A statement was in circulation yesterday to the effect that an important clue in connection with the Whitechapel murders had been discovered. The report was based on the circumstance that from a house in the East End a lodger disappeared mysteriously on the day following the perpetration of the two last outrages, leaving behind him a shirt, the wristbands and sleeves of which were saturated with blood. The hope that this might lead to the mystery being cleared up seems, however, to be of a very slender nature, as a telegram received last night states that the lodger clue was investigated by the police some days ago, and that the explanations given in the case were quite satisfactory.
Superintendent Farmer, of the River Tyne police, has received information which , it is thought, may have a bearing upon the tragedies. A foreign seaman signed articles on board a vessel in the Tyne on Saturday, and he sailed for a French port. It was found that his signature corresponded with the fac-simile of the letters signed "Jack the Ripper," and that the man's description corresponded with that circulated by the Metropolitan police, who have been informed of the result of Superintendent Farmer's inquiries.
The story that the London murderer has been seen in Shiel Park, Liverpool, has created the utmost sensation in the neighbourhood. An extra number of police and detectives have been in the locality during the past few days, but nothing has been seen of the man who frightened the woman in the park. Many women residing in the streets adjacent to the park, it is alleged, are afraid to leave their houses after dusk. A number of low-class women in Liverpool have armed themselves with knives. One woman, who was recently arrested by the police, and in whose possession was a large knife, stated that it was for "Jack the Ripper." Several others declare that they have been accosted at the docks by a mysterious-looking man, and have fled from him in terror.
Thomas Conway, who formerly lived with Catherine Eddowes, the woman murdered in Mitre Square, called yesterday with his two sons at the detective office of the City Police and was identified by Mrs. Phillips as her father. The failure of the police to find him hitherto was, it seems, due to the fact that he drew his pension from the Royal Irish Regiment in the name of Thomas Quinn. He states that he left Eddowes in 1880 in consequence of her intemperate habits, which prevented them from living comfortably. He had since met her occasionally in the streets, but had avoided her as much as possible.
