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⚫ | ], ], issue of '']'' magazine, featuring cartoonist Tom Merry's depiction of the unidentified ] murderer Jack the Ripper.]] | ||
{{Citations missing|date=June 2007}} | |||
⚫ | ], issue of '']'' magazine, featuring cartoonist Tom Merry's depiction of the unidentified ] murderer Jack the Ripper.]] | ||
⚫ | '''Jack the Ripper''' is an ] given to an unidentified ] |
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⚫ | The legends surrounding the Ripper murders have become a combination of genuine historical research, ] and ]. The lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed |
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⚫ | '''Jack the Ripper''' is an ] given to an unidentified ] active in the largely impoverished ] area and adjacent districts of ], ] in the latter half of ]. The name is taken from a letter to the Central News Agency by someone claiming to be the murderer, published at the time of the killings. | ||
⚫ | The victims were women earning income as casual ]. The Ripper murders were perpetrated in public or semi-public |
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⚫ | The legends surrounding the Ripper murders have become a combination of genuine historical research, ], and ]. The lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed the authors, historians and ] ]s who study the case — to accuse a wide variety of individuals of being the Ripper. Newspapers, whose circulation had been growing during this era,<ref>Perry L. Curtis (2001)'' Jack the Ripper and the London Press''</ref> bestowed widespread and enduring notoriety on the killer owing to the savagery of the attacks and the failure of the police in their attempts to capture the Ripper. | ||
== Victims == | |||
⚫ | The killer's victims were women earning income as casual ]. The Ripper murders were perpetrated in a public or semi-public place; the victim's throat was cut, after which the body was mutilated. Some believe that the victims were first strangled in order to silence them and to explain the lack of blood reported at the crime scenes. The removal of internal organs from some victims has led to the suggestion that the killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge. | ||
The number and names of the Ripper's victims are the subject of much debate. The so-called ''canonical five'' — ], ], ], ] and ]<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 260</ref> — are a subset of the eleven victims listed in the police file documenting what were called "the Whitechapel murders."<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'' </ref> | |||
==The Whitechapel murders== | |||
{{Ripper victims}} | {{Ripper victims}} | ||
===The first murders=== | |||
⚫ | 1. ], born ] 1843, was attacked in ], Whitechapel ], ], and a blunt object was inserted into her ], rupturing her ]. She survived the attack and managed to walk back to her lodging house with the injuries. Friends brought her to a hospital where she told police that she was attacked by two or three men, one of whom was a teenager. She fell into a coma and died on ], ]. This was the first "Whitechapel Murder," according to the book ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'' by Stewart Evans and David Rumbelow.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 47-50</ref> | ||
⚫ | 2. ] (name sometimes misspelled as Tabran; used the alias Emma Turner; maiden name Martha White), born on ], ], and killed on ], ]. She had a total of 39 stab wounds. Of the non-canonical Whitechapel murders, Tabram is named most often as another possible Ripper victim, owing to the evident lack of obvious motive, the geographical and periodic proximity to the canonical attacks, and the remarkable savagery of the attack. The main difficulty with including Tabram is that the killer used a somewhat different ] (stabbing, rather than slashing the throat and then cutting), but it is now accepted that a killer's modus operandi can change, sometimes quite dramatically. Her body was found at George Yard Buildings, George Yard, Whitechapel.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 51-55 </ref> | ||
The number and names of the Ripper's victims are the subject of much debate. The ''canonical five'' are a subset of the eleven victims listed in the police file documenting what were called "the Whitechapel murders". | |||
=== |
===The canonical five=== | ||
3. ] (maiden name Mary Ann Walker, nicknamed "Polly"), born on ], ], and killed on ], ]. Nichols' body was discovered at about 3:40 in the morning on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row (since renamed ]), a back street in Whitechapel, two hundred yards from the ]. <ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 56-62</ref> | |||
⚫ | 4. ] (maiden name Eliza Ann Smith, nicknamed "Dark Annie"), born in September 1841 and killed on ], ]. Chapman's body was discovered about 6:00 in the morning lying on the ground near a doorway in the back yard of 29 ], ]. <ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 66-73 </ref> | ||
The most widely accepted list, referred to within the field of Ripperology as the canonical five<ref>Robin Odell (2006) ''Ripperology'', ISBN 0873388615 -- Odell argues that the term "Macnaghten Five" would be preferable, but this term has not proven popular so far</ref>, includes the following five prostitutes (or presumed prostitute in Eddowes' case) in the ]: | |||
5. ] (maiden name Elisabeth Gustafsdotter, nicknamed "Long Liz"), born in Sweden on ], ], and killed on ], ]. Stride's body was discovered close to 01:00 in the early morning, lying on the ground in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (since renamed ]) in Whitechapel. The third of the canonical five. | |||
⚫ | |||
* ] (maiden name Elisabeth Gustafsdotter, nicknamed "Long Liz"), born in ] on ], ], and killed on Sunday, ], ]. Stride's body was discovered close to 1:00 in the morning, lying on the ground in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (since renamed ]) in Whitechapel. | |||
⚫ | |||
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⚫ | 6. ] (used the aliases "Kate Conway" and "Mary Ann Kelly," from the surnames of her two common-law husbands Thomas Conway and John Kelly), born on ], ], and killed on ], ], on the same day as the previous victim, Elizabeth Stride. Her body was found in ], in the City of London. | ||
⚫ | The authority of this list rests on a number of authors' opinions, but the basis for these opinions mainly came from notes made privately in 1894 by Sir ] as Chief Constable of the ] ], papers which came to light in 1959. Macnaghten's papers reflected his own opinion which was not necessarily shared by the investigating officers (such as Inspector ]). Macnaghten did not join the force until the year after the murders, and his memorandum contained serious errors of fact about possible suspects. For this and other reasons, some |
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⚫ | 7. ] (called herself "Marie Jeanette Kelly" after a trip to Paris, nicknamed "Ginger"), reportedly born in either the city of Limerick or ], Munster, Ireland c. 1863 and killed on ], ]. Kelly's severely mutilated body was discovered shortly after 10:45 in the morning lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller's Court, off ], Spitalfields. | ||
⚫ | Except for Stride (whose attack may have been interrupted), mutilations of the canonical five victims became |
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===Later murders=== | |||
⚫ | The five canonical murders were generally perpetrated in the dark of night, on or close to a weekend, in a secluded site to which the public could gain access, and on a pattern of dates either at the end of a month or a week or so after. Yet every case differed from this pattern in some manner. Besides the differences already mentioned, Eddowes was the only victim killed within the ], though close to the boundary between the City and the metropolis. Nichols was the only victim to be found on an open street, albeit a dark and deserted one. Many sources state that Chapman was killed after the sun had started to rise, though that was not the opinion of the police or the doctors who examined the body.<ref> |
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⚫ | 8. ] (true name probably Catherine Mylett, but was also known as Catherine Millett, Elizabeth "Drunken Lizzie" Davis, "Fair" Alice Downey, or simply "Fair Clara"), born in 1862 and died on ], ]. She was reportedly strangled "by a cord drawn tightly round the neck," though some investigators believed that she had accidentally suffocated herself on the collar of her dress while in a drunken stupour. Her body was found in Clarke's Yard, High Street, ]. | ||
9. ] (nicknamed "Clay Pipe" Alice and used the alias Alice Bryant), a prostitute, born circa 1849 and killed on ], ]. She reportedly died from the "severance of the left carotid artery" but several minor bruises and cuts were found on the body. Her body was found in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. Police Commissioner ] initially believed this to be a Ripper murder and one of the pathologists examining the body, Dr Bond, agreed, though later writers have been more circumspect. Evans and Rumbelow suggest that the unknown murderer tried to make it look like a Ripper killing to deflect suspicion from himself.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 205-09 </ref> | |||
⚫ | A major difficulty in identifying who was and was not a Ripper victim is the large number of horrific attacks against women during this era. Most experts point to deep throat slashes, mutilations to the victim's abdomen and genital area, removal of internal organs and progressive facial mutilations as the distinctive features of Jack the Ripper's ]. | ||
⚫ | 10. "]," a term coined after a torso was found in similar condition to the body which constituted "]," though the hands were not severed, on ], ]. The body was found under a railway arch in ], Whitechapel. An unconfirmed speculation of the time was that the body belonged to Lydia Hart, a prostitute who had disappeared. "The Whitehall Mystery" and "The Pinchin Street Murder" have often been suggested to be the work of a serial killer, for which the nicknames "Torso Killer" or "Torso Murderer" have been suggested. Whether Jack the Ripper and the "Torso Killer" were the same person or separate serial killers of uncertain connection to each other (but active in the same area) has long been debated.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 210-15 </ref> | ||
=== Other possible victims === | |||
⚫ | 11. ] (also known as Frances Coleman, Frances Hawkins and nicknamed "Carrotty Nell"), born in 1865 and killed on ], ]. Minor wounds on the back of the head suggest that she was thrown violently to the ground before her throat was cut. Otherwise there were no mutilations to the body. Her body was found under a railway arch at Swallow Gardens, Whitechapel. A man named James Sadler, seen earlier with her, was arrested by the police and charged with her murder, and was briefly thought to be the Ripper himself. However he was discharged from court due to lack of evidence on ] ]. After this eleventh and last "Whitechapel Murder" the case was closed.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 218-22 </ref> | ||
⚫ | Victims of other contemporary and somewhat similar attacks and/or murders have also been suggested as additions to the list. These victims are generally poorly documented. They include: | ||
==Canonical victims== | |||
⚫ | * "Fairy Fay", a nickname for an unknown murder victim reportedly found on ], ] with "a stake thrust through her abdomen |
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The most widely accepted list of Jack the Ripper's victims, referred to as the canonical five, includes the following five prostitutes (or presumed prostitute in Eddowes' case): ], ], ], ], and ]. | |||
⚫ | The authority of this list rests on a number of authors' opinions, but the basis for these opinions mainly came from notes made privately in 1894 by Sir ] as Chief Constable of the ] ], papers which came to light in 1959. Macnaghten's papers reflected his own opinion which was not necessarily shared by the investigating officers (such as Inspector ]). Macnaghten did not join the force until the year after the murders, and his memorandum contained serious errors of fact about possible suspects. For this and other reasons, some prefer to remove one or more names from this list of canonical victims: typically Stride (who had no mutilations beyond a cut throat and, if ] can be believed, was attacked in public), and/or Kelly (who was younger than other victims, murdered indoors, and whose mutilations were far more extensive than the others). Others prefer to expand the list by citing ] and others as probable Ripper victims. | ||
⚫ | * Annie Millwood, born |
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⚫ | Except for Stride (whose attack may have been interrupted), mutilations of the canonical five victims became more severe as the series of murders proceeded. Nichols and Stride were not missing any organs, but Chapman's uterus was taken, and Eddowes had her uterus and a kidney carried away and her face mutilated. While only Kelly's heart was missing from her crime scene, many of her internal organs were removed and left in her room. | ||
⚫ | * Ada Wilson, reportedly the victim of an attack on ], ], resulting in two stabs in the neck. She survived the attack. | ||
⚫ | The five canonical murders were generally perpetrated in the dark of night, on or close to a weekend, in a secluded site to which the public could gain access, and on a pattern of dates either at the end of a month or a week or so after. Yet every case differed from this pattern in some manner. Besides the differences already mentioned, Eddowes was the only victim killed within the ], though close to the boundary between the City and the metropolis. Nichols was the only victim to be found on an open street, albeit a dark and deserted one. Many sources state that Chapman was killed after the sun had started to rise, though that was not the opinion of the police or the doctors who examined the body.<ref></ref> Kelly's murder ended a six-week period of inactivity for the murderer. (A week elapsed between the Nichols and Chapman murders, and three between Chapman and the "double event.") | ||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | A major difficulty in identifying who was and was not a Ripper victim is the large number of horrific attacks against women during this era. Most experts point to deep throat slashes, mutilations to the victim's abdomen and genital area, removal of internal organs, and progressive facial mutilations as the distinctive features of Jack the Ripper's ]. | ||
⚫ | |||
Evans and Rumbelow state that the "canonical five" is a "Ripper myth" and that the probable number of the Ripper's victims could range between three (Nichols, Chapman, and Eddowes) and six (the previous three plus Stride, Kelly, and Tabram) or even more.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 260</ref> | |||
⚫ | * "] |
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==Suggested victims== | |||
⚫ | * Annie Farmer, born in 1848, reportedly was the victim of an attack on ], ]. She survived with only a |
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⚫ | Victims of other contemporary and somewhat similar attacks and/or murders have also been suggested as additions to the list. These victims are generally poorly documented. They include: | ||
⚫ | * "Fairy Fay", a nickname for an unknown murder victim reportedly found on ], ] with "a stake thrust through her abdomen." It has been suggested that "Fairy Fay" was a creation of the press based upon confusion of the details of the murder of Emma Elizabeth Smith with a separate non-fatal attack the previous Christmas. The name of "Fairy Fay" does not appear for this alleged victim until many years after the murders, and it seems to have been taken from a verse of a popular song called '']'' that starts "Fare thee well my ] fay." There were no recorded murders in Whitechapel at or around Christmas 1886 or 1887, and later newspaper reports that included a Christmas 1887 killing did not list the Smith murder. Most authors agree that "Fairy Fay" never existed.<ref>Paul Begg (2004) ''Jack the Ripper: The Facts'': 21-5</ref> | ||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | * Annie Millwood, born c. 1850, reportedly the victim of an attack on ], ]. She was admitted to hospital with "numerous stabs in the legs and lower part of the body." She was discharged from hospital but died from apparently natural causes on ], ].<ref>Paul Begg (2004) ''Jack the Ripper: The Facts'': 25-6</ref> | ||
⚫ | * Elizabeth Jackson, a prostitute whose various body parts were collected from the ] between ] and ] ]. She was reportedly identified by scars she had had prior to her disappearance and apparent murder. | ||
⚫ | * Ada Wilson, reportedly the victim of an attack on ], ], resulting in two stabs in the neck. She survived the attack. | ||
* Alice McKenzie (nicknamed "Clay Pipe" Alice and used the alias Alice Bryant), born ''c''1849 and killed on ], ]. She died reportedly from the "severance of the left carotid artery" but several minor bruises and cuts were found on the body. Her body was found in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. This was the ninth crime listed in Whitechapel murders file. | |||
⚫ | * "]," a term coined for the headless torso of a woman found in the basement of the new ] headquarters being built in Whitehall on ], ]. An arm belonging to the body had previously been discovered floating in the ] near ], and one of the legs was subsequently discovered buried near where the torso was found. The other limbs and head were never recovered and the body never identified. | ||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | * Annie Farmer, born in 1848, reportedly was the victim of an attack on ], ]. She survived with only a superficial cut on her throat, apparently caused by a blunt knife. Police suspected that the wound was self-inflicted and did not investigate the case further. | ||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | * Elizabeth Jackson, a prostitute whose various body parts were collected from the ] between ] and ] ]. She was reportedly identified by scars she had had prior to her disappearance and apparent murder. | ||
* |
* Carrie Brown (nicknamed "Shakespeare,"<ref>Brown is often, mistakenly referred to as Old Shakespeare. However, recent research has shown that it was simply Shakespeare when she was alive, and the Old part got tacked on years later in a news report that was not using "old" as part of her nickname but as a general descriptor. Later sources mentioning Old are in error. See </ref> reportedly for quoting ]), born c. 1835 and killed ], ], in ], ]. She was strangled with clothing and then mutilated with a knife. Her body was found with a large tear through her groin area and superficial cuts on her legs and back. No organs were removed from the scene, though an ovary was found on the bed. Whether it was purposely removed or unintentionally dislodged during the mutilation is unknown. At the time, the murder was compared to those in Whitechapel though ] eventually ruled out any connection. | ||
==Goulston Street graffiti== | ==Goulston Street graffiti== | ||
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There was writing in white ] on the wall above where the apron was found. Long reported that the ] read: <blockquote>''"The Juwes are the men That Will not be Blamed for nothing".''</blockquote> Other police officers recalled a slightly different message: <blockquote>''"The Juwes are not The men That Will be Blamed for nothing".''</blockquote> | There was writing in white ] on the wall above where the apron was found. Long reported that the ] read: <blockquote>''"The Juwes are the men That Will not be Blamed for nothing".''</blockquote> Other police officers recalled a slightly different message: <blockquote>''"The Juwes are not The men That Will be Blamed for nothing".''</blockquote> | ||
Police Superintendent ] visited the scene and saw the graffiti. He feared that with daybreak and the beginning of the day's business, the message would be widely seen and might exacerbate the general ] sentiments of the populace{{Fact|date=October 2007}} |
Police Superintendent ] visited the scene and saw the graffiti. He feared that with daybreak and the beginning of the day's business, the message would be widely seen and might exacerbate the general ] sentiments of the populace.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} Since the Nichols murder, rumours had been circulating in the East End that the killings were the work of a ] dubbed "Leather Apron." Religious tensions were already high, and there had already been many near-riots. Arnold ordered a man to be standing by with a sponge to erase the graffiti, while he consulted Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir ]. Covering the graffiti in order to allow time for a photographer to arrive was considered, but Arnold and Warren (who personally attended the scene) considered this to be too dangerous, and Warren later stated he "considered it desirable to obliterate the writing at once." | ||
While the writing was found in ] territory, the apron was from a victim killed in the City of London, which |
While the writing was found in ] territory, the apron was from a victim killed in the City of London, which had a separate police service. Some officers disagreed with Arnold and Warren's decision, especially those representing the City of London Police, who thought the graffiti constituted part of a crime scene and should at least be ] before being erased, but the message was wiped from the wall at approximately 5:30 a.m. | ||
Most contemporary police concluded that the writing of the graffiti was a semi-literate attack on the area's Jewish population. Author ] notes that the graffiti included ]s, a common feature of ] speech. He suggests that the graffiti might be ] into standard ] as "The Jews are men who will not take responsibility for anything" and that the message was written by someone who believed he or she had been wronged by one of the many Jewish merchants or tradesmen in the area. | Most contemporary police concluded that the writing of the graffiti was a semi-literate attack on the area's Jewish population. Author ] notes that the graffiti included ]s, a common feature of ] speech. He suggests that the graffiti might be ] into standard ] as "The Jews are men who will not take responsibility for anything" and that the message was written by someone who believed he or she had been wronged by one of the many Jewish merchants or tradesmen in the area. | ||
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There is disagreement as to the importance of the graffiti in the Ripper case. Several possible explanations have been suggested by various authors: | There is disagreement as to the importance of the graffiti in the Ripper case. Several possible explanations have been suggested by various authors: | ||
* Author and conspiracy theorist ] suggested that "Juwes" referred not to "Jews," but to Jubela, Jubelo and Jubelum, the three killers of ], a semi-legendary figure in ], and furthermore, that the message was written by the killer (or killers) as part of a Masonic plot (however, there is no evidence that anyone prior to Knight had ever referred to those three figures by the term "Juwes")<ref>Stephen Knight (1976)'' Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution''</ref> | * Author and conspiracy theorist ] suggested that "Juwes" referred not to "Jews," but to Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum, the three killers of ], a semi-legendary figure in ], and furthermore, that the message was written by the killer (or killers) as part of a Masonic plot (however, there is no evidence that anyone prior to Knight had ever referred to those three figures by the term "Juwes")<ref>Stephen Knight (1976)'' Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution''</ref> | ||
* The murderer wrote the graffiti and then dropped the piece of apron to indicate a link | * The murderer wrote the graffiti and then dropped the piece of apron to indicate a link | ||
* The writing on the wall was already there and the murderer wanted to indicate a link in support of the message | * The writing on the wall was already there and the murderer wanted to indicate a link in support of the message | ||
* The message was already there and the murderer dropped the scrap coincidentally, without interest in making a link (perhaps failing to notice the graffiti) | * The message was already there and the murderer dropped the scrap coincidentally, without interest in making a link (perhaps failing to notice the graffiti) | ||
* The writing was added sometime after the apron piece was dropped — presumably shortly after the murder (thought to have happened just before 1:45am) — but before the discovery of the scrap of apron at |
* The writing was added sometime after the apron piece was dropped — presumably shortly after the murder (thought to have happened just before 1:45am) — but before the discovery of the scrap of apron at 3 a.m. | ||
==Ripper letters== | ==Ripper letters== | ||
{{Ripper letters}} | {{Ripper letters}} | ||
Over the course of the Ripper murders, the ] and ] received many thousands of letters regarding the case. Some were from well-intentioned persons offering advice for catching the killer. The vast majority of these were deemed useless and subsequently ignored<ref>Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner (2001) ''Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell''</ref> |
Over the course of the Ripper murders, the ] and ] received many thousands of letters regarding the case. Some were from well-intentioned persons offering advice for catching the killer. The vast majority of these were deemed useless and subsequently ignored.<ref>Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner (2001) ''Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell''</ref> | ||
Perhaps more interesting were hundreds of letters which claimed to have been written by the killer himself. The vast majority of such letters are considered ]es. Many experts contend that ''none'' of them are <!-- the proper usage is "are", not is, do not change this, see http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-non2.htm --> genuine, but of the ones cited as perhaps genuine, either by contemporary or modern authorities, three in particular are prominent: | Perhaps more interesting were hundreds of letters which claimed to have been written by the killer himself. The vast majority of such letters are considered ]es. Many experts contend that ''none'' of them are <!-- the proper usage is "are", not is, do not change this, see http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-non2.htm --> genuine, but of the ones cited as perhaps genuine, either by contemporary or modern authorities, three in particular are prominent: | ||
* ], dated ], ]ed and received ], ], by the Central News Agency, was forwarded to ] on ]. Initially it was considered a hoax, but when Eddowes was found three days after the letter's postmark with one ear partially cut off, the letter's promise to "clip the ladys ears off" gained attention. Police published the letter on ], hoping someone would recognise the handwriting, but nothing came of this effort. The name "Jack the Ripper" was first used in this letter and gained worldwide notoriety after its publication. Most of the letters that followed copied the tone of this one. After the murders, police officials contended the letter had been a hoax by a local journalist<ref> |
* ], dated ], ]ed and received ], ], by the Central News Agency, was forwarded to ] on ]. Initially it was considered a hoax, but when Eddowes was found three days after the letter's postmark with one ear partially cut off, the letter's promise to "clip the ladys ears off" gained attention. Police published the letter on ], hoping someone would recognise the handwriting, but nothing came of this effort. The name "Jack the Ripper" was first used in this letter and gained worldwide notoriety after its publication. Most of the letters that followed copied the tone of this one. After the murders, police officials contended the letter had been a hoax by a local journalist.<ref>Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 137-40</ref> | ||
* ], postmarked and received ], 1888, by the Central News Agency, had handwriting similar to the "Dear Boss" letter. It mentions that two victims — Stride and Eddowes — were killed very close to one another: "double event this time |
* ], postmarked and received ], ], by the Central News Agency, had handwriting similar to the "Dear Boss" letter. It mentions that two victims — Stride and Eddowes — were killed very close to one another: "double event this time." It has been argued that the letter was mailed before the murders were publicised, making it unlikely that a ] would have such knowledge of the crime, though it was postmarked more than 24 hours after the killings took place, long after details were known by journalists and residents of the area. Police officials later claimed to have identified a specific journalist as the author of both this message and the earlier "Dear Boss" letter. | ||
* ], also known as the "Lusk letter |
* ], also known as the "Lusk letter," postmarked ] and received by ] of the ] on ], ]. Lusk opened a small box to discover half a human ], later said by a doctor to have been preserved in "spirits of wine" (]). One of Eddowes' kidneys had been removed by the killer, and a doctor determined the kidney sent to Lusk was "very similar to the one removed from Catherine Eddowes," though his findings were inconclusive.<ref></ref> The writer claimed that he had "fried and ate" the missing kidney half. There is some disagreement over the kidney: some contend it had belonged to Eddowes, while others argue it was "a macabre ], and no more."<ref name="RN002"> | ||
{{cite journal | {{cite journal | ||
| last = DiGrazia | | last = DiGrazia | ||
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==Investigation== | ==Investigation== | ||
] | ] | ||
Investigative techniques and awareness have progressed greatly since 1888. Many valuable ] techniques taken for granted today were unknown to the Victorian-era ]. The value of interpreting motives of serial killers, the concept of ], ], and other such knowledge and intelligence that have developed were poorly understood if not altogether unknown. Police recognised a sexual motive or element to the attacks, but were otherwise thoroughly unfamiliar with such crimes. |
Investigative techniques and awareness have progressed greatly since 1888. Many valuable ] techniques taken for granted today were unknown to the Victorian-era ]. The value of interpreting motives of serial killers, the concept of ], ], and other such knowledge and intelligence that have developed were poorly understood if not altogether unknown. Police recognised a sexual motive or element to the attacks, but were otherwise thoroughly unfamiliar with such crimes. | ||
The investigation into the Whitechapel murders was initially conducted by Whitechapel (H) Division C.I.D. headed by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid. After the Nichols murder |
The investigation into the Whitechapel murders was initially conducted by Whitechapel (H) Division C.I.D. headed by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid. After the Nichols murder Detective Inspectors ], Henry Moore, and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist. After the Chapman murder on ], ], suspicion fell on a local Whitechapel man named John Pizer (or Piser), dubbed by the popular press "Leather Apron." He was formally arrested on ] but soon released when he proved to have an alibi.<ref>Evans and Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 80-2</ref> After the Eddowes murder, which occurred within the ], on ], the City Police under Detective Inspector James McWilliam were also engaged. The case was closed after the murder of Frances Coles on ], ].<ref>Evans and Rumbelow (2006) ''Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates'': 216-22</ref> | ||
While the investigation was not nearly as sophisticated as police work is today, the Jack the Ripper probe was filled with the earmarks of a modern investigation. The Detective Inspectors all began a widespread inquiry that included interviewing witnesses and residents of the area, searching every imaginable spot for information.<ref>Odell, Robin. Ripperology: A Study of the World's First Serial Killer and a Literary Phenomena. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006.</ref> Fingerprinting had not yet arrived on the scene and investigative methods were still in their development stages during the Jack the Ripper murders.<ref>Wilson, Colin and Damon. Written in Blood: A History of Forensic Detection. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003.</ref> Psychological profiling never went far beyond the idea of a "homicidal lunatic."<ref>Odell, Robin. Ripperology: A Study of the World's First Serial Killer and a Literary Phenomena. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006</ref> | |||
A group of volunteer citizens in London's East End called the ] patrolled the streets of London looking for suspicious characters, petitioned the government to raise a reward for information about the killer, and hired private detectives to question witnesses separate from the police. The committee was led by ] in 1888. Albert Bachert in 1889 claimed to be in charge of that group or perhaps a different group with the same stated purpose. | |||
On ] ], the British television channel ] released an ]-generated photo illustration showing what the researchers affiliated with the documentary believe the serial killer may have looked like.<ref></ref> A former Metropolitan Police commander, |
On ], ], the British television channel ] released an ]-generated photo illustration showing what the researchers affiliated with the documentary believe the serial killer may have looked like.<ref></ref>. A former Metropolitan Police commander, John Grieve, was quoted as saying: "This is further than anyone else has got. It would have been enough for coppers to get out and start knocking on doors... they would have got him." Experts on the case, including author ], reacted with scepticism, noting that ]s are usually only put together through direct questioning of a live witness and that various Victorian police officials investigating the Ripper killings stated that either no one had got a good look at the killer, or perhaps only one or two, but certainly not the alleged "13 witnesses" whose statements Grieve and others affiliated with the documentary claimed to have used as the basis for the image.<ref></ref> | ||
The '']'' was a group of people that patrolled the streets of London during the murders of 1888. They patrolled London mainly at night in search for this murderer. The Committee was led by ] in 1888 and later by Albert Bachert. | |||
==Media== | ==Media== | ||
]'' cartoon by ] (] |
]'' cartoon by ] (] 1888) criticising the police's alleged incompetence.]] | ||
], ]: - "The Nemesis of Neglect".]] | ], ]: - "The Nemesis of Neglect".]] | ||
The Ripper murders mark an important watershed in modern British life. |
The Ripper murders mark an important watershed in modern British life. While not the first serial killer, Jack the Ripper's case was the first to create a worldwide media frenzy. Reforms to the ] in 1855 had enabled the publication of inexpensive newspapers with wider circulation. These mushroomed later in the Victorian era to include mass-circulation newspapers as cheap as a halfpenny, along with popular magazines such as the '']'', making the Ripper the beneficiary of previously unparalleled publicity. This, combined with the fact that no one was ever convicted of the murders, created a ] that cast a shadow over later serial killers. | ||
Some believe that the killer's nickname was invented by newspapermen to make for a more interesting story that could sell more papers. This became standard media practice with examples such as ], ], the ], the ], and the ], besides the derivative ] almost a hundred years later and the unnamed perpetrator of the "Thames Nude Murders" of the 1960s, |
Some believe that the killer's nickname was invented by newspapermen to make for a more interesting story that could sell more papers. This became standard media practice with examples such as ], ], the ], the ], and the ], besides the derivative ] almost a hundred years later and the unnamed perpetrator of the "Thames Nude Murders" of the 1960s, who the press dubbed ]. | ||
The poor of the East End had long been ignored by affluent society, but the nature of the murders and of the victims forcibly drew attention to their living conditions. This attention enabled social reformers of the time to finally gain the support of the "respectable classes |
The poor of the East End had long been ignored by affluent society, but the nature of the murders and of the victims forcibly drew attention to their living conditions. This attention enabled social reformers of the time to finally gain the support of the "respectable classes." A letter from ] to the ''Star'' commented sarcastically on these sudden concerns of the press: | ||
{{cquote|Whilst we Social Democrats were wasting our time on education, agitation and organization, some independent genius has taken the matter in hand, and by simply murdering and |
{{cquote|Whilst we Social Democrats were wasting our time on education, agitation and organization, some independent genius has taken the matter in hand, and by simply murdering and disemboweling four women, converted the proprietary press to an inept sort of communism.}} | ||
==Suspects== | ==Suspects== | ||
{{main|Jack the Ripper suspects}} | {{main|Jack the Ripper suspects}} | ||
{{expand-section}} | |||
Many theories about the identity of Jack the Ripper have been advanced. None have been entirely persuasive. | Many theories about the identity of Jack the Ripper have been advanced. None have been entirely persuasive. | ||
==Jack the Ripper in popular culture== | ==Jack the Ripper in popular culture== | ||
{{main|Jack the Ripper fiction}} | |||
⚫ | Jack the Ripper has been featured in a number of works of fiction and popular culture, either as the central character or in a more peripheral role. | ||
⚫ | At the time of the murders, a theatrical version of ]'s book '']'' was being performed. The subject matter of horrific murder in the London streets drew much attention, even leading ] to be accused by some members of the public of being the Ripper himself, although this theory was never taken seriously by the police.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} | ||
The British ] band ] recorded "The Ripper", a song inspired by Jack's character, in their 1976 album ].{{Fact|date=October 2007}} | |||
The 1979 film '']'' featured Jack the Ripper stealing ] time machine and escaping to 1979 ], where he continued his murderous ways. | |||
⚫ | Jack the Ripper has been featured in a number of works of |
||
The ] ] '']'' provided a comical explanation for the "disappearance" of Jack the Ripper. It showed that he had been using the "time portal'" to hide in the 1990s after committing the murders, and was subsequently run over by a ] bus when confronted in the future. | |||
⚫ | At the time of the murders, a theatrical version of ]'s book '']'' was being performed. The subject matter of horrific murder in the London streets drew much attention, even leading ] to be accused by some members of the public of being the Ripper himself, although this theory was never taken seriously by the police. |
||
In 2006, Jack the Ripper was selected by the ] and its readers as the ]. |
In 2006, Jack the Ripper was selected by the ] and its readers as the ].<ref></ref> | ||
The legend of the Ripper is still promoted in the East End of London with many guided tours of the murder sites.<ref>Donald Rumbelow (2004) ''The Complete Jack the Ripper'' |
The legend of the Ripper is still promoted in the East End of London,{{Fact|date=October 2007}} with many guided tours of the murder sites.<ref>Donald Rumbelow (2004) ''The Complete Jack the Ripper'': xv</ref> ], a Victorian pub in ] that had been frequented by Jack the Ripper's victims, was the focus of such tours for many years.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} To capitalize on this business, the owners changed its name to the "Jack the Ripper" in the 1960s, but following protests by feminists and others, the pub returned to its old name.<ref>William Taylor (2000) ''This Bright Field: a Travel Book in One Place'': 83-92</ref> | ||
To date more than |
To date, more than 150 works of non-fiction have been published which deal exclusively with the Jack the Ripper murders,{{Fact|date=October 2007}} making it one of the most written-about true-crime subjects of the past century.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} ]'s ''The Complete History of Jack the Ripper'' is widely considered the best general overview of the case.<ref></ref> Six periodicals about Jack the Ripper have been published since the early 1990s: ''Ripperana'' (1992-present), ''Ripperologist'' (1994-present, electronic format only since 2005), the ''Whitechapel Journal'' (1997–2000), ''Ripper Notes'' (1999-present), ''Ripperoo'' (2000–2003) and the ''The Whitechapel Society Journal'' (2005-present).<ref></ref> | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist|2}} | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Line 163: | Line 181: | ||
* ''The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper'' (1999) by ] and ] (editors), ISBN 0-7867-0626-0 | * ''The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper'' (1999) by ] and ] (editors), ISBN 0-7867-0626-0 | ||
* '']'' by ] (editor) | * '']'' by ] (editor) | ||
* ''Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed'' by ] - Published by Little Brown ] Originally published in 2002 and reprinted. | |||
* ''Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell'' (2001) by Stewart |
* ''Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell'' (2001) by Stewart Evans and and Keith Skinner. Sutton: Stroud. | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Line 175: | Line 194: | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{commons|Jack the Ripper}} | {{commons|Jack the Ripper}} | ||
* Jonpaul Lewis' Award Winning Stop Motion-Live Action short film based on "Jack The Ripper". | |||
* has an extensive collection of contemporary newspaper reports related to the murders as well as articles by modern authors. | * has an extensive collection of contemporary newspaper reports related to the murders as well as articles by modern authors. | ||
* discusses the investigation into the killings. | * discusses the investigation into the killings. |
Revision as of 18:53, 25 October 2007
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Jack the Ripper is an alias given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London, England in the latter half of 1888. The name is taken from a letter to the Central News Agency by someone claiming to be the murderer, published at the time of the killings.
The legends surrounding the Ripper murders have become a combination of genuine historical research, conspiracy theory, and folklore. The lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed the authors, historians and amateur detectives who study the case — to accuse a wide variety of individuals of being the Ripper. Newspapers, whose circulation had been growing during this era, bestowed widespread and enduring notoriety on the killer owing to the savagery of the attacks and the failure of the police in their attempts to capture the Ripper.
The killer's victims were women earning income as casual prostitutes. The Ripper murders were perpetrated in a public or semi-public place; the victim's throat was cut, after which the body was mutilated. Some believe that the victims were first strangled in order to silence them and to explain the lack of blood reported at the crime scenes. The removal of internal organs from some victims has led to the suggestion that the killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge.
The number and names of the Ripper's victims are the subject of much debate. The so-called canonical five — Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly — are a subset of the eleven victims listed in the police file documenting what were called "the Whitechapel murders."
The Whitechapel murders
The first murders
1. Emma Elizabeth Smith, born c. 1843, was attacked in Osborn Street, Whitechapel April 3, 1888, and a blunt object was inserted into her vagina, rupturing her perineum. She survived the attack and managed to walk back to her lodging house with the injuries. Friends brought her to a hospital where she told police that she was attacked by two or three men, one of whom was a teenager. She fell into a coma and died on April 5, 1888. This was the first "Whitechapel Murder," according to the book Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates by Stewart Evans and David Rumbelow.
2. Martha Tabram (name sometimes misspelled as Tabran; used the alias Emma Turner; maiden name Martha White), born on May 10, 1849, and killed on August 7, 1888. She had a total of 39 stab wounds. Of the non-canonical Whitechapel murders, Tabram is named most often as another possible Ripper victim, owing to the evident lack of obvious motive, the geographical and periodic proximity to the canonical attacks, and the remarkable savagery of the attack. The main difficulty with including Tabram is that the killer used a somewhat different modus operandi (stabbing, rather than slashing the throat and then cutting), but it is now accepted that a killer's modus operandi can change, sometimes quite dramatically. Her body was found at George Yard Buildings, George Yard, Whitechapel.
The canonical five
3. Mary Ann Nichols (maiden name Mary Ann Walker, nicknamed "Polly"), born on August 26, 1845, and killed on August 31, 1888. Nichols' body was discovered at about 3:40 in the morning on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row (since renamed Durward Street), a back street in Whitechapel, two hundred yards from the London Hospital.
4. Annie Chapman (maiden name Eliza Ann Smith, nicknamed "Dark Annie"), born in September 1841 and killed on September 8, 1888. Chapman's body was discovered about 6:00 in the morning lying on the ground near a doorway in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields.
5. Elizabeth Stride (maiden name Elisabeth Gustafsdotter, nicknamed "Long Liz"), born in Sweden on November 27, 1843, and killed on September 30, 1888. Stride's body was discovered close to 01:00 in the early morning, lying on the ground in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (since renamed Henriques Street) in Whitechapel. The third of the canonical five.
6. Catherine Eddowes (used the aliases "Kate Conway" and "Mary Ann Kelly," from the surnames of her two common-law husbands Thomas Conway and John Kelly), born on April 14, 1842, and killed on September 30, 1888, on the same day as the previous victim, Elizabeth Stride. Her body was found in Mitre Square, in the City of London.
7. Mary Jane Kelly (called herself "Marie Jeanette Kelly" after a trip to Paris, nicknamed "Ginger"), reportedly born in either the city of Limerick or County Limerick, Munster, Ireland c. 1863 and killed on November 9, 1888. Kelly's severely mutilated body was discovered shortly after 10:45 in the morning lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller's Court, off Dorset Street, Spitalfields.
Later murders
8. Rose Mylett (true name probably Catherine Mylett, but was also known as Catherine Millett, Elizabeth "Drunken Lizzie" Davis, "Fair" Alice Downey, or simply "Fair Clara"), born in 1862 and died on December 20, 1888. She was reportedly strangled "by a cord drawn tightly round the neck," though some investigators believed that she had accidentally suffocated herself on the collar of her dress while in a drunken stupour. Her body was found in Clarke's Yard, High Street, Poplar.
9. Alice McKenzie (nicknamed "Clay Pipe" Alice and used the alias Alice Bryant), a prostitute, born circa 1849 and killed on July 17, 1889. She reportedly died from the "severance of the left carotid artery" but several minor bruises and cuts were found on the body. Her body was found in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. Police Commissioner James Monro initially believed this to be a Ripper murder and one of the pathologists examining the body, Dr Bond, agreed, though later writers have been more circumspect. Evans and Rumbelow suggest that the unknown murderer tried to make it look like a Ripper killing to deflect suspicion from himself.
10. "The Pinchin Street Murder," a term coined after a torso was found in similar condition to the body which constituted "The Whitehall Mystery," though the hands were not severed, on September 10, 1889. The body was found under a railway arch in Pinchin Street, Whitechapel. An unconfirmed speculation of the time was that the body belonged to Lydia Hart, a prostitute who had disappeared. "The Whitehall Mystery" and "The Pinchin Street Murder" have often been suggested to be the work of a serial killer, for which the nicknames "Torso Killer" or "Torso Murderer" have been suggested. Whether Jack the Ripper and the "Torso Killer" were the same person or separate serial killers of uncertain connection to each other (but active in the same area) has long been debated.
11. Frances Coles (also known as Frances Coleman, Frances Hawkins and nicknamed "Carrotty Nell"), born in 1865 and killed on February 13, 1891. Minor wounds on the back of the head suggest that she was thrown violently to the ground before her throat was cut. Otherwise there were no mutilations to the body. Her body was found under a railway arch at Swallow Gardens, Whitechapel. A man named James Sadler, seen earlier with her, was arrested by the police and charged with her murder, and was briefly thought to be the Ripper himself. However he was discharged from court due to lack of evidence on 3 March 1891. After this eleventh and last "Whitechapel Murder" the case was closed.
Canonical victims
The most widely accepted list of Jack the Ripper's victims, referred to as the canonical five, includes the following five prostitutes (or presumed prostitute in Eddowes' case): Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
The authority of this list rests on a number of authors' opinions, but the basis for these opinions mainly came from notes made privately in 1894 by Sir Melville Macnaghten as Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police Service Criminal Investigation Department, papers which came to light in 1959. Macnaghten's papers reflected his own opinion which was not necessarily shared by the investigating officers (such as Inspector Frederick Abberline). Macnaghten did not join the force until the year after the murders, and his memorandum contained serious errors of fact about possible suspects. For this and other reasons, some prefer to remove one or more names from this list of canonical victims: typically Stride (who had no mutilations beyond a cut throat and, if one witness can be believed, was attacked in public), and/or Kelly (who was younger than other victims, murdered indoors, and whose mutilations were far more extensive than the others). Others prefer to expand the list by citing Martha Tabram and others as probable Ripper victims.
Except for Stride (whose attack may have been interrupted), mutilations of the canonical five victims became more severe as the series of murders proceeded. Nichols and Stride were not missing any organs, but Chapman's uterus was taken, and Eddowes had her uterus and a kidney carried away and her face mutilated. While only Kelly's heart was missing from her crime scene, many of her internal organs were removed and left in her room.
The five canonical murders were generally perpetrated in the dark of night, on or close to a weekend, in a secluded site to which the public could gain access, and on a pattern of dates either at the end of a month or a week or so after. Yet every case differed from this pattern in some manner. Besides the differences already mentioned, Eddowes was the only victim killed within the City of London, though close to the boundary between the City and the metropolis. Nichols was the only victim to be found on an open street, albeit a dark and deserted one. Many sources state that Chapman was killed after the sun had started to rise, though that was not the opinion of the police or the doctors who examined the body. Kelly's murder ended a six-week period of inactivity for the murderer. (A week elapsed between the Nichols and Chapman murders, and three between Chapman and the "double event.")
A major difficulty in identifying who was and was not a Ripper victim is the large number of horrific attacks against women during this era. Most experts point to deep throat slashes, mutilations to the victim's abdomen and genital area, removal of internal organs, and progressive facial mutilations as the distinctive features of Jack the Ripper's modus operandi.
Evans and Rumbelow state that the "canonical five" is a "Ripper myth" and that the probable number of the Ripper's victims could range between three (Nichols, Chapman, and Eddowes) and six (the previous three plus Stride, Kelly, and Tabram) or even more.
Suggested victims
Victims of other contemporary and somewhat similar attacks and/or murders have also been suggested as additions to the list. These victims are generally poorly documented. They include:
- "Fairy Fay", a nickname for an unknown murder victim reportedly found on December 26, 1887 with "a stake thrust through her abdomen." It has been suggested that "Fairy Fay" was a creation of the press based upon confusion of the details of the murder of Emma Elizabeth Smith with a separate non-fatal attack the previous Christmas. The name of "Fairy Fay" does not appear for this alleged victim until many years after the murders, and it seems to have been taken from a verse of a popular song called Polly Wolly Doodle that starts "Fare thee well my fairy fay." There were no recorded murders in Whitechapel at or around Christmas 1886 or 1887, and later newspaper reports that included a Christmas 1887 killing did not list the Smith murder. Most authors agree that "Fairy Fay" never existed.
- Annie Millwood, born c. 1850, reportedly the victim of an attack on February 25, 1888. She was admitted to hospital with "numerous stabs in the legs and lower part of the body." She was discharged from hospital but died from apparently natural causes on March 31, 1888.
- Ada Wilson, reportedly the victim of an attack on March 28, 1888, resulting in two stabs in the neck. She survived the attack.
- "The Whitehall Mystery," a term coined for the headless torso of a woman found in the basement of the new Metropolitan Police headquarters being built in Whitehall on October 2, 1888. An arm belonging to the body had previously been discovered floating in the Thames near Pimlico, and one of the legs was subsequently discovered buried near where the torso was found. The other limbs and head were never recovered and the body never identified.
- Annie Farmer, born in 1848, reportedly was the victim of an attack on November 21, 1888. She survived with only a superficial cut on her throat, apparently caused by a blunt knife. Police suspected that the wound was self-inflicted and did not investigate the case further.
- Elizabeth Jackson, a prostitute whose various body parts were collected from the River Thames between May 31 and June 25 1889. She was reportedly identified by scars she had had prior to her disappearance and apparent murder.
- Carrie Brown (nicknamed "Shakespeare," reportedly for quoting Shakespeare's sonnets), born c. 1835 and killed April 24, 1891, in Manhattan, New York City. She was strangled with clothing and then mutilated with a knife. Her body was found with a large tear through her groin area and superficial cuts on her legs and back. No organs were removed from the scene, though an ovary was found on the bed. Whether it was purposely removed or unintentionally dislodged during the mutilation is unknown. At the time, the murder was compared to those in Whitechapel though London police eventually ruled out any connection.
Goulston Street graffiti
After the "double event" of the early morning of September 30, police searched the area near the crime scenes in an effort to locate a suspect, witnesses or evidence. At about 3:00 a.m., Constable Alfred Long discovered a bloodstained scrap of cloth in the stairwell of a tenement on Goulston Street. The cloth was later confirmed as part of Eddowes' apron.
There was writing in white chalk on the wall above where the apron was found. Long reported that the graffiti read:
"The Juwes are the men That Will not be Blamed for nothing".
Other police officers recalled a slightly different message:
"The Juwes are not The men That Will be Blamed for nothing".
Police Superintendent Thomas Arnold visited the scene and saw the graffiti. He feared that with daybreak and the beginning of the day's business, the message would be widely seen and might exacerbate the general Anti-Semitic sentiments of the populace. Since the Nichols murder, rumours had been circulating in the East End that the killings were the work of a Jew dubbed "Leather Apron." Religious tensions were already high, and there had already been many near-riots. Arnold ordered a man to be standing by with a sponge to erase the graffiti, while he consulted Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren. Covering the graffiti in order to allow time for a photographer to arrive was considered, but Arnold and Warren (who personally attended the scene) considered this to be too dangerous, and Warren later stated he "considered it desirable to obliterate the writing at once."
While the writing was found in Metropolitan Police territory, the apron was from a victim killed in the City of London, which had a separate police service. Some officers disagreed with Arnold and Warren's decision, especially those representing the City of London Police, who thought the graffiti constituted part of a crime scene and should at least be photographed before being erased, but the message was wiped from the wall at approximately 5:30 a.m.
Most contemporary police concluded that the writing of the graffiti was a semi-literate attack on the area's Jewish population. Author Martin Fido notes that the graffiti included double negatives, a common feature of Cockney speech. He suggests that the graffiti might be translated into standard English as "The Jews are men who will not take responsibility for anything" and that the message was written by someone who believed he or she had been wronged by one of the many Jewish merchants or tradesmen in the area.
There is disagreement as to the importance of the graffiti in the Ripper case. Several possible explanations have been suggested by various authors:
- Author and conspiracy theorist Stephen Knight suggested that "Juwes" referred not to "Jews," but to Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum, the three killers of Hiram Abiff, a semi-legendary figure in Freemasonry, and furthermore, that the message was written by the killer (or killers) as part of a Masonic plot (however, there is no evidence that anyone prior to Knight had ever referred to those three figures by the term "Juwes")
- The murderer wrote the graffiti and then dropped the piece of apron to indicate a link
- The writing on the wall was already there and the murderer wanted to indicate a link in support of the message
- The message was already there and the murderer dropped the scrap coincidentally, without interest in making a link (perhaps failing to notice the graffiti)
- The writing was added sometime after the apron piece was dropped — presumably shortly after the murder (thought to have happened just before 1:45am) — but before the discovery of the scrap of apron at 3 a.m.
Ripper letters
Template:Ripper letters Over the course of the Ripper murders, the police and newspapers received many thousands of letters regarding the case. Some were from well-intentioned persons offering advice for catching the killer. The vast majority of these were deemed useless and subsequently ignored.
Perhaps more interesting were hundreds of letters which claimed to have been written by the killer himself. The vast majority of such letters are considered hoaxes. Many experts contend that none of them are genuine, but of the ones cited as perhaps genuine, either by contemporary or modern authorities, three in particular are prominent:
- The "Dear Boss" letter, dated September 25, postmarked and received September 27, 1888, by the Central News Agency, was forwarded to Scotland Yard on September 29. Initially it was considered a hoax, but when Eddowes was found three days after the letter's postmark with one ear partially cut off, the letter's promise to "clip the ladys ears off" gained attention. Police published the letter on October 1, hoping someone would recognise the handwriting, but nothing came of this effort. The name "Jack the Ripper" was first used in this letter and gained worldwide notoriety after its publication. Most of the letters that followed copied the tone of this one. After the murders, police officials contended the letter had been a hoax by a local journalist.
- The "Saucy Jack" postcard, postmarked and received October 1, 1888, by the Central News Agency, had handwriting similar to the "Dear Boss" letter. It mentions that two victims — Stride and Eddowes — were killed very close to one another: "double event this time." It has been argued that the letter was mailed before the murders were publicised, making it unlikely that a crank would have such knowledge of the crime, though it was postmarked more than 24 hours after the killings took place, long after details were known by journalists and residents of the area. Police officials later claimed to have identified a specific journalist as the author of both this message and the earlier "Dear Boss" letter.
- The "From Hell" letter, also known as the "Lusk letter," postmarked October 15 and received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee on October 16, 1888. Lusk opened a small box to discover half a human kidney, later said by a doctor to have been preserved in "spirits of wine" (ethanol). One of Eddowes' kidneys had been removed by the killer, and a doctor determined the kidney sent to Lusk was "very similar to the one removed from Catherine Eddowes," though his findings were inconclusive. The writer claimed that he had "fried and ate" the missing kidney half. There is some disagreement over the kidney: some contend it had belonged to Eddowes, while others argue it was "a macabre practical joke, and no more."
Some sources list another letter, dated September 17, 1888, as the first message to use the Jack the Ripper name. Most experts believe this was a modern fake inserted into police records in the 20th century, long after the killings took place. They note that the letter has neither an official police stamp verifying the date it was received nor the initials of the investigator who would have examined it if it were ever considered as potential evidence. It is also not mentioned in any surviving police document of the time.
Ongoing DNA tests on the still existing letters have yet to yield conclusive results.
Investigation
Investigative techniques and awareness have progressed greatly since 1888. Many valuable forensic science techniques taken for granted today were unknown to the Victorian-era Metropolitan Police. The value of interpreting motives of serial killers, the concept of criminal profiling, fingerprinting, and other such knowledge and intelligence that have developed were poorly understood if not altogether unknown. Police recognised a sexual motive or element to the attacks, but were otherwise thoroughly unfamiliar with such crimes.
The investigation into the Whitechapel murders was initially conducted by Whitechapel (H) Division C.I.D. headed by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid. After the Nichols murder Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore, and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist. After the Chapman murder on September 8, 1888, suspicion fell on a local Whitechapel man named John Pizer (or Piser), dubbed by the popular press "Leather Apron." He was formally arrested on 10 September but soon released when he proved to have an alibi. After the Eddowes murder, which occurred within the City of London, on 30 September, the City Police under Detective Inspector James McWilliam were also engaged. The case was closed after the murder of Frances Coles on February 13, 1889.
While the investigation was not nearly as sophisticated as police work is today, the Jack the Ripper probe was filled with the earmarks of a modern investigation. The Detective Inspectors all began a widespread inquiry that included interviewing witnesses and residents of the area, searching every imaginable spot for information. Fingerprinting had not yet arrived on the scene and investigative methods were still in their development stages during the Jack the Ripper murders. Psychological profiling never went far beyond the idea of a "homicidal lunatic."
On November 20, 2006, the British television channel Five released an E-FIT-generated photo illustration showing what the researchers affiliated with the documentary believe the serial killer may have looked like.. A former Metropolitan Police commander, John Grieve, was quoted as saying: "This is further than anyone else has got. It would have been enough for coppers to get out and start knocking on doors... they would have got him." Experts on the case, including author Stewart P. Evans, reacted with scepticism, noting that facial composites are usually only put together through direct questioning of a live witness and that various Victorian police officials investigating the Ripper killings stated that either no one had got a good look at the killer, or perhaps only one or two, but certainly not the alleged "13 witnesses" whose statements Grieve and others affiliated with the documentary claimed to have used as the basis for the image.
The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee was a group of people that patrolled the streets of London during the murders of 1888. They patrolled London mainly at night in search for this murderer. The Committee was led by George Lusk in 1888 and later by Albert Bachert.
Media
The Ripper murders mark an important watershed in modern British life. While not the first serial killer, Jack the Ripper's case was the first to create a worldwide media frenzy. Reforms to the Stamp Act in 1855 had enabled the publication of inexpensive newspapers with wider circulation. These mushroomed later in the Victorian era to include mass-circulation newspapers as cheap as a halfpenny, along with popular magazines such as the Illustrated Police News, making the Ripper the beneficiary of previously unparalleled publicity. This, combined with the fact that no one was ever convicted of the murders, created a legend that cast a shadow over later serial killers.
Some believe that the killer's nickname was invented by newspapermen to make for a more interesting story that could sell more papers. This became standard media practice with examples such as the Boston Strangler, the Green River Killer, the Axeman of New Orleans, the Beltway Sniper, and the Hillside Strangler, besides the derivative Yorkshire Ripper almost a hundred years later and the unnamed perpetrator of the "Thames Nude Murders" of the 1960s, who the press dubbed Jack the Stripper.
The poor of the East End had long been ignored by affluent society, but the nature of the murders and of the victims forcibly drew attention to their living conditions. This attention enabled social reformers of the time to finally gain the support of the "respectable classes." A letter from George Bernard Shaw to the Star commented sarcastically on these sudden concerns of the press:
Whilst we Social Democrats were wasting our time on education, agitation and organization, some independent genius has taken the matter in hand, and by simply murdering and disemboweling four women, converted the proprietary press to an inept sort of communism.
Suspects
Main article: Jack the Ripper suspectsThis section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit requestadding to it . |
Many theories about the identity of Jack the Ripper have been advanced. None have been entirely persuasive.
Jack the Ripper in popular culture
Main article: Jack the Ripper fictionJack the Ripper has been featured in a number of works of fiction and popular culture, either as the central character or in a more peripheral role.
At the time of the murders, a theatrical version of Robert Louis Stevenson's book Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was being performed. The subject matter of horrific murder in the London streets drew much attention, even leading the star of the show to be accused by some members of the public of being the Ripper himself, although this theory was never taken seriously by the police.
The British heavy metal band Judas Priest recorded "The Ripper", a song inspired by Jack's character, in their 1976 album Sad Wings of Destiny.
The 1979 film Time After Time featured Jack the Ripper stealing H. G. Wells time machine and escaping to 1979 San Francisco, where he continued his murderous ways.
The BBC sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart provided a comical explanation for the "disappearance" of Jack the Ripper. It showed that he had been using the "time portal'" to hide in the 1990s after committing the murders, and was subsequently run over by a double decker bus when confronted in the future.
In 2006, Jack the Ripper was selected by the BBC History Magazine and its readers as the worst Briton in history.
The legend of the Ripper is still promoted in the East End of London, with many guided tours of the murder sites. The Ten Bells, a Victorian pub in Commercial Street that had been frequented by Jack the Ripper's victims, was the focus of such tours for many years. To capitalize on this business, the owners changed its name to the "Jack the Ripper" in the 1960s, but following protests by feminists and others, the pub returned to its old name.
To date, more than 150 works of non-fiction have been published which deal exclusively with the Jack the Ripper murders, making it one of the most written-about true-crime subjects of the past century. Philip Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper is widely considered the best general overview of the case. Six periodicals about Jack the Ripper have been published since the early 1990s: Ripperana (1992-present), Ripperologist (1994-present, electronic format only since 2005), the Whitechapel Journal (1997–2000), Ripper Notes (1999-present), Ripperoo (2000–2003) and the The Whitechapel Society Journal (2005-present).
Notes
- Perry L. Curtis (2001) Jack the Ripper and the London Press
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 260
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 47-50
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 51-55
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 56-62
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 66-73
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 205-09
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 210-15
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 218-22
- Casebook.org dissertation
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 260
- Paul Begg (2004) Jack the Ripper: The Facts: 21-5
- Paul Begg (2004) Jack the Ripper: The Facts: 25-6
- Brown is often, mistakenly referred to as Old Shakespeare. However, recent research has shown that it was simply Shakespeare when she was alive, and the Old part got tacked on years later in a news report that was not using "old" as part of her nickname but as a general descriptor. Later sources mentioning Old are in error. See
- Stephen Knight (1976) Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution
- Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner (2001) Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell
- Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 137-40
- Casebook.org section on the Ripper Letters
-
DiGrazia, Christopher-Michael (March, 2000). "Another Look at the Lusk Kidney". Ripper Notes. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
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(help) - "Was it Jill the Ripper?" at News.com.au
- Evans and Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 80-2
- Evans and Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 216-22
- Odell, Robin. Ripperology: A Study of the World's First Serial Killer and a Literary Phenomena. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006.
- Wilson, Colin and Damon. Written in Blood: A History of Forensic Detection. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003.
- Odell, Robin. Ripperology: A Study of the World's First Serial Killer and a Literary Phenomena. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006
- "Jack the Ripper's face 'revealed'" at BBC News
- Casebook.org forum discussion
- "Jack the Ripper is 'worst Briton'" at BBC News
- Donald Rumbelow (2004) The Complete Jack the Ripper: xv
- William Taylor (2000) This Bright Field: a Travel Book in One Place: 83-92
- Casebook.org book review
- Casebook.org periodicals reviews
References
- The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden, (2002) ISBN 0-7867-0276-1
- The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook by Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner, (2002) ISBN 0-7867-0768-2
- Jack the Ripper: The Facts by Paul Begg, (2004) ISBN 1-86105-687-7
- Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates by Stewart P. Evans and Donald Rumbelow, (2006) ISBN 0-7509-4228-2
- The Complete Jack the Ripper by Donald Rumbelow, (Revised edition 2005) ISBN 0-425-11869-X
- Ripperology by Robin Odell, (2006) ISBN 0-87338-861-5
- The Jack the Ripper A-Z by Paul Begg, Martin Fido and Keith Skinner, (1996) ISBN 0-7472-5522-9
- The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper (1999) by Maxim Jakubowski and Nathan Braund (editors), ISBN 0-7867-0626-0
- Casebook: Jack the Ripper by Stephen P. Ryder (editor)
- Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell - Published by Little Brown UK Originally published in 2002 and reprinted.
- Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell (2001) by Stewart Evans and and Keith Skinner. Sutton: Stroud.
See also
- Jack the Stripper
- Långrocken (mysterious 1893 Swedish attacker of women some thought was Jack the Ripper)
- Joseph Vacher (aka the French Ripper)
- Yorkshire Ripper
- The Blackout Ripper
- Servant Girl Annihilator
External links
- The Studio Productions Presents: Jack The Ripper Jonpaul Lewis' Award Winning Stop Motion-Live Action short film based on "Jack The Ripper".
- Casebook: Jack the Ripper has an extensive collection of contemporary newspaper reports related to the murders as well as articles by modern authors.
- The Metropolitan Police history of Jack the Ripper discusses the investigation into the killings.
- The National Archives - Jack the Ripper holds images and transcripts of letters claiming to be from Jack the Ripper.
- Whitechapel Society 1888 is a social organization dedicated to the Ripper case. It holds bimonthly meetings in London and has its own newsletter.
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