THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9202, 3 November 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS.

& FOURTH WOMAN FOULLY MUTILATED. A painful sensation was created all over London on" September Sth, when it was known that another shocking murder had been perpetrated in Spitalfieids. This neighbourhood lias been in a state of wild excitement, bordering on panic, for the other cases are fresh in everybody's memory, and nobody has been brought to justice for any one of the crimes. The victim is again a woman of the " unfortunate" class, and the scenes of all the murders are close to- * gether. THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW HORROR. The victim was found in the back yard of No. '29, Hanbury-street, Spitalfieids (close to the spot where the other unfortunate women have been found), by a Mr. Davis, who lodges in the house. As Mr. Davis, who is a market porter, was going to work at about six o'clock, lie happened to go into the back yard, which is a piece of ground flagged with stones about thirty feet long, and immediately behind the door, in the left-hand corner, close to a brick wall, he found the woman lying, horribly mutilated, in a pool of blood, Her head was facing the door, the throat was cut and the body ripped. There were blood stains on the wall, and there is no doubt that the murder was committed where the deceased was found, although no one—and there were four families in the house at the time— heard the least noise. The house is occupied by a Mrs. Emilia Richardson, who lets it out 10 various lodgers, and it seems that the door which admits into the passage, at thf- foot of which lies the yard where he body was found, is always open for the convenience of the lodgers — a fact, 110 doubt, known to the perpetrators of the crime. This Mr. and Mrs. Davis occupy the upper storey (the house consisting of two storeys). When Mr. Davis found the woman she was lying on her back close up to the flight of steps leading into the yard. The throat was cut open in a fearful manner—so deep. in fact, that the murderer, evidently thinking that he had severed the head from the body, tied a handkerchief round it so as to keep it on. It was also found that the body had been ripped open and disembowelled, the heart and abdominal viscera lying by the side. The fiendish work was completed by the murderer tying part of the entrails round the victim's neck. There was no blood on the clothes. THE SAD HISTORY OK THE VICTIM. It was a woman named Amelia Farmer, who was a fellow-lodger with the deceased., 'no idem .lied the body. Later on she matte a statOT.tnt ci what siie knew of the murdered woman. Annie Chapman had ror a long time been separated from her husband, a veterinary surgeon at Windsor, by mutual agreement. and had been allowed 10s a week by him fur her maintenance. About eighteen months ago the instalments suddenly ceased, and. upon inquiry being made, it was found that the husband had died. Annie Chapman had two children, but where tlu-v wore she could not say. j The deceased had a mother and sister, who were living in the neighbourhood of Bromp- ! tonrtrFuiham—she thought, near the Bi emptor 1 Hospital. Last Monday Chapman had ! in'.imat-eU her intention of communicating | with her sister, saying, "If 1 can get a pair i of boots from my sister I shall go nop-pick- 1 "ing." Another relation, a brother-in-law of , the deceased, lived somewhere in or near ; Oxford-street. Farmer asserted that her j murdered friend was apparently a sober, ; steady-going sort of woman, and one who i seldom took any drink. For some time j past she had been living occasionally with | a man named Ted Stonley, who had been ' in the militia, but was now working at some \ neighbouring brewery. She had not been I in the habit of frequenting the streets, but j had made antimacassars for sale. Sometimes ; she would buy tiowecs or matches with ; which to pick up a living. Farmer was j perfectly certain that on Friday night the , murdered woman had worn three rings, j which were not genuine, but were imitations, ! as otherwise she would not have troubled : to go out and find money for her lodgings. I '"KEEP A BED TOR ME: I SHAN'T BE LONG." }

Timothy Donovan, the deputy at the I lodging-house, So. Dorset-street, where the i deceased frequently stayed, states that she | stayed there on the Sunday night previous | to the murder. She had been in the habit . of coming there for the past tour months. , She was a quiet woman. He had heard j her say she wished she was as well otf as • her relations, but she never told him who | her friends were, or where they lived. A j pensioner or a soldier usually came to the i lodging-house with her on Saturday nights, j and generally he stayed until the Monday j morning. He would be able to identify ■ the man instantly if he saw him. After the I man left on Monday deceased would usually ! keep in the room for some days longer, the ' charge being eightoence per night. This : rn;v.t stayed at the house the Saturday to : Monday ; when he went the deceased went ' with him. She was not seen at the house ! again until the previous Friday night, about : half-past eleven o'clock, when she passed J the doorway, and Donovan, calling out, ! asked her wnereshe had been since Monday, | and why she had not slept there, and she replied, "I have been in the infirmary.'" Then she went on her way in the direction of Bisnop-gate-street. About 1.40 a.m. on Saturday morning .-i:e came again to the lodging-house, and asked for a bed. The message was brought upstairs to him, and he sent downstairs to ask for the money. The woman replied,l haven't enough now, but keep my bed for me ; 1 shan't be long." Then as she was going away she said to John Evans, the watchman, ■' Brummv, I won't be long, see that Jim keeps my bed for me." She was the worse for drink at the time. He saw nothing of her again until he was called to the mortuary on Saturday, when he identified the deceased by her features and her wavy hair, which was turning grey. i'lt'MOrKS AND REWARD-. During the last few days several arrests have been made, but with no result. The excitement in the neighbourhood has ever since Saturday been intense. At the Ten Bells public-house, where the murdered ■woman was last seen drinking, there has been a constant crowd ; while the occupants of the house adjoining the scene of the murder have been charging an admission fee of one penny to people anxious to view the spot where the body was found. Several hundreds of people have availed themselves o: this opportunity. Innumerable unfounded rumours were put in circulation, among others an extraordinary statement—namely, that on the wall near where the body was found there is written up— "FIVE: FIFTEEN* MOKE, AND THEN I GIVE MYSELF rr." A meeting of the chief local tradesmen has been held, at which an influential . committee was appointed, consisting of sixteen well-known gentlemen, with Mr. J. Aarons as the secretary. The committee have issued a notice stating that they will give a substantial reward for the capture of the murderer, or for information leading thereto. The movement has been warmly taken up by the inhabitants, and it is thought certain that a large sum will be subscribed. Mr. Montagu, the member for Whitechapel, has already offered a reward of £100 for the capture of the murderer. The inquest was continued on September 32, but no evidence of importance was adduced. The man Pizer, who stated that lie was known as " Leather Apron," appeared before the coroner in order to " clear }iis character before the world,' and to Ftate that he had been released by the police. In the course of the day Sir Charles warren was in consultation with Chief Constable Williamson, of the Criminal Investigation Department, for two and a-hal.f hours. A PLAN FOB TRAPPING THE MURDERER. Dr. Forbes Winslow, the well-known lunacy doctor, offered his services to Scotland Yard. He states to a reporter :—" The ! first and foremost condition I propose is the ' matter be left entirely under my control, J and an implicit compliance with my de- '■ mands, however strange these demands ! might appear. I say this advisedly, be- j cause there is no doubt that the requests ! would appear strange. I have not thought i out the plan very carefully as yet, but your i surmise us to the employ of a decoy is ritrht i only I should not want one, but a dozen decoys, distributed throughout the whole ' of London. I am not so certain that if the j right men for this purpose were found that ' they would, as you express it, be risking their j lives with 999 chances in 1000 against°them. They might be hampered by their adoption ' of female attire, but men used to deal with ' homicidal maniacs would not let it come to I the bitter end. Their presence of mind— j

for that more than physical strength would be essential—would save them. Homicidal mania is absolutely incurable, however long a time may elapse between the recurrent attacks of it. I should begin by communicating with the authorities not only of every public and private lunatic asylum round and in London, but throughout the length and breadth of the land. 1 should want not only a list of all those who have escaped, but also of those who have been discharged as' quasi-cured.' You may give it as my firm opinion that the murderer of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, and the woman in George Yard is a lunatic at —and what is more, a well-to-do lunatic, probably living in the West End. All the ordinary means of detection will fail, because, once more, the moment his tit of mania is passed, he becomes quite rational. He may not even be aware of having committed the murder. That would bo what we denominate epileptic stupor."'