The Legend of Jack the Ripper

Ch 5: Killer at large!

Suspicions of a serial killer at large in London led to the reinforcement of Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore and Walter Andrews from the Central Office at Scotland Yard. Inspector Frederick George Abberline was 45 years old at that time. He was a portly and balding officer who wore a thick mustache and bushy side whiskers. Amberline had already spent fourteen years as a detective with H division and had gained an unrivaled knowledge of the area’s streets and criminals. And he was about to play a major role in the years to come. Meanwhile, police enquiries amongst the local prostitutes had yielded a likely-sounding suspect in the form of a man whom the local streetwalkers had nicknamed “Leather Apron. They reportedly stated that he sometimes wore a deerstalker hat, and that he was running an extortion racket, demanding money from the prostitutes, and beating up those who refused.

Henry Tomkins was a horse slaughterer, employed by Barber's Knacker's Yard, which was located one street along from Buck's Row, where the murder of Mary Nichols occurred on August 31st, 1888. He and his workmates, Charles Brittain and James Mumford, were at work at the time that the murder occurred, and they were, he said, told of the crime by Police Constable Thain at around 4.15 am on the morning of August 31st. His evidence suggests that Thain may have been in the habit of taking a break from his beat at their slaughterhouse since he stated that Thain called at that time to "call for his cape"

On Sunday, 2nd September 1888, Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper published an article about the experience of Mrs. Green: -

Buck's-row is a short street occupied half by factories and half by dwellings. Halfway down the street is the house of Mrs. Green. Next to it is a large stable yard, whose wide closed gateway is next to the house. In front of this gateway, the woman was found. Constable Neill, who was the first policeman to see the body, immediately woke the Green family and asked them if they had heard any unusual noise. Neither Mrs. Green, her son, nor her daughter, all of whom were sleeping within a few feet of where the body lay, had heard any outcry. All agreed that the night was unusually quiet. Mrs. Green, when interviewed said:
"I should have heard it had there been any I think, for I have trouble with my heart and am a very light sleeper. My son went down as soon as the body was taken away and washed away the bloodstains on the pavement. There was quite a little pool, though I understand most of it soaked into the woman's dress. I looked out and saw the body as it lay there. It was lying straight across the gateway, its head towards me. It was not lying in a heap as if it had fallen, but on its back and straight as if it had been laid there. I could not tell at first whether it was a man or a woman; but James, my son, who went downstairs, returned and told me it was a woman. This was four o'clock on Friday morning."

On Monday, 3rd September 1888, the other guy present on the site that night appeared as a witness on the second day of the inquest and his testimony was reported by The East London Observer on Saturday, 8th September 1888. His name was Charles Cross. In his inquest, he stated that:

On Friday morning he left home about half-past-three to go to work, and passing through Buck's Row he saw on the opposite sound something lying against a gateway. In the dark, he could not tell at first what it was. It looked like a tarpaulin sheet, but walking to the middle of the road he saw that it was the figure of a woman. At the same time, he heard someone about forty yards away coming up Buck's Row in the direction that the witness had come from. He stepped back and waited for the newcomer, who started on one side as if he feared that the witness was about to knock him down. He said to the man "Come and look over here.
There's a woman."

They both went across to the body, and Cross took hold of her hands, while the other man stopped over her head to look at her. The hands were cold and limp, and the witness said to the other man, "I believe she's dead." Then he touched her face, which felt warm.

He placed his hand on her heart, saying, "I think she's breathing, but it's very little if she is."
He suggested that they should "shift her" - meaning in the witness's opinion that they should seat her upright.

The witness replied, "I am not going to touch her."

The woman's legs were uncovered. Her bonnet was off but was close to her head. The witness did not notice that her throat was cut, as the night was very dark.

He and the other man left the deceased, and, in Baker's Row, they saw the last witness, Police Constable Mizen, whom they told that a woman was lying in Buck's Row. The witness added, "She looks to me to be either dead or drunk," to which the other man replied, "I think she's dead." The policeman answered, "All right."

The other man left the witness soon afterwards. He appeared to be a Carman, but He had never seen him before.
The Coroner began to ask him more about the incident to which he replied,
The Coroner: - "Did you see Police Constable Neil in Buck's
Row?"
The Witness "No Sir. I saw no one after leaving home, except the man that overtook me, the Constable in Baker's Row, and the deceased. There was nobody in Buck's Row when we left."
The Coroner: - "Did the other man tell you who he was?"
The Witness "No Sir. He merely said that he would have fetched a policeman, but he was behind time. I was behind time myself."
A Juryman: - "Did you tell Constable Mizen that another policeman wanted him in Buck's Row?"
The Witness "No: because I did not see a policeman in Buck's
Row."

On 7th September 1888 The Weekly Herald published an article, commenting on the police investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders which at that point were known as the "Whitechapel Murders" reported on the murder of Mary Nichols, that:-The officers engaged in the case are pushing their inquiries in the neighborhood as to the doings of certain gangs known to frequent the locality, and an opinion is gaining ground amongst them that the murderers are the same who committed the two previous murders near the same spot. It is believed that these gangs, who make their appearance during the early hours of the morning, are in the habit of blackmailing these unfortunate women, and when their demands are refused violence follows, and in order to avoid their deeds being brought to light they put away their victims. They have been under the observation of the police for some time past, and it is believed that, with the prospect of a reward and a free pardon, some of them might be persuaded to turn Queen's evidence, when some startling revelations might be expected."

The investigation was still fresh when on 8th September another body was found. The victim was Annie Chapman whose body was found on the ground near a doorway in the backyard of 29th Hanbury Street, Spitalfields, during a routine patrol. According to the newspaper reports, she was 45 years old, and for four months before her death had been living at Crossingham’s lodging house at number 35, Dorset Street.

Annie Chapman was born Eliza Ann Smith in Paddington on 25 September 1840. She was the first of five children born to George Smith, and Ruth Chapman. George Smith was a soldier, having enlisted in the 2nd Regiment of LifeGuards in December 1834. Reportedly, the location of Chapman's earliest years revolved around her father's military service which served between London and Windsor. That same day we published an article in The East London Observer on the testimony of Henry Tomkins a witness for Mary Nichols's murder,the slaughterer in its edition of Saturday, 8th September, 1888.-Henry Tomkins, a rough-looking man, was next called. He was a horse slaughterer, he said, and he lived at 12, Coventry-street, Bethnal Green. He was in the employ of Mr Barber and was working in the slaughterhouse, Winthorpe street, from between eight and nine o'clock on Thursday night till twenty minutes past four o'clock on Friday morning. He and his fellow workmen generally went home after ceasing work, but that morning they did not do so. They went to see the dead woman because Police-constable Thain had passed the slaughterhouse about a quarter-past four and told them that a woman had been murdered in Buck's-row. Two other men besides the witness had been working in the slaughterhouse. They were James Mumford and Charles Britten. He and Britten had been out of the slaughterhouse previously that night - namely, from twenty minutes past twelve till one o'clock, but not afterwards till they went to see the body.

The distance from the slaughterhouse to the spot where the deceased was found was not great, Buck's-row being behind Winthrope-street, and both running in the same direction.

The Coroner: - "Is your noisy work?"
Witness: - "No, sir: very quiet."
The Coroner: - "Was it all quiet on Friday morning - say after two o'clock?"
Witness: - "Yes, sir, quite quiet. The gates were open, and we heard no cry.
The Coroner: - "Did anyone come to the slaughterhouse that night?"