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[Link to original at Newspapers.com] – Page 2, Columns 4
THE EAST-END MURDERS
So far as getting any clue to the identity of the murderer of the two women whose bodies were found on Sunday goes, the police are as far off as ever. Arrests have again been made on suspicion, confessions have again been made by drunken and excited persons, but all have come to nothing. The medical student, William Bull, who declared that he was the Mitre-square murderer, was brought up again at the Guildhall yesterday, and discharged with a severe reprimand, expressing repentance, and stating that since he had been locked up he had taken the pledge. The police are actively engaged in following up every likely and unlikely clue. They have posted facsimile copies of the letter and postcard purporting to have been written by the murderer, and signed “Jack the Ripper;” they have arranged for a systemic examination of the unoccupied houses and premises within the area of the East-end districts. and they are about to supplement their resources by the use of bloodhounds. On the latter point, Sir Charles Warren has been making inquiring within the last day or two, and having ascertained that dogs which have been accustomed to work in a town are procurable, he is making immediate arrangements for their use in London. Whether they could possibly be of any use in this case, after so considerable a lapse of time, is more than doubtful. An extraordinary story is told in New York telegram to the Central News. An English sailor named Dodge, so the narrative runs, states that he arrived in London from China by the steamship Glenorchy on August 13, and that he met at a Poplar music-hall a Malay cook, named Alaska. The Malay said he had been robbed by women of bad character in Whitechapel, and swore that unless he found the thief and recovered his money he would murder every Whitechapel woman he met. He showed Dodge a double-edge knife which he always carried with him. He was, says the sailor, about 5ft. 7in. in height, apparently 35 years of ago, and, of course, very dark.
The excitement in the district of the murders is calming down, but the crimes are still the chief topic of discussion. On Thursday night about 50 volunteer patrols, working men for the most part, swelled the number of uniformed and plain clothes constables in the streets of Whitechapel, They had been got together by the Vigilance Committee, were under the orders of a couple of private detectives, carried police whistles and stout cudgels, and wore coloshes over their boots. Their zeal was commendable, but their assistance was not required, for the night passed without incident. The remains of Kate Eddowes, the Mitre-square victim, will be interred at Ilford on Monday.
Yesterday afternoon Mr. Wynne E. Baxter resumed the inquiry at the Vestry-hall, Cable-street, St. George’s-in-the-East, into the circumstances attending the death of Elizabeth Stride, who was found with her throat cut in a yard at No. 40, Berner-street, Commercial-road, on Sunday morning last.
Dr. Phillips was recalled and said he had examined more fully the roof of the mouth of the deceased, and found no injury to or absence of any part of either the hard or soft palate. He was sure the woman had now swalled either the skin or substance of a grape within many hours of her death. Abrasion that he spoke about on the right side of the leg was only an apparent abrasion, for on washing it the stain was removed and the skin found to entire. He had also examined a knife given him by the police, and he found it to be such a knife as would be used in a chandler’s shop, and was called a slicing knife. It had blood upon it, which had characteristics similar to those of a warm-blooded animal. It had been recently blunted, and its edge turned by being rubbed on a stone, such as a kerbstone, and it had been evidently a once sharp knife.
By the Coroner – Such a knife could have produced the incision and wounds on the neck, but he thought it improbably that this particular knife had been used by the murderer. Witness believed that the woman had been seized by the shoulders, placed on the ground, and that the perpetrator was on her right side when he inflicted the cut. The cut was made from the left to the right, and therefrom arose the unlikelihood of a long knife being used.
The Coroner: Can you form any opinion how it was that the right hand of the deceased had so much blood upon it?
Witness – I cannot. It is a mystery. It was smeared all over, and had several clots upon it. Of course, in giving that answer, I am taking it for granted that the hand always remained in the position I found it in, resting across the body.
The Coroner – Had she been dead long?
Witness – She must certainly have been alive within and hour of the time I first saw the body.
The Coroner – Would the injuries take long to inflict, do you think?
Witness – Only a few seconds. It might have been done in two seconds. There seemed to be a knowledge by the murderer of how to cut a throat in order to bring about a fatal result. There was a great dissimilarity in this case and Chapman’s. In the latter case the neck was severed down to the vertebral column, and there had been an attempt to separate the vertebrae. It was not necessary that much blood should have been on the hands of the person inflicting the injury, as the hands had evidently been away from the wound. There was no perceptible trace of any anesthetic having been used. The absence of noise is a difficult question, under the circumstances, to account for. It must not be taken for granted that there was no noise. If, however, there was a noise, it was quite impossible to account for it. Witness believed the woman was lying down on the ground when her throat was cut, on account of the absence of blood from the left side of the body, and between that and the wall.
Dr. Blackwell, recalled, said he had seen many as sever wounds and more so, which were suicidal, but he agreed with Dr. Philips generally on that point, and that the knife found, although it might have inflicted the injury, was a most unlikely weapon. There were pressure marks on the shoulders as if the victim had struggled – faint at first, but which had since become quite distinct.
Mr. Sven Ollsen was the next witness called, and said he was pastor of the Swedish Church in Princess-square, and had known the woman for 17 years. She was a Swede, and was born at Landary, near Gottenberg, on November 27, 1843. Her maiden name was Elizaebth Gustofsdotter and her married name Stride. He could not say of his won knowledge that she was married, but he produced a register of marriage copied form an old book by a previous pastor. He had seen the original entry and there e she had described herself as married to an Englishman named Thomas Stride, a carpenter. He identified the book produced as a Swedish hymn-book which he had given to her last winter. He believed she was married in 1869. He could not remember when the husband died, but she was very poor at the time, and he relieved her.
William Marshall, 64, Berner-street, a labourer in an indigo warehouse, had seen the body in the mortuary. He saw the woman in Berner-street about 11.45 p.m. on Saturday last, standing on the pavement between Christian-street and Boyd-street. She was then talking to a man. They were not quarreling, but talking quietly. There was no street lamp near, but the witness could see that the man was wearing a short black coat and dark trousers. He seemed to be middle-aged, and was wearing a round cap with a small peak, something like what a sailor would wear. He was about 5ft. 6in. in height, rather stout, and appeared decently dressed. He did not look like a dock labourer, nor a butcher, but had more the appearance of a clerk. The witness did not think the man had any whiskers, nor had he anything in his hands. He did not notice anything in the hands of the woman. The witness was standing at his door, and his attention was attracted by seeing the man kissing her. He heard the man say to her, “You would say anything but your prayers.” He was “milk speaking.” and spoke as an educated man would. The witness did not hear the woman say anything; she only laughed. The witness heard nothing more, as they went away, walking in the middle of the road towards Ellen-street. The woman was wearing a black jacket and dress. Neither of them appeared the worse for drink. The witness went indoors about twelve o’clock, and heard nothing more until the cry of “Murder” was raised, just after 1 a.m.
James Brown, 35, Fairclough-street, deposed to seeing the body in the mortuary, and recognising it as the woman he saw on Sunday morning about 12.45. The witness was going from his own house to procure some supper at a chandler’s shop, at the corner of Berner-street and Fairclough-street. He was in the shop three or four minutes, and while returning saw a man and woman standing by the Board School in Fairclough-street. He passed them in the road, just by the kerb, and heard the woman say, “No, not to-night; some other night.” The witness then turned round and looked at them. He was almost certain that Stride was the woman he saw. The man was leaning with his hand on the wall. So far as the witness could see, the man had a long dark coat, which reached nearly to his heels. He saw nothing light in colour about either of them. The witness did not stop when he heard them talking, but passed on. He had nearly finished his supper, when he heard screams of “Murder” and “Police.” That was about a quarter of an hour after he reached home. The man looked about the same height as the witness (5ft. 7in.) and was not stout. Neither of them appeared to be the worse for drink.
Police-constable William Smith, 452 H, stated that on Saturday night last he went on duty at ten o’clock. His beat extended along the Commercial-road, down Christian and Fairclough Streets, into Grove-street as far as Backchurch-lane, thence into Commercial-road again. That walk included all the interior streets, including Berner-street, the whole beat occupying about 30 minutes. He was in Berner-street about 12.35, and subsequently arrived at No. 40 in his ordinary round about one o’clock, and then saw the crowd of people in the yard and two policemen. He heard no cries of police, and was not called to the spot. When he came through Berner-street at 12.30 he saw a man and the woman talking together. She was standing on the pavement, a few yards up the street, on the opposite side to where she was found. The man who was talking to her had a parcel, covered with a newspaper, in his hand. He was about 5ft. 7in. in height, and wore a hard felt dark deerstalker hat, and dark clothes. He had on a kind of “cutaway” coat. The witness overheard no conversation. Both appeared to be sober. He did not see much of the man’s face, but he had no whiskers. He looked about 28 years of age. The man was of respectable appearance.
Michael Kidney, the man with whom Stride lived, identified the Swedish hymn-book as having belonged to the deceased. She gave it to a Mrs. Smith on the previous Tuesday, saying she was going away. She gave it to Mrs. Smith, not as a gift, but to take care of.
By Inspector Reid – When she and he lived together, the door was padlocked when they were out. He had a key, and she borrowed one to get in, or waited till he came. On the Wednesday before her death he found she had got into the room, and taken some things, although it was locked.
Philip Krantz, of 40, Berner-street, said he was editor of a Hebrew Socialist paper. He wrote in a room, part of which is a printing-office, beneath the club. On Saturday night he was in his room from nine o’clock till he was called and told that there was a woman lying in the yard. He had not heard any cry or scream of anything unusual. His window and door were closed. If a woman had screamed
[Link to original at Newspapers.com] – Page 2, Columns 5
he should have heard it but for the singing upstairs, which was very loud at the time. When he went out he saw the woman on the stones surrounded by members of the club. He did not think it possible that any stranger could have escaped form the yard unobserved after he arrived. He might have done so before.
By a Juror – The weather was quite dry at the time.
After some formal evidence had been given to prove the plans of the locality of the murder, put in by the police.
The inquiry was adjourned until the 23d inst.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST
Sir, – In a large provincial town when I hail (Leeds), it is the custom, and an excellent one, for the police to parade at night in silent boots; that is, with gutta percha soles attached. Would it be infra dig., I wonder, for the London police authorities to adopt such a suggestion, and give the country credit, for once, for police acumen? Had this good custom been in vogue in the metropolis one, if not more, of the recent fiendish demoniacal atrocities might not have been committed, for the blood thirsty perpetrator had evidently awaited the retreating fall of the policeman’s foot from the square or enclosure before commencing his devilish deed. – Yours, &c. – C. H. PRESGRAVE – Conservative Club, Manchester, Oct. 4.
THE WHITECHAPEL DISCOVERY
The discovery of a left leg and a right foot near the railway line at Guildford on August 24 is supposed to have some relation to the trunk found at the site of the new police offices on the Thames-embankment on Tuesday, and Detective-Inspector Marshall has gone to Guildford to take charge of the remains and bring them to London. They had been interred, but were yesterday exhumed. There are rather more clues for the police to work upon here than in the case of the East-end outrages, and inquiries are being diligently prosecuted. For instance, the police have found the makers of the moiré silk skirt in which the body was wrapped, and it has been proved that the date of the newspaper (of which only a small portion remained) in which the remains were first folded is August 24, the conclusion, therefore, being that the murder was committed on that date or shortly anterior thereto. The first theory with regard to the disposal of the body in the vault at the works is that the person having charge of the parcel had climbed the eight feet hoarding at Cannon-row. This, however, has been abandoned as improbable, nor could the hoarding at the Thomas-embankment have been scaled, and it is almost impossible that the murderer could have entered the works by way of the gardens at the rear of Buccleuch House or from the west side. There is, therefore, only left the road by which the loaded carts enter, and curiously enough this is the nearest way to the recess where the body was found. Brought in a cart, and carried as a load across the planks on to the building, its disposal would be easy in the recess, even though workmen were about, for the multitude of these are unobservant of such things as particular parcels being carried, especially if it were wrapped or covered in a cement bag. The murderer, too, could have chosen the dinner hour, at which the cart should arrive, if, as is surmised, it was so brought. Upon another point there is no doubt whatever, and that is that the deposit was made by some one intimately acquainted with all the intricacies of the underground part of these works. This fact narrows the examination, and the authorities are not hopeless of touching upon some evidence which will reveal the whole of the crime. An important question has arisen as to the time when the body was placed on the site. It is doubted whether the men who so positively declare that it was not there on Friday are not in some way mistaken – if they had not spoken of one recess without looking into this most remote one.
