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Chapter 5 - Ch5: Killer at large!

Suspicions of a serial killer at large in London led to the secondment of Detective Inspectors  Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore and Walter Andrews from the Central Office at Scotland Yard. Inspector Frederick George Abberline was 45 years old at that time. He was a portly and balding officer who wore a thick moustache and bushy side whiskers. Amberline had already spent fourteen years as a detective with H division and had gained an unrivalled knowledge of the area's streets and criminals. And he was about to play a major role in the years to come.

Meanwhile, police enquiries amongst the local prostitutes had yielded a likely-sounding suspect in the form of a man whom the local streetwalkers had nicknamed "Leather Apron."They reportedly stated that, he sometimes wore a deerstalker hat, and that he was running an extortion racket, demanding money off the prostitutes, and beating up those who refused.

Henry Tomkins was a horse slaughterer, employed by Barber's Knacker's Yard, which was located one street along from Buck's Row, where the murder of Mary Nichols occurred on August 31st, 1888. He and his workmates, Charles Brittain and James Mumford, were at work at the time that the murder occurred, and they were, he said, told of the crime by Police Constable Thain at around 4.15 am on the morning of August 31st.

His evidence suggests that Thain may have been in the habit of taking a break from his beat at their slaughterhouse since he stated that Thain called at that time to "call for his cape"

On Sunday, 2nd September 1888, Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper published an article about the experience of Mrs Green:-

Buck's-row is a short street occupied half by factories and half by dwellings.

Halfway down the street is the house of Mrs Green. Next to it is a large stable yard, whose wide closed gateway is next to the house. In front of this gateway, the woman was found.

Constable Neill, who was the first policeman to see the body, immediately woke the Green family and asked them if they had heard any unusual noise.

Neither Mrs Green, her son, nor her daughter, all of whom were sleeping within a few feet of where the body lay, had heard any outcry.

All agreed that the night was unusually quiet.

"I should have heard it had there been any I think", said Mrs Green, when interviewed, "for I have trouble with my heart and am a very light sleeper.

My son went down as soon as the body was taken away and washed away the bloodstains on the pavement. There was quite a little pool, though I understand most of it soaked into the woman's dress.

I looked out and saw the body as it lay there. It was lying straight across the gateway, its head towards me. It was not lying in a heap as if it had fallen, but on its back and straight as if it had been laid there.

I could not tell at first whether it was a man or a woman; but James, my son, who went downstairs, returned and told me it was a woman. This was four o'clock on Friday morning."

On Monday, 3rd September 1888, the other guy, present on the site that night appeared as a witness on the second day of the inquest and his testimony was reported by The East London Observer on Saturday, 8th September 1888. His name was Charles Cross. In his inquest, he stated that,

On Friday morning he left home about half-past-three to go to work, and passing through Buck's Row he saw on the opposite sound something lying against a gateway. In the dark, he could not tell at first what it was. It looked like a tarpaulin sheet, but walking to the middle of the road he saw that it was the figure of a woman.

At the same time, he heard someone about forty yards away coming up Buck's Row in the direction that the witness had come from.

He stepped back and waited for the newcomer, who started on one side as if he feared that the witness was about to knock him down. He said to the man "Come and look over here. There's a woman."

They both went across to the body, and Cross took hold of her hands, while the other man stopped over her head to look at her. The hands were cold and limp, and the witness said to the other man, "I believe she's dead." Then he touched her face, which felt warm.

He placed his hand on her heart, saying, "I think she's breathing, but it's very little if she is."

He suggested that they should "shift her" - meaning in the witness's opinion that they should seat her upright.

The witness replied, "I am not going to touch her."

The woman's legs were uncovered. Her bonnet was off but was close to her head. The witness did not notice that her throat was cut, as the night was very dark.

He and the other man left the deceased, and, in Baker's Row, they saw the last witness, Police Constable Mizen, whom they told that a woman was lying in Buck's Row. The witness added, "She looks to me to be either dead or drunk," to which the other man replied, "I think she's dead." The policeman answered, "All right."

The other man left the witness soon afterwards. He appeared to be a Carman, but He had never seen him before.

The Coroner began to ask him more about the incident to which he replied,

The Coroner:- "Did you see Police Constable Neil in Buck's Row?"

The Witness "No Sir. I saw no one after leaving home, except the man that overtook me, the Constable in Baker's Row, and the deceased. There was nobody in Buck's Row when we left."

The Coroner:- "Did the other man tell you who he was?"

The Witness "No Sir. He merely said that he would have fetched a policeman, but he was behind time. I was behind time myself."

A Juryman:- "Did you tell Constable Mizen that another policeman wanted him in Buck's Row?"

The Witness "No: because I did not see a policeman in Buck's Row."

On 7th September 1888 The Weekly Herald published an article, commenting on the police investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders which at that point were known as the "Whitechapel Murders" reported on the murder of Mary Nichols, that:-The officers engaged in the case are pushing their inquiries in the neighbourhood as to the doings of certain gangs known to frequent the locality, and an opinion is gaining ground amongst them that the murderers are the same who committed the two previous murders near the same spot. It is believed that these gangs, who make their appearance during the early hours of the morning, are in the habit of blackmailing these unfortunate women, and when their demands are refused violence follows, and in order to avoid their deeds being brought to light they put away their victims. They have been under the observation of the police for some time past, and it is believed that, with the prospect of a reward and a free pardon, some of them might be persuaded to turn Queen's evidence, when some startling revelations might be expected."

The investigation was still fresh when on 8th September another body was found. The victim was Annie Chapman whose body was found on the ground near a doorway in the backyard of 29th Hanbury Street, Spitalfields, during a routine patrol. According to the newspaper reports, She was 45 years old, and for four months before her death had been living at Crossingham's lodging house at number 35, Dorset Street.

Annie Chapman was born Eliza Ann Smith in Paddington on 25 September 1840. She was the first of five children born to George Smith, and Ruth Chapman. George Smith was a soldier, having enlisted in the 2nd Regiment of LifeGuards in December 1834. Reportedly, the location of Chapman's earliest years revolved around her father's military service which served between London and Windsor.

That same day we published an article on The East London Observer on the testimony of Henry Tomkins a witness for Mary Nichols's murder,the slaughterer in its edition of Saturday, 8th September, 1888.-Henry Tomkins, a rough-looking man, was next called.

He was a horse slaughterer, he said, and he lived at 12, Coventry-street, Bethnal Green. He was in the employ of Mr Barber and was working in the slaughterhouse, Winthorpe street, from between eight and nine o'clock on Thursday night till twenty minutes past four o'clock on Friday morning.

He and his fellow workmen generally went home after ceasing work, but that morning they did not do so. They went to see the dead woman because Police-constable Thain had passed the slaughterhouse about a quarter-past four and told them that a woman had been murdered in Buck's-row.

Two other men besides the witness had been working in the slaughterhouse. They were James Mumford and Charles Britten. He and Britten had been out of the slaughterhouse previously that night - namely, from twenty minutes past twelve till one o'clock, but not afterwards till they went to see the body.

The distance from the slaughterhouse to the spot where the deceased was found was not great, Buck's-row being behind Winthrope-street, and both running in the same direction.

The Coroner:- "Is your noisy work?"

Witness:- "No, sir: very quiet."

The Coroner:- "Was it all quiet on Friday morning - say after two o'clock?"

Witness:- "Yes, sir, quite quiet. The gates were open, and we heard no cry.

The Coroner:- "Did anyone come to the slaughterhouse that night?"

The witness replied that nobody passed except the policeman.

The Coroner:- "Are there any women there?"

Witness:- "Oh, I know nothing about them. I don't like 'em."

The Coroner:- "I don't ask whether you like them. I ask whether there were any about that night?"

Witness:- "I didn't see any."

The Coroner:- "Not in Whitechapel Road?"

Witness:- "Oh, yes, there, of all sorts and sizes. It's a rough neighbourhood, I can tell you."

The Coroner:- "If anybody had called for assistance from the spot where the deceased was found would you have heard it in the slaughterhouse?"

The witness replied that it was too far away.

When he arrived in Buck's-row to see the deceased, the doctor and three or four policemen were there. He believed that two other men whom he did not know were there also. He waited till the body was taken away, but that was not long. Ten or a dozen people came up before it was done. He heard no statement as to how the deceased came into Buck's-row

The Coroner:- "Have you made any statement in the newspaper that there were two people besides the police and the doctor in Buck's-row when you arrived?"

Witness:- "I can't read, sir."

The Coroner:- "Then you did not see a soul from one o'clock on Friday morning till a quarter past four when the policeman passed your slaughterhouse?"

Witness:- "No, sir."

A Juryman:- "Did you hear any vehicle pass the slaughterhouse?"

Witness:- "No, sir."

A Juryman:- "Would you have heard it if there had been one?"

Witness:- "No, sir."

The Coroner:- "Where did you go between twenty minutes past twelve and one o'clock?"

Witness:- "Me and my mate went to the front of the road."

A Juryman:- "Isn't your usual time of leaving work six o'clock in the morning, and not four?"

Witness:- "No, it is according to what we have to do. Sometimes we finish at one time; sometimes at another."

The Coroner:- "What made the constable call to tell you about the murder?"

Witness:- "He called for his cape."

Meanwhile, Investigators gathered information on Annie Chapman's records. Chapman's parents were not married at the time of her birth, although they married on 22nd February 1842, in Paddington. Following the birth of their second child in 1844, the family relocated to Knightsbridge, where George Smith became a valet. The family eventually relocated to Berkshire in 1856.

According to her brother, Fountain, Annie had "first taken a drink when she was quite young", quickly developing a weakness for alcohol, and although both he and two of his other sisters had persuaded her to sign a pledge to refrain from consuming alcohol, she "was tempted and fell" despite the "over and over" efforts of her siblings to dissuade her.

Census records from 1861 indicate all members of the Smith family except Annie Chapman had relocated to the parish of Clewer. Chapman is believed to have remained in London, possibly due to her employment commitments as a domestic servant. On 13th June 1863, Smith accompanied his employer to a horse racing event. She lodged with her employer that evening at the Elephant and Castle, Wrexham. That night, George Smith committed suicide by cutting his throat.

Contemporary accounts describe Annie Chapman as an intelligent and sociable woman with a weakness for alcohol, particularly rum. An acquaintance described Chapman at the inquest into her murder as being "very civil and industrious when sober", before noting: "I have often seen her the worse for a drink."

In 1869, she married John Chapman who was related to her mother's side of the family,at the age of 28. The ceremony was conducted at All Saints Church in the Knightsbridge district of London and was witnessed by one of her sisters, Emily Laticia, and a colleague of her husband named George White. At that time John worked as a coachman and in other service positions. The couple had three children, Emily Ruth who was born at Chapman's mother's home in Montpelier Place, Knightsbridge on 25th June 1870; Annie Georgina was born at South Bruton Mews, Mayfair on 5th June 1873 ,and John Alfred was born in the Berkshire village of Bray on 21st November 1880. John was born crippled. The Chapmans sought medical help for their son John at a London hospital before later placing him in the care of an institution for the physically disabled close to Windsor.Although Chapman had struggled with alcoholism as an adult, she had reportedly weaned herself off drinking by 1880. Her son's disability is believed to have contributed to her gradual reversion to alcohol dependency.The following year, Emily Ruth Chapman died of meningitis on her brother's second birthday at the age of 12.

Following the death of their daughter, both Chapman and her husband took to heavy drinking. Over the following years, she is known to have been arrested on several occasions for public intoxication in both Clewer and Windsor, though no records exist of her ever being brought before a magistrates court for these arrests.Chapman and her husband separated by mutual consent in 1884. John Chapman retained custody of their surviving daughter, while Annie relocated to London. Her husband was obliged to pay her a weekly allowance of 10s via Post Office Order. The precise reason for the couple's separation is unknown, although a later police report lists the reason for their separation as Annie Chapman's "drunken and immoral ways".

Following her separation from her husband, Annie Chapman relocated to Whitechapel, primarily living upon the weekly allowance of 10 shillings from her husband. Over the following years, she resided in common lodging houses in both Whitechapel and Spitalfields. By 1886, she is known to have resided with a man who made wire sieves for a living, consequently becoming known to some acquaintances as "Annie Sievey" or "Siffey".Two years later, In 1886, John Chapman resigned from his job due to his declining health and relocated to New Windsor. He died of liver cirrhosis and oedema, on 25th December, leading to the cessation of these weekly payments. At the end of 1886, her weekly allowance abruptly stopped. Upon enquiring why these weekly payments had suddenly ceased, Chapman discovered her husband had died out of alcohol-related illness from her brother-in-law.

Despite their earlier estrangement, Annie was hit hard by the loss of her husband. Annie's friend Amelia Palmer said that after John's death, even until she died, "she seemed to have given away altogether".Her surviving daughter, Annie Georgina is believed to have either subsequently been placed in a French institution or to have joined a performing troupe which travelled with a circus in France. Census records from 1891 reveal both of Chapman's surviving children lived with their grandmother in Knightsbridge.

Just after 5.30 am, on the morning of her murder Mrs Elizabeth Long, also referred to as Elizabeth Darrell, turned out of Brick Lane and walked along Hanbury Street en route to Spitalfields Market. She noticed a man and a woman talking on the right-hand pavement a little before she reached the door of number 29. She didn't see the man's face, only his back, but she described him as being of foreign appearance with a dark complexion. He was of shabby appearance, aged about forty, and not much more than five feet in height. He had on a dark overcoat and wore a brown deerstalker hat. Since the woman was facing her, she saw more of her and, when taken to see Annie Chapman's body at the mortuary, was certain that she was the woman she saw.The body was sent to the mortuary. The morgue examination of the body revealed that part of her uterus was missing. Her throat was cut from left to right. She had been disembowelled, and her intestines had been thrown out of her abdomen over each of her shoulders.The forensic pathologist, George Bagster Phillips, had an opinion that for some time showed the right track to go for, according to him it was highly likely that the murderer must have possessed a significant amount of anatomical knowledge, as the organs were removed with just a single movement. It suggested two possibilities that either the killer was a physician or a butcher, in order to get such clean cuts.