The Mysterious Murders. PANIC IN LONDON.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 316, 14 November 1888, Page 4

The Mysterious Murders. PANIC IN LONDON.

Loudon was startled again on September 50th, almost to panic, by the discovery oi" two more mysterious murders at Whitechapel, bhe crimes having- been perpetrated between 11 and 12 o'clock the previous night, and doubtless by the same hand. The body of the first woman discovered had the head nearly severed ; there were no other mutilations. The body of the second, when found, was mutilated in the same terrible manner as that of Minnie Chapman. It was disembowelled, the throat cut, the nose severed, aud the heart and lungs thrown aside. The incisions showed rough dexterity, the work of dissection having evidently been done with the utmost haste. The first woman had no doubt been seized by the throat and her cries choked ; the murderer, by a sweeping cut, opened the throat irom ear to ear. She was identified as Elizabeth Lotride, lately living afc a common lodging-house in Spitaltields, and who picked up a scanty living by charring. She was found shortly after midnight, lying under a dark gateway in Berners street. Just over this gateway a Socialist Club was holding a concert, singing and caiousing while the murderer was at work; but so swiftly did he accomplish it that not a cry was heard from the victim. One clubman, on entering the court, stumbled over the body. which was lying two yards irom the street, a stream of warm blood flowing from the gashed throat into the gutter. The mmdeier had evidently been disturbed before he had time to mutilate his victim. The second murder, and more atrocious one, was com milted three horns later afc Mitre Square, within five minutes' walk of thescene of the first crime. Policemen patrolled the square every ten minutes. The minder of the woman at Gateshead ou September 24th was the ordinary outcome oi a drunken brawl, and possessed I none of the features of the mysterious Whitechapel tragedies. On the morning of October 2nd, the badly decomposed corpse of a woman, with the head and arms severed irom the body, was found in a vault on the site of the projected opera house on the Thames Embankment;, near the Houses of Parliament, and within sight of Scotland Yard. The body was wrapped up and tied wifcn cords chat cut the skin. The place is one of the busiest parts of London. A few days before the right arm of a woman was found by some boys in the Thames, near Waterloo Bridge. It evidently belonged to a young woman ; was plump, shapely and graceful, and had been rudely hacked from the shoulder. Last week another arm corresponding to it was found in a yard behind the Asylum at Southwaik, hall-a-mile fiom Waterloo Bridge. It is now admitted by the police that the second arm found matched the first one. Should the arms belong to the body, they will serve as a clue. They teemed in a much bettev state of preservation than the body. In connection with these dark and terrible crimes, it may be mentioned that bhe coroner, summing up al the inquest held September 26th, on the body of a previous Whitechapel victim, stated to the jury that shortly after the details of their last sitting had been published, the sub-curator of an English pathological museum informed him that some months ago an American \isited him and asked that he procure for him a number of anatomical specimens. The visitor said he would willingly pay £20 each for the specimens, his object oeing to issue an actual specimen with each copy of a book upon which he was then engaged. The sub-curator informed the applicant that compliance with such a request was impossible. The American urged the feasibility ot ib. This request being made at a second institution of the same kind, the sub-curator promptly informed the authorities of Scotland Yard of the fact. There have been various arre&ts on suspicion, but there is no hope that any of chose detained will be wanted. Both the Lord Mayor and the manager of the "Financial News" have offered £300 reward for the apprehension of the murderer, and a fund for the same purpose was raised 1 by members of the Stock Exchange. , There is no clue, and Scotland Yard is j at its wits' end. I)rs, Forbes and Window, Sir Risdon Bennett, and other medical experts are convinced that the perpetrator of the crimes is a homicidal lunatic. Geo. M. ftodge, a sailor, came forward on October 4th, and described -a Malay cook, called. Alaska, whom he

knew as "having received $500 for two, years' wages about August 13th, > and which was stolen from him by a| Whitechapel street- walker. Dodgo hoaidj the Malay threaten that unless he recovered the money he would murdor and mutiliato cA T ery Whitechapel woman ho, met. He is described as sft 7in in height, 1 weight 130, with straight black hair and black eyos, black moustache and lino features. Age, 35. . Chief Warren, of the Metropolitan Police, has decided to employ blood hounds to scent the murderors. Tho police have seized and occupied several houses in tho Whitechapel section. At the inquest, October Bth, on theirunk of a woman found in a. cellar at Whitcchapel, the surgeon who examined the remains testified that deceased had probably occupied a good social position. Special from London, October 9th, said an arrest which the police thought important had been made tho night pie\ious. On Wednesday a stranger called at a shop in the Gray's Inn Road with an overcoat to be cleaned. Th 6 garment was stained with blood, especially tho pockets, which wero dyed red. The shopman notified Scotland Yard. Detectives wero secreted on the premis-cs, and w ion the man called for the coat they arrested him. He refused to civc an account oi / himself or explain tho stains, and y us held prisoner. A searching investigation was entered on. Sir Charles Warren, Chief In^poctoi of fchc Metropolitan Police, replying to the criticisms of the press, declares that London is tho safest city in the world. He nays his detectives are e> training overy iiclvo to discover the perpetrator of those murdeis and calls atfcontion to the fact that tho victims voluntarily place thomselves in such a position as to be unablo to ixsi-sc the murderer or obcain assistance. The " Evening News " of October 3rd printed in red ink a few simile or a letter and postal card leceheu a few days belore at the office of tho Central News Company purporting fen ha\ c been written j by the murderer, in which he gloats over ' his crimes, and threatens to commit otheib in defiance of the police, of whose cfh'eicony he expresses a i-ory poor opinion. The police are inclined to the belief that the letter and card are genuine. Two per&ons, both Americans, wero arrested as suspects on the evening of October 3itl, but afterwards discharged. The police have adapted the theory that the postal card and letter botaro mentioned and signed " Jack, tho Ripper," sont to tho Central News Agency, September 27th, emanated from the actual murderer. Fuc 1 aimile* of the letter and card arc posted in [ every police station, and upon every dead wall, accompanied by a paragiaph begging any person recognising the writing 1 to communicate with tho head of the j police. A second communication was received at the Agency on the ovening of October sfch from '"Jack, the Hipper," announcing his intention to commit more murders on tho night of the 6th, and upon the strength of this every policeman was ordered on duty, assisted by hundreds of amateur detectives A reign of terror prevailed in Whitechapel, and daylight on the 7th was hailed with joy. George Lusto, the builder, who io the head of a Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received by the parcel post on Tuesday, October loth, a box containing a meaty substance, and with it a note reading as follow** : "I send you halt of the kidney I took fiom one I of the women. I preserved it for you ; t'other piece I fried and ate. It \va& very nice. I may send on the bloody knife that took it out, if you only wait a while longer." The box was taken to the London Hospital, and Dr. Openshaw said the contents certainly came from a full-grown woman. The ghastly package is now at Scotland Yard. It 10 supposed that the matter was cut from the Mitre-streot victim. The hand-writing of the note is not at all like that of "Jack the "Ripper's" letters.