East London Advertiser
Saturday, 28 September 1889.
On Tuesday Mr. Wynne E. Baxter resumed his inquiry at the Shadwell Town Hall, on a woman unknown, whose mutilated remains were found in a railway arch in Pinchin-street, Whitechapel, on the 10th inst. - Dr. Clark, assistant divisional surgeon, deposed to being called by the police to Pinchin-street. Under a railway arch there he saw the trunk of a woman minus the head and legs. It was lying on its chest, with the right arm doubled under the abdomen, and the left arm was lying by the side. There was no pool of blood and he could not see any signs of any struggle having taken place. Upon removing the body he found that there was some blood underneath where the neck had been lying. Covering the right shoulder was the remains of a chemise, which had been torn down the front and cut by a knife. The garment was blood stained nearly all over. Decomposition was just commencing and the body was at once removed to St. George's Mortuary. On re-examining it there the body appeared to be that of a woman of stoutish build and dark complexion, and between 30 and 40 years of age. Death had taken place within 24 hours. Besides the wounds caused by the severance of the head and legs, there was a wound 15 inches long through the abdomen. The body was not bloodstained except where the chemise had rested upon it. On the back were four bruises, all of which had been caused before death. None of them were of old standing. On the right arm there were eight distinct bruises and seven on the left, all of them caused before death and of recent date. These bruises were such as would be caused by the arms having been tightly grasped. The chest was well formed, and the woman had evidently not had children. - Dr. George Bagster Phillips, divisional surgeon of police, confirmed the evidence given by the last witness, and added that he believed that death arose from loss of blood. In his opinion the mutilation took place after death. He thought the mutilation was done by some one used to cutting up animals, or who was in the habit of seeing animals cut up. The weapon must have been a long strong knife, he was of the opinion that there had been a cut across the neck before the head was severed. - Michael Keating, shoeblack, said that on the night in question he went to sleep in a railway arch in Pinchin-street. He did not see anyone when he went in the arch, nor did he observe anything lying on the ground. He was not awakened in the night, but in the morning a policeman came and roused him. As he passed out of the arch he noticed an inspector covering a body. - Richard Hawk, who slept in the arch with the last witness, gave similar testimony. - Inspector Moore, said that every effort had been made to identify the deceased, but without success, and at present there is nothing to show how the body was placed in the position in which it was found. - Dr. Phillips, recalled, said that he did not notice any similarity in the way the limbs were severed in this case and the Dorset-street murder, but the division of the neck and the attempt to disarticulate the bones of the spine were very much alike. - This concluded the evidence, and the coroner having briefly summed up, the jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown.
