22nd Sep 1888 - Newspapers Cover 'Maniacs' & A Failed Attack on Another Woman
Good evening from Whitechapel in 1888. Tonight we have a couple of snippets from the now hugely-popular Star newspaper. From Thursday, there's a clipping from the police courts in which a drunk was arrested for shouting at people. With good reason: "whenever I go out they say I'm 'Leather Apron,' because the Police News published a portrait of the man and I'm like it. "I can't get work, and I get a drop to drink, and then I get angry."" But there was no sympathy and he was fined.
The paper's recent attitude and trouble-making with regard to the home secretary and police has not gone unnoticed. The Home Secretary wants to address "newspapers which have made themselves so busy in connection with the recent murders. "Detectives have been followed by men with note-books who swoop down upon persons whom detectives have visited and examined." First Leather Apron was apprehended and released. Then their Swiss suspect was identified with some certainty as the killer. But now the Star disappointingly reports: "The Police are Satisfied of the Innocence of the Holloway Butcher. He will shortly be released. His brother has given satisfactory explanation as to his whereabouts on the morning of the murder. Authorities of the asylum would not allow the police to interrogate, as it is against rules laid down by Lunacy Commissioners." Regardless of whether this lunatic was guilty, now that he is released we can say with certainty the killer is still at large.
There is debate as to whether the killer can be a typical lunatic, or whether we are seeing a new kind of criminal mind. Upon suggestion that "homicidal tendency in lunatics was confined to the desire to kill one individual, Dr. Forbes Winslow says. "Homicidal lunatics are cunning, deceptive, plausible, and, on the surface, to all outward appearance, sane. Contained within their innermost nature a dangerous thirsting after blood, which will develop when the opportunity arises."
The Star is critical of the decision not to take photographic pictures of the mutilated bodies of the recent victims. "Photographs of the body and of the mutilations would have been far more difficult to conceal essential facts." The paper accuses "the authorities in neglecting the most obvious means of getting information or of recording facts." A Police Constable's fight for life after being run over by a cab is covered by the Star with heading "Police Blundering"! Their disapproval and determination to undermine the police and spread fear and hatred is merciless.
Just before we sign off for tonight, we notice a man stepping out of his house. He is concealing something under his coat. It looks like the briefest glint of a blade was visible. We'll come back in a few hours to see what he's going. Goodbye for now.
11.30pm.
In a darkend Vine Street in Whitechapel, a woman stands alone. It is deserted, she has been drinking and she is vulnerable. The woman is married but is not aversed to entertaining men for money, as was the case with other unfortunates like her. A man in his late thirties is walking up the street towards her. He is about 5ft 8", has a dark brown coat and black moustache. Hidden within the man's coat is the blade of a knife.
The strange man approaches the woman and makes a proposition. She accepts, and they are about to move off when suddenly... The man grabs her about the face and in the same instant, she trips as he strikes at her. She falls to the ground, screaming. On the ground he stands over her and produces a knife. She screams again as he thrusts the blade towards her throat. She raises her arm in self-defence and the knife slices her. She screams out again in pain and the attacker looks around. Suddenly alarmed at her noise and his initial failure to get his fingers round her throat, he hesitates. The screams continue.
And in an instant, he changes his mind, and he flees the scene, sprinting away down Vine Street and into the darkness. The woman is left traumatised and bleeding. She recovers her composure and gets to her feet, to go and find a policeman. But she is faced with a dilemma. She does not want her husband to know about her activities, and so must remain anonymous. She'll keep her attack secret, having avoided becoming what the papers wouldve called victim 5. The press must not identify her. And as the unnamed woman fearfully scurries away clutching her arm, we sign off from a Whitechapel. A killer is still at large.