Jack the Ripper Part 5: Mary Kelly

             From August until the end of September, Whitechapel, London was lost in a nightmare. The murders and mutilations of four prostitutes had splashed the front page of every newspaper, reminding everyone that the phantom killer, Jack the Ripper was lurking in the shadows, ready to strike. People waited in anticipation throughout the entire month of October for another body to be found. It was quite on the East side of London, just long enough for everyone to let their guard down.

                       

Mary Janet Kelly

            There is very little history on the last victim of Jack the Ripper. Several people knew the twenty three year old girl, but few if any knew the truth about her past. Some of her friends believed that she had been born in Limerick, Ireland and married a coal miner when she was sixteen. She had told some friends that her husband had died in a mining accident so she had moved to London, England to work in a brothel on the West End. She told other friends that she had moved to France for a while to live with another man, but didn’t like it in France so she chose to live in London instead. None of the stories she told friends could be verified. Her past is a mystery.

            In early 1888 she did meet and move in with a man by the name of Joseph Barnett. They lived in a one room apartment on the back of 26 Dorset, Spitalfields.  Joseph worked as a fish porter; however he found it difficult to find steady work. Mary eventually took to prostitution to help pay the rent.

            Mary was well liked by many people in the area. She was described by many as a sweet and beautiful girl who liked to sing Irish songs and enjoyed playing games and visiting with everyone. She was known to have a dark side as well. Mary, like all of the other victims, had a drinking problem. People liked to refer her as Dark Mary when she had been drinking because she could be known to be abusive and violent.

            In October of 1888, Mary moved her friend, a fellow prostitute by the name of Julia into the already cramped apartment. Joseph and Julia did not get along causing Mary and Joseph to fight. Finally, Joseph felt he had enough and moved out. Julia moved out shortly after, leaving Mary to live in the apartment alone.

            Although Mary and Joseph were no longer living together, they remained friends and Joseph visited Mary often. On November 8^th, 1888 he went to Mary’s apartment to visit with her around 8pm. She was home with another friend Maria Harvey. They spent roughly an hour with Mary before both left. Joseph went back to the lodging house where he was staying. It would be the last time that he would see Mary alive.

            One of Mary’s neighbors stated that she could hear Mary singing later that evening. The neighbor left around 11 pm and when she returned at 1 am Mary was no longer singing.

            At roughly 2 am a friend of Mary’s, George Hutchinson was hanging out in the alley behind her apartment. Mary stepped out of her apartment and they began talking. He stated that she had asked to borrow about six pence which he didn’t have. Disappointed that Hutchinson didn’t have the money, Mary turned to another man, someone that Hutchinson did not know but described as being of Jewish descent. She began flirting with the stranger and the two of them headed for her apartment. Hutchinson stated to police later that he did not like the looks of the man who went with Mary to her apartment later that night and waited for a while to see if they would leave the apartment, but he never saw either one of them come back out. After a while he left.

            Two neighbors reported waking up around 4 am to the faint cries of murder. Even though there had been several gruesome murders in the area recently, the neighborhood was fairly used to fighting and crimes, so the cry of murder was not uncommon; neither neighbor went to investigate the cries.

            The next morning the landlord sent his assistant to knock on Mary’s door and collect her rent. She was six weeks behind in rent and the assistant was to evict her if she did not pay. The assistant went to her door and knocked on it but there was no answer. He assumed that she was at home and was refusing to answer the door, so he decided to go to the window and look in. The window had been previously broken by Mary several nights before and was covered by an old coat. The assistant reached inside and moved the coat so he could see in. What he saw made him sick with disbelief and horror.

            The assistant ran back to the landlord and cried that there was blood everywhere. Both the assistant and the landlord rushed back to the apartment so the landlord could look inside. Mary was lying in the bed, completely mutilated. There were chunks of flesh on the nightstand by her bed and blood everywhere. They both ran to the local police station for help.

 

            Dr Thomas Bond and Dr George Bagster Phillips examined the body. Phillips  and Bond timed her death to about 12 hours before the examination. Phillips suggested that the extensive mutilations would have taken two hours to perform,  and Bond noted that rigor mortis set in as they were examining the body, indicating that death occurred between 2 and 8:00 a.m.  Bond's notes read:

The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle and lying across the abdomen. The right arm was slightly abducted from the body and rested on the mattress. The elbow was bent, the forearm supine with the fingers clenched. The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk and the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubis.
The whole of the surface of the abdomen and thighs was removed and the abdominal cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds and the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone.
The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus and kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the right foot, the liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side and the spleen by the left side of the body. The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table.
The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, and on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about two feet square. The wall by the right side of the bed and in a line with the neck was marked by blood which had struck it in several places.
The face was gashed in all directions, the nose, cheeks, eyebrows, and ears being partly removed. The lips were blanched and cut by several incisions running obliquely down to the chin. There were also numerous cuts extending irregularly across all the features.
The neck was cut through the skin and other tissues right down to the vertebrae, the fifth and sixth being deeply notched. The skin cuts in the front of the neck showed distinct ecchymosis. The air passage was cut at the lower part of the larynx through the cricoid cartilage.
Both breasts were more or less removed by circular incisions, the muscle down to the ribs being attached to the breasts. The intercostals between the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs were cut through and the contents of the thorax visible through the openings.
The skin and tissues of the abdomen from the costal arch to the pubes were removed in three large flaps. The right thigh was denuded in front to the bone, the flap of skin, including the external organs of generation, and part of the right buttock. The left thigh was stripped of skin fascia, and muscles as far as the knee.
The left calf showed a long gash through skin and tissues to the deep muscles and reaching from the knee to five inches above the ankle. Both arms and forearms had extensive jagged wounds.
The right thumb showed a small superficial incision about one inch long, with extravasation of blood in the skin, and there were several abrasions on the back of the hand moreover showing the same condition.
On opening the thorax it was found that the right lung was minimally adherent by old firm adhesions. The lower part of the lung was broken and torn away. The left lung was intact. It was adherent at the apex and there were a few adhesions over the side. In the substances of the lung there were several nodules of consolidation.
The pericardium was open below and the heart absent. In the abdominal cavity there was some partly digested food of fish and potatoes, and similar food was found in the remains of the stomach attached to the intestines.  

Phillips believed that Kelly was killed by a slash to the throat and the mutilations performed afterwards.  Bond stated in a report that the knife used was about 1 in (25 mm) wide and at least 6 in (150 mm) long, but did not believe that the murderer had any medical training or knowledge. He wrote:

In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge. In my opinion he does not even possess the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer or a person accustomed to cut up dead animals.

             Kelly was buried in a public grave at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery on 19 November 1888. Her obituary is as follows:

The funeral of the murdered woman Kelly has once more been postponed. Deceased was a Catholic, and the man Barnett, with whom she lived, and her landlord, Mr. M. Carthy, desired to see her remains interred with the ritual of her Church. The funeral will, therefore, take place tomorrow [19 Nov] in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Leytonstone. The hearse will leave the Shoreditch mortuary at half-past twelve.
The remains of Mary Janet Kelly, who was murdered on Nov. 9 in Miller's-court, Dorset-street, Spitalfields, were brought yesterday morning from Shoreditch mortuary to the cemetery at Leytonstone, where they were interred.
No family member could be found to attend the funeral.

            This murder was the most brutal in the entire investigation. Investigators and historians alike believe that because this was done in the privacy of Mary’s apartment instead of in the street, Jack the Ripper took his time to do everything he wanted to do to the body. It was also The Ripper’s Swan song. This would be the last murder considered to be officially Jack the Ripper’s.

 

           

 

Jack the Ripper Part 4: Catherine Eddows

On September 30^th 1888, Police in Whitechapel were already investigating the murder of Elizabeth Stride, which had occurred at roughly 1 am. With the area already in the grips of fear due to the recent gruesome murders of two other women, both prostitutes’ investigators were working diligently to find the killer that they believed to be still in the immediate area. It was assumed since Stride had not been mutilated after her throat had been cut that her killer had been interrupted when a man with his Cart and Pony came down the street where Stride’s body was discovered. What the police did not take into account was that the killer was still on the hunt, looking for someone else to satisfy his bloodlust.

 

Catherine Eddows

Catherine Eddows was born in Graisly Green, Wolverhampton on April 14^th, 1842.  She was one of ten children born to a Tin plate stamper. When she was a child her family moved to London, England however she returned to her hometown to become a tin plate stamper like her father.

After she lost her job, she met ex-soldier Thomas Conway and moved in with him. They moved back to London soon after and had three children together. At that time she called herself Kate Conway, although she and Thomas never married.

Soon after having her third child, Catharine began to drink heavily. In 1880 she abandoned her family and moved to Whitechapel. Thomas refused to help her financially and did not want her to have anything to do with her sons, so he changed his last name so she couldn’t find them.

In 1881 Catherine met John Kelly and lived with him at a common lodging house in Spitalfields, an area known for crime and poverty adjacent to Whitechapel. She began prostitution as a means to pay rent.

Catherine’s friends described her as a very intelligent woman, scholarly and very friendly but with a vicious temper when angered. She was known to drink quite a bit and sing and dance in the streets.

On the morning of September 29^th, 1888 both Catherine and John found themselves unable to pay for a bed at the lodging house. John decided to head to a local pawn shop to sell his boots and Catherine stated that she would go to her daughter’s house to borrow money. John returned to the lodging house around 8 pm, barefoot and rented a bed for the night, where he remained for the rest of the evening.

At 8:30 pm Catherine was picked up by police for public intoxication. She had been found lying in the street, drunk and singing. She refused to give her name to the police so they took her to Bishopsgate Police station and let her sleep it off in a jail cell. At 1 am she was sober enough to be released.

At 1:45 am beat police officer PC Edward Walkins was making his rounds when he saw a body lying in the square. He found the body of Catherine Eddows, extremely mutilated. He quickly called for a night watchman, who also patrolled the area to stay with the body while he went for help.

Eddows was killed and mutilated in the square between 1.35 and 1.45 a.m. Police surgeon Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown, who arrived after 2:00 a.m., said of the scene:

 

The body was on its back, the head turned to left shoulder. The arms by the side of the body as if they had fallen there. Both palms upwards, the fingers slightly bent. A thimble was lying off the finger on the right side. The clothes drawn up above the abdomen. The thighs were naked. Left leg extended in a line with the body. The abdomen was exposed. Right leg bent at the thigh and knee.
The bonnet was at the back of the head—great disfigurement of the face. The throat cut. Across below the throat was a neckerchief. ... The intestines were drawn out to a large extent and placed over the right shoulder—they were smeared over with some feculent matter. A piece of about two feet was quite detached from the body and placed between the body and the left arm, apparently by design. The lobe and auricle of the right ear were cut obliquely through. There was a quantity of clotted blood on the pavement on the left side of the neck round the shoulder and upper part of the arm, and fluid blood-coloured serum which had flowed under the neck to the right shoulder, the pavement sloping in that direction.
Body was quite warm. No death stiffening had taken place. She must have been dead most likely within the half hour. We looked for superficial bruises and saw none. No blood on the skin of the abdomen or secretion of any kind on the thighs. No spurting of blood on the bricks or pavement around. No marks of blood below the middle of the body. Several buttons were found in the clotted blood after the body was removed. There was no blood on the front of the clothes. There were no traces of recent connection.

Brown conducted a post-mortem that afternoon, noting:

After washing the left hand carefully, a bruise the size of a sixpence, recent and red, was discovered on the back of the left hand between the thumb and first finger. A few small bruises on right shin of older date. The hands and arms were bronzed. No bruises on the scalp, the back of the body, or the elbows. ... The cause of death was haemorrhage from the left common carotid artery. The death was immediate and the mutilations were inflicted after death ... There would not be much blood on the murderer. The cut was made by someone on the right side of the body, kneeling below the middle of the body. ... The perinatal lining was cut through on the left side and the left kidney carefully taken out and removed. ... I believe the perpetrator of the act must have had considerable knowledge of the position of the organs in the abdominal cavity and the way of removing them. The parts removed would be of no use for any professional purpose. It required a great deal of knowledge to have removed the kidney and to know where it was placed. Such knowledge might be possessed by one in the habit of cutting up animals. I think the perpetrator of this act had sufficient time ... It would take at least five minutes. ... I believe it was the act of one person.

            Police physician Thomas Bond, disagreed with Brown's assessment of the killer's skill level. Bond's report to police stated: "In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge. In my opinion he does not even possess the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer or any person accustomed to cut up dead animals."

            At 3 am, while police were still investigating the area one officer found in a passage doorway a ripped piece of Catherine’s apron, covered in blood. On the wall was a note written in chalk “ The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing”. The lead investigator demanded that the graffiti be removed immdiatly in fear that it would create potential anti Jew riots in the streets. To this day they are not sure who wrote those words on the wall and if they are relevant to the murders.

            Catherine Eddows was buried on October 8^th, 1888 in a public grave in The City of London cemetery.

            Now that the phantom killer had claimed the lives of two women in one night, letters were written to the Queen Victoria to do something in regards to the state of Whitechapel. They begged that police do more to curb prostitution. The west end of London began to fear that Jack the Ripper wouldn’t be satisfied with just killing woman in Whitechapel and feared that their own streets were no longer safe. It was widely known that police did not have a clue who this phantom killer was and didn’t know where he would strike next.

           

Jack the Ripper Part 3: Elizabeth Stride

            Jack the Ripper had been splashed across every paper in the Country after the body of Annie Chapman had been discovered mutilated at 29 Hanover in early September 1888. Women were being encouraged to stay indoors at night and the police force had double in Whitechapel, London. Fear was gripping the city as press covered every aspect of the phantom killer that was hiding in the shadows, elusive to capture.

            Almost two weeks had passed before the fateful night that not one, but two murders took place in Whitechapel. It would be a night that would send the city reeling and the story of Jack the Ripper to make international headlines.

 

Elizabeth Stride

 

 

            Elizabeth “Long Liz” Gustofdotter was born in Sweden to Swedish farmer Gustaf Ericson and Beaka Carlsdotter on November 27 1843. Her parents lived in poverty in Sweden, forcing Liz to work as a domestic servant by the time she was a teenager.

            It was reported that she was arrested for prostitution while she worked at a domestic servant and her medical records show that she was treated for two sexually transmitted diseases and gave birth to a still born daughter in 1865.

 

 

            In 1866 Liz moved to London England. She was fluent in Swedish, English and Yiddish and was able to find work easily as a domestic servant.  She met and married John Thomas Stride in that same year. They opened a coffee parlor in 1869 and continued to run the business until 1877 when Liz and her husband lost the business and they separated for the first time.

            Liz worked at the public workhouse for four years when John and Liz decided to give their relationship a go again. They separated once again later that year, leaving Liz to live on the streets.

            Liz fell on the mercy of the Church of Sweden to assist her in staying in a common lodging house. She attempted hawking and domestic servant jobs until finally going back out on the streets as a prostitute. It was at this time that she met her boyfriend Michael Kidney. They lived together off and on over the next ten years.

            A few nights before her death, Liz and Michael got into a fight and decided to call it quits. Michael was devastated and attempted to visit Liz the night of her murder at the common lodging house that she was staying at but she had already left for the evening.

            On September 29^th, 1888 the night of Liz’s murder she had been seen several times with different men. One witness described a woman fitting Liz’s description with a short man with a mustache and a bowler hat at roughly 11:00 pm.  At 11:45 pm she was seen again by another witness, talking with a man in a peaked hat and then again at 12:35 talking with a man in a tall felt hat carrying a package.

            At 1:30 am on September 30^th, Louis Diemschultz, a steward at the local workers club was just leaving a meeting. He was traveling down the street behind the club with his Pony and cart when the pony pulled hard to the right as if it was startled by something. It was so dark in the street that night that Louis could not see what had startled his pony. The pony refused to move any further, so Louis climbed down to see what the matter was. He lit a match, which remained lit for only a moment however it was long enough to see Elizabeth Stride, sprawled on in the middle of the street, blood still flowing from a freshly cut throat. Louis immediately ran back to the club to get help.

            When police arrived they determined that Louis must have come down the street at the time that the murder was being committed. It seemed as though the killer may have been what startled the pony when he ran from the scene. The police immediately began to check the area, positive that the killer was still close, possibly hiding. They began to question anyone that was living, working or hanging around the area.

            One witness by the name of Israel Schwartz a Hungarian immigrant who did not speak English stated through an interpreter that he did see Liz standing in the street with a man at roughly 12:45 am. He could see that they were in a heated argument and watched as the man threw her up against a wall. He assumed that is was a domestic fight and did not want to get involved. The police believed that Israel may have in fact seen Liz with her killer, struggling to get away.  No one else heard or saw anything that night.

                Other than Liz’s throat  cut in the same fashion as the other woman murdered in the area, she did not have any other wounds to her body. The police believed that the killer was interrupted before he could continue his calling card of disemboweling the body. They also looked into the possibility that this was not a victim of Jack the Ripper, but perhaps a lovers quarrel gone wrong and made to look like a murder by the phantom killer.

                Michael Kidney appeared at the police station a few days later, drunk and clearly upset. He demanded to know what was happening with the murder investigation. The police questioned him but released him soon after, determining that he was not Liz’s killer.

 

 

                Elizabeth Stride was buried on October 8^th 1888 in a public plot in East London Cemetery. She would be the first of two that were killed on September 30^th 1888.

                It has been the opinion of many people who have instigated the Ripper murders that Elizabeth Stride was indeed a victim of Jack the Ripper. They believe that he had intended to kill and mutilate her body in the same fashion as his other victims but was interrupted and forced to flee the scene. Disappointed and high on adrenaline, Jack the Ripper quickly searched for his second victim. The woman he found next would be the most violent mutilation yet.

 

 

Jack the Ripper Part 2: Annie Chapman

            Whitechapel which lay on the East end Of London, England was becoming place of horrors in the fall of 1888. On August 31^st, 1888 the body of Mary (Polly) Nichols had been found in the street, mutilated. It would not be long before another victim was found.

 

Annie Chapman

 

            Annie Chapman was Born Eliza Ann Smith in 1841 to parents George Smith and Ruth Chapman. George was a soldier who would later become a domestic servant. Annie grew up outside of London.

            On May 1^st, 1869 Annie married one of her maternal relatives, John Chapman. They moved to the west end of London where John worked as a carriage driver. Together they had three children, Emily, Annie and John.

            When little John was born in 1880 they discovered that he was disabled. In 1882 thier oldest daughter Emily contracted Meningitis and passed away. This caused both Annie and John to spiral out of control emotionally. They drank heavily causing a wedge between them. In 1884 Annie and John separated. Annie sent her son to a special school and her surviving daughter left to work in the circus.

            In 1886 Annie moved to Whitechapel, London. Her estranged husband sent her a stipend of 10 shillings a week. Annie moved in with another man at the time. At the end of 1886 Annie stopped receiving her stipend. She discovered after inquiring that her husband had died of an alcohol related illness. With no money to support them, the man she was living with abandoned her. Annie fell into a deep depression.

            Annie tried to survive by selling crochet and paper flowers however she succumbed to prostitution on occasion to survive. She began to stay in a common lodging house and continued to drink heavily. People who knew her believed that she was a sweet and quiet woman when she was sober, however she could be known to be violent when she had been drinking.

            A few days before her murder, Annie had been involved in a fist fight with another prostitute by the name of Eliza Cooper. Eliza claimed that the fight started over a bar of soap that Annie had borrowed days before and never returned. Others claimed that the two women were fighting over a man. Regardless, Annie walked away from the fight with a black eye and a large bruise on her chest. She became ill after the fight and spent a night in the hospital.

            When she left the hospital she headed straight over to the lodging house. She pleaded with the landlord to allow her to sleep there but he turned her out in the street because she didn’t have any money. It was 1:30 am on September 8^th 1888 when Annie took to the streets to try and earn some money to pay the landlord.

            At roughly 5:30 that morning, a woman by the name of Elizabeth Long was walking down Hanbury Street to buy breakfast when she saw a woman fitting Annie’s description talking with a man in the doorway of 29 Hanbury. It appeared that it was a friendly conversation, and nothing seemed out of place. The man that Elizabeth described was of foreign extraction, average height and wearing a deerstalker hat. It is believed that the man Annie was speaking with was Annie’s murderer. Elizabeth was the last person to see Annie alive.

            There were few people that had passed by 29 Hanover around the estimated time of Annie’s murder. The first was a gentleman by the name of John Richardson who came by 29 Hanover on his way to work every morning. His mother lived in the building and had recently been burgled. He made it a habit to check the building out every morning. He did not see anything unusual the morning. He stopped to cut a piece of loose leather off of his shoe but didn’t hear or see anything. A neighbor, Albert Cadosch who lived in the building next door went to his back garden to relieve himself at roughly 5:45 am. He did hear what he believed to be a woman whispering on the other side of the fence and then something heavy hit the fence. He did not investigate the sounds.

            John Davis, an elderly man who worked as a market porter and who lived at 29 Hanover went out to the back garden at 6 am. He looked down and saw the body of Annie Chapman lying on the ground between the garden fence and the back door. He darted around to the front and began calling for help. Two construction workers walking along the street came to the man’s aid. The three of them immediately went in search for a police officer.

            The following is an excerpt from the coroner’s report describing Annie Chapman’s body when it was discovered:

 

The left arm was placed across the left breast. The legs were drawn up, the feet resting on the ground, and the knees turned outwards. The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen. The front teeth were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were. The body was terribly mutilated ... the stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but was evidently commencing. He noticed that the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incision through the skin were jagged and reached right round the neck ... On the wooden paling between the yard in question and the next, smears of blood, corresponding to where the head of the deceased lay, were to be seen. These were about 14 inches from the ground, and immediately above the part where the blood from the neck lay. ...

The instrument used at the throat and abdomen was the same. It must have been a very sharp knife with a thin narrow blade, and must have been at least 6 to 8 inches in length, probably longer. He should say that the injuries could not have been inflicted by a bayonet or a sword bayonet. They could have been done by such an instrument as a medical man used for post-mortem purposes, but the ordinary surgical cases might not contain such an instrument. Those used by the slaughtermen, well ground down, might have caused them. He thought the knives used by those in the leather trade would not be long enough in the blade. There were indications of anatomical knowledge ... he should say that the deceased had been dead at least two hours, and probably more, when he first saw her; but it was right to mention that it was a fairly cool morning, and that the body would be more apt to cool rapidly from its having lost a great quantity of blood. There was no evidence ... of a struggle having taken place. He was positive the deceased entered the yard alive ...

A handkerchief was round the throat of the deceased when he saw it early in the morning. He should say it was not tied on after the throat was cut.^[

 

            Although the Corner’s personal opinion at the time that the murderer was more likely a professional, possibly a Doctor or maybe a butcher, researchers  dismiss his theories based on the injuries inflicted. Most researchers do not believe that the cuts made to Annie Chapman were indicative to a surgeon’s cut; however the wounds themselves are not conclusive enough to indicate one way or another.

            On the list of items that were found on the scene, one seemed to stick out considerably to investigators at the time. A leather apron was discovered lying near Annie’s body in the garden. Immediately people in the area began to point fingers at a man they believed it may have belonged to.  A young immigrant Jew by the name of John Pizer went by the nickname Leather apron. He was known around the area as a strange and quick to anger man who had a hatred for women. The local newspapers caught wind of this and began to tarnish the man’s name. Tensions began to mount in Whitechapel between the immigrant community and native Londoners, causing issues for the police.  John Pizer was arrested and questioned regarding his whereabouts. They were able to confirm his alibies and released him. Later they were able to determine who the apron belonged to. John Richardson claimed the item, stating that his mother had washed the garment for him and had left it outside to dry. He also had an alibi and was released.

            Due to the media frenzy that was covering every aspect of the gruesome murders happening in Whitechapel, Annie’s family requested that her funeral be kept secret. She was buried on September 14^th, 1888 in a public grave that has since been covered over. By the time she was buried Jack the Ripper had been given his nickname in the media, striking fear all over London.   

Jack the Ripper Part One Mary (Polly) Nichols

           In the late 19^th century, England became the poster child for how to live ones life. It was the height of the Victorian era and England was the beacon of culture, fashion and standards of living.

            In London in the 1880’s there was a clear boarder between the classes. There was the West end of London which encapsulated how we see the Victorian era today. On the West end of London were the socialites of the day and where the royal family resided. Women in the latest fashions paraded up and down the streets, nannies pushed prams through lush gardens, the houses stood tall and immaculate. If you lived in the West end, you lived in privilege.

            The East end of London was a very different beast. The over crowded streets showed the true nature of the economic times in Victorian England. Entire families huddled together for comfort on the sidewalks, many of them with no home or money to sustain them. Peddlers sold paper flowers, stale bread and trinkets trying to scrape by a living. The surge of immigrants coming to London in refuge found they were desperate to feed their families by any means necessary.

            It was common place at this time for many women in the East end to walk the streets selling their bodies to make enough money to feed their children and rent a bed for the night. It was recorded that in the 1880’s Whitechapel, London alone had over 1200 prostitutes wandering the dark alleyways and pubs. London police did very little to curb this believing that it was a waste of time and resources to arrest these women. Little did they realize that the East end was creating the perfect atmosphere for one of the most horrifying serial killers in history.

 

Mary (Polly) Ann Nichols

 

            Mary Nichols, who went by the name Polly, was born on August 8^th, 1845 on Dean St., London England. Polly had a typical childhood growing up. When she was 21 years old, she met William Nichols, who was a Printers Machinist and they married in 1866.

            Polly and William struggled to make ends meet. They had four children to care for so they had to make every penny stretch. Polly collapsed under the pressure and began to drink heavily. In 1880 William and Polly separated. There has been some debate over the true nature of the separation. Polly’s father claimed that William had been cheating on her, so Polly left the home heartbroken. William insisted that she left when her drinking became too intense for him to live with so Polly left.

            It did not take long for Polly to realize that she couldn’t survive without making some money to feed and house herself. At first Polly attempted to work menial jobs to earn a living. She began by working in the public workhouse and also attempted being a servant for a more affluent family. Her alcoholism was too out of control for her to hold down any of the honest jobs she found, leaving her destitute.  She did what many women did at that time in order to survive. Polly began walking the streets of Whitechapel as a prostitute.

            In August of 1888, Polly was staying with her friend, fellow prostitute Emily (Nelly) Holland in a common lodging house in Spitalfields. The lodging house charged eight pence for a double bed and four pence for a single bed per night. On August 30^th, 1888 Polly found herself escorted out of the Lodging house for not having the money to pay for a bed that night. She didn’t seem too bothered when she left, stating that she would be back later. She had just acquired a new hat that day and felt confident that she would make enough money to pay for a bed.

            The last time she was seen alive was when her friend Nelly crossed paths with her on the street later that evening. Polly had explained that she had made more than enough money to pay for a bed for the night but had already spent the money. Nelly could see that Polly was already intoxicated. Polly assured her friend that she would find one more customer for the night and she would return to the lodging house. Nelly left her there, assuming she would see her later.  Polly would be found dead roughly an hour later.

 

            Charles Cross was ending his night was a cart driver and heading home. On his way in the dark, he saw a bundled mass on the ground. He figured that someone had dropped a bundle off of a delivery cart and moved closer to examine it. When he got closer he discovered that it was a woman lying on the ground. Her skirts were hiked to her waist and her legs spread apart. He thought initially that she was drunk and had passed out.

            When he got closer he realized something horrific had happened. The woman appeared to have her throat cut. Charles’ friend and coworker saw him examining the woman as he was heading home and came over to assist him. Her hands were cold and Charles assumed the woman was dead. His friend was not so sure and insisted that they look for a police officer. Both men left the woman in search for help.

            There was a police officer on duty that night patrolling the area and was the next one to find the body. He immediately concluded that the woman was dead. Her throat had been cut so deep that it had nearly decapitated her. He ran to get assistance.

            Several police came to the scene along with a doctor. They began to make inquiries with anyone who had worked or lived in the immediate area. No one had heard anything out in the street that night. With no witnesses the police had very little to go on.

            Later in the morgue, the Coroner found something more disturbing as he examined the body. The woman had not only had her throat cut, but had also had jagged slashes in her abdomen. The woman had been disemboweled.

            They were able to track down who the woman was by a workhouse seal that was sewn to her petticoats. A woman working at the workhouse confirmed that the woman they found was Polly Nichols.        

            This became the first of five gruesome murders that occurred during the fall of 1888. Police had no idea that this first murder was the beginning of the spiral that would cause fear, hostility and the first international media frenzy.

            Polly Nichols was buried on September 6^th,  1888 in a public grave. Her grave was unmarked for decades, but her name would carry on forever as the first official victim of a phantom killer later named Jack the Ripper.   

           

           

           

Mummies from Around the World

          

 

            When most people think of Mummies, their first thought is Egyptian sarcophagi holding a withered body wrapped in bandages. Egyptians were far from the only culture to have preserved mummies. Many countries around the world have discovered mummies although admittedly quite a few preserved by accident. Because Due to different cultures practicing various burial practices and  climate differences would produce unique results. Here are a few different preservations found around the world:

 

            Tarim Mummies

 

            The Tarim Mummies are two thousand year old mummies that were discovered in The Tarim Basin of Western China. What is interesting about these particular mummies, is that they had blonde, red or brown hair and appeared to be Caucasian. This was a mystery to researchers and historians because they had no other proof that any Western civilization had traveled that far East for another thousand years.

       

 

            The burial of these bodies were indicative of Western culture at that time, so the mummification of the bodies were not do to a man made preservation practice. It was rather the hot dry climate and rocky terrain that contributed to the preservation.

 

           

 

Mummies of the Catacombs; Palermo, Italy

 

            In 1599 the Capuchin Monks discovered that the catacombs that lay on the outskirts of Palermo, Italy were ideal conditions for preserving the dead. For decades the monks would display beloved clergy along the walls and in coffins. They also allowed some locals to bring their loved ones to be laid to rest in the catacombs. One of the most beautiful and most well preserved mummies in the Palermo catacombs if a two year old little girl by the name on Rosalia Lombardo.

  

          Rosalia was only a toddler when she fell ill to Pneumonia in 1920. Her father was stricken with grief after she passed and asked the monks if she could be placed in the catacombs so that he may be able to see her whenever he liked. The monks agreed and she became one of the last bodies to be placed there.

            Because of the ideal conditions of the catacombs, Rosalia’s body remained completely preserved. MRI scans and X-rays indicate that all of her internal organs are still intact. Due to some recent changes in the environment, her body was recently discovered to show signs of decomposition. To continue to preserve her body she has been placed in a more dry part of the catacombs and in incased in an airtight glass. People who tour the catacombs have nicknamed Rosalia “Sleeping Beauty”.

 

            Bog Bodies  

            Another example of natural mummification is the Bog Bodies. These are ancient corpses that were found buried in the Northern Bogs and wetlands on Northern Europe. The perfectly preserved bodies are claimed to be as old as two thousand years. Because of the nature of the deaths it is believed that the corpses found in the wetlands were likely the result of religious sacrifice.

 

            The Llullaillaco Maiden

 

            In 1994 during an expedition climbing Mt. Llullaillaco, researchers discovered the mummies of three children. For years the mummies were stored until researchers could figure out the best way to study them without the bodies breaking down. The reason for this was because the mummies were so well preserved they looked as though they could still be alive. Recently they have finally been able to study and display these mummies.

            The most well preserved of the three was a fifteen year old girl they named the Llullaillaco maiden. Their research indicated that she was an Incan girl. She looked to have been a perfectly healthy and beautiful girl. She wore layers of clothing and had on beaded shoes, all which remained preserved as well.

            Researchers believe that these ancient Incan children were a sacrifice. True to the Incan tradition of that time, the children were given alcohol and then left on top of the mountain where they fell asleep and froze to death. Because of the cold, dry climate and the thin air, the children’s bodies never decomposed.

 

            Soap Mummies

 

            Sometimes it’s not just the environment that effect how a mummy is preserved. In the 19^th century a new kind of mummy was discovered. Two different bodies were discovered that had mysteriously turned into soap. Both a male and female, apparently plump in nature had died and were buried under the same type of soil. Because of the mineral content in the soil a chemical change happened to the fatty tissue in the bodies creating soap like substance.

            The male was the most preserved with his organ still preserved in the body. Because of his fragile state he is stored at the Smithsonian and cannot be displayed. The woman is on display at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.