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Another
Whitechapel Murder
Terrible Mutilation of a Woman in Spitalfields -- Escape of the
Murderer
This forenoon the inhabitants of the East End of London were
thrown into a state of consternation by the discovery in their
midst of another revolting crime, far worse in its barbarity than
any of the previous five murders which have shocked London during
the past five months. The victim is again a woman of the impure
class, and the murderer committed the crime under her own roof
in broad daylight and easily escaped. Dorset-street, Spitalfields,
is filled with lodging houses, tenanted chiefly by the lowest
classes, amongst them some of the most degraded thieves and immoral
women. It was here that Annie Chapman, who was murdered in Hanbury-street
on the 8th of September, lived, and by a strange coincidence the
scene of the present crime is a court directly opposite the house
to which that unfortunate woman was in the habit of resorting.
Close by is Mitre Square, the scene of one of the murders of September
30, and Hanbury-street is scarcely a stone's throw away. The victim
of the crime of to-day is a young woman named Mary Jane Kelly,
aged 26. She lived in Miller Court, Dorset-street, a turning out
of Commercial-street, Spitalfields. There are eight or ten small
houses in the court, which is entered by a low archway and a narrow
passage from Dorset-street, and forms a cul-de-sac. There is a
small general shop in Dorset-street adjoining the entrance to
the court, tenanted by Mrs. M'Carthy, who also owns the houses
in the court. Kelly appears to have tenanted a room in one of
Mrs. M'Carthy's houses. She had a little boy aged about six or
seven years living with her, and latterly she had been in narrow
straits, so that she is reported to have stated to a companion
that she would make away with herself as she could not bear to
see her boy starving. There are conflicting statements as to when
the woman was last seen alive, but that upon which most reliance
appears to be placed is that of a young woman, an associate of
the deceased, who stated that at about half-past ten o'clock on
Thursday night she met the murdered woman at the corner of Dorset-street.
Kelly told her that she had no money, and that if she could not
get any she would never go out again, but would do away with herself.
Soon after they parted, and a man who is described as respectably
dressed came up, and spoke to Kelly and offered her some money.
The man then accompanied the woman home to her lodgings. A tailor
named Lewis says he saw Kelly come out about eight o'clock this
morning and go back. Another statement is to the effect that Kelly
was in a public-house known as the "Ringers," at the
corner of Dorset-street and Commercial-street, about ten o'clock,
and that she there met a man with whom she had been living. It
seems clear that the woman was alive at eight o'clock this morning,
that she went out for something, and returned to the house. The
murder must have been committed between that hour and a quarter
to eleven o'clock. At the latter hour Mrs. M'Carthy, with her
son, went to pay her customary visit for the rent. Young M'Carthy
sent a man named Bowyer to the house, which, though entered from
the court, is really a part of No. 26 Dorset-street. Bower failed
to obtain an answer to his knocking, and looking through the window
he saw to his horror the woman lying on the bed, horribly mutilated
and naked. He called M'Carthy, who also looked through the window,
and seeing that the body was cut up almost beyond recognition,
he ran away with Bowyer, and ran to Commercial-street Police Station,
where they informed the police. Inspector Beck and Sergeant Betham
proceeded to the house. The news had spread so rapidly that over
one thousand persons were gathered in the street. These were rapidly
cleared away from the court and the side of Dorset-street, while
the inspector entered the house. The dwelling in which the murder
was committed is entered by two doors situate on the right hand
side of passage, and has several rooms. The first door up the
court from the street leads to the upper rooms; but the second
door opens only into one room, which is situated on the ground
floor. It was in this room that the murder was committed. The
fireplace faces the door, and the bed stands behind the door.
A terrible sight presented itself to the police officers. The
body of the woman, in a state of nudity, was stretched out on
the little bedstead, the clothing of which was saturated with
her blood. The unfortunate woman had been cut and mangled by the
assassin's knife in a manner which was revolting beyond all description.
The fiend was not content with taking the life of his victim by
severing the head from the body, but he had subjected her remains
to the most frightful barbarities.
Medical assistance was immediately sent for, and a description
of the discovery telegraphed to all the London police stations
in the terse sentence, "The woman is simply cut to pieces."
Within a very short time half a dozen cabs arrived in Dorset-street
from Whitehall, conveying detectives from the criminal investigation
depot, among them being Inspectors Abberline and Reid. Never before
had so many men been despatched to the scene of a murder from
Whitehall. The scene in the narrow courtway leading to the house
was one of extraordinary excitement. The whole space was closely
packed with detective officers, and quite a small army of plain
clothes constables were located in Dorset-street. Dr. Phillips,
the divisional surgeon of police, soon arrived, and was followed
by Dr. Bond, of Westminster, divisional surgeon of the A Division,
and Dr. J. R. Gabe, of Mecklenburgh Square, and two or three other
surgeons. They made a preliminary examination of the body and
sent for a photographer, who made several photographs of the remains.
While all this was going on inside the house the excitement in
the neighbourhood was spreading, and among the dwellers in the
immediate locality amounted to a perfect frenzy. Women rushed
about the streets telling their neighbours the news, and shouting
in angry voices their rage and indignation. Notwithstanding the
stolid reticence of all the police engaged at the scene the main
facts of the crime soon became common knowledge, and spreading
far and wide drew a great concourse of people to the scene. Great
efforts were made at first to keep the side of Dorset-street clear
in the vicinity of Miller Court, in the expectation that bloodhounds
might have to be employed; but theugh (sic) it is understood that
a telegram asking for them was sent to Sir Charles Warren, they
were not sent. Barnet, the man who was acquainted with Kelly,
was sent for, and he identified the body, styling the woman "Ginger,"
as she was called owing to the colour of her hair. Barnet made
a statement to the police the purport of which did not transpire.
Sir C. Warren did not visit the scene of the murder, but during
the afternoon Colonel Monsell, chief constable of the district,
and Chief Constables Howard and Roberts inspected the interior
of the house. All the constables and detectives available were
distributed throughout the district, and a house to house visitation
commenced. All who knew the deceased woman were interrogated as
to the person last seen in her company. There was no clue, but
search was instituted for the murderer. At four o'clock this afternoon
the body was removed from Dorset-street to Shoreditch mortuary,
the mutilated remains having been placed in a coarse coffin, the
straps of which were sealed. The coffin, conveyed in a furniture
van, was escorted by several constables, and a large mob followed
the van to the mortuary, where a crowd was waiting to see the
coffin transferred to the building. The windows of the room where
the crime was committed were boarded up, and a padlock put on
the door. The street were patrolled by the police all evening,
and no one was allowed to loiter near the place. All the neighbourhood
to-night is like a fair, and the excitement and hubbub has filled
the streets with thousands of idlers, attracted by morbid curiosity.
John M'Cartny, a provision dealer, residing at 27, Dorset-street,
and who is landlord of No. 26 in the same thoroughfare as the
house in which the murder was committed, made a statement to a
reported to the following effect:--Mary Jane Kelly, the murdered
woman, was a person about 25 years of age. The last that was heard
of her was at one o'clock this morning, when she was singing in
her room. At 11 o'clock last night she was in the Britannia public-house,
at the corner of this thoroughfare. She was then intoxicated.
The young man in her company appeared to be very respectable,
and was well dressed.
M'Cartney gave a reporter the following account of the discovery
of the body:--About half-past ten this morning I saw a man named
Henry Bowyer go to Mary Jane Kelly's, and ask for the rent she
owed. Bowyer went to the house but failed to get any answer to
his knocks. He then peered through one of the windows, and saw
the woman lying cut up on the bed. The bed was saturated with
blood. Bowyer came and called me, telling me what he had seen,
and we looked through the window. I cannot fully describe her
injuries, for the sight was too much for me. She was quite naked.
In answer to questions as to whether the woman was married, M'Cartny
said deceased's husband was a fish porter, employed in Billingsgate,
but in consequence of a quarrel between them four nights ago the
man was now lodging at a boarding-house in Bishopsgate-street.
There are several statements as to the woman's movements when
last seen alive.--Morris Lewis, a tailor, states that he was in
the court at nine o'clock this morning, and an hour before that
he had seen the woman leave the house and return with some milk.--Mrs.
Paumier, a chestnut seller at the corner of Widcoate-street, a
narrow thoroughfare about two minutes' walk from the scene of
the murder, told a reporter a story which appear (sic) to afford
a clue to the murder. She said that about 12 o'clock this morning
a man dressed like a gentleman came to her and said, "I suppose
you have heard about the murder in Dorset-street." She replied
that she had, whereupon the man grinned and said "I know
more about it than you." He then tared into her face and
went down Sandys Row,, another narrow thoroughfare which cuts
across Widcoate-street. When he had got some way off he looked
back, as if to see whether she was watching him, and then vanished.
Mrs. Paumier said the man had a black moustache, was about 5ft.
6in. in height, and wore a black silk hat, black coat, and speckled
trousers. He carried a black bag about 1ft. in depth and 1 1/2
ft. in length. Sarah Roney, a girl about 20 years of age, states
that she was with two other girls last night in Brushfield-street,
which is near Dorset-street, when a man wearing a tall hat and
a black coat, and carrying a black bag, came up to her, and said,
"Will you come with me?" She told him she would not,
and asked him what he had in the bag, and he said, "Something
the ladies don't like. He then walked away.
The excitement in the neighbourhood of Dorset-street is intense,
and some of the low women with whom that street abounds appear
more like fiends than human beings. The police have great trouble
to preserve order, and one constable, who is alleged to have struck
an on-looker, was so mobbed and hooted that he had to beat a retreat
to Commercial-street Police Station, whither he was followed by
a huge crowd, which was only kept at bay by the presence of about
half a dozen constables, who stood at the door and prevented anyone
from entering.
An important fact has transpired this evening which puts a fresh
complexion on the theory of the murders. It appear that the cattle
boats bringing live freight to London are in the habit of coming
into the Thames on Thursdays or Fridays, and leave again for the
Continent on Sundays or Mondays. It has already been a matter
of comment that the recent, revolting crimes have been committed
at the week end, and an opinion has been formed among some of
the detectives that the murderer is a drover or butcher employed
on one of these boats and that he periodically appears and disappears
with one of the steamers. This theory is held to be of much importance
by those engaged in this investigation who believe that the murderer
does not reside either in the locality or even in this country
at all. It is thought that he may be either a person employed
upon one of these boats, or one who is allowed to travel by them,
and inquiries have for some time been directed upon this theory.
It is pointed out that at the inquest on the previous victims
the Coroners had expressed the opinion that the knowledge of physiology
possessed by a butcher would have been sufficient to enable him
to find and cut out the parts of the body which in several cases
were abstracted. Up to nine o'clock to-night there had been no
arrests, and the police appeared to be without a clue. The non-appearance
of the bloodhounds to-day is accounted for by the fact that during
the recent trials in Surrey the animals bolted, and it is understood
have not been recovered. The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee,
who have recently relaxed their efforts, have called a meeting
for Tuesday evening next to consider what steps they can take
to assist the police in the latest tragedy.
Find more information
on Jack the Ripper here (not for the squeamish!).
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