Stranger than Fiction is a Holly Hapless Brand by Stephen Walker
The murder and subsequent mutilation of the body of Mary-Jane Kelly is, perhaps, the most gruesome act, allegedly, carried out by Jack the Ripper.
The inquest into Mary-Jane Kelly’s death opened on 12 November, this time under a new coroner to the case, Dr Roderick MacDonald. Much to everyone’s surprise he concluded the inquest in a day.
The gruesome discovery, in Buck’s Row, of the mutilated, disembowelled body of Mary-Ann Nichols horrified and terrified London’s East End.
The Ripper murders, as they would be known by the world for the next 120 years, had begun.
A vicious attack on Emma Smith caused her death the following day. But the savage murder of Martha Tabram started the huge Ripper man-hunt.
Martha Tabram’s inquest ended with the verdict of wilful murder against person or persons unknown, a phrase that would reoccur with frustrating regularity as 1888 progressed.
The death of Frances Coles would bring an end to the police investigation into Jack the Ripper, but allegations continued…
Did Jack the Ripper escaped the clutches of the law because his family committed him to an asylum? We may never know, but we have followed the footsteps of Jack the Ripper into the dark labyrinth of London’s past.
Elizabeth Stride, an educated woman, originally, from Sweden, was to become the fifth alleged victim of the notorious Jack the Ripper.
With four women murdered, the police no nearer an arrest and the public’s mounting panic, fuelled by press speculation, the discovery of a fifth murdered woman discovered in Berner Street was met with disbelief.
The double event of the Eddowes and Stride killings gave the press a field day and elevated the elusive Jack the Ripper to the status of legend.
Jack the Ripper had everyone on his trail. Including to London police forces and the country’s top detectives. His elusiveness was nothing short of miraculous.
Catherine Eddowes would become the second killing on 30 Sept 1888. What would become known, in the press, as the ‘Double Event’ of Jack the Ripper.
Dr Lars Davidsson “You could say that they were opportunistic killings, that he took a huge amount of chances, and I think that’s true. I don’t think he was bothered about the possibility of being caught”
Annie Chapman was recently married, to a husband with a good job. But, drink would be her downfall. Returning home to Whitechapel, she would meet her doom.
Annie Chapman was another victim of wilful murder by a person or persons unknown, but assumed to be Jack the Ripper.
Whitechapel, London in 1888. Jack the Ripper is the world’s most famous, notorious, elusive serial killer.
The violent story of the Ripper is so shrouded in myth that outlandish theories still surface making it hard to separate fact from fiction.
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