SIR- I have read "English Sailor's" letter relating to theory of Whitechapel murders. "Alaska" could not have murdered the first of the poor victims, as he arrived not till August - (see paper of 5th, letter from the Times taken, signed "Nemo.") The taking out the heart and hanging it round the neck is not purely Eastern. It is a custom of other nations also. I happen (unfortunately) to be the wife of a native of West India, not a "low class" man either, but fairly educated and intelligent, not drinking or smoking. His great-grandmother was a North American Indian. What the great-grandfather was I know not, but of another country, so that my husband is but little coloured. Some years back he deliberately wrote to a man that he should like to take his heart out and hang it round his neck. The said letter was put into police detectives' hands, and no doubt is on police records for that year. I am of opinion that the method is one of revenge. My husband is a tall, dark man, and often wears a long coat, but was not in London till after the murders were committed. You are at liberty to insert this if you wish. - I am, &c.,
A. B.
P. S. - I should have added that the ship's stewards having to cut up animals for their own consumption on board (where they kill their own oftentimes), would know a little about dissecting, as well as would some of the others mentioned. Also what kind of knife to use for such purpose. Seafaring men are "Jacks," so the Malay cook may have done the latter ones.
The police have had another discovery forced upon them. A gentleman who had great faith in the scenting powers of his Spitzbergen terrier, offered its services to the police at Westminster, but the offer was declined without thanks. Forcing his way to the site of the new Metropolitan Police office on the Embankment, despite official opposition, the gentleman and his dog discovered a leg among the rubbish, a few feet from where the trunk of a woman was recently found. The police eventually made themselves useful by wrapping the leg carefully in brown paper and taking it to the mortuary. Any body is at liberty to make his own comment.
The Central News says another man has just been arrested in Whitechapel by the police on information received, on suspicion of being concerned in the East-end murders. He is about 35 years of age, and has recently been living in Whitechapel. He is somewhat confused as to his whereabouts lately, and will be detained pending inquiries.
The force of police in private clothes specially selected to make the house-to-house search in the neighbourhoods of Hanbury-street, Commercial-street, Dorset-street, Goulston-street, Buck's-row, Brick-lane, Osborne-street, &c., completed their labours to-day. They have distributed many thousands of handbills, leaving them in every room in the lodging-houses. The greatest good feeling prevails toward the police, and noticeably in the most squalid dwellings the police had no difficulty in getting information, but not the slightest clue to the murderer has been [obtained].
A very mysterious incident, says a contemporary, in connection with the arrest of the man at King-street, has [transpired] this morning. It appears that on Monday he went into the shop of Messrs. Ballamy Bros., [Railway-Approach], Charing Cross, and after a brief but somewhat incoherent chat with Mr. Batchelor, the manager, he suddenly placed a black bag on the counter, and left the shop. The [incident] has come to the knowledge of the police authorities, but up to the present they thought it prudent to regard the affair as a secret. The bag contained a razor, a dagger (which bore more or less recent marks of blood stains), several miscellaneous but almost valueless odds and ends, together with a broken piece of looking-glass and a small piece of soap. It is regarded as somewhat suspicious that these latter articles are similar to those found on one of the Whitechapel victims.
Mr. R. Batchelor, the manager at Messrs. Bellamy's made the following statement: "He was such a mysterious looking person that I could not make him out at all, but it was not until after he left the shop that it somehow occurred to me that his mind was unhinged from some cause or other, and then the Whitechapel murders and the affair at Whitehall came across my mind. Well, as soon as the man came into the shop he took out a pencil and commenced to write some words which no one could read. Then he straightened himself up, remarked, 'You must not be surprised to hear I'm Jack the Ripper - I'm a most mysterious man,' and darted out of the shop. He made use of the expression, 'I'm used to cutting people up, and can put them back together again. The police are all disguised, and wherever I go I meet them.' He looked to me like a doctor or doctor's assistant, but was rather shabby." The razor and dagger found in the bag have been examined by Dr. Bond.
Some sensation was caused in Bermondsey this morning by a rumour to the effect that another horrible tragedy had been committed in that district, a woman having been found with her throat cut. The story, which proved to be unfounded, had its origin in the fact that at an early hour this morning a drunken woman fell upon the kerb-stone of the pavement in one of the thoroughfares of Bermondsey, and injured her chin. She was discovered lying in the gutter in a semi-conscious state, blood flowing from her chin. It was found, on examination, that she was not seriously injured.
The following memorial, signed by upwards of 200 traders of Whitechapel, has been sent to the Home Secretary, through Mr. S. Montagu, M.P.:
"We, the undersigned traders in Whitechapel, respectfully submit for your consideration the position in which we are placed in consequence of the recent murders in our district and its vicinity. For some years past we have been painfully aware that the protection afforded by the police has not kept pace with the increase of population in Whitechapel. Acts of violence and of robbery have been committed in this neighbourhood almost with impunity owing to the existing police regulations and the insufficiency of the number of officers.
"The universal feeling prevalent in our midst is that the Government no longer ensures the security of life and property in the East of London, and that, in consequence, respectable people fear to go out shopping, thus depriving us of our means of livelihood. We confidently appeal to your sense of justice and ask that the police in this district may be largely increased, in order to remove the feelings of insecurity which is destroying the trade in Whitechapel."
At an early hour this morning a private trial took place in Preston Park, Brighton, in the presence of a select company of gentlemen, of some bloodhounds, now being exhibited at the Brighton Dog Show. The hounds used were Burgho, Babette, and Blueberry, owned by Mr. Craven, but bred and trained by Mr. Brough. Three trials were made and took place under the personal direction of Mr. Brough. Each was deemed most satisfactory, considering the fact that for the past two days the dogs have been on the show benches. In the first, which was a short trial, Blueberry distinguished herself; in the second Burgho and Blueberry were seen to especial advantage and in the third Babette took up the scent well, notwithstanding that the line was purposely crossed by gentlemen on horseback. In two out of the three trials Councillor Daniells acted as the hunted man.
There will be no evidence forthcoming, it is said, likely to connect with these crimes the alleged homicidal lunatic who was taken into custody at the King-street Police-station on Tuesday. The latest information tends to prove that he could have no part in the tragedies. In July last the man was brought up at Lambeth Police-court on a charge of being abroad as a person of unsound mind, and the magistrate ordered his removal to Lambeth Infirmary. He subsequently left that institution, and since August [15] he has lodged at a coffee-house in the Westminster-bridge-road. The keeper of the house states that the man has slept there every night, without exception, up to Monday of the present week. The suspected person is said to be a man of superior education, and well connected.
A Press representative had an interview, yesterday, with the landlady of the house, 22, Batty-street, Whitechapel, which place was alleged to be the resort of the owner of the blood-stained shirt. The lodging-house is kept by a German woman, the wife of a seaman. She denied that the man for whom the police were searching was one of her lodgers, and asserted that he simply had his washing done at the house. He was a ladies tailor, working for a West-end house, and did not reside in the Leman-street district. She explained the presence of blood on the shirt by saying that it was owing to an accident that occurred to a man (other than the one taken into custody) who was living on the premises, and that the police would have known nothing of it but for her having indiscreetly shown it to a neighbour. The woman denies that the detectives are still in possession of her house.
We have received the following letter:
SIR - Referring to your issue No. [2227], I beg of you to publish a contradictory statement respecting the Whitechapel murder; in fact, your reporter has been wrongly informed, or else it his own suggestion.
The police are not in the house, nor has the woman had a lodger who is now missing, but a stranger brought the shirts, and when he fetched them, he was detained by the police, and after inquiries discharged. As regards our house, it is not as your report describes it, for it is a most respectable house and in good general condition; although it is certainly not Windsor Castle. There are only two lodgers, one a drayman, name of Joseph, who works for the Norwegian Lager Beer Company, and the other a baker, name of Carl Noun, who has been at work in Margate, and only returned on the 6th of this month after the season was over. I trust you will publish these statements as I put it to you, in fact it may injure the poor woman in her business. - Respectfully.
C. NOUN (a lodger in the house).
22, Batty-street, Commercial-road, E., October 17.
Sir Charles Warren wishes to say that the marked desire evinced by the inhabitants of the Whitechapel district to aid the police in the pursuit of the author of the recent crimes has enabled him to direct that, subject to the consent of occupiers, a thorough house-to-house search should be made within a defined []. With few exceptions the inhabitants of all classes and creeds have freely fallen in with the proposal, and have materially assisted the officers engaged in carrying it out.
Sir Charles Warren feels that some acknowledgment is due on all sides for the cordial co-operation of the inhabitants, and he is much gratified that the police officers have carried out so delicate a duty with the marked good will of all those with whom they have come in contact.
Sir Charles Warren takes this opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of an immense volume of correspondence of a semi-private character on the subject of the Whitechapel murders, which he has been quite unable to respond to in a great number of instances; and he trusts that the writers will accept this acknowledgment in lieu of individual replies. They may be assured that their letters have received every consideration.
SIR - In yesterday's issue of the Daily Chronicle a correspondent suggests that the Whitechapel murderer may have been a hypnotised subject, and in so doing is apt to give a wrong impression as to the possibility of using hypnotism for criminal purposes.
It is true that a hypnotist may command his subject to perform a given act at a given time, and that the subject will obey, even though the action is in itself opposed to the inclination of the hypnotised person; but hypnotism is of doubtful advantage to the criminal, since no steps that he can take can make detection impossible.
It is also true that the hypnotised criminal, if commanded so to do, will deny that he was influenced; but under no circumstances is a criminal's word accepted in the face of evidence; and in the hands of an expert hypnotist a criminal who had acted under the impulse of suggestion, could be made to reveal and to trace the instigator.
It would also be possible, according to the opinion of many hypnotists - and in this I myself agree - to hypnotise a very susceptible subject at the scene of any crime immediately it had been discovered, and if possible before the surroundings had been altered, and articles removed by the police or others, and by a remarkable phase of the hypnotic condition learn from the subject whether the sleep had been used in committing the crime, and in some cases by this means trace the offender.
In a word, hypnotism, like most scientific discoveries, will be an advantage to society and humanity, not a terror and a danger, as is sometimes supposed. - Apologising for trespassing upon your space, I am, yours faithfully,
CHARLES REINHARDT.
London Hospital Athenaeum, London, E.,
October 17.
EN 10/18
One of the missing legs belonging to the human trunk found a fortnight ago in a vault of the new police offices on the Thames Embankment was discovered yesterday afternoon in the same vault, and within a few feet of the spot upon which the trunk had rested. The discovery was made by a Spitzbergen dog belonging to a gentleman whose faith in its scenting powers induced him to offer its services to the police. The animal was taken to the site of the new police buildings between eleven and twelve o'clock yesterday morning, and was placed in the vault where the former discovery was made. Only a short time elapsed before the dog commenced sniffing suspiciously at a mound of earth, and, at the suggestion of a reporter who was present, some tools were obtained, and the earth was thrown over.
As the work proceeded the dog became excitable, and at length, after a considerable quantity of the earth had been dug up, the animal seized upon a strange-looking object, to which adhered a quantity of the damp soil. An examination of this was made, and the object was found to be a portion of a human leg that had been severed at the knee-joint. Upon the leg was a portion of a stocking, or of some other woollen substance. Immediately upon this important discovery being made, several special detectives were sent for, and a medical man was also summoned to the spot. The latter took charge of the limb, with the view of making a detailed examination of it. It was generally supposed that the police had searched the whole of the ground surrounding the spot where the trunk was discovered. This, of course, could not have been the case unless the leg had been placed within the past few days under the mound of earth where it was found yesterday morning, and this is not believed to have been possible, the ground having been strictly guarded during the past fortnight.
The case so far bears some resemblance to the Wainwright murder. The authorities do not in any way connect it with the Whitechapel crimes. - During the afternoon search was made by the police who are in charge of the works for the other missing parts of the body, but when they gave up their search, shortly before five o'clock, nothing further had been discovered. Dr. Bond has pronounced the limb to be the left leg of a well-developed woman, and there is no doubt that it belonged to the trunk which was discovered a fortnight ago. The leg, together with a quantity of the earth in which it was embedded, was made into a parcel by Inspector Peters, who has charge of the case, and sealed. It is stated that the police have received important information in connection with the case, and are sanguine that the mystery will be solved. The owner of the dog is Mr. Jasper T. C. Waring.
The statement of the workmen that the body found a fortnight ago had only been in the place from the Saturday until the Tuesday is a matter of the greatest difficulty to those who have the investigation of the mystery. The wall where the body rested in the inmost recess is stained most deeply, and this staining, it is considered by those best able to judge, could only have been made by the long resting of the body against it. The earth when first seen was sunken in by the load which had rested upon it, apparently, for some time. The character of the decomposition, too, was such as would occur to flesh when not directly exposed to the influence of light and air. The appearance of the body, in fact, was such as to lead to the inference that it had been in the place from about the same time that the arm was found at Pimlico - September 11th - and it is now suggested that it was intended to bury it in the same way that the leg was buried. The discovery was communicated to Inspector Wren, the acting superintendent of the A Division, in the absence of Mr. Dunlap and the best use was made of the information. The detective force of the division, under Inspector H. Marshall, have been directing their investigations so as to obtain notes of a woman of the description missing. Unfortunately, there are numerous women reported to be missing, and the investigation of all such cases takes up much time, especially where minute points which promise much have to be followed up.
The police are searching, it is as well to state, for a well-built woman, of 5ft. 8in. or 8½ in. in height, with darkish hair and a fair skin, over 25 years of age, and probably older, who has suffered from pleurisy, and missing now about two months. It is probable that such a woman may be supposed by her friends to be abroad.
Contrary to expectation the search at the new police office buildings in Whitehall was resumed, late last night, by means of candles. A bloodhound, one of those which had been used in the Hyde Park experiment, was brought from King-street Police-station and a staff of constables, with Inspectors Peters and Marshall, were engaged for an hour and a half in turning over earth, but on the work being suspended at ten p.m., no new discovery had been made. The search will be resumed this forenoon, when the hound will again be taken to the spot. Sir Charles Warren is expected to attend the experiment.
Dr. Bond, the divisional surgeon of the A division, made a careful examination, this morning, at Millbank-street, of the portion of leg found yesterday, and on comparing it with the trunk already in the mortuary, he is of opinion that it belongs to the same body. It is, however, in a better state of preservation, and this is accounted for by the fact that it had been sufficiently covered with earth to exclude the air, whereas the trunk was only wrapped in a skirt. Dr. Bond is also of opinion that both portions of the body had been lying where found for over six weeks, notwithstanding the statements made by people at the works that they were not there on the Friday or Saturday previous to their discovery, and the fact of the leg being in such good preservation is one point in his argument for holding this opinion.
This morning Dr. Bond, in conjunction with Dr. Hibberd, made an examination, at the mortuary, Millbank-street, of the leg and foot found yesterday at Whitehall. The examination lasted for some time, but no marks which might lead to identification were discernible. The foot and leg are well moulded. There is no doubt that these remains belong to the trunk and arm previously found, although, of course, it is impossible to fit them to the trunk, the upper portion of the leg not having been found. All the parts which have been found are now at the mortuary. It is stated that the police are going to pump out the well at the new police buildings, and that it will be thoroughly searched for further remains.
