Annie Millwood

Born, circa 1850

Attacked - White's Row - 18th February 1888 

Died - 31st  May 1888

Resided - Spitalfields Chambers, 8 White’s Row.

The widow of a soldier named Richard Millwood; Annie Millwood was thirty-eight years. She lived at 8 White's Row, Spitalfields, and may have been supporting herself through prostitution.

Annie was admitted into the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary on Saturday, February 25, 1888. Hospital records show the cause of admission as 'stabs' to the legs and lower torso with a knife. An article in the Eastern Post reads. "It appears the deceased was admitted to the Whitechapel Infirmary suffering from numerous stabs in the legs and lower part of the body. She stated that she had been attacked by a man who she did not know, and who stabbed her with a clasp knife which he took from his pocket. No one appears to have seen the attack, and as far as at present ascertained there is only the woman's statement to bear out the allegations of an attack, though that she had been stabbed cannot be denied." Annie said the man was a stranger.

Although the exact number of wounds Annie received is unknown, some people have speculated they were similar to the 39 stabbings of Martha Tabram who lived nearby on George Street. It is quite possible that the same man who attacked Martha Tabram attacked Annie Millwood.

Annie made a complete recovery and was released a little less than a month later, on the 21st of March and sent to the South Grove Workhouse, Mile End Road. On the 31st of March, Annie collapsed and passed away in the backyard of the building while 'engaged in some occupation.’

Coroner Baxter who headed the inquest on April the 5th said her death was attributed to 'sudden effusion into the pericardium from the rupture of the left pulmonary artery through ulceration.' Her death it seems was from natural causes, and unrelated to her vicious attack.

                                         

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Ada Wilson

Born, circa 1849

Resided - 19 Maidman Street (Burdett Road)

Attacked - 28th March 1888 - 9 Maidman Street

Died - 28th  March 1888

Just over a month after the death of Annie Millwood, the newspapers reported another attack on a woman. A little after midnight on Wednesday, March the 28th 1888, Ada Wilson, a thirty-nine-year-old dressmaker maker, was sitting in her room at 9 Maidman Street, Mile End when she heard a knock on the door. When she opened the door, a man aged about thirty, who she described as being around five foot six in height, and had a fair moustache and a sunburnt face standing there. He was wearing a dark coat, light trousers, and a wide-awake hat. The man demanded money and threatened to kill her. Ada refused, and the stranger stabbed her twice in the throat with a clasp knife. Her screams disturbed neighbour, Rose Bierman, who came to investigate, she found Ada Wilson in the hallway. Ada shouted, "Stop that man for cutting my throat,", as he rushed to the front door, and disappeared down the street. "I don’t know what kind of wound Mrs Wilson received," Rose Bierman later told the Eastern Post, "but it must have been deep, I should say, from the quantity of blood in the passage."

Despite a newspaper report that Ada Wilson was in a "dangerous condition" and it was "thought impossible she can recover," she did make a full recovery and was able to tell the police what had occurred, as well as provide them with a description of the attacker.

Many people believe this wasn’t an early attempt by Jack the Ripper who was working outside of the Whitechapel area where he focused his attacks, but the fact that he used a knife and targeted the throat of his victim, who was possibly a prostitute-like his other victims, does bear some similarities.

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Emma Elizabeth Smith

Born, circa - 1843 

Attacked - 3rd April 1888 - Osborn Street

Died - 5th April 1888

Resided - 18 George Street

On the 3rd of April 1888, Emma Elizabeth Smith returned to her lodgings in George Street, Whitechapel. She had been viciously assaulted and had blood pouring from her face. Part of her ear had been torn or sliced off. She had possibly been raped and a sizeable blunt instrument had been inserted into her vagina, which ruptured her peritoneum and other internal organs. Smith was accompanied to the hospital and said she had been attacked by two or possibly three men. One who may have been a teenager, but she could give no descriptions of her attackers. Unfortunately, Smith fell into a coma and died the next day of peritonitis. Police discovered no witnesses or clues, and the enquiry came to an end. The murder was not associated with Jack until sometime later when DCI Walter Dew (investigating the Ripper and Dr Crippen cases) suggested she may have been an early victim.

Fingers Freddy was a criminal street magician whose accomplices robbed the onlookers. He was possibly Emma Smith’s protector and, between them, they may have discovered a female midwife was the Ripper and tried to blackmail her for being an illegal abortionist. Fingers Freddy disappeared after the murder of Emma Elizabeth Smith.

What happens next is what I believe to be the beginning of the next stage of Jack the Ripper’s progress as he begins to practise his surgical and anatomical skills, which would become such a hallmark of his later crimes.

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Martha Tabram

Born - 10th  May 1849  

Attacked - George Yard (Gunthorpe Street)

Died - 7th August 1888

Resided - 19 George Street

At 2:00 a.m., on the morning of the 7th of August 1888, Mrs Hewitt, a resident of the converted tenements that were the George Yard Buildings was awakened by cries of “Murder!” At roughly the same time, PC Thomas Barrett questioned a grenadier loitering in the area who told him he was waiting for a friend. Later, when Barrett was taken to a line-up of soldiers who were not on duty on the night of the sixth, he couldn’t identify the grenadier he reported as seeing.

At 3:30 a.m., Albert George Crow returned home after his night shift working as a cab driver and saw Martha Tabram’s body on a landing of the George Yard Buildings. Mistaking her for a drunk or vagrant, he ignored her and went to his room. Just before 5:00 a.m. dock labourer, Mr John Saunders found Tabram’s body. Dr Timothy Killeen arrived at the scene around 5:30 a.m. and declared she had been dead for about three hours after examining the body. 

Martha Tabram’s body had been horribly mutilated. She had been stabbed a total of thirty-nine times. Nine times in the throat, five times in her left lung, and twice in the right lung. In addition, she received a further five stab wounds to her liver, one to her heart, two to her spleen, six to the stomach, and another nine injuries to her abdomen and genitals. Although she was found with her clothing raised to her middle, exposing her lower body, there seemed to be no evidence of intercourse.

Dr Killeen conducting the post-mortem believed a soldier attacked Tabram. He claimed a wound that had penetrated a rib bone had been inflicted by a long dagger or possibly a bayonet similar to that of a soldier. The other injuries were caused by a slimmer and shorter knife. For this reason, Tabram's assault was not put down as a Ripper attack, but later, similarities would be noted, with some people believing that it was the work of Jack.

 

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Mary Ann Nichols

Born - 26th August 1845

Attacked - Buck’s Row (Durward Street)

Died - 31st  August 1888 

Resided - 56 Flower and Dean Street

Mary Walker married William Nichols on the 16th of January 1864 at Saint Bride’s Parish Church. They moved briefly to 30/31 Bouverie Street before moving on to 131 Trafalgar Street. In 1864 they moved to 6 D-Block, Peabody Buildings, Stamford Street. Between 1866 and 1879, the couple had five children. Edward John, Percy George, Alice Esther, Eliza Sarah, and Henry Alfred.

In 1880, William took four of his children and moved out of the family home due to Mary’s drinking. Mary then turned to prostitution and moved into several lodging and workhouses over the next few years.

In 1887 Mary had a brief relationship with Thomas Stuart Drew. Her last known address was 56 Flower and Dean Street. One of the worst and most dangerous areas in the country.

Around 12:30 a.m., on the 31st of August 1888, Mary was seen leaving the Frying Pan public house and she went to her lodging house at 18 Thrawl Street, but she was told to leave as she didn't have her doss money. 

“Never Mind!” She said, “I’ll soon get my doss money. See what a jolly bonnet I’ve got now.” 

At 2:30 a.m., Mary met Emily Holland and told her she’d earned her doss money three times over that day but spent it. They talked for another seven or eight minutes before Mary walked eastward down Whitechapel Road.

At 3:15 a.m., PC John Thain passed through Buck’s Row. A short time after this, Sgt Kerby, on his patrol, passed through the same area. Neither of them saw anything out of the ordinary.

On Friday 31st of August 1888, at around 3:40 a.m., Charles Cross was on his way to work when he discovered Mary Nichol’s body at a gated stable entrance in Buck’s Row.

Cross called Robert Paul over and checks the body, Cross thinks she may still be alive, but Paul says, “But it is little if she is.” The two arranged the woman’s clothing to give her some decency, but fearing they will be late for work, they head off, intent on telling the nearest policeman they see of their find.

Back at Buck’s Row, PC John Neil finds the woman and is soon joined by PC’s Thain and Mizen. PC Thain sends for Dr Rees Llewellyn, who pronounced Polly dead. 

Mary’s body was discovered underneath the window of Mrs Emma Green and nearby neighbour Walter Purkiss, both of whom claimed they hadn’t seen or heard anything suspicious. Mary was found lying on her back with her legs apart, her killer had lifted her lower garments unceremoniously above her waist.

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Eliza Ann Chapman

Born - 25th September 1840

Attacked - 29 Hanbury Street

Died - 8th September 1888

Resided - Crossingham’s Lodging House, 35 Dorset Street

In 1863, Eliza Ann Smith left her family and worked as a domestic servant in London. On the 13th of June 1863, her father, who was valet to Captain Thomas Naylor Leland, apparently committed suicide by cutting his throat while lodging with his employer while on a race meeting in Wrexham. 

On May 1st, 1869, Eliza married John James Chapman, a relative by birth from her mother’s side. They lived for a short while at 29 Montpelier Place, Brompton, and had three children, Emily Ruth (b. 25 June 1870), Annie Georgina (b. 5 June 1873), and John Alfred (b. 221 November 1880). From then on, Eliza began to use the name, Annie Chapman.

After the death of their oldest daughter Emily, from meningitis in 1882, Annie and John began drinking heavily before separating in 1884. Annie moved to Whitechapel and paid for her lodgings by doing crochet work, selling flowers and occasional prostitution. Her last known address was Crossingham’s Lodging House, 35 Dorset Street, Whitechapel.

At 5:15 a.m., on Saturday the 8th of September, Mr Albert Cadosch, who lived at 27 Hanbury Street, entered the backyard to use the lavatory. He heard a woman say “No, No” and then the sound of something or someone falling against the fence next door at number 29. 

At 5:30 a.m., Mrs Elizabeth Long saw Annie Chapman talking to a man with dark hair and a foreign “shabby-genteel” appearance wearing a brown felt hat and dark coat; she heard the man say, “Will you?” and Annie answered “Yes.” Long was sure of the time as she had listened to a clock chiming the half-hour. However, it is feasible that she mistakenly heard the clock strike the hour instead.

Just before 6:00 a.m., John Davis, a resident of 29 Hanbury Street, found Annie’s mutilated body just six inches from the steps of the property. He sees passers-by James Green, Henry Holland, and James Kent and tells them of the body, and they run off to find a police officer.

Divisional Inspector Joseph Luniss Chandler and police surgeon Dr George Bagster Phillips were soon at the property; Phillips immediately linked the killing with the murder of Mary Ann Nichols.

A leather apron belonging to Mr John Robinson, another tenant who lived at the address, was found in the yard under a tap. The police questioned Robinson, but he was released after his mother said she had cleaned the apron and left it there two days before. 

After the death of Nichols, press reports focused on the apron. They suggested a local Jewish person known as “Leather Apron,” who carried a knife and had previously threatened local prostitutes, was responsible for the murders. 

John Pizer, a Polish Jew known locally as “Leather Apron,” was arrested on the 10th of August. Police discovered five long-bladed knives at his home. He was released when alibis confirmed he was elsewhere on the nights of Polly Nichols and Chapman’s murders. 

The police investigated, along with several other people, Edward Stanley, and William Henry Piggott. Both were detained for questioning but released without charge soon afterwards. 

Jacob Isenschmid, a Swiss butcher, was arrested on the 13th of September when a local landlady described him as matching another witness’s description of a blood-stained man on the morning of Chapman’s death. Isenschmid had a large ginger moustache and a history of mental illness. 

Charles Ludwig was arrested on the 18th of September after trying to stab a young man. Police already wanted him for attempting to slash a woman’s throat with a razor. Ludwig and Isenschmid were released when two separate murders happened while they were being held in custody.

Annie was wearing a long black coat that came down to her knees, a  black skirt, a brown bodice, and another bodice, two petticoats, lace-up boots, red and white striped stockings, and a white neckerchief with a red border. She had recently acquired three brass rings that she wore on her middle finger that was missing after the murder. Possessions found on her were a scrap of muslin, and one small toothcomb in a paper case.

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Elizabeth Stride 

Born - 27th November 1843

Died - 30th September 1888

Attacked - Dutfield’s Yard (Henriques Street)

Resided - 32 Flower and Dean Street

Having fallen into prostitution at an early age, Elizabeth moved to London in February 1866. On the 7th of March 1869, she married carpenter John Thomas Stride. The couple had no children and ran a coffee shop in Poplar, East London. The couple separated in 1881.

In 1885 Elizabeth met Michael Kidney. They engaged in a stormy relationship for the next three years before she moved to 32 Flower and Dean Street.

At 12:35 a.m., on Sunday the 30th of September, PC William Smith saw Liz Stride talking to a man wearing a hard, felt hat outside a working men’s club at 40 Berner Street, Whitechapel. The man held a package about eighteen inches long, but Smith didn’t bother to check this out. Shortly afterwards, James Brown, a local dockworker, believes he saw Stride talking to a man on the corner of Berner Street. Brown heard the woman say, “No. Not tonight. Some other night.”

At 1:00 a.m., opposite the club in Dutfield’s Yard, Louis Diemschutz entered the yard with his horse and cart; the horse shied to the left to avoid an object lying on the ground. Diemschutz lit a match to find the body of Liz Stride lying at his feet, her throat had been cut, and blood oozed from the wound. Her hands were cold, but other parts of her body were still warm. 

The police questioned everybody in the area, including the members of the nearby workman’s club. A man called Israel Schwartz said he saw a man try to pull Stride onto the street, then turned her around and shoved her to the ground outside of Dutfield’s Yard at about 12:45 a.m. The man he described was about five feet five inches tall and had dark hair and a small brown moustache. As if in response to Schwartz having witnessed the attack, the man shouted “Lipski,” possibly to a man or accomplice who had just left the club; at this point, Schwartz ran away. Around this time, James Brown said he saw Stride or someone like her, rejecting the propositions of another man, this man, he said, was slightly taller than the woman and stoutly in stature.

Elizabeth Stride’s husband, Michael Kidney, was suspected of the killing due to the couple’s violent history, but he was eliminated from the inquiries for some unknown reason. The police distributed 80,000 leaflets asking for information and questioned two thousand residents in the area.

At the time of her death Elizabeth Stride was wearing:

A long black cloth jacket, black skirt, black bonnet, checked neck scarf, dark brown bodice, 2 petticoats, white chemise, white stockings, spring-sided boots, and 2 handkerchiefs.

Her possession included a thimble, a piece of wool wound around a card. In the pocket in her underskirt was a key a small piece of lead pencil, six large and one small button, a comb, a broken piece of comb, a metal spoon, a piece of muslin and one or two small pieces of paper.

She was clutching a packet of Cachous in her hand; these were tablets used by smokers to sweeten breath.

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Catharine Eddowes  

Born - 14th April 1842

Died - 30th September 1888

Attacked - Mitre Square

Resided – 55 Flower & Dean Street

Both of Catherine’s parents died before she was sixteen. She was placed in an orphanage before moving to Wolverhampton, and then on to Birmingham where she met Thomas Conway, a former soldier, in 1868. The couple moved again, and a third child was born, but Catherine began drinking, and in 1880 she left the family home. Catherine then met John Kelly, and they moved to Cooney’s Lodging House at 55 Flower and Dean Street, where she took to prostitution to pay the rent.

On Saturday the 29th of September, Eddowes was found lying drunk on the road at 8:30 p.m. and taken into custody; she was released at 1:00 p.m. Sunday 30th of September after she had sobered up.

At 1:35 p.m., Joseph Lawende saw a woman he thought was Eddowes, talking to a man with a fair moustache and wearing a navy jacket, a peaked cloth cap, and a red scarf at the entrance to Church Passage, not far from Mitre Square.

Ten minutes later, PC Edward Wilkins found Catherine’s body in a corner of Mitre Square; the body had not been there when he last patrolled at 1:30 p.m.

At 3:00 p.m., a fragment of Catherine Eddowes’s apron, covered in blood, was found in the passage leading to the properties of 108 and 119 Model Dwelling, Goulston Street. On the wall above the apron, the following words are written in chalk.

“The Juwes are the men that Will not be Blamed for nothing.”

It is unclear if the words were written by Jack the Ripper, but they were ordered to be removed by Commissioner Charles Warren, who feared they might incite antisemitic riots.

Goulston Street was a fifteen-minute walk on the way back to Flower and Dean Street. A house-to-house search revealed nothing suspicious.

The murders of Stride and Eddowes occurred within roughly forty-five minutes of each other and at a distance of just over half a mile apart. It would have taken maybe twenty minutes of average walking time before the Ripper was able to find another victim, but apparently, nobody witnessed a man hurrying along, possibly carrying a bag or parcel and with blood on his outer garments. This leads to the possibility that the Ripper used a coach to avoid detection, or that a second killer or accomplice was involved.

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Mary Jane Kelly

Mary Jane Kelly 

Born - circa 1863

Died - 9th November 1888

Resided and attacked - 13 Miller’s Court

Little is known of Kelly’s early life, apparently having been taken from Ireland to live in Wales when she was a child. When she was about sixteen, she may have married a coal miner (named Davis or Davies) who was killed three years later in a mining accident. Mary then moved to Cardiff, where she began her life of prostitution.

In 1884 she moved to London and worked as a domestic servant. She then worked in a high-class brothel for a while before she went to France, but seemingly not enjoying her time there; she returned to London only a few weeks later.

In 1887 Kelly met Joseph Barnett, and they moved in together, but they were evicted for their drunken and rowdy behaviour and for not paying the rent. They then moved into 13 Millers Court in 1888. In July of this year, Barnett lost his job, and Kelly again turned to prostitution, inviting other prostitutes to share their room on cold evenings. Barnett became frustrated and angry with the situation, and they regularly quarrelled until he finally moved out on the 30th of October. 

On Friday the 9th of November, George Hutchinson, an acquaintance of Kelly, met Mary at 2:00 a.m., and she asked him for money. He said that as she walked away, a man of Jewish appearance approached her. He heard Kelly say she had lost her handkerchief, and the man then offered her a red one of his. Kelly said, “All right, my dear, come along. You will be comfortable.” Hutchinson was suspicious of the man who hid his face under his hat as the two passed him on the street. Nevertheless, Hutchinson followed them and watched them go into Kelly’s room at 13 Miller’s Court; the time was 2:45 p.m.

At 10:45 a.m. the following day, Thomas Bowyer was sent to collect rent from Mary Kelly, who was six weeks behind in arrears. After knocking on the door, he looked through a broken window and saw the carnage inside. Superintendent Thomas Arnold, Inspector Edmund Reid, Robert Anderson, and Frederick Abberline arrived between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. By then, a crowd of over a thousand angry people had assembled at either end of Dorset Street.

At 1:30 p.m. police broke into the room. The killer locked the door from the outside. Inside, a fire had been lit using some of Kelly’s clothes, possibly to give off light for the killer to see.

Two gruesome photographs were taken of the mutilated woman before the remains of Mary Jane Kelly were removed to a mortuary in Shoreditch. Kelly’s ex-partner Joseph Barnett could only identify Mary by “the ears and the eyes,” such was the state of her body. It was thought the mutilation could have taken up to two hours to perform.

Inspector Frederick Abberline interviewed Barnett for four hours, but he was released without charges being brought.

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Catherine Mylett

Born - 8th December 1859

Died - 20th December 1888

Attacked - Clarke’s Yard

Resided - 18 George Street

On the 20th of December 1888, Police Sergeant Robert Golding found Rose Mylett at 4:15 a.m. in Clarke’s Yard. The woman’s left leg had been drawn up, and the right leg stretched out, similar to other Ripper victims. The clothes were neither torn nor interfered with, and there was no sign of a struggle. Unlike the other victims, Rose’s throat had not been cut, and no mutilation had been inflicted, although,  a mark from a four-thread cord was noticeable on the neck from the spine to the left ear. Thumb, index, and middle finger impressions were noted on either side of the neck. 

Witnesses and medical reports didn’t supply any conclusive evidence, and doctors couldn’t agree if Rose had been strangled or died of natural causes. No alcohol was found to be in her system, and eventually, a jury came up with a verdict of ‘wilful murder by person or person unknown.’

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Alice Mackenzie

Born - Circa 1849

Died - 17 July 1889

Attacked -Castle Alley

Resided - 54 Gunn Street

At approximately 12:50 a.m., on Wednesday the 17th of July 1889, Police Constable Walter Andrews discovered the body of a woman lying close to a lamppost on a pavement in Castle Alley, Whitechapel High Street. It was several hours before John McCormack was able to identify the woman as Alice McKenzie, a local prostitute with whom he had lived for about seven years. Mr McCormack identified a clay pipe found nearby as belonging to Alice, who was known as “Claypipe Alice.” PC Andrews, at first, believed the woman was drunk but noticed a ‘terrible gash’ on her throat. Her skirt had been pulled up, and there was blood over her thigh and abdomen, which came from a zigzag wound that ran from beneath her left breast to her navel. Again, opinion was divided as to whether this was the work of Jack the Ripper, but locals were sure, and James Munro, who had taken over from Commissioner Sir Charles Warren, certainly believed it was.

“The victim of the murder was about forty-five years of age and was about five foot four inches in height. She had brown hair and eyes and a fair complexion; a clay pipe had been found near the woman's body. She is believed to have been of the "unfortunate" class but has not yet been identified. She wore a red staff bodice, patched under the arm and a brown staff skirt. She also had on a linsey petticoat, black stockings, buttoned boots, and a Paisley shawl, but no hat or bonnet.

One peculiarity in the description may serve for purposes of identification: part of the nail on the thumb on the left hand is deficient.

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Frances Coles

Born - 17th September 1859 

Died - 13th February 1891

Attacked - Swallow Gardens

Resided - Thrawl Street

At just after 2:15 a.m., on Friday the 13th of February 1891, PC Ernest Thompson found the body of 25-year-old prostitute Frances Coles under a railway arch in Swallow Gardens, Whitechapel, only a matter of minutes after the attack on Frances had taken place. She was still alive when she was found but died before any medical help arrived at the scene.

It appeared that Frances had been slashed three times across the neck and had a few minor wounds to the back of her head before she was probably thrown to the ground. Dr Phillips said the killer was right-handed and held her chin back with his left hand while cutting her. Because her body hadn’t been mutilated, police dismissed the thought that the Ripper had struck again.​