Monday 5th Nov 1888 - Guy Fawkes' Night
7.00pm
Good evening from Whitechapel on Guy Fawkes' Day in 1888. It is a cold 5th November and the usual celebrations are under way. Rather than usual guy effigies, there are stuffed figures labelled "Jack the Ripper" or "Leather Apron" around London tonight. A crowd currently gathering on Clerkenwell Green is in a state of some excitement, and the police are in attendance. The rumours about the guy prove to be true, as through the crowd is brought an artistic production of a policeman with baton. The people's anger is directed at Sir Charles Warren who is under increasing pressure in his position at the Met. There are private police amidst the crowd and people know that if they attempt to burn this effigy, there will be disorder. Elsewhere in the country, the celebrations have a more cordial atmosphere and people are enjoying themselves.
At Hampstead the bonfire is being lit on the heath, in the presence of a crowd of visitors, and a procession of masqueraders. The annual carnival of the "bonfire boys" is being held at Lewisham amid a good display of coloured lights. At Yeovil a balloon ascent is being made, and a dummy is floated down to the ground by means of a parachute. At Eastbourne several bonfires are being lit and effigies of unpopular persons are burnt amidst a display of fireworks. At Salisbury a bonfire is being lit by the Mayor, and there was a display of fireworks. But, as always there are accidents too: At Swanley a youth has had one of his hands blown off. At Crayford a young man's pistol bursts in his hand and injured it. A rocket is let off at Bexley with the result that it put out the eye of a young lady named Jephson.
Last Tuesday, we met the blonde, blue-eyed Irish girl called Mary Jane Kelly. She has a room at 13 Miller's Ct, Spitalfields. Mary is an excellent artist and her friends consider her a better person than most in her situation, although a feisty drunk. She is very beautiful and, when sober, Mary is decent and polite. Unfortunately, she recently had a falling out with her man. She and Joseph Barnett had lived together but he takes issue with her allowing prostitutes to stay with them. They argued last week over it, and Joseph left to find lodgings elsewhere and Mary now has a friend staying with her. Her friend Maria Harvey is without a place of her own, and Mary Jane's kindness in letting her stay has been a sacrifice. Together they will go out drinking and enjoy what little celebratory atmosphere there is to enjoy in Whitechapel. But the burning effigies of "Jack the Ripper" on the bonfires are a reminder that the killer is still in peoples' minds.
For me it's days like today which make #RipperLive fascinating. Whitechapel responded to the murderer by burning his effigy on Bonfire Night