The Mysterious Serial Killer - Jack The Ripper

• • "Jack The Ripper" was a mysterious serial killer responsible for "The Whitechapel Murders" between 1880-1891 in the Whitechapel district of East London. Most of his victims were prostitutes. Their throats were cut prior to the abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from the victims led to the proposals that the killer had some anatomical or surgical knowledge.

    

    THE VICTIMS :-

    It was difficult to ascertain an exact number of victims because Jack The Ripper was never caught. The Generic Whitechapel Murders File - the official name for the police investigation into the crimes contains eleven victims, namely - Emma Elizabeth Smith, Martha Tabram, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Marry Jane Kelly, Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie, Frances Coles and an unidentified women.

    The large number of attacks against women in the East London during this time adds uncertainty to how many victims were actually murdered by the same individual. Opinions vary as to whether these eleven murders should be linked to the same culprit. But five of the eleven Whitechapel murders, known as "The Canonical Five" are widely believed to be the work of Jack The Ripper. These Canonical Five victims include - Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Merry Jane Kelly. They were murdered in over a nine week period - between Friday the 31st of August and Friday the 9th of November, 1888.

    THE INVESTIGATION :-

    The vast majority of the London City Police files relating to their investigation into the Whitechapel murders were destroyed in The Biltz (German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War). The surviving Metropolitan Police files allow a detailed view of investigative procedures in the Victorian era. A large team of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries throughout Whitechapel district. Forensic material was collected and examined. Suspects were identified. traced, and either examined more closely or eliminated from the inquiry. Butchers, slaughterers, surgeons, and physicians were suspected because of the manner of the mutilations: Over 2,000 interviews were carried out by the Victorian police officers, more than 300 people were actually investigated and 80 people were detained in police custody. It is possible that Jack The Ripper was one of these, but none of the interviews, investigations or detentions enabled the police to point the finger at one suspect and say that he was Jack the Ripper. Sir James Fraser, the Commissioner of the City Police offered a reward of £500 for the arrest of Jack The Ripper.

    In September 1888, a group of volunteer citizens in East London formed The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. They patrolled the streets looking for suspicious characters, partly because of dissatisfaction with the failure of police to apprehend the perpetrator, and also because some members were concerned that the murders were affecting businesses in the area.

    There is no evidence that the perpetrator engaged in sexual activity with any of the victims, yet psychologists suppose that the penetration of the victims with a knife and "leaving them on display in sexually degrading positions with the wounds exposed" indicates that the perpetrator derived sexual pleasure from the attacks.

    THE LETTERS :-

    One of the more bizarre aspects of the Jack The Ripper case is the number of letters that the police, newspapers, authorities and notable citizens received from the anonymous members of the public. Some letters were well-intentioned offers of advice as to how to catch the killer, but the vast majority were either hoaxes or generally useless. On 20th October 1888, the Illustrated Police News reported that the police had looked into over 700 letters. Hundreds of letters claimed to have been written by the killer himself, and three of these in particular are prominent: the "Dear Boss" letter, the "Saucy Jacky" postcard and the "From Hell" letter.

    Dear Boss (The Birth Of The Legend) :-

    The name "Jack The Ripper" didn't enter the investigation until after the night of the so-called "Double Murder" of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes on 30th September 1888. Up until that point, the killer had been known variously as the "Red Fiend", "The Whitechapel Murderer" and "Leather Apron". It was after the arrival of the Dear Boss letter on 27th September 1888 to the Central News Agency at their premises in the City of London, that introduced the name 'Jack the Ripper into the saga.

    It read -

    "Dear Boss,

    I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal.

    How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha ha. The next job I do I shall clip the lady's ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight.

    My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance.

    Good Luck.

    Yours truly

    Jack the Ripper

    Don't mind me giving the trade name. Wasn't good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it No luck yet. They say I'm a doctor now. ha ha”

    Saucy Jack :-

    On 1st October 1888, a postcard that was written in a similar handwriting to the Dear Boss letter, arrived at the Central News Agency. This too was scrawled in red ink but, in addition, there were what appeared to be bloodstains on it.

    The postcard read -

    "I was not codding dear old Boss when I gave you the tip, you'll hear about Saucy Jacky's work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish straight off had not the time to get ears for police. thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.

    Jack the Ripper.”

    From Hell :-

    On 16th October 1888, a small package, wrapped in brown paper and bearing an indistinct London postmark was delivered to Mr. George Lusk (President of the Mile End Vigilance Committee) in the evening post. It was addressed to him by name and bore the name of the street, but did not give his house number. The parcel contained a foul smelling piece of kidney together with a letter.

    The letter read -

    "From hell

    Mr Lusk

    Sor

    I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer

    signed Catch me when you Can

    Mishter Lusk”

    THE SUSPECTS :-

    The concentration of the killings around weekends and public holidays and within a short distance of each other has indicated to many that Jack The Ripper was in regular employment and lived locally. Others have opined that the killer was an educated upper-class man, possibly a doctor or an aristocrat who ventured into Whitechapel from a more well-to-do area. Such theories draw on cultural perceptions such as fear of the medical profession, a mistrust of modern science, or the exploitation of the poor by the rich. The term "Ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper case in an effort to determine his identity, and the murders have inspired numerous works of fiction.

    The number of Jack The Ripper Suspects now runs to well over a hundred. Each year several books come out claiming that the authors have managed to crack the case and have solved the world's greatest murder mystery, but all in vain.

    THE REASON FOR THIS CASE TO BE UNSOLVED :-

    Jack The Ripper Murders presented the Victorian Police with a type of crime that they had little experience of handling. The overall responsibility for hunting Jack The Ripper fell to the Metropolitan Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which had been founded in April 1878. So even the department was not well-established and well-experienced.

    Another aspect of the case was that the police who conducted the investigation into the Whitechapel murders lacked many of the techniques that their 21st century counterparts would take for granted in a murder investigation of this kind. Fingerprinting, Crime Scene Investigation, modern forensics and even Crime Scene photography were simply not used in police investigations at the time of the Jack The Ripper Murders.

    Media was not recognized as being a useful means of bringing a killer such as Jack the Ripper to book. Today the police would utilize the press in an attempt to gain valuable information. But the attitude of the Victorian Police was to keep journalists at arms length out of a fear that they might reveal their lines of enquiry to the criminal.

    Lastly, the number of police officers were not enough. The Pall Mall Gazette reported, "...not quite 300 men, all told, 80 of whom are inspectors and 120 sergeants, with less than a hundred other distributed about the twenty-two metropolitan divisions..."

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