269

Policemen discover a victim of Jack

the Ripper in this 1891 illustration from

Le Petit Parisien. The mysterious killer

became notorious not just in the United

Kingdom, but across the world.

At 6am on 8 September, market

worker John Davis discovered the

body of a third woman in his

backyard, at 29 Hanbury Street in

Spitalfields. Whoever had done the

grisly deed had eviscerated the

victim, draping her intestines over

her shoulders. Like the first two

victims, Annie Chapman worked

as a prostitute. Her body had been

posed to allude to this, with legs

splayed to degrade her even in death.

Dr George Bagster Phillips,

arriving half an hour later, noted

that her handkerchief had been

tightened around her neck, causing

asphyxiation. Once again, the killer

had slashed his victim’s throat

from left to right. A more thorough

examination revealed that a portion

of the uterus had been excised.

Phillips estimated the time of death

at 4:30am or earlier.

Early clues

Scant clues emerged about the

three murders, but at an inquest,

witness Elizabeth Long testified

she had seen Chapman speaking

with a man at 5:30am near the

crime scene. She described the

figure as around 40 years old, with

dark hair and a foreign, “shabby-

genteel” appearance. The man

See also: The Black Dahlia Murder 218–23 ■ Elizabeth Báthory 264–65 ■ Ted Bundy 276–83

SERIAL KILLERS

Long described wore a brown

deerstalker cap and overcoat. The

police also found a leather apron at

the scene of Chapman’s death.

Local gossip transformed these

details into the tale of “Leather

Apron”, a homicidal Hebrew who

preyed upon English prostitutes.

John Pizer – a Polish Jew and boot-

maker with the misfortune

of having the nickname “Leather ❯❯

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