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[Link to original at Newspapers.com] – Page 2, Columns 4
THE EAST-END MURDERS
Despite the efforts of the City and Metropolitan detectives, aided by the innumerable suggestions from outsiders which continue to pour in upon the police authorities, the clue to the perpetrator of the East-end murders is as far from being discovered as ever. A few persons have again been arrested on suspicion, but there is little or no evidence against them, and they will be all released, even if they have not already been liberated. The public excitement, though less intense in its manifestation, is as keen as ever, and the absolute terror which reigns in Whitechapel has in no way abated. It has even affected the business of the shopkeepers, and the dismal and unsavoury streets which branch out of the Whitechapel and Commercial Roads, which are usually not without miserable pedestrians, mostly females, during the small hours, have for the past two nights, been absolutely deserted. The rainy weather yesterday was too much for the sightseers who in the morning congregated as usual in Berner-street and the neighbourhood of Mitre-square, but who dispersed before the afternoon’s downpour. The feeling that a more effective police perambulation of the bye-ways of the East-end is necessary, if further outrages are to be prevented, is gaining ground. This, of course, means an increase of the force, but no one who has visited these streets, with their dark courts, secluded gateways, and the huge, silent, open, staircases of the modern workmen’s dwellings, can fail to perceive that numberless opportunities for the commission of crime exist. No doubt an improved system of lighting would do a great deal, and it is to be hoped the local authorities will soon take action in this direction. Whilst on this subject, it may be mentioned that an official denial is given to the statement made by the Rev. Daniel Greatorex at the meeting of the Whitechapel Board of Works on Monday evening, that police officers are kept ignorant of their beats by a new system of police, whereby constables are frequently changed from one district to another. The present system has been in existence for the last 20 years without change, and transfers are seldom made except when rendered necessary by promotion or some special cause, the commissioners’ object being that officers should be thoroughly acquainted with the districts in which they are serving. At present, of course, the detective and police force at the East-end is largely augmented, but more men are yet required. It is suggested that the large provincial towns should be asked to lend the services of some of their able detectives, and that, as in the case of the Phoenix-park murders, the services of regular soldiers, dressed in civilian’s garb, should be utilised. Colonel Kirby’s offer to place some of the men of his volunteer regiment at the disposal of the authorities was made, it is understood, with the concurrence of the rank of file, and it is believed that similar offers will be now forthcoming from other commanding officers. Probably there would be no difficulty in producing a force of 10,000 volunteer policemen for patrol duty.
The prompt offer of a reward by the City authorities and the efforts in the same direction taken by private individuals have given considerable satisfaction in the districts concerned, where the opinion is still held that the Home-office ought also to offer a substantial reward, together with a free pardon to any accomplice not being the actual murderer. A member of the City Board of Guardians at the meeting yesterday suggested that the body should follow the example of the Lord Mayor, but it was felt that this was not within the province of the guardians, and the matter was not pressed.
Considerable difficulty exists as to the identification of the woman whose body was found in Mitre-square. Some information furnished by two City constables to their superior officers yesterday morning supplied what is at present the clearest clue. The policemen having seen the mutilated body at the mortuary in Golden-lane expressed the opinion that it was that of a woman who had been taken to the station by them a short time ago for drunkenness. Owing to the dreadfully disfigured condition of the face, they could not, however, be absolutely certain, but they appeared rather sanguine that their conviction was right. It appears that the woman to whom the constables refer was not charged with any offence, but when detained at the station she gave the name of Kelly, and said she was living at 6, Fashion-street. It will be remembered that one of the two pawntickets picked up near the scene of the murder was to the effect that Jane Kelly, of 6, Dorset-street, had pawned a pair of boots on the 28th ult. with Mr. Joseph Jones, of Church-street, Spitalfields, for 2s. 6d. The other pawn ticket was dated the 31st of August last, and showed that with the same pawnbroker a flannel shirt had been pawned in the name of Emily Burrell, 32, White’s-row. It was at once remarked that it was strange the name Kelly should become associated with the murdered woman through such different channels, and the detectives continued their inquiries with renewed vigour, with the object of trying to ascertain if anything was known of a woman named Kelly at any of the addresses given. No one in Fashion-street had, however, been found who knew anything of such a person, whilst the people living at the addresses in White’s-row and Dorset-street were also ignorant of any such names. A photograph of the remains has been taken, and will be widely distributed, but the disfigurements to the face render identification very difficult.
It will be seen, from the report of the Berner-street inquest, that there is still some doubt as to the personality of that victim. Elizabeth Stride, or “Long Liz”, as she was familiarly called, is now declared, on the authority of a woman who has identified the body as that of her sister, to be named Elizabeth Watts. It is still declared, however, that this witness is mistaken, and that the dead woman is not her sister, but, as first stated, a Swede, and named Stride. Further evidence will doubtless be forthcoming before the inquest closes. Information as to the movements of the woman on the night of the murder have come to hand since the inquest yesterday afternoon. It is said that she was seen with a man late on Saturday evening. The man is said to be 28 years of age, about 5ft. 7in. in height, and of dark complexion. He had no whiskers, and wore dark clothes, having on a black felt hat, which was stained. Several rumours which were prevalent in the course of yesterday with reference to the International Club in Berner-street have since been contradicted. One of the reports was to the effect that during the previous night shouts of “Murder” and “Police” had been heard in the immediate vicinity of the club. The accuracy of the rumour has since been supported by the members of the club and inmates of the club house. Another rumour alleged that the murderer, at the same time that he took the life of “Long Liz,” inscribed in chalk on the brick wall some words of a religious character that were calculated to provoke no small amount of exasperation. Further, it was stated that Sir Charles Warren, when he saw the writing on the wall early on Sunday morning after the murder, ordered it to be washed out, and that that direction was implicitly followed out by the police. A careful examination of the wall, however, has revealed the fact that the whole story must be a fabrication, for the brickwork does not show any of those marks that would result from such an operation. The police have arrived at the conclusion that on the Sunday morning when the murder of “Long Liz” was committed the perpetrator of the deed must have had a narrow escape from capture. It is their belief, and also that of many members of the International Club, that when the steward of the club, Diemschitz, entered the yard in his trap at one o’clock in the morning, the miscreant was about to carry out the mutilation of his victim. There is little doubt that that the unexpected entry of the vehicle frustrated this work and compelled the murderer to retire to another part of the yard. The explanation offered as to his escape is that when the alarm was raised and the members of the club rushed pell-mell down stairs into the yard, he mingled amongst them and succeeded unobserved in effecting his escape before the police appeared upon the scene.
The police appear to attach considerable importance to the discovery of a pair of trousers at the Nelson Tavern, Victoria-road, Kentish-town, on Monday. During the morning the proprietor noticed a paper parcel lying behind the door in an outbuilding. No particular importance was attached to the discovery until an hour later, when Mr. Chinn, the publican, while reading the newspaper, was struck with the similarity of this bundle with the one of which the police have issued a description, as having been seen in possession of the man last seen in company of the woman Stride. The police at the Kentish-town-road Police-station were acquainted with the discovery, and a detective officer was sent to prosecute inquiries. It was then discovered that the parcel had not been picked up, but had been kicked into the roadway, where the paper burst and revealed a pair of dark trousers. The fragments of paper were collected, and found to be stained with blood, and it is stated that some hair was found amongst some congealed blood attached to the paper. It was subsequently ascertained from some lads who had been dragging the trousers through the Castle-road that a poor man picked up the article of clothing and carried it off. The detectives have been unable, up to the present, to trace the missing trousers, which are described as being of blue cloth and worth about 6s. or 8s. ; and they are of opinion that the man who picked them up may have sold them to a marine dealer, and that by means of publicity they may yet be handed over to them. The paper wrapping has been handed over to the divisional police surgeon (Dr. Graves, Kentish-town-road) for examination, and it is understood that it has since been conveyed to Scotland-yard to be analysed, as it is thought that the stains are those of human blood.
RESUMED INQUEST
Yesterday afternoon Mr. Wynne Baxter resumed the inquest at the Vestry Hall in Cable-street, St. George’s-in-the-East, on the body of Elizabeth Stride, who was found murdered in a yard in Berner-street on Sunday morning.
Police-constable Henry Lamb, 252 H, said that on Sunday morning about one o’clock he was in Commercial-road,
[Link to original at Newspapers.com] – Page 2, Columns 5
when two men came to him running and shouting. They said, as he moved towards them, “Come on; there’s been another murder.” He asked “Where?” and as they got to the corner of Berner-street they pointed up that street and said, “There.” He ran to the spot indicated, and entering the gateway of 40, Berner-street, he saw something dark on the right hand side, close to the gate. He turned his light on, and found it was a woman, with her throat cut, and apparently dead. He sent for another constable. There were a number of people in the yard when he arrived – perhaps 20 or 30; but there was no one touching the body or near it. As he turned the light on they crowded round the body. He begged them to keep back lest they might get some blood on them and thus get into trouble. He felt the fact and arm of the woman and found they were very slightly warm. He then blew his whistle. The woman was lying on her left side, her left arm lying by her side; her right arm was lying across her breast. The body was about 5in or in away from the wall; the clothes were not disturbed; the boots were scarcely visible. There was no appearance of a struggle; some of the blood on the ground was congealed, and some was still liquid. Dr. Blackwell, who was the first medical man to arrive, examined the body. He (the witness) went into the club, and examined all the persons present, to see if their clothes had any marks of blood, but he found no traces of blood. He also examined the cottages in the yard, and found all the inhabitants in bed. As he was in the yard for some time by himself, it would have been quite possible for anyone to have escaped form among the people standing around while he examined the body. Still, he thought it more likely that the culprit escaped before he arrived. This place was not on his beat, and, therefore, he had no passed the yard before during that night.
Detective-inspector Reid, in answer to the Coroner, stated that all the policemen at the fixed points were changed at one o’clock.
The Coroner said he thought that was important, as the Hanbury-street case happened just as the police were changing duty.
Edward Spooner, 26, Fairclough-street, a horse-keeper, stated that on Sunday morning, between half-past twelve and one o’clock, he was outside the Beehive public-house, at the corner of Christian-street and Fairclough-street, with a young woman. They had been standing there about 25 minutes, when two Jews came along shouting out, “Murder, Police.” They ran as far as Grove-street, and turned back. The witness stopped them, and asked what was the matter. They replied, “There is a woman murdered,” and the witness then returned with them into the yard in Berner-street. He saw the woman lying just inside the gate, and about 15 people in the yard, all standing around the body. A match was struck, but he saw the woman before that was done. He lifted the woman’s chin with his hand. He saw the wound in her throat, form which blood was flowing on to her breast. She had a piece of paper in her hand folded up. So many people came flocking in that the witness could not see whether any one went out of the yard. He noticed that her legs were drawn up. When Police-constable Lamb arrived he with the aid of the witness fastened the gates.
Mary Malcolm, 50, Eagle-street, Red Lion-square, Holborn, wife of Andrew Malcolm, a tailor, said – I have seen the body at the mortuary. It is that of my sister, Elizabeth Watts.
The Coroner – There is no doubt about it?
The witness – Not the slightest, although I certainly did have my doubts at first. I last saw her alive on Thursday at a quarter to seven in the evening. She had come to me at the place where I work in Red Lion-street to ask me for a little assistance, which I had been in the habit of rendering for the last five years. I gave her 1s, and a little short black jacket, but that is not the one that was found on the body. She was only a few moments with me. She did not say where she was going. She was 37 on the 26th of last month. I don’t know where she was living, but I understood it was in lodging-houses at the east-end of the Commercial-road.
The Coroner – Do you know what she was doing for a living?
The witness – I had my doubts. She was quite sober when she came to see me, but drink was unfortunately her failing. She was married, her husband being the son of Mr. Watts, a large wholesale wine and spirit merchant, Walcot-street, Bath. I believe his name is Edward. The husband is now in America, his father having sent him away owing to his wife’s misconduct. That was seven or eight years ago. Her husband caught her with a porter and sent her home to my poor mother with the two children – a boy and a girl. My mother died in 1883, and the little girl is dead. The boy was sent to a boarding school by the grandfather. She was not subject to epileptic fits, only drunken fits. She was once charged at the Thames Police-court with drunkenness, and I believe she got off because she was believed to have epileptic fits.
The Coroner – Has she at any time told you of any trouble she was in with any man? – Oh yes, sir. She lived with a man. He kept a coffee house at Poplar. This man went to sea and was wrecked about a year and a half ago on the island of St. Paul. She has not lived with anyone since then to my knowledge; but there is a man who says he lived with her. I can tell you his name to-morrow.
Have you ever heard any one threaten her?
The witness (crying) – Oh no, sir. She was too good for that. Continuing, she said: My sister’s name was “Long Liz”. She always came to me every Saturday, when I gave her 2s. The Thursday visit was unusual, and she did not come on Saturday. It was the first time she had missed coming on the Saturday for two years. I thought it extraordinary. She used to meet me at four o’clock in the afternoon at the corner of Chancery-lane. I was there last Saturday at half-past three, and waited until five o’clock. On Sunday morning, when I read the paper, I had a presentiment, as she had not turned up the day before. I felt I must go into Whitechapel, and the police directed me to the St. George’s Mortuary. It was between nine and ten at night, and I could not recognise her by gaslight. I, however, did so the next day.
The Coroner – You say you had a presentiment?
The witness – Yes. I was lying in bed on Sunday morning, and there was a “kind of pressure,” a heavy fall, and three distinct kisses on my face. Then, when I read the account in the paper later on. I felt sure it was my sister who had been murdered. There is a small black mark on one of my sister’s legs. It has been there since her youth, and I saw it when identifying her. It was the bite of an adder. When children together we were rolling down a hill of newly-mown grass, when an adder bit me on the finger (mark shown), then turned round and bit my sister’s leg. There is no one who could recognise her except my sister, who lives at Folkestone, and my brother who resides at Bath. The witness, weeping bitterly, exclaimed: Oh, the disgrace it would be to my poor sister; she is a lady. It is my brother who must come up. – Answering further questions, the witness said : There is no one who works with me who could identify her, for in my pride I always kept her to myself. I did not notice what she wore, for I was always grateful to get rid of her. She was always in trouble with me, and left on eof her own babies naked outside my door.
The Coroner – What, one of the two you mention? – Oh, no; she had some policeman up for it. I believe she took it to Bath, where it died.
The Coroner – It is important that you should be sure it is your sister. You know there are a lot of complications here, and although I don’t want to stir up muddy water, we of course want to find out anyone who might have been the cause of her death.
The witness – I am sure my brother could recognise her by the adder bite.
The Coroner – As you first doubted whether the woman was your sister, I think you had better go to the corner of Chancery-lane at the same time next Saturday to see if, after all, she turns up.
The witness – Yes, I will; but I am sure it is she.
Mr. Frederick L. Blackwell, surgeon, of 100, Commercial-road, said – On Sunday morning last, at 10 minutes past one, I was called by a policeman to go to Berner-street. My assistant, Mr. Johnston, returned with the constable, and I followed immediately. I found the woman lying on her left side, completely across the yard. Her feet were against the wall on the right side of the yard passage, her head resting in the cartwheel rut. Her feet were about three yards from the gateway. The neck and chest were quite warm, also the legs and the face, the latter slightly so. There were no rings or marks of them on her hands. The appearance of the face was quite placid. Round her neck was a check silk scarf, the bow of which was turned to the left side and pulled very right. There was a long incision in the neck, and the lower border of the scarf was frayed as if cut with a knife. The incision in the neck commenced on the left side, 2 1/2 in. below the angle of the jaw, and almost in a line with it, It severed the vessels on that side, but the windpipe completely in two, and terminated on the opposite side, 1 1/2 in. below the angle of the right jaw, but without severing the vessels there. There were no spots of blood upon the ground or anywhere, only the one long stream. The blood had been trodden about near where the body was found. There was no blood on any part of the woman’s clothes, which were intact and in order. The injuries were beyond the possibility of self-infliction. I should think the woman had not been dead more than 20 minutes or half an hour. She would have bled to death comparatively slowly on account of the vessels on one side only being severed, and the main artery not completely.
By the Jury- I have formed the opinion that the murderer took hold of the silk scarf at the back and pulled the woman backwards and cut her throat when the scarf was quite tight. The line of the incision corresponded exactly with the frayed edge of the scarf. I think her throat was cut while she was being pulled backwards or immediately on reaching the ground. I could not say whether the scarf was too tight to allow of her calling out.
The inquest was adjourned until to-day.
[Link to original at Newspapers.com] – Page 2, Columns 6
THE CHARGE AGAINST LUDWIG – The man Ludwig, who has been twice remanded on the charge of threatening to stab a woman named Burns and a man named Finlay at a coffee stall in Leman-street, Whitechapel, was again brought up at the Thames Police-court, yesterday. The facts of the case have been several times reported. It was alleged that he pursued Finlay with a knife, and had threatened the woman with a razor. It was now stated that the prisoner, who denied the charges, had fully accounted for himself on the nights of the Whitechapel murders, and he was discharged.
