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R.J. Palmer
Inspector
Username: Rjpalmer
Post Number: 301
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 11:37 am: | 
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A STRANGE AFFAIR IN WHITECHAPEL
A strange case of alleged murderous assault on an old woman occurred in Whitechapel about midnight on Thursday. About half-past 12 yesterday morning two men called the attention of a police-constable to a woman they were supporting, and who, they stated, had been found lying on a doorstep in Cable-street, Whitechapel, bleeding from a wound to the throat. Assistance being procured, the woman was quickly conveyed to the London Hospital, where she was attended by Mr. Edward Cecil Williams, one of the house surgeons. After dressing the wound in the woman’s throat, which was very deep, he found that she was also suffering from a deep cut on the upper part of the left arm, and two other cuts, though less severe, just above the wrist-bone of the same arm, and he was of opinion that she was in a critical condition from her injuries and loss of blood. Information of the affair had previously been conveyed to Superintendent T. Arnold, H Division, who detailed a large number of detectives and uniform officers to make inquiries into the case and to endeavour to trace the perpetrator of the alleged outrage. Mr. Arnold, having been told the surgeon’s opinion of the case, deeemed it advisable that the woman’s depostions should be taken. With that object he despatched a special messenger to the residence of Mr. F. Mead, one of the Thames Police-court magistrates, at Dulwich, asking that gentleman’s attendance at the London Hospital. Mr. Mead arrived at that institution about 5 o’clock, and in the presence of Superintendent Arnold and several other officers proceeded to take the woman’s depositions. It was then found she was a native of Germany, and was unable to speak English. The services of a nurse, named Emilie Schroter, were obtained to act as interpreter. The woman stated that her name was Katherine Gertrude Wohler, and that she was a German woman and 70 years of age. About 11 o’clock on Thursday night, as she did not feel well, she left her home in Cannon-street-road, where she resided with her son, and went for a walk. When in Cable-street a man, whom she did not know, came up and seized hold of her and cut her about the arm and in the throat. When asked whether she could give a description of her assailant, she said he was a man about 30 years of age and of middle size. He wore a black moustache and beard, and had a full face. When he caught hold of her he did not say anything, and she was too much frightened to call out. She was sure she saw a knife in his hand, but was unable to say what sort of one it was, owing to the darkness. In giving a description of the man, she added that he was wearing a short jacket and black felt hat, and she should know him again. After he had cut her throat he ran in the direction of the Vestry-hall, Cable-street, and she fell on a doorstep in an exhausted condition, where she remained for some time. Several persons passed her, and she called to them, but not being able to speak English they passed on. At last two men stopped to look at her, and, seeing she was wounded, carried her to a police officer. A thorough search of the district was then made, with the result that at the bottom of Dellow-street, a thoroughfare leading out of Cable-street, a large pool of blood was found, in the centre of which was a white-handled razor. Some of the officers engaged in the case have ventured an opinion that this fact--the blood being in one pool--point to the affair being a case of attempted suicide. On inquiry at the London Hospital last night it was reported that Mrs. Wohler was still in a very precarious condition. The friends of Mrs. Wohler state that she has been very strange in her mind for some time past, and they incline to the belief that the case is one of attempted suicide. At the same time, the hospital surgeon is of opinion that the injuries could not have been self-inflicted.
The police made an arrest yesterday in connexion with the affair, but they subsequently discharged the man, whose explanation they regarded as satisfactory.
---London Times, 8 August, 1891.
A further report, a few days later, states that Mrs. Wohler adhered to her original story that she was attacked by an unknown man.
(Message edited by rjpalmer on February 19, 2004) |
Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 909
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 1:11 pm: |
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Hi RJ
I'm sure this is a variant of the attack on Mrs Woolfe - same date and also described as German:
Daily Northwestern
7 August 1891
JACK THE RIPPER
AWFUL DEED IN WHITECHAPEL
London, August 7.
Early this morning one of the denizens of Whitechapel, an old woman named Woolfe, was seized by an unknown man who cut her throat and stabbed her repeatedly in the body. She cannot live. The police, as usual, are unable to find the murderer, who has disappeared.
One man has been taken into custody on suspicion of being the assassin, but the evidence against him is very weak
Middletown Daily Times
8 August 1891
THE POLICE POWERLESS
THEY HAVE NO HOPE OF CATCHING THE RIPPER
DISCREDITING HIS LATEST DEED
London, Aug. 8.
The London police insist on a theory of suicide in the case of the old woman Woolfe found dying from horrible wounds that suggested the work of Jack the Ripper. The police have found that the woman was insured for £30 for the benefit of her son, and they allege that she probably cut herself with the razor in order to give the impression of a Ripper murder and to secure the insurance to her son, she being aged and feeble and with no interest in life.
The Police are Hopeless
Physicians say, however, that it was impossible for the woman herself to have inflicted the wounds, and some critics aver that the police are hopeless of catching the murderer and wish to dismiss the crime as self perpetrated.
Early in the morning an unknown man attacked the woman, who is seventy years old, and a resident of Whitechapel. When aid reached the mortally and terribly wounded woman it was seen that he had cut her throat, and that she had been slashed in the body and on one arm.
Her assailant escaped, and thus far the police are without any knowledge as to his whereabouts. Of his identity nothing is known.
Without A Word of Warning
The woman says that the man sprang upon and attacked her without a word of warning.
She suddenly saw the glitter of a knife and mechanically raised her arm to ward off the impending blow. Then she fell to the step, where she was subsequently discovered, and remained where she fell until the police finally came to her assistance. On the arrival of the police a razor smeared with blood was found lying near the wounded woman.
Chris |
R.J. Palmer
Inspector
Username: Rjpalmer
Post Number: 302
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 1:57 pm: |
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Chris--Hi. Yes, no doubt you're correct. It's interesting that the American press wrote this up as a "Ripper" attack, whereas the British press (or at least the Times) didn't jump to the bait this time around. Only a few months previously, both the Coles murder and the Mrs. Hogg murder in South Hampstead had raised a bit of a Ripper scare in the UK.
Klosowski's not my man, but I find this one somewhat more interesting than the speculation about Carrie Brown. Severin K. was still in Whitechapel at the time of the 1891 census (the date he shipped out wasn't found by Phil Sugden), and he had once lived in Cable Street. He also gave "musical shaves" , ---no doubt with a pearly handled razor! All the best, RP |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 401
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 2:40 pm: |
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A few musings:
1. I find it peculiar that this woman was so terribly wounded that she "cannot live" and yet she is apparently able to converse at length and in detail about her attack. The neck wound could not have been all that deep if she is talking freely.
2. While a razor could have inflicted the wounds suffered by this woman, such a razor could not have inflicted the wounds to the Ripper's known victims.
3. Cutting one's own throat seems a very odd and undesirable mode of suicide to me. Yet it does seem to have been somewhat common. Of course, with firearms generally unavailable, the alternatives would not have been too pleasant, either.
Andy S. |
R.J. Palmer
Inspector
Username: Rjpalmer
Post Number: 372
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 9:23 am: |
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The Times ran a follow-up to this, dated 10 August, 1891.
"THE WHITECHAPEL MYSTERY.--The old woman, Mrs. Katherine Gertrude Wohler, who was found with her throat cut in Cable-street, St. George's, on Thursday night, still remains in a critical condition, although she is fairly cheerful. She still adheres to her statement that the injuries were inflicted by a strange man, the truthfulness of which is certainly supported by the house surgeon, under whose care she remains, who is of opinion that they could not have been self-inflicted. Considering Mrs. Wohler's age and the serious nature of the wounds in the throat, it is believed that ultimated recovery is almost an impossibility. The razor which was found in a pool of blood, and which was at first thought to have been the property of her son, has not yet been identified; consequently the affair remains as much a mystery as when first discovered." |
Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1183
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 1:51 pm: |
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I have had a look through the census data and have only found one record which might apply to this woman:
1881 Census
61 Montagu Square, London
Head:
Emily Warren aged 43 born Quebec, America
Servants:
Mrs. Wohler aged 49 born Hanover, Germany - Lady's Maid/Domestic- Widowed
Charlotte Blaxhall aged 14 born Marylebone - Parlourmaid
According to the census she was a widow and according to the newpaper article her first name was Catherine. There is a marriage registered in 1860 which might be hers.
June 1860:
Wilhelm Wohler married Catherine de Mandelslok
Chris |
Melissa Turcios
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Friday, July 08, 2005 - 11:06 pm: |
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Klosowski lived at 2 Tewkesbury Buildings at the time, n'est-ce pas? He lived at Cable Street only during 1888. |
R.J. Palmer
Chief Inspector
Username: Rjpalmer
Post Number: 787
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 16, 2005 - 3:10 pm: |
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"The old woman, Mrs. Katherine Gertrude Wohler, who was found with her throat cut in Cable-street, St. George's, on Thursday night, still remains in a critical condition, although she is fairly cheerful. She still adheres to her statement that the injuries were inflicted by a strange man, the truthfulness of which is certainly supported by the house surgeon, under whose care she remains, who is of the opinion that they could not have been self-inflicted. Considering Mrs. Wohler's age and the serious nature of the wound in the throat, it is believed that ultimate recovery is almost an impossibility. The razor which was found in a pool of blood, and which was at first thought to have been the property of her son, has not yet been identified; consequently the affair remains as much a mystery as when first discovred."
Times, August 10, 1891, p. 6(d) |
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