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ANOTHER MURDER IN WHITE-
CHAPEL
A FOURTH VICTIM OF AN UNKNOWN
ASSASSIN.
FIENDISH MUTILATION OF A WOMAN'S
BODY
[SUBJECT OF ILLUSTRATION]
A FOURTH murder, of a most brutal nature, has been committed in Whitechapel. At a spot only a very few hundred yards from where the mangled body of the poor woman Nicholls was found, the body of another woman, mutilated and horribly disfigured, was found at half-past five on Saturday morning. She was lying in the back yard of 29, Hanbury-street, Spitalfields, a house occupied by Mr. Richardson, a packing-case maker. As late as five o’clock in the morning it is said the woman was drinking in a public-house near at hand called the Three Bells. Near the body was discovered a rough piece of iron sharpened like a knife. The wounds upon the poor woman were more fearful than those found upon the body of the woman Nicholls, who was buried on Thursday. The throat was cut in a most horrible manner and the stomach terribly mutilated.
The first discovery of the body was made by John Davis, living on the top floor of 29, Hanbury-street, in the yard of which the body was found. Mr. Davis was crossing the yard between five and six when he saw a horrible looking mass lying in the corner, partly concealed by the steps. He instantly made for the station and notified the police, without touching the body. Meantime Mrs. Richardson, an old lady sleeping on the first floor front, was aroused by her grandson, Charles Cooksley, who looked out of one of the back windows and screamed that there was a dead body in the corner.
Mrs. Richardson’s description makes this murder even more horrible than any of its predecessors. The victim was lying on her back with her legs outstretched. Her throat was cut from ear to ear. Her clothes were pushed up above her waist and her legs bare. The abdomen was exposed, the woman having been ripped up from groin to breast-bone, as before. Not only this, but the viscera had been pulled out and scattered in all directions, the heart and liver being placed behind her head, and the remainder along her side. No more horrible sight ever met a human eye, for she was covered with blood, and lying in a pool of it.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis occupy the upper story of 29, Hanbury-street, 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 a portion of the entrails round the victim’s neck. Hanbury-street is a long street between Baker’s row and Commercial-street. It consists partly of shops and partly of private houses. In the house in question, in the front room, on the ground floor, Mr. Harderman carries on the business of a seller of oat’s meat. At the back of the premises are those of Mr. Richardson, who is a packing-case maker. The other occupants of the house are lodgers. One of the lodgers, named Robert Thompson, who is a carman, went out of the house at half-past three in the morning, but heard no noise. Two girls, who also live in the house, were talking in the passage until half-past twelve with young men, and it is believed that they were the last occupants of the house to retire to rest. It seems that the crime was committed soon after five. As that hour the woman and the man, who in all probability was her murderer, were seen drinking together in the Bells, Brick-lane. But though the murder was committed at that late hour, the murderer-setting, as in the other case, silently and stealthily – managed to make his escape.
THE INQUEST
The inquest on the body of the deceased was opened at ten o’clock on Monday morning by the district coroner, Mr. Wynne Baxter. The inquiry was held in the Alexandra Room, at the Working Lads’ Institute. Inspector Helson and Chandler represented the police authorities.
There was a large attendance of the general public in court and in the precincts of the institute, and the approaches thereto were guarded by a large number of constables. The latest newspaper accounts of the murder were eagerly scanned by those in waiting, who there passed the interval of time between the opening of the court and the coroner’s arrival. There are everywhere visible signs of the profound impression made by the crime, which even exceeds in its ?brutality the one committed a week ago, and the investigation at which now stands adjourned until Monday next.
Mr. Collier, deputy coroner, now accompanied Mr. Wynne Baxter. The jury having been formally sworn in, went to show the body at the mortuary. On their return,
John Davis deposed: I live at 29, Hanbury-street, Spitalfields. I am a carman. I occupy one front room, which is hared by my wife and three sons. I went to bed on Friday night at eight o’clock, and my sons came in at different times – the last one at about a quarter to eleven. I was awake from three o’clock until five, but fell off to sleep for about half an hour. I got up at a quarter to six on Saturday morning, and went across the yard. The homes faces Hanbury-street. On the ground floor there is a front door leading into a passage, which runs right through to the back yard. There is a back door to this passage. Sometimes both doors are open during the night, and I have never known either of them to be locked. Anyone who knows where the latch of the front door is can open it and pass along into the yard. I cannot say whether the back door was latched on Saturday morning when I got down, but the front street door was wide open and thrown back against the wall. I was not surprised by that. Witness was here asked to describe the general appearance of the yard, but was not very clear in his statements. Some time having been occupied in attempting to solicit answers.
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