The condition of the body of the woman found at South Hampstead indicates that her murder was the most fiendish of any that has occurred since Jack the Ripper's horrible Whitechapel series. The character of the wounds clearly establishes the fact that the woman was stabbed by some one behind her, after which her prostrate body was hacked and slashed almost into pieces. The scene of the crime is a lonely part of a section haunted by the lowest class of abandoned women. It is supposed to be frequently patrolled by the police, but the constables, themselves, admit that they perform that duty with feelings of trepidation, and the suspicion arises that their visits are not so often made as they ought to be. The belief is general that the murder is the work of the "Ripper", who has changed the scene of his crimes in order to baffle the police. The police are tracking a man who was seen to enter a hansom cab near the place where the body was found and drive away at a furious pace, and are confident that they will yet run him down. The inhabitants in the vicinity of the scene of the murder are intensely excited over the affair and remain indoors as much as possible. The woman did not belong to the Whitechapel class.
