HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN A BAG.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 288, 3 December 1892, Page 5

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN A BAG.

"JACK THE RIPPER," OR A HOAX?

; il an early hour on November 26, the Russell-street police received information from the Hawthorn police of a strange discovery in that suburb. A bag was found King civ the footpath at the corner of Manning Tree Road and Coward-street, to which wa3 pinned a piece of paper with tne words, "Lot No. 1. J. Ripper," ; (] a _-ed on it. The discoverer opened the haw, and was horrified to find that the con- . tents consisted of two human legs, from I w |ji c h blood was still running. Tbe affair ; ffa9 immediately reported to the local police, and Dr. Embling was called in. Tho doctor examined the limbs, and gave it as his ' opinion that they were those of a man, E an 6* that they had been cub off during life. I The limbs were conveyed bo the City I Morgue, and Dr. Embling was enabled to I mate a more minute examination, and this I time he iound that tha limbs had been I B evered just after death, and not before, as he had previously stated. He was also of opinion that the work had been done by a I person experienced in surgery. The limbs § had been severed immediately below the

knee. They were wrapped in a newspaper.

The matter was reported to tho detective office, and Superintendent Kennedy detailed Detectives-Sergeant Considine and

Cawsey to investigate the case. These two officers, who, it will be remembered,

brought Deeming to justice, have been all day endeavouring to clear up the mystery. They incline to the belief that tha whole affair is a ghastly joke, and point out that ib is very unlikely that the murderer would secrete the body and then place the

legs on a public footpath ; but it is possible tbat some lunatic might have committed the murder, secreted the body and placed the legs where they were found. No clue whatever has boen secured in the locality. The general opinion is that a brutal and deliberate murder has been committed, and that the murderer was endeavouring to get

his victim out of the way by throwing

': pieces of the body into the Yarra. The i street in which the limbs were found leads | to a very secluded part of the river, and it | iiauppofed that the-murderer, while on his 1 way to the river, dropped the bag on hearing footsteps approaching.

The police express tho opinion that the bap- had not been on the pavement many minutes when it was found. The bag was first seen by two ladies, who were being escorted home by a gentleman named Pousford, brie b. the ladies directed Mr Pousford's attention to the bag, and on making a cursory examination, he thought that it waa the body of a baby. He said he would first see the ladies home, and would then return and report the matter to the police. When he got back the bag was gone, and he did not trouble himself further about it. Dr_. Embling, Anderson, and Wilkinson saw the legs again next day, and are of opinion that the amputation was not the work of a skilled surgeon, as the legs have been hacked off at the knee joint. The doctors think that the legs are those of a rather small man, and that they were cut off within 24 hours after death.

The Chief Commissioner of Police is of I opinion that the legs were intended for | dissection by some student in anatomy. 1 The bag in which the limbs wore found j is a bran bag, and there were a few I cabbage stalks in the bottom. The first I to give information concerning the limbs

i was Mrs Underwood. She was re- | turning homo with her sister, Mrs ? Spinks, and her attention was attracted by - the bag, over which she tripped. She stooped down and examined the bag. Finding that it was tied at the mouth with 1 a string she unfastened it, and to her I horror placed her hand on a human foot. 9 The ladies ran towards the police station, J but met a constable and gave him the in- | formation.