Strange Coincidence in the Austin and Whitechapel Woman Murders
Austin, Tex., Nov. 18.
A very curious circumstance has been discovered here bearing on the London murders, and which strengthens the opinion
entertained by many that the Whitechapel murderer is identical with the assassin who killed eight women in 1885.
An article published in the Daily Statesman, calling attention to the similarity of the Austin and London crimes and especially the fact that a Malay cook running on ocean vessels was suspected, called forth a letter to the editor. The letter stated that a Malay cook had been employed at a small hotel in Austin in 1885, the date of the Austin assassinations.
A reporter investigated the matter, calling on Mrs. Schmidt, who kept the Pearl House, near the foot of Congress Avenue opposite the Union depot, three years ago. It was ascertained that a Malay cook calling himself Maurice had been employed at the house in 1885 and that he left some time in January 1886.
It will be remembered that the last of the series of Austin women murders was the killing of Mrs. Hancock and Mrs. Eula Phillips, the former occurring on Christmas eve 1885, just before the Malay departed, and that the series then ended. A strong presumption that the Malay was the murderer of the Austin women was created by the fact that all of them except two or three resided in the immediate neighborhood of the Pearl House.
Mrs. Hancock and her husband, lived within one block, and so did Mary Ramie, the colored girl, and others who were assassinated in their beds and dragged out into their yards.
