« Panic | HomePage | Major Suspects »
12/28/2005
Panic, concludes
Several people had seen Mary on the night she died. Mary Ann Cox, another prostitute who lived in Miller's Court, saw Mary with a man going into Miller's Court at 11:45 p.m. Mary was very drunk and had difficulty talking. Mrs. Cox described Mary's client as "about 36 years old, about 5 ft 6 in. high, complexion fresh and I believe he had blotches on his face, small side whiskers, and a thick carrotty moustache, dressed in shabby dark clothes, dark overcoat and black felt hat.
At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 7, laundress Sarah Lewis was walking with a girlfriend when a man about forty years of age who was fairly short, pale-faced with a black moustache wanted either one of the two women to follow him. He wore a short black coat and carried a black bag about one foot long. They refused, but he persisted, and the women ran away. At 2:30 a.m. Friday morning, just around the time that Mary Kelly was murdered, Sarah was coming to stay with friends at 2 Miller's Court when she saw the same man, but eluded him this time. Shaken by this second sighting, she rushed to her friend's house. Just before 4 a.m. she heard a woman shriek "Murder!" Another woman also heard the scream, but shrieks like that were apparently common in bawdy Whitechapel.
Inspector Abberline clearly believed Hutchinson's detailed account, but had to wonder about Hutchinson's motivation for following Mary and her client. He said he had known her for several years and had given her money more than once. Perhaps he was fond of Mary or just worried about her with this particular client. There had to be some reason that he would take such an interest and even follow the two of them to Miller's Court. Abberline instructed a couple of policemen to walk around with Hutchinson in the hopes that they would spot Mary's client. One cannot help wondering if Hutchinson did not make up this story to throw suspicion off of himself. However, for some reason the police did not pursue him as a suspect and disseminated the description that he gave to all of the police stations.
As winter set in, the frantic police activity began to slow. All suspects had been interrogated and leads came to a dead end. It appeared that Jack the Ripper had left the scene for good. However, there were two murders that were similar in nature that should be mentioned.
The first was Alice McKenzie who was found dead in July of 1889. She too had died from the slashing of her carotid artery. If this was another victim of Jack the Ripper, the wounds to her throat and abdomen were different than the other murders. Drs. Bond and Phillips disagreed as to whether it was Jack or not.
In February of 1891, a pretty prostitute named Frances Coles was found with her throat cut. Dr. Phillips did not believe that Jack the Ripper was responsible and suspicion fell upon a man who had a quarrel with her.
At any rate, the Jack the Ripper file was closed in 1892, the same year in which Inspector Abberline retired. The Ripper murders were over, but the legend lived on.
10:19 Posted in Panic | Permalink | Email this