The Whitechapel Murders. THREE MURDERS WITHIN THREE HUNDRED YARDS. London, September 7.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 309, 20 October 1888, Page 6

The Whitechapel Murders. THREE MURDERS WITHIN THREE HUNDRED YARDS. London, September 7.

Tile fourth of a series of mysterious and brutal woman murders in London on September Bth threw the city into a great state of excitement. The first occurred on Whit Monday ; the victim had 39 stabs. The second happened about the end of J uly ; in this case, the woman's body was cut open. The third was on Friday, September 7lh ; the woman was disembowelled, and her head nearly severed from her body. The formor case occurred as above mentioned. The body of the victim was found in an attic ot Whitechapel, in the morning, disembowelled and with her throat cut. ]Slo outcry had been heard, ond there were no visible sign of a violent struggle. The entire police force was mystihed. The murderer is supposed by some to be a lunatic. The police were searching for a certain person nicknamed "'Leather Apron," who is said to consort with the lowest clabs of women, whom he blackmails. A woman's arm found in the Thames, near JPimlico, Sept. 11, gave rise to the belief that a iifth murder had been committed. There is, so far, no solution to the ghastly mystery of these murders. The police are vainly endeavouring to solve it. A German named Ludwig was arrested on suspicion, Sept. 14, of being the perpetrator of these murders. He had threatened a fallen woman in Whitechapel with a longknife. In Ins pockets were found a razor and a pair of &cissorfc. He cannot speak English, and had only been in the country bhrce mouths. Another arrest was made on the 19th. A young woman Avas found murdered near Gateshead, on Sept. 23. exactly after the Whitechapel method. The body was discovered at daybroak in the street. The P. M. G. has taken up the subject ( on amort. Here are the principal facts as &cn-ationally dressed up by Mr Stead's young men : Scarcely has the horror and sensation cau&ed by the discovery of the murdered woman in Whifcechapel some short time ago had time to abate, when another discovery is made, which, for the brutality exerci&ed on the victim, is even more shocking, and will no doubt create as great a sensation in the vicinity as its predecessor. What adds &o much horror to the mystery is that the murder, in the early houis ot Friday morning last, of the woman now Known as Mary Ann Nicholls, has so many points ef similarity with the murder ot the two other women in the same neighbourhood — one Martha Turner, as recently as August 7th, and the other less than twelve months previously — that the police admit their belief that the three crimes are the work ol ono individual. All three women were of the class called "unfortunates," eachsoveiy poor that; robbery could have formed no motive for tho crime, and each was murdered in such a similar fashion that doubt as to the crime being the work of one and the same villain almost vanishes, particularly when it is remembered that all three murders were committed within a distance oi three hundred yards from each other. These faces have led the police to almost abandon the idea of a gang being^abroad to wreak vengeance on women of this class for not supplying them with money.

The Discovery of the Mutilated Body. The tacts of the latest ot the three mys>steries are that as Constable John Neil was walking down Bucks-row, Thomas-street, Whiteehapel, abouu a quarter to tour o'clock on Friday morning, he di?coveied a woman between thirty-five and forty yeais oi age lying at the side of the street with her throat cut right open from ear to ear, the in^tiuiuenb with which the deed was done tracing the throat from left to right. As the corpse lies in the mortuaiy it presents a ghastly tight. The victim seems to be between thirty-five and forty years of age, and measures hve feet two inches in heiglit. The hair is dark— features small. The hands are bruised, and bear evidence ot having been engaged in a severe struggle. There is the impression of a ring having been worn on one of deceased's fingers, but there is nothing to show that it had been wrenched trom her in a struggle. Some of the front teeth have also been knocked out, and the face is bruised on both cheeks and very much discoloured. Deceased woi c a rough brown ulster with large buttons in front, a brown dress, and a petticoat which bears the name of the Lambeth workhouse. Dr. Llewellyn has made a statement, in which he says he was called to Bucks-row about five minutes to four on Friday morning by Police-con&table Thane, "who said a woman had been murdered. He found deceased lying on the ground in front of the stable-yard door. She was lying on her back, with her legs out straight, as though bhe had been laid down. Police-constable Neil told him that the body had nob been touched. The throat was cub from ear to ear, and bhe womrn was quite dead. The extremities of the body were still warm, showing that death had. not long ensued. There was a very small pool of blood on the pathway, which had buckled from the wound in the throat, nob more than half a pint at the outside. This fact, and the way in which bhe deceased was lying, made him think at the time that it was at least probable that bhe murder was committed elsewhere, and the body conveyed to Bucks-row. At halt-pasb five ho was summoned bo the mortuary by the police, and was astonished ab finding the other wounds. He had seen many horrible caaes, but nover such a brutal atfair as this. There is a gash under the left ear reaching nearly to the centre of the thioat, and anooher cut, apparently sbarbing from the right ear. The "neck is severed back to bhe vertebra, which is also slightly injured. The abdominal wounds are extraordinary for their length and the severity with which they have been inflicted. One cut extends trom the base of the abdomen to the breast bone. Deceased's clobhes were loose, and bhe wounds could have been inflicted while die was dressed.

The Scene of tub Mu&der. Bucks-row, where the body was found, is a narrow passage running out of Thomasstreefc, and contains a dozen houses of a very low class. It would appear as if the murder had been committed in a house, and the body afterwards removed to the place where it was found, the nature of the abdominal wounds being such that ib would be hardly possible for them to be inflicted whilst the deceased was dressed. When Police-constable Neil discovered • the body he roused the people living in the house immediately opposite where the body was found, but none of them had heard any sounds of a struggle. A general belief prevails thab the spot were the body was found was nob the scene of the murder, and this belief is^ supported "by the fact that what appeared to be blood-stains have been traced at irregular distances on the footpath in Brady-street, which adjoins Bucks-row. Several persons living in Brady-street state' that early in the morn-

ing they heard screams, but this ig by no I means an uncommon incident in the neighbourhood ; and with one exception nobody seems to have paid any particular attention to what was probably the death struggle of an unfortunate woman. The exception was a Mrs Colville, who lives only a short distance from the foot of Bucks-row. She says she was awakened in the morning by a woman sreaming " Murder ! police !" five or six times. The voice faded away as though the woman was going in the direction of Bucks-row, and all was quiob. She only heard the steps of one person. Inspector Ilolstone has however since stated that the report that blood-stains were found leading from Brady-street to Buek's-row was not true. The place was examined by Sergeant Enright and himself on Friday morning, and neither bloodstains nor wheelmarks found to indicate that the body had been deposited where found, the murder being committed elsewhere. Both himself and Inspector Abberline, indeed, had come to the conclusion that it was committed on the spot. That conclusion was fortified by the post-mortem examination made by Dr Llewellyn. At first the small quantity of blood found on the spot suggested that the woman was murderod in a neighbouring house. T)r Llewellyn, however, is understood to ha\o satisfied himself that the great quantity of blood which mufet have followed the gashes in the abdomen (lowed into the abdominal cavity, but he maintains his opinion that the hrst wounds were tho&e in the throat., and they would have effectually pie /en ted any screaming. It is, moreover, considered unlikely that the women could have entered a house, have been mmdered, and have been removed to Bucks-row within a period of an hour and a quarter.

Identification ov the Deceased by her Husband. The murdered woman was identified in the course of the day as Mary Ann, or Polly, Nicholls, by several of the womou with whom the deceased lived in a common lodging-house at 18, Trawl-stieet, Spitalfields. Women from that place were fetched, and they identified the deceased as " Polly,' who had shared a room with j three other women in the place on the usual terms of such houses — nightly payment of 4d. each, each woman having 1 a separate bed. The deceased had lodged in the house only for about three weeks. The husband visited the mortuary on Satui day and on viewing the corpse, identified it as that of his wife, from whom he had been ■separated eight years. He stated that she ' was nearly forty-four years of age. The husband, who was greatly aflected, exclaimed on recognizing the bo'Jy, ' 1 lorgive you, as you are, for what you have been to me."

WitKsr Site was Lsast Sei:k Alive. Nothing more was known of her but she presented herself for her lodging on Thursday night ; she was tinned away by the deputy because she had not the money She was then the worse for drink, but not drunk, and turned away laughing, -a) ing, " I'll soon get my ' doss' money ; pee what a jolly bonnet I've got now.'' She was wearing a bonnet which she had not been seen with before, and left the lodging-house door. A woman of the neigh bom hood saw her as late as half-past two the following morning in Whitechapel-ioad, opposite the church, and at) he cornet' of Osboine-street. Mary Ann Monk, an inmate of Lambeth Workhouse, was taken to the mortuary, and identified the body as that of "Polly" Nicholls. She knew her, she said, as they weie inmates of the Lambeth Workhouse together in April and May, the deceased having been passed theie fiom another workhouse. On May 12, according to Monk, Nicholls left the workhouse to take a situation as servant at Ingleside, Wandsworth Common. It afterwaids became known that Nicholls betrayed her trust as domestic sen ant by stealing £3 from her employer and absconding. From that time she had been wandering about. Monk met her, she said, about six weeks ago, when herself out of the workhouse, and drank with her.

The Inquest. The inquest upon fche murdered woman was opened by Mr Wynne E. Baxter, the coroner, on Saturday, continued on Monday, and then adjourned till the 17th inst. Edwaid Walker, the father of the deceased, living; at 16, Maidwood-streeb, Albany-road, Cambenvell, identified the body lying in the mortuary as being to the best of his belief his daughter. He had not seen her for 3 years. He recognised her from her general appearance and by a mark on her forehead which she had had since ehe was a child. His daughter's married name was Mary Ann Nicholls. She had been married quite twenty-two years. Her husband's name was AVilliam Nicholls, and he was alive. His occupation was a printer's machinist. They had been living apart for seven or eight years, He had not seen her alive since June, 1886. She was leading a respectable life, he believed, then. He saw her at a funeral. He did not speak to her, as they were not friendly. She was not always sober, and that was why they did not agree. He had no idea that she was " last." He did not turn las daughter out of doors, but they had a few words one night, and she left him the next morning. He added : She had no business to be like this now, as I had a home for her. His daughter's husband lefb the deceased. While deceased was being confined the husband paid some attention to her nurse, which caused some unpleasantness between them, and they separated. Her husband afterwards lived with this woman, by whom he had another family. The deceased had five children ; the eldest is twenty-one and the youngest about eight. She left her husband when the youngest child was about a year old. One of the children lived with witness, the other four being with their ■ father. Witness believed that three or four t years ago deceased was. living with a man of ] the name of Drew, in York-street, Walworth. !He had not hoard of any other man that ' deceased had anything to do with. He I thought his daughter was in service still at Wandsworch. The deceased was in the Lambeth Workhouse in April last, and went from there to the situation at Wandsworth. The deceased's husband lived at Coberg-road, Old Kent-road. He did not think his daughter had any bad friends. She was too good for that. Her only fault was being too good to others and ignoring herself.

A Fresh Outrage and a Possible Clue. The evidence cat the inquest did not, it will be seen, throw any light on the mystery. But another desperate assault, which stopped only short of murder, was committed upon a woman in Whitechapel on Saturday night. The victim was leaving the Foresters' Music-hall, Cambridge Heath-road, where she had been spending the evening with a sea captain, when she was accosted by a well-dressed man, who requested her to walk a short distance with him, as he wanted to meet a friend. They had reached a point near to the scene of the murder of the woman Nicholls, when the man violently seized her by the throab and dragged, her down a court. He was immediately joined by a gang of women and bullies, who stripped the unfortunate woman of necklace, earrings, and brooch. Her purse was also taken, and she was brutally assaulted. Upon her attempting to shout for aid . one i

of the gang laid a large knife across her throat, remarking, " We will serve you as we did the, others." She was, however, eventually released. The police have been informed, and are, prosecuting inquiries into the matter, it being regarded as a probable clue to the previous tragedies. The Stoby of " Macbeth " Retold. Up to the present time, however, no definite clue has been obtained ; and meanwhile the terror in the neighbourhood is, as might be expected, very great. "At every street corner," says a correspondent of the "Daily News," " gossips cluster around anybody who could give the fullest particulars of the inquest, and the end of Buck'srow, the spot on which the body had been found, is the scene of eager debate as to tne probabilities of discovering the criminal. Groups of hard-featured, sorrowful-looking women clustered together and bent over what they supposed to be the blocd-stained paving-istones, and told strange stories of the difficulties credibly reported to be always experienced in obliterating the marks of human gore. One thin-faced, blue-eyed little old man, who no doubt at some point in his threescore year& and ten had" on the stage seen Lady Macbeth trying to wash lior hands ot the life blood of King Duncan and still retained some vague outlines oi the story, recounted what he could remember as an actual histoiical fact. The narrative, distorted almc&t out of recognition, was listened to with the keenest into cot, and was unhesitatingly accepted in coiroboration of the general belief as to the ineradicable nature ot blood stains."

Tiie "Shuddering Dread" in the Neighbourhood. "People in the neighbourhood seem very much divided in opinion," continues the same correspondent, "as to the probability of its being the work ot one person or several. The women for the most part appear to incline to the belief that it is a gang that has done this and the other murders, and the shuddering dread of being abroad in the streets after nightfall, expressed by the more nervous of them, is pitiable. ' Thank God, I needn't be out after dark,' ejaculated one woman. "No more needn't I,' said another; 'but my two girls have got to come home latish, and I'm all of a fidget till they comes.' Very rarely has anything occurred even in this quarter of London that has created so profound a sensation, and seldom have"the police in this part been so appalled by a sense of insecurity. There seems to be prevalent confidence that the police are doing all in their power to discover the criminal, but there is at least an equally general conviction that until this mystetious assassin is taken the neighbourhood should have a stronger contingent of police ior its protection. ' Life ain't no great thing with many on us,' said one little woman, whose .sprightly manner and rosy cherub face rather belied her pessimism, ' but we don't want to be murdered, and if things go on like this it won't be safe for nobody to put their 'cads out o' doors.' "'