United Kingdom
Saturday January 19th 1889
An extraordinary report the "Jack the Ripper" has been arrested in no less a place than Tunis has just been circulated. The Paris Petit Journal publishes a telegram from that city, of Monday's date stating that the police there have captured a band of robbers and assassins, and that several suspicious circumstances give rise to the supposition that the London murderer, known as "Jack the Ripper," is among the number. The arrest caused great excitement. The British Consul demanded to see the man in custody, and immediately afterwards telegraphed to the authorities in London.
The news, however, it would seem, is too good to be true. The particulars in the possession of the English authorities are very meagre, and are, of course, at the present, strictly private. How the hypothesis of the Petit Journal got abroad is not altogether clear, and so far the London police have heard nothing of the arrest of the long-sought murderer. The authorities in the East-end are of opinion that the author of the crimes is still in the neighbourhood of Spitalfields, but by reason of the continued increased vigilance which is maintained by requisitioning a large body of constable from other divisions, who patrol the streets in plain clothes by night, he is afraid at present to renew his attempts at any fresh crimes.