Ripper Live

Good evening on this cold evening in Whitechapel on 12th November 1888. It is three days since Mary Jane Kelly was killed.

The news of the Whitechapel crimes has literally travelled the globe, as have the political implications. From a newspaper in Jamaica today: "London news reports that a ninth Whitechapel murder has occurred." And goes on to say: "In the House of Commons, Mr. Conybeare asked whether it was not time to succeed Sir Charles Warren by some other." From Mexico: "The chief of the metropolitan police has offered free pardon to any accomplice in the Whitechapel murders." From Australia: "The eighth and most awful of the terrible series of crimes on record has created a profound sensation. The inhabitants, and especially the women of abandoned character are in a state of wildest excitement and alarm."

7.45pm

A man called George Hutchinson has just walked into Commercial St Police Station and says he wishes to make a statement. The officer sits him down and he begins to give relay a sighting to the policeman. One which could prove vital to the case.

"About 2:00 A.M. I was coming by Thrawl St, and just before I got to Flower and Dean Street I met the murdered woman Kelly. She said to me "Hutchinson, will you lend me sixpence." I said "I can't, I have spent all my money going down to Romford." She said "Good morning, I must go and find some money." She went away towards Thrawl Street. A man coming in the opposite direction to Kelly tapped her on the shoulder and said something to her. They burst out laughing. I heard her say "Alright" to him & the man said "You will be alright for what I have told you. He placed his hand around her shoulders. He had a kind of a small parcel in his left hand, with a kind of a strap round it. I stood against the lamp of the Queens Head Pub. They both came past and the man hung his head with his hat over his eyes. I stooped down and looked him in the face. He looked at me stern. They both went into Dorset Street. I followed them. They stood at the corner for 3 mins. He said something. She said "Alright my dear, come along, you will be comfortable." He then placed his arm on her shoulder and gave her a kiss. She said she had lost her handkerchief. He then pulled his handkerchief, a red one, out and gave it to her. They both then went up the court together. I went to see if I could see them. I stood there for about ¾ of an hour to see if they came out. They did not so I went away."

Sgt Edward Badham, to who Mr Hutchinson is giving his statement, asks for a description of this fellow seen with the deceased. "Age about 34 or 35. Height 5ft6 complexion pale, dark eyes and eye lashes slight moustache, curled up each end, hair dark. Very surley looking dress long dark coat, collar and cuffs trimmed astracan. And a dark jacket under." Quite detailed so far. "Light waistcoat dark trousers dark felt hat turned down in the middle. Button boots and gaiters with white buttons. Wore a very thick gold chain white linen collar. Black tie with horse shoe pin. Respectable appearance walked very sharp." And then, Mr Hutchinson concludes with the component which the police are keen to steer away from. "Jewish appearance."

Why did this man wait three days to give his statement? He could have come forward sooner and been seen at the inquest. The most remarkable thing about his account is the extraordinary detail, when most witnesses can't remember the type of hat. It also seems strange that Hutchinson made the effort to see the man's face and stranger still the man hid from him. A foreign-looking man hiding his face going to the home of the victim on the night of the murder? It seems too good to be true. Another strange facet of his account is this long wait outside the victim's house. He says he waited nearly an hour, then left.

Another witness called Sarah Lewis did see a man waiting around outside Miller's Court so the story may be corroborated there.

But that is not the only oddity that has arisen today. The whole of Whitechapel waits with baited breath for the inquest. Being the most terrible murder so far, and with London and the world paying close attention, the public want detail and gore. Today at the Shoreditch Town Hall, Dr. Macdonald, M.P., the coroner opened his inquiry to the death of Marie Jeanette Kelly.

Joseph Barnett, fish porter says how he lived with the deceased for one year and eight months. His words are chilling: "I have seen the body. I identify it by the ear & eyes, which are all I can recognise. I am positive it is the woman I knew." How unimaginably cruel of the killer upon this man, to leave nothing of his beloved's face by which he could recognise her.

The next witness is the man who discovered the body – and his detail explains perhaps why no-one saw the crime any earlier. "There was a curtain. I put my hand through the broken pane & lifted the curtain. I saw two pieces of flesh lying on the table. The second time I looked I saw a body on this bed, and blood on the floor." He fetched the next witness, Mr McCarthy.

The next witnesses were women who lived nearby and then the man the press have been eager to hear from. The doctor. But the doctor disappoints, and his account merely explains the woman was beyond help when found, and died of a cut throat. It was understood that more detailed evidence of the medical examination would be given at a future hearing. The final witness is Inspector Abberline who is in charge of the case. He talks about the remnants of clothing in the fire: "A portion of a brim of a hat, and a skirt, and it appeared as if a large quantity of women's clothing had been burnt. I can only imagine that it was to make a light for the man to see what he was doing. There was only one small candle."

Then the Coroner says something which the newspapers and public at large find both confusing and frustrating. "It is unnecessary to go through the evidence time after time. If the jury can come to a decision, that is all they have to do." The Foreman, having consulted with his colleagues, considered that the jury had had quite sufficient evidence. The verdict, once again is given: "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown." And the inquest is suddenly closed.

The resentment about starving the public and press of details is also felt in the papers. Today the Star comments: "The police have handicapped their capacity for rendering aid by doing all in their power to suppress information of the crime. The result has been the creation of false news, and the inquest could not but be anticipated with exceptional eagerness." There is near-hysteria on the streets, as every tiny suspicion is acted upon and paranoia has infested the area. "The public themselves have been conscious that the responsibility of the officers of the law is in a measure shared by them." Several men were drinking in a pub when one pointed to blood on another's shirt, who said it was merely paint. When more blood was noted on his clothing he left the pub quickly but was arrested in the street and taken to the police. Another arrest was made when 2 men were acting suspiciously in Dorset St and, looking foreign, one was followed and arrested. One account talks of a man whose advances were refused in a pub. He was followed, whereupon he fled, and was later arrested. A man was arrested in Dorset St, after he refused to satisfy the officers as to his recent movements. He is still being held. Last night in Wentworth St when cries of "Murder!" went up, a crowd gathered to find a woman screaming that a man was attacking. But the woman was blind and the attacker was just the man courting her daugher. As the paper puts it: "The old lady, who, like her neighbors, was haunted with the terror of "Jack the Ripper,""

And that's it from a panicked London.