EXTRAORDINARY EFFECTS OF THE MURDER PANIC.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2614, 13 April 1889, Page 5 (Supplement)

EXTRAORDINARY EFFECTS OF THE MURDER PANIC.

A Manchester correspondent says that the chief constable of that city (Mr 0. M. Wood) recently reported to the Watch Committee an extraordinary case which had occupied the city police for some time, with a remarkable result. On November 21st last a young woman, about 19 years of age, reported to the police that she had received a threatening letter, signed "Jack the Ripper," and couched in the usual language. Letters continued to arrive, some by post and some being put under the door. Nineteen letters in all were received, threatening to take the girl's life and that of a companion. Some of the letters were stained with blood, and others had coffins rudely drawn upon them. Whilst the police were trying to discover the sendor of the missives, some young women who worked with the girl pointed out a man as having followed them, and accused him of being the writer of the letters. The man was spoken to by the police, but turned out to be quite innocent of the affair. Next day however, the girl received a letter by post, purporting to come from " Jack the Kipper, "and sayingshe may have thought she had got him •' pinched," but that he had " squared" the police, aud again threatening to kill her. A companion of the complainant's also received two similar letters. The matter became more serious later on, for on December 21 the giri reported that she had been stabbed. She stated that she went into the back yard at home with a jug to empty, and saw a man on the wall with a knife in his hand,. He at once struck at her, and in order to save her face she put up her left arm, aud received a cut near the wrist- She thon screamed and her father ran out, but could see no one. She was taken to a surgery, when it was found that her arm was seriously cut aud had to be stitched. The matter created great alarm in the district, aud at the Roman Catholic chapel which the , complainant and the other girl who had received the letters attended, special prayers wers offered for their safety, and that the man might soon be brought to justice. The clergy also paid frequent visits to both families. After the report of the stabbing the police set a close watch on the two houses, and from something recently discovered the district superintendent sent for the complainant and questioned her. Ultimately she confessed that she had written all the letters herself. As to the alleged attack in the back yard, she stated that she never went into the yard, and never saw any man, sho herself cut her arm with a knife in the scullery, and then set up a ecreiim. The only explanations of her conduct she could give was that ehe was "unhappy at homo," No action has been takeu against her, and the watch committee in publishing tho case as "probably a sample of other cases so far as the letters go," suppress the names of all the partie> concerned.