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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 fornothing.” 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 withpolice 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.266-273_Jack_The_Ripper.indd 271 02/12/2016 15:04