The Eastern Post & City Chronicle
Saturday, 7 April 1888.
On Tuesday information was forwarded to Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, the East Middlesex coroner, of the death of Annie Millwood, aged 38, a single woman, who is alleged to have been the victim of a most violent and brutal attack, and whose death is supposed to be due to injuries so inflicted. It appears a few weeks ago the deceased was admitted to the Whitechapel Infirmary suffering from numerous stabs in the legs and lower part of the body. She stated that she had been attacked by a man who she did not know, and who stabbed her with a clasp knife which he took from his pocket. No one appears to have seen the attack, and as far as at present is ascertained there is only the woman’s statement to bear out the allegations of an attack, though that she had been stabbed cannot be denied. After her admission to the infirmary deceased progressed favourably, and was sent to the South Grove Workhouse, but while engaged in some occupation at the rear of the building she was observed to fall, and on assistance being given it was found that she was dead. The Coroner, on being communicated with, ordered a post-mortem examination to be made, with a view to determining whether any one was criminally responsible for the death.
On Thursday the authorities of the London Hospital informed the coroner of the death in that institution of Emma Elizabeth Smith, aged 45, a widow, lately living at 18, George Street, Spitalfields. It appears that the deceased was out on Bank Holiday, and when returning home along Whitechapel Road early on Tuesday morning, she was set upon by some men and severely maltreated. The men made off, leaving the woman on the ground in a semi-conscious condition, and have not yet been apprehended. She was taken home, and subsequently conveyed to the hospital where she died.
