East London Advertiser
Saturday, 13 October 1888.
Sir Charles Warren has made a concise reply to some of the gravest charges of the Pall Mall Gazette against the administration of the Criminal Investigation Department. He denies that candidates for the detective force must reach a fixed height, and that no policeman can become a detective till he has served for three years in the force. The public will feel reassured on these important points, but we are afraid that Sir Charles Warren's defence will not be regarded as entirely valid. That there is gross mismanagement at Scotland Yard is beyond a doubt. If there were not, the public would not have been deprived of the services of such able and experienced officials as Mr. Monro and Mr. Jenkinson. Mr. Monro's retirement seems to have thrown the detective department into confusion. Sir Charles Warren is an able man, but he is a military man, and military ideas of organisation are quite unfitted for detective work. If a detective has no margin for discretion, if he is obliged to conform to some narrow standard of military red-tape, his usefulness must be enormously impaired. They manage these things, at all events, better in France. There no military official ever dreams of interfering with the detective organisation. The chief of the police employs all manner of people, women as well as men; but if anybody suggested a woman detective to Sir Charles Warren, that gallant officer would probably stand aghast. Yet a little reorganisation on the French lines might prove more enduringly effective than the employment of bloodhounds. The spectacle of the Chief Commissioner running about with a bloodhound on his trail is doubtless a proof of the conscientious zeal of that functionary; but it would be more to the purpose if he formed a body of detectives who would not distinguish themselves by arresting a Sunday-school teacher because he happened to have a razor in his bag. Englishmen have the traditional prejudice against the police spy system. We have been accustomed to rail at foreign tyrants who employed minions to dog the footsteps of noble-minded citizens. But without going the length of the old Austrian system, which by the way was rather stupid, Scotland-yard might plant in the East End of London a number of detectives who would not be suspected by their neighbours. The skilful officer in the "Ticket-of-Leave Man" may be only a stage detective, and Inspector Bucket may seem to posses that superhuman intelligence which is possible only in fiction. But there is no reason why we should not have Hawkshaws at Scotland-yard who can worm themselves into the confidence of criminals without suggesting their character and object. At present we are confronted by the appalling fact that as a rule murder does not "out". Its "miraculous organ," as Hamlet called it, is dumb. The Prince of Denmark would have known nothing of his father's murder had it not been for the ghost. We cannot expect any supernatural visitations to assist Sir Charles Warren; but something will have to be done to convince the public that better brains and better organisation are being applied to the detection of rampant crime. Most murderers go scot free; that, at any rate, seems to be the rule in London, and the people cannot be expected to accept this fact as if it were merely in accordance with the law of averages, like Buckle's statistics of suicides.
On Friday afternoon Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, Middlesex coroner, resumed his inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Elizabeth Stride, or Watts, lately living at a common lodging-house in Flower and Dean-street, Spitalfields, who was found murdered in a yard in Berner-street. At the empanelling of the jury the coroner's officer described the deceased as unknown. - Dr. Phillips was recalled and said that since the last hearing he had examined the body again. He examined the mouth carefully and could not find any portion missing, although the witness Elizabeth Watts said that was so. He could not find out that any person a short time previous to the deceased's death had had connection with her. The knife that was produced on the last occasion was delivered to him by the police. It was a knife used in a chandler's shop, and is called a slicing knife. It had been recently blunted, sharpened and turned. Rubbing it on the curbstones was the most probable way it was blunted. It had previously been a very sharp knife. It was a weapon that could have inflicted the injuries, but was not such a knife that he himself would have selected. If his opinion were correct as to the woman's injuries and position, the knife in question would not have inflicted the injuries. He was also of the opinion that the deceased was seized by the throat and laid on the ground, the murderer kneeling on her right side and then inflicting the injuries. The gash extended from right to left. The knife was sharp pointed. - "Can you," the coroner asked, "account for the quantity of blood found on the woman's hands?" - "That," replied the witness, "is still a mystery." - The doctor added that the injuries would take only a few seconds to inflict, and in answer to the jury he said there was no appearance of a struggle and he did not believe one had taken place. He had seen several self-inflicted wounds more extensive than this one, but not so severe. The more he examined the body the more he thought that the throat was cut was cut by somebody who knew about throat-cutting. The present case was something like the murder of Annie Chapman, whose throat was cut from ear to ear. There had been an attempt to completely severe the bone. The murderer would not necessarily get a quantity of blood over him. -- Dr. Blackwell, recalled, agreed with the previous witness respecting the improbability of the knife produced having been used by the murderer. Mr. Sven Ollsen said he was pastor of the Swedish Church in Princes-square, and had known the woman for 17 years. She was a Swede, and was born at Landaro, near Gottenberg, on November 27, 1843. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Gustoftroller and her married name Stride. He identified the book produced as a Swedish hymn-book which he had given to her last winter. He believed she was married in 1869. He could not remember when the husband died, but she was very poor at the time, and he relieved her. -- William Marshall, 64, Berner-street, a labourer in an indigo warehouse, had seen the body in the mortuary. He saw the woman in Berner-street about 11:45 p.m. on the Saturday, standing on the pavement between Christian-street and Boyd-street. She was then talking to a man. They were not quarreling, but talking quietly. There was no street lamp near, but the witness could see that the man was wearing a short black coat and dark trousers. He seemed to be middle-aged, and was wearing a round cap with a small peak, something like what a sailor would wear. He was about 5ft. 6in. in height, rather stout, and appeared decently dressed. He did not look like a dock labourer, nor a butcher, but had more the appearance of a clerk. The witness was standing at his door, and his attention was attracted by seeing the man kissing her. He heard the man say to her, "You would say anything but your prayers." He was "mild speaking," and spoke as an educated man would. - Evidence was also given by James Brown and Police-constable Smith to the effect that they had seen a man and woman talking near the scene of the murder about 12:30 on the Sunday morning. Their description of the man, differed in several particulars, however, from that given by Marshall. Michael Kidney, the man with whom Stride lived, identified the Swedish hymn-book as having belonged to the deceased. She gave it to a Mrs. Smith on the previous Tuesday, saying she was going away. She gave it to Mrs. Smith, not as a gift, but to take care of. -- Philip Krantz, of 40, Berner-street, said he was editor of a Hebrew Socialist paper. He wrote in a room, part of which is a printing office, beneath the club. On Saturday night he was in his room from 9 o'clock till he was called and told that there was a woman lying in the yard. He had not heard any cry or scream or anything unusual. His window and door were closed. If a woman had screamed he should have heard it but for the singing upstairs, which was very loud at the time. When he went out he saw the woman on the stones surrounded by members of the club. He did not think it possible that any stranger could have escaped from the yard unobserved after he arrived. He might have done so before. The inquiry was then adjourned till the 23rd inst.
By favour of the Daily Telegraph, we are enabled to give sketches which are presented not, of course, as authentic portraits, but as a likeness which an important witness has identified as that of the man who was seen talking to the murdered woman in Berner-street and its vicinity until within a quarter of an hour of the time when she was killed. Three men, William Marshall, James Brown, both labourers, and Police-constable Smith, have already stated before the coroner that a man and woman did stand in Fairclough-street, at the corner of Berner-street, for some time - that is, from a quarter to 12 o'clock, as stated by Marshall, to a quarter before 1 a.m., the hour mentioned by Brown. The policeman appears to have seen the same pair in Berner-street at half-past 12. Matthew Packer, the fruiterer, whose evidence has yet to be taken, seems to have had a better opportunity of observing the appearance of the stranger than any other individual, for it was at his shop that the grapes which other witnesses saw near the body were bought. In accordance with the general description furnished to the police by Packer and others, a number of sketches were prepared, portraying men of different nationalities, ages, and ranks of life. These were submitted to Packer, who unhesitatingly selected one of these here reproduced - the portrait of the man without the moustache, and wearing the soft felt or American hat. Further, in order to remove all doubt, and, if possible, to obtain a still better visible guidance, Packer was shewn a considerable collection of photographs, and from these, after careful inspection, he picked out one which corresponded in all important respects to the sketch. It was noticed that Packer, as also another important witness, presently to be mentioned, at once rejected the faces of men of purely sensuous type, and that they thus threw aside the portraits of several noted American criminals. Both witnesses inclined to the belief that the man's age was not more than 30, in which estimate they were supported by the police-constable, who guessed him to be 28. If the impressions of two men, who it may be supposed, have actually conversed with the alleged murderer, be correct, and their recollection of his features can be relied upon, then, in their opinion, at all events, the sketches here given furnish a reasonably accurate representation of his general appearance as described and adopted by them.
It is a remarkable circumstance - much more than an ordinary coincidence - that the description of the supposed murderer given by Packer has been confirmed by another man, who without being aware of the fact, also chose from the sketches the one which had already been selected by Packer. Search for the individual answering to the description above detailed, but having a small moustache and wearing a black deerstalker felt hat, instead of a soft one, has been made by the police in Whitechapel ever since Saturday, September 1, the day following the Buck's-row tragedy. Information was tendered at the King David's-lane police-station, at about that time, by a dairyman who has a place of business in Little Turner-street, Commercial-road. It will be recollected that on Saturday, September 1, a desperate assault was reported to have been committed near to the music-hall in Cambridge Heath-road, a man having seized a woman by the throat and dragged her down a court, where he was joined by a gang, one of whom laid a knife across the woman's throat, remarking "we will serve you as we did the others." The particulars of this affair were subsequently stated to be untrue; but the milkman has reason to suppose that the outrage was actually perpetrated, and he suspects that the murderer of Mary Ann Nicholls in Buck's-row had something to do with it. At any rate, upon that Saturday night, at five minutes to 11 o'clock, a man, corresponding with the description given by Packer of the individual who purchased the grapes in Berner-street, called at the shop, which is on the left of a covered yard, usually occupied by the barrows, which are let out on hire. He was in a hurry, and he asked for a pennyworth of milk, with which he was served, and he drank it down at a gulp. Asking permission to go into the yard or shed, he went there, but the dairyman caught a glimpse of something white, and, having suspicions, he rejoined the man in the shed, and was surprised to observe that he had covered up his trousers with a pair of white overalls, such as engineers wear. The man had a staring look, and appeared greatly agitated. He made a movement forward, and the brim of his hard felt hat struck the dairyman, who is therefore sure of the kind that he was wearing. In a hurried manner the stranger took out a black shiny bag, which was on the ground, a white jacket and rapidly put it on, completely hiding his cutaway black coat, remarking meanwhile, "It's a dreadful murder, isn't it?" although the subject had not been previously mentioned. Without making a pause the suspicious person caught up his bag, which was still open, and rushed into the street, towards Shadwell, saying, "I think I've got a clue!" He had no marked American accent, and his general appearance was that of a clerk or student whose beard had been allowed three days' growth. His hair was dark, and his eyes large and staring. The portrait gives, according to the statement of the witness, a good approximate idea of his look. The bag carried by the young man, whose age the dairyman places at 28, is stated to have been provided with a lock at the top, near the handle, and was made, as stated, of a black glistening material.
In connection with the Whitechapel murders a black bag has been repeatedly mentioned. Mrs. Mortimer said: "The only man I had seen pass through Berner-street previously was a young man who carried a black shiny bag. He walked very fast down the street from the Commercial-road. He looked up at the club, and then went round the corner by the Board school." This was on the morning of the murder in Berner-street. Albert Bachert, of 13 Newnham-street, Whitechapel, has also stated: "On Saturday night at about seven minutes to 12 I entered the Three Nuns Hotel, Aldgate. While in there an elderly woman, very shabbily dressed, came in and asked me to buy some matches. I refused, and she went out. A man who had been standing by me remarked that those persons were a nuisance, to which I responded "Yes." He then asked me to have a glass with him, but I refused, as I had just called for one myself. He then asked me if I knew how old some of the women were who were in the habit of soliciting outside. I replied that I knew or thought that some of them who looked about 25 were over 35, the reason they looked younger being on account of the powder and paint. Having asked other questions about their habits, he went outside and spoke to the woman who was selling matches, and gave her something, I believe. He returned to me and I bid him good-night at about 10 minutes past 12. I believe the woman was waiting for him. I do not think I could identify the woman, as I did not take particular notice of her, but I should know the man again. He was a dark man, height about 5ft. 6in. or 7in. He wore a black felt hat, dark clothes, morning coat, black tie, and carried a black shiny bag."
The following letter from the Home Secretary has been received by the president of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee: "Whitehall, October 6. Sir, - The Secretary of State for the Home Department has had the honour to lay before the Queen the petition signed by you, praying that a reward may be offered by the Government for the discovery of the perpetrator of the recent murders in Whitechapel, and he desires me to inform you that though he has given directions that no effort or expense should be spared in endeavouring to discover the person guilty of the murders, he has not been able to advise her Majesty that in his belief the ends of justice would be promoted by any departure from the decision already announced with regard to the proposal that a reward should be offered by Government. - I am, sir, your obedient servant, E. Leigh Pemberton."
Sir Charles Warren has been making inquiries as to the practicability of employing trained bloodhounds for use in special cases in the streets of London, and having ascertained that dogs can be procured that have been accustomed to work in a town, he is making immediate arrangements for their use in London. Several private trials of bloodhounds were made in Hyde Park and Regent's Park on Monday. The results are reported to be satisfactory.
As a breeder of bloodhounds for 20 years Edwin Brough writes to the Times to advocate the restoration of this noble hound to his old position in the detection of crime. He says: If a few intelligent men who have had some experience in working hounds or in breaking dogs to the gun would take the matter up the capabilities of the bloodhound would be made so manifest that he would be constantly used by the police, and the deterrent effect would be incalculable. A bloodhound can hunt a lighter scent than any other hound, and when properly trained will stick to the line of the hunted man, although it may have been crossed by others. I doubt there are any bloodhounds in England sufficiently trained to have a good chance of tracking a man in crowded thoroughfares such as Whitechapel, and unless laid on at once the chances are that the hound might hit off the wrong trail; but if a well-trained bloodhound had been tried at Gateshead before the scene of the murder had been much trampled over he would have been very likely to run the man down. The great value of the pure bloodhound is that he can be trained to hunt the scent of a man through his boots and without any artificial aid such as blood.
The funeral of Catherine Eddowes, the victim of the Mitre-square murder, took place on Monday afternoon. The body was removed from the City mortuary in Golden-lane at a quarter past 1 o'clock for interment in the City of London cemetery at Ilford. There were dense crowds in the vicinity of Golden-lane, and at the junction of Osborn and Commercial streets the people were so numerous that a large force of police had to direct the traffic. The body was conveyed in an open hearse, a wreath being placed on either side of the coffin. Following the remains were two mourning coaches, and in the rear of these was a large wagon crowded with women, the majority of whom were attired in a style not at all befitting the occasion.
Early on Tuesday morning Detective-sergeant Robinson was informed by some Italians at Eyre-street-hill that a man who answered the description of the murderer had been seen there in the company of a woman who hastily left him. Having borrowed a cloak and hat, Robinson went in search of the man, who was said to have entered a cabyard in Phoenix-place, Clerkenwell, and hid himself behind some cabs. Some men employed in the yard went to the officer, and wanted to know what he wanted there, and on being told that he was a police-officer, they left, but directly afterwards two other men went up to him, and demanded that he should clear out at once, for they were going to protect their master's property. Robinson informed them that he was a police-officer, and requested them to keep quiet. One of them then struck him a violent blow in the face, after which he took from his pocket a knife with which he stabbed the officer in the face, whilst the other man kicked him. The officer calling out that he had been stabbed, a young man named Henry Doncaster came to his assistance and was also stabbed and assaulted. The Italians and some other police officers having arrived, the two men were at once taken to the King's-cross-road police-station.
An extraordinary statement has been made to the Cardiff police by a respectable-looking elderly woman, who stated that she was a Spiritualist, and, in company with five other persons, held a séance on Saturday night. They summoned the spirit of Elizabeth Stride. After some delay, she said, the spirit came, and in answer to some questions, stated that her murderer was a middle-aged man, whose name she mentioned and who resided at a given number in Commercial-road or street, Whitechapel, and who belonged to a gang of 12.
At another spiritualistic séance, held at Bolton on Sunday, a medium claims to have had revealed the Whitechapel murderer. She describes him as having the appearance of a farmer, though dressed like a navvy, with a strap round his waist and peculiar pockets. He wears a dark moustache and bears scars behind the ear and in other places. He will, says the medium, be caught in the act of committing another murder.
Should the murderer again attempt to give effect to his infamous designs in the Whitechapel district he will require, in the interests of his own personal security, not only to avoid the uniformed and plain-clothed members of the Metropolitan Police Force, but to reckon with a small, enthusiastic body of amateur detectives. Convinced that the regular force affords inadequate protection of life and property in this densely populated neighbourhood, a number of local tradesmen decided a few weeks ago to appoint a Vigilance Committee. The duties of the newly-formed band were twofold. In the first place, they were to publish far and wide their disagreement with the Home Secretary by offering a substantial reward to "anyone - citizen or otherwise," who should give information as would bring the murderer or murderers to justice: and, in the second place, they were themselves to patrol the most secluded parts of the district in the dead of night with a view to running the criminal to earth. So worthy a motive they felt confident would at once command the sympathy and support of "the tradesmen, ratepayers, and inhabitants generally." Unfortunately, however, for the realisation of their hopes, experience had proved that those to whom they appealed were more ready to commend than to co-operate. Excluding one or two subscriptions of considerable amounts they have been compelled to admit that funds have not "rolled" in. Nor has the suggestion to hold a large public meeting in furtherance of the objects of the Vigilantes been responded to with alacrity. Yet, undaunted by these disappointments, the committee have worked persistently on. Night after night, at 9 o'clock, meetings have been held in the upper room of a public-house in the Mile End-road, placed at the disposal of the committee by the landlord, who occupies the post of treasurer. The leaders of the movement are drawn principally from the trading class, and include a builder, a cigar manufacturer, a tailor, and a picture-frame maker, a licensed victualler, and "an actor." Inexperienced in practical police duty, the committee decided to call in professional assistance rather than rely solely upon their own resources. For this purpose they engaged the services of two private detectives - men who, though unattached to either metropolitan or city police forces, hold themselves out as experts in the unravelling of mysteries. At the disposal of these executive officers are placed about a dozen stalwart men possessing an intimate acquaintance with the highways and by-ways of Whitechapel. Only those have been selected who are "physically and morally" equal to the task they may any night be called upon to perform. As they were previously numbered among the unemployed, it became unnecessary to fix a high scale of remuneration. Shortly before 12 o'clock these assassin-hunters are dispatched upon their mission. Their foot-fall is silenced by the use of goloshes, and their own safety is assured by the carrying of police-whistles and stout sticks. The area over which this additional protection is afforded is divided into beats, each man being assigned his respective round. Nor is this all. At half an hour after midnight the committee-rooms close by an Act of Parliament, and thence emerge those members of the committee who happen to be on duty for the night. Like sergeants of police they make their tours of inspection, and while seeing that their men are faithfully performing their onerous duties, themselves visit the most sequestered and ill-lighted spots. The volunteer policemen leave their beats between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morning. It should be added that supervision in this way by members of the committee is not forthcoming every night. The fact that most of them are engaged from early in the morning until late at night in the transaction of their own businesses obviously renders such constant effort physically impossible. Although the work of the committee has not yet been crowned with success, it is claimed on their behalf that they have gained much information that may be of service hereafter. By the regular police, it is satisfactory to add, they have not been thwarted in their endeavour to bring the criminal to justice. Suspicions, surmises, and possible clues are notified to the nearest police-stations from time to time, and one member of the committee at least honestly believes that he is on the right track.
Dr. Bloch, a member of the Austrian Reichsrath for the Galician constituency of Kokomea, has called the attention of a Vienna correspondent to certain facts which may throw a new light on the Whitechapel murders, and, perhaps, afford some assistance in tracing the murderer. In various German criminal codes of the 17th and 18th centuries, as also in statutes of a more recent date, punishments are proscribed for the mutilation of female corpses, with the object of making from the uterus and other organs the so-called Diebslichter or Schlafslichter, respectively "thieves candles" or "soporific candles." According to an old superstition, still rife in various parts of Germany, the light from such candles will throw those upon whom it falls into the deepest slumbers, and they may, consequently, become a valuable instrument to the thieving profession. Hence their name. In regard to these Schlafslichter, quite a literature, might be cited. They are referred to by Ave Lallement in his "Das Deutsche Gaunerthum," published at Leipsic in 1858; by Loffler, in "Die Mangelhafte Justiz;" by Thiele, and numerous others. They also played an important part in the trials of robber bands at Odenwald and in Westphalia, in the years 1812 and 1841 respectively. The Schlafslichter were heard of, too, at the trial of the notorious German robber, Theodor Unger, surnamed "the handsome Charley," who was executed at Magdeburg, in 1810. It was on that occasion discovered that a regular manufactory had been established by gangs of thieves, for the production of such candles. That this superstition has survived amongst German thieves to the present day was proved by a case tried at Biala, in Galicia, as recently as 1875. In this the body of a woman had been found mutilated in precisely the same way as were the victims of the Whitechapel murderer. At that trial, as at one which took place subsequently at Zeszow, which is also in Galicia, and in which the accused were a certain Ritter and his wife, the prevalence amongst thieves of the superstition was alluded to by the Public Prosecutor. In the Ritter case, however, the court preferred harping on another alleged superstition of a ritual character amongst the Jews of Galicia, which, however, was shewn to be a pure invention of the Judenhetzer. Dr. Bloch, who for 10 years was a Rabbi in Galicia, and has made the superstitions of that province his special study, affirms that the "thieves' candle" superstition still exists amongst robbers of every confession, and, as he believes, also of every nationality. He considers, however, that it prevails most amongst German thieves. Amongst other German laws where the crime in question is dealt with, the Code Theresiana, chap. XXII., clause 59, may be referred to.
Dr. Barnardo tells the following story of a visit on which he recently saw the woman Stride: "In the kitchen of No. 32 there were many persons, some of them being girls and women as the same unhappy class as that to which poor Elizabeth Stride belonged. The company soon recognised me, and the conversation turned upon the previous murders. The female inmates of the kitchen seemed thoroughly frightened at the dangers to which they were presumably exposed. The pathetic part of my story is that my remarks were manifestly followed with deep interest by all the women. Not a single scoffing voice was raised in ridicule or opposition. One poor creature, who had evidently been drinking, exclaimed somewhat bitterly to the following effect: 'We're all up to no good and no one cares what becomes of us. Perhaps some of us will be killed next!' And then she added, 'If anybody had helped the likes of us long ago we would never have come to this!' I have since visited the mortuary in which were lying the remains of the poor woman Stride and I at once recognised her as one of those who stood around me in the kitchen of the common lodging-house on the occasion of my visit."
The Bishop of Bedford, Bishop Suffragan for East London, and 10 years rector of Spitalfields, writes: Another night refuge is not required. It would attract more of these miserable women into the neighbourhood and increase the difficulties of the situation. But what is needed is a home where washing and other work could be done, and where poor women who are really anxious to lead a better life could find employment. There are penitentiaries and there are mission houses into which younger women can be received. The public generally are little aware of how much good work has been done of late among these. But for the older women, many of whom have only taken to their miserable mode of earning a livelihood in sheer despair, and who would gladly renounce it, we have not the home, and it is of the utmost importance one should be provided. It would in its management differ from the ordinary penitentiary. If anything is to be done it should be done at once. Two thousand pounds would enable the experiment to be tried.
On Thursday, Mr. F. S. Langham, City Coroner, resumed his inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Catherine Eddowes, aged 43, lately residing in a common lodging-house in Flower and Dean-street, Spitalfields. Mr. Crawford (the City solicitor) appeared to represent the Corporation of the City of London - Dr. W. Sequeira said he was the first medical man on the scene of the murder, and arrived there at about five minutes to 2 o'clock. He saw the body lying in the same position as that described by the police-constable. It had not been moved. Witness agreed with the medical evidence already given. Mitre-square was dark, but well lighted. There was light enough to allow the murderer to inflict the injuries. Witness formed an opinion that the murderer had not any desire for any particular organ of the deceased woman's body. Judging from the injuries inflicted he did not think that the murderer knew much about the human frame. He could not account for the absence of noise, and he would not expect to find the clothes of the murderer bespattered with blood. Life had not been extinct more than a quarter of an hour when witness arrived. - Dr. Saunders, medical officer of health for the City of London, said he had subjected the stomach of the deceased to a careful analysis. His examination shewed not the faintest trace of the existence of any poison. Witness added that he was present during the post-mortem, and he entirely agreed with Drs. Brown and Sequeira that the murderer was not possessed of any anatomical skill. - Annie Phillips, residing in the neighbourhood of Southwark Park-road, wife of a lamp-lighter, identified the body of the deceased as that of her mother. She was always under the impression that her mother was married. She told witness so. Her father's name was Thomas Eddowes, and he was by trade a hawker. He left her mother suddenly. They did not part on very good terms, and he did not say that he was not coming back. Witness had not seen or heard of him since. Thomas Eddowes was a teetotaler and he and deceased lived happily together until she took to drink. He never used any threats against her mother. Her father had been a soldier in the 18th Royal Irish, and had had a pension since she was a child. He had left her mother between seven and eight years, but had frequently supplied witness with money. He also supplied the deceased, who often applied to witness for more. The last time she applied was about two years ago. The reason she had not applied for more money was because she did not know witness's address. Witness purposely removed so as to get rid of her mother's demands for money. She had lost trace of her mother, father, and brothers for the last 18 months. She could not give the police any clue to assist them. - Evidence was then given, describing the unsuccessful efforts of the police to trace these persons. - City Police-constable Lewis Robinson deposed that on the Saturday night before the murder at about 8:30 he saw a crowd at Aldgate. He went up and saw a woman lying on the curb drunk. He had since identified her as the deceased. He could not do anything without the assistance of another policeman, which he obtained, and the woman was then conveyed to the station. When asked her name she replied, "Nothing." Last time he saw her was at 9 o'clock in the cell. She was wearing a white apron at that time, which he identified with one produced as the one she was wearing. (The apron, which was in two pieces was covered with blood, as if a large knife had been wiped upon it). - James Whitehead, police-sergeant, said that on the evening prior to the murder he was acting inspector at Bishopsgate-street police-station. The woman was brought in by the last witness early in the night, and she was detained until 1 o'clock in the morning, when she was let out, being then perfectly sober. She ultimately gave the name of Mary Ann Kelly, of Fashion-street, Spitalfields, and, in answer to questions witness put to her, she said she had been hopping. - Police Constable George Henry Hunt [Hutt] said that on the Saturday night mentioned he was gaoler at the police-station. At 9:45 he took over the prisoners and identified one of them as the deceased woman. He visited her several times during the night and at five minutes to 1 o'clock in the morning he found her sober and he thereupon discharged her. She turned to the left which would take her towards Houndsditch and Mitre-square. The distance from the police-station was about 400 yards. Anybody could walk it in eight minutes - George James Morris, watchman to Messrs. Kearley and Tonge, tea dealers, of Mitre-square, said that at a quarter to 2 o'clock in the morning Police-constable Watkins came and knocked at the warehouse door. Witness was at that time engaged in sweeping the steps down and was about two yards from the door, which for about two minutes had been slightly open. The policeman said, "For God's sake, mate, come to my assistance." Watkins pointed over to the corner of the square. Witness went over to the spot and saw the body lying in the same position as described by the medical gentlemen. He then ran up Mitre-street into Aldgate, blowing a police-whistle he had in his possession, and two policemen soon came up. Whilst running to Aldgate he did not see any suspicious person standing about, nor did anything attract his suspicions. He did not hear any noise in the square until called by Police-constable Watkins. Nor did he hear any cry of distress. If there had been a cry he would have been sure to have heard it. - Evidence was then given by James Harvey, City police-constable, who was called to Watkin's assistance, George Clapp, a caretaker, and Richard Pearce, City
Police-constable. Clapp and Pearce, who live in Mitre-square, declared that they heard no cry or noise whatever. Police-constable Alfred Lough [Long], 254, said that about 2:25 a.m. he found a portion of a woman's apron in Gouldston-street [sic], Whitechapel. One corner of the apron was stained with blood, which was still wet. On a wall of the model-dwelling buildings, he found written in large letters with chalk: "The Jews are the men who will not be blamed for nothing." He immediately conveyed the apron he found to the police-station. He passed the place at 2:20 when neither the writing on the wall nor the apron was there. - Detective Halse said that on the night of the 29th of September he told a number of men to patrol the City streets. In the morning he and Sergeant Outram received information that a murder had been committed in Mitre-square. The men were immediately recalled and instructed to scour the neighbourhood, stop everybody, and examine them. A large number of persons were stopped, but giving a satisfactory account of themselves were all allowed to depart. He saw some chalk-writing on the wall in Gouldston-street. Instructions were given for the spot to be photographed, but a Metropolitan policeman said it being Sunday morning it would cause a riot if the Jews saw the writing, or an outbreak against the Jews. It was then decided to have the writing rubbed out before any of the neighbours saw it. He asked the Metropolitan police to let the writing alone until Major Smith or Superintendent Foster had seen it, but they refused. - The jury returned a verdict that the deceased was brutally murdered by a person or some persons unknown.
Dr. Billing appeals for funds to inaugurate and carry on a House of Work as the best means of benefiting the unfortunate women who now frequent the Whitechapel lodging-houses. Recently there has been no end of sympathy shewn by people at a distance; let it now take a practical form in the direction pointed out by the Bishop of Bedford.
The Radicals of Whitechapel have this week held a meeting to "improve" the Whitechapel murders, or in other words to make political capital out of the horrors. Mr. Matthews and Sir Charles Warren were of course censured, but I observe that Mr. Pickersgill, who is fast sobering down as a politician, could only suggest, as a remedy for all the wrongs being done by a Tory Government, that the police should have india-ruber soles fitted to their boots. So that we may expect to hear the Whitechapel Radicals adopting as their election cry, "Gladstone and gutta-percha soles!"
The story that "Leather Apron," alias Mr. Piser, is getting large sums from his libel actions is untrue. More than one of them has been compromised, and for moderate amounts. Two or three of them, however, are still outstanding. The report that he has already received £5,000 is preposterously wide of the mark. £500 would, I should say, be a serious exaggeration.
The Lord Mayor is a Belgian, and a Belgian journalist seems to have imagined that Mr. de Keyser would know all about the Whitechapel murders. The Lord Mayor did his best to foster this amiable delusion. He told the interviewer that the criminal would be captured when he committed his next crime. This sapient opinion has doubtless convinced the Belgians that if their illustrious countryman were not Lord Mayor, London would be a prey to barbarism. Mr. de Keyser gave another proof of his fitness for his exalted office by declaring that the people in the East End were "miserable by taste and idlers by profession," and that the philanthropists who wanted to ameliorate their lot were merely anxious to curry favour in the County Council elections. I shall not be surprised if the Lord Mayor repudiates this part of the interview. If he does not there will be a demonstration which may rather shake the Belgian faith in his infallibility.
A new theory for the Whitechapel murders has arrived fresh from Vienna, which has the merit of being striking if not probable. It seems that internal organs, such as were abstracted from the unfortunate women have been used for centuries for the manufacture of what are known in Germany as Diebslicher, or thieves' candles. There is a superstition that the light from these candles throws anyone into a deep sleep on whom it falls. Therefore, as might be imagined, they are in great request among the burgling fraternity. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it appears several statutes were passed inflicting severe penalties - and no wonder - for the making of these candles, and that the superstition is not dead is shewn by the fact that in 1875, a trial took place in Galicia in which the prisoners were accused of using the prohibited candles. We shall, I suppose, hear soon of a series of mysterious burglaries. I commend the idea to Sir Charles Warren. He refuses to adopt any reasonable suggestions; there is therefore hope that this one may be to his taste.
Dr. Gordon Browne's evidence at the inquest of the woman discovered in Mitre-square establishes beyond a doubt the theory that the murderer is possessed of considerable anatomical skill. This belief had at one time grown weak, but it is now revived in full force. It is curious that he should have chosen quite a different organ to remove in the last instance. He clearly reads his papers and wishes to throw a new element into every case. However, we now know for certain that he is a skilled anatomist. There are not many such in Whitechapel, so that the investigations of the police are now very much narrowed. Dr. Browne's evidence disposes of a story which has just been telegraphed from America to the effect that a Malay some time ago declared that he had been robbed by a woman in Whitechapel, and that he intended to murder and mutilate every woman of the same class in that locality. Malay sailors are not as a rule skilled anatomists. The theories and stories which are still started every hour have, however, become too far fetched to be worth notice.
It is very curious that Sir Charles Warren should only have thought of using bloodhounds for the purpose of catching the Whitechapel murderer several weeks after the idea was first suggested to him. The Press urged it from the first; and it was clear that under no circumstances could murders have taken place offering more obvious facilities for the use of bloodhounds. They were committed at a time when the streets were deserted and there were no cross-trails. Even if there had been no bloodhounds to be had - which is not the case, because Mr. Mark Beaufoy, who lives in Kennington, keeps them, and would willingly have leant them - a good retriever might have been procured without difficulty. Somehow the police are always behindhand. They have no nous, no means of getting the best information quickly, no system of detective work.
Among the theories as to the Whitechapel murders, which start up one day and vanish the next, the one which is most in favour is the Jeckyll and Hyde theory, namely, that the murderer is a man living a dual life, one respectable and even religious, and the other lawless and brutal; that he has two sets of chambers, and is probably a married man, and in every way a person whom you would not for a moment suspect. This theory derives considerable support from the opinion of Mr. George Lewis, the famous criminal lawyer, who holds it strongly, and is, I believe, prepared to defend it against all comers. Mr. Lewis's experience of criminal London is, of course, unique, and exceeds that of any living man with exception, perhaps, of Mr. Montagu Williams and Mr. Poland. He is, besides, a man of the world, of an extremely penetrating character, and sound though by no means narrow views.
