Ripper Live

10.00am

Good morning from Whitehall on 3rd October 1888. We are three miles west of where "Jack the Ripper" last struck in Whitechapel. Several workmen are reporting for duty on the site of the New Scotland Yard building on the Embankment. They see that the palings around the have been disturbed, as someone climbed in to access the site. They being to investigate. Down they go into a cellar where they make a horrifying discovery. It is the body – literally only the trunk – of a woman. This will no doubt be reported soon, and tonight we'll have a look through the papers and see what is being said.

4.00pm

It's Thursday 3rd October 1888 and Inspector Henry Moore has sent Sgt White to find Matthew Packer and ask some more questions. You may recall that on Sunday at 9am, Sgt Stephen White conducted house- to-house enquiries and asked Packer what he knew. Packer, who worked in the street where Liz Stride was murdered said he saw no-one in or around the yard, nothing suspicious. The police were therefore surprised when The Evening News last night carried an interview about Packer speaking to the murder! Packer told the reporter that a man and woman came to the side window of his shop from which he sold fruit. They bought grapes. Packer's interview said that the couple were still standing in the rain for a long time outside the yard, when he went to bed. The final insult in the report was the fact that Packer was reported as saying the police "haven't asked me a word about it."

And so here's Sgt White arriving at Packer's shop in Berner Street to interview him a second time. He enters the shop. The policeman is greeted by Mrs Packer, and he asks her to bring out her husband to answer some questions about his interview. But the officer is left frustrated once again as Mrs Packer replies that two detectives have already gathered her husband. Mr Packer has been taken to the mortuary to identify the body. Disgruntled, the officer leaves and heads for the mortuary.

4.25pm

On his way to the mortuary, Sgt White sees two men coming towards him, and recognises one is Packer. He stops the men. "Where have you been?" demands Sgt White. "This detective asked me to go see if I could identify the woman," Packer replies. "Have you done so?" Asks the policeman. "Yes. I believe she bought some grapes from my shop about 12 o'clock on Saturday." Another man approaches and Sgt White demands to know what they're doing with this witness. "We are detectives," replies one. "Show me your identification," says Sgt White. "We are private detectives," replies one of them. Sgt White is not satisfied. One of the detectives produces a card and then they induce Packer to come away, leaving Sgt White very displeased.

The private detectives were Mr J. H. Batchelor and Mr Grand. Their presence is a result of the fact there two murders. Whether by accident or design, the killer has created tension within the police force as they were killed in different areas. Liz Stride's murder is being dealt with by the Metropolitan police, whilst Catherine Eddowes is within the City of London.

Whilst Sgt White regroups, we'll turn our attention to the papers of the last few days, which are a frenzy of fear & hyperbole. "A man was arrested in the City late last night. He was seen behaving in a mysterious manner in the streets. "When accosted by the police, refused to give any account of himself. He gave unintelligent answers to their questions. As he was supposed to be insane, is now being examined by two doctors. He speaks with a strong Birmingham accent." Such is the climate of fear after the weekend that overreactions are frequent: "Whitechapel scare in Barnsbury this morning. At half-past one a woman raised a hue-and-cry in Cloudesley-road, and shrieked out that a man had threatened her with a knife. The man was seriously threatened by a mob. The "knife" was found to be a piece of steel of a perfectly harmless character. The man was a blacksmith, & had come into possession of it in the way of business. He gave a satisfactory account of himself."

The Star remains critical of the police as ever and has this to said on one of their failures in particular: "Had a bloodhound been put upon the scent of the murderer while fresh, it might have done what the police have failed in. The 1st and 3rd of the murders, those of Turner and hapman, were committed on exactly the same date of two separate months. Namely, the 7th August and September. The 2nd and 4th murders both perpetrated on the last days of August and September." The article deduces from this the "The criminal was one who had to be absent from the scene of his crimes for regular periods." As for the Ripper-like murder "It is believed Waddle, the Gateshead murderer, has made a complete confession of the crime." But with the public gripped by the fear caused by the Whitechapel killer, shocking crimes are taking pace in the west-end too.

Strangely, these are highlighted more as a "mystery" more than a murder, despite the implications. Here's yesterday's coverage: "Latest ghastliness is in Westminster, within a couple of hundred yards of both Scotland-yard and the Houses of Parliament. The horrible "find" was made yesterday afternoon in the new police buildings between Parliament-street and the Embankment. Several workmen, on opening a bundle which they found hidden in one of the darkest archways of the vaulted foundations... LAID BARE THE REMAINS OF A WOMAN. The corpse was a mere trunk, head and limbs having been severed. A young and healthy woman. The arm found 11 Sept. in the Thames, and probably that found in Lambeth a few days ago, were cut from the mutilated trunk. The difficulty & danger which the murderer must have encountered on bearing the body to its hiding-place, increase the mystery."

As for Whiteshapel crimes, papers reported yesterday: "Both the latest victims of the master-murderer have now been identified. Mitre sq body is identified as A WOMAN NAMED KELLY who lived in a lodging-house in the same street as her fellow victim." The papers called her Kate Kelly due to her common-law husband John Kelly, although it wasn't Catherine Eddowes's legal name. Says John, "It is nigh on to seven years since I met Kate, and it was in this very lodging-house I first set eyes on her." The Star also tells of the continued walking of the streets by the girls, although there were fewer of them. It reports: "A woman who was out in the small hours of the morning was asked, "Aren't you afraid to be out at this time?" She replied, "No; the murders are shocking, but we have no place to go, so we're compelled to be out looking for our lodgings." Another said, "Afraid? No. I'm armed. Look here," and she drew a knife from her pocket. "The coffee-stall keepers are grumbling that their trade has been much injured by the terror in the district. There is a great diminution in the numbers of their customers after midnight." The news also reports the letters arriving: "The numbers of letters received by police offering advice/suggestions as to the best way of catching the murderer is enormous. They come from all over the world. America sends quite as many as all other countries outside of England. Practical jokers of the same school as "Jack the Ripper" try to crack their nuts on the police as well as through the Press."

The Star also tells of the mania for impersonations and threats in the wake of the fear in Whitechapel For example: "Lowestoft. A man has been going into shops threatening females behind the counter in the way the murderers did at Whitechapel." Other consequences of the recent horrors have been to highlight the poverty and poor conditions in Whitechapel. For instance: "The Shoreditch Vestry resolved to fix improved lamps in Commercial st, rendered doubly necessary by recent events."

7.30pm

Having returned to his police station and spoken to Inspector Henry Moore, Sgt White has returned to Matthew Packer's shop. As the pair talk, a cab pulls up outside the shop and two men get out. Sgt White recognises the same two detectives as before. Sgt White asks their business and one detective informs him, "We were going to take Packer to Scotland Yard." The policeman indicates that he is conducting his interview but the detectives are insistent. Packer is uncertain what to do. The detectives persuade Packer to leave with them and Stg White watched as the three climb into the cab which draws away.

The interview that Packer gave the Evening News gave a full description of the man he saw with Elizabeth Stride. "About 30-35, medium height, rather dark complexion. He wore a black coat and a black soft felt hat, like a clerk or something. I am certain he wasn't a working man or anything like us folks that live around here." The man spoke to Packer too: "Educated. He had a loud, sharp sort of voice, and a quick commanding way with him." But this man was surely not the killer.

Three days ago The Star had got hold of Israel Schwartz, the man who it seems witnessed the entire attack on Liz Stride. Schwartz paints a picture which surely indicates that she was not a victim of the other Whitechapel Killer. He said: Some distance in front, Schwartz saw a man walking as if partially intoxicated. He walked behind the drunk for a few yards. Schwartz noticed Liz near the yard – as did the drunk, who halted and spoke to her before shoving her back into the yard. The witness then heard a quarrel but before he could help, a second man emerged from a pub nearby and shouted at the attacker. The witness is positive the second man had a knife and raced over towards the quarrel, at which point Schwartz fled the scene. It conflicts wildly with the statement give to police – but both were done via an interpreter, so is either accurate?

In Schwartz's original account, it was the murderer, not the rescuer who call out – a scenario which seems unlikely. But interestingly, in both accounts, the attacker had no knife. In his other account, the second man had a pipe, not a knife. In both versions, the attacker approaches Liz, ruling out a man that Liz had already been standing with. In neither version is it likely behaviour of a wanted serial killer, especially if drunk and attacking with witnesses nearby.

That's all for today! Thanks for sticking with it tonight, it's been an epic one as the whole of London is gripped by fear of by murder!