HORRIBLE DISCOVERY IN A NEW YORK LODGING HOUSE
A Lewd Female Murdered In a Manner Suggestive if the Notorious Jack the Ripper
New York, April 24.
Last night a man and woman registered at a cheap hotel here as man and wife. They immediately retired and, as nothing was seen of them this morning, the door of their room was broken in.
On the bed lay the woman covered with blood. She had been dead for hours. Her abdomen was ripped open with a dull, broken table knife that lay on the blood. Her viscera had been cut, and from the appearance part of them were missing. The man had escaped. The police think he is "Jack the Ripper."
The Coroner made a hasty examination of the body and found the woman had been dead for a number of hours. He removed her clothes from her face and neck. A ghastly visage was revealed. The tongue was out and the nose flattened to the face and about the neck was a circle of congealed blood. The appearance of the face convinced the Coroner that she had first been strangled and then the throat had been cut. On turning over the body it was found the murderer had left his mark. The broken end of a knife had been used to cut a large cross on the end of the spine. The housekeeper said the murdered woman's companion was decidedly German in appearance but she could not tell from his appearance how long he had been in this country. She said he resembled a sea faring man.
The murdered woman was a well-known character around the neighborhood. The police are scouring the city and the vessels around the dock for the murderer.
The woman could not have been much under 60 years of age. Her hair was almost white, and her features stamped with the marks of drunkenness and the gutter. She was a typical specimen of the woman of the slums.
The man was apparently not over 32 years of age. In build, he was slight and of medium height, with light complexion, small blonde mustache and blonde hair. He did not utter a word in the hearing of any person about the hotel, and the murder must have been a noiseless one, as the other rooms on the same floor were occupied, and a whisper could almost be heard through the partitions.
When the boy pushed open the door of the room this morning he beheld such a scene of horror as he will not forget to his dying day. Stretched out on the bed, naked from the waist down, lying on the right side with both arms twisted and bent under her, her head enveloped in fold after fold of cloth, the old woman lay stark dead on a mattress soaked with blood. She had been completely disembowelled and the terrible result of the operation was drawn out and scattered over the entire lower part of the room.
Whether any of the parts are missing, as was the case with the London murders, has not yet been fully ascertained. When the coverings were removed from the face the expression was one of agony. The old woman evidently struggled hard before being strangled.
A doctor who saw the body says: "Whether by chance or skill, the cut was made so as to effect the object aimed at by the London Jack the Ripper, namely, the removal of the uterus."
