The Daily Telegraph
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1888
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POLICE INTELLIGENCE
WORSHIP-STREET. - THE EAST-END LODGING-HOUSES. - Mary Hawkes, 18, and James Fordham, 21, the latter with several aliases, were charged on remand before Mr. Montagu Williams with having been concerned with others not in custody in assaulting Carl Edwin Hellman, and robbing him of a pair of trousers and a sum of £4. - Mr. Phillips appeared to defend Fordham. - The prosecutor, a Scandinavian, who described himself as a student, met, whilst intoxicated, a woman, with whom he went to Flower and Dean-street, Spitalfields, and was taken by her into a common lodging-house there, where he paid 8d for a "double" bed. On being shown a room he found fault with the accommodation, and was left by the woman, and almost immediately afterwards was attacked by four or five men, who burst into the room, and seized him, throwing him on the bed and rifling his pockets of a purse containing £4 in gold, as well as stealing his trousers. It happened, however, that two police-constables had been informed of the fact of the man being taken to the house by women, and the officers remaining near the spot heard his cries, and entered the place just as he was thrown down the stairs. The room he had been in was searched, and in an adjoining apartment the prisoners were found in bed. The trousers and purse were also discovered there, and £2 10s was missed from the latter. Fordham denied having taken part in the assault on the prosecutor, who, however, identified him. The prosecutor also said that he paid the 8d for the bed to a woman (the deputy). - It was stated by the police that when they entered the house the deputy was not to be seen. The magistrate had ordered the police to produce her, and also desired to have some information as to the supervision of the common lodging-houses of the district. - Margaret Brown, a young woman, now deposed that she acted as "deputy" of the house in question, No. 34, Flower and Dean-street, erroneously stated last time by the witness to be 35. The house was owned by a Mr. Coates, who kept a chandler's shop in Dorset-street, and lived in Whitecross-street. Replying to the magistrate, the witness said there were nineteen "double" beds and seven "singles" in the place. She remembered letting in the female prisoner and a man - a foreigner - the latter paying 8d. for a double bed. Witness knew Fordham, whom she admitted at a quarter to one o'clock, or about ten minutes after the woman and the foreigner. She could not account for Fordham being afterwards found with the female prisoner in a "double" when he paid for a single bed. She had known him before, he having slept there about once a week for some time past. She did not know the other four men who attacked the prosecutor - there were no other men that she knew of up there. She had heard Hellman calling out, and went up when the prosecutor said the woman had robbed him. That was after the police were in the house. Witness went up with the police. She had sole charge of the place, and was paid 6s per week. - Police-constable Dennis, 57 H, recalled, said that when he entered the place the deputy was not to be seen. After going in a second time she came from the kitchen. - The witness explained that the "single" beds were undivided, and stood in rows in a large room, the "double" beds being in small rooms made by partitioning a large one. The partitions did not touch the floor or the ceiling, a space of about 18in. being left top and bottom. A person might pass from one "room" to another with a good squeeze. - Previous convictions were then proved against both prisoners. The man had been several times sentenced for felony, and the woman twice for cutting and wounding, her latest sentence being twelve months. - Police-sergeant 32 H said he had, with an inspector, to inspect the registered lodging-houses in the district. They were 127 in number - common lodging-houses, accommodating about 6,000 persons. They were all visited once a week on an average. The house 34, Flower and Dean-street had hitherto been a well-conducted house. Of course it was frequented by thieves and prostitutes. He (witness) doubted if a single registered lodging-house would be found without such people among its lodgers. - The magistrate having intimated that he should send the case for trial, Mr. Phillips said Fordham would reserve his defence. - The prosecutor was not in attendance, and it was stated that he was on the eve of sailing for America. - Mr. Williams remarked that he should chance the prosecutor being in attendance at the trial. If he was not, the judge would probably deal with the matter. He directed that the proceedings at the lodging-house in question be reported at Scotland-yard. The prisoners were then committed to the sessions.
METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.
The weekly meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works was held yesterday at the offices, Spring-gardens, Lord Magheramorne presiding.
Several deputations waited on the board to advocate the proposed tramway extension from East Dulwich to Peckham, one representing the Camberwell Vestry, which had passed a resolution in favour of the scheme. The subject was reported to the Works Committee.
The Bishop of BEDFORD, who was formerly rector of Spitalfields, headed a deputation which memorialised the board to schedule the sites of Bell-lane and Pearl-street in Whitechapel, with a view to their being improved under the Artisans Dwellings Act. Amongst the members of the deputation was Mr. S. Montagu, M.P., and the Rev. Dr. Adler. The Bishop of Bedford drew attention to the fact that whilst, according to the last census, there were in England and Wales 70 inhabitants to each acre, in the Whitechapel district there were 176, in Spitalfields sub-district 286, and in the Bell-lane and Pearl-street areas 600 and 500 persons to the acre respectively. This density of population was necessarily injurious to the moral and physical well-being of the inhabitants.
The petition was referred to the Works and General Purposes Committee
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Yesterday morning the story rapidly spread in Spitalfields that a man had been found with his abdomen ripped open, and that the man was another victim of the unknown Whitechapel murderer. Upon inquiry, however, it was found that the sufferer, who was by trade a butcher, was cutting a quarter of beef into joints when his knife slipped, inflicting a very serious wound in the abdomen. He was conveyed in great pain to the London Hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.
POLICE PENSIONERS. - Mr. Howard Vincent, M.P., occupied the chair yesterday at the quarterly meeting of the Metropolitan and City Police Pensioners' Employment Association. He spoke of the great trials to which the police were exposed in the course of their duty, and said they were frequently most unjustly blamed in a moment of popular excitement for occurrences beyond human control. With that important branch of the service with which he was formerly associated - the Criminal Investigation Department, which was the most abused and misrepresented of all - he had especial sympathy at the present time.
THE EAST-END MURDERS.
The following letter has been received by Mr. Metcalfe, the vestry clerk of Whitechapel, from the Home Office, in reply to a resolution of the vestry asking Mr. Matthews to give every possible facility for the speedy arrest of the murderer:
"Whitehall, Oct. 10, 1888.
"Sir - I am directed by the Secretary of State to acknowledge your letter of the 4th inst., forwarding a copy of a resolution passed at a vestry meeting of the parish of St. Mary, Whitechapel, expressing sorrow at the recent murders in the East-end of London, and urging her Majesty's Government to use their utmost endeavours to discover the criminal. I am instructed to state that Mr. Matthews shares the feeling of the vestry with regard to these murders, and that he has given directions, and that the police have instructions, to exercise any and every power they possess, and even to use an amount of discretion with regard to suspected persons, in their efforts to discover the criminal. And I am further to state that the Secretary of State, after personal conference with the Commissioners of Police, at which the whole of the difficulties have been fully discussed, is satisfied that no means have been, or will be spared in tracing the offender, and bringing him to justice. - I am, Sir, yours obediently.
"E. LEIGH PEMBERTON.
"T. Metcalfe, Esq., Vestry Clerk, Whitechapel."
It will be remembered that when the Home Secretary expressed his opinion that the rule of the Home Office in reference to rewards in cases of murder should not be departed from, a petition was forwarded to her Majesty praying that a reward should be offered for the conviction of the assassin or assassins. To this petition an answer was sent by Mr. Matthews, which was practically a repetition of his former decision. It was, however, thought that as the Corporation of the City of London and various other bodies had offered rewards amounting in the aggregate to over £1,000 the Home Secretary was possibly content to let those rewards stand in lieu of the Government offer. Further correspondence ensued, Mr. Lusk, on behalf of the inhabitants of Whitechapel, pointing out that the present series of murders is absolutely unique in the annals of crime, that the astuteness and determination of the murderer had hitherto been, and may possibly continue to be, more than a match for Scotland-yard and the Old Jewry combined, and that all the ordinary means of detection had failed. He therefore calls attention to the fact that the only means left untried for the detection of the murderer has been the offer of a Government reward. Rewards have been offered from other quarters, including the Corporation of the City of London, "but neither the vigilance committees, the Corporation, nor private individuals can offer a pardon to an accomplice, and therefore the value of such offers is considerably less than the proclamation of a reward by her Majesty's Government, with a pardon for such accomplice." To this an official reply has been received, stating that the matter "shall receive due attention."
At the Belfast Police-court, yesterday, John Foster was brought up on suspicion of being concerned in the Whitechapel murder. - Constable Carland deposed: From information I received I proceeded to No. 11, Memel-street. The prisoner was not there when I went first, but I went back about half an hour afterwards and then found him in. I went upstairs to the room he occupied, and rapped at the door. The prisoner said, "Come in." I went in, and found him in bed. I asked his name, where he had come from, and how long he had been in Belfast. He gave the name of William John Foster, and said he had no fixed address. He arrived in town on Sunday from Greenock, where he had spent two days, but he could not say where he stopped. Previous to that he was in Glasgow for four days, and before that in Edinburgh. He did not know how long he was there, nor did he know anyone living there. I found a clasp-knife in his coat pocket, a purse containing £19 4s 5½d, and the chisel and handle produced were lying on the table in the bed-room. These, when separated, fit into a bag I found. In the bag were three razors, a table-knife, a small knife, and a number of watchmaking appliances. He said that he was a watchmaker, but that he did nothing at the trade, as he had an income of his own, which he got from his father, who lived in London. Replying to further questions, he said his father was a brewer, but could not give the address. I found the silver watch, and chain, and locket (produced) in his pockets. He said the watch was his own. It bears the monogram "A. M. R." There was a piece of broken necklet in his coat pocket. The watch is a lever without the maker's name. I examined the clothes of the prisoner, and found he was wearing boots similar to those worn by military men. - The prisoner was remanded for a week.
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Two more letters have been received from the Home Office respecting the East-end crimes. In one, which was an answer to a renewed request that the Government should offer a reward, Mr. Matthews promised to give the communication "due consideration." The other is an acknowledgement of a resolution passed by the Whitechapel Vestry, and in it the Home Secretary states that, after personal conference with the Commissioners of Police, he is satisfied that no means have been or will be spared in tracing the offender and bringing him to justice.
A man giving the name of John Foster was brought up at the Belfast Police-court yesterday on suspicion of being concerned in the Whitechapel murders. The constable who made the arrest deposed that he found in the prisoner's possession three razors and as many knives, besides nearly £20 in money. The accused was remanded.
Among the deputations received by the Metropolitan Board of Works yesterday was one from Whitechapel, headed by the Bishop of Bedford, urging that the sites of Bell-lane and Pearl-street in that district should be scheduled with a view to their being improved under the Artisans' Dwellings Acts. It was pointed out that the population in this locality is so dense as to be injurious to the moral and physical well-being of the inhabitants. The subject was referred to a committee.
Mary Hawkes and James Fordham, both of whom have been frequently convicted, were again brought before Mr. Montagu Williams, at Worship-street, yesterday, on a charge of assaulting and robbing a Scandinavian in a common lodging-house in Spitalfields. They were committed for trial.
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PARIS DAY BY DAY.
[BY SPECIAL WIRE.]
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
PARIS, FRIDAY NIGHT.
M. Goron, head of the Paris detective department, has received a letter, which is evidently intended to be a grim joke, from a disciple of Jack the Ripper. The communication is dated from Brest, and in it the writer says that the Whitechapel murders were committed by his colleague and himself, and that they intend to startle Paris with a series of similar atrocities. "We are looking for something in the human body which medical science has never found yet. Our first victim will be a woman between twenty and thirty years old. You can send all the policemen in Paris after us, but they will not be able to catch us. Operations to be begun three weeks hence, at least. - Signed, H. L. P. C." The letter is dated the 9th inst. Its concoctor incidentally mentions that he and the Ripper have murdered women in New York as well as in London.
