Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Daily News

Daily News
United Kingdom
4 October 1888 POLITICAL MEETINGS.

METROPOLITAN RADICAL FEDERATION.-The forty-second meeting of the council of this Federation was held last evening at the North-East Bethnal-green Radical Club, Green-street, Mr. Ellis in the chair. The attendance of delegates was not large. After the transaction of some routine business, a recommendation from the executive was adopted o the effect that the forthcoming London County Council elections should be fought on political lines, and that the Radical Clubs should give their support to Radical or democratic candidates only. Mr. Boynes (East Finsbury Radical Club) moved "That it be an instruction to the executive to arrange for a great demonstration to be held as near the 13th of November as possible, for the purpose of celebrating the anniversary of Bloody Sunday." This having been seconded, Mrs. Besant said she was utterly against the proposal that they should celebrate a defeat of that kind. (Hear, hear.) They might fairly celebrate the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" when they celebrated Sir C. Warren's downfall in the Square, the use of which he had forbidden them. (Hear, hear.) As long as he held office it was quite plain to her that they were not strong enough to claim their rights, and why they should celebrate the fact of their weakness was a thing she did not understand. (Hear, hear.)-The resolution was also opposed by several other delegates, and on being put to the meeting was rejected.-On the motion of Mr. J.A. Elliott (Wood-green Liberal Club), seconded by Mr. Pearce (Paddington), it was resolved that the hearty congratulations of the Council be tendered to Mr. Dillon, M.P., and other Irish members on their release from prison. It was further resolved that the executive should be asked to take the initiative in forming a committee for the Parnell Defence Fund.-The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

At the resumed inquest, yesterday, on the body of the woman who was murdered in Berner-street early on Sunday morning last, remarkable evidence as to the identity of the deceased was given. On the previous day the body had been identified as that of Elizabeth Watts, wife of the son of a wine merchant at Bath. Yesterday several of the witnesses were positive that the body was that of "Long Liz," a Swedish woman who had lived at the East-end for years. Michael Kidney declared that he had been on the most intimate terms with the deceased, who had told him that she was born three miles from Stockholm. The inquiry was adjourned until to-morrow.

The most important fact brought out yesterday in connection with the Whitechapel murders was the identification of the Mitre-square victim. A man named Kelly, on seeing in the papers an announcement that the letters "T.C." were tattooed upon the woman's left arm, went to the mortuary in Golden-lane, and identified the body as that of a woman commonly called Catherine or Kate Conway, with whom he had lived in Flower and Dean-street, a street in which the Berner-street victim also lived. Kelly's statement has been corroborated by the deceased's sister, and the deputy of a lodging house.

Sir Charles Warren has addressed a letter to the Whitechapel Board of Works on the subject of police patrol in the East-end.

Dr. Bond and Dr. Hibbert made an examination yesterday and found that the arm recently picked up on the bank of the Thames at Pimlico exactly fitted the trunk which has been discovered in the new police buildings on the Thames Embankment. An inquest will take place on Monday next.

The Police and the Murders.

SIR CHARLES WARREN has broken silence. He has condescended to answer the criticism of the Whitechapel District Board of Works. The public are thus at length admitted by the oracle of Scotland-yard to have some interest in the arrangements for their police protection-some right to criticise and some right to be answered, and, if possible, reassured. The tone of the letter addressed to the Whitechapel local authority suggests that the admission is rather grudgingly made. The document savours a good deal of the lecture. It reads as if Sir CHARLES, after having long armed himself against any public criticism, had suddenly been rendered impatient at the audacity of a District Board joining in the general cry against police inefficiency, and had only condescended to lift up his voice in order to teach this Whitechapel district authority how little they knew of the important police arrangements under Imperial command. The Board having called upon Sir CHARLES to regulate and strengthen the police in its district, he tells them that "the prevention of murder directly cannot be effected by any strengthening of the police force." Then he gives them a rebuke in turn by asserting that their own deficient lighting arrangements are conducive to crime. In the end, however, Sir CHARLES gives the satisfactory information that the Whitechapel police have been reinforced, and this notwithstanding all the pleas he urges in apparent expostulation with the Board for calling on him to do so. Having said a thing cannot be effected, he goes on to show that he has done it. He is like the son who said "I will not," but afterwards he repented and went. By the time he has reached the end of his letter he has so far forgotten his first attitude as actually to suggest that the Board should let him know what further changes in the administration of the police they consider desirable. Thus, for the first time under Sir CHARLES WARREN'S r�gime, so far as we know, is the public assistance invited, and discussion challenged on the question of police administration.

Probably the Whitechapel Board of Works may have some difficulty in making the invited recommendations, for though as the local authority, they are profoundly interested in the police watching of their district, Sir CHARLES WARREN obviously takes pride in the circumstance that they know nothing about it. He thinks the very fact that the Board may not be aware of what the police are doing is a proof that they are doing their work with secrecy and efficiency. With secrecy certainly, but as to the efficiency we fail to see where the proof comes in. It does seem an extraordinary thing, when a letter like this forces it upon our attention, that the local authority of a metropolitan district should be so completely divorced from all knowledge and control of the arrangements for the protection of the inhabitants. More extraordinary is it still that they cannot call for more police aid without being somewhat impertinently reminded that Sir CHARLES has not a reserve of men doing nothing who can be drafted at pleasure from other places to meet Whitechapel wants. We must admit that the Commissioner makes a strong point when he says that the bad lighting of the purlieus of Whitechapel is favourable to the deeds of darkness. But again, is it not a decisive condemnation of the existing police system of the metropolis, that Sir CHARLES should not sooner have made this observation? Instead of taking counsel with the local authority on a matter of such consequence, he waits until he is challenged by them, and then only delivers this important suggestion by way of a crushing retort. If the metropolis cannot yet have the management of its own police like other great cities the relations between its municipal representatives and the Commissioners ought to be closer than they now appear to be. Sir CHARLES rather exaggerates the importance of secrecy when the mystery of crimes like those that have lately occurred in the East-end has to be unraveled. The unwitting connivance of the victims adds, as he points out, a serious difficulty to his task. The tardy suggestion as to the lighting ought, by way of diminishing that difficulty, to be acted upon with alacrity. A larger question than the watching of Whitechapel is opened up by a portion of the COMMISSIONER'S letter defending himself against what he considers injurious rumours regarding recent changes in the police. That changes have been made at Scotland-yard everybody knows, and when Parliament meets, if not sooner, the people of London will be entitled to full explanations.

THE COURT.

BALMORAL, Oct. 3.

The Queen drove out yesterday, attended by the Dowager Marchioness of Ely.

Viscount Cross, G.C.B., arrived at the Castle.

Their Royal Highnesses the Princess of Wales, the Princesses Louise, Victoria, and Maud, and Prince Albert Victor of Wales, as well as his Royal Highness the Comte de Paris, who is staying at Invercauld, dined with the Queen and the Royal Family.

Viscount Cross, G.C.B., and Lieut.-General Sir Dighton Probyn, K.C.B., K.C.S.I., V.C., had also the honour of being invited.

Monsieur Johannes Solff, violinist to his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, accompanied by Mr. Raphael Roche, had the honour of playing before the Queen and the Royal Family.

THE EAST END ATROCITIES.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE MITRE-SQUARE VICTIM.
CAREER OF THE DECEASED.

LETTER FROM SIR CHARLES WARREN.

After the evidence at the resumed inquest yesterday there can be little doubt that the identity of the victim of the Berner-street murder has been established. A large number of persons have since Sunday visited the Cable-street mortuary for the purpose of viewing the body, but up to yesterday no one was able to say definitely that they recognised it. Mrs. Malcolm's declaration at the inquest on Tuesday that the deceased was her sister greatly increased the interest and excitement in the locality of Whitechapel itself. There could not for one moment be any doubt of the sincerity with which the witness spoke, but her answers to the questions put to her by the Coroner and Detective-inspector Reid led those who heard her evidence to the conclusion that corroborative testimony was necessary before her statement concerning the life and history of the deceased could be accepted. As was pretty generally expected, further inquiries have tended rather to increase than diminish the doubt with which Mrs. Malcolm's evidence is regarded. The evidence of the man Michael Kidney-which will be found reported below-confirmed, as it is, by the statements of other witnesses, is accepted by the police as conclusive. It need hardly be stated that members of the force are busily prosecuting inquiries with reference to the knife produced for the first time yesterday. However it came to be put on the steps of the house in Whitechapel-road, it is certain that it could not have been there an hour before it was found, although the murder was committed 24 hours previously.

The principal event in connection with the Mitre-square murder has been the positive identification of the ill-fated woman by a man named John Kelly, with whom she had co-habited for seven years. Strangely enough, this man and the woman lived at a common lodging-house in Flower and Dean-street, where the Berner-street victim had stayed recently, and from which place the first evidence leading to her identification was procured. Kelly states that he first met the deceased some seven years ago in the lodging-house in Flower and Dean-street, and since then they had lived together. Once or twice the woman had spoken to him about her husband; she told him that her married name was Conway, and that her husband had tattooed his initials "T.C." on her forearm. Further he added that she had had several children, and that a daughter of hers was the wife of a gunsmith living in Bermondsey. It was with the intention of seeing this daughter that the woman went out on Saturday last, but she never returned. Kelly presumed that she had spent the night at her daughter's, and when on Sunday morning he mingled in the crowd in Mitre-square and discussed the murder he had not the least suspicion that the woman done to death was she with whom he lived. On Tuesday, however, he happened to be reading about the murders, when he saw that the woman found in Mitre-square had the letters "T.C." on her arm, and that two pawn tickets bearing the name of Kelly and Burrell had been discovered lying near the body. At once he communicated with the police, and having viewed the body he identified it. Kelly appears to feel the murder of the woman deeply, for, as he says, they were always "the best of friends." During the greater part of yesterday he was out with the detectives trying to trace the relatives of the deceased.

At a recent meeting of the Whitechapel District Board of Works, the following resolution was passed: "That this Board regards with horror and alarm the several atrocious murders recently perpetrated within the district of Whitechapel and its vicinity, and calls upon Sir Charles Warren so to regulate and strengthen the police force in the neighbourhood as to guard against any repetition of such atrocities."

Sir Charles Warren has sent the following reply:

Sir,-In reply to a letter of the 2nd inst. from the clerk to the Board of Works for the Whitechapel District, transmitting a resolution of the Board with regard to the recent atrocious murders perpetrated in and about Whitechapel, I have to point out that the carrying out of your proposals as to regulating and strengthening the police force in your district cannot possibly do more than guard or take precautions against any repetition of such atrocities so long as the victims actually but unwittingly connive at their own destruction. Statistics show that London in comparison to its population is the safest city in the world to live in. The prevention of murder directly cannot be effected by any strength of the police force, but it is reduced and brought to a minimum by rendering it most difficult to escape detection. In the particular class of murders now confounding us, however, the unfortunate victims appear to take the murderer to some retired spot and place themselves in such a position that they can be slaughtered without a sound being heard. The murder therefore takes place without any clue to the criminal being left. I have to request and call upon your Board, as popular representatives, to do all in your power to dissuade the unfortunate women about Whitechapel from going into lonely places in the dark with any persons, whether acquaintances or strangers. I have also to point out that the purlieus about Whitechapel are most imperfectly lighted, and the darkness is an important assistant to crime. I can assure you, for the information of your Board, that every nerve has been strained to detect the criminal or criminals and to render more difficult further atrocities. You will agree with me that it is not desirable that I should enter into particulars as to what the police are doing in the matter. It is most important for good results that our proceedings should not be published, and the very fact that you may be unaware of what the Detective Department is doing is only the stronger proof that it is doing its work with secrecy and efficiency. A large force of police has been drafted into the Whitechapel district to assist those already there to the full extent necessary to meet the requirements, but I have to observe that the Metropolitan police have not large reserves doing nothing and ready to meet emergencies, but every man has his duty assigned to him, and I can only strengthen the Whitechapel district by drawing men from duty in other parts of the metropolis. You will be aware that the whole of the police work of the metropolis has to be done as usual while this extra work is going on, and that at such times as this extra precautions have to be taken to prevent the commission of other classes of crimes being facilitated through the attention of the police being diverted to one special place and object. I trust that your board will assist the police by persuading the inhabitants to given [sic] them every information in their power concerning any suspicious characters in the various dwellings, for which object ten thousand handbills, a copy of which I enclose, have been distributed. I have read the reported proceedings of your meeting, and I regret to see that the greatest misconception, appear to have arisen in the public mind as to recent action in the administration of the police. I beg you will dismiss from your minds as utterly fallacious the numerous anonymous statements as to recent changes stated to have been made in the police force of a character not conducive to efficiency. It is stated that the Rev. Daniel Greatorex announced to you that one great cause of police inefficiency was a new system of police, whereby constables were constantly changed from one district to another, keeping them ignorant of their beats. I have seen this statement made frequently in the newspapers lately, but it is entirely without foundation. The system a[t] present in use has existed for the last twenty years, and constables are seldom or never drafted from their districts except for promotion or for some particular cause. Notwithstanding the many good reasons why constables should be changed in their beats, I have considered the reasons on the other side to be more cogent, and have felt that they should be thoroughly acquainted with the districts in which they serve. And with regard to our Detective Department, a department relative to which reticence is always most desirable, I may say that a short time ago I made arrangements which still further reduced the necessity for transferring officers from districts which they know thoroughly. I have to call attention to the statement of one of your members that in consequence of the change in the condition of Whitechapel in recent years, a thorough revision of the police arrangements is necessary, and I shall be very glad to ascertain from you what changes your Board consider advisable, and I may assure you that your proposals will receive from me every consideration.-I am, sir, your obedient servant,
CHARLES WARREN,
Metropolitan Police Office, 4, Whitehall-place,
S.W., October 3.

Yesterday the large force of police and detectives drafted into Whitechapel made a house-to-house visitation, and left a handbill as follows:-

"Police Notice.-To the Occupier,-On the mornings of Friday, 31st August, Saturday, 8th, and Sunday, 30th Sept., 1888, women were murdered in Whitechapel, it is supposed by some one residing in the immediate neighbourhood. Should you know of any person to whom suspicion is attached, you are earnestly requested to communicate at once with the nearest police-station.-Metropolitan Police Office, 30th Sept., 1888."

It will be observed that the offer of any reward is carefully ignored, though the walls are placarded with large bills offering rewards through the aid of private subscription.

As bearing on the identification of Conway, additional evidence has been obtained since Kelly first made his statement, a sister of the deceased, Eliza Gold, and Frederick Wilkinson, the deputy of the lodging-house at which she had lived off and on for nearly ten years, having seen the corpse at the mortuary, and agree in their belief that it is that of Catherine Eddowes, otherwise Conway or Kelly. From their statements it would appear that Eddowes, though in the poorest circumstances, bore a generally good character, and was at all events not a member of the unhappy class from which the other victims have been selected. Kelly, Wilkinson, and Mrs. Gold all declare that she worked hard as a charwoman, labouring principally among the Jews in "the Lane" during four or five months in the winter, and throughout the greater part of the summer tramping the country-always with Kelly-hopping, fruit picking, or hay making. She was born, it appears, in Wolverhampton rather more than forty years ago, but soon after her birth her parents moved to London, where she was educated at the Dowgate Charity School, and where she has since lived. She became acquainted with a soldier named Thomas Conway-whose initials "T.C.," they are that are tattooed on her arm-and subsequently went to live with him. They continued together for about twelve years, during which time several children were born. Ten years ago, however, Conway deserted the woman, and neither she nor her relatives have heard anything of him since that time. On finding herself alone Eddowes, or Conway, as she was generally called, went to live at a common lodging-house at 55, Flower and Dean-street; and there seven years ago she became acquainted with John Kelly, with whom she has cohabited ever since. Eddowes was last seen by Kelly on Saturday afternoon, when he told her to go and see her daughter and get the price of a bed for the night.

Last night Eliza Gold, or Frost, the sister, who lives at 6, Thrawl-street, Spitalfields, made the following statement. She did this with difficulty, as she is suffering from a serious attack of illness consequent on the sudden discovery of her sister's shocking end. "It was this morning," she said, "when I was called to the mortuary to identify her, poor girl-I never dreamed that she would come to such an end as this, and I can't get over it. I really don't know how old she was, but I am fifty-two, and she was considerably younger. Perhaps she was about forty-two. She was born at Wolverhampton. All of us were born there. She was not married to Conway, but she went to live with him while in London. She has lived here almost all her life. Her name was Catherine Eddowes. Conway was in the army, but I don't know in what regiment. She had two or three children by him. It's rather strange-one of them, the girl that's married, came to me last week and asked me if I had seen anything of her mother. She said it was a very long time since she had seen her; but it was a long time since I had, too, and I told her so. In fact I have not seen her much oftener than once or twice since she has been with Kelly, though we lived so close together. We were not on the best of terms. I think it is only five or six years since Conway left her. Then she got in with Kelly, and I believe she has stuck to him all along. I certainly don't think she ever went out with other men, though I have told you that I did not see much of her. She was always a regular jolly sort, but she would never do anything wrong. I cannot imagine what she was doing in Mitre-square. ["]

Mrs. Emma Jones, an elder sister of the deceased, states:-"I have not seen my sister for eleven years. We have not been on good terms for many years, as she led a life that was not to my liking. My husband is a packer, and we live at 29, Bridgwater-place, Aldersgate-street. Our family came from Wolverhampton many years ago. My father was a tinplate worker. There were ten of us children, three of whom were boys. With the exception of the deceased, all of my sisters were respectably married. She was never married. So far as I can tell she must have been forty-six years of age at the time of her death. The career of the deceased from her earliest childhood was a very sad one. Her nickname in the family was 'Chick.' At the time of our parents' death my eldest sister Harriet and myself were in service. 'Deceased,' however, was only ten years of age. I wrote to an aunt in Wolverhampton, and persuaded her to take Kate to live with her. A few months after I heard very bad news of Kate, for my aunt, Mrs. Eddowes, wrote to say she had robbed her employer and run away to Birmingham, where she was living with an uncle in Bagot-street. The uncle was a shoemaker by trade. A few years later, while still in Birmingham, she met with Thomas Conway, an army pensioner, and I believe they commenced to live together when Kate was only sixteen years of age. For some time they remained in Birmingham, and then removed to Westminster. I believe my sister had four children by Conway. The daughter is married, and at present living at Greenwich. I only met the deceased occasionally. She used to cry when she saw me, and say, 'I wish I was like you.' I never knew Conway. On the whole, I believe they lived happily together; but there were occasional quarrels between them, owing to my sister's habit of excessive drinking. She has been seen with her face frightfully disfigured. Whether finally he left her or she left him I cannot say; but I fancy he must have left her in consequence of her drinking habits. That was about seven years ago, and since then she has been living with another man."

There is a very general belief among the local detective force in the East-end that the murderer or murderers are lurking in some of the dangerous dens of the low slums, in close proximity to the scenes of the murders. Among other circumstances which support this theory is that some of the houses supposed to be bolted up for the night are found to have secret strings attached to the bolts, so that the house can be entered by persons who are acquainted with these secrets without delay or noise. It has been ascertained by the detectives that the house in Hanbury-street where Annie Chapman was discovered murdered had a bolt with a secret string, and this fact is believed to have been known to the deceased woman. Even the cellars in some of the slums are stated to be occupied for sleeping purposes by strange characters who only appear in the streets at night. These dilapidated hovels are unfit for human habitation, and are known to the police to be the hiding places of the most dangerous and desperate characters. The police, it is stated, are contemplating a series of immediate and sudden raids upon these dreadful dens, both in the City and Whitechapel.

Several arrests were made yesterday, but in nearly every instance the suspect was set at liberty on satisfying the police that their suspicions were groundless. There have been no further individual offers of reward, but the local Vigilance Committee formed after the Hanbury-street crime have received considerable additional sums. No action has been taken in respect to the offer of volunteers for patrol duty, but the working men in the district are taking energetic action. Last night considerable sensation was caused in the neighbourhood of Commercial-road by a report that the Whitechapel murderer had been arrested and conveyed to the King David's-lane police station. Enquiry, however, showed the facts to be these:-A young sailor spoke to a number of the women who frequent the vicinity of the docks, when he was denounced by one of them as the murderer. The cry was taken up by her companions with the result that the man was mobbed, and his position became so critical that he was glad to seek refuge from the crowd in the neighbouring police station. A large crowd surrounded the building in consequence of the sensational rumour that had been circulated in the district.

A representative meeting of working men delegates from the labour organizations of East and Southeast London was held yesterday afternoon at the Three Nuns Hotel, Aldgate, for the purpose of determining what action the organized bodies of working men should take in view of the murders recently committed in the district. Mr. F. Wegington, general secretary of the Watermen's Society, was called to the chair, and in opening the proceedings stated that the working class leaders in the East-end of London were horrified by the crimes that had occurred, and which they deplored. The working men were now arranging to form themselves into a Vigilance Committee, and he was pleased to say that Mr. L.H. Phillips, representing the district in the Corporation, had promised to become chairman of that committee.-On the motion of Mr. Chandler, seconded by Mr. John McLean, the following resolution was unanimously adopted, "That the best thanks of the working men of the East-end of London are due and are hereby tendered to Mr. L.H. Phillips and to the Corporation of the City for their very prompt action in offering a substantial reward for the apprehension of the murderer and this meeting resolves itself into a Workmen's Vigilance Committee to assist the police in their present arduous duties." A number of men volunteered to patrol the streets, and their services were accepted.

At a largely attended meeting of the Whitechapel Vestry, last night, a letter was read from the Rector of the parish-the Rev. A.J. Robinson-expressing his abhorrence, in common with all Whitechapel people, of the crimes which had recently been committed in their midst, and suggesting the desirability of a regular visitation of all empty houses and places with hoardings round them in Whitechapel, and the retention of trained bloodhounds at the Leman-street Police Station. So great was the horror felt in the district, and so detrimental had the murders been to business that he trusted the murderer would be speedily caught. The following resolution was carried: "That this vestry expresses its sorrow at the diabolical murders that have been lately committed in East London, and urges her Majesty's Government to use their utmost effort to discover the criminals."

The Press Association understands that Mr. Matthews was engaged for several hours yesterday at the Home Office on business relating to the murders in the East-end, and had prolonged interviews with Sir Charles Warren and others on the subject, during which the course of action already taken by the police was fully considered, as well as the steps to be taken in future, with a view to the discovery of the criminal. Until a late hour last night the police had not effected any arrest to which they attach much importance. It is believed, however, that they have obtained some information, the nature of which has not been allowed to transpire, that may possibly lead to important results before the end of the week.

An American, who refused to give his name or any account of himself, was arrested last night on suspicion of being the East-end murderer. He is well dressed, rather tall, of slight build, and clean shaven. He accosted a woman in Cable-street, asked her to go with him, and threatened that if she refused he would "rip her up." The woman screamed, and the man rushed to a cab. The police gave chase, seized the man, and took him to Leman-street Police-street Station, where he exclaimed to the inspector in charge, "Are you the boss?" The man was detained.

Inspector Reid has had an interview with a doctor, who has suggested that a certain number of women should be paid to walk the streets at night followed by a plain-clothes detective. The officer pointed out the great risk the women would run, but the doctor suggested that they should wear iron bands round their waist and neck. The theory, however, is regarded by the police as impracticable.

THE BERNER-STREET MURDER.
THE RESUMED INQUEST.
A CONTRADICTORY IDENTIFICATION.

DISCOVERY OF A KNIFE.

Mr. Wynne E. Baxter resumed his inquiry yesterday into the circumstances attending the death of the woman who was found with her throat cut on Sunday morning last in a yard off Berner-street, Whitechapel. The body had been identified as that of Elizabeth Watts on the previous day by a Mrs. Malcolm, who said the deceased was her sister, but her statements were not considered thoroughly satisfactory by the coroner.

Elizabeth Tanner, 32, Flower and Dean-street, said-I am deputy of the common lodging-house at that address. I have seen the body of the deceased in the mortuary. I recognise the features as those of a woman who has lodged at 32 off and on for the last six years, and who was known as "Long Liz." I do not know her right name. She used to tell me that she was a Swedish woman. She never told me where she was born. She told me that she was a married woman, but that her husband and children had gone down in the Princess Alice disaster. I last saw her alive at half-past six o'clock on Saturday afternoon. She never told me the name of her husband. When I saw her she was in the Queen's Head public-house, Commercial-street, with me. We went back to the lodging house. At that time the deceased had no bonnet or cloak on. The deceased went into the kitchen and I went to another part of the building. I never saw her again until I saw her body in the mortuary this afternoon. I am quite sure it is "Long Liz." I recognise her besides through the features, by the fact that the roof of her mouth is missing. Deceased used to account for this by stating that she was in the Princess Alice when it went down, and that her mouth was then injured. She had been at the lodging-house last week only on Thursday and Friday nights. She had not paid for her bed for Saturday night. I only know one male acquaintance that she had. She left this man with whom she had been living on Thursday to come and stay at my lodging-house-at least, so she told me. I saw this man on the following Sunday evening. I do not know that she had ever been before the Thames Police-court, or that she was subject to fits. I only know of her having lived in Fashion-street. I did not know that she ever lived in Poplar, or that she had a sister living near Red Lion-square. She was a very quiet and sober woman. She sometimes stopped out late at night. The deceased cleaned two rooms for me on Saturday, and I paid her 6d. for doing it. I do not know whether she had any other money. I recognise her coat and skirt, which I have seen in the mortuary. She never told me that she was afraid of any one or that any one had threatened to injure her. I took no notice of her not coming home on Saturday night. I do not remember at what hour she came to the lodging-house on Thursday. I recollect taking 4d. of[f] her for her bed. I have never heard her speak of her sister allowing her money, nor did she ever mention the name of Stride. The deceased was the only one of the name of "Long Liz" who has ever stopped at my lodging-house. Before she came on Thursday she had stopped away for three months, but I used frequently to see her during that interval, sometimes once a week and sometimes every other day. She told me that she was at work amongst the Jews, and that she was living with a man in Fashion-street. Besides English, which she spoke well, she could also speak Swedish. I should not have known her to be a foreigner from her manner of speaking English. I never knew of her associating with Swedes. I don't remember her saying that she had ever hurt her foot or in her childhood broken a limb.

Catherine Lane, also living at 32, Flower and Dean-street, said-I am a charwoman, and my husband is a dock labourer. I have been living in the lodging house since February last. I have seen the body in the mortuary and recognise it as "Long Liz," who sometimes came to the lodging house. I have known her for 6 or 7 months. I spoke to her on Thursday last, when she said she had had a few words with the man she was living with, and had left him. I saw her again on Saturday, when she was cleaning the deputy's rooms. I last saw her in the evening, between 6 and 7 p.m., in the kitchen. She was then wearing a long coat and a black bonnet. I saw the body in the mortuary on Sunday afternoon last, when I recognised it as that of "Long Liz." When deceased left the kitchen on Saturday evening, between 6 and 7 o'clock, she gave me the piece of velvet produced, and asked me to mind it. I do not know why she asked me to do so, as the deputy will take charge of anything we want to leave in the lodging-house. I know she had 6d.; but whether she had more I do not know. She showed me the 6d., and said the deputy gave it to her. She did not say when she intended to come back. She had not been drinking that I am aware of. I do not know of any one who was likely to injure her. I have heard her say that she was a Swede, and that at one time she lived in Devonshire-street, Commercial-road. She told me that she had had a husband, but that he was dead. I am quite satisfied that the deceased is "Long Liz." I could tell by her accent that she was a foreigner-she did not bring all her words out plainly. I have heard her speaking to women in the street in a foreign language. She used to speak with the foreign Jews she worked with, but I do not know who they are.

By the Jury-I never heard of her having a sister.

Charles Preston deposed-I live at 32, Flower and Dean-street, and am a barber. I have lived there for eighteen months. I identified the deceased as "Long Liz" on Sunday evening. I am quite sure it is "Long Liz," who lodged at my present address. I last saw her on Saturday evening, between six and seven, in the kitchen of the lodging-house. She was dressed to go out. She asked me for a clothes brush just before going out. I could not lend it because I had mislaid it. She had on the jacket I have seen in the mortuary, and a coloured striped silk handkerchief round her neck-the same one as is in the mortuary. She had no flower on her breast. She has told me that she was a Swede, and came to England in a foreign gentleman's service. I think she told me once that she was about thirty-five. She said she had been married, and told me she had lost her husband and children in the Princess Alice. I have some recollection of her saying that her husband had been a seafaring man. She also said she had had a coffee house in Crisp-street, Poplar. I have only known her to be in custody once, and that was in Commercial-street Police-station on a Saturday afternoon. That was for being drunk and disorderly at the Ten Bells Tavern. That must have been four or five months ago. I know nobody who would have been likely to injure her, and she never expressed fear of anything of the kind to me. She did not say where she was going on Saturday night, or when she was coming back. She always gave me to understand that her name was Elizabeth Stride. She never mentioned any sister to me. She said her mother was still alive in Sweden.

Michael Kidney, a morose and rough-spoken man, deposed-I live at 38, Dorset-street, Spitalfields, and am a waterside labourer. I have seen the body in the mortuary, and it is that of the woman I have been living with. There is no doubt whatever about it. Her name was Elizabeth Stride. I have known her about three years, and she has been living with me nearly all that time. She was between 36 and 38 years of age. She told me she was a Swede, and was born about three miles from Stockholm. She said she first came to England to see the country, and another time that she had come over with a family in a situation. She told me she was a widow when I met her, and that her husband had been a ship's carpenter belonging to Sheerness. She also said he had kept a coffee shop in Chrisp-street, Poplar, and had been drowned when the Princess Alice went down. The roof of her mouth was deficient. I last saw deceased alive yesterday week when I left her on friendly terms in Commercial-street, between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, as I was coming from work. I got home half an hour afterwards, expecting to find her there-but heard she had been in and gone out. I did not see her again till I saw her body in the mortuary. She was perfectly sober when I left her. She was subject to go away like that at times when she thought she would like to. During the three years I have known her she has been out of my possession like for about five months, for no particular reason that I can say. I always treated her as I would a wife. I have seen the address of the brother of the gentleman with whom she lived as a servant-it was somewhere near Hyde Park. On each occasion she returned to me voluntarily. I do not believe she had picked up with any other man, for she liked me better than any other man on earth. It was drink drove her to go away each time. I do not think she was without a shilling, at any rate out of the money I had given her to keep house with. When I last saw her she was not in such a state as would make me believe she had spent all the money I had left her with.

The witness at this point began in a most incoherent manner to complain that what he had to say to them had not been properly treated by the police. Asked by the Coroner whether he had any reason to believe that any person was likely to run foul of her, he commenced in a sulky manner and in speech very difficult to understand, to explain that he had called the previous night at Leman-street Police-station and asked for a "young detective to work on his information" and was told he could not have one.-In answer to Inspector Reid, the witness said he was intoxicated at the time and drove up to the station in a cab. He wanted a young detective who was not known in the district, and was told there was not one at hand. He was an Army Reserve man and drawing a pension; he was also "a lover of discipline." He wanted the young detective so that he could go amongst people who did not know him and hear what they had to say.-Pressed by the Coroner to give his information to the jury or subsequently to the police, it appeared that he had none in particular to offer, but was convinced that he could place 100 constables in such positions in the neighbourhood that the murderer must be caught. He was, further, certain that he could effect the capture "if he had the police at his command." (Laughter.)

The Coroner having pointed out amid some amusement the difficulties which would arise if every person with a theory sought to obtain the command of the police, the witness was induced to continue his evidence.

By the Jury-The witness (Mrs. Malcolm), who stated that she was the sister of the deceased, very much represents the appearance of the deceased. The latter never had a child by me, but she told me that she had been intimate with a policeman when she lived at Hyde-park and before she was married to Stride. I never heard that she had a child by the policeman. She told me she had been the mother of nine children. Two of them were drowned in the Princess Alice disaster, and the others are in some school connected with the Swedish Church, somewhere over London-bridge. The deceased could speak Yiddish.

Mr. Edward Johnston, 100, Commercial-road, said: I am assistant to Drs. Kay and Blackwell. On Sunday morning last I was called up by a constable. I informed Dr. Blackwell of the fact, and accompanied the constable to Berner-street. In a yard there I was shown the figure of a woman lying on her left side. There was a crowd of people in the yard, and some policemen. Nobody was touching the body. There was very little light. What little there was came from policemen's lanterns. I examined the woman, and found an incision in the throat. It appeared to have stopped bleeding. I also felt the body to see if it was warm, and found it was so with the exception of the hands. The dress was not undone at the top before I undid it. I did not move the head at all, but left it exactly as I found it. The knees were nearer to the wall than the head. There was a stream of blood running in the direction away from the legs. I did not notice at the time one of the hands being smeared with blood. The left arm was arched and lying away from the body, and the right arm was bent across the breast. I looked right along the stream of blood, but there was no mark of any one having stepped in it. The bonnet was off the head of the deceased and lying [sic] a little way from it. The gates of the yard were closed shortly after I arrived.

Thomas Coran, a lad, of 67, Plummer's-row, Commercial-road, said: On Sunday night last, at about 12.30, I was coming away from a friend's at No. 6, Bath-gardens, Brady-street. I walked down Grain-street towards Whitechapel-road. In front of No. 253, Whitechapel-road, towards Aldgate, I saw a knife lying on the bottom doorstep. There is a laundry at 253. The knife produced is the one I found. (The knife has a long narrow blade, somewhat worn, a strong wooden handle, and is heavily stained with blood. It is like the knives commonly used in butchers' shops.) The bloodstained handkerchief produced was wrapped round the handle. It was folded. A policeman was coming towards me, so I showed it to him. He picked it up and took it to Leman-street Police-station. I accompanied. I passed about a dozen people between Brady-street and where I found the knife. It could easily be seen. I passed about three policemen on my way between the two points.

Police-constable Drage, 282 H, deposed-About 12.30 on Sunday night the last witness pointed out the knife to me as it lay on the doorstep of 253, Whitechapel-road. I picked up the knife and found it was smothered with blood, which was dry. A handkerchief was wound round the handle and tied with string. The handkerchief was also blood-stained. I asked Coran how he came to see it. He said, "As I was walking along I saw something white." I asked him what he did out so late, and he said, "I had been to a friend's in Bath-gardens," and gave me his name and address. We then went to the police-station together. The witness Coran was quite sober, and his manner natural. He said, "When I saw the blood on the knife it made my blood run cold-there are such funny things nowadays." A few minutes before this a horse had fallen down close to where the knife was found, and there had been a crowd of about half a dozen people round. I had been past the step about a quarter of an hour previously, but I could not say positively whether the knife was there or not. About an hour previously I had stood outside the door when the landlady let out some female friend. I handed the knife and handkerchief to Dr. Phillips on Monday afternoon.

Dr. Phillips, Divisional Police-surgeon, deposed-I was called on Sunday last, at 1.20 a.m., to Leman-street Police-station, and thence went on to Berner-street to a yard at the side of a house. I found Inspector Penhorn and Acting-Superintendent West in possession of a body, which had already been seen by Dr. Blackwell, who had arrived some time before me. The body was lying on its left side, face turned toward the wall, head toward the yard, feet toward the street, left arm extended from elbow, which held a packet of cachous in her hand. Similar ones were in the gutter. I took them from her hand, and handed them to Dr. Blackwell. The right arm was lying over the body, and the back of the hand and wrist had on them clotted blood. The legs were drawn up, the feet close to the wall, the body still warm, the face warm, the hands cold, the legs quite warm, a silk handkerchief round the throat, slightly torn (so is my note, but I since find it is cut). I produce the handkerchief. This corresponded to the right angle of the jaw; the throat was deeply-gashed, and an abrasion of the skin about an inch and a quarter diameter, apparently slightly stained with blood, was under the right clavicle. These notes were taken by for me, at my dictation, by Inspector Pinhorn, and the original I produce. On October 1, at 3 p.m., at St. George's Mortuary, present Dr. Blackwell and for part of the time Dr. Reigate and Dr. Blackwell's assistant; temperature being about 55 degrees, Dr. Blackwell and I made a post-mortem examination, Dr. Blackwell kindly consenting to make the dissection, and I took the following note:-"Rigor mortis still firmly marked. Mud on the face and left side of the head. Matted on the hair and left side. We then removed the clothes. We found the body fairly nourished. Over both shoulders, especially right from the front aspect under the selar bones and in front of chest there is a bluish discolouration (which I have watched and seen on two occasions since). Cut on neck; taking it from left to right there is a clean cut incision 6 inches in length, incision commencing two and a half inches in a straight line below the angle of the jaw. Three-quarters of an inch over undivided muscle then becoming deeper, about an inch dividing sheath and the vessels, ascending a little, and then grazing the muscle outside the cartilages on the left side of the neck, the cut being very clean, but indicating a slight direction downwards through resistance of the denser tissue and cartilages. The carotid artery on the left side, and the other vessels contained in the sheath were all cut through save the posterior portion of the carotid to about a line or 1-12th of an inch in extent, which prevented the separation of the upper and lower portion of the artery. The cut through the tissues on the right side of the cartilages are more superficially cut, and the cut tails off to about two inches below the right angle of the jaw. It is evident that the hemorrhage, which probably will be found to be the cause of death, was caused through the partial severance of the left cartoid [sic] artery. There is a deformity in the lower fifth of the bones of the right leg, which are not straight, but bow forward; there is a thickening above the left ankle. The bones are here straighter. No external recent injury, save to neck. No sign of ulceration, no sores or warts. Soles of feet scaling, probably through want of cleanliness. The body being washed more thoroughly, I saw six more or less healing sores on the left forehead. The lower lobe of the ear was torn, as if by the forcible removing or wearing through of an ear-ring, but it was thoroughly healed. The right ear was pierced for an ear-ring, but had not been so injured, and the ear-ring was wanting. On removing the scalp there was no sign of bruising or extravasation of blood between it and the skull-cap. The skull was about one sixth of an inch in thickness, and dense in texture. The brain was fairly normal. The left lung had old adhesions to the chest wall through its pleura, and the right slightly so adhered. This had old organized lymph on its surface. Both lungs were unusually pale. There was no fluid in the pericardium, a small deposit of fat outside the muscular substance deposited on the heart, round the base and large vessels. The heart was small; left ventricle firmly contracted, right less so; no escape of blood on division of vessels, no clot in pulmonary artery or bronchial veins. Right ventricle full of dark clot, left firmly contracted, so as to be absolutely empty. Valves healthy and competent; stomach large; mucous membrane only congested naturally, as formed during digestion, contained partly digested food, apparently consisting of cheese, potato, and farinaceous edibles; spleen pale and unusually oblong; left kidney large and �nemic; left smaller, fairly healthy; liver fatty, portal veins congested. The teeth on the left lower jaw were absent. On Tuesday at the mortuary I went to observe marks on the shoulders in the presence of Police-constable 318 H. I found the total circumference of the neck 12 � inches. I found in the pocket of the underskirt of the deceased a key as of a padlock, a small piece of lead pencil, a comb, and a broken piece of comb, a metal spoon, half-a-dozen large and one small button, and a hook, as if off a dress, a piece of muslin, and one or two small pieces of paper. Examining her jacket I found that, although there was a slight amount of mud on the right side, the left was well plastered with mud.

By the Jury-The deceased had a black mark on her left leg, but he could not say whether it was caused by an adder bite. He did not notice whether the roof of the mouth was missing.

By the Coroner-Death was undoubtedly due to hemorrhage, caused by the partial severance of the left carotid, and the severance of the windpipe.

The inquiry was then adjourned until to-morrow at 2 o'clock.

William Bull, 27, describing himself as a medical student, of Stannard-road, Dalston, was charged before Mr. Alderman Stone, at the Guildhall Police-court, yesterday, on his own confession, with committing the murder in Mitre-square, Aldgate, on Sunday morning last. The prisoner appeared to be recovering from the effects of intoxication.-Inspector George Izzard, of the City Police, deposed: Last night, at twenty minutes to eleven o'clock, the prisoner came into the charge-room of the Bishopsgate Police-station, and made a statement. After cautioning him two or three times, I wrote down his statement, which I now produce, and with your worship's permission will read it.-Mr. Alderman Stone desired it to be read, and witness read as follows:-"My name is William Bull. I reside at 6, Stannard-road, Dalston, and am a medical student at the London Hospital. I wish to give myself up for the murder in Aldgate on Saturday night last or Sunday morning. About two o'clock, I think, I met the woman in Aldgate. I went with her up a narrow street. I promised to give her half-a-crown, which I did. While walking along together there was a second man, who came up and took the half-crown from her. I cannot endure this any longer. My poor head." Prisoner here put his hand to his head on the front of the desk, and cried, or pretended to cry, "I shall go mad. I have done it, and I must put up with it." I asked him what he had done with his clothing that he was wearing on the night of the murder and he said, "If you wish to know, they are in the Lea, and the knife I threw away." At this point he declined to say anything more. He was drunk. Part of his statement was heard by Major H. Smith. Inquiries were made by Sergeant Miles, and he was told that no such person was known at the London Hospital, and no such name. His father is a most respectable man, and says that his son was at home on Saturday night.-Mr. Alderman Stone: Do you ask any questions, Bull? Prisoner: No. When I stated what I did I was mad drunk. I could not do it.-Inspector Izzard: I should like a few days' remand to make inquiries, your worship.-The Alderman: Very well. I shall remand him.-Prisoner: Can I have bail?-The Alderman: No; I shall not allow bail.

Nathaniel Baker, 20, labourer, giving an address in Eagle-place, Whitechapel, was charged on remand, at the Worship-street Police-court, yesterday afternoon, with having been concerned with two other men not in custody in stealing from the person of John Mogent a gold watch, value 6l.-The prosecutor, an elderly man, described on the charge-sheet as Dublin Castle, said that he went to see the scene of the recent murders in Whitechapel. He had viewed the spot in Hanbury-street, and was going on, when at the corner of Berner-street three or four men got round him and hustled him. The prisoner, one of the men, putting his hand over his shoulder, snatched his watch. Two or three persons witnessed the robbery, and when the prisoner ran away he was pursued and caught.-The Magistrate said that he thought it would be wiser if persons who went to inspect such a scene in this neighbourhood left their gold watches behind them.-The prisoner said he did not take the watch. He was only a "simple lad," who was standing near the place where the woman was murdered.-The police stated, however, that the prisoner was a "lad" who had been several times convicted. Warder Humphreys, of Pentonville Prison, had a list of convictions against him.-The prisoner was remanded for the convictions to be proved prior to committal for trial.

THE TERROR IN THE EAST-END.

The out-of-door excitement has quite died down in the East of London. Crowds have ceased to assemble, the evening papers were last night apparently no longer in the eager request of the past four days, and the streets have resumed comparative quiet. Indeed they had done much more than resume the comparative quiet of ordinary times. The great mass of those who all the week have been induced to come out under the street lamps to hear and discuss the latest tidings have apparently abandoned hope of any capture or of getting any reliable solution of the painful mystery, and had last night for the first time remained indoors, while thousands of stragglers usually to be seen lounging and prowling about were also conspicuous by their absence. Not only in the district of London more immediately concerned but in other quarters too this was the case. "The streets have been wonderfully clear," said a policeman in the neighbourhood of Clerkenwell-green. "I only saw three of that class all last night, and I expect they wouldn't have been out if they could have helped it." "Good heavens! What are we to do?" exclaimed a trembling wretch, the night before last, in answer to the stern rebuke of a rescue officer whom she had inadvertently accosted near Shoreditch Church. "At one o'clock last night," she went on to plead, "Mother Morris came down into the kitchen, and she says, 'Now, then, you girls who haven't got your doss money-out you go,' and all of them as hadn't got enough was forced to turn out and go into the streets shuddering at every shadow, and expecting every minute to be murdered. What are we to do?"

"We haven't had many indications of special distress among persons of this class at present," said a very shrewd, experienced clergyman of Spitalfields. "The thing has hardly had time to show itself. I have no doubt we shall have. But you know these women are very good-natured to each other. They are drawn together by common interests and a common danger, and they will help each other all they can, and at present we have had scarcely any applications for help of any kind. So far as women of the class of those who have been murdered are concerned," continued this gentleman in answer to inquiries, "I fear that very little can be done. After a certain time they are practically hopeless. Their wants are very few. Food hardly seems to be a necessary with them. A bed to sleep in and plenty of beer seem to be all they really require. Even if they can be induced to enter a Home, they are unaccustomed to the slightest restraint, and will submit to none. They become amazingly reckless. To give you an instance-I am speaking now of the rough, strong middle-aged women of this class-there were two of them quarrelling some time ago. One was down in the street and the other at an open window at the top of a house. They railed and stormed at each other for a time, and the one up at the window worked herself up to such a frenzy of passion that in her eagerness to get at her tormenter she actually flung herself down headlong at her, just as a wild beast might have sprung. Strange to say, she did not kill herself. She was dreadfully injured, but she went for a time into hospital, and is now again about the streets. There are many such women about here practically past hope. They are a great terror to the police, for they are as strong as men, and constables can't tackle them as they do men. Being women they can't hit them, but the women themselves fight desperately."

In most of the poor localities of London there are women of this character-scarcely human beings, mere monstrosities, as awful in their way as the creature whose desperate deeds have shocked all England. Even the dread of assassination cannot deter such women from their ordinary courses. But they are comparatively few. There would appear to be not many in all London who have not been terribly shocked and sobered by what has happened. "Ratcliffe Highway has been more quiet and orderly the past few nights than I have known it for some years past," said Miss Steer, whose remarkable work, known in all the philanthropic circles of London as the "Bridge of Hope Mission," is carried on right down in the heart of this notorious neighbourhood. "For a very long time past," remarked this lady last evening, "there has been a very evident increase of turbulence and disorder down here. I cannot account for it all, but there has been quite an outbreak of riot and disturbance." It has been generally assumed that since "Ratcliffe Highway" became "St. George's-street," and the institution of the Sailors Home and other benevolent efforts have done so much for the benefit of women, that this notorious thoroughfare had become quite respectable. For a long time there certainly was a great improvement, and it undoubtedly is in many respects very different from what it was years ago. "But of late," said Miss Steer, "it has certainly appeared to me to be going backward, and to have been growing more and more disreputable and disorderly." That was the case up to last week, but on Sunday morning came down the tidings of these dreadful murders and last night, so far as anything could be seen or heard in passing along it, it was as quiet and orderly as a respectable suburban thoroughfare. There was scarcely a female figure to be seen, and the one or two who were visible were evidently taking care to keep within easy reach of friendly doorways. As for the quiet squares and byways of the locality they were absolutely lifeless and deserted, and the passing stranger who emerged from a side street into the light of the main road was scanned as curiously as the wayfarer through a remote village. The possibility of the dreaded figure coming out from the darkness was evidently in the minds of all. The ladies engaged in the mission just referred to have "refuge" accommodation for a limited number of females whom it is desired to help and befriend while they are seeking work and to whom tickets for beds are dealt out with anxious care and circumspection. It has been very difficult at times to get even the best of them safe in out of the perils of the streets before nine or ten o'clock. They now eagerly come in shortly after dusk, and pretty much the same thing has been experienced all over London. As to the unfortunate mortals who are turned out on to the streets by force if they cannot find their money, they are indeed to be commiserated, though at present their numbers are probably not large. Lodging-house deputies are often very lenient to regular customers, and, as it has been said, the people themselves help each other to an extent hardly to be expected of them. So that at present the number of those who are turned out is not great. For those who are, however, the lonely deserted condition of the streets would obviously be an aggravation of their misery, and the rescue societies are just now making special efforts to influence the unhappy mortals who, partly by vice and partly by the dire difficulty of living, have been drawn into this wretched course of life.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.

SIR,-A remarkable incident in connection with the recent murders is that in no one instance has it been found that the victim made any noise or cry while being done to death. My assistant suggests a theory in reference to this very remarkable fact, which strikes me as having something in it, and as such ought to be made public. The theory is that the murderer goes about with a vial of rum or brandy in his pocket drugged with an opiate-such as a solution of morphia, which is almost if not quite tasteless; that he offers a swig of it to his victims (which they would all be likely greedily to accept), when he meets them; that in about ten to twenty minutes the poison begins to do its work on constitutions well soaked with alcohol, and that then they are easily dispatched without fear of making any noise or call for assistance. Having been out of town lately for my holidays, I have not closely followed the evidence at the inquests, but there are two questions which would require clearing up if there is anything in this theory-1st. Have the stomachs been ripped open to do away with the evidence of poisoning in this manner? and 2nd. Has any analysis of the contents of the stomach been made?-Yours respectfully,

R. MACDONALD.
Coroner for N.-East Middlesex.
65, Westferry-road, Millwall, E., Oct. 3.

THE WESTMINSTER MYSTERY.

THE RESULT OF THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION.

Yesterday Dr. Bond, the divisional police surgeon, and Dr. Hibbert, his assistant, commenced the post-mortem examination on the human remains found on Tuesday on the site of the new police headquarters in Whitehall. The medical gentlemen arrived at the mortuary-a mortuary only in name, for it comprises an untenanted shop and house situate[d] at 20, Millbank-street, about 300 yards from the House of Lords-shortly after 7 o'clock, and without delay commenced their unenviable task, and continued engaged until a quarter to 9, when the examination was completed, having lasted about an hour and a half. The examination was necessarily limited, in consequence of the advanced state of decomposition in which the trunk was found, but nevertheless it was of a searching character. Dr. Bond, who conducted the autopsy, declined to give any particulars of the result before making the official report to the authorities. It is, however, understood that the surgeons came to the conclusion that the arm which was washed up by the Thames near Pimlico, and which had been conveyed to the Westminster Mortuary from Ebury-street, where it has been preserved, fitted into the trunk found at Whitehall. It is also stated that the cord tied round the limb found in the river and a portion of that which was used to tie up the parcel were similar. At the conclusion of the examination an order was given to have the clothing thoroughly inspected. The clothing, of which there was very little, having been disinfected, was subjected to a close search, and adhering to one portion was found a piece of newspaper saturated with blood. It bore no date, but that will easily be ascertained. The dress stuff was found to be a rich flowered silk under-skirt, which tends to show that the unfortunate victim was not one of the poorer class of society. Nothing was discovered which pointed to the cause of death, but the doctors are of opinion that the woman must have been murdered three weeks ago, and the advanced state of decomposition was due to exposure. The doctors are preparing an elaborate report of the whole case, which will be submitted at the inquest to be held at the Sessions House, Westminster, on Monday next.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

MR. FORBES'S THEORY.

SIR,-Mr. Forbes, in the letter you publish to-day, suggests that the Whitechapel murderer cannot be a religious monomaniac, believing himself to be the appointed instrument for ridding the earth of a certain class of sinners, because he confines his operations to Whitechapel and "mutilates as well as slays." This seems to me to afford another example of the perils of theorizing. Such a maniac as he is here contemplating would naturally desire to deter as well as to destroy; to strike terror-and so far he has unquestionably been very successful-into the hearts of the wicked as well as to rid the earth of their presence. If so, would not this explain the mutilations quite as satisfactorily as the suggestion of a medical student blindly avenging personal sufferings? As to confining himself to Whitechapel, the murderer, whoever he may be, would probably feel the need of a basis of operations not far removed from the scene of his outrages-a place whence he could conveniently sally forth and whither he could as easily return to divest himself in private of those traces of his crime which can hardly have been entirely absent in any one instance. We have only to suppose that this retreat is in Whitechapel and we have at once a plausible answer to the question why-for the present at least-Whitechapel is the locality he selects. I have not as yet met with a single suggestion which is not open to some such obvious alternative suggestion. This is why I continue, and would advise others to continue, to have

NO THEORY.
Oct. 3.

WOMAN KILLING NO MURDER.

SIR,-It is impossible of course to deny the force of the satire in Mrs. Fenwick Miller's letter under this heading in Tuesday's Daily News. She has a right to be angry at savage treatment of her sex. She has a right to think that the barbarians who assault women but stop short of murder are too lightly punished. It is not quite so clear that she is right in railing at the judges and the magistrates. It is never quite safe to conclude that a necessarily short report of a police-court case or of a trial at sessions or assizes contains all the facts essential to a fair judgment of the fitness of the sentence. Let Mrs. Miller reflect on the position of the prosecutors in such cases as she cites. They are not Shylocks insisting on their pound of flesh. On the contrary they are in too many cases unwilling witnesses of their own hurt. Often they plead with the magistrate so earnestly not to send their brutal husbands or "protectors" to trial, and not even to punish them, that he is sorely puzzled how to decide betwixt conflicting claims of justice and of mercy. He is told, and he knows, that if the man goes to gaol the woman and her children must go to the workhouse. Tears are often added to entreaties for mercy. What, in such circumstances, would Mrs. Fenwick Miller do? Insist on aggravating the misery of the woman in order to increase the severity of the man's punishment? From the cases Mrs. Miller mentions I would rather draw the conclusion that more must be done to make women independent, to open markets for their labour, and generally to enable them to protect themselves by means far more efficacious than punishments.-Yours, &c.,

Oct. 3.
A.P.

At Marlborough-street Police-court, yesterday, Julia Thompson, 27, a respectably dressed woman, described as a tailoress, of Stephen-street, Tottenham-court-road, was charged with behaving in a disorderly manner in Rathbone-place, Oxford-street.-Constable Bennett, 413 D, said that about a quarter past one the previous morning, he heard the prisoner and a man having some conversation about the Whitechapel murders. They were talking in a loud tone, and shouted and created a great disturbance. He advised them to go away, which the man did, but the woman said she was not a street walker, and he had no right to interfere with her. She shouted and hallooed, and seemed to be very much annoyed at his speaking to her. She would not go away, so he took her into custody.-In reply to the magistrate the prisoner denied that she in any way interfered with the policeman or did anything wrong. It was true that a man spoke to her about the Whitechapel murders, and she remarked that "the murderer might be here," but neither did nor said anything to call for the interference of the police.-Frederick Henderson, a journalist, said that he had been to Westminster to obtain some news, and as he passed Rathbone-place on his way back he noticed the policeman standing at the corner, and he caught the words "Whitechapel murders." He heard the woman call a man a "dirty beast," and then the constable told them to go away, which the man did. The officer walked along a short distance, when he turned back, ordered the woman to go away, seized her by the shoulders, kicked her with his knee, and remarked "Now will you go away!"-Mr. Newton: Did she go?-The witness: No, sir; she turned round and said "Why do you treat me like that?" The witness, continuing, said he remonstrated with the constable and followed on to the station, the officer informing him that if he did not "shut up" he would assault him also. He (witness) got somewhat excited at the treatment the woman received.-The constable, recalled, in reply to the magistrate said that the affair had been in progress ten minutes before the arrival of Mr. Henderson, and there was no one present but himself and the man he had referred to. At the station Mr. Henderson accused him before the inspector of having kicked the woman, and when he (the constable) suggested that a doctor should be sent for to examine her, Mr. Henderson said that he kicked her with his knee.-Mr. Newton (to the prisoner): It was very foolish of you not to go away.-The prisoner: Yes, I know, but he would not let me go either way.-Mr. Newton: Yes, but according to the witness the constable told you to go away, and you did not do so. Go away now.