ANOTHER WHITECHAPEL HORROR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9450, 22 August 1889, Page 5

ANOTHER WHITECHAPEL HORROR.

London, July 16. The "Jack the Ripper" scaro has been revived by tho discovery of another murdered woman in Whitechapel, under almost exactly similar circumstances to those attending the fearful atrocities last year. In the present instance, however, the body is not so badly mutilated, owing to the assassin having been disturbed in his ghastly work. The scene of this eighth murder is close to the spots where the previous crimes were committed ; in fact, all have been perpetrated within a radius of less than half a mile. The last atrocity was committed in Castle Alley, a turning oil' Commercial Road, situated in the midst of a district consisting of a labyrinth of narrow- streets, alleys, and courts. This alley is narrow and dimly lighted, running from High-street, Whitechapel, into the Commercial Road. A dead wall runs along one side, and in the road many carts and barrows are stored for tho night. Shortly before 1 o'clock on the morning of July 17, Police-Constable Andrews, while going his beat through the alley, saw a woman lying stretched on the pavement, underneath a. lamp-post. On (lashing his lantern upon her, he was astonished to find that the woman was dead. She was lying in a pool of blood, and blood, was still flowing in a stream from a deep stab in the neck. The woman's clothes were disarranged, and the constable found a severe wound on the abdomen, which had evidently been caused by an extremely sharp instrument. No portions of the body, however, had been removed, ae in previous cases, and with this wound the mutilation ceased. It is surmised from the latter circumstance that the murderer was interrupted, and had to seek safety in immediate flight. Constable Andrews at once raised an alarm, and other policemen hastened to the spot, but not a trace could be found of the miscreant. The body, on inspection, was found to be. that of a woman of middle age, fair complexion, with light brown hair. She was clad in shabby attire, which was very dirty, and was apparently a woman of the lowest class. A doctor was immediately sent for, and numerous policemen assembling, the exits of the alley were closed, and all the carts carefully searched, without result. Several arrests of suspicious persons were subsequently made, but in no case was there sufficient evidence to justify detention. The crime seems as mysterious as its predecessors, and the police are completely baffled.

The theory is revived that the murderer is a butcher employed on one of the cattle boats which arrive in the Thames, but nothing has transpired to justify this idea. The woman has been identified as Alice M'Kenzie, who had been living in a common lodging-house in the vicinity with a tailor's porter. The inquest is now being held, but nothing has been revealed. It is said the police received a warning letter from the fiendish lunatic who commits these deeds, that " Jack the Ripper" would begin again in July.