The Whitechapel Murders - The Press Association says: As a concequence of the startling statement made by the coroner on Wednesday, public interest in the fate of the unfortunate Annie Chapman has been stimulated afresh, and the clue afforded is being followed up by the police,who have now had the information in their posession for a week; but it has not transpired whetherthey have yet obtained any tangible result. The inquiries of the police would necessarily extend to America, and on that account it may be some time before fresh facts could be in the hands of the public. An important point yet to be made clear is as to whether the object of the murderer was the same in the case of the woman Nichols as in that of Annie Chapman. The coroner in the former case, when he summed up last Saturday, appeared to think that it was, and at the time of expressing that opinion he must have been in receipt of the important communication from the sub-curator of the pathological museum attached to one of the metropolitan hospitals to which he referred in his summing up on the body of Annie Chapman. The opinion he expressed last Saturday regarding Nichols' case thus carries weight. The "shabby genteel" man who was seen in Chapman's company shortly before her murder is being sought for; but up to the present it would appear without success. From inquiries made at some of the great medical institutions it has been ascertained that requests similar to that of the American gentleman had been made before, but the peculiar conditions attaching to the requests could not possibly be complied with, unless the operation were performed before or immediately after death. From inquiries made at a late hour last night it was ascertained that the man John Fitzgerald, who was arrested on his own confession at Wandsworth on Wednesday for the murder of Annie Chapman, was still detained in custody at the Leman-street (Whitechapel) police-station. Numerous detectives throughout yesterday were engaged in investigating Fitzgerald's antecedents, but nothing was discovered to justify the authorities in charging the man with the murder.
A Stupid Freak - Joseph Woods was charged at the Portsmouth Police Court yesterday with assaulting a woman named Candey, at midnight, on Tuesday last. Candey stated that the prisoner took hold of her in a disgraceful manner in the street, and produced a knife. She then asked him if he was the Whitechapel murderer, to which he replied in the affirmative. She then blew a whistle, which she said she had always carried since the Whitechapel tragedies, and a policeman came to her assistance. The prisoner told the constable that he had frightened the woman by telling her he was the Whitechapel murderer. The magistrates regarded the matter as a stupid freak, and bound the prisoner over to keep the peace.
