A parcel containing the lower half of a woman's body, cut in halves, was found in the Thames, at Horsley Downs, on the morning of June 4th. Another parcel, in which were a woman's thighs, was picked up at Battersea. Both were wrapped in pieces of feminine clothing, on which the name Cosher was marked. The trunk and thighs were evidently portions of the same body. The remains had evidently been in the water ten days. A dispatch (June 7th) says the police have learned that the unfortunate woman belonged to Oxford, and was named Fisher. She was a servant in London.

The body of a woman named Alice Mackenzie, known as Alice Kell, was found in Castle Alley, Whitechapel, on the night of July 16th, and the details of the affair leave no doubt that the unfortunate was the eighth victim of Jack the Ripper. Almost before the dreadful work was completed, the police came from all directions, and with their bull's-eyes threw patches of light in every direction; but there was no trace of the murderer. When the woman was placed in an ambulance, underneath her was found a broken clay pipe, stained with blood. Evidently taken unawares, as she was strongly built, weighed 140 lb, and could not have uttered a cry without being heard by the police. Jack adopted his old plan, except that in this case his right hand was placed over the woman's mouth, and the left hand drove the knife into her neck, instead of vice versa. The body was taken to the mortuary. The examination developed unusual features. Jack had done his work with a dull knife, therefore his slashes had not been clean. At 10 o'clock on the 17th the woman was identified as one who gained her living by charing work, and never resorted to the streets. The alley where she was killed is 100 yards long, dark, and encumbered by a mass of waggons and barrows, which formerly were stored in a yard. At the bottom is a network of streets, courts and alleys. There are no residents of the place likely to go through it at night. The murder threw Whitechapel into a condition of fearful excitement. Several suspicious characters were arrested, but discharged for lack of evidence. The killing was one within a stone's throw from the scene of almost all the other murders.

A despatch of the 20th says: "Jack the Ripper attempted another murder near Castle Alley at midnight, and was arrested before completing the deed", but it appears to have been only a row between drunken sailors and women.

Two parties have been placed under espionage in connection with the crime, a military looking Englishman, 6 feet tall, who insists that he is the veritable Jack, and gives the names of his victims, and the dates on which he killed them, with all the ghastly and indecent details; the police believe him to be a lunatic. The other, who claims the same unenviable distinction, and who gave himself up, says his name is Brodie, and that he left London in September for Kimberley, South Africa. He is an ex convict, and made the voyage back as a fireman. He is pronounced insane from consumption and the excessive use of liquor.